Introduction
The Ancient Chinese thought they were alone on Earth. They knew about the Mongolians in the north, but other than that they did not know of other people living on Earth. There was a reason for this. The Chinese had barriers all around the country which kept them separated from the rest of the world for thousands of years. Some of them were natural, and some of them they built. The natural barriers were rivers, mountains, and deserts. There was a barrier they built themselves, The Great Wall of China.
Rivers
There are two major rivers in China. Both of them acted as barriers. They are called the Yangtze (Long) River and the Hung He (Yellow) River. The Yangtze River is the biggest river in China, and the third largest in the world. It is six thousand three hundred kilometers (four thousand miles) long. The river floods each year, but there were high banks which kept homes safe from the flooding. The Hung He River is four thousand eight hundred kilometers (three thousand miles) long. There was civilization by the river about five thousand years ago. They called the river Great Sorrow because every year the river would flood, and since the Yellow River had very low banks all the homes near the river were destroyed. Each year the ancient civilization had to rebuild their homes. Eventually it was figured out that this kept on happening. The rich decided to live above the river, so its flooding could not harm them. The poor had to rebuild their homes each year.
Mountains
There is a big chain of mountains in China. This chain is called the Himalayan Mountains. These mountains protected China from being attacked. The Himalayan Mountains were also barriers that kept China from interacting with the rest of the world. Mount Everest is in the Himalayan Mountains. The mountain is twenty nine thousand twenty-nine feet tall.
Deserts
Not all of China's geography acted as barrier. The deserts were one of those things. There are two deserts in China. The Gobi Desert and the Taklamakan Desert. The Gobi Desert is one of the driest deserts in the world. The Taklamakan Desert is the second largest desert in the world. It was nicknamed the Sea of Death because of its poisonous snakes, terrible sandstorms, boiling days, freezing nights, and water shortages.
Weather
The weather in Ancient China was (and still is) usually humid and subtropical. The seasons there are very similar to the seasons in North America (summer, fall, winter, spring).
Land
Ancient China is located in what is now China which is in Asia. It is five hundred ninety-six thousand, three hundred twenty-seven square miles big. The land is not only rivers, mountains, and deserts. Fourteen percent of the land can be farmed.