With an area of 9.6 million square kilometers, the territory of China is the largest of all of the Asian nations and equals the whole area of the European continent. There are 34 administrative units at provincial level, including four municipalities, five autonomous regions, two special administrative regions and 23 provinces. The Chinese geography is as diverse as its culture. It has a great variety of climates and terrains: the south (Hainan) is wet and tropical, the NW of China is covered in desert and in the very far NE, close to Russia, the subarctic climate makes the temperature drop to -50ºC in the winter.
The four great plateaus: The Tibetan Plateau, "the roof of the world," it is the highest and biggest plateau in the world covering most of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province. North of the 3,300-kilometre-
long Great Wall, between Gansu Province on the west and the Greater Khingan Range on the east, lies the Mongolian Plateau. The plateau includes the Gobi Desert. To the south is the largest loess plateau in the world: Hungatu. Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau covers southwestern China.
China's spectacular mountain landscapes attract many visitors, climbers and adventurers. The Sacred Mountains of China are divided into two groups associated with Taoism (The Five Great Mountains) and B
uddhism (The Four Sacred Mountains). The challenging and spectacular Mount Everest is part of the Himalaya range and is the highest point on Earth. Satellite technology says the mountain is currently 29,107 feet tall.
The four great basins of China are the Tarim Basin, the Junggar Basin, the Chaidamu Basin, the Sichuan basins and among the main rivers count: the Yangtze River, the longest river in China and Asia, and the third-longest in the world, the Yellow River, the Pear River. Moreover, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is the oldest and longest man-made canal in the world. Huangguoshu Waterfall, a milky way in miniature, is the largest waterfall in Asia and one of the most famous around the world.