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A Look At China’s Geography

Everyone knows China produces rice, but did you know that China is the world’s biggest producer of cotton, tea, pork, wheat, and tobacco? Lots of farms raise ducks, and chickens too. Since most Chinese people do not have cow’s milk, cheese or beef, dairy farms are uncommon. Lots of electricity is produced by coal, water, and more recently, by solar and wind farms. China makes many more things than this map can show.

China is a land of contrasts. See if you can find all these regions: In the northwest are deserts, glaciers, and very tall mountains; in the northeast, there are more mountains and forests with bone-chilling winters. In the south and southeast are the fertile lowlands where China grows the food needed to feed its people and to trade with the rest of the world; in the southwest are the high mountain plateaus of the Tibetan region. Can you guess how much of China’s land can actually be used for growing food? It is a very small amount—only 12 percent. Can you find where the melting snow of the Himalayas creates the Chang Jiang and Huang He rivers? They are the third and sixth longest rivers in the world.