China was more geographically interconnected than Europe, allowing the spread of a single culture:

• Few internal geographic barriers like high mountains or deserts in China
• Major navigable rivers flow east-west, facilitating north-south diffusion
• Result was the spread of technologies and political systems over a wide area
• The lesson is that geographic features that facilitate the mixing of ideas and people promote cultural homogenization, while barriers promote diversification.

Section: 4, Chapter: 16

Author: Jared Diamond

China was once very diverse in language and culture. The current homogeneity is a result of the gradual spread of agricultural people speaking Sino-Tibetan languages and their absorption of other populations.

• This process, called "Sinification," began in the Yellow River valley of north China
• It took thousands of years for agricultural Sino-Tibetan speakers to absorb or displace hunter-gatherer populations
• Mandarin and related languages spread at the expense of other language families China's cultural homogeneity is thus the result of a long, complex process of agricultural expansion and linguistic replacement.

Section: , Chapter: 16

Author: Jared Diamond