China is one of the world’s largest countries (Image: Getty)
is one of the world’s largest countries with a staggering population of over 1.4 billion people.
However, despite having an immense mass of land, there is a particular side of the country which seems to be
Nearly half of China’s land is almost empty. If you were to draw a line from the city of Heihe in the northeast right down to Tengchong in the southwest, the east of the line accounts for just under half, 43% to be precise, of China’s terrority.
However, in that half you will find that it is home to a whopping 94% of the country’s entire population andt it has been that way for a very long time.
In 1935, a man named Hu Huanyong drew a map displaying the huge divide, published in the Chinese journal of geography, and discovered the percentage number of people living towards the .
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The population is over 1.4 billion (Image: Getty)
While the exact reason for this seperation hasn’t been pinpointed, there are a few explanations as to how it has come to be.
If you were to first take into consideration the georgaphy of the land, the east is better suited for sustaining larger populations as it has more vast open plains, with better climate of both warmth and recieving rainfall.
Flat plains are the best areas to build farms and cities that will eventually develop over time, which is exactly what happened in China.
In comparison to the land in the east, the west side of the country is entirely covered in high mountains and dry deserts making it one of the most inhabitable places in the world.
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Climates in western China make it unsuitable for civilisation (Image: Getty)
Additionally, the extreme weather conditions makes it impossible for civillisation. The temperatures in the deserts could plummet down to as low as -40C whereas in the summer it can reach up to soarching numbers of 45C.
What makes it worse is that these conditions can take a dramatic turn within just 24 hours.
Despite the factors, you will find a small percentage of China’s population living in the west side of the country – typically ethnic minorities like the Tibetans who reside in areas that are threatened by destertification known as the wastelands.