Geography and climate of China

Do you know which country has the world’s largest population? Around 1.4 billion people live here, in the People’s Republic of China. China covers a big area. The country stretches 5,200 kilometers from east to west and even further, from north to south. And yet, 90 percent of the population lives on less than half of the land.

Why? When thinking about where to live, it’s important to consider how easy it is to get resources, like food. Most of China has warm summers and cold winters. It is part of the temperate climate zone. But some of the country reaches into other climate zones where it is not easy to grow or find food.

So, where people live has a lot to do with the climate and the natural environment. From cold mountains in the west to tropical rainforests in the south: Let’s explore China’s geography and climate zones! China is a very mountainous country. Two-thirds of its total land area is covered by mountains, hills and flat areas of land on high elevations — plateaus. Here, to the west, is the Tibetan Plateau.

It is the highest and largest plateau on earth. You can find the tallest mountain on earth - Mount Everest - here! For that reason, this region is nicknamed the "roof of the world.” The high elevation of the Tibetan Plateau means that some parts are rarely warmer than 10 degrees celsius, even in the summer. Moving northward, the high mountains and plateaus continue. The land is flat, cold, and very dry.

These are China's deserts, where there is frost and occasionally even snow. The Gobi Desert, located along China’s border with Mongolia, is one of the coldest deserts in the world. In winter, the temperature can drop to −40 degrees celsius! The bitter cold and lack of water means that very few people can live here. In the middle of the country, the land is flat and covered in grass.

These grasslands, or steppes, are a common landscape in China. Steppes are flat and dry: too dry to support a forest, but not dry enough to be a desert. These flat lands have no trees and only small grasses, so the wind can be harsh and severe. This is another environment where it is difficult to live. As we move further East, and closer to the ocean, we move downhill.

We start seeing more people too. Lower elevation and higher population density are typical for this region. Shanghai, China’s biggest city, is only 4 metres above sea level! This part of China often has heavy rains. These rains come from seasonal wind patterns that last for many months: monsoons.

Monsoon winds change direction between summer and winter, making the summer wet and rainy and the winter dry and cold. Monsoons can cause rivers in this region to overflow. Land around rivers is very good for farming. It is fertile. Because it is easy to grow food, people have lived here for thousands of years.

Moving south, there are hot, humid summers, and mild winters. This is a subtropical climate. Here there are tropical plants and trees, as well as lots of people. In this region, there is a narrow coastal strip that crosses both the subtropical and tropical climate zones. This strip includes China’s southernmost province Hainan, where the average temperature is 18 degrees celsius - even in the winter!

From the “roof of the world” to a tropical paradise… China experiences many climate zones, and has many geographic features that play a role in determining where people live.