All the nations of the earth both developed and developing countries has to deal and cope with the demands of the climate change. China is, therefore, not an exception. China has to deal with a wide range of climates from the tropics and deserts. Climate can be viewed in three dimensions, in that climate constraints economy and society, and the climate is a hazard and can bring about other disasters and hazards. In recent research, the Chinese culture has not yet developed as fast as other nations of the world though some argue that China had the start in its culture development (SA 1). One argument of China's low development is due to seeing the climate change as the hazard to the country as most parts of China were plagued and continued to be challenged by the natural disasters. On the other hand, according to Yang, “the slow development in China may be due to the impact of climate mainly monsoon winds” in China's cultural development (Yang, Xia, & Ye, 12).
In future, the global warming in China may prove climate to be a resource. First, the interrelationships between the climate mainly the monsoon winds and the culture in China will be examined if or not the Chinese have used the climate change to the disadvantage or the advantage of their society. The comparison of the different climate area or the regions and the different cultures demonstrate a strong relationship between climate change mainly the monsoons wind and culture in China. “Monsoon winds are strong sea and land breeze caused by the seasonal climate change occurring in Indian Ocean”, thus they have negatively affected the Chinese culture (Smith, Haney, Karrera, & Kincus, 1). On the other hand, climatologist define climate as “a region that has prevailing weather condition that affect country’s culture, economic development as well as socio-economic factors” (Smil 56). Therefore, Climate has played a crucial part in the development of China culture and will continue to influence the culture in future as climate change progress.
First, at a glance, Chinese culture is seen as monolithic despite its diversity of the climate. The Chinese culture is diversified with several groups and cultural regions including the Mongols, Han Chinese, the Li, the Uygurs and Tibetans and other fragment ethnic groups. The truth is, despite the diversity, there is cultural uniformity in China. For example, almost 1.3 billion people living in China, the majority of them speak in Mandarin. Also, diversity is depicted by the fact that about 129 other languages exist in China. Therefore, the diversity existing among Chinese culture is due to the climate variations in the country (Smil 50). China as a nation is divided into 22 provinces by excluding Taiwan, whereby there is four municipalities, five autonomous regions and two special administrative. Therefore, when discussing Climate in China, the divisions serve a significant purpose because China has a wide range of climate condition thus providing differences in humidity, temperature, and precipitation due to the monsoon winds. Therefore, in China, the temperature ranges from tropical to rigid, and at least sixty percent of rainfalls occur during the summer months 6 (Glantz 96
Also, it's obvious that climate affects an aspect of culture like the dressing. For example, in China, the Tibetans ethnic groups living in the mountains wear the Tibetan boots and robes for warmth. On the other hand, women in the rural areas, the tropical China wear less clothing. The variation on climate change causes Chinese from different regions to wear different types of clothes which is a key aspect on the Chinese culture. Nevertheless, the variation of climate conditions provides the right environment for animal husbandry, forestry, and high-quality farming or agriculture (Yang, Xia, & Ye, 23).
The different climate regions in China correspond with the existing culture in the present regions. In fact, the climate in China is dominated by the wet monsoons and dry seasons. The reason is that most of China lie along the northern temperate zone, however, due to the monsoons that cause dry wind in the winter, the northwestern cold and the wet wind during summer, southwestern warm, causes China to experience a difference of 40C in temperature between the south and north (Chang 44). The high influence of monsoons in China has led to climatologists to name China a country with the variation of temperature in seasons like dry winter and wet summer. The diverse climate in China is attributed to the four distinct season and deserts and tropical rain forests.
Also, the monsoons from the north affect the northern part of China which includes the provinces of Heilongjiang, Hebei, Laoning, Jilin and the Inner Mongolia. In general, the Northern part of China is drier and colder than other regions. In fact, the existence of the monsoons winds causes the winter in the region to be 5 to 17 degrees colder than other regions in the same latitude, and freezing temperatures are found in northern parts of Heilongjiang that have no summer at all. The province of Beijing has temperatures low as -20C, and during the short summer the temperature can reach up to 38C with humidity (Gelbspan 1). Nonetheless, the parts of northern China experience four seasons with milder autumn and summer thus affecting the inhabitant's dress code.
Most of the rolling hills and mountains in the southwestern China which are Qinghai province and Tibet are mountainous. These provinces have got the highest mountain peaks in the world. Therefore, if Tibet is considered as one of the autonomous regions in China, then China will claim Mount Everest, with the country of Nepal. Due to these mountains in the region, the climate of southwestern China varies dramatically from the rest climate of China because of its seasonal zones (Anderson1). The climate in the south-western part of China is influenced by the monsoons winds blowing from the Indian Ocean.
Moreover, the mountainous parts of southwest experience harsh climate with long winter commencing in October to May due to the monsoons winds from Indian Ocean. With mount Qumolangma's/ Mount Everest mean temperature is -28C annually (Chuluun, & Ojima, 52). Also, during summer it's quite warm with intense, strong winds and sunlight radiation. Understandably, parts of southwestern are uninhabitable. The region has few large cities like Lhasa that was a home of great Lama Dalai. Some water shortages of the rich culture of the Tibet is attributed to the geography of the region and the high mountainous peaks. The rest parts are sparsely populated due to the extreme poor climate. Most of the people living in southwestern depend upon tourism activities from the high peaks that are famous worldwide. Besides, the extreme climate change in China has an influence on the development of the Chinese culture. China is usually divided into two parts the outer China and proper China. The proper China is made up of the central and eastern regions (Pechekina, Benfer, & Wang, 30). With close examination, these areas are most temperate regions in China. The parts contain the four distinct seasons with high rainfall. The region is known to be most productive for agriculture thus comfortable for Chinese to live.
In conclusion, with the adverse effects of climate change in China's region, they can choose to view climate change in another dimension. The country has the capability to exploit on the climate change and emerge as a super power in the world. The effects prove to be many if no effective action put in place. Instead, the policy makers in China may continue to view climate change as a hazard. Therefore, while their decisions on climate and the consequences on the future Chinese culture and society remain prevalent, “the decisions on climate change must be made as the effects of the climate change in the region have begun to impact the nation and the people of China” as suggested by Smullen (Smullen 1).
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