Transcript China: Geographic Setting

China: Geographic Setting
Land & People
• 1.35 billion people live in China
• They are packed into Eastern China
• Why?
– 80% of the land is rugged and mountainous
– 20% of the land is flat
• 1/2 of the land is arable, good for farming
– Most people still farmers
• Many natural barriers: plateaus, deserts,
mountains
The People
• 92% of the people in China are ethnic
Chinese or Han
• Other ethnic groups live in remote regions
– Mongols
– Tibetans
– Uyghur
• Mandarin is the official government
language, 1000s dialects
Regions of China
• 6 major Regions
• The Heartland – North & South
– From Beijing in the north to the border
with Vietnam
• The Northeast – Manchuria
• Mongolia
• Xinjiang – pronounced (sheen jee ahng)
• Xizang – pronounced (shee dzahng)
The Heartland
North China
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Part of Chinese Heartland
Warm or hot summers
Cold winters
Rainfall varies
Crops: wheat & millet
Cities: Beijing (capital), Tianjin: manufacturing
Rivers: Huang He or River of Sorrow or Yellow
River (same river) Page 326
Lots of people
Terraced Farm
Terraced Farm
Beijing (capital)
Heavy air pollution has resulted in
widespread smog.
Beijing Financial Street, the economic
center of Beijing
Urban Boom - Downloaded
Video Urban Boom from China Revealed
Discovery Education
Discovery Atlas: China Revealed
Wangfujing Street is one of the busiest
streets in Beijing, with nearly 100,000
visitors daily
South China
• Part of Chinese Heartland
• North and South separated by Chang
River
• Richer farming and industrial region than
North China
– Xi River Delta
• Mild Humid Climate
• Crops: rice, cotton, tea, and vegetables
• Lots of People packed around farmlands in
river valleys and lakes
Shenzhen: major city South China
Northeast
Northeast
• Once Manchuria
• Cold Climate
• Sparsely populated
– Government incentives to attract people to
the region
• Government working to develop region’s
mineral resources
– oil, iron, aluminum ore, coal, lead, zinc
Mongolia
• Gobi Desert: harsh climate
• Hot summers and cold winters
• Part independent
• Try to promote irrigation and farming
• Mongolian Culture Video from China
Revealed Discovery Education - Video
Discovery Atlas: China Revealed
Mongolia
Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China. A view
overlooking the city square from my Hotel.
Xinjiang
Xinjiang
• Desert Basin
• Oil producing region
• Linked by railroads
• Produce cotton and wheat with irrigation
• Home to non-Chinese people
Uyghur
Muslim NonChinese
people of the
Zinjiang
Region
Ürümqi is the capital of Xinjiang Uyghur
Autonomous Region of the People's
Republic of China, in the northwest of the
country.
Xizang
• Tibet
• Sits in the Himalayas
• Barren and treeless farming possible in
valleys
• Chinese took over Tibet in 1950
• Tried to develop hydroelectric power
1. Why did Chinese call land
Zhongguo?
• Believed China center of civilization
– Middle Kingdom
• China was located too far from other
countries, it was surrounded by natural
boundaries and barriers
– Gobi Desert, Mongolian and Tibetan Plateaus,
Himalayas, and Rainforests
2. What is the Chinese heartland?
• North and South China
• Most people live there because it is
suitable for farming
3. What are the 3 main rivers of
China?
• Huang He: Yellow River, River of Sorrow
• Chang: Yangzi – 3rd longest
– China’s 3 Gorges Dam 2012
– National Geographic 3 Gorges Dam
• Xi: trade route in South
• All important for trade and farming
4. What geographic feature lies
between independent Mongolia and
Chinese Mongolia?
• Gobi Desert