China

China descends from west to east in three great steps. The highest is the Tibetan Plateau, walled in by the Himalayas and the Kunlun Mountains, where the Yangtze, the Yellow River and the Mekong begin. Below it lie the basins, grasslands and deserts of the north and centre, including the Gobi and the Taklamakan. The lowest step is the eastern plain, where the rivers reach the sea and most people live. Winters in the north are cold and dry; the south is subtropical and green.

Chinese civilisation took shape along the Yellow River, and written records reach back more than three thousand years to the oracle bones of the Shang dynasty. In 221 BC the state of Qin conquered its rivals and imposed one script, coinage and system of weights. Later dynasties, from the Han and Tang to the Ming and Qing, governed through scholar-officials chosen by examination. The last emperor abdicated in 1912, the People’s Republic was proclaimed in 1949, and reforms from 1978 opened the country to private enterprise.

Most people are Han Chinese, alongside dozens of recognised minority nationalities. Spoken Chinese varies so widely, from Cantonese to Wu and Min, that neighbouring provinces can struggle to understand one another, yet all share one written script. Regional cooking runs from Sichuan’s numbing peppercorns to Cantonese dim sum. Factories in the Pearl River and Yangtze deltas make electronics, steel, ships, solar panels and electric cars, and high-speed railways link the large cities.