Chinas main Rivers The Yellow River and the

China’s main Rivers: The Yellow River and the Yangtzee By the end of today’s lesson you should be able to list the two major rivers in China, as well as their importance.

China’s Geography • The two major rivers of China are the Huang He and the • • Chang Jiang. The Huang He, or Yellow River , gets its name from the rich yellow soil it carries as it flows across China. The Chinese civilization began along the Huang He River. It was also called “China’s sorrow” because when it over-flooded, many people drowned and homes were destroyed. It helped make the soil fertile by leaving behind a rich layer of topsoil.

China’s Geography • The Chang Jiang or Yangtze River also brings rich topsoil • • to its river valley. Outside its river valleys, only one-tenth of China’s land can be farmed because mountains and deserts cover most of its land. The Himalaya close off China to the southwest. The Kunlun Shan and Tian Shan Mountains close off China’s western border. The Gobi Desert spreads east from the mountains.

China’s geography • Mountains and deserts shaped Chinese history because • • • they were like a wall which separated China from most other people. China’s first civilization developed along the Huang He (Yellow) River Valley. Over time the Chinese people united and created a homeland they called “The Middle Kingdom” which they believed was the world’s center. The Chinese developed a unique way of life that lasted into modern times.

The Chinese Language • Early Chinese writing used • • • pictographs and ideographs. Pictographs are characters that stand for objects. Ideographs join two or more pictographs to represent an idea. Most Chinese characters represent whole words. Shang Dynasty