5 famous mountains in China

China has a varied and complicated topography. It has low, flat and wide plains, gently undulating hilly areas, mountainous regions with towering peaks, high and vast plateaus and bowl-shaped basins.

Generally speaking, China has more mountainous regions than flat ones. Mountainous areas make up about two-thirds of the country’s land area, while the flats are less than one third. Regions higher than 500m cover about 3/4 of the national land area (among which regions higher than 3000m make up 26%), and regions lower than 500m account for 1/4.

China’s land slopes from west to east and can be divided into three zones. The first zone is the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which has an average altitude around 3 000 to 5 000m. The second zone has a mean altitude ranging from 1 000 to 2 000m, including the Inner Mongolia, Loess and Yunnan-Guizhou plateaus, and the Tarim, Junggar, Sichuan and other basins which dot the plateaus. East of the mountains Da Xing’anling，Taihang, WuShan, and Snow Peak, the third zone consists of three big plains and low hills around the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and Southeast China. The plains are usually lower than 200m, and the low hills are less than 500m in altitude.

High mountains and plateaus are situated to the west of the line formed by the mountains Daxing’anling，Taihang, Wushan, and Snow Peak; and to the east of this line are hilly areas and plains. Some of China’s major rivers, such as the Yellow River, the Yangtze River, and the Zhujiang River, originating from the plateaus and mountains in the west, follow the slope of the topography, and flow east to the sea.

This characteristic yields two results. On the one hand, the sloping topography can make warm and humid sea air streams penetrate deep into the inland, impacting on east China’s climate, plants, soil, and hydrology. On the other hand, the sloping topography leads to the rivers' conspicuous drop in elevation step by step, producing rich hydraulic resources which can be exploited at various levels.

The Himalayas (The Himalayas in the Tibetan language means "land of snow". All the peaks over 7 000 m are snow-capped all year round and glaciers can be found everywhere.), situated at the south edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, range from the Pamir Plateau in the west to the great turning point of the Yarlung Zangbo River in the east. The mountains span over 2 450 km long from east to west, and 200 — 300 km wide from south to north, with an average altitude of 6 200 m.

The Himalayas, the most imposing and the highest mountain range in the world, are made up of several roughly parallel branch ranges. From north to south, they are the Big Himalayas, Small Himalayas, Siwalik Hills, etc. The Big Himalayas, main branch range of the Himalayas, boasts 40 peaks over 7 000 m high. Mount Qomolangma, at an altitude of 8 844.43 m, is the highest mount in the world. Located on the border of China and Nepal, it dominates the middle of the Himalayas like a majestic pyramid and is called the third polar of the world.

Emerged only several hundred thousand years ago, the Himalayas are the youngest mountains on the earth. Nowadays they are still growing!

The Qinling Mountains span over 1 500 km long, and ten to two X. or three hundred thousand km wide from south to north. They are majestic and grandiose. The Qinling Mountains, in the narrow sense, refer to the middle section of the Qinling Range, a portion of the very mountain in central Shaanxi Province.

Mount Taibai, at an elevation of 3,767 m, is the highest peak of the Qinling Mountains. It has been a famous mount since ancient times. Snow-capped Taibai Peak in June is one of the eight renowned Chang’an (today’s Xi’an) sights. Another high mountain in Qinling, Mount Huashan, though only about 2 000 m high, is very precipitous. Hence comes the famous saying, “there is no way to Mount Huashan except a precipitous path” and “the steepest mount in China”. The five peaks, namely the East Peak, West Peak, South Peak, North Peak and Middle Peak, stand like a five-petal plum flower in full blossom, adding unique and charming scenery to Mount Huashan.

The Qinling Mountains stand like a huge wall blocking the wind in the hinterland of China. In winter, they stop the northwest wind from blowing southward, reducing the cold wave’s influence on the south of China; in summer, they intercept the vapor brought by the southeast wind, reducing precipitation in the northern areas. Therefore, the Qinling Mountains serve as a natural dividing line between the south and north of China, and also the watershed between the drainage areas of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River.

The Changbai Mountains are located in the southeast part of JL Jilin Province, with 16 peaks over 2 500 m high. The main peak is Mount Baitou, with an altitude of 2 691 m.

On the top of Mount Baitou lies the Heavenly Pond which is formed by water accumulated in a crater. Encircled by precipitous mountains, the pond is as clear as a mirror. The pond offers a pleasing scene with its shimmering water against the green mountains.

The Changbai Mountains are a great treasure house of natural resources. The mountain area is the original producer of the well- known “three treasures of the Northeast” i.e. ginseng, mink and pilose antler.

The Range of Tianshan Mountains, with a total length of 2 500 km, includes the West Tianshan Mountains, Middle Tianshan Mountains, and East Tianshan Mountains. The West Tianshan Mountains is located within Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The East Tianshan Mountains and the Middle Tianshan Mountains span the central Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in China.

The Tianshan Mountains are a natural geographic line of demarcation. There is a striking difference between the north and the southern mountains in climate, hydrology, plants, animals, and landscapes.

And the nation’s largest distribution area of modem glaciers are here. The melted glacier water supplies a major part of the source of many rivers in Xinjiang.

The Tianshan Mountains offer graceful scenery. Seen from afar, they are covered by a vast expanse of snow and by winding glaciers on the top; green trees and grass thrive halfway up the mountains; tinkling streams and beautiful oases provide a picturesque touch at the foot of the mountain. The grandiose Tianshan area is one of the bases of animal husbandry in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The Kunlun Mountains extend from the Pamirs in the west to the northwest of、Sichuan Province, passing through Qinghai Province and traversing between Xinjiang and Tibet. Over 2 500 km long, they crouch like a huge dragon in the west of China, and hence the name “Spine of Asia”.

The Kunlun Mountains comprise the East, Middle and West Kunlun Mountains. The southern, middle and northern branch ranges of East Kunlun Mountains spread like the claw of a bird. The Bayakala Mountain, belonging to the southern branch, is the watershed of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers.

Most of the peaks in the Kunlun range are over 5 000 m high, and some of them exceed 7 000 m. Every summer, the snow on the top of the mountains begins to melt, forming streams that moisten the dry land in Northwest China and supplement the sources of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers.

See another the great 5 mountains

PANKU CREATES THE WORLD

The most punctual Chinese writings contain numerous myths about wondrous leaders of old circumstances; be that as it may, there are no single creation stories in sight among them. The account of Panku is likely the nearest Chinese variant of a creation myth. It initially shows up in the Han tradition (206 B.C.– A.D. 220), many years after the primary stories were told about the old rulers. 

Numerous specialists trust that the account of Panku was shaped and affected by the parade merchants who twisted over the deserts and heaps of the Middle East, India, Africa, and China conveying silk, flavors, and different valuable things of exchange. The Panku story imparts some normal components to creation myths of those far-flung locales: an enormous egg, the partition of the world into restricting powers and destined divine beings. 

This story presents the imperative idea of yin and yang. These restricting powers, which exist in everything found in nature, are not seen as malevolent and great, but rather as dim and light, female and male, earth and paradise. One can't exist without the other. 

In this story, Panku is delineated as a monster. In different renditions, he shows up in his shriveled human shape, dressed in bearskin and clears out. 

PANKU CREATES THE WORLD 

Once, the world was a mass of twirling murkiness. There was no paradise. There was no earth. Every one of the powers of the universe was caught inside a little egg, tumbling and turning in absolute disarray. 

Inside the egg was a small animal named Panku. He dozed soundly, unbothered by the turmoil around him. As he rested, Panku developed, and the egg additionally developed around him. For eighteen thousand years Panku slept gently until the point that he had formed into a very much shaped, strong monster whose body traversed ninety thousand li (around thirty thousand miles). In idealize congruity with Panku's body, the eggshell likewise extended, stressing to hold both the growing mammoth and the turbulent gases of the world inside its limits. 

One day when the universe was particularly shaky, Panku woke up. Surrounding, he didn't see anything, however, obscurity and disarray. At to start with, he was captivated by the sporadic rhythms of the world. He viewed, intrigued, as spinning particles burst and scattered around him. Rapidly, he figured out how to evade detonating gases by agilely hopping from side to side. 

Sooner or later, be that as it may, he wound up tired of all the commotion and disarray. The consistent upheaval clattered his nerves. The clamor created a ringing in his ears that made him greatly bad-tempered. The more he viewed the disarray of the universe, the more he ached for the serenity of his profound rest. The tumult pestered him, yet considerably more essential, Panku understood that the delicate shell of the universe may break at any minute. 

Panku knew he would need to make a move, so he held up until the point when the world was in a condition of uneasy quiet, at that point got a long meteor. He lifted it up like a hatchet and swung it down with each ounce of his quality. It slammed upon the correct focal point of the egg with a colossal sonic blast. The sound resounded all through the world and split every one of the particles and gases of the universe in two. The light, unadulterated powers of the world floated up and shaped the blue sky. The substantial, dull powers of the universe sank down and framed the fruitful earth. 

Panku was pleased with his new world. It had excellence, request, and peace. To save these conditions, he propped up the sky with his solid arms, wedging his body amongst paradise and earth. Every day, the sky rose ten li as Panku extended and pushed it increasingly elevated. 

For ages, he held up the sky without grievance, established that the world ought not to break up once more into bedlam. As time passed, in any case, he wound up fatigued as his confined muscles fixed from the heaviness of the world. For a considerable length of time, Panku pushed in misery with each ligament, muscle, and bone of his body. He shouted out for help, yet his voice just resounded in the void. No other living animal was around to hear him. Every day he ached for alleviation; every day he got none. He battled for a huge number of years until paradise and earth each lost its memory of the other—and were everlastingly isolated into the powers of yin, the dull, and yang, the light. 

At the point when the sky was solidly connected to the sky and the earth was soundly tied down underneath, Panku, at last, lost his determination. Gradually, he became weaker and more seasoned. His body step by step shrank and wrinkled. His muscles released, and his breath wound up blackout. 

Following quite a while of extending and stressing, the solid monster tumbled to the ground, depleted and depleted. His monstrous, shriveled body secured the earth tenderly like a cover. His substance disintegrated and spread rich, dim supplements and sweet noticing soil upon the fruitless ground. His globules of sweat sprinkled beads of rain and dew on the delicate rich earth. 

The tangled hair on his head and whiskers turned into the firm branches of trees and shrubberies. The hair on his arms transformed into minor leaves, trailing vines, and sensitive blossoms. His teeth and bones broke into bits of sparkling metals—gold, silver, and copper—which implanted themselves somewhere down in the earth. His bone marrow solidified into velvety, translucent jade in shades of lavender, green, and white. His blood streamed over the land to make huge pools and quick waterways. His voice, even in its shortcoming, delivered moving thunder and crackling lightning. His diminishing breath framed blowing winds and puffy mists. 

At last, discharged from his misery, Panku cried tears of appreciation which fell and made sparkling, tremendous waterways that turned into the seas. At long last, his work was finished, and Panku, the maker, was dead. In his place, he exited a world that shone and twinkled with sprinkles of brilliant blues, energetic greens, dim tans, and clear, icy hurrying waters.

pre-Qin period 先秦时期

The pre-Qin period refers to the long period before Emperor Qinshihuang's unification of ancient China.

About 1 700 000 years ago, the ancestors of the Chinese people lived in present-day Yuanmou County, Yunnan Province. This period is now generally considered the beginning of primitive society in China. About 2070 BC, the Xia Dynasty came into being. This was China’s first dynasty and it lasted for more than 400 years.

Succeeding the Xia was the Shang Dynasty (also called the Yin Dynasty for changing its capital several times and finally in Yin, today's Anyang city, Henan Province). The Shang Dynasty was a great power in the world which lasted over 500 years. This dynasty bestowed upon its posterity a great heritage of artifacts such as extremely precious inscriptions on bones, tortoise shells and bronze wares.

The third kingdom was the Western Zhou Dynasty, with Hao as its capital (today's Xi'an city, Shaanxi Province). Later as its capital fell into the hands of the minority invaders, the Western Zhou had to move its capital eastward to today’s Luoyang city, Henan Province hence called the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. From the Western Zhou to the Eastern Zhou Dynasties, they altogether existed about 800 years. The Eastern Zhou was later divided by historians into distinct periods: the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) and the Warring States Period (475 - 221 bigger states. By way of reforms, these seven states developed into the feudal society, which paved the way for the later unification of China under the Qin Dynasty.

When the ancient Egyptian, Babylonian and Indian civilizations were progressing, the ancient Chinese civilization in the Xia, Shang and Western Zhou dynasties was already in full bloom. When the Greek and Roman city-states were in their heyday, the thought and culture of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods were flourishing in ancient China. With a broad view of the ancient world civilization, one way finds that the two stars of civilization - one in the East, the other in the West - were shining at the same time. This gradually developed into two centers of world civilization.

Chinese Marriage Custom from ancient to today

Chinese marriage custom is changing over thousands of years. Nevertheless, the Chinese people still inherits some traditions until today. As we know, China is a vast country and with 56 ethnicities. Indeed, the various ethnicities include different marriage customs. Also, more whatever the nationality is, the wedding ceremony is usually very complicated. 

6 steps fo a traditional Chinese marriage

The traditional Chinese marriage usually has 6 necessary parts. Meanwhile, successively are matchmaking, engagement, betrothal presents, meeting the bride, three bows and drinking wedlock wine.

1, Matchmaking. The matchmaker, on behalf of the man, asked the girl’s birth date; and then went to the fortune-teller to see if they are fit or not. For example, if one is born in the year of the Rooster year, she is not a right match with someone born in the age of the Monkey. Such as the same is true for a Sheep and a Mouse. (Chinese zodiac) 
2, Engagement. It is a pre-marriage ceremony, both man and woman should exchange the engagement certificate. Also, on condition that both birthdays matched with each birth year, month and day, by then conforming to the traditional Chinese era.
3, Betrothal presents. The man should provide some betrothal gifts to the girl’s family. Usually, there are some clothes, gold and wealth. An exchange of courtesies, the girl’s family may give back the man some living goods and the housemaid if it is a wealthy family.
4, Meeting the bride. The man would go to the girl’s home to greet her to man’s big family. Additionally, the girl is definitely veiling and waiting in the sedan chair for their wedding.
5, Three bows. It is just like the official wedding ceremony in ancient China. Also, we call it Bow to Heaven and Earth, is the most important rite in the tradition. The new couple needs to stand side by side, making three bows. Therefore, the first bend to heaven and earth, secondly to ancestors and both parents; finally to each other.
6, Drinking wedlock wine. Finally, having wedlock wine is the final but one of the enjoyable steps involved in the holy matrimony. Thus, the newer couple will soon be willing to rest after drinking wedlock wine.

Today’s Chinese marriage

At present, a widespread Chinese marriage goes such as this. After the engagement, and then to the selection of the date for their wedding. Seems that the steps are simple, while the celebration is still complicated. Generally, they need spend 3 days ceremony for their wedding. This should be second only to the Spring Festival

Further, the wedding time will be on holidays, so friends and relatives will have time to attend the wedding. Some particularly people living in the countryside; they would most still likely ask a fortune-teller to choose a lucky particular lucky date for the wending. Thus their marriage would have “Double Cheer.”

Now for the particular Chinese wedding, some of the new couples still would like to have a traditional Chinese marriage. That’s just for fun and lovely, the bride wears veils and sits in the sedan chair for their wedding. The future husband usually meets the precious bride riding a horse, just same with ancients. At the arrival of the beloved bride, those friends and relatives will set off firecrackers, thrown the colorful lace all over the bride and bridegroom to deliver them good luck. Sometimes, also play the loud traditional music to generate a lively environment. This is the marriage of ancient and modern.

Generally, a prestigious from either the bride’s or the bridegroom’s relatives who preside over the Chinese marriage ceremony. Following a lot of courtesies and procedures, and also the new couple is necessary to stand side by side, doing three bows, just like the ancients.

Chinese weddings usually come with a luxurious celebration, just mentioned in the beginning. Thereinto, these people will probably develop some complex processes to wish the new couple endless love and the early on the birth of a healthy child. Their family and friends are usually giving many money and wealth to the new couple, even a new apartment. The whole time generally needs 3 days almost spend the time to eating. Is this one of the reasons why Chinese food is taste?

Marriage customs can vary from country to country. However, most marriages share the same processes.  Now, the Chinese government stipulates that the legal marriage age is 20 for a girl and 22 for a boy. Otherwise, in ancient China, people usually married at the age of 14, and they became grandparents when they were 36 years old.