Landform

China’s topography is varied and complex，with towering mountains，basins of different sizes，undulating plateaus and hills，and flat and fertile plains.3A bird’s-eye view of China indicates that China’s terrain descends in four steps from west to east.

The top of this four-tep“staircase”is the Qingha-Tibet Plateau.Averaging more than 4，000 meters above sea level，it is often called the“roof of the world.”Rising 8，848 meters above sea level is Mt.

Qomolangma，the world’s highest peak and the main peak of the Himalayas.

The second step includes the Inner Mongolia，Loess Plateau，Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau，and the Tarim，Junggar and Sichuan basins，with an average elevation of between 1，000 meters and 2，000 meters.

The third step，about 500-1，000 meters in elevation，Taihang，Wushan and Xuefeng mountain ranges and extends eastward to the coast.Here，from north to south，are the Northeast Plain，the North China Plain and the Middle-lower Yangtze Plain.Interspersed amongst the plains are some hills and foothills.

To the east，the land extends out into the ocean，in a continental shelf，the fourth step of the staircase.The water here is less than 200 meters deep.

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