Editing North China Plain

{{Short description|Largest alluvial plain of China}}
{{Infobox Chinese
| image = File:China Northern Plain relief location map.png
| t = 華北平原
| s = 华北平原
| l = North China Plain
| p = Huáběi Píngyuán
| w = Huapei P'ingyüan
| gr = Hwabeei Pyngyuan
| t2 = 黃淮海平原
| s2 = 黄淮海平原
| l2 = [[Yellow River|Huang]]-[[Huai River|Huai]]-[[Hai River|Hai]] Plain
| p2 = Huáng-Huái-Hǎi Píngyuán
| w2 = Huang-Huai-Hai P'ingyüan
| gr2 = Hwang-Hwai-Hae Pyngyuan
}}

The '''North China Plain''' ({{zh|s=华北平原|t=華北平原|p=Huáběi Píngyuán}}) is a large-scale downfaulted rift basin formed in the late [[Paleogene]] and [[Neogene]] and then modified by the deposits of the [[Yellow River]]. It is the largest [[alluvial plain]] of China. The plain is bordered to the north by the [[Yanshan Mountains]], to the west by the [[Taihang Mountains]], to the south by the [[Dabie Mountains]], and to the east by the [[Yellow Sea]] and [[Bohai Sea]]. The [[Yellow River]] flows through the plain, before its waters empty into the Bohai Sea.

The part of the North China Plain around the banks of the middle and lower Yellow River is commonly referred to as the [[Central Plain (China)|Central Plain]] ({{zh|c=|p=Zhōngyuán}}). This portion of the North China Plain formed the [[cradle of civilisation|cradle]] of [[History of China|Chinese civilization]], and is the region from which the [[Han Chinese]] people emerged.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/19980417193527/http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/texts/chinfact.html BASIC INFORMATION ON CHINA] </ref><ref name="Lee2008">{{cite book |author=Keekok Lee |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ku1Sr-q9KNUC&pg=PA39 |title=Warp and Weft, Chinese Language and Culture |date=24 October 2008 |publisher=Strategic Book Publishing |isbn=978-1-60693-247-6 |pages=39–40 |access-date=2 November 2011}}</ref>

[[Beijing]], the capital of China, is located on the northeast edge of the plain, with [[Tianjin]], an important industrial city and commercial port, near its northeast coast. [[Jinan]] (the capital of [[Shandong]] province) and [[Zhengzhou]] (the capital of [[Henan]] province) lie on the plain as well, along the banks of the [[Yellow River]]. Additionally, the capitals of several Imperial Chinese dynasties were located on the plain, including [[Luoyang]] (which at various points was the capital of the [[Han dynasty|Han]], [[Jin dynasty (266–420)|Jin]], [[Sui dynasty|Sui]], and [[Tang dynasty|Tang]] dynasties) and [[Kaifeng]] (the capital of the [[Northern Song (960–1127)|Northern Song dynasty]]).

The multipurpose [[Xiaolangdi Dam]] marks the location of the Yellow River's last valley before its waters flow onto the North China Plain, a great delta created from silt deposited at the Yellow River's mouth over millennia. The North China Plain encompasses much of [[Henan]], [[Hebei]], and [[Shandong]] provinces, as well as the northern portions of [[Jiangsu]] and [[Anhui]]. Further south, the North China Plain merges with the similarly flat [[Yangtze Delta]].

The North China Plain is fertile, and it is one of the most densely populated regions in the world. The plain is one of China's most important agricultural regions, producing [[wheat]], [[maize]], [[sorghum]], [[millet]], [[peanut]]s, [[sesame]] seed, [[cotton]], and various [[vegetable]]s. It is the main area of [[sorghum]], [[millet]], [[maize]], and [[cotton]] production in China. In the eastern part of the plain, Shandong's [[Shengli Oil Field]] serves as an important petroleum base. Due to its yellow soil, the North China Plain's nickname is "Land of the yellow earth". The plain covers an area of about {{convert|409,500|km2|sqmi|sp=us}}, most of which is less than  {{convert|50|m|ft}} above sea level.

==Historical significance==
[[File:Jinanfromqianfoshan.jpg|thumb|[[Jinan]], the capital of [[Shandong]] province]]
The geography of the North China Plain has had profound cultural and political implications. Unlike areas to the south of the Yangtze, the plain generally runs uninterrupted by mountains and has far fewer rivers. As a result, communication by horse is rapid within the plain, and the spoken language of the plain is relatively uniform, in contrast to the plethora of languages and dialects in [[southern China]]. In addition the possibility of rapid communication has meant that the political center of China has tended to be located here.<ref name="Ramsey">Ramsey, S. Robert, The Languages of China. Princeton University Press (1987), pp. 19–26. {{ISBN|0-691-06694-9}}</ref>

Because the fertile soil of the North China Plain gradually merges with the [[steppe]]s and [[desert]]s of [[Dzungaria]], [[Inner Mongolia]], and [[Northeast China]], the plain has been prone to invasion from nomadic or semi-nomadic tribes originating from those regions, prompting the construction of the [[Great Wall of China]]. 
Although the soil of the North China Plain is fertile, the weather is unpredictable, being at the intersection of humid winds from the Pacific and dry winds from the interior of the Asian continent.  This makes the plain prone to both floods and drought.  Moreover, the flatness of the plain promotes massive flooding when river works are damaged. Many historians have proposed that these factors have encouraged the development of a centralized Chinese state to manage [[granary|granaries]], maintain [[irrigation|hydraulic]] works, and administer [[fortification]]s against the steppe peoples. (The "[[hydraulic despotism|hydraulic society]]" school holds that early states developed in the valleys of the Nile, Euphrates, Indus and Yellow Rivers due to the need to supervise large numbers of laborers to build irrigation canals and control floods.)

Philosophically, the North China Plain was also the birthplace of [[Confucius]], the traditional patriarch of East Asian philosophy. Confucius lived and taught in the [[State of Lu]] from 551 to 479 [[BCE]]. His teachings, recorded in [[The Analects]], eventually became the school of thought known as [[Confucianism]]. Tied to the [[Classical Chinese]] writing system, Confucianism swept throughout China and onto [[Korea]], [[Japan]], and [[Vietnam]], heavily influencing their respective  political, legal, and educational bureaucracies.

=== Modern history ===
The initial project of the [[Great Leap Forward]] was accelerating the construction of waterworks on the North China Plain during the 1957–1958 winter.<ref name=":122">{{Cite book |last=Harrell |first=Stevan |title=An Ecological History of Modern China |publisher=[[University of Washington Press]] |year=2023 |isbn=9780295751719 |location=Seattle}}</ref>{{Rp|page=82}}

== Climate change ==
{{See also|Effects of climate change}}
[[File:Kang_2018_NCP_irrigation_RCPs.png|thumb|This set of maps shows how the summer [[heat stress]] over the North China Plain would change between now at the end of the century under [[Representative Concentration Pathway|RCP4.5 and RCP8.5]], the scenarios of "moderate" and intense climate change. It also shows how irrigation would exacerbate heat stress compared to a [[counterfactual]] where it is absent.<ref name="Kang2018" />]]
As [[climate change]] increases the Earth's average temperature, and has a disproportionate effect on extreme temperatures, it will also increase [[heat stress]] felt in areas that are already hot and/or with high [[humidity]]. The North China Plain is expected to be highly affected, as the region's extensive [[irrigation]] networks result in unusually moist air. In scenarios without aggressive [[climate change mitigation|action to stop climate change]], the worst [[heatwave]]s are projected to become severe enough to cause mass mortality in [[agricultural labourer]]s working outdoors. Under the most extreme climate change scenario, the warming reached by 2100 would be sufficient to cause such heatwaves across the North China Plain approximately once per decade.<ref name="Kang2018">{{Cite journal |last1=Kang |first1=Suchul |last2=Eltahir |first2=Elfatih A. B. |date=31 July 2018 |title=North China Plain threatened by deadly heatwaves due to climate change and irrigation |journal=Nature Communications |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=2894 |doi=10.1038/s41467-018-05252-y |doi-access=free|pmid=30065269 |pmc=6068174 }}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*''Encyclopædia Britannica'': [https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/419130/North-China-Plain "North China Plain"]

{{Plains of China}}
{{Hebei topics}}
{{Henan topics}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:North China Plain| ]]
[[Category:Regions of China]]