Transcript China Geography

Chapter 10:
China
CHINA
• What is the formal name of the
country?
• Would you be surprised if I told
you that the “People’s Republic of
China” was incorrect?
CHINA
• What is the formal name of the
country?
• The answer is:
• ZHONGHUA RENMIN
GONGHE GUO
CHINA
• What is the Nickname of China?
CHINA
• What is the Nickname of China?
• THE MIDDLE KINGDOM
• WHY???
CHINA
• THE MIDDLE KINGDOM
China is called Zhongguo (中國 or
中国 in Chinese). The character
zhōng (中) means "middle" or
"central," while guó (国 or 國)
means "state".
CHINA
• THE MIDDLE KINGDOM
During the Dynasty period, China
often referred to itself as the
“center of civilization” – the
center of the civilized world.
CHINA
• THE MIDDLE KINGDOM
Reflected a very ethnocentric
belief that the rest of the world
had nothing to offer China!
CHINA
• THE MIDDLE KINGDOM
One of the world's oldest
continuous civilizations.
The world's longest continuously
used written language system.
CHINA
• THE MIDDLE KINGDOM
The source of the Four Great
Inventions of Ancient China:
paper, the compass, gunpowder,
and printing.
CHINA
• THE MIDDLE KINGDOM
GEOGRAPHY
• What is China’s most important
geographic characteristic?
GEOGRAPHY
• Its size – land area and population
of course
• It is the world’s largest country in
terms of population and 3rd / 4th
largest in square mileage.
GEOGRAPHY
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Important Geographic features:
Access to oceans and ice free ports
Many large, navigable rivers
Mt ranges, deserts, and oceans
separate China from rest of world
GEOGRAPHY
• Important Geographic features:
• Major geographic / climate
cleavage between north and south
• Geographic isolation of the
western part of China
GEOGRAPHY
• Geographic features have shaped
political culture and development
of China
GEOGRAPHY
• 1. LOCATION?
• East Asia
GEOGRAPHY
• 2. Borders?
• 14 countries border China
• Let’s name them shall we?
GEOGRAPHY
• 2. Borders? Afghanistan, Bhutan,
Myanmar / Burma, India,
Kazakhstan, North Korea,
Kyrgyztan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal,
Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and
Vietnam
GEOGRAPHY
GEOGRAPHY
• 3. Lets talk about rivers?
• What is the 3rd longest river in the
world?
• The Yangtze River – flows (like
many of China’s rivers) from the
Himalayas in Tibet
GEOGRAPHY
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3. Lets talk about rivers?
Huanghe (Yellow) River
Heilongjiang (Black Dragon) River
Zhujiang (Pearl) River
GEOGRAPHY
• 3. Lets talk about rivers?
GEOGRAPHY
• 3. Lets talk about rivers?
• Many large, navigable rivers and
good harbors means that most of
the Chinese population have settled
in the eastern side of China
GEOGRAPHY
• 4. Climate
• China is mostly northern temperate
but it runs the gamut from sub
arctic in the Himalayas and in
north to tropical in the south
GEOGRAPHY
• 4. Climate
• Major climate differences reflect
major cultural differences between
the north and the south
GEOGRAPHY
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5. Natural Resources
Large land area = substantial
Labor force is key
World’s largest = antimony,
graphite, tungsten, and zinc
• Also bauxite, coal, petroleum,
diamonds, gold
GEOGRAPHY
• 5. Natural Resources
• But the biggest deal is in
hydropower – China has the largest
potential in the world due to its
rivers
GEOGRAPHY
• 5. Natural Resources
• Hydropower – 3 Gorges Dam
GEOGRAPHY
• 5. Natural Resources
• Hydropower – 3 Gorges Dam
• a hydroelectric river dam that spans the
Yangtze River in Yichang, China. It is
the largest hydro-electric power station
in the world by capacity
GEOGRAPHY
• 6. LAND – 3rd or 4th largest country
but most of the land is mountains and
desert
• Only 10% is arable but only 1.3% is
planted with permanent crops
• Need intensive agricultural techniques
to feed people.
GEOGRAPHY
• 6. LAND –
• The rugged terrain (mountains and
deserts) in the west has limited
population growth in those regions
GEOGRAPHY
• 7. CITIES
• What is the capital of China?
GEOGRAPHY
• 7. CITIES
• What is the capital of China?
• BEIJING with 13.5 million people
GEOGRAPHY
• 7. CITIES
GEOGRAPHY
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7. 10 cities over 3 million people
Chongqing (30.5 million)
Shanghai (16.4 mil)
Tianjin (9.8) ; Wuhan (5.1) ; Shenyang
(4.8) ; Guangzhou (3.8)
• Chengdu (3.2) ; Xi’an (3.1) and
Changchun (3)
GEOGRAPHY
• 7. 12 more cities with 2 to 2.9
million people
• 20 more cities w1 to 1.9 million
• ARE YOU KIDDING ME???
CITIES / URBAN AREAS
• 7. Where do most of the Chinese
people live?
CITIES / URBAN AREAS
• 7. Where do most of the Chinese
people live?
• On the eastern side of China
• 62% in rural areas and 38% urban
ORGANIZATION
• 8. How is China organized?
ORGANIZATION
• 8. How is China organized?
• Into 21 provinces, 5 autonomous
regions, and 3 centrally governed
special municipalities
ORGANIZATION
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8. How is China organized?
It is divided into Provinces
Henan 91.2 million
Shandong 89.9 million
Sichuan 82.3 million
Guangdong 85.2 million
ORGANIZATION
• 8. How is China organized?
• It is divided into Autonomous
Regions covering 60% of the
Chinese Territories:
– Tibet, Xinjiang, Guangxi, Inner
Mongolia, and Ningyia
ORGANIZATION
• 4. How is China organized?
• Special Municipalities = Hong
Kong and Macau
GEOGRAPHY
TERRITORIAL ISSUES
• China has had or still has territorial
land disputes with every neighbor.
• I guess that notion of good walls
make good neighbors is not
working so well.
GEOGRAPHY
• 1. TERRITORIAL ISSUES
• TIBET ? What is up with that?
GEOGRAPHY
• 1. TERRITORIAL ISSUES
• TIBET - When the People's
Republic of China (PRC) refers to
Tibet, it means the Tibet
Autonomous Region (TAR): a
province-level entity
TERRITORIAL ISSUES
• 1. TIBET – The history of China
and Tibet goes back thousands of
years. China has never renounced
its sovereign claim over Tibet.
GEOGRAPHY
• 1. TERRITORIAL ISSUES
• TIBET – Since 1951, Tibet has been
under China's control. According to a
1951 agreement between Tibetan
government and Chinese central
government, Tibet was supposed to be
a highly autonomous area of China.
TERRITORIAL ISSUES
• 1. TIBET – China under Mao
claimed that the Tibetan gov’t was
refusing to modernize the region
and was holding back the serfs
TERRITORIAL ISSUES
• 1. TIBET – This was the
justification for China taking over
Tibet in 1951– to help modernize
and to advance the working class
TERRITORIAL ISSUES
• 1. TIBET – Resistance movement
was crushed by the
Chinese PLA in 1959.
The Dalai Lama has
ruled in absentia since
and never recognized
PRC rule
TERRITORIAL ISSUES
• 1. TIBET – Dalai Lama is the
spiritual leader of Tibet and is the
figurehead of the independence
movement.
TERRITORIAL ISSUES
• 1. TIBET – In 2008 during the
Olympic Torch Relay which China
called the “Journey of Harmony”
riots and demonstrations broke out
on the 49th anniversary of the
Tibetan uprisings of 1959.
TERRITORIAL ISSUES
• 1. TIBET – In 2008,
the PLA put down the
demonstrations to
protect the Chinese
image leading up to
the Olympic games.
TERRITORIAL ISSUES
• 2. TAIWAN – What is this all
about?
TERRITORIAL ISSUES
• 2. TAIWAN – China considers
Taiwan a province and an
inalienable part of China.
TERRITORIAL ISSUES
• 2. TAIWAN has been separate
from China since 1949, when
Chiang Kai-shek led his
Guomindang forces off mainland
China after defeat by the
Communist led Mao
TERRITORIAL ISSUES
• 2. TAIWAN is recognized as an
independent state by most
countries in the world including the
USA which trades heavily with
Taiwan
TERRITORIAL ISSUES
• 2. TAIWAN = Beijing is
adamantly opposed to
independence of state status for
Taiwan
TERRITORIAL ISSUES
• 2. Taiwan is a major foreign
policy issue for China and the USA
• China alternates between peaceful
negotiations and threats of force.
TERRITORIAL ISSUES
• 2. Taiwan is run as a democratic
nation and is a major economic
force in the world
TERRITORIAL ISSUES
• 3. UYGHURS in XINJIANG =
These are Muslim people of
Turkish descent living in the far
western side of China near
Afghanistan and Pakistan and
former USSR states.
TERRITORIAL ISSUES
• 3. UYGHURS in XINJIANG
=Uyghur Militants want to create a
separate Islamic state and have
resorted to violence to achieve
goal.
TERRITORIAL ISSUES
• 3. UYGHURS in XINJIANG =
Chinese government is opposed to
any separatist movement on
nationalistic and strategic and
natural resource grounds.
TERRITORIAL ISSUES
• 3. UYGHURS in XINJIANG =
In July of 2009, riots broke out in
Urumqi, the capital city of
Xinjiang, over dissatisfactions with
Chinese control
TERRITORIAL ISSUES
• 3. UYGHURS in XINJIANG =
In July of 2009,
the PLA once
again came in
and put down riots.
FINAL QUESTION
• WHAT DOES
“AUTONOMOUS”
MEAN?????