China is the third largest country in the world and it has every type of climate on earth from subarctic to tropical. China borders 14 other countries, including to the Southwest beyond the Mountains. . The Himalayan Mountains house the tallest peak in the world, Mt. Everest. The first measurement of Mount Everest was taken in 1852, and put the peak at 29,002 feet. However, the most recent measurement clocked in at 29,029 feet. That means the massive the peak has jumped 27 feet! The tectonic plates underneath the mountain account for the change in height. The Plateau nestles between the Himalayan Mountains and the Mountains (Koon -loon) in West China, and makes up about one-fourth of China’s land. The average height of the Tibet Plateau is 14,000 feet above sea level, making it the tallest plateau in the world. The Desert (Tak-lee-ma-con) of Northwest China is a cold desert climate, plunging as low as negative four degrees in winter. Its name is commonly translated as “once you get in, you'll never get out." The Plateau dips into China along two parts of the border between the two countries. This massive plateau measures one million, two hundred thousand square miles. The Desert (Go-bee) sits on the southern part of the Mongolian Plateau. During Ancient times through the Middle Ages there were several major stops on the Silk Road for weary travelers and merchants traversing the Gobi Desert. Most of China’s agriculture happens between two major rivers that run out of the Tibet Plateau and into the China . The Huang He (Wong Hee), or , River runs twenty-nine hundred miles and splits. Its name comes from the color of the silt that builds each year when it floods. The (Yang-zee) River is south of the Yellow River, and is the third longest river in the world. Both major rivers of China flow East, emptying into the Sea. Beyond the peninsula of Korea, the Sea joins with the Yellow Sea, offering the Eastern shores of China diverse food such as fish and crustaceans.