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Pictured is the tranquil and beautiful scenery in Wuyuan County, Jiangxi Province.China has a terraced terrain, which descends from the west to the east step by step. The first, or the highest, terrace is the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with an average elevation of over 4,000 meters. The Kunlunshan Mountains, the Qilianshan Mountains and the Hengduanshan Mountains, which are located to the north and east of the plateau, are the division of the first and the second terraces.The southern region of China, favored by a mild and humid climate, enjoys an extensive water-transportation network. Pictured are croplands in Xinghua in Jiangsu Province in early spring.The second terrace is made up of large-scale basins and plateaus, averaging 1,000 to 2,000 meters above sea level. The Greater Hinggan Mountains, the Taihangshan Mountains, the Wushan Mountains, the Xuefengshan Mountains in the east are the boundary between the second and third terracesThe third terrace is composed mainly of plains below 200 meters above sea level, dotted with some hills and low mountains.China's terrain slopes down from the west to the east and the inland northwestern region is dry and rainless. Pictured is a woman in Gansu Province making sand reinforcement using the dry stalks of wheat.A topographical section of China along the parallel of 32 degrees north latitude shows clearly that the country's terrain descends step by step from plateaus in the west to basins in the central part then to plains in the east.Trains are now running across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, dubbed the roof of the world, thanks to the opening of the world's highest rail road, Qinghai-Tibet Railway, on July 1, 2006.The third terrace of China's mainland extends to the sea in the form of sub-littoral zones on the continental shelf, which is the natural extension of the continent. It is not deep, with a grading slope and rich oceanic resources.## PopulationAt the end of 2006, the population in China totaled 1.31448 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6.92 million. Altogether 15.84 million babies were born and 8.92 million people deceased in the year, with the birth rate of 12.09 per thousand and the death rate of 6.81 per thousand. The natural growth rate of population was 5.28 per thousand in 2006.