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Home , Dadu River, Geography of China, Loess Plateau, Long River (Fujian), Long River (Guangxi), North China

UNDERSTANDING THE GEOGRAPHIES OF An Assemblage of Pieces

Luoyang pit house. BY ROBERT W. MCCOLL - Frontier.

Ningxia, , north of Guyuan.

Hong Kong harbor.

Sand dunes of .

Yangzi Valley — Three Gorges.

Shenzen.

Guangzhou.

4 EDUCATION ABOUT Volume 4, Number 2 Fall 1999 China not only has the world’s largest population (over 1.3 billion), but it also is an extremely large country (more than 9.5 million square kilometers) with immense physical and cultural diversity. In fact, China should be viewed as an assemblage of pieces much like . Anyone who tries to teach the faces the dilemma of either being very general (almost superficial) or delving into so many aspects and details as to be unable to complete the task in a single semester. How does one integrate three thousand years of history, language, local cultural practices, diets, architecture, et al. with basic physical geographies and economics that range from subsistence farming and herding to sophisticated electronics and computer industries in cities like or ?

o provide a sense of China’s SOME USEFUL THEMES REGIONALLY DISTINCTIVE diversity and its rich cultural Simply memorizing maps and map loca- CHARACTERISTICS fabric, one should probably tions is not geography. Understanding the MAY GENERATE REGIONAL, divide the political unit into interaction between a natural environ- CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC its natural parts, parts that ment and various human and cultural IDENTITIES are distinct both physically patterns is a major objective. These Everyone recognizes that any list of asT well as culturally. Many of these provide not only a “sense of place,” but “typical” characteristics of a place will “parts” have had a distinct cultural they illustrate how people adapt have many omissions and even overlaps and political history as ancient kingdoms differently in different environments. with other places. Still, there are unique or states. Examples would include China is not one large homogeneous mixtures of foods, clothing, economics, the ancient states of and Ba in mod- mass of people and behaviors. To fully etc. that give any its own sense of ern Sichuan, or of in modern appreciate its geographic and cultural place or flavor—a kind of cultural finger- . In fact, each of the geographic diversity, one needs to follow some print—a method of distinguishing and discussed below at one time general themes that can act as a kind of understanding differences that are real, contained a distinct and separate culture, guideline. Among the more useful but often subtle. It is these distinctions which over time have become melded themes in teaching and understanding the that we seek to teach. It is important to into what is modern China. Still, these diversity of China are: understand that not all Chinese are alike regions remain distinct in many respects. Vernacular housing/shelter—how or eat the same foods or talk the same But, one also should demonstrate the do people design their shelter to way or even think the same. For example, many ways in which China has been avoid climatic extremes and/or some speak of the “ Valley” “united” and how many of its canals and threats from invaders or neighbors? as a kind of uniform entity, despite its rivers have been evolved and used to Diets—What basic foods are avail- origins in the high , “unite” these many parts. able, and how do they reflect basic passage through the arid environmental conditions? and gorges of , and finally across Economy—Given the natural envi- the open of . It is the ronments, cultural preferences, and recognition of geographic diversity that access to more distant markets, what is an important objective and achieve- kinds of economic activity other than ment when teaching about the geography self-sufficiency can evolve? of China. Cities—Cities in China have tradi- tionally been centers of rule or Crescent Lake, Dunhuang. control, not centers serving their economic hinterland. Thus, most cities have important strategic locations, and these should be “discovered” and discussed. Regions—History and physical geography have often combined to A Yurt and Kirghiz family. generate distinct clusters of peoples and cultures. Often these have been “kingdoms” or “states” in the past.

Photos courtesy of Robert W. McColl 5 pit house. , Loess, north of Guyuan. Typical terraces and crop mixtures in the Loess Plateau.

THE NORTH CHINA THE LOESS PLATEAU No geographic area While not as so typifies the stan- familiar to pit house with fruit tree, fourteen to six- dard image or myth Westerners as teen feet deep. of China and the North or South Chinese as the China, the . Loess Plateau Here are found the is an area of people who form the image of stalwart great historic farmers (peasants) living in closely importance to the Chinese. Most recently, packed villages and houses of mud or it was the site of the headquarters of adobe, although today many of these and the Chinese Communist Simply memorizing maps and traditional dwellings are being faced Party just prior to their conquest of China in with fired brick. It is an area subject 1948. In ancient times, this region was the map locations is not geography. to the extreme heat and frequent meeting zone between the nomadic herders Understanding the interaction droughts of summer or floods of spring. of the Mongolian and Central Asian steppe Life on the North China Plain is one of and the more settled farming communities between a natural environment self-sufficiency and subsistence. And of what would become China. It was on the finally, the inhabitants of the plain have margins of the loess areas that the great and various human and cultural had to endure endless depredations by trading cities and capitals of empire first patterns is a major objective. armies and bandits who swept across the formed—Xi’an or Chang’an being the best area in search of food or other loot, but known. Because winters are harsh, water it is an environment of little surplus scarce, and trees even scarcer, traditional and no natural or other wealth. It houses were caves cut into the friable loess. was a perfect environment for Christian Today, some forty million people still missionaries, and later the Chinese Com- live in underground (cave) housing. As munists, to bring a message of hope to the with North China, it was an area in which often utterly destitute. Still, it also was poverty and banditry traditionally were referred to as the “good earth.” endemic. Only the cities could become Mud-based, single-story houses wealthy and then only via trade with areas outside the immediate region. Wheelbarrows and canal boats for transport Cave houses or adobe construction Windy winters with dust Highly eroded and gullied terrain Wheat-based diets (especially Wheat noodles and sour cabbage steamed bread) dominate the diet Many small villages Colorful paper-cut designs Winter food emphasizes potatoes Use of mules and in transport

6 EDUCATION ABOUT ASIA Volume 4, Number 2 Fall 1999 Field and crop adjustments on the Sichuan-Tibet harbor from the new Y.M.C.A building. Brick homes in , southeast coastal area. Frontier. Sichuan, , Moxi xiang. River reclamation/debris flow reclamation.

THE THE SOUTHEAST Among the AND SHANGHAI Chinese it This region cur- often is said rently (1990s) is that “Sichuan the area of the is the first most active eco- province to nomic growth and declare inde- development in

pendence and China. It also was Cities emerge from rice paddies. View from the the last to be reunited after there is the region to first I-Forum hotel near the railroad station, Shenzen. peace.” Nothing so well illustrates the experience West- ability of Sichuan to be wholly autarchi- ern impact via the cal—self-sufficient from the rest of Opium War and It is important to understand that China—as this comment and its reality. “Treaty Ports.” It is an area with histori- In dramatic contrast to North China or cally the greatest number of Christian not all Chinese are alike or eat the Loess region, Sichuan is a province missionaries, Chinese Christians, and the same foods or talk the same and region that can produce virtually Christian churches. And, like so many any product grown anyplace in China. It distinct physical environments in China, way or even think the same. has sufficient surplus so that it has no it is dominated by ethnic peoples not fully need for imports of foods or even raw identifiable as “Han” who speak distinct materials. It truly is a land of indepen- languages and who often have closer dence—and its politicians (including ties to Chinese overseas than to those in Deng Xiaoping) and warlords have often . behaved that way. Its generally Ocean fishing and commerce is mild, and its location provides access Ocean ports and trade to every major economic and physical environment in China—Tibet, the Loess Seafoods and tropical fruits dominate diets Plateau, the Yangzi Valley, and the Southeast uplands. What it lacks is easy Teas are a regional specialty crop and secure access to the sea—but then Houses are of brick with elaborate does it really need this? tiled roofs, often with large gardens An interior basin of vast variety in Wealthy merchants construct massive and foods—from tropical to public buildings, bridges, etc. cold mountains A high living standard and densely populated Houses cling to sloped land, leaving flat land for food production Gateway to Tibet and mixed ethnic groups, especially in the Plain Teahouses for social gatherings and gossip reflect free time from agriculture

7 Shadows of a caravan on the sand dunes. Yangzi Valley—Three Gorges. Typical adjustments Crescent Lake, Dunhuang. to changing water levels. Contrasted with eastern China, Xinjiang is a landscape of , mountains, and oases. Located between the cultural empires of China in the east and Persia and in the west, Xinjiang was an important historic link. One result THE YANGZI of this intermediate position is that (CHANGJIANG VALLEY) Xinjiang’s people are predominantly Separated from other regions by moun- Moslem and Turkic in ethnicity and tains and extensive wetlands, the Yangzi language. Because of their proximity to ( or Changjiang “”), its Persia, their agricultural history is more and lakes are the focus of life closely linked to the mercantile cities and Resting caravan. Dunhuang. and economics. Fishing and commerce trade of the ancient Road than by boat dominate life and culture. the practices of eastern China. Cities, such as (in Sichuan The trade and traffic along this famous province), Wuhan and are route mixed people and cultures and intro- dominated by economies tied to water- duced distinctive styles of music and borne transportation and commerce—not musical instruments, especially the suona agriculture or even food processing. and pipa, or Chinese-style lute. Major manufacturing centers exist along In the northern part of Xinjiang, the the river because of its cheap transport. Junggar Basin, people have a long associa- There are large numbers of people who tion with various Mongol peoples, live their entire lives on small and and because this area has more moisture medium-sized boats. They are “boat peo- and grass than the in the ple” and make a living moving goods and south, they are more pastoral than A Yurt and Kirghiz family outside Pamirs, Xinjiang. people via the numerous lakes, canals nomadic. The Tarim Basin was more and rivers of the entire Yangzi valley, closely related to Persia and the Islamic especially in the areas around Shanghai. influences of the . It also was a Contiguous to the river and dependent traditional link (via the ) upon it for their cultures and economic between Persia and the Middle East and well-being are the lake districts and eastern China. The Tarim Basin is charac- provinces such as , , , terized by city-dominated oases and mixed , and . farming and animals (mostly sheep). In the Yangzi, Han, Xiang and Gan rivers (mountains that divide the two basins), the people are nomadic. Chao Hu, Dongting and Poyang lakes Earth/adobe houses Rice and fish are dietary mainstays Central Asian or Persian-style architecture Traditionally, people lived aboard boats Wheat noodles and flat, round wheat bread (nan) with mutton dominate White plastered multistoried houses the diet with black tiled roofs Sheep, goats, and horses Extensive areas of sand dunes High alpine mountains Common transport is by camel or long-distance bus and trucks

8 EDUCATION ABOUT ASIA Volume 4, Number 2 Fall 1999 NORTHEAST () TIBET AND QINGHAI SOUTHWEST UPLANDS As with Xinjiang and Tibet/Qinghai, Best known as the home of the Dalai is a landscape of is one of the least typical Lama and the Tibetan (Yellow Hat) form dissected , dense , and environments compared to most of what of Buddhism, the Tibetan and Qinghai great ethnic diversity. This is one of is viewed as China in the popular mind. plateaus are extremely high in elevation China’s most inaccessible regions and Winters are damp and cold. The best (an average of 4,000 meters (14,000 thus one of its more economically back- agricultural crops are commercial crops feet). They also have a very sparse popu- ward as well. The hilly terrain makes such as soybeans and sugar beets. Ice lation for an area of about 2 million bicycle traffic almost impossible, and festivals mark winter holidays. Where the square kilometers and a combined most people travel by foot, water or forests remain abundant, houses are built population of only 6.5 million. Most of . Hillsides were largely denuded of wood and resemble housing in these people are concentrated in only two during the (1966–76) ’s . Regionally, diets are or three cities. Other than in the more but have been replanted—mostly with much richer in animal proteins and verdant areas of the south face of the eucalyptus trees imported from . soybeans than in the rice and vegetables and the subtropical mountains In the south, near the border with Viet- of central or southern China. Because along the Sichuan border, the region is nam, are important mines originally of its rich and iron resources, the dominated by vast expanses of flat developed commercially by the French. region was industrially developed by terrain dotted with lakes—most of which Plans for the 2000s are to develop close the Russians and Japanese, so it has are saline. It is a harsh environment, not economic ties with , , and more railroads and heavy industrial well suited to human use, and certainly Thailand—a plan already well underway. manufacturing than any other region in not to crop agriculture. Diets are dominated by vegetables, China. Perhaps a fitting analogy would Typical shelters for the nomadic rice, and ducks or geese be Germany’s Ruhr Valley or the Pitts- herders are felt tents during the summer Houses may have thatched roofs and burgh area of the U.S. and low mud and dung huts or rock typically are built of wood or Industry and heavy manufacturing shelters for the winter. The cities are Rolling hills, rugged valleys and dominated by monasteries and their Commercial agriculture (sugar beets, mountains unique inward slanting, extremely thick soybeans) Cormorant fishing from bamboo rafts walls and small windows. Railroads and superhighways for Thatched huts on stilts in the south transportation Diets are dominated by yak butter (for fat and vitamins) and toasted barley. Rice, fish, fruits, and greens as diet Russian-style architecture There are few green vegetables, and meat mainstays Diets are dominated by meat and is a staple. A major limit on food avail- Multistory wood and stone houses in soybean curds ability is the high altitude that allows the north and west water to boil at very low (non-cooking) Local transport is by foot, boat or temperatures. This makes cooking meat horse extremely difficult without some kind of Tin mines are regional resources pressure cooker. Clothing is brightly colored, and Tibetan Buddhism and monasteries silver jewelry is common Herding peoples (sheep and goats) The linguistic and ethnic ties between High altitude and cold, even in the these peoples, however, imply a future summer integration in the development of trade Clothing is woolen and sheepskin with as well as growing layered economic independence of Beijing and North China. People travel by horse or walk Long-distance travel is by truck

9 TYING IT ALL TOGETHER— rivers and canals. Roads, of which the tal) on the Yellow River; later it went to FROM EMPIRE TO STATE Silk Road is only one, but the best known Beijing (the current national capital) in Clearly, to create political “China,” it was to non-Chinese, not only followed the the far north. and is important to tie these different oases and core areas of historic China, “pieces” (regions) together. Transporta- they also clung to cliff faces by trestles LAKES AND RIVERS tion was, and remains, the most crucial when it was necessary to cross steep and the Yangzi River factor. As the means of tying the country mountains such as the Daba and region are well served by the river as well and its regions together proceeded, a (e.g. the Shu Dao that linked the Wei as its major tributaries and their lakes. common language and shared cultural valley with the Sichuan Basin). Thus, water and “boat people” are the values followed. Together they created dominant common tie and links for this an empire that was both political and THE region. As in the “three gorges” of the cultural. Unlike the Roman Empire, the Much earlier, but clearly of national Yangzi and Daning rivers, where Chinese Empire evolved and has demon- importance by Song times (960–1279) the river no longer was usable, there were strated an uninterrupted cultural and Chinese engineers took advantage of trestle roads. political history. natural lakes and waterways, as well as a Clearly, every major region was unit- major crustal fault in the wetlands ed in part because of easy connections IMPERIAL HIGHWAYS between the Yangzi and the Huang Ho, within its boundaries, but to create an Because the origins of its empire lay in and built a man-made canal linking the empire or modern state transportation the interior of China—especially Xi’an— lower Yangzi Valley and . Its was, and remains, the key factor. Today, roads were initially more important than first “port” was (the Song capi- it is the railways and new highways that

10 EDUCATION ABOUT ASIA Volume 4, Number 2 Fall 1999 remain the physical manifestations of Thus, the Chinese have themselves of Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sci- ences. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, these “links.” However, one cannot long recognized their distinct geographic 1987. underestimate the importance of tele- regions. It seems only reasonable that we Sivin, Nathan, ed. The Contemporary Atlas of vision and telephones as well as the should teach about China with the same China. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1988. Contains airlines in keeping the Chinese viewing awareness and sensitivity to geographic excellent regional maps showing topography and cities; lots of photographs define each region— themselves as one people and culture. diversity. n provide a “sense of place.” Their value in political control was Smith, Christopher J. China: People and Places demonstrated in 1989 when televised in the Land of One Billion. Boulder, Colorado: “wanted” posters were broadcast instanta- REFERENCES Westview Press, 1991. neously across all China, and in June of NASA photographs taken from the Space Shut- Sun Yifu, ed. The Silk Road on Land and Sea. 1997 when the return of Hong Kong tles and the Russian Space Station can be viewed Beijing: China Pictorial, 1989. at the following Web sites: Whitehouse, Patrick and Maggy. China by Rail. became a national rallying point—again, New York: Vendome Press, 1989. across all of China and at the same time. http://images.jsc.nasa.gov or http://shuttle.nasa.gov or http://ersaf.jsc.nasa.gov. Zhao Songqiao. Geography of China: Environ- Vegetation Maps from AVHRR-NDVI ment, Resources, Population and Development. POLITICAL ORGANIZATION Maps with political boundaries, along with cloud- New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1994. As important as physical means of trans- free mosaics of imagery from space can also be USEFUL PERIODICALS portation and communication in creating found on the “Map Machine Atlas” available on a common culture has been political the Society’s Web site: China Pictorial www.nationalgeographic.com. organization. No empire or state can exist Bilingual Press Color satellite images related to China, along P.O. Box 388 without both cooperation and means of with discussions of their interpretations, can be Bendigo, VIC 3552, Australia enforcing order among such disparate found in various issues of the journal, GEOCAR- Phone: (03) 5443 3891; +61-3-5443 3891 (Inter- geographic areas and peoples. This was TO. national) the primary achievement of the first Articles and books that provide a sense of place Fax: (03) 5441 1600; +61-3-5441 1600 (Interna- and human/environment relationships would tional) “emperor of China,” Shihuangdi, in include: 221 B.C.E. This first emperor defined the Buxton, Leonard H. China: The Land and the China Reconstructs empire’s borders with Central Asia and People. New York: Gallery Books, W. H. Smith, Now known as China Today. Web site: http://www.chinanews.org/ChinaToday/ established common laws for everyone in Pub., 1988. A great collection of photographs and every geographic sector of the country. short descriptions of people and places. China Daily Drege, Jean-Pierre and Emile Buhrer. The Silk Web site: http://www.chinadaily.net/ In modern times, the reunification of Road Saga. New York: Facts on File, 1989. Far Eastern Economic Review China’s geographic regions (often histori- Edmonds, Richard Louis. Patterns of China’s Circulation Department Lost Harmony. New York: Routledge, 1994. cally independent kingdoms or “states”) Citicorp Center 25/F Chiu, Huan-hsing and Zhongmin Lu. Folk Cus- under a common Communist ideology 18 Whitfield Road toms of China. Beijing: , was a major achievement of the Chinese Causeway Bay, Hong Kong 1992. Fax: 825-2503-1549 Communists and the People’s Liberation Han-yèuan Yao. The Grand Canal: An Odyssey. Send name and address by fax or mail for free Army. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1987. trial copy. Political organization in China has been Hsieh Chiao-min and Jean Kan Hsieh. China: A successful in part because it recognizes the Provincial Atlas. New York: Macmillan Publish- Hong Kong Standard 4/F Sing Tao Building distinctiveness of various geographic ing, U.S.A, 1995. Knapp, Ronald G. The Chinese House. Hong 1 Wang Kwong Road areas. Today, large cities such as Shang- Kong: Oxford University Press, 1990. Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong hai, Beijing, , Chongqing, and ——. China’s Vernacular Architecture: House Circulation : 852-2798-2777 Hong Kong have special political status. Form and Culture. Honolulu: University of Fax: 852-2750-5584 Likewise, key economic cities have been Hawaii Press, 1989. Morning Post created and given special political status ——, ed. Chinese Landscapes. The Village as Subscriptions: Connie Chui Place. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, to provide controlled access to modern Phone: 852-2680-8680 1992. Fax: 852-2680-8687 economics and world trade. Finally, McColl, Robert W. “House and Field in the Reprints/Research geographic areas dominated by non-Han .” FOCUS, vol. 37, no. 4 (American Phone: 852-2680-8100 Chinese cultures and peoples, such as Geographical Society, 1987). Fax: 852-2665-6706 Xinjiang, Ningxia, Tibet, Inner , ——. “By Their Dwellings Shall We Know Them—An Analysis of Housing Form and Func- and have been given political tion Among Inner Asians.” FOCUS, vol. 39, no. status (at least on paper) of being 4 (1989). “Autonomous Regions.” Even at the local ——. “China’s Modern Silk Road.” FOCUS, vol. level, it is common to find special status 44, no. 2 (1991). ROBERT W. McCOLL is Professor and Chair- man of the Department of Geography at the given to cities or even geographic areas ——. “Follow the Flowers: The Itinerant Bee Keepers of China.” FOCUS, vol. 42, no. 1 University of Kansas in Lawrence. He is an honorary member of the Institute of Geogra- that require some kind of special political (1992). status to maintain political peace and phy, Mongolian Academy of Sciences and has The Population and Economic Atlas of the Peo- done extensive fieldwork in both China and order—a kind of geopolitical “gerryman- ple’s Republic of China. Compiled and edited by Mongolia. His current interests focus on the dering.” Population Census Office of the State Council of application of remote sensing and GIS to the People’s Republic of China and the Institute regional analysis in .

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