How China’s PERFECT Geography Created an Empire

china today is the world's third largest country with the second largest population But more importantly China is generally recognized as having the longest period of one continuous civilization of any country in the world 5,000 years with great dynasties like the Han Tong Ming andQing gracing its lands And a large reason why Chinese civilization has been able to thrive for so long is the geography of the region China proper is shielded by almost impossible mountains and two deserts on its western side The highlands of the Mongolian step in the north more mountains and dense jungles in the south and the Pacific Ocean to the east And these conditions protected Chinese civilization throughout the ages enabling it to flourish So in this video we are going to explore how China's perfect geography created an empire This is the central plains or Jong Yuen in Chinese Its fertile lands have served as the cradle of Chinese civilization since the Shia dynasty almost 5,000 years ago And if you extend the area from the central plains out to cover the entire flat area from Hjo to Beijing you have the North China plane or Huab Pinguen an area of ideal farmland the size of Ohio Indiana Illinois and Kentucky combined Running through the North China plane are the Yellow River Hung and the Yangi River or Chiang Wait why does the English translation of Chongjang also sound Chinese orang Well it's thought to be a local name that Western missionaries learned when they visited Shanghai which is situated where the Yangi River meets the sea The name Yang has a definite association with the area since the Yang province was one of China's nine ancient provinces and it occupied the region around modern-day Shanghai There's also still a city called Yangjo on the river close to Shanghai as well The Yangze River is the longest river in Eurasia and the third longest river in the world The Yellow River comes in at the second longest river in China and the sixth longest in the world These rivers deliver ample fresh water to the North China plane Both rivers start on the Tibetan plateau which includes all of modern-day Tibet as well as most of Chingghai province The glaciers of this plateau contain the largest reserve of fresh water outside the polar regions and supply many of the largest rivers in the world including the Ganges in India The Yangi River has the fifth largest discharge of water in the world And thus you can see why in recent times talking purely from a tactical point of view control of Tibet has been seen as critical to China's current rulers the CCP Control of Tibet means control of the water not only for China but for much of the fresh water of neighboring countries as well Due to Tibet being such a large water source China's plains have a lot of water and fertile soil for farming So like the Romans who invaded Britain for its fertile farmland and natural resources other empires throughout history would certainly have seen China's central plains as highly desirable But here is the beauty of China's geography It provided the natural protection China needed to develop a rich culture and uninterrupted history You see for most of China's history there has not been another highly developed empire anywhere close enough or with an easy enough route to China to pose a serious threat The central plains are protected by a massive barrier of mountains The Tibetan plateau stands between China and the various empires that existed on the Indian subcontinent The Tong Dynasty monk Shenzhang the real life person that the Tong monk in Journey to the West is based on took 16 years to travel to India and back Then from Tibet the mountains extend all the way up to Mongolia and the northeast creating difficulties for anyone coming from the west or north Then you have two deserts the Tacan and the Gobi deserts that stand between China and Central Asia And even if say the Persian army crossed that desert they would then be faced with only a thin corridor of land through the mountains called the Hi corridor that they would have to fight their way through to get into China That kind of thing didn't work out too well for Persians in the past did it This is where they die your president In the south there are mountainous jungles that were never home to any situation that could rival China And in the east we have the Pacific Ocean that puts a vast distance between China and the rest of the world The closest country would have been Japan but that was also no match and existed as a tribute state for most of China's history Then what if India chose to invade China by sea The two are pretty close right Well maps can be deceiving since there is no direct sea route between the two If you wanted to sail from Kolkata to Guangjo the two closest large cities that is actually a distance of 3,500 mi same as crossing the Atlantic from Philadelphia to Liverpool England and the whole region was infested with pirates And even where you got to Guangjo you would still be nowhere near the central plains Thus these natural defenses gave Chinese civilization breathing room to develop without constant threats from all sides The only place that really posed a risk was the north where the mountains were smaller and gradually blended into the steps of Mongolia Although earlier in China's history the northern tribes called Yu were not developed enough to mount a full-scale invasion But China still took measures to protect the empire building the Great Wall which started in the Tin Dynasty They also didn't position their early capitals on the central plains but instead successive capitals were in this narrow corridor of land along the Wei River that flows into the Yellow River The capital of the Chin dynasty Xienyang was here The Han dynasty had their capital at Chong Anyang Then they moved it to Lyang closer to the central plains But later on after that the Sway dynasty and the Tong dynasty China's golden age both had their capitals at Chong Anne in that narrow corridor between mountain ranges This made the capital cities easier to develop and meant that you could better amass troops to retake the central plains or crush a rebellion As time went on China expanded from the central plains TheQin dynasty sent 500,000 troops down to the south and took over the region that is now Guangdong and Guangshi provinces today During the Han dynasty the Shyungu in the north of China caused endless problems for the Han especially around the Hi corridor which was that natural weak point that narrow break in the mountains where armies could break into China flanked by the Shongu on the north side and the Chiang people to the south Now the Han did have a custom of marrying off princesses to the Shongu chiefs and giving them gifts to keep them at bay But in the end they figured it would be less costly just to expand and control the entirety of the Hersi corridor themselves So they expanded west If you ever wonder why Gansu province is this weird shape well that is why Because it follows the Hi corridor And this corridor extended to become the route between China and Central Asia called the Silk Road Now the new never did manage to take over China But now let's talk about two times when foreign peoples in the north did manage to break in and founded their own dynasties on Chinese soil When the Mongolians invaded China and set up the Yan dynasty their civilization was already way more advanced than previous threats China had faced They did come from the north taking advantage of mountain passes to break through the great wall And they had to take out the smaller G and Jin dynasty in the north the Shia dynasty and a few other small states before they got to the actual Song Dynasty which was the main part of the Chinese Empire and actually ruled by Hanchinese Facing off against smaller states may have actually made it easier since these were weaker opponents And when they finally got to the Song Dynasty they were on flat land that was easy to move on Yet invading all of China still took the Mongols 74 years to accomplish The interesting thing is that when the Mongols took over China they did adopt much of Chinese culture and in 1271 did proclaim the Da Yuen as an actual Chinese dynasty just as Hanchinese would Many of the Mongol emperors did learn Chinese and the Yen is viewed by many as having what the Chinese call the mandate of heaven or Tienming Then after the Ming dynasty kicked out the Mongols in 1368 they got to work fixing up the Great Wall to prevent more invasions from the north And most of the sections of the Great Wall you can see today are from the Ming dynasty After the Ming another foreign force did manage to conquer China and that was the Manchus To put it very simply they turned up at the Shanghai Pass or Shanghai Guan a narrow corridor of land between the mountains and the sea in the northeast To give you a very simple explanation China was experiencing internal turmoil at the time with the gang of Liitz Chung taking over Beijing after the fall of the Ming The Ming general Wuanguay simply opened the doors at the Shanghai pass and let the Manchus in to fight Li Chung But then they went on to found theQing dynasty or Taqing again adopting Chinese culture and they ruled over a final golden age in China's history before it all fell apart in 1911 During the early 20th century the Japanese did finally rise to become stronger than China through early adoption of Western technology Rifle bud against the shoulder And they occupied basically all of the North China plane The nationalist government moved their capital to Chongqing You know that city you may have seen on Tik Tok where you never know if you're on the ground or not It looks like I'm on a normal square The street is over there But if we go there now we are on the 22nd floor And the subways go directly through the middle of buildings Well Chongqing is in the Suchan Basin This area here which is kind of a circle surrounded by mountains on all sides They use that old trick again that had protected capitals like Chongan in the past But with modern technology it's not as effective The city suffered heavy bombing by the Japanese during the war but still not a land invasion So in conclusion China's geography gave its civilization a head start compared to empires in other parts of the world They could effectively develop their culture undisturbed for the first 4,000 years of development Maybe that's what led to Chinese culture becoming so profound It's only when we get to the Song Dynasty which began in 960 AD that we start to see serious threats from nonhan peoples that did eventually culminate in the Mongol takeover But the amazing thing is that every foreign ruler of China has kept most aspects of Chinese culture intact and even helped to develop Chinese culture further China was the prize that all potential conquerors hoped for It was the center of the known world and whoever ruled China ruled all under heaven Okay guys thanks for watching Please let us know what other topics you want us to cover in the comments down below Please subscribe if you're new and we'll see you in the next video Bye-bye