chinese civilisation
Uploaded by keter12 on Feb 05, 2016
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Chinese Civilization
The distribution of natural physical features and their location has a direct influence on population and the culture of a group of people. Such differences determine the unity and the duration of a civilization’s existence. China is a country whose ancient cultural practices and unique traditions have remained intact for many generations due to its geography. Its size and topography were the principal contributor to the country’s unique features, preventing invasions and foreign cultural influences.
Like Mesopotamia and Egypt, the Chinese civilization is one of the most ancient ones on Earth. The peculiar location and a unique way of life have been one of the nation’s features since the establishment of the Han Dynasty more than two millennia ago (National Geographic n.p.). Thus, the country’s topography is the leading cause of differences in distribution and population in China, with more than ninety million people living in Shandong province characterized by mild coastal climate, while less than three million people inhabit Tibet due to its harsh mountainous weather (National Geographic n.p.). Such a disparity has caused certain differences in economic and social development.
China’s distribution of natural physical features isolated it from any neighboring cultural influences. Thus, the country’s geography isolated it from surrounding civilizations and made it mostly dependent on its own capability (Bartsch n.d.). The rough terrain did not only isolate China from the outside world, but also posed an economic problem because most of the Chinese could not access essential commodities. Thus, the country remained separated from the outside world until the establishment of the “Silk Road” during the rise of the Han Dynasty (Bartsch n.p.). Apart from opening China to foreign influence, the Silk Road connected various part of the country, which paved the way for regional dissemination of different cultures and economic activities. Nonetheless, the Chinese people preserved the integrity of their traditions despite the interactions with the outside world. In fact, the new rout of trading did not encourage foreigners to venture into the interior of the country. For instance, one could travel through rainforests of grasslands and then encounter a desert or a mountain range.
In addition, the early Chinese civilization lacked knowledge of the existence of influential Western countries. Thus, it made the Chinese people self-reliant in finding solutions to their problems. For instance, many innovations were made to improve agriculture; moreover, the discovery of loadstones, the invention of chariots and...