Mountains. China is broken up into a sort of checkerboard by intersecting mountain chains. One major range is traced from southwestern China northeastward through Shansi and western Manchuria. A parallel range extends from Guangzhou northward along the coast to the lower reaches of the Yangzi (Yangtze) River and then reappears in the Shandong Peninsula and along the Korean and Manchurian borders. Intersecting these two southwestto- northeast ranges, three parallel mountain chains are spaced at roughly equal intervals from west to east. Across the center of South China the southernmost chain creates the watershed dividing the West River system of the Guangzhou region from the Yangzi Valley. In the extreme North another east-west range divides North China from the Mongolian plateau. The eastward extension of the massive Kunlun Mountains of northern Tibet creates the dividing line between the Yangzi and the Yellow Rivers, marking the...