How did the geography of China affect the development of early civilization there?
The two main geographical characteristics that you need to consider with China are rivers and mountains.
China has two rivers, the Yellow and the Yangtze, which stretch from sea
in the east and then travel hundreds of miles inland. The river valleys
that surround these rivers account for nearly 2/3 of the current
Chinese land mass. This gave early Chinese governments the advantage of
being able easily control their territory just by controlling these two
rivers. Contrast this with the geography of Europe. Yes there are large
rivers in Europe, but no single or two river stretch across Europe. You
would need to have control over nearly a dozen rivers to have the same
easy of movement and control over you Europe that you can have over the
China. This made early Chinese governments and their bureaucracies far
more effective than there European counterparts.
Secondly, you have a lack of large mountain ranges. In Europe the Alps,
Pyrenees, Carpathians, and Dinaric Mountain crisscross all of Europe.
China lacks these natural barriers, and like the rivers, this makes
China more easily controlled from a single central location.
Together, the two large rivers, and lack of large mountains made China a
more hospitable area for centralized governments. Perhaps the biggest
effect was the establishment and growth of the Chinese bureaucratic
class and the testing system that developed them. By having a need for
bureaucrats to help run this large area, China developed class that
wouldn't take in Europe till centuries later. ^^