The People's Republic of China is the third-largest country in the world by total land area, after Russia and Canada, and it has the largest population of any country in the world. These facts are well-known to most people. What many people don't know, however, is that China can be split into two strikingly-different parts along population lines.
This split is referred to as the Heihe-Tengchong Line^, named after the two cities through which the line is traditionally drawn. The area east of the line, while only comprising 43% of China's total land area, is home to 94% of the country's total population; the other 57% of land contains only 6% of the population.
There are many factors that contribute to such a strong demographic difference. Most of the land west of the line is unsuitable for agriculture: the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts are located to the west, as is the vast and mountainous Tibetan Plateau. Several areas along the border are disputed by China's neighbors, or otherwise have been subject to political turmoil or natural disasters. The eastern side has access to maritime commerce, and most rivers on that side drain into the East China Sea. The climate is also generally warmer and wetter east of the line--the western side borders the cold climbs of Mongolia and the Altai Republic in Russia.
Some large cities exist west of the Heihe-Tengchong Line. Chengdu is close to the split, and Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region has over 4 million inhabitants. But overall, western China has very little presence in the country's public conscience. Internationally, western China has even less reach: when most foreigners think of China, they picture Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, or Nanjing--all well east of the line.
I wonder if similar demarcations exist in other countries. I live in the American Midwest, and while I live near a relatively large city, my state is often referred to as a "flyover state": many people only see it from the air as they're flying between the coastal regions. My city is rather populous, but the state itself is not--most of it is agricultural.
Regarding population distribution in the United States, I imagine a circle with a center near western South Dakota and a radius of about 600 to 700 miles. This circle contains some large population outliers such as Denver and Minneapolis, but is otherwise composed of states with relatively few people, such as Wyoming, North Dakota, Montana and Utah. Surely the vast plurality of Americans live outside such a circle.
Do such population "voids" exist in many other countries? I imagine the contrast is less severe in some western European countries, but I know places like Australia or Canada have even greater differences. If you live in a sparsely-inhabited region and notice a clear geographical boundary between your area and more populated regions (or vice-versa), I'd love to hear about it.
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[Last updated: 2024-10-06]
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