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There the mountains descend sharply to heights of between 6,000 and 3,000 feet (1,800 and 900 metres), after which basins intermingle with plateaus. This step includes the Mongolian Plateau, the Tarim Basin, the Loess Plateau (loess is a yellow-gray dust deposited by the wind), the Sichuan Basin, and the Yunnan-Guizhou (Yungui) Plateau.The third step extends from the east of the Dalou, Taihang, and Wu mountain ranges and from the eastern perimeter of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau to the China Sea. Almost all of this area is made up of hills and plains lying below 1,500 feet ( 450 meters).
The most remarkable feature of China's relief is the vast extent of its Northeast Mobile Number List mountain chains; the mountains, indeed, have exerted a tremendous influence on the country's political, economic, and cultural development. By rough estimate, about one-third of the total area of China consists of mountains. China has the world's tallest mountain and the world's highest and largest plateau, in addition to possessing extensive coastal plains. The five major landforms—mountain, plateau, hill, plain, and basin—are all well represented. China's complex natural environment and rich natural resources are closely connected with the varied nature of its relief.
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Mount Everest massifMount Everest massifThe Mount Everest massif, Himalayas, Nepal.The topography of China is marked by many splendours. Mount Everest (Qomolangma Feng), situated on the border between China and Nepal, is the highest peak in the world, at an elevation of 29,035 feet (8,850 metres; see Researcher's Note: Height of Mount Everest). By contrast, the lowest part of the Turfan Depression in the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang—Lake Ayding—is 508 feet (155 metres) below sea level. The coast of China contrasts greatly between South and North. To the south of the bay of Hangzhou, the coast is rocky and indented with many harbors and offshore islands. To the north, except along the
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