Five Landsat scenes are included. Full resolution subset covering approximately 20km by 20km included for each date of the corresponding scene. For two of the five areas, two dates of images are processed to show changes in vegetation during the growing season. For each area, a sub-sampled image of the entire 125x125 kilometer image is presented, and a full resolution sample of each image is provided to illustrate the detail available with Landsat TM and MSS images.
China possesses a remarkably diverse landscape.
Images were selected to illustrate some of that diversity from the point of view of agricultural systems. In the North of China on the Manchurian Plain and in the Province of Helongiang, traditional cropping practices are giving way to large scale farms formed in areas that were only recently forests. Arid conditions northwest of Beijing pit farmers against nature as marginal lands yield little productivity. Two images along the fertile Yangzte River valleys demonstrate traditional agricultural practices of farmers who must manage overabundant water supplies in contrast to the North. Tilling of reclaimed desert in the arid land of the west takes advantage of mountain springs but struggles with inevitable salinization that eventually reclaims the improved land for the desert.