How did China's geography affect the development of its early civilization?

Early Chinese civilization was largely influenced by the Yellow River and its annual floods. The floods would sometimes become uncontrollable, until the Chinese developed a system of dikes and irrigation ditches. The floods created alluvial soil, which was good for growing crops such as rice. The Yangtze River valley was also noted for its livestock production. A temperate climate in China allowed for the production of mulberry bushes, an essential food for silkworms. The presence of water combined with a good climate for growing crops made China a successful ancient civilization with advanced art and science.

Chinese isolation was largely based on its close proximity to the Gobi Desert, the Taklamakan Desert, and the Himalayan Mountains. The Himalayan Mountains were considered sacred in ancient Chinese texts and served as a border between ancient China and India. Groups that would be associated with the Mongols used the Gobi Desert as a route to invade China. The Mongols inhabited the steppes of western China where they saw the sky and earth as sacred. They adopted a nomadic lifestyle due to the short growing season and abundance of grazing land in Mongolia.

China was able to trade with the outside world via the Silk Road. The Silk Road was a route between China and the West that traversed mountains and deserts. The latter Roman Empire spent millions from its gold reserves buying Chinese luxuries such as silk. Due to its remoteness and the natural trade barriers, China could control trade and thus had little to fear from Rome.

The geography of China impacted the development of early civilizations in China. The best areas to settle were in the areas near the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. These areas were very fertile, which helped provide ample food for the people living there. There also was plenty of fresh water. Additionally, the rivers served as a form of transportation. These factors encouraged settlements to form in these regions.

Other regions of China were far less desirable for settlement and tended to serve as a buffer for China. The Himalaya Mountains, which are the highest mountains in the world, were not a good place to settle. The desert regions of China, including the Gobi Desert and the Taklamakan Desert, were also not easy places to settle. As a result, most of China’s settlements were found in the areas near the Yellow River and the Yangtze River.

The early Chinese civilization centered almost entirely around the Yellow River valley as it was a fertile region conveniently accessed by travel on the river and without many geographical barriers. Because of this, it quickly grew and expanded until it filled most of the valley and developed a strong civilization. Along with this valley, the eastern regions of China were able to develop stronger, more permanent civilizations thanks to fertile farmland, unlike more nomadic civilizations to the West in areas that were more arid and difficult to survive in.

The Han people coagulated into a distinct group in what is often referred to as the Chinese Plain, an area of eastern China that included the Yellow River Delta. The agrarian economy was bolstered by internal and then external trade as they expanded their ship-building capacity. Their interactions with the more nomadic cultures to the West helped to build strong trade routes that allowed for trade to expand even further.

Like all civilizations, geography and climate played an important role in the history and culture of China. The climate is most favorable in the eastern side of China because monsoons bring plenty of rainfall to sustain farming. In fact, the earliest Chinese civilizations and most powerful dynasties of China's history developed along two rivers in the East. These rivers were the Yangtze in the south, in which rice farming was common, and the northern Huang He River where millet was cultivated. Because of the rivers and fertile loess soil, surplus agricultural goods led to the development of civilization. The dominance of farming on the eastern side of China led to the development of a strict social order.

Western China is dominated by deserts, high steppes, mountains and even jungles in some places. Due to the harsh nature of the climate and landscape, western China effectively isolated eastern China from the rest of the world. As a result, China developed its own culture without the influence of Europe or Africa. As you can imagine, the western part of China has always been sparsely populated. In earlier times, the region was dominated by nomadic horseman. These groups, because of the grit and determination that was needed to survive the harsh geography, would become a powerful force in the world. The nomadic horseman of western China became the Mongol empire that controlled all of China.

How did geography and climate influence the early development of Chinese civilization?

China developed a highly unique and individualized civilization over the last five thousand years that began largely in isolation due to a variety of geographical boundaries that kept it separated from outside cultural influences. About two-thirds of China's almost six million square miles are covered in mountains and plateaus that served as a natural barrier to both outside explorers and invaders. Many of these mountains to the south and west were frigidly cold due to the high elevations and virtually impassible until the developments of modern technology like air travel. In addition, vast dry deserts to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the east provided further global confinement.

Within China were an abundance of foothills, plains, and basins with fertile soil that proved suitable for growing food. The Yellow River to the north and the Yangtze River to the south not only provided essential nutrients for the soil, but also fresh drinking water and a source of transportation that allowed tribes in different parts of the country to exchange goods, technology, and ideas. China's lakes were equally vital, especially around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Middle-Lower Yangtze Plain, where they provided food, tide power, and various aquatic resources.

Climates varied across the country due to its sheer size. The northeast boasted hot, dry summers and freezing cold winters that served as both economic and physical impediments. The central region was temperate, with modest rainfall and diverse seasons that allowed for routine farming and agricultural self-sufficiency. The southeast's semi-tropical environment featured more modest winters and heavy rainfall that often led to flooding. As such, growing seasons and the type of crops that could grow in these regions were more limited and forced an expansion in trade with tribes to the north.

Many significant cultural developments originated from within China, from pasta to paper to gunpowder, and modern day scholars believe that a proclivity to trade with outside empires benefited the Chinese by providing resources and knowledge that was otherwise unavailable within their borders. Naval expeditions began in the third century BC under the Qin Dynasty, with foreign relations greatly expanding under the Han dynasty and continuing through much of the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties, all despite occasional periods of unrest.

Not until the Mongol raids after the collapse of the Song Dynasty did the nation adopt a more averse stance to certain outside influences, even though the Mongols (who lived in the Gobi desert) often limited raids to tribes in the northern regions of China and didn't venture much further south. While fortifications that formed the earliest parts of the Great Wall began as early as the eighth century BC, much of the modern wall seen today was built in order to repell the Mongol hordes. However, diplomatic missions by Marco Polo and other Europeans, as well as the resurgence of military power under the Ming Dynasty in the fourteenth century, led to a renaissance in cultural exchange that accelerated national development until the seventeenth century.

As such, much of China's early development was shaped by the vast geographical and climatic barriers that kept it isolated from other nations and kept various tribes within its boundaries isolated from each other. However, through gradual advancements in technology, water travel, agriculture and general knowledge, China's political leaders were able to open the nation up to trade with other empires that greatly enhanced the development of its civilization and ultimately mitigated the isolating effects of its geography.

I would say geography and climate are the dominant factors in developing civilizations and cultures.  It dictates where and how populations may live, the carrying capacity dictates what size populations are sustainable, and rivers are the arteries of trade and culture that both define and bind together economies and peoples.  I find that governments most often develop around economic systems and factors, rather than the other way around.

Geography and climate are the initial shaping forces in the development of any new civilization. Rivers are starting points for any major settlement in any part of the world because they provide easy transportation of people and goods as well as irrigation for agriculture through flooding or canals. If the climate is suitable for the development of agriculture, allowing people to settle rather than continue as nomads following game and native edible plants through the seasons, the settlement will take root and grow accordingly. Part of that growth process will then be the development of a barter economy among the different people who have different goods or services to trade, and the development of rudimentary government as the growing group of people figures out the basic rules of conduct they need with respect to each other.

Post 3 notwithstanding, China has been relatively unified for much of its history.  This can be connected to its river systems and its relative lack of barriers to travel and trade even between the two systems.

China has two major east-west rivers.  Products and people could always move relatively easily along each river.  This helped to develop China's economy and unify its political system.  In addition, there were no major natural barriers to travel between the two river systems.  This made commerce easier and also allowed political domination to spread over much of what is now China.

China's geography definitely influenced its development.  For one thing, China is a huge area.  Many parts of it are remote and inaccessible.  This is one of the reasons that so many different dialects developed.  China was so large that it was basically more than one country.

As with the case of Egypt and India, early Chinese civilization was a river civilization, based primarily on the Yellow River which flooded and deposited soil which could be planted. The flooding was very arbitrary and capricious and often was quite damaging, so much so that The river was frequently called the "river of sorrows." The rich topsoil, known as loess, made agriculture profitable. Successful agricultural practice made the development of settlements along the river possible.

The influences of the river and the agriculture it made possible were infinitely more important in the development of China than governmental or economic developments. The ability to produce an surplus of crops led to specialization and the development of settlements and from their stratified societies.

The link below can provide you with more information on Ancient China

http://www.historydoctor.net/Advanced%20Placement%20World%20History/(5).%20Early_society_in_east_asia.htm