North China and South China
Whereas generally China is a highly unified nation, notable regional differences do exist. The most important of these differences can be found between the northern and southern part of the country.
For Chinese laymen, the country¡¯s greatest river, the Yangzi, separates the country into the southern and northern parts; Chinese from south of the river are generally regarded as Southerners and those north of it, the Northerners.
Geographers, however, have more professional definitions. For them, an imaginary line formed by Huai River in East China and Qingling Mountains in central China, both of which are located south of Yangzi River but south of Yellow River, divide China into the north and the south. This on the two sides of this line, significant geographical and climatic differences can be observed.
Northern China is consisted mostly of a plain in the east and a high plateau in the west. The plain is the largest area of level land in what is generally a mountainous country, and it supports a large population of high density. The plateau to the west, on the other hand, features terraces of yellow earth, a fine dust of clay and sand deposited by wind over past millennia. Climate-wise, North China is generally dry and has four seasons. In winter, icy wind sweeps down from Siberia and temperature drops below the freezing point easily. In summer, currents of warm and moist air from south bring rain over land. Having been cultivated for thousands of years, land of North China is open and covered with few trees.
Southern China, on the other hand, is hilly and mountainous for the most part. Here the weather is under the stronger influence of the warm and moist air-systems of the Pacific, and the region receives more precipitation than the northern part of the country. Rapid rivers run in deep valleys, and numerous lakes dot the land, forming extensive water systems. Better forested, the basic color of South China is green, in contrast to the yellow-brownish tone of the North.
Historically, Chinese civilization first originated in North China, in the valley of Yellow River. It then spread to other parts of the country, in the process assimilating and digesting local influences. In this sense South China was opened later, and this may partly explain what seems to be a stronger pioneering spirit one observes in some southern areas.
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