EAST ASIA

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EAST ASIA

• Geography 200
• Dr. Stavros Constantinou

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CHINA LOCATION AND SIZE

• China is located between 54 degrees N and 18
  degrees N (the latitudinal extent of the country
  is 36 degrees).
• The Tropic of Cancer passes close to the city of
  Guangzhou (Canton).
• China is the world's third largest country (after
  Russia and Canada) with an area of 9,572,899 sq
  km (3,696,100 sq mi).
• China has the largest population of any country
  in the world.
• In 2003, China had a population of 1,288,700,000
  or 20 of the world total.
• The rate of natural increase at 0.6 per year is
  below the world average of 1.3 .

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CHINA LANDFORMS

• The landforms of China are dominated by the
  Alpine System.
• The physical environment is mostly mountainous,
  alternating with hills and depressions.
• They may be classified into the following
  distinctive regions

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CHINA LANDFORMS

• Rivers Basins and Highlands of Eastern China.
• Valleys of the Huang He, Chang Jiang, and Xi
  Jiang rivers.
• All three rivers rise on eastern slopes of the
  Xizang--Yunnan Plateau and flow eastward, the
  Huang He passes through the most circuitous and
  longest course, the Xi through the most direct
  and shortest.
• The Huang He is known as Chinas Sorrow because
  of violent flooding.
• The upper courses of the Huang and Chang lie in
  close proximity, but are in different provinces
  their lower reaches lie in the Eastern Lowlands.
  
• The Eastern Lowlands is China's most important
  region including the North China Plain and the
  cities of Beijing and Tianjin, and the productive
  lower Chang Valley with Nanjing (Nanking) and
  China's largest city, Shanghai.
• The Eastern Lowlands extend into the Northeast,
  where the lowland of the Liao River and the city
  of Shenyang, China's Pittsburgh, form part of it.

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CHINA LANDFORMS

• North China Plain This region includes the
  Mongolian Border upland, the Shandong Peninsula,
  the Loess Plateau, and the lower valley of the
  Huang He.
• The Huang He originates on the Qinghai-Xizang
  Plateau and is fed by snow as it follows a
  tortuous course to Bohai Gulf.
• In its upper part, the Huang He Jiang makes an
  immense clockwise bend and in the process almost
  encircles one of China's driest areas, the Ordos
  Desert.
• Downstream from the Ordos, the river enters the
  Loess Plateau (Yellow Earth in Chinese).

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CHINA LANDFORMS

• North China Plain (continued)
• Loess is a wind-blown deposit whose origin in
  this area is attributed to nearby deserts
  (possibly the Ordos) and the Pleistocene glacial
  epoch, during which the deposits were laid down
  in a mantle up to 76 m (250 feet) thick, covering
  the pre-existing landscape.
• The loess is quite fertile and is dominated by
  intensive cultivation and dense population.
• Each year 1.6 billion tons of this soil washes
  into the river, and 3/4 of that amount reaches
  the Yellow Sea. The balance builds up in the
  river bed, five to 12 m (15 to 40 feet) through
  the centuries.

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CHINA LANDFORMS

• North China Plain (continued)
• The Huang He has been marked by violent floods
  and frequent changes in the course.
• For this reason, it has been nicknamed "China's
  Sorrow."
• Alternately, it has drained north into the Gulf
  of Chihli or to the south of the Shandong
  (Shantung) Peninsula with numerous distributaries
  forming and shifting positions over time.
• Because of flooding, local inhabitants have
  constructed dikes and artificial levees in order
  to stabilize the river's various channels.
• The Shandong Peninsula is a hilly area that the
  Chinese have nicknamed Chinas California.
• The Mongolian Border Upland is a hilly forested
  area that separates the North China Plain from
  the steppes surrounding the Mongolian desert.

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CHINA LANDFORMS

• Southeast China This region is dominated by the
  Chang Jiang (Yangtze Kiang).
• It is divided into three basins
• (1) The Upper Chang - the westernmost, the
  Sichuan (Red Basin ), contains China's largest
  population clusters.
• The hilly country has been transformed by
  terraces and rice grows in summer and wheat in
  winter.
• Other major crops include corn, soybeans, sweet
  potatoes, sugarcane and a wide range of fruits
  on the warmer slopes, tea flourishes.
• (2) Middle Chang - Begins in the vicinity of
  Yichang to the area west of Nanjing.
• An important city on the middle course is the
  metropolis of Wuhan.
• It is largely built up of river sediments and is
  flat and low, and dotted with lakes
• (3) Lower Chang (Land of Rice and Fish) forms a
  delta that merges with that of the Huang He.
  Yangzi.
• Large ocean craft ascent to Nanjing at all
  seasons.
• This area produces about 1/4 of China's rice.
• There are three harvests per year, two of rice
  and one of wheat.

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CHINA LANDFORMS

• South China This region extends from the
  margins of the valley of the Xi River to the
  borders with Southeast Asia.
• The Xi is a shorter stream than either the Huang
  He or Chang Jiang.
• The Xi Jiang flows through uplands except for the
  Guangzhou Delta, which is separated from the
  Chang Jiang by a wide belt of hills and low
  mountains (Southeast Uplands).
• This region has been one of China's most
  outward-looking regions, with considerable
  emigration (via Guangzhou) to the Philippines and
  Southeast Asia.
• Tea was the leading commercial crop, and the
  people of Fujian Province developed a significant
  seafaring tradition.

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CHINA LANDFORMS

• The Northeast (formerly Manchuria) The
  Liao-Songhua Lowland is essentially an erosional
  plain rather than a depositional basin.
• The Liao-Songhua Lowland and the Northeast
  Uplands converge on the silt-plagued Liaodong
  (Liaotung) Gulf, where Luda (Dalian) is the port
  city near the tip of the adjacent Liaodong
  Peninsula.
• In the Heilongjiang Province the emphasis is on
  corn and soybeans because of a short growing
  season of 120 days.

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CHINA LANDFORMS

• Plateau-Steppe of Mongolia This region
  constitutes the southern rim of the Gobi Desert
  (North and Northwest of the Great Wall).
• It is an area of rolling uplands, barren
  mountains and lifeless basins which stretch into
  the arid interior of Asia.
• Summer temperatures are hot and winters are
  bitterly cold and vicious winds often blow up
  sand and dust.
• This area is sparsely populated with an average
  of 12 persons per sq km (30 persons per sq mi),
  compared to densities of 300 people per rural
  square kilometer.
• Only Xinjiang and Xizang are less populous.

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CHINA LANDFORMS

• Desert Basins of Xinjiang The Desert Basins of
  Xinjiang (Sinkiang) are a Muslim stronghold.
• They cover an area of 635,000 sq. mi. and have
  about 14 million people.
• Capital is Urumqi.
• In physical terms, they consist of the Tarim
  Basin to the south and the basin of Junggar
  (Dzungarian) to the north.
• These basins are separated by the lofty Tian Shan
  mountain range.
• Both are areas of internal drainage and arid or
  semiarid.
• The Tarim Basin is occupied by the Takla Makan
  Desert, perhaps the driest region in Asia.
• Along its southern margin lies a string of oases.

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CHINA LANDFORMS

• Desert Basins of Xinjiang (continued)
• Since 1949 canals and qanats (karez) were built,
  oases enlarged and the acreage of productive
  farmland quadrupled.
• Turfan Depression is the second lowest surface
  point on earth, after the Dead Sea.
• Major crops include cotton and wheat.
• Junggar (Dzungarian) has been the site of
  strategic east-west routes.
• It contains sizable oil fields, notably around
  Karamay, not far from the Russian border.
• The main westward rail line toward Kazakhstan and
  Russia runs from Xian in China proper via Yumen
  in Gansu and Urumqi in Junggar, which is its
  present terminus.
• The Silk Road is 4, 000 miles long.

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CHINA LANDFORMS

• The high plateaus and Mountains of Qinghai-Xizang
  (Tibet) The Xizang (Tibetan Highlands)
  comprises about 1/4 of China's land area. It is
  framed by the Kunlun Mtns to the north and the
  Himalayas to the south.
• They are made up politically of Xizang Zizhigu
  (the Tibetan Autonomous Region), Qinghai
  (Tsinghai) Province and the western portion of
  Sichuan (Szechwan) and small areas of other
  adjoining provinces.
• Tibet is culturally dominated by the Xizang
  (Tibetans) who practice Lamaism (the Tibetan
  variant of Buddhism).
• Most of this region is plateau country averaging
  nearly 3 miles in elevation.
• Its borders are the Himalayas on the south,
  containing the world's highest peak, Mt. Everest
  (29,035 feet) on the Nepal-Tibet border the
  Karakoram and other ranges to the northwest the
  Kunlun, Altyn Tagh, and the Nan Shan range to the
  north and the Great Snowy Range of mountains in
  the east.

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CHINA LANDFORMS

• The high plateaus and Mountains of Qinghai-Xizang
  (Tibet)
• The Xizang (Tibetan Highlands) is subdivided into
  two major physical regions A very high
  northwestern or inner plateau and a more varied
  southeastern or outer plateau region.
• Inner Plateau
• The inner Qaidam (Tsaidam) basin is characterized
  by internal drainage and a number of large salt
  lakes, low annual precipitation, scanty
  vegetation and a very sparse almost entirely
  nomadic population.
• Large areas are uninhabited.
• Outer Plateau
• The outer plateau region contains the Yarlung
  Jiang (Brahmaputra River) and the headwaters and
  upper courses of several other major rivers-the
  Salween, Mekong, Chang Jiang (Yangtze) and Hwang
  He (Yellow).
• The population, although small and dispersed, is
  considerably greater than that of the inner
  plateau and consists of settled agricultural
  communities as well as nomads.
• The Qaidam (Tsaidam) Basin-
• It has an elevation of 2,743 to 3,048 m (9,000 to
  10,000 feet) and is composed of a barren sand and
  gravel western half that merges eastward into
  salt flats, marshy depressions and bogs.

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CHINA CLIMATE

• China's Climatic controls
• The continental location
• The location on eastern margins of continent
• The wide latitudinal range of the country
• Wind systems

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CHINA CLIMATE

• Climatic types
• Desert - (BWk), Western China
• Steppe - (BSk), North Central China and Mongolia
• Humid Subtropical - (Cfa), warm summer
• Humid Continental, (Cwa)
• Highland, (H)

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CHINA VEGETATION

1. Needleleaf evergreen trees. Mainly in the
   mountains of northwestern China.
2. Grass and other herbaceous plants. Mostly in all
   of arid China.
3. Broadleaf deciduous trees. Mostly in coastal
   eastern China (lower valleys of Huang He, Chang
   Jiang, and Liao).
4. Broadleaf evergreen trees. Area south of
   Hangzhou in a coastal belt.
5. Semi-deciduous broadleaf evergreen and
   broadleaf deciduous trees. Area west of the
   broadleaf evergreen zone.
6. Mixed broadleaf deciduous and needleleaf
   evergreen trees. An area in the upper valley of
   the Chang Jiang and in the Northeast.

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CHINA SOILS

• Ultisols Soils of warmer soil temperature
  regimes with an argillic horizon and low base
  status (also occur in the Southeast U.S.).
• They develop under forest vegetation in climates
  with a slight to pronounced seasonal soil-water
  deficit alternating with a surplus.
• Common in humid subtropical, wet-dry tropical,
  and monsoon and trade wind littoral.

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CHINA SOILS

• 2. Entisols Soils consisting of mineral solid
  lacking soil horizons that would persist after
  normal plowing.
• They are found in any climate and under any
  vegetation.
• Lack of distinct horizons is the result of parent
  material, i.e., quartz sand or deposits of
  volcanic ash or alluvium.
• Entisols and inceptisols of flood plains and
  deltaic plains in warm and moist climates are
  among the most highly productive agricultural
  soil because of their favorable texture, ample
  nutrient content, and large soil water storage.
• Examples Central China and the Ganges and
  Brahmaputra plains in India and Bangladesh.

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CHINA SOILS

• 3. Aridisols Soils of dry climates, with or
  without argillic horizons, and with accumulations
  of carbonate or soluble salts.
• Alfisols Soils of humid and sub-humid climates
  with high base status and an argillic horizon (B
  horizon).
• They are highly productive soils when moderate
  amounts of lime and fertilizer are applied.
• 5. Highland

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CHINA RESCOURCES

• Coal is the dominant industrial resource and
  China is the world's leading producer of coal,
  with 29.2 of the global production.
• China ranks third in proven coal reserves with
  11.1 (after the U.S. 23.7 and Russia 19.3).
• More than 60 of Chinas coal is located in the
  northern and northeastern portions of China, in
  the great bend of the Huang He and Dongbei.
• Major production centers are located at Shenyang
  and Baotou.
• Outside the northeast, coal is important at
  Wuhan, Yichang and Chengdu.
• Oil production is important in Dongbei and on the
  lower Huang He.
• China ranks third in the exploitation of iron ore
  deposits (13.8), which are scattered all over
  the country.
• China produces 12.9 of the worlds steel.

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CHINA RESOURCES

• China has a wide array of minerals.
• The country leads the world in the production of
  tungsten (74.8 ), pyrites (71.2 ), tin (32),
  lead (18.7), pig iron (18.6), and smelted zinc
  (14.6).
• China ranks second in the production of
  manganese(16.6), phosphate rock (16.4), zinc
  (14.3), and crude steel (12.9).
• China ranks third in the production of vanadium
  (24.9), iron ore (13.8), and smelted lead
  (10.7).

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CHINA POPULATION GEOGRAPHY

• China is the world's largest country in terms of
  population, with 1,288,700,000 in 2003.
• This number excludes
• The 6,900,000 inhabitants of Xianggang (Hong
  Kong) which became a part of China on 1 July,
  1997 as Special Administrative Region (SAR).
• The 400,000 residents of Macau which became a
  Special Administrative Region on 31 December,
  1999.
• Second largest is India with 1,068,600,000.
• According to the 1982 census, China's population
  was 1,008,175,288, an increase of more than 300
  million over the previous census in 1964.
• China has a natural population increase of 0.6
  annually, which is lower than the world rate of
  natural increase which is 1.3 .
• About four hundred million Chinese live along the
  Pacific shore.
• More than 90 of the Chinese population is
  crammed into an area roughly equal in size to the
  U.S. east of the Mississippi River.

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CHINA POPULATION GEOGRAPHY

• Migration
• An estimated 55,000,000 Chinese form one of the
  world's largest ethnic groups in a diaspora.
• They are found mainly in Southeast Asian
  countries and constitute one of the world's great
  economic engines.
• The overseas Chinese have experienced a long
  period of exile from the mother country to which
  a deep feeling of ethnic attachment persists.
• The Chinese have demonstrated a strong bent for
  commerce and trade.

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CHINA URBAN GEOGRAPHY

• China is a predominantly rural society with only
  39 (502,593,000) of the Chinese population
  classified as urban.
• China's cities are gaining people faster than
  they can add floor space.
• Average living space in some districts of Beijing
  is roughly two square yards per person.
• Many families live three generations in two
  rooms.
• China's enormous rural population resides in
  small rural villages, which are estimated to
  number over one million.

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CHINA URBAN GEOGRAPHY

• Cities may be organized into four groups
• Chang Jiang (Yangtze) Valley City-System Cities
  on or near the Chang Jiang river.
• Shanghai
• Nanjing
• Wuhan in the Middle Basin
• Chongqing in the Sichuan (Red Basin)
• Chengdu northwest of the Sichuan (Red Basin).
• The North China City-System Cities on or near
  the edges of the Huang He river in North China
  and along major routes leading to and from the
  Plain.
• Beijing, located near the pass to Mongolia
• the main seaports of North China, Tianjin and
  Quingdao
• Zhengzhou, Xian, and Lanzhou located along the
  major route from the Huang He to Xinjiang
• Jinan, located at a major railway crossing of the
  Huang He River

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CHINA URBAN GEOGRAPHY

• The Northeast ( formerly Manchuria) Six cities
  are clustered in the Southern Northeast with
  emphasis on heavy industry
• Shenyang, Fushun and Anshan.
• To the south lies the Northeast's port of Dalian
  (Luda)
• To the north are the regional transport,
  industrial and commercial centers of Changchun
  and Harbin.
• The large cities south of the Chang Jiang Valley,
  
• Guangzhou in the Xi delta
• Kunming, a transport focus located in the
  mountains near strategic border crossings into
  Southeast Asia.

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CHINA CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

• Languages
• The main languages of China are the following
• Mandarin Chinese (official),
• Shanghai,
• Guangzhou (Canton),
• Fukien,
• Hakka dialects,
• Tibetan,
• Bigus (Turkic).

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CHINA HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY

• China endured a long period of European
  Colonialism, with Britain, Germany,France, Russia
  and Portugal all claiming parts of China.
• These European powers imposed a doctrine of
  extraterritoriality on the Chinese, a principle
  according to which a foreign government has
  jurisdiction over a certain territory located
  within the host country's boundaries.
• Under extraterritoriality, foreign diplomats and
  traders were exempt from local laws and Chinese
  citizens were excluded from extraterritorial
  areas.
• Following the Long March (1934-1935), the
  Communist Revolution prevailed in 1949 with the
  defeat of Chiang Kai-shek and his retreat to
  Taiwan Mao Zedong proclaimed the communist
  Peoples Republic of China (PRC) on October 1,
  1949 at Beijings Tiananmen Square.

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CHINA CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

• Ethnic composition
• Although approximately 91.53 of China's
  population is Han Chinese, the remaining 8.47
  are Mongolian, Korean, Manchu, and others.
• About 93,000,000 Chinese belong to minorities
  which are concentrated in the arid and
  mountainous parts of China -- they inhabit more
  than half the country's territory, much of it
  desert, steppe or mountainous.
• The Chinese government recognizes a total of 55
  national minorities (ethnic groups).
• The largest ethnic group are the Zhuang who live
  in the rugged hills west of Guangzhou and
  numbered 16,755,596 (1.3) in 2000.
• The second largest group are the Manchu with
  11,084,471 (0.86) followed by the Hui who number
  10,182,247 (0.79).
• Other minority groups which number more than
  5,000,000 members are Miao (0.72), Uighur
  (0.68), Tujia (0.65), and Yi (0.62), Mongolian
  (0.47), and Tibetan (0.44).
• The smallest national minority are the Russians,
  numbering 600.

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CHINA CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

• Historically, Chinas most influential
  philosopher and teacher was Kongfuzi or Kongzi
  (Confucius).
• Following the Communist Revolution (1949), 30
  ethnic groups were given written languages, which
  they lacked up until then.
• This was part of comprehensive policies for
  minorities issued after the Communist revolution
  and included regional limited autonomy, training
  programs, freedom to develop native languages and
  cultural and economic assistance.
• Use of the symbol for dog as part of written
  characters for ethnic names was abolished and the
  symbol for man substituted.

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CHINA CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

• During the Great Leap Forward (1958-76), and the
  tumultuous Cultural Revolution (1966-76), the
  rights of minorities were restricted.
• Rebellions were suppressed in Tibet in 1959 and
  in Xinjiang in 1962.
• In recent years the rights of minorities have
  been reaffirmed and their development
  accelerated.
• They have also been exempted from the national
  birth control campaign.
• These diverse people supply most of China's
  livestock, have in their territories most of
  China's mineral resources and inhabit China's
  borders with, among others the former U.S.S.R.
  and Vietnam.
• The Great Wall was 4,800 km (3,000 mi) long and
  extended from an area on the Yellow Sea to a
  point on the Silk Road in northern Gansu Province.

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CHINA ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

• Agriculture
• China's arable land accounts for only 10 of the
  total land area of the country.
• This figure represents 7 of the world's
  farmland.
• Two-thirds of Chinas vast territory is
  mountainous or desert and only one-tenth is
  cultivated.
• Labor force in agriculture is 44.3.
• Rolling topography rises to high elevations in
  the North in the Daxinganlingshamai separating
  Manchuria and Mongolia the Tian Shan in
  Xinjiang, the Himalayan and Kunlun Shan in the SW
  and in Xizang (Tibet).
• The length is 1,800 miles from North to South,
  and the width is more than 2,500 miles from East
  to West.

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CHINA ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

• Environmental conditions are the circumscribing
  factors for agriculture. For example, the land
  higher than 3,000 m and much of the land higher
  than 2,000 m is largely unproductive.
• A third of the land (33) is higher than 2,000 m.
  
• Most of the grasslands are extremely dry (33),
  deserts (12), forests (12), farmland (10).
• Rain-fed, 5.5 irrigated 4.5.
• The basic unit of farming is the commune (96) of
  the agricultural area of China.
• Baogan daohu --farming policy in China that
  allows the farmer to grow crops beyond the limit
  set by the quota system and market them for
  himself.
• The chief crops include grain, rice, cotton, tea
  and silk.

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CHINA ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

• Secondary sector
• Despite significant gains in industrial output,
  China remains essentially an agricultural
  country. Manufacturing accounts for 10.9 of the
  labor force.
• The major industrial regions of the country are
  the following
• The Northeast (formerly known as Manchuria). its
  major centers include Shenyang (China's
  Pittsburgh), Fushun, Anshan, Jilin, Changchun,
  and Harbin.
• The area extending from Baotou to Beijing,
  Tianjin, and Tangshan.
• The cluster of cities that extends from Huang He
  to Shanghai. The most important centers include
  Jinan, Zhengzhou, Qindgdao, Nanjing, and
  Shanghai.
• The Middle Chang Jiang. This extensive
  industrial region includes such centers as
  Chengdu, Chongqing, Changsha, Wuhan, and
  Nanchang.
• The Lower Xi Jiang. This industrial region
  includes the city of Guangzhou and its vicinity.

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CHINA ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

• Special Economic Zones (SEZ)
• Manufacturing and export centers within China,
  created in the 1980s to attract foreign
  investment and technology transfers. Six SEZs
  all located on southern China's Pacific coast --
  currently operate
• Shenzen, adjacent to Xianggang (Hong Kong)
• Zhuhai
• Shantou
• Xiamen
• Hainan Island, in the far south
• Pudong (still building) across the river from
  Shanghai

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CHINA POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY

• China is divided into the following
  administrative units four Central-Government-Cont
  rolled Municipalities (Shis) five Autonomous
  Regions 22 provinces, and 2 Special
  Administrative Regions (SAR).

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XIANGGANG (HONG KONG)

• Xianggang (Hong Kong) consists of three parts
• The island of Xianggang (Hong Kong) (82 sq km or
  32 sq mi).
• The Kowloon Peninsula on the mainland opposite
  this island.
• The New Territories.
• The total area of this former British colony is
  just more than 1,000 sq km (400 sq mi)
• In 2003 6,800,000 people were crowded in this
  small area.
• Xianggang (Hong Kong) Island and Kowloon
  Peninsula were ceded permanently by China to
  Britain in 1841 and 1860, respectively, but the
  rest of the New Territories were leased on a
  99-year basis in 1898.

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XIANGGANG (HONG KONG)

• Hong Kong is a major entrepôt of the western
  Pacific between Shanghai and Singapore.
• Hong Kong depends on China for fresh water and
  food.
• Textiles and fabrics make up more than 40 of
  the exports by value (their manufacture employs
  half the labor force), and electrical equipment
  and appliances are expanding.
• Hong Kong accounted for 80 of all foreign
  investment in China and 22 of the total external
  trade of PRC.
• The former British colony was returned to China
  on 1 July 1997.
• The Chinese promised to allow Hong Kong's way of
  life to continue unchanged for 50 years following
  1997.
• Xianggang enjoys the status of a Special
  Administrative Region.
• China granted the same status to Macau which was
  returned to China by Portugal in 1999.

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TAIWAN

• Taiwan (formerly Formosa) is a pear-shaped island
  that is less than 200 km (125 mi) from mainland
  China.
• A mountainous spine exceeds 3,000 m (10,000 ft)
  in places and is forested.
• The majority of the country's 22,600,000 people
  are found on the western coastal plain.
• The capital city of Taipei (4,500,000 people) is
  located near the northern edge of this plain.
• In 1895, Taiwan became part of Japan as a result
  of the war of 1894-1895.
• Japanese rule ended in 1945 following the
  collapse of Japan at the end of WWII.
• Japan laid the foundations for Taiwan's
  development that involved roads, railroads,
  irrigation projects, mines and factories.

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TAIWAN

• From 1945-1949, Taiwan was officially part of
  China.
• Rice is the leading staple, about two thirds of
  which is from double-cropped land.
• Wheat and sweet potatoes are also important
  staples. Sugarcane grows in the lower areas and
  tea in the uplands.
• Taiwan has a high proportion of its population
  (77) that is classified as urban. This degree
  of urbanization is comparable with similar
  figures in other industrial countries of the
  world. The rate of natural increase stands at
  0.8 which is below the world average of 1.3.
• Recently, the Taiwanese economy is moving away
  from labor-intensive manufacturing to
  high-technology industries particularly personal
  computers, telecommunications, and precision
  electronic instruments

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MONGOLIA

• A vast, landlocked, buffer state wedged between
  Russia and China. Larger than Alaska in area has
  only 2,500,000 people.
• From the 1600s until 1911, Mongolia was part of
  the Chinese Empire. With Soviet help, the
  Mongols resisted Chinese efforts to regain
  control of the country and Mongolia became a
  Peoples Republic in the Soviet model.
• The economy is based on animal products (cashmere
  wool). The country has 800,000 herders with
  millions of sheep. During the severe winters of
  2000 and 2001, human and animal losses were most
  severe.
• Ulaanbaatar, the capital city, adjoins Russias
  Eastern Frontier.

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KOREA

• Korea is a divided country, a communist North
  Korea and a capitalist South Korea.
• Korea has been a dependency of China and a colony
  of Japan.
• Following its freedom from Japan in 1945, Korea
  acquired two masters, the Soviet Union and the
  United States.
• The Soviets acquired the territory north of the
  38th parallel and the U.S. the area to the south.
  
• In 1950, North Korea sought to reunite the
  country by the use of force and invaded South
  Korea across the 38th parallel.
• A devastating conflict lasted from 1950-1953 and
  resulted in the cease-fire that was arranged in
  1953.
• The dividing line remains unchanged to this day.
  It is still actively patrolled on both sides and
  is considered a potential flashpoint for world
  conflict.

46
KOREA

• South Korea is moister than North Korea and the
  soils are more productive.
• South Korea possesses a zone of broadleaf
  evergreen trees like that of southern Japan.
• Most of the rest of the Korean Peninsula has a
  deciduous forest.
• The North is continental, the South peninsular.
• The North is more mountainous than the South.
• The North can grow only one crop annually and
  depend on wheat and millet, whereas the South has
  multiple cropping and the staple is rice.

47
KOREA

• The North, with a population of 22,700,000, has
  significantly fewer people than the South,
  population 47,900,000.
• The North has severe food deficits and the South
  comes close to feeding itself.
• North Korea produces vastly more coal and iron
  ore than the South.
• North Korea has maintained a lead in
  hydroelectric production.
• The two Koreas are potentially interdependent.

48
CHINA AND ITS PERIMETER LIST OF TERMS

• Pinyin The system that was adopted by the
  Chinese for the standardization of their
  language.
• Loess A wind-borne and deposited material of
  buff color.
• Manchuria A former name of the region of China
  now known as Northeast.
• Degradation The wearing down of an exposed
  surface by the action of running water.
• Aggradation The building up of the channel of a
  river so that it can flow toward the sea.
• Hydraulic Operated, moved, or affected by means
  of water.
• Oasis The presence of water in a dry
  environment.
• Karez (qanat) An underground tunnel for the
  movement of water from the mountains to a dry
  environment.

49
CHINA AND ITS PERIMETER LIST OF TERMS

• Humid China The eastern part of China which
  receives about 50 centimeters (20 inches) of
  rain or more.
• Arid China The section of China west of the 50
  centimeters (20 inches) isohyet.
• Commune The basic unit of land collectivization
  in China.
• Baogan daohu A Chinese farming policy that allows
  the farmer to grow crops for his own use
  after he meets the quota set by the
  government.
• Han Chinese The Chinese people, especially as
  distinguished from Mongols and other
  non-Chinese elements
• Treaty ports Ports along the eastern seaboard of
  China that the Chinese ceded by treaty to the
  Europeans.
• Extraterritoriality A principle according to
  which a foreign government has jurisdiction
  over a certain territory located within the
  host country's boundaries.