Geography is the foundation of China's historical and contemporary challenges and significantly informs its governing style. The fertile land between the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, protected in the West by mountains and in the East by the sea, has been the cradle of Chinese civilization and of pre-civilizational advanced neolithic societies for at least five millennia, long before there was a unified Chinese state. This geographic core provided ample capacity for agricultural cultivation and population growth, as well as protection from outsiders, though the plains to the north would provide an invasion path for the Mongols in the 13th century and the Manchus in the 17th century, hence the necessity of China’s Great Wall. From China's early history of kings and feudalism to the rule of Emperor Qin Shi Huang in 221-210 B.C. and beyond, this geography also posed acute challenges, chiefly in water management as rulers fought to feed...
