NORTHERN CHINA 29 



Yellow Valley. There it is that the Chinaman developed 

 his wonderful skill as an agriculturist, unsurpassed by 

 any, and got those qualities of thrift, endurance, forti- 

 tude, and perseverance which are his characteristics. 



Central China. In comparison with northern China, 

 a more equable and milder climate, with a more abundant 

 tain fall, ranging from 40 to GO inches yearly, and regu- 

 larly distributed over spring, summer and autumn, 

 together with an immunity from the cold and dry blasts 

 from central Asia, are the principal features of the large 

 portion of China which stretches from the Tsinling 

 shan ami (he hills north of the Lower Yangtse to the 

 mountainous region of Tongking and Yun-nan. 



The Tsinling range establishes an effective and sharp 

 barrier between the Mongolian type of climate and 

 mild and rainy central China. The steep northern 

 slopes of the Tsinling. owing largely to deforestation, 

 are mostly covered with a scattered bush, in which one 

 discovers the Mongolian representatives of oaks, birches, 

 and conifers, and even pauloivnia and catalpa. Woods 

 are mostly restricted to the upper valleys, and the 

 slopes facing south are much more abundantly watered 

 and considerably milder. They display already the chief 

 characteristics of a moist sub-tropical climate with dwarf 

 palms, large ferns, bambus, and an approach to temperate 

 rain -forests. Towards the east, however, the distinction 

 between the two regions of northern and central China 

 is not so sharply drawn along the low divide between 

 the Hwang-ho and the Yangtse basins. 



In respect of its climate, central China lies under very 

 much the same conditions as the southernmost Atlantic 

 States of North America, though here the monsoon is 

 the great factor of plant-life. Everything points to its 

 having been originally a region of extensive rain- forests 



