Ancient China From 1021 to 221 B.C.E.
And How Its People Lived Off The Natural Resources
A lot of people describe China's geography and resources as being like a staircase, but on each level the land is different. In the North, the Himalayan Mountains rise above the world, and people mostly graze yak for their fur and meat. In the middle of china there are still hills, but it is mostly desert here. In the east, rich farmland and essential rivers run through the area to the Pacific Ocean, providing water and good food. Most of the people in China live in this area. These were the same qualities the land in china had hundreds and hundreds of years ago, and the people lived off the land very easily. China is different in many ways geologically, but resourcefully it is very alike.
Sometimes people say that China's landscape is like a staircase with three steps. The top step of this staircase is in the west, where the Himalaya Mountains are. Tibet and Mount Everest are also in this region of China. People call it "the roof of the world." The tops of the mountains have snow even in the summertime. In winter, the whole area is very cold - it can be as cold as -40 Fahrenheit, but in the summer it can get hot, up to about 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
The middle of China is the second step of the staircase. There are still hills, but they are lower and not snowy anymore. Actually, most of this middle part of China is deserts. The most famous is the Gobi Desert, the fourth largest desert in the world! Some of it is grassland where you can graze cattle (mostly yaks) but cannot befarmed. Mongolia is in this part of China. Here, too, it gets very cold in the winter and hot in the summer.
In Eastern China, nearer to the Pacific Ocean, the bottom step of the staircase lies. There are tow grand, long rivers running all through this part of China, running down to the Pacific Ocean. The two rivers are the Yangtze and the Yellow Rivers. Most of the people of China live around here, where they can get plenty of water for farming. In the northern part, they mostly grow wheat, and in the southern part, they mostly grow rice. In this part of China, which people who live there call the Middle Kingdom, it doesn't get as hot or as cold. But in the spring, when the snow melts in the mountains, these rivers often flood.
Northeastern China has many forests and in the forests there are deer and even reindeer, and tigers. In the very southernmost part of China, there's one more kind of climate, which is almost a tropical rainforest or jungle. It's hot and wet here in the summer, and sometimes there are typhoons, tropical storms like hurricanes. Even in winter, it never really gets cold. Ginseng, a plant people used for medicine, grows here. There are elephants, wild chickens, leopards, and all sorts of other animals.
In conclusion, China is a very amazing place, because of the diversity of the landscape, but also how people in different parts of the country live and survive. In Ancient China, there was almost no wars over food, but sometimes people would argue over parts of the great Yellow and Yangtze rivers. Everyone that was born in China back in ancient would probably have plenty of food and clean water, and a stable society to live with.
"The Han dynasty is notable for its concentration on organized ceramic production. Mass-produced functional vessels, some stamped with place names and government offices, suggest that a true nationwide industry had come into existence and that some ceramic workshops were already state controlled. Molds aided tremendously in the manufacture of identical vessels, but the most important technical innovation was the development of lead glazing. These low-fired glazes were colored with copper to produce green, or iron to create yellow or brown. The toxicity of lead however meant that these new glazes were best suited to mortuary pottery rather than daily use." -- 
This piece of Zhou art was created sometime between 1200 and 500 B.C.E. and is made form porcelain, which gives it a shiny outside coat. "Porcelain is a clay body with relatively few impurities that, after being fired at between 1400F to 2600F, is virtually transparent. There are many different varieties of porcelain, however, each behaves in the same relative way while being worked by the potter. Most porcelains have the texture of thick butter due to their lack of a tempering material such as grog, making porcelain pottery a true skill and art form. Porcelain follows the same basic firing techniques as earthenware, in that it is put into a kiln once, to become biscuit, a glaze is applied to the pot, and then it is put back into the kiln once more. Once in the kiln, the glaze and clay body vitrify and fuse together, creating a strong crystallized glass structure around the pot."
Believe it or not, India used to be one great landmass in the indian ocean. Tectonic plates pushed (and still do today) India into southern Asia. This pressure created a great mountain range called the Himalayas. The Himalayas serve as a barrier in a few ways. First, the range is so tall (Mt. Everest is over 24,000 Ft. high) that it blocks dry, frigid Arctic winds, in turn making India'a climate warmer. Second, invaders cannot pass through the Himalayas as they are so high up. Even mountaineers today have a hard time climbing the range becuase of the low oxygen in the air. They need to have an SCBA, or self contained breathing apparatus, to provide oxygen. In short, no armies could invade India from the north becuase of the Himalayas.
For trade use, the Tang Dynasty expanded through the North, East, and South throughout Siberia, Korea, and what now is Vietnam.
