China is one of the most complex continents and formed from the combination of many palaeocontinents of different sizes. The North China Platform and its northern part are part of the Eurasian Plate; the Yangtze Platform, Qaidam Basin and Tarim Basin originated from the Australian Plate; the main body of the majestic Qinghai-Tibet Plateau originated from the Indian Plate; and the narrow coastal mountains of Taiwan are part of the Philippine Sea Plate. China contains three Pre-Nanhuan cratons (stable ancient platforms) and is surrounded by five orogenic belts. These three cratons are the North China Platform, Yangtze Platform and Tarim Platform, and the five orogenic belts are (1) the Tianshan-Daxing’anling Variscan orogenic belt; (2) the Qilian Mountain-Dabie Mountains and Qinling-Kunlun Caledonian-Indosinian superimposed orogenic belts; (3) the Qinghai and Tibet-Yunnan West-Himalayan composite orogenic belt; (4) the South China Caledonian orogenic belt; and (5) the Western Pacific...
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(2020). Regional Structure of China. In: Chen, A., Ng, Y., Zhang, E., Tian, M. (eds) Dictionary of Geotourism. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2538-0_2038
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2538-0_2038
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