China’s Climate

China is a huge country. It is vast, and the climate varies widely from region to region.

China’s climate is greatly influenced by seasonal winds. It has clear temperature differences in winter and summer. In winter, north winds coming from high latitude1 areas are cold and dry, and in summer, south winds from sea areas at lower longitudes1 are warm and wet. In addition, climates differ from region to region because of the country’s large land.

In the southeast of the Nanling Mountains2, rains are plenty and the temperature is high all year round. In the Yangtze River and Huaihe River valleys, there are four different seasons.

In Northeast China, summer is short but there is much sunshine, while winter is long and cold. Rainfall is limited in Northwest China where it is cold in winter and hot in summer.

In Southwest China of low latitudes, the land is high, and temperatures there change from a valley to a mountain peak.

注解 Notes

1. latitude 纬度；longitude 经度

经纬度是经度与纬度组成的一个坐标系统，又称为地理坐标系统，它是一种利用三度空间的球面来定义地球上的空间的球面坐标系统，能够标示地球上任何一处的位置。

2. Nanling Mountains 南岭山脉

南岭山脉，由越城岭、都庞岭、萌渚岭、骑田岭、大庾岭五条主要山岭组成，故又称“五岭”。地处广东、广西、湖南、江西四省区交界处，是中国江南最大的横向构造带山脉，是长江和珠江两大流域的分水岭。