Geography and Regionalism

1
Geography and Regionalism The cross-hatching
nature of the mountain ranges in China and the
position of the riversmake for a number of
distinct geographical regions. Note the problems
these pose for political andeconomic unity on
Mountains and Rivers.
2
A benefit of China's varied geography is that a
shortage of resources in one part of China can be
overcome by trade with another part. In this way
China was able to develop internally by promoting
interregional trade, as opposed to going outside
the country as many smaller European countries
had to do. Instead of industrializing to overcome
shortages, China traded within its own borders,
thus promoting commercial development. Similarly,
a shortage in labor in one area could be filled
by migration or by shifting manufacture to
another area.
3
Geographic factors that facilitated this internal
trade were the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River), the
complex network of rivers in the south, and
China's long coastline. China thus never felt
pressure to develop labor-saving technologies or
to engage in extensive expansionist or colonizing
activities, in contrast to the West and Japan.
4
A recurrent problem, however, is that some
regions in China will de- velop more quickly than
others be-cause of their geographical location.
Western China is more isolated from standard
trading routes, thus lags behind the coastal
regions. Again, compare the U.S. China to
highlight the importance of geo-graphy to
economic development.
5

• Political Divisions
• China has 30 Political Divisions
• (31 if Taiwan is included). 21 of the 30
  units are provinces.
• 3 of the 30 units - Beijing, Shangai,
• Tianjin - are municipalities,
• which because of their size,
• are given provincial level status
• and report directly to the central
• government.

6
5 of the 30 units are autonomous regions. This
indicates that the maj-ority of the population in
the region is composed of minority nationality
peoples whose language culture, particular
social traits are distinct from the Han culture,
thus for the sake of political unity are given
special consideration by Beijing in policy
formulation. The other regions are not
"autonomous".