China...

In Geography I am atarting a new topic all about China. In this post I will tell you all about China. Where it is, what its like and much more. Enjoy!


Some history...
With nearly 4,000 years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest civilizations. Prior to the 19th century, it possessed one of the most advanced societies and economies in the world; but through successive dynasties it then missed the Industriual revolution in Europe and began to decline. In the 19th and 20th century, imperialism, internal weakness and civil wars damaged the country and its economy, and led to the overthrow of imperial rule.

Do you know how China got its name? Didnt think so, read on and you will find out! The word "China" is derived from Cin , a Persian name for China popularized in Europe by Marco Polo.The first recorded use in English dates from 1555.In early usage, "china" as a term for porcelian was spelled differently from the name of the country, the two words being derived from separate Persian words. Both these words are derived from the Sanskrit word Cina, used as a name for China as early as AD 150.  There are various scholarly theories regarding the origin of this word. The traditional theory, proposed in the 17th century by Martino Martini, is that "China" is derived from "Qin"  (pronounced chin), the westernmost of the Chinese kingdoms during the Zhou Dynasty, or from the succeeding Qin Dynasty  (221 – 206 BC). In the Hindu scriptures Mahabharata (5th century BC) and Manusmrti (Laws of Manu) (2nd century BC), the Sanskrit word Cina is used to refer to a country located in the Tibeto-Burman borderlands east of India. Another theory is that this word is derived from Yelang, an ancient kingdom in what is now Guizhou whose inhabitants referred to themselves as 'Zina'.

Ancient China was one of the earliest centers of human civilization. Chinese civilization was also one of the few to invent writing the others being Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley Civilisation, the Maya and other Mesoamerican civilizations, the Minoan civilisation of ancient Greece, and Ancient Eygept.Archaeological evidence suggests that the earliest hominids in China date from 250,000 to 2.24 million years ago. A cave in Zhoukoudian (near present-day Beijing) has fossils dated at somewhere between 300,000 to 780,000 years. The fossils are of Peking man, an example of Homo
erectus who used fire. The earliest evidence of a fully modern human in China comes from Liujiang County, Guangxi, where a cranium has been found and dated at approximately 67,000 years old. Although much controversy persists over the dating of the Liujiang remains a partial skeleton from Minatogawa in Okinawa.

Climate...
 China is a large country with a vast variety of topographic features. Each region has its own unique climate. The southeast experiences an extremely hot and wet climate throughout the year. The river valleys of the Yangtze and the Huaih rivers in central China also experience extremely hot summers and extremely cold winters. It rains throughout the year in this region. The northern part of the country is dry and has a short summer. It is sunny during the summer, and in contrast, this region also has long winters where the weather is bitterly cold. The coastal parts of the country are humid. Cities along the coast of China receive rains during the monsoon season, which falls during the summer months. Beijing, the capital of China, has one of the lowest average annual temperatures and also receives only about 52 millimetres of rainfall annually on an average.



            Hope you enjoyed!!! Thank you!!!