China's geography

Geography & Landscape & Travel
*Do you have a map ready?
Please try to find and use a map of China as you study and learn from the information below. Please be sure to read the information before AND after the slideshow! 
Located in the east of the Asian continent, on the western shore of the Pacific Ocean, China has a land area of about 9.6 million square kilometers. China is a very diverse land in a changing configuration of broad plains, expansive deserts, and lofty mountain ranges, and fertile river basins.
Slideshow of China geography, landscape and travel:

In general, the eastern half of the country is a region of fertile lowlands, foothills and mountains, deserts, steppes, and subtropical areas. The western half of China is a region of sunken basins, rolling plateaus, and towering massifs (a massif is “a large mountain mass or compact group of connected mountains forming an independent portion of a range” Answers.com/massif). The proportion of various landforms of China is as follows: 33% Mountains, 26% plateaus, 19% basins, 12% plains, and 10% hills.
China has a terraced terrain, which gradually descends from the west to the east step by step. The first, and also the highest terrace, is the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with an average elevation of more than 4,000 meters and known as "the roof of the world"!! The second step consists of the Inner Mongolia, Loess and Yunnan-Guizhou plateaus, and the Tarim, Junggar and Sichuan basins, on an altitude of 1,000-2,000 meters. The third step, about 500-1,000 meters in elevation, begins at the line from the Greater Hinggan, Taihang, Wushan and Xuefeng mountain ranges eastward to the seacoast.
China's two Major Rivers, the Huang He (Yellow River) and the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River) have provided the framework for agricultural development and population growth throughout Chinese history.
Few countries boast such a majestic landscape, a venerated history, and a rich cultural legacy as China. UNESCO has included 27 renowned Chinese scenic places on its lists of world cultural and natural heritage sites. For more information on China World Heritage, please go to http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/cn