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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, January 30, 2002

Great Changes in China's Land and Water Territory

China has experienced a great change in land and water territory under the joint actions by both nature and mankind with deserts developing, seas diminishing, lakes drying up and islands joining up since 1949. First, the change sees in the extending of coastal lines. Second, islands get reshaped. Third, some lakes are expanding but others, shrinking.


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Only half a century since 1949 has China experienced a great change in land and water territory under the joint actions by both nature and mankind with deserts developing, seas diminishing, lakes drying up and islands joining up. The newly published magazine of "Map" draw a general picture of it.

  • Coastal lines extending

    First, the change sees in the extending of coastal lines. From 1953 to 1982, 1,100 sq. km lands have formed into shape. The outlet area has developed into a Yellow river delta by 1994 and tens of sq. km of lands have come to appear in the Yangtze River Delta area since the founding of the PRC.

  • Islands reshaped

    Second, islands get reshaped. The Shitang Island in Wenling area of Zhejiang Province, once marked clearly as an island on the map in the early days of the founding of the PRC, has turned into a part of land. Shanghai's Chongming Island becomes twice as large in the fifty years to reach 1,200 sq. km in comparison with 600 sq. km in 1950's.

  • Lakes either expanding or shrinking

    Third, some lakes are expanding but others, shrinking. The Aydingkol Lake, once dried up as a depression in Turpan, has regained its lake area of 75 sq. km due to the plenty of water sources as well as effective measures on environmental protection. Compared to 1,052 lakes in 1950's, only 83 remained in Hubei Province, a province renowned for its thousands of lakes in the past. The Jianghan plain, sprawling in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze and an area gathering lots of lakes and marshlands, lost 80 percent of its lakes. Only as less as 500 sq. km left in Aibi lake within Xinjiang Junggar Basin, compared to the previous 1,070 sq. km when PRC was founded.



    by PD Online Staff Yang Ruoqian

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