The Relationship Between China’s Population And Its Three Great Topographic Steps Essays Examples

The three great topological steps in China which descend eastward are the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau, the Central Mountains and Plateaux, and the Eastern Lowlands (Veeck 2011: 22). When evaluating relationship between the three topological steps and China’s population, it is important to analyze how humans interact with the environment.
Humans congregate in those distinctive areas that have higher levels of agriculture, sources of water, better climate, vegetation and other resources. This is why the high density of China’s population lies in the Eastern Provinces, which is only a third of China’s overall area. The Western Provinces of China are considered to be very dry and mountainous, making it very difficult to survive for those who are not accustomed to the extreme, desert-like weather conditions (Veeck 2011: 17,44). Dry weather also makes it difficult for vegetation and the practice of agriculture. In addition, the soil quality is poor due to lack of moisture and nutrients. The terrain in the West is also much more difficult to build on with numerous hills and natural vegetation. In contrast, the Eastern provinces of China developed into the largest population centers through China’s history since it has fertile soil and plentiful water from easy access to rivers. In addition, Eastern provinces are relatively flat making it easy to build roads and other constructions (Veeck 2011: 41).
As discussed above, environmental conditions promoted development and growth of China’s economy and encouraged internal and foreign trade (Veeck 2011: 46). The flat and habitable environments occurred through thousands of years of development, clearing trees, and growing agriculture, which resulted in the current ideal conditions. These are some of the reasons why the Eastern Lowlands have the highest spatial population density in China.