ChinaChinese (Pinyin) Zhonghua or (Wade-Giles) Chung-hua, officially People’s Republic of China, Chinese (Pinyin) Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo or (Wade-Giles) Chung-hua Jen-min Kung-ho-kuocountry of East Asia. It is the largest of all Asian countries and has the largest population of any country in the world. Occupying nearly the entire East Asian landmass, it occupies approximately one-fourteenth of the land area of the Earth. Among the major countries of the world, China is surpassed in area by only Russia and Canada, and it is almost as large as the whole of Europe.

China has 33 administrative units directly under the central government; these consist of 22 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities (Chongqing, Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin), and 2 special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). The island province of Taiwan, which has been under separate administration since 1949, is discussed in the article Taiwan. Beijing (Peking), the capital of the People’s Republic, is also the cultural, economic, and communications centre of the country. Shanghai is the main industrial city; Hong Kong is the leading commercial centre and port.

Within China’s boundaries exists a highly diverse and complex country. Its topography encompasses the highest and one of the lowest places on Earth, and its relief varies from nearly impenetrable mountainous terrain to vast coastal lowlands. Its climate ranges from extremely dry, desertlike conditions in the northwest to tropical monsoon in the southeast, and China has the greatest contrast in temperature between its northern and southern borders of any country in the world.

The diversity of both China’s relief and its climate has resulted in one of the world’s widest arrays of ecological niches, and these niches have been filled by a vast number of plant and animal species. Indeed, practically all types of Northern Hemisphere plants, except those of the polar tundra, are found in China, and, despite the continuous inroads of humans over the millennia, China still is home to some of the world’s most exotic animals.

Probably the single most identifiable characteristic of China to the people of the rest of the world is the size of its population. Some one-fifth of humanity is of Chinese nationality. The great majority of the population is Chinese (Han), and thus China is often characterized as an ethnically homogeneous country, but few countries have as wide a variety of indigenous peoples as does China. Even among the Han there are cultural and linguistic differences between regions; for example, the only point of linguistic commonality between two individuals from different parts of China may be the written Chinese language. Because China’s population is so enormous, the population density of the country is also often thought to be uniformly high, but vast areas of China are either uninhabited or sparsely populated.

With more than 4,000 years of recorded history, China is one of the few existing countries that also flourished economically and culturally in the earliest stages of world civilization. Indeed, despite the political and social upheavals that frequently have ravaged the country, China is unique among nations in its longevity and resilience as a discrete politico-cultural unit. Much of China’s cultural development has been accomplished with relatively little outside influence, the introduction of Buddhism from India constituting a major exception. Even when the country was penetrated by such “barbarian” peoples as the Manchu, these groups soon became largely absorbed into the fabric of Han Chinese culture.

This relative isolation from the outside world made possible over the centuries the flowering and refinement of the Chinese culture, but it also left China ill prepared to cope with that world when, from the mid-19th century, it was confronted by technologically superior foreign nations. There followed a century of decline and decrepitude, as China found itself relatively helpless in the face of a foreign onslaught. The trauma of this external challenge became the catalyst for a revolution that began in the early 20th century against the old regime and culminated in the establishment of a communist government in 1949. This event reshaped global political geography, and China has since come to rank among the most influential countries in the world.

Central to China’s long-enduring identity as a unitary country is the province, or sheng (“secretariat”). The provinces are traceable in their current form to the Tang dynasty (AD 618–907). Over the centuries, provinces gained in importance as centres of political and economic authority and increasingly became the focus of regional identification and loyalty. Provincial power reached its peak in the first two decades of the 20th century, but, since the establishment of the People’s Republic, that power has been curtailed by a strong central leadership in Beijing. Nonetheless, while the Chinese state has remained unitary in form, the vast size and population of China’s provinces—which are comparable to large and midsize nations—dictate their continuing importance as a level of subnational administration.


China stretches for about 3,250 miles (5,250 km) from east to west and 3,400 miles (5,500 km) from north to south. Its land frontier is about 12,400 miles (20,000 km) in length, and its coastline extends for some 8,700 miles (14,000 km). The country is bounded by Mongolia to the north; Russia and North Korea to the northeast; the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea to the east; the South China Sea to the southeast; Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), India, Bhutan, and Nepal to the south; Pakistan to the southwest; and Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan to the west. In addition to the 14 countries that border directly on it, China also faces South Korea and Japan, across the Yellow Sea, and the Philippines, which lie beyond the South China Sea.


Broadly speaking, the relief of China is high in the west and low in the east; consequently, the direction of flow of the major rivers is generally eastward. The surface may be divided into three steps, or levels. The first level is represented by the Plateau of Tibet, which is located in both the Tibet Autonomous Region and the province of Qinghai and which, with an average elevation of well over 13,000 feet (4,000 metres) above sea level, is the loftiest highland area in the world. The western part of this region, the Qiangtang, has an average height of 16,500 feet (5,000 metres) and is known as the “roof of the world.”

The second step lies to the north of the Kunlun and Qilian mountains and (farther south) to the east of the Qionglai and Daliang ranges. There the mountains descend sharply to heights of between 6,000 and 3,000 feet (1,800 and 900 metres), after which basins intermingle with plateaus. This step includes the Mongolian Plateau, the Tarim Basin, the Loess Plateau (loess is a yellow-gray dust deposited by the wind), the Sichuan Basin, and the Yunnan-Guizhou (Yungui) Plateau.

The third step extends from the east of the Dalou, Taihang, and Wu mountain ranges and from the eastern perimeter of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau to the China Sea. Almost all of this area is made up of hills and plains lying below 1,500 feet (450 metres).

The most remarkable feature of China’s relief is the vast extent of its mountain chains; the mountains, indeed, have exerted a tremendous influence on the country’s political, economic, and cultural development. By rough estimate, about one-third of the total area of China consists of mountains. China has the world’s tallest mountain and the world’s highest and largest plateau, in addition to possessing extensive coastal plains. The five major landforms—mountain, plateau, hill, plain, and basin—are all well represented. China’s complex natural environment and rich natural resources are closely connected with the varied nature of its relief.

The topography of China is marked by many splendours. Mount Everest (Qomolangma Feng), situated on the border between China and Nepal, is the highest peak in the world, at an elevation of 29,035 feet (8,850 metres; see Researcher’s Note: Height of Mount Everest). By contrast, the lowest part of the Turfan Depression in the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang—Lake Ayding—is 508 feet (155 metres) below sea level. The coast of China contrasts greatly between South and North. To the south of the bay of Hangzhou, the coast is rocky and indented with many harbours and offshore islands. To the north, except along the Shandong and Liaodong peninsulas, the coast is sandy and flat.

China is prone to intense seismic activity throughout much of the country. The main source of this geologic instability is the result of the constant northward movement of the Indian tectonic plate beneath southern Asia, which has thrust up the towering mountains and high plateaus of the Chinese southwest. Throughout its history China has experienced hundreds of massive earthquakes that collectively have killed millions of people. Two in the 20th century alone—in eastern Gansu province (1920) and in the city of Tangshan, eastern Hebei province (1976)—caused some 250,000 deaths each, and a quake in east-central Sichuan province in 2008 killed tens of thousands and devastated a wide area.

China’s physical relief has dictated its development in many respects. The civilization of Han Chinese originated in the southern part of the Loess Plateau, and from there it extended outward until it encountered the combined barriers of relief and climate. The long, protruding corridor, commonly known as the Gansu, or Hexi, Corridor, illustrates this fact. South of the corridor is the Plateau of Tibet, which was too high and too cold for the Chinese to gain a foothold. North of the corridor is the Gobi Desert, which also formed a barrier. Consequently, Chinese civilization was forced to spread along the corridor, where melting snow and ice in the Qilian Mountains provided water for oasis farming. The westward extremities of the corridor became the meeting place of the ancient East and West.

Thus, for a long time the ancient political centre of China was located along the lower reaches of the Huang He (Yellow River). Because of topographical barriers, however, it was difficult for the central government to gain complete control over the entire country, except when an unusually strong dynasty was in power. In many instances the Sichuan Basin—an isolated region in southwestern China, about twice the size of Scotland, that is well protected by high mountains and is self-sufficient in agricultural products—became an independent kingdom. A comparable situation often arose in the Tarim Basin in the northwest. Linked to the rest of China only by the Gansu Corridor, this basin is even remoter than the Sichuan, and, when the central government was unable to exert its influence, oasis states were established; only the three strong dynasties—the Han (206 BCAD 220), the Tang (AD 618–907), and the Qing, or Manchu (1644–1911/12)—were capable of controlling the region.

Apart from the three elevation zones already mentioned, it is possible—on the basis of geologic structure, climatic conditions, and differences in geomorphologic development—to divide China into three major topographic regions: the eastern, northwestern, and southwestern zones. The eastern zone is shaped by the rivers, which have eroded landforms in some parts and have deposited alluvial plains in others; its climate is monsoonal (characterized by seasonal rain-bearing winds). The northwestern region is arid and eroded by the wind; it forms an inland drainage basin. The southwest is a cold, lofty, and mountainous region containing intermontane plateaus and inland lakes.

The three basic regions may be further subdivided into second-order geographic divisions. The eastern region contains 10 of these, the southwest contains two, and the northwest contains three. Below is a brief description of each division.

The eastern region
The Northeast Plain

The Northeast Plain (also known as the Manchurian Plain and the Sung-liao Plain) is located in China’s Northeast, the region formerly known as Manchuria. It is bordered to the west and north by the Da Hinggan (Greater Khingan) Range and to the east by the Xiao Hinggan (Lesser Khingan) Range. An undulating plain split into northern and southern halves by a low divide rising from 500 to 850 feet (150 to 260 metres), it is drained in its northern part by the Sungari River and tributaries and in its southern part by the Liao River. Most of the area has an erosional rather than a depositional surface, but it is covered with a deep soil. The plain has an area of about 135,000 square miles (350,000 square km). Its basic landscapes are forest-steppe, steppe, meadow-steppe, and cultivated land; its soils are rich and black, and it is a famous agricultural region. The river valleys are wide and flat with a series of terraces formed by deposits of silt. During the flood season the rivers inundate extensive areas.

The Changbai Mountains

To the southeast of the Northeast Plain is a series of ranges comprising the Changbai, Zhangguangcai, and Wanda mountains, which in Chinese are collectively known as the Changbai Shan, or “Forever White Mountains”; broken by occasional open valleys, they reach elevations mostly between 1,500 and 3,000 feet (450 and 900 metres). In some parts the scenery is characterized by rugged peaks and precipitous cliffs. The highest peak is the volcanic cone of Mount Baitou (9,003 feet [2,744 metres]), which has a beautiful crater lake at its snow-covered summit. As one of the major forest areas of China, the region is the source of many valuable furs and famous medicinal herbs. Cultivation is generally limited to the valley floors.

The North China Plain

Comparable in size to the Northeast Plain, most of the North China Plain lies at elevations below 160 feet (50 metres), and the relief is monotonously flat. It was formed by enormous sedimentary deposits brought down by the Huang He and Huai River from the Loess Plateau; the Quaternary deposits alone (i.e., those from the past 12.8 6 million years) reach thicknesses of 2,500 to 3,000 feet (760 to 900 metres). The river channels, which are higher than the surrounding locality, form local water divides, and the areas between the channels are depressions in which lakes and swamps are found. In particularly low and flat areas, the underground water table often fluctuates from 5 to 6.5 feet (1.5 to 2 metres), forming meadow swamps and, in some places, resulting in saline soils. A densely populated area that has long been under settlement, the North China Plain has the highest proportion of land under cultivation of any region in China.

The Loess Plateau

This vast plateau of some 154,000 square miles (400,000 square km) forms a unique region of loess-clad hills and barren mountains between the North China Plain and the deserts of the west. In the north the Great Wall of China forms the boundary, while the southern limit is the Qin Mountains in Shaanxi province. The average surface elevation is roughly 4,000 feet (1,200 metres), but individual ranges of bedrock are higher, reaching 9,825 feet (2,995 metres) in the Liupan Mountains. Most of the plateau is covered with loess to thicknesses of 165 to 260 feet (50 to 80 metres). In northern Shaanxi and eastern Gansu provinces, the loess may reach much greater thicknesses. The loess is particularly susceptible to erosion by water, and ravines and gorges crisscross the plateau. It has been estimated that ravines cover approximately half the entire region, with erosion reaching depths of 300 to 650 feet (90 to 200 metres).

The Shandong Hills

These hills are basically composed of extremely ancient crystalline shales and granites of early Precambrian age (i.e., older than about 2.5 billion years) and of somewhat younger sedimentary rocks dating to about 540–420 million years ago. Faults have played a major role in creating the present relief, and, as a result, many hills are horsts (blocks of the Earth’s crust uplifted along faults), while the valleys have been formed by grabens (blocks of the Earth’s crust that have been thrust down along faults). The Jiaolai Plain divides this region into two parts. The eastern part is lower, lying at elevations averaging below 1,500 feet (450 metres), with only certain peaks and ridges rising to 2,500 feet and (rarely) to 3,000 feet (900 metres); the highest point, Mount Lao, reaches 3,714 feet (1,132 metres). The western part is slightly higher, rising to 5,000 feet (1,524 metres) at Mount Tai, one of China’s most sacred mountains. The Shandong Hills meet the sea along a rocky and indented shoreline.

The Qin Mountains

The Qin (conventional Tsinling) Mountains in Shaanxi province are the greatest chain of mountains east of the Plateau of Tibet. The mountain chain consists of a high and rugged barrier extending from Gansu to Henan; geographers use a line between the chain and the Huai River to divide China proper into two parts—North and South. The elevation of the mountains varies from 3,000 to 10,000 feet (900 to 3,000 metres). The western part is higher, with the highest peak, Mount Taibai, rising to 12,359 feet (3,767 metres). The Qin Mountains consist of a series of parallel ridges, all running roughly west-east, separated by a maze of ramifying valleys whose canyon walls often rise sheer to a height of 1,000 feet (300 metres) above the valley streams.

The Sichuan Basin

This is one of the most attractive geographical regions of China. The Sichuan Basin is surrounded by mountains, which are higher in the west and north. Protected against the penetration of cold northern winds, the basin is much warmer in the winter than are the more southerly plains of southeast China. Except for the Chengdu Plain, the region is hilly. The relief of the basin’s eastern half consists of numerous folds, forming a series of ridges and valleys that trend northeast to southwest. The lack of arable land has obliged farmers to cultivate the slopes of the hills, on which they have built terraces that frequently cover the slopes from top to bottom. The terracing has slowed down the process of erosion and has made it possible to cultivate additional areas by using the steeper slopes—some of which have grades up to 45° or more.

The southeastern mountains

Southeastern China is bordered by a rocky shoreline backed by picturesque mountains. In general, there is a distinct structural and topographic trend from northeast to southwest. The higher peaks may reach elevations of some 5,000 to 6,500 feet (1,500 to 2,000 metres). The rivers are short and fast-flowing and have cut steep-sided valleys. The chief areas of settlement are on narrow strips of coastal plain where rice is produced. Along the coast there are numerous islands, where the fishing industry is well developed.

Plains of the middle and lower Yangtze

East of Yichang, in Hubei province, a series of plains of uneven width are found along the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang). The plains are particularly wide in the delta area and in places where the Yangtze receives its major tributaries—including large areas of lowlands around Dongting, Poyang, Tai, and Hongze lakes, which are all hydrologically linked with the Yangtze. The region is an alluvial plain, the accumulation of sediment laid down by the rivers throughout long ages. There are a few isolated hills, but in general the land is level, lying mostly below 160 feet (50 metres). Rivers, canals, and lakes form a dense network of waterways. The surface of the plain has been converted into a system of flat terraces, which descend in steps along the slopes of the valleys.

The Nan Mountains

The Nan Mountains (Nan Ling) are composed of many ranges of mountains running from northeast to southwest. These ranges form the watershed between the Yangtze to the north and the Pearl (Zhu) River to the south. The main peaks along the watershed are above 5,000 feet, and some are more than 6,500 feet. But a large part of the land to the south of the Nan Mountains is also hilly; flatland does not exceed 10 percent of the total area. The Pearl River Delta is the only extensive plain in this region and is also the richest part of South China. The coastline is rugged and irregular, and there are many promontories and protected bays, including those of Hong Kong and Macau. The principal river is the Xi River, which rises in the highlands of eastern Yunnan and southern Guizhou.

The southwest
The Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau

This region comprises the northern part of Yunnan and the western part of Guizhou; its edge is highly dissected. Yunnan is more distinctly a plateau and contains larger areas of rolling uplands than Guizhou, but both parts are distinguished by canyonlike valleys and precipitous mountains. The highest elevations lie in the west, where Mount Diancang (also called Cang Shan) rises to 13,524 feet (4,122 metres). In the valleys of the major rivers, elevations drop to about 1,300 to 1,600 feet (400 to 490 metres). Particularly sharp differences in elevation and the greatest ruggedness of relief occur in the western part of the region, in the gorges of the large rivers. In the eastern part, karst processes (creating sinks, ravines, and underground streams in the limestone landscape) have developed very strongly. Scattered throughout the highlands are small lake basins, separated by mountains.

The Plateau of Tibet

This great upland massif occupies about one-fourth of the country’s area. A large part of the plateau lies at elevations above 13,000 to 16,500 feet (4,000 to 5,000 metres). The border ranges of the plateau (the Kunlun Mountains and the Himalayas) are even higher, with individual peaks rising to heights of 23,000 to 26,000 feet (7,000 to 8,000 metres) and higher. As a rule, the interior (i.e., Tibet-side) slopes of these border mountains are gentle, while the exterior slopes are precipitous. The plateau’s eastern and southern periphery is the source of many of the world’s great rivers, including the Yangtze, Huang He, Mekong, Salween, Indus, and Brahmaputra. Only in the low valleys, chiefly along the Brahmaputra valley, are there centres of human settlement.

The Qaidam (Tsaidam) Basin, occupying the northwestern portion of the Plateau of Tibet, is the largest, as well as the lowest, depression in the plateau. The broad northwestern part of the basin lies at elevations between approximately 8,800 and 10,000 feet (2,700 and 3,000 metres), and the narrow southeastern part is slightly lower. Gravel, sandy and clay deserts, semideserts, and salt wastes predominate within the basin.

The northwest
The Tarim Basin

North of the Plateau of Tibet and at the much lower elevation of about 3,000 feet (900 metres) lies the Tarim Basin. It is hemmed in by great mountain ranges: the Tien Shan (Tian Shan; “Celestial Mountains”) on the north, the Pamirs on the west, and the Kunlun Mountains on the south. Glacier-fed streams descend from these heights only to lose themselves in the loose sands and gravels of the Takla Makan Desert, which occupies the centre of the basin. The Takla Makan is one of the most barren of the world’s deserts; only a few of the largest rivers—such as the Tarim and Hotan (Khotan)—cross the desert, but even their flow is not constant, and they have water throughout their entire courses only during the flood period. The area of the basin is about 215,000 square miles (557,000 square km), and its elevations range from 2,500 to 4,600 feet (750 to 1,400 metres) above sea level. Its surface slants to the southeast, where Lop Nur (a salt-encrusted lake bed) is situated.

The Junggar Basin

North of the Tarim Basin is another large depression, the Junggar (Dzungarian) Basin. It is enclosed by the Tien Shan on the south, while to the northeast it is cut off from Mongolia by the Altai Mountains. The surface of the basin is flat, with a gentle slope to the southwest. The larger portion of the land lies at elevations between about 1,000 and 1,500 feet (300 and 450 metres), and in the lowest part the elevation drops to just below 650 feet (200 metres). In general the main part of the basin is covered by a broad desert with barchans (crescent-shaped sand dunes that move); only in certain parts are dunes retained by vegetation.

The Tien Shan

The Chinese (eastern) part of the Tien Shan consists of a complex system of ranges and depressions divided into two major groups of ranges: the northern and the southern. The groups are separated by a strip of intermontane depressions that itself is broken up by the interior ranges. Ancient metamorphic rock constitutes the larger portion of the ranges in the interior zone; Paleozoic (i.e., about 250 to 540 million years old) sedimentary and igneous sedimentary beds form its northern and southern chains, while Mesozoic (about 65 to 250 million years old) sandstones and conglomerates fill the intermontane depressions in the interior zone and constitute the foothill ridges. The height of the main Chinese chains of the Tien Shan is between 13,000 and 15,000 feet (4,000 and 4,600 metres), with individual peaks exceeding 16,000 feet (4,900 metres); the interior chains reach 14,500 feet (4,400 metres). In the western part, where precipitation is adequate, large glaciers are formed, reaching a length of more than 20 miles (32 km). Large rivers with heavy flows, such as the Ili (Yili) River and its tributaries, begin their courses there, and the predominantly alpine meadow steppe is one of the best grazing lands of China.


China has more than 50,000 rivers with individual drainage areas exceeding 40 square miles (100 square km). Of the total annual runoff, about 95 percent drains directly into the sea (more than 80 percent into the Pacific Ocean, 12 percent into the Indian Ocean, and less than 1 percent into the Arctic Ocean) and 5 percent disappears inland.

The three principal rivers of China, all of which flow generally from west to east, draining into the China Sea, are the Huang He, the Yangtze, and the Xi. The Huang He, which rises in the Kunlun Mountains, is the northernmost of the three; it drains into the Bo Hai (Gulf of Chihli), north of the Shandong Peninsula. The Yangtze, the longest river in the country, rises in the Tibetan Highlands and flows across central China, draining into the East China Sea north of Shanghai. The Xi River, the southernmost of the three, rises in the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and empties into the South China Sea via the Pearl River Delta at Guangzhou (Canton).

The distribution of surface water in China is extremely uneven. Only a small part of the country has sufficient quantities year-round. Much of the country has abundant runoff but only during the rainy summer, when enormous surpluses of water are received. From the southeast to the northwest, the surface water decreases as the relief becomes more mountainous. A vast area of the northwest lacks water throughout the year. North China (north of the Qin Mountains–Huai River line), with its flat relief and long history of agriculture, contains almost two-thirds of China’s cultivated land; paradoxically, because of scanty and erratic precipitation, the average annual runoff in the North accounts for only about one-sixth of the total for the country as a whole.

The mountains of the southeast and the mountainous Hainan Island have the most abundant surface water. Over the year they receive more than 60 inches (1,500 mm) of precipitation (in some places even more than 80 inches [2,000 mm]), of which almost two-thirds constitutes the runoff, so that a dense drainage network has developed. The amount of runoff is highest in the southeast, exceeding 40 inches (1,000 mm). It gradually diminishes toward the west and north, so that in the true deserts of the northwest it is usually less than 0.4 of an inch (10 mm). The arid climate of the northwest is reflected in the landscape of the dry steppes, which is characterized by richer grasses in the east, while in the west the landscape gradually changes to bare deserts.

In the lower reaches of the Yangtze, the Pearl River Delta, and the Chengdu Plain a dense network of waterways has been developed. In the North China Plain and the Northeast Plain most of the rivers have a linear flow, and tributaries are few and unconnected. In the inland drainage area there are very few rivers because of scanty precipitation. Extensive areas such as the Tarim Basin and northeastern Gansu province are often completely devoid of runoff. In those regions the rivers depend on melted snow and ice; in consequence, they are mostly small and are found only in mountains and mountain foothills. As they drain increasingly farther away from the mountains, most of them eventually disappear in the desert, while some form inland lakes. Because the northern part of the Plateau of Tibet is a cold desert, the rate of evaporation is slow, so that a denser network of rivers has developed; most of these, however, run into glaciated depressions, forming numerous lakes.


China, with its vast and diverse climatic conditions, has a wide variety of soils. Indeed, all the soil types of the Eurasian continent, except the soils of the tundra and the highly leached podzolic-gley soils of the northern taiga (boreal forest), are found in China. As a result of the climatic differences between the drier and cooler North and the wetter and hotter South, soils may be grouped into two classifications. Generally speaking, the soils north of the Qin Mountains–Huai River line are pedocals (calcareous) and are neutral to alkaline in reaction; those south of this line are pedalfers (leached noncalcareous soils), which are neutral to acid.

Apart from the great plateaus and high mountains to the southwest, marked soil zones are formed in China according to differences in climate, vegetation, and distance from the sea. The east and southeast coastal region is covered by the forest zone associated with a humid and semihumid climate, while the north and northwest inland regions belong mostly to the steppe zone, as well as to the semidesert and desert zone associated with a semiarid and arid climate. Between these two broad soil zones lies a transitional zone—the forest-steppe zone, where forest soils merge gradually with steppe soils.

Between the pedocals of the North and the pedalfers of the South lie the neutral soils. The floodplain of the Yangtze below the Three Gorges (the point where the river cuts through the Wu Mountains to empty onto the Hubei Plain) is overlain with a thick cover of noncalcareous alluvium. These soils, sometimes classified as paddy (rice-growing) soils, for the most part are exceedingly fertile and of good texture. The paddy soil is a unique type of cultivated soil, formed over a long period of time under the specific conditions of intensive rice cultivation.

Along the coast of North China are belts of saline and alkaline soil. They are associated with a combination of poor drainage and aridity, where precipitation is insufficient either to dissolve or to carry away the salts in solution.

The adverse effects of nature on the soil have been further intensified by centuries of concentrated cultivation, which has resulted in an almost universal deficiency of nitrogen and organic matter. The shortage of organic matter is primarily because farmers habitually remove crop stalks and leaves for livestock feed and fuel. The animal and human waste used for fertilizer contains too small an amount of organic matter to compensate for the loss of nutrients in the soil. The soils are also often deficient in phosphorus and potassium, but these deficiencies are neither so widespread nor so severe as that of nitrogen.

At one time, half of the territory of present-day China may have been covered by forests, but now less than one-tenth of the country is forested. Extensive forests in central and southern China were cleared for farmlands, resulting in the inevitable erosion of soils from the hillsides and their deposition in the valleys. Farmers have constructed level terraces, supported by walls, in order to hold back water for rice fields, thus effectively controlling erosion. Wherever elaborate terraces have been built, soil erosion is virtually absent, and stepped terraces have become one of the characteristic features of the rural landscape.

Excessive grazing and other practices that destroy the grass cover have also produced soil loss. When its valuable crumb structure is broken down and its porosity is lost, the topsoil is easily washed away through erosion in the rainy season; the wind produces the same effect in dry regions. The Loess Plateau, constantly buffeted by rain and wind, is especially vulnerable to soil erosion, which results in a distinctive landscape. Deep, steep-sided gullies cut the plateau into fantastic relief. The damage done by heavy rain in summer includes not only topsoil loss but also frequent flooding by silt-laden rivers.

The air masses

The vast and topographically varied landmass of China lies in Asia, the world’s largest continent, and faces the Pacific, the world’s largest ocean, along an extensive shoreline. The country’s climate is thus heavily influenced by the seasonal movement of large air masses between the Pacific and the Chinese mainland. The polar continental air mass, originating to the north in Siberia, dominates a large part of China during the winter; likewise, the tropical Pacific air mass exerts its influence during the summer. The sharply varied climatic conditions prevailing in summer and in winter are a direct result of the interaction of these two air masses, which are entirely different in nature.

The Siberian air mass, which is quite stable, is extremely cold and dry and often has marked layers of temperature inversion. After crossing the Mongolian Plateau, the air mass spreads southward and begins to invade North China, where it undergoes a series of rapid changes; its temperature rises slightly, and its stability decreases. During the day the air there may be quite warm, but at night or in shaded places the cold is often unbearable. In general, the diurnal (daily) range of temperature is more than 18 °F (10 °C); in extreme cases it may exceed 45 °F (25 °C). Because North China is affected by this air mass most of the time, it is dry, with clear weather and an abundance of sunshine during the winter months.

The prevailing winter wind blows from November through March, but it changes direction as it moves to the south. In northern and northeastern China its direction is from the northwest, in eastern China it comes from the north, and on the southeastern coasts it is from the northeast. The height of the winter wind belt usually does not exceed 13,000 feet (4,000 metres). As it moves to the south, the height decreases; in Nanjing it is about 6,500 feet (2,000 metres), and in South China it is less than 5,000 feet (1,500 metres). The Qin Mountains become an effective barrier to the advance of the cold waves to the south, particularly in the western section, where the average elevation of the mountains is mainly between 6,500 and 9,000 feet (2,000 and 2,700 metres).

In China the tropical Pacific air mass is the chief source of summer rainfall. When it predominates, it may cover the eastern half of China and penetrate deep into the border areas of the Mongolian Plateau and onto the eastern edge of the Plateau of Tibet. In summer the Siberian air mass retreats to the western end of Mongolia, although it occasionally penetrates southward and sometimes may reach the Huai River valley, which constitutes a summertime battleground between the tropical Pacific and Siberian air masses.

The movement of the two air masses is of immense significance to the climate of central and North China. In summer, when the tropical air mass predominates, the frontal zone between the two shifts northward; as a result, North China receives heavier rainfall. When the southeastern monsoon slackens, however, the frontal zone moves southward, and central China receives more rainfall, which can cause flooding. The activity of the tropical Pacific air mass in winter is confined to the southeast coastal areas; during that season, therefore, it frequently drizzles in the hilly areas south of the Nan Mountains, and morning fog is common.

Besides these two air masses, three other air masses also influence China’s climate: the equatorial continental air mass (a highly unstable southwest monsoon), the polar maritime air mass, and the equatorial maritime air mass. Furthermore, because China is so vast and has such complex topography, the interaction between the air masses and relief produces a wide range of climatic conditions.


Temperatures generally decrease from south to north. The mean annual temperature is above 68 °F (20 °C) in the Pearl River valley. It decreases to between 59 and 68 °F (15 and 20 °C) in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze, to about 50 °F (10 °C) in North China and the southern part of Xinjiang, and to 41 °F (5 °C) in the southern area of the Northeast, the northern part of Xinjiang, and places near the Great Wall. It drops below 32 °F (0 °C; i.e., freezing) in the northern part of Heilongjiang. The annual range of temperature between the extreme south and north is about 86 °F (48 °C). With few exceptions, January is the coldest month and July is the hottest.

South of the Qin Mountains–Huai River line, the mean January temperature increases progressively, rising from freezing to 72 °F (22 °C) on the southern coast of Hainan Island. Snow rarely falls, and the rivers do not freeze. North of this line, the temperature drops from freezing to −18 °F (−28 °C) in the northern part of Heilongjiang.

In April the mean temperature is above freezing for the whole of China, with the exception of extreme northern Heilongjiang. During that time the mean temperature for the Northeast Plain is between 36 and 46 °F (2 and 8 °C), and for the extensive plain between Beijing and Shanghai it is between 54 and 59 °F (12 and 15 °C). South of the Nan Mountains the mean temperature is considerably higher than 68 °F (20 °C). Along the coast of southern Guangdong, willows start to bud in late January, but in Beijing the budding of willows comes as late as early April.

In summer the temperature range between North and South China is quite small. In July the difference in temperature between Guangzhou and Beijing is only about 5 °F (3 °C), and the isotherms in July are roughly parallel to the coastline. In July the isotherm of 82 °F (28 °C) marks an extensive area. The hottest places in China are found along the valleys of the middle and lower Yangtze. The mean July temperature of Nanchang and Changsha is well above 84 °F (29 °C), and in many years it exceeds 86 °F (30 °C).

In North China autumn is generally cooler than spring. The mean October temperature in Beijing is about 55 °F (13 °C), and in April it is about 57 °F (14 °C). In South China the reverse is true. The mean October temperature in Guangzhou is 75 °F (24 °C), but in April it is only about 70 °F (21 °C).

The middle and lower reaches of the Huang He are where China’s civilization and agriculture first developed. There the seasonal rhythm is well marked, and the duration of each season is evenly spaced. In other parts of China, however, the duration as well as the starting and closing dates of each season vary among different regions. Summer is nonexistent in northern Heilongjiang, while there is no winter in southern Guangdong. At Kunming, in the Yunnan uplands, the climate is mild throughout the year, with only brief summer and winter periods.

In general, south of the Qin Mountains–Huai River line the mean daily temperature seldom falls below freezing, so that farming can be practiced year-round. In the Yangtze valley two crops are usually grown annually, but north of the Great Wall only one crop per year is possible.


Precipitation in China generally follows the same pattern as temperatures, decreasing from the southeast to the northwest. The annual total of certain areas along the southeastern coast amounts to more than 80 inches (2,000 mm). The Yangtze valley receives about 40 to 45 inches (1,000 to 1,150 mm). Farther north, in the Huai River valley, the annual rainfall decreases to some 35 inches (880 mm). In the lower reaches of the Huang He, only 20 to 25 inches (500 to 650 mm) falls annually. The Northeast generally receives more precipitation than the North China Plain, with upwards of 40 or more inches falling in the Changbai Mountains.

The southeast monsoon loses much of its moisture by the time it reaches the northern part of the Loess Plateau, where the annual precipitation is reduced to between 12 and 20 inches (300 and 500 mm). Northwest of a line linking the Da Hinggan (Greater Khingan), Yin, Lang, Qilian, and Altun ranges, the annual precipitation is less than 10 inches (250 mm). Because these regions are far from the sea, high mountains prevent the southern monsoon from reaching them, and only grasslands are found there. In western Inner Mongolia, the Gansu Corridor, and the Tarim Basin, the annual precipitation drops to 4 inches (100 mm) or less. These are areas of true desert, where sometimes not a single drop of moisture is received for several years.

The Junggar Basin and the Ili River valley of northern Xinjiang are open to the influences of the westerlies, and precipitation is heavier there. Precipitation on the Plateau of Tibet, following the national pattern, decreases from southeast to northwest. More than 40 inches falls annually in the valleys in the southeastern part of the plateau, and the eastern edge receives 20 inches. However, in the enclosed Qaidam Basin in the north, the yearly total is only 4 to 10 inches.

The high variability of precipitation is another characteristic of China’s climate. Usually, variability increases as annual amounts decrease, a circumstance that is closely connected with the country’s high frequency of drought and flood. Spring rain is of immense significance to Chinese farmers, but spring is also the season with the highest variability. In South China the variability exceeds 40 percent, along the Yangtze it is about 45 percent, and in North China it is more than 50 percent. The variability of a vast area in North China exceeds 70 percent in some places; east of Beijing, for example, the rainfall variability in spring may even exceed 80 percent, as it also does in the central parts of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau.

Rain falls mostly in the summer months, when plants need water the most. This is an important asset for farmers, but summer rainfall is usually too intense. In July, when the frontal zone shifts northward, cyclones (circulation of winds around centres of low atmospheric pressure) are much more active in North China than in South China, and North China begins to receive heavier rainfall. More than half the area of the North China Plain records 0.8 inch (20 mm) of rainfall daily, and in some places it may reach as much as 1 inch (25 mm) or more daily. During that time, areas south of the Yangtze are covered by the tropical Pacific air mass, so that the weather becomes comparatively stable, the amount of rainfall usually decreases, and the average rainfall intensity is less than that of June. The intensity of August rainfall is in general less than that of July.

In the southeastern coastal regions, around Fuzhou and Shantou, the maximum daily rainfall may even approach 12 inches (300 mm). Such accumulations are directly related to the high frequency of typhoons (tropical cyclones) striking that part of the coast, usually during the period from May to November; July, August, and September are the three months when typhoons are the most frequent.

In May, typhoons usually strike the coast south of Shantou. Later in June they shift northward, arriving between Shantou and Wenzhou, and after July they invade areas north of Wenzhou. August has the highest frequency of typhoon invasions, when more than one-third of the typhoons reaching China arrive. After September the frequency of typhoons decreases, and the pattern again shifts southward. In October, typhoons usually land south of Wenzhou; the late typhoons arriving in November and December strike south of Shantou.

Plant and animal life

China’s great topological and climatic diversity has produced a vast array of natural vegetation types. The country’s total number of seed-plant species is approximately 30,000, representing some 2,700 genera; more than 200 of these genera are endemic to China. There are about 2,500 species of forest trees, including some 95 percent of the known broad-leaved types. Many of these trees are of economic importance, such as tung trees, camphor trees, varnish trees (Rhus verniciflua), star anise (which yields an oil used as a flavouring additive), and glossy privet (Ligustrum lucidum).

Contributing to the variety and intermixture of tropical and temperate plants in China are such factors as the lack of insurmountable topographic barriers, such as large stretches of desert, between the tropical, temperate, and subalpine zones; wind systems that alternate in winter and summer; and the frequent occurrence of cyclones. If, for example, the vegetation of Heilongjiang province in the North and of Guangdong province in the South are compared, it is hardly possible to find a single common plant species, with the exception of certain weeds. In the taiga (boreal forest) zone of China’s northern border region or in the high mountains, on the other hand, there are many plant species that are also found in the lands within the Arctic Circle, while in the Chinese tropics there are species that also grow south of the Equator. However, from the ecological point of view, the tropical forests of South China generally do not differ greatly from those of Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries, and the desert and steppe vegetation of northwestern China is closely akin to that found in Mongolia or Kazakhstan. Furthermore, the Chinese taiga terrain of the frontier area adjoining Russia is essentially the same as that of Siberia.

A traveler in China may encounter practically all types of natural vegetation indigenous to the Northern Hemisphere, the exception being species of the polar tundra. There are mangrove swamps along the shores of the South China Sea; rainforests on Hainan Island and in southern Yunnan; and deserts, steppes, meadows, and savannas elsewhere, as well as regions where tropical and temperate coniferous and evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved plants prevail.

China may be divided—roughly along a diagonal from the southwest to the northeast—into two sharply different vegetation zones: the dry northwest and the humid southeast. The tropical area, adjoining the humid southeast, is geographically related more to Southeast Asia. In the northwest, where desertlike conditions prevail, are vast areas of sparse drought-resistant vegetation; within these areas, in the low-lying land and depressions, are patches of salt-tolerant plants, notably in the Junngar, Qaidam, and Gobi regions. Skirting the southern edge of the Gobi is a wide belt of grassland.

Animal life

The profusion of vegetation types and a variety of relief have allowed a great diversity of animal life to develop and have permitted animals to survive there that elsewhere are extinct. Notable among such survivals are the great paddlefish of the Yangtze, the species of small alligator in eastern and central China, and the giant salamander (related to the Japanese giant salamander and the American hellbender) in western China. The diversity of animal life is perhaps greatest in the ranges and valleys of Tibet and Sichuan, the latter province being renowned as the home of the giant panda. The takin (a type of goat antelope), numerous species of pheasants, and a variety of laughing thrushes are found in all Chinese mountain ranges. China seems to be one of the chief centres of dispersal of the carp family and also of old-world catfishes.

The regional affinities of Chinese animal life are complex. Resemblances in the Northeast are to the fauna of the Siberian forests. Animals from Central Asia inhabit suitable steppe areas in northern China. The life of the great mountain ranges is Palearctic (relating to a biogeographic region that includes Europe, Asia north of the Himalayas, northern Arabia, and Africa north of the Sahara) but with distinctively Chinese species or genera. To the southeast the lowlands and mountains alike permit direct access to the eastern region. This part of China presents a complete transition from temperate-zone Palearctic life to the wealth of tropical forms distinctive of southeastern Asia. Tropical types of reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals predominate in the southernmost Chinese provinces.

Archaeology in China

The practice of archaeology in China has been rooted in modern Chinese history. The intellectual and political reformers of the 1920s challenged the historicity of the legendary inventors of Chinese culture, such as Shennong, the Divine Farmer, and Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor. At the same time, scientific study of the prehistoric period was being sponsored by Western archaeologists and paleoanthropologists. The establishment of the Academia Sinica (Chinese Academy of Sciences) in 1928 enabled Chinese scholars to study Chinese archaeology for themselves, and preparations were made for large-scale excavations. Notable work was done under the direction of archaeologist Li Chi (Li Ji) at Anyang, in Henan province, but this was suspended with the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937. The civil war of the late 1940s and the subsequent social disruptions further delayed any resumption of systematic archaeological excavation and publication. However, as the Cultural Revolution waned in the mid-1970s, work began again in earnest, and the China Association of Archaeology was established in 1979. A modernizing nation began to produce scholarship, increasingly informed by scientific analysis, in a quantity and quality commensurate with its size and its traditions of learning.

Early humans

The fossil record in China promises fundamental contributions to the understanding of human origins. There is considerable evidence of Homo erectus by the time of the Lower Paleolithic (the Paleolithic Period [Old Stone Age] began about 2,500,000 years ago and ended 10,000 years ago) at sites such as Lantian, Shaanxi; Hexian, Anhui; Yuanmou, Yunnan; and, the most famous, that of Peking man at Zhoukoudian, Beijing municipality. The Lower Cave at Zhoukoudian has yielded evidence of intermittent human use from about 460,000 to 230,000 years ago, and fossils of Peking man found in the complex have been dated to about 770,000 years ago. Many caves and other sites in Anhui, Hebei, Henan, Liaoning, Shandong, Shanxi and Shaanxi in northern China and in Guizhou and Hubei in the south suggest that H. erectus achieved wide distribution in China. Whether H. erectus pekinensis intentionally used fire and practiced ritual cannibalism are matters under debate.

Significant Homo sapiens cranial and dental fragments have been found together with Middle Paleolithic artifacts. Such assemblages have been unearthed at Dingcun, Shanxi; Changyang, Hubei; Dali, Shaanxi; Xujiayao, Shanxi; and Maba, Guangdong. Morphological characteristics such as the shovel-shaped incisor, broad nose, and mandibular torus link these remains to modern Asians. Few archaeological sites have been identified in the south.

A number of widely distributed H. erectus sites dating from the early Pleistocene Epoch (i.e., about 1.8 million years ago )during the early Pleistocene Epoch manifest considerable regional and temporal diversity. Upper Paleolithic sites are numerous in northern China. Thousands of stone artifacts, most of them small (called microliths), have been found, for example, at Xiaonanhai, near Anyang, at Shuoxian and Qinshui (Shanxi), and at Yangyuan (Hebei); these findings suggest an extensive microlith culture in northern China. Hematite, a common iron oxide ore used for colouring, was found scattered around skeletal remains in the Upper Cave at Zhoukoudian (c. 10th millennium BC) and may represent the first sign of human ritual.

Neolithic Period

The complex of developments in stone tool technology, food production and storage, and social organization that is often characterized as the “Neolithic Revolution” was in progress in China by at least the 6th millennium BC. Developments during the Chinese Neolithic Period (New Stone Age) were to establish some of the major cultural dimensions of the subsequent Bronze Age.

Climate and environment

Although the precise nature of the paleoenvironment is still in dispute, temperatures in Neolithic China were probably some 4 to 7 °F (2 to 4 °C) warmer than they are today. Precipitation, although more abundant, may have been declining in quantity. The Qin (Tsinling) Mountains in north-central China separated the two phytogeographical zones of northern and southern China, while the absence of such a mountain barrier farther east encouraged a more uniform environment and the freer movement of Neolithic peoples about the North China Plain. East China, particularly toward the south, may have been covered with thick vegetation, some deciduous forest, and scattered marsh. The Loess Plateau north and west of the Qin Mountains is thought to have been drier and even semiarid, with some coniferous forest growing on the hills and with brush and open woodland in the valleys.

Food production

The primary Neolithic crops, domesticated by the 5th millennium BC, were drought-resistant millet (usually Setaria italica), grown on the eolian and alluvial loess soils of the northwest and the north, and glutenous rice (Oryza sativa), grown in the wetlands of the southeast. These staples were supplemented by a variety of fruits, nuts, legumes, vegetables, and aquatic plants. The main sources of animal protein were pigs, dogs, fish, and shellfish. By the Bronze Age, millet, rice, soybeans, tea, mulberries, hemp, and lacquer had become characteristic Chinese crops. That most if not all of these plants were native to China indicates the degree to which Neolithic culture developed indigenously. The distinctive cereal, fruit, and vegetable complexes of the northern and southern zones in Neolithic and early historic times suggest, however, that at least two independent traditions of plant domestication may have been present.

The stone tools used to clear and prepare the land reveal generally improving technology. There was increasing use of ground and polished edges and of perforation. Regional variations of shape included oval-shaped axes in central and northwest China, square- and trapezoid-shaped axes in the east, and axes with stepped shoulders in the southeast. By the Late Neolithic a decrease in the proportion of stone axes to adzes suggests the increasing dominance of permanent agriculture and a reduction in the opening up of new land. The burial in high-status graves of finely polished, perforated stone and jade tools such as axes and adzes with no sign of edge wear indicates the symbolic role such emblems of work had come to play by the 4th and 3rd millennia.

Major cultures and sites

There was not one Chinese Neolithic but a mosaic of regional cultures whose scope and significance are still being determined. Their location in the area defined today as China does not necessarily mean that all the Neolithic cultures were Chinese or even proto-Chinese. Their contributions to the Bronze Age civilization of the Shang, which may be taken as unmistakably Chinese in both cultural as well as geographical terms, need to be assessed in each case. In addition, the presence of a particular ceramic ware does not necessarily define a cultural horizon; transitional phases, both chronological and geographical, are not discussed in detail in the following paragraphs.

Incipient Neolithic

Study of the historical reduction of the size of human teeth suggests that the first human beings to eat cooked food did so in southern China. The sites of Xianrendong in Jiangxi and Zengpiyan in Guangxi have yielded artifacts from the 10th to the 7th millennium BC that include low-fired, cord-marked shards with some incised decoration and mostly chipped stone tools; these pots may have been used for cooking and storage. Pottery and stone tools from shell middens in southern China also suggest Incipient Neolithic occupations. These early southern sites may have been related to the Neolithic Bac Son culture in Vietnam; connections to the subsequent Neolithic cultures of northwestern and northern China have yet to be demonstrated.

6th millennium BC

Two major cultures can be identified in the northwest: Laoguantai, in eastern and southern Shaanxi and northwestern Henan, and Dadiwan I—a development of Laoguantai culture—in eastern Gansu and western Shaanxi. The pots in both cultures were low-fired, sand-tempered, and mainly red in colour, and bowls with three stubby feet or ring feet were common. The painted bands of this pottery may represent the start of the Painted Pottery culture.

In northern China the people of Peiligang (north-central Henan) made less use of cord marking and painted design on their pots than did those at Dadiwan I; the variety of their stone tools, including sawtooth sickles, indicates the importance of agriculture. The Cishan potters (southern Hebei) employed more cord-marked decoration and made a greater variety of forms, including basins, cups, serving stands, and pot supports. The discovery of two pottery models of silkworm chrysalides and 70 shuttlelike objects at a 6th-millennium-BC site at Nanyangzhuang (southern Hebei) suggests the early production of silk, the characteristic Chinese textile.

5th millennium BC

The lower stratum of the Beishouling culture is represented by finds along the Wei and Jing rivers; bowls, deep-bodied jugs, and three-footed vessels, mainly red in colour, were common. The lower stratum of the related Banpo culture, also in the Wei River drainage area, was characterized by cord-marked red or red-brown ware, especially round and flat-bottomed bowls and pointed-bottomed amphorae. The Banpo inhabitants lived in partially subterranean houses and were supported by a mixed economy of millet agriculture, hunting, and gathering. The importance of fishing is confirmed by designs of stylized fish painted on a few of the bowls and by numerous hooks and net sinkers.

In the east, by the start of the 5th millennium, the Beixin culture in central and southern Shandong and northern Jiangsu was characterized by fine clay or sand-tempered pots decorated with comb markings, incised and impressed designs, and narrow appliquéd bands. Artifacts include many three-legged, deep-bodied tripods, gobletlike serving vessels, bowls, and pot supports. Hougang (lower stratum) remains have been found in southern Hebei and central Henan. The vessels, some finished on a slow wheel, were mainly red-coloured and had been fired at high heat. They include jars, tripods, and round-bottomed, flat-bottomed, and ring-footed bowls. No pointed amphorae have been found, and there were few painted designs. A characteristic red band under the rim of most gray-ware bowls was produced during the firing process.

Archaeologists have generally classified the lower strata of Beishouling, Banpo, and Hougang cultures under the rubric of Painted Pottery (or, after a later site, Yangshao) culture, but two cautions should be noted. First, a distinction may have existed between a more westerly culture in the Wei valley (early Beishouling and early Banpo) that was rooted in the Laoguantai culture and a more easterly one (Beixin and Hougang) that developed from the Peiligang and Cishan cultures. Second, since only 2 to 3 percent of the Banpo pots were painted, the designation Painted Pottery culture seems premature.

In the region of the lower Yangtze River (Chang Jiang), the Hemudu site in northern Zhejiang has yielded caldrons, cups, bowls, and pot supports made of porous, charcoal-tempered black pottery. The site is remarkable for its wooden and bone farming tools, the bird designs carved on bone and ivory, the superior carpentry of its pile dwellings (a response to the damp environment), a wooden weaving shuttle, and the earliest lacquerware and rice remains yet reported in the world (c. 5000–4750 BC).

The Qingliangang culture, which succeeded that of Hemudu in Jiangsu, northern Zhejiang, and southern Shandong, was characterized by ring-footed and flat-bottomed pots, gui (wide-mouthed vessels), tripods (common north of the Yangtze), and serving stands (common south of the Yangtze). Early fine-paste redware gave way in the later period to fine-paste gray and black ware. Polished stone artifacts include axes and spades, some perforated, and jade ornaments.

Another descendant of Hemudu culture was that of Majiabang, which had close ties with the Qingliangang culture in southern Jiangsu, northern Zhejiang, and Shanghai. In southeastern China a cord-marked pottery horizon, represented by the site of Fuguodun on the island of Quemoy (Kinmen), existed by at least the early 5th millennium. The suggestion that some of these southeastern cultures belonged to an Austronesian complex remains to be fully explored.

4th and 3rd millennia BC

A true Painted Pottery culture developed in the northwest, partly from the Wei valley and Banpo traditions of the 5th millennium. The Miaodigou I horizon, dated from the first half of the 4th millennium, produced burnished bowls and basins of fine red pottery, some 15 percent of which were painted, generally in black, with dots, spirals, and sinuous lines. It was succeeded by a variety of Majiayao cultures (late 4th to early 3rd millennium) in eastern Gansu, eastern Qinghai, and northern Sichuan. About one-third of Majiayao vessels were decorated on the upper two-thirds of the body with a variety of designs in black pigment; multiarmed radial spirals, painted with calligraphic ease, were the most prominent. Related designs involving sawtooth lines, gourd-shaped panels, spirals, and zoomorphic stick figures were painted on pots of the Banshan (mid-3rd millennium) and Machang (last half of 3rd millennium) cultures. Some two-thirds of the pots found in the Machang burial area at Liuwan in Qinghai, for example, were painted. In the North China Plain, Dahe culture sites contain a mixture of Miaodigou and eastern, Dawenkou vessel types (see below), indicating that a meeting of two major traditions was taking place in this area in the late 4th millennium.

In the northeast the Hongshan culture (4th millennium and probably earlier) was centred in western Liaoning and eastern Inner Mongolia. It was characterized by small bowls (some with red tops), fine redware serving stands, painted pottery, and microliths. Numerous jade amulets in the form of birds, turtles, and coiled dragons reveal strong affiliations with the other jade-working cultures of the east coast, such as Liangzhu.

In east China the Liulin and Huating sites in northern Jiangsu (first half of 4th millennium) represent regional cultures that derived in large part from that of Qingliangang. Upper strata also show strong affinities with contemporary Dawenkou sites in southern Shandong, northern Anhui, and northern Jiangsu. Dawenkou culture (mid-5th to at least mid-3rd millennium) is characterized by the emergence of wheel-made pots of various colours, some of them remarkably thin and delicate; vessels with ring feet and tall legs (such as tripods, serving stands, and goblets); carved, perforated, and polished tools; and ornaments in stone, jade, and bone. The people practiced skull deformation and tooth extraction. Mortuary customs involved ledges for displaying grave goods, coffin chambers, and the burial of animal teeth, pig heads, and pig jawbones.

In the middle and lower Yangtze River valley during the 4th and 3rd millennia, the Daxi and Qujialing cultures shared a significant number of traits, including rice production, ring-footed vessels, goblets with sharply angled profiles, ceramic whorls, and black pottery with designs painted in red after firing. Characteristic Qujialing ceramic objects not generally found in Daxi sites include eggshell-thin goblets and bowls painted with black or orange designs, double-waisted bowls, tall, ring-footed goblets and serving stands, and many styles of tripods. Admirably executed and painted clay whorls suggest a thriving textile industry. The chronological distribution of ceramic features suggests a transmission from Daxi to Qujialing, but the precise relationship between the two cultures has been much debated.

The Majiabang culture in the Lake Tai basin was succeeded during the 4th millennium by that of Songze. The pots, increasingly wheel-made, were predominantly clay-tempered gray ware. Tripods with a variety of leg shapes, serving stands, gui pitchers with handles, and goblets with petal-shaped feet were characteristic. Ring feet were used, silhouettes became more angular, and triangular and circular perforations were cut to form openwork designs on the short-stemmed serving stands. A variety of jade ornaments, a feature of Qingliangang culture, has been excavated from Songze burial sites.

Sites of the Liangzhu culture (from the last half of the 4th to the last half of the 3rd millennium) have generally been found in the same area. The pots were mainly wheel-made, clay-tempered gray ware with a black skin and were produced by reduction firing; oxidized redware was less prevalent. Some of the serving stand and tripod shapes had evolved from Majiabang prototypes, while other vessel forms included long-necked gui pitchers. The walls of some vessels were black throughout, eggshell-thin, and burnished, resembling those found in Late Neolithic sites in Shandong (see below). Extravagant numbers of highly worked jade bi disks and cong tubes were placed in certain burials, such as one at Sidun (southern Jiangsu) that contained 57 of them. Liangzhu farmers had developed a characteristic triangular shale plow for cultivating the wet soils of the region. Fragments of woven silk from about 3000 BC have been found at Qianshanyang (northern Zhejiang). Along the southeast coast and on Taiwan, the Dapenkeng corded-ware culture emerged during the 4th and 3rd millennia. This culture, with a fuller inventory of pot and tool types than had previously been seen in the area, developed in part from that of Fuguodun but may also have been influenced by cultures to the west and north, including Qingliangang, Liangzhu, and Liulin. The pots were characterized by incised line patterns on neck and rim, low, perforated foot rims, and some painted decoration.

Regional cultures of the Late Neolithic

By the 3rd millennium BC, the regional cultures in the areas discussed above showed increased signs of interaction and even convergence. That they are frequently referred to as varieties of the Longshan culture (c. 2500–2000 BC) of east-central Shandong—characterized by its lustrous, eggshell-thin black ware—suggests the degree to which these cultures are thought to have experienced eastern influence. That influence, diverse in origin and of varying intensity, entered the North China Plain from sites such as Dadunzi and Dawenkou to the east and also moved up the Han River from the Qujialing area to the south. A variety of eastern features are evident in the ceramic objects of the period, including use of the fast wheel, unpainted surfaces, sharply angled profiles, and eccentric shapes. There was a greater production of gray and black, rather than red, ware; componential construction was emphasized, in which legs, spouts, and handles were appended to the basic form (which might itself have been built sectionally). Greater elevation was achieved by means of ring feet and tall legs. Ceramic objects included three-legged tripods, steamer cooking vessels, gui pouring pitchers, serving stands, fitted lids, cups and goblets, and asymmetrical beihu vases for carrying water that were flattened on one side to lie against a person’s body. In stone and jade objects, eastern influence is evidenced by perforated stone tools and ornaments such as bi disks and cong tubes used in burials. Other burial customs involved ledges to display the goods buried with the deceased and large wooden coffin chambers. In handicrafts an emphasis was placed on precise mensuration in working clay, stone, and wood. Although the first, primitive versions of the eastern ceramic types may have been made on occasion in the North China Plain, in virtually every case these types were elaborated in the east and given more-precise functional definition, greater structural strength, and greater aesthetic coherence. It was evidently the mixing in the 3rd and 2nd millennia of these eastern elements with the strong and extensive traditions native to the North China Plain—represented by such Late Neolithic sites as Gelawangcun (near Zhengzhou), Wangwan (near Luoyang), Miaodigou (in central and western Henan), and Taosi and Dengxiafeng (in southwest Shanxi)—that stimulated the rise of early Bronze Age culture in the North China Plain and not in the east.

Religious beliefs and social organization

The inhabitants of Neolithic China were, by the 5th millennium if not earlier, remarkably assiduous in the attention they paid to the disposition and commemoration of their dead. There was a consistency of orientation and posture, with the dead of the northwest given a westerly orientation and those of the east an easterly one. The dead were segregated, frequently in what appear to be kinship groupings (e.g., at Yuanjunmiao, Shaanxi). There were graveside ritual offerings of liquids, pig skulls, and pig jaws (e.g., Banpo and Dawenkou), and the demanding practice of collective secondary burial, in which the bones of up to 70 or 80 corpses were stripped of their flesh and reburied together, was extensively practiced as early as the first half of the 5th millennium (e.g., Yuanjunmiao). Evidence of divination using scapulae (shoulder blades) dating from the end of the 4th millennium (from Fuhegoumen, Liaoning) implies the existence of ritual specialists. There was a lavish expenditure of energy by the 3rd millennium on tomb ramps and coffin chambers (e.g., Liuwan [in eastern Qinghai] and Dawenkou) and on the burial of redundant quantities of expensive grave goods (e.g., Dafanzhuang in Shandong, Fuquanshan in Shanghai, and Liuwan), presumably for use by the dead in some afterlife.

Although there is no firm archaeological evidence of a shift from matrilineal to patrilineal society, the goods buried in graves indicate during the course of the 4th and 3rd millennia an increase in general wealth, the gradual emergence of private or lineage property, an increase in social differentiation and gender distinction of work roles, and a reduction in the relative wealth of women. The occasional practice of human sacrifice or accompanying-in-death from scattered 4th- and 3rd-millennium sites (e.g., Miaodigou I, Zhanglingshan in Jiangsu, Qinweijia in Gansu, and Liuwan) suggests that ties of dependency and obligation were conceived as continuing beyond death and that women were likely to be in the dependent position. Early forms of ancestor worship, together with all that they imply for social organization and obligation among the living, were deeply rooted and extensively developed by the Late Neolithic Period. Such religious belief and practice undoubtedly served to validate and encourage the decline of the more egalitarian societies of earlier periods.

The first historical dynasty: the Shang
The advent of bronze casting

The 3rd and 2nd millennia were marked by the appearance of increasing warfare, complex urban settlements, intense status differentiation, and administrative and religious hierarchies that legitimated and controlled the massive mobilization of labour for dynastic work or warfare. The casting of bronze left the most-evident archaeological traces of these momentous changes, but its introduction must be seen as part of a far-larger shift in the nature of society as a whole, representing an intensification of the social and religious practices of the Neolithic.

A Chalcolithic Period (Copper Age; i.e., transitional period between the Late Neolithic and the Bronze Age) dating to the mid-5th millennium may be dimly perceived. A growing number of 3rd-millennium sites, primarily in the northwest but also in Henan and Shandong, have yielded primitive knives, awls, and drills made of copper and bronze. Stylistic evidence, such as the sharp angles, flat bottoms, and strap handles of certain Qijia clay pots (in Gansu; c. 2250–1900 BC), has led some scholars to posit an early sheet- or wrought-metal tradition possibly introduced from the west by migrating Indo-European peoples, but no wrought-metal objects have been found.

The construction and baking of the clay cores and sectional piece molds employed in Chinese bronze casting of the 2nd millennium indicate that early metalworking in China rapidly adapted to, if it did not develop indigenously from, the sophisticated high-heat ceramic technology of the Late Neolithic potters, who were already using ceramic molds and cores to produce forms such as the hollow legs of the li cooking caldron. Chinese bronze casting represents, as the continuity in vessel shapes suggests, an aesthetic and technological extension of that ceramic tradition rather than its replacement. The bronze casters’ preference for vessels elevated on ring feet or legs further suggests aesthetic links to the east rather than the northwest.

The number, complexity, and size—the Simuwu tetrapod weighed 1,925 pounds (875 kg)—of the Late Shang ritual vessels reveal high technological competence married to large-scale, labour-intensive metal production. Bronze casting of this scale and character—in which large groups of ore miners, fuel gatherers, ceramists, and foundry workers were under the prescriptive control of the model designers and labour coordinators—must be understood as a manifestation, both technological and social, of the high value that Shang culture placed on hierarchy, social discipline, and central direction in all walks of life. The prestige of owning these metal objects must have derived in part from the political control over others that their production implied.

Chinese legends of the 1st millennium BC describe the labours of Yu, the Chinese “Noah” who drained away the floods to render China habitable and established the first Chinese dynasty, called Xia. Seventeen Xia kings are listed in the Shiji, a comprehensive history written during the 1st century BC, and much ingenuity has been devoted to identifying certain Late Neolithic fortified sites—such as Wangchenggang (“Mound of the Royal City”) in north-central Henan and Dengxiafeng in Xia county (possibly the site of Xiaxu, “Ruins of Xia”?), southern Shanxi—as early Xia capitals. Taosi, also in southern Shanxi, has been identified as a Xia capital because of the “royal” nature of five large male burials found there that were lavishly provided with grave goods. Although they fall within the region traditionally assigned to the Xia, particular archaeological sites can be hard to identify dynastically unless written records are found. The possibility that the Xia and Shang were partly contemporary, as cultures if not as dynasties, further complicates site identifications. A related approach has been to identify as Xia an archaeological horizon that lies developmentally between Late Neolithic and Shang strata.

The Shang dynasty

The Shang dynasty—the first Chinese dynasty to leave historical records—is thought to have ruled from about 1600 to 1046 BC. (Some scholars date the Shang from the mid-18th to the late 12th century BC.) One must, however, distinguish Shang as an archaeological term from Shang as a dynastic one. Erlitou, in north-central Henan, for example, was initially classified archaeologically as Early Shang; its developmental sequence from about 2400 to 1450 BC documents the vessel types and burial customs that link Early Shang culture to the Late Neolithic cultures of the east. In dynastic terms, however, Erlitou periods I and II (c. 1900 BC?) are now thought by many to represent a pre-Shang (and thus, perhaps, Xia) horizon. In this view, the two palace foundations, the elite burials, the ceremonial jade blades and sceptres, the bronze axes and dagger axes, and the simple ritual bronzes—said to be the earliest yet found in China—of Erlitou III (c. 1700–1600 BC?) signal the advent of the dynastic Shang.

The archaeological classification of Middle Shang is represented by the remains found at Erligang (c. 1600 BC) near Zhengzhou, some 50 miles (80 km) to the east of Erlitou. The massive rammed-earth fortification, 118 feet (36 metres) wide at its base and enclosing an area of 1.2 square miles (3.2 square km), would have taken 10,000 people more than 12 years to build. Also found were ritual bronzes, including four monumental tetrapods (the largest weighing 190 pounds [86 kg]; palace foundations; workshops for bronze casting, pot making, and bone working; burials; and two inscribed fragments of oracle bones. Another rammed-earth fortification, enclosing about 450 acres (180 hectares) and also dated to the Erligang period, was found at Yanshi, about 3 miles (5 km) east of the Erlitou III palace foundations. These walls and palaces have been variously identified by modern scholars—the identification now favoured is of Zhengzhou as Bo, the capital of the Shang dynasty during the reign of Tang, the dynasty’s founder—and their dynastic affiliations are yet to be firmly established. The presence of two large, relatively close contemporary fortifications at Zhengzhou and Yanshi, however, indicates the strategic importance of the area and considerable powers of labour mobilization.

Panlongcheng in Hubei, 280 miles (450 km) south of Zhengzhou, is an example of Middle Shang expansion into the northwest, northeast, and south. A city wall, palace foundations, burials with human sacrifices, bronze workshops, and mortuary bronzes of the Erligang type form a complex that duplicates on a smaller scale Zhengzhou. A transitional period spanning the gap between the Late Erligang phase of Middle Shang and the Yinxu phase of Late Shang indicates a widespread network of Shang cultural sites that were linked by uniform bronze-casting styles and mortuary practices. A relatively homogeneous culture united the Bronze Age elite through much of China around the 14th century BC.

The Late Shang period is best represented by a cluster of sites focused on the village of Xiaotun, west of Anyang in northern Henan. Known to history as Yinxu, “the Ruins of Yin” (Yin was the name used by the succeeding Zhou dynasty for the Shang), it was a seat of royal power for the last nine Shang kings, from Wuding to Dixin. According to the “short chronology” used in this article, which is based on modern studies of lunar eclipse records and reinterpretations of Zhou annals, these kings would have reigned from about 1250 to 1046 BC. (One version of the traditional “long chronology,” based primarily on a 1st-century-BC source, would place the last 12 Shang kings, from Pangeng onward, at Yinxu from 1398 to 1112 BC.) Sophisticated bronze, ceramic, stone, and bone industries were housed in a network of settlements surrounding the unwalled cult centre at Xiaotun, which had rammed-earth temple-palace foundations. And Xiaotun itself lay at the centre of a larger network of Late Shang sites, such as Xingtai to the north and Xinxiang to the south, in southern Hebei and northern Henan.

Royal burials

The royal cemetery lay at Xibeigang, only a short distance northwest of Xiaotun. The hierarchy of burials at that and other cemeteries in the area reflected the social organization of the living. Large pit tombs, some nearly 40 feet (12 metres) deep, were furnished with four ramps and massive grave chambers for the kings. Retainers who accompanied their lords in death lay in or near the larger tombs, members of the lesser elite and commoners were buried in pits that ranged from medium size to shallow, those of still lower status were thrown into refuse pits and disused wells, and human and animal victims of the royal mortuary cult were placed in sacrificial pits. Only a few undisturbed elite burials have been unearthed, the most notable being that of Fuhao, a consort of Wuding. That her relatively small grave contained 468 bronze objects, 775 jades, and more than 6,880 cowries suggests how great the wealth placed in the far-larger royal tombs must have been.

The chariot

The light chariot, with 18 to 26 spokes per wheel, first appeared, according to the archaeological and inscriptional record, about 1200 BC. Glistening with bronze, it was initially a prestigious command car used primarily in hunting. The 16 chariot burials found at Xiaotun raise the possibility of some form of Indo-European contact with China, and there is little doubt that the chariot, which probably originated in the Caucasus, entered China via Central Asia and the northern steppe. Animal-headed knives, always associated with chariot burials, are further evidence of a northern connection.


Late Shang culture is also defined by the size, elaborate shapes, and evolved decor of the ritual bronzes, many of which were used in wine offerings to the ancestors and some of which were inscribed with ancestral dedications such as “Made for Father Ding.” Their surfaces were ornamented with zoomorphic and theriomorphic elements set against intricate backgrounds of geometric meanders, spirals, and quills. Some of the animal forms—which include tigers, birds, snakes, dragons, cicadas, and water buffalo—have been thought to represent shamanistic familiars or emblems that ward away evil. The exact meaning of the iconography, however, may never be known. That the predominant taotie monster mask—with bulging eyes, fangs, horns, and claws—may have been anticipated by designs carved on jade cong tubes and axes from Liangzhu culture sites in the Yangtze delta and from the Late Neolithic in Shandong suggests that its origins are ancient. But the degree to which pure form or intrinsic meaning took priority, in either Neolithic or Shang times, is hard to assess.

Late Shang divination and religion

Although certain complex symbols painted on Late Neolithic pots from Shandong suggest that primitive writing was emerging in the east in the 3rd millennium, the Shang divination inscriptions that appear at Xiaotun form the earliest body of Chinese writing yet known. In Late Shang divination as practiced during the reign of Wuding (c. 1250–1192 BC), cattle scapulae or turtle plastrons, in a refinement of Neolithic practice, were first planed and bored with hollow depressions to which an intense heat source was then applied. The resulting T-shaped stress cracks were interpreted as lucky or unlucky. After the prognostication had been made, the day, the name of the presiding diviner (some 120 are known), the subject of the charge, the prognostication, and the result might be carved into the surface of the bone. Among the topics divined were sacrifices, campaigns, hunts, the good fortune of the 10-day week or of the night or day, weather, harvests, sickness, childbearing, dreams, settlement building, the issuing of orders, tribute, divine assistance, and prayers to various spirits. Some evolution in divinatory practice and theology evidently occurred. By the reigns of the last two Shang kings, Diyi and Dixin (c. 1101–1046 BC), the scope and form of Shang divination had become considerably simplified: prognostications were uniformly optimistic, and divination topics were limited mainly to the sacrificial schedule, the coming 10 days, the coming night, and hunting.

State and society

The ritual schedule records 29 royal ancestors over a span of 17 generations who, from at least Wuding to Dixin, were each known as wang (“king”). Presiding over a stable politico-religious hierarchy of ritual specialists, officers, artisans, retainers, and servile peasants, they ruled with varying degrees of intensity over the North China Plain and parts of Shandong, Shanxi, and Shaanxi, mobilizing armies of at least several thousand men as the occasion arose.

The worship of royal ancestors was central to the maintenance of the dynasty. The ancestors were designated by 10 “stem” names (jia, yi, bing, ding, etc.) that were often prefixed by kin titles, such as “father” and “grandfather,” or by status appellations, such as “great” or “small.” The same stems were used to name the 10 days (or suns) of the week, and ancestors received cult on their name days according to a fixed schedule, particularly after the reforms of Zujia. For example, Dayi (“Great I,” the sacrificial name of Tang, the dynasty founder) was worshiped on yi days, Wuding on ding days. The Shang dynastic group, whose lineage name was Zi (according to later sources), appears to have been divided into 10 units corresponding to the 10 stems. Succession to the kingship alternated on a generational basis between two major groupings of jia and yi kings on the one hand and ding kings on the other. The attention paid in the sacrificial system to the consorts of “great lineage” kings—who were themselves both sons (possibly nephews) and fathers (possibly uncles) of kings—indicates that women may have played a key role in the marriage alliances that ensured such circulation of power.

The goodwill of the ancestors, and of certain river and mountain powers, was sought through prayer and offerings of grain, millet wine, and animal and human sacrifice. The highest power of all, with whom the ancestors mediated for the living king, was the relatively remote deity Di, or Shangdi, “the Lord on High.” Di controlled victory in battle, the harvest, the fate of the capital, and the weather, but, on the evidence of the oracle bone inscriptions, he received no cult. This suggests that Di’s command was too inscrutable to be divined or influenced; he was in all likelihood an impartial figure of last theological resort, needed to account for inexplicable events.

Although Marxist historians have categorized the Shang as a slave society, it would be more accurate to describe it as a dependent society. The king ruled a patrimonial state in which royal authority, treated as an extension of patriarchal control, was embedded in kinship and kinshiplike ties. Despite the existence of such formal titles as “the many horses” or “the many archers,” administration was apparently based primarily on kinship alliances, generational status, and personal charisma. The intensity with which ancestors were worshipped suggests the strength of the kinship system among the living; the ritualized ties of filiation and dependency that bound a son to his father, both before and after death, are likely to have had profound political implications for society as a whole. This was not a world in which concepts such as freedom and slavery would have been readily comprehensible. Everybody, from king to peasant, was bound by ties of obligation—to former kings, to ancestors, to superiors, and to dependents. The routine sacrificial offering of human beings, usually prisoners from the Qiang tribe, as if they were sacrificial animals and the rarer practice of accompanying-in-death, in which 40 or more retainers, often of high status, were buried with a dead king, suggest the degree to which ties of affection, obligation, or servitude were thought to be stronger than life itself. If slavery existed, it was psychological and ideological, not legal. The political ability to create and exploit ties of dependency originally based on kinship was one of the characteristic strengths of early Chinese civilization.

Such ties were fundamentally personal in nature. The king referred to himself as yu yiren, “I, the one man,” and he was, like many early monarchs, peripatetic. Only by traveling through his domains could he ensure political and economic support. These considerations, coupled with the probability that the position of king circulated between social or ritual units, suggest that, lacking a national bureaucracy or effective means of control over distance, the dynasty was relatively weak. The Zi should above all be regarded as a politically dominant lineage that may have displaced the Si lineage of the Xia and that was in turn to be displaced by the Ji lineage of the Zhou. But the choices that the Shang made—involving ancestor worship, the politico-religious nature of the state, patrimonial administration, the mantic role of the ruler, and a pervasive sense of social obligation—were not displaced. These choices endured and were to define, restrict, and enhance the institutions and political culture of the full-fledged dynasties yet to come.