Transcript China - cloudfront.net

china
China covers over 3,705,000 sq
miles.
They have a population of more
than 1.3 billion people.
China is divided into 4 parts:
1) Southern China: aka China's Rice Bowl
2)Northern China
3)Northeastern China
4) Western China
Southern China:
This area has helped China become the world's leading producer of rice.
Rice is grown on small terraced paddies.
Double Cropping: growing two crops a year (rice and vegetables).
Other important crops: tea and cotton
Tea: grown between the Chang and the Xi Rivers
Cotton: grown near the Chang River
All of Southern China has a humid-subtropical climate.
Nation's most productive region and contains 1/4 of the
population (many live near the Chang and Xi Rivers).
Shanghai has 13 million people alone.
Hong Kong
Size of Rhode Island but has the population of about 6.5 million people.
Major Sea Port
Britain returned Hong Kong to China in 1997.
Hong Kong has a capitalist economy.
Along the coast of Southern China are SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES designed to attract
foreign companies to investment to China.
Areas that used to be rice fields are now big cities.
Northern China:
Includes the Huang He Valley and the fertile North China Plain.
1/2 of China's population lives in this region
(North China Plain is about the size of Texas but has a population larger than the entire US)
Huang He River (aka Yellow River) empties into the Yellow Sea. It has caused serious flood
damage, killing thousands of people over the years (China's Sorrow).
Loess: a yellowish brown soil that covers most of Northern China.
The steppe climate has made Northern China one of the largest producers of wheat
(still have to import wheat because of the huge population).
Northeastern China:
Humid-continental climate with severe winter.
Many natural resources including: oil, coal, iron ore, and zinc.
Use oil to be self sufficient in energy.
Western China:
2 regions: Tibet and Xinjiang
Have local government and their own culture.
Area is too high, too dry, or too cold to support a large population.
Most people are nomadic herders or irrigation farmers.
Himalayas separate Tibet from India
Mount Everest (Word's highest peak) is on the border of China and Nepal
Get out your China notes!!!!
China has more than 130 million workers who migrate to jobs in urban areas so they can support their families back home.
We are going to watch a video clip that shows two such migrant workers. A couple that works in a garment factory in
Guangzhou, a city in the Guangdong province.
The couple has two children, but the children are being raised by their grandmother in the family's home village in Sichuan
province.
The children are unable to migrate with their parents because in China access to public benefits, such as education and health
care, is linked to one's place of birth.
American companies such as Walmart, Apple, Nike, Mattel, and others rely on Chinese factories to manufacture their products.
These companies do not own the factories themselves, but instead pay Chinese companies to produce goods according to their
specifications.
Contracting business tasks (usually manufacturing) to an outside company is called Outsourcing.
Low costs for labor and production provide economic incentives for American companies to outsource manufacturing to Chinese
factories.
However, human rights organizations say such cost savings come at the expense of Chinese workers, who often face wages below
the legal minimum, unpaid overtime, unsafe working conditions, and other labor issues.
Get out your supporting notes from the outsourcing activity.
Take 5 minutes to go over your points for your side of the argument and think about what the other side might say. Try and have a
rebuttal ready!
As we do the fishbowl activity you will need a sheet of paper. When you are on the outside (not in the fishbowl) you will be listening
and writing down three points with which you personally agree most strongly (it does not have to be from the side of the argument
assigned to you).
You will also briefly refute in writing one of the arguments made in the fishbowl.
These will be taken up as part of the grade.
Get out your China notes!
The civilization of Ancient China dates back thousands of years. Over this long period of time much of China was ruled by different
dynasties.
What
is a dynasty?
A dynasty is when one family rules a country or region over a long period of time. Typically, the head of the family will be the ruler of
the land, like an emperor or king. When the ruler dies, another member of the family will take power, typically the oldest son. When a
new family takes control, then a new dynasty begins.
Mandate of Heaven: What the Chinese people believed gave their rulers the right to be king or emperor. It meant that the gods had
blessed that person with the right to rule. A ruler had to be a good and just ruler to keep the Mandate of Heaven. When a ruler or
dynasty lost power, this meant that they must also have lost the Mandate of Heaven.