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Overview
More than 2000 years ago the
Chinese poet Sima Xiangru wrote the following lines about
his native land:
The towering
heights of
the Southern Mountains
Soar dizzily like a stack of
cooking pots
Precipitous and sheer.
Their sides are furrowed with
ravines and valleys....
While from their folds the
mountain streams leap
and tumble,
Spilling out upon the level
plains.
There they flow a thousand
miles along smooth beds,
Their banks lined with dikes
Blanketed with green orchids.
☀
☁
☃
♡
☀
☁
☃
He described a rugged land of towering
mountains, powerful rivers, and vast plains.
On the southwest, China is bounded by huge mountains. And
on the east, the ocean to the horizon. These land forms act
as natural barriers. They set China apart from the rest of
the world. They help to preserve one of the oldest
continuous civilizations in the world, dating back almost
4000 years.
