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The Yantze River and Its Dynamics. Dujianyan Hydrodam Project, constructed in 256 B.C. Our Delegation (9/24/00 – 10/8/00). Population (2008 est.): 1.330 billion growth rate: 0.6% birth rate: 13.7/1000 density per mi 2 : 142. Land area: 9,326,411 km 2 Total area: 9,596,960 km 2.
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Population (2008 est.): 1.330 billion • growth rate: 0.6% • birth rate: 13.7/1000 • density per mi2: 142 Land area: 9,326,411 km2 Total area: 9,596,960 km2
Geography The greater part of the country is mountainous. Its principal ranges are the Tian Shan, the Kunlun chain, and the Trans-Himalaya. The Gobi Desert lies to the north. China proper consists of three great river systems: the Yellow River (Huang He, 5464 km); the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang, 6300 km), and the Pearl River (Zhu Jiang, 2,197 km). History The earliest recorded human settlements were discovered in the Huang He basin and date from about 5000 B.C. During the Shang dynasty (1500–1000 B.C.), the precursor of modern China's ideographic writing system developed. It was following this initial flourishing of civilization, in a period known as the Chou dynasty (1122–249 B.C.), that Lao Zi, Confucius, Mo Zi, and Mencius laid the foundation of Chinese philosophical thought.
Chengdu The TopoRelief Map of China
Economic Index Human Development Index Natural resource index Science & Technology Source: Data-sharing Network of Earth System Science
Harbin Urumqi Shenyang Beijing Yellow River Xi'an Shanghai TGD Chongqing Lhasa Yangtze River Wuhan 360 km Taibei • About the Yangtze River • The 3rd longest river (< Nile & Amazon) • Long history of land use and culture • 145,000 killed and 1.8 million houses destroyed in 1931 • 30,000 killed in 1954 flooding • 1,562 killed in 1998 (200 billion RMB loss= $24 billion) • “The Best National Park in US” (Dr. Merhloff) • A hanging river (>18 m above the ground)
About the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) • The largest (185 m tall wall, 175 m deep, & 1983 m wide) • To be completed between 1992 and 2009 • Raise water for 600 km upstream • 28,000 km2 land to be flooded, including 13 cities, 140 towns, >1300 villages, and 115,000 acres of arable land • 1.1-1.4 million (official) or 2 million (unofficial) people to be resettled, with about $4,000 per person • 530 million M tons of sediment per year
The Purposes of TGD • Flood control (3/4 of Chinese population farmed by the dry area) • Hydroelectric power (demand for electricity double every 9-12 years. Coal burning vs air pollution • Navigation along the river. The river carries 78% of the country’s riverborne freight.
A marvel of engineering, the Three Gorges Dam will start operating at full capacity later this year. Already under way is an epic experiment on how a dam impacts the environment. -- Stone 2008