China is one of the oldest civilizations on Earth, dating back to the Bronze Age. Today, China is the world’s most populated country with a quickly growing economy. Throughout China’s evolution from an ancient civilization to a monumental country, the Yangtze and Huang He rivers, the Himalayan and Kunlun mountain ranges, the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts, the Yellow and East China Seas, and the Pacific Ocean all played an important role in the development of its culture and history. Like most of the world’s first civilizations, China formed around rivers, mainly the Huang He and the Yangtze, due to the many advantages rivers offered (Geography). They provided fertile land for farming that the Chinese economy traditionally depended on (“Central”). …show more content…
In addition, “water transport… played a major role in moving goods and commodities from production sources to consumption destinations” (“China”). When naval technology advanced, people could use the rivers to travel across long stretches of land quicker than trekking on foot and civilizations could send ships of goods to each other to seek profit and new goods.
There were many advantages to settling in and around river valleys, but the location also came with its disadvantages. Even today, modern technology is no match for the forces of nature, such as floods that occur due to an abundant rainfall or tons of rapidly melting snow causing too much water to flow through a river at once. In the times of China’s first dynasties, flooding became a problem to Chinese farmers. Floods drowned hundreds and destroyed crops, earning the Huang He River yet another nickname, the ‘River of Sorrows’ (Szczepanski). Farmers could not move …show more content…
To the West are the Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and the Pacific Ocean. To the East lay the Kunlun and Himalayan Mountains. The North contains the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts and the Huang He and Yangtze Rivers are located in Central China (“China.” Maps101). The height of the mountains, vastness and dryness of the deserts, and the turbulent waters of the ocean and seas prevented the Chinese from leaving the confines of China while also keeping foreigners and invaders out. The Chinese were secluded from outside influence until the development of the Silk Road (Bartsch). This geographic isolation led to the development of a very unique Chinese culture, with religion, government, and technology seen nowhere else in the world. When finally coming into contact with other advanced civilizations, such as the Roman Empire, the Chinese, declared their culture superior to all others. This belief in the inherent superiority of one’s culture is called ethnocentrism. China’s ethnocentricity is shown in how they labeled themselves the “Middle Kingdom”, meaning they believed they were the center of the universe and that they were the link between Heaven and the