Guns, Germs, and Steel 9

Chapter 16 of GGS begs the question, "How did China end up as uniform as it is today?". China's resolute unity is indeed unique and for several reasons. As mentioned before, the disparity between latitudes supports very different climates and environments in a north to south axis. As such, Northern China is very different from Southern China. So how the two become unified and how did technology and commerce travel between them? The reality is that China had and still has a multitude of dialects. While most speak Manderine, many Chinese speak smaller localized languages known only to a few thousand people. Also, China started widespread agriculture early on, allowing it to develop more advanced societies similar to those of Europe's. China's expansion can be seen in Korea and Japan, whose cultures are very similar to that of the Chinese. Chinese language remains so prominent in its neighboring countries that little has changed in the written language; you can still spot many similarities between the characters of the languages.