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China PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
China stretches some 5,000 kilometers across the East Asian
landmass in an erratically changing configuration of broad plains,
expansive deserts, and lofty mountain ranges, including vast areas
of inhospitable terrain. The eastern half of the country, its
seacoast fringed with offshore islands, is a region of fertile
lowlands, foothills and mountains, desert, steppes, and subtropical
areas. The western half of China is a region of sunken basins,
rolling plateaus, and towering massifs, including a portion of the
highest tableland on earth. The vastness of the country and the
barrenness of the western hinterland have important implications
for defense strategy
(see Doctrine, Strategy, and Tactics
, ch. 14).
In spite of many good harbors along the approximately 18,000-
kilometer coastline, the nation has traditionally oriented itself
not toward the sea but inland, developing as an imperial power
whose center lay in the middle and lower reaches of the Huang He
(Yellow River) on the northern plains.
Figures for the size of China differ slightly depending on
where one draws a number of ill-defined boundaries. The official
Chinese figure is 9.6 million square kilometers, making the country
substantially smaller than the Soviet Union, slightly smaller than
Canada, and somewhat larger than the United States. China's contour
is reasonably comparable to that of the United States and lies
largely at the same latitudes.
Data as of July 1987
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