The destruction of ancient ecological environment and the movement of civilization center in China

Abstract

China is one of the ancient civilization countries. Owing to the blind reclamation, the vegetation had been destroyed, causing soil erosion and desertification, and making the civilization center move to the Changjiang (Yangtze) River valley from the Huanghe (Yellow) River. This movement began in the Qin and Han dynasties (221 B.C.-220 A.D.) because at that time the large-scale reclamation was felled, the grassland was reclaimed into farmland, the vegetation was seriously destroyed in the loess and north of the Huanghe River, and the climate was getting colder; and the turn from north to south occurred in the Sui and Tang dynasties (581–907 A.D.) and completed in the Song Dynasty (960–1279 A.D.). However, at present the vegetation damage of the Changjiang River valley is very serious too and the silt carrying capacity of the Changjiang River is increasing sharply; thus the Changjiang River is in danger of becoming a second Huanghe River, so we must pay attention to the protection of ecological environment.