" North China includes the densely populated and intensively cultivated North China Plain, the loess-covered uplands of Shansi, northern Shensi, and eastern Kansu, and the sparsely populated, semiarid steppes of Inner Mongolia....

"Northeast China - the provinces of Heilungkiang, Kirin, and Liaoning - is the most important region of the country and a nationally significant and still-developing center of agricultural production. Most of the Northeast remained...