- The Ancient Chinese called their land Zhongguo or the Middle Kingdom.
- The isolation contributed to the Chinese belief that China was the center of the Earth and the sole source of civilization.
Geographic Barriers:
 To the west and southwest - high mountain ranges – the Tien Shan and the Himalayas – and brutal deserts blocked the easy movement of people.
 To the southeast – thick jungles divided China from Southeast Asia
 To the north – lay the forbidding desert, the Gobi
 To the east – the vast Pacific rolled endlessly
- The Chinese did have contact with the outside world:
- They traded with neighboring people and, in time, Chinese goods reached the Middle East and beyond.
- The outsiders whom the Chinese encountered were nomadic invaders. To the Chinese, these nomads were barbarians who did not speak Chinese and lacked the skills and achievements of a settled society.
- Nomads conquered China from time to time, but they were usually absorbed into the advanced civilization.
Main Regions
- The Chinese heartland lay along the east coast and the valleys of the Huang
He or Yellow River and Yangzi River.

- In ancient times, these fertile farming regions supported the largest populations. The rivers provided water for irrigation and served as transportation routes.
- Beyond the heartland are the outlying regions of Xinjiang, Mongolia, and
Manchuria.
- The first two regions have harsh climates and rugged terrain.
- All three regions played a key role in China’s history.
- Nomads repeatedly attacked and plundered Chinese cities. At other times, powerful Chinese rulers conquered or made alliances with people of these regions.
- China also extended its influence over the Himalayan region of Tibet, which the Chinese called Xizang.
“River of Sorrows”
- Chinese history began in the Huang He valley, where Neolithic people learned to farm.
- The need to control the flow of the river through large water projects probably led to the rise of strong central government.
- Huang He got its name from the loess, or fine windblown yellow soil, that carries eastward from Siberia and Mongolia.
- As loess settles to the river bottom, it raises the water level. Chinese peasants labored constantly to build and repair dikes that kept the river from overflowing.
- If the dikes broke, flood waters burst over the land. Such disasters destroyed crops and brought mass starvation.