5' N.) the mean annual
temperature is 70 deg., the mean for January 54 deg., for July 82 deg.
The range of temperature, even within the tropics, is noteworthy. At
Peking and Tientsin the thermometer in winter falls sometimes to 5 deg.
below zero and rises in summer to 105 deg. (at Taku 107 deg. has been
recorded); in Shanghai in winter the thermometer falls to 18 deg. and in
summer rises to 102 deg. In Canton frost is said to have been recorded,
but according to the _China Sea Directory_ the extreme range is from 38
deg. to 100 deg.[8] The climate of Shanghai, which resembles, but is
not so good as, that of the Yangtsze-kiang valley generally, is fairly
healthy, but there is an almost constant excess of moisture. The summer
months, July to September, are very hot, while snow usually falls in
December and January.

At Canton and along the south coast the hot season corresponds with
the S.W. monsoon; the cool season--mid October to end of April--with
the N.E. monsoon. Farther north, at Shanghai, the S.W. monsoon is
sufficiently felt to make the prevailing wind in summer southerly.

_Provinces._--China proper is divided into the following provinces:
Cheh-kiang, Chih-li, Fu-kien, Ngan-hui (An-hui), Ho-nan, Hu-nan,
Hu-peh, Kan-suh, Kiang-si, Kiang-su, Kwang-si, Kwang-tung, Kwei-chow,
Shan-si, Shan-tung, Shen-si, Sze-ch'uen and Yun-nan. See the separate
notices of each province and the article on Sheng-king, the southern
province of Manchuria. (X.)

_Geology._

The Palaeozoic formations of China, excepting only the upper part of
the Carboniferous system, are marine, while the Mesozoic and Tertiary
deposits are estuarine and freshwater or else of terrestrial origin.
From the close of the Palaeozoic period down to the present day the
greater part of the empire has been dry land, and it is only in the
southern portion of Tibet and in the western Tian Shan that any
evidence of a Mesozoic sea has yet been found. The geological sequence
may be summarized as follows:--

_Archean._--Gneiss, crystalline schists, phyllites, crystalline
limestones. Exposed in Liao-tung, Shan-tung, Shan-si, northern Chih-li
and in the axis of the mountain ranges, e.g. the Kuen-lun and the
ranges of southern China.

_Sinian._--Sandstones, quartzites, limestones. Sometimes rests
unconformably upon the folded rocks of the Archaen system; but
sometimes, according to Loczy