This silted base, the edge of the North China Plain, was built up over time by the sand carried downstream through the mountains by the Yongding River in the west and the Chaobai River in the east.
In China today, 130.04 million ha of land are cultivated, mainly on the Northeast Plain, the North China Plain, the Middle-Lower Yangtze Plain, the Pearl River Delta and the Sichuan Basin.
But it’s always changing. This is especially true on the North China Plain. From imperial times to the Maoist period to the recent reform phase, humans have tried to control the environment.