East Asia- Land of Contrasts

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East Asia- Land of Contrasts
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Natural Resources
Compare resource rich and poor
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Physical Geography - Mountains
Mongolian Plateau home of the Gobi
Desert Kunlun Mtns. source of the Huang He and
Yangtze rivers Quinling Shandi divide northern
and southern China Plateau of Tibet sandwiched
between Himalayas and Kunlun Mtns. Himalayas
includes Mt. Everest K2 (worlds highest
mountains)
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Physical Geography Rivers Plains
North China Plain - VERY fertile farmland, but
high population density as well
Huang He aka Yellow River for the heavy silt,
called Chinas Sorrow due to severe flooding
Chang Jiang literally Long River (over 3,900
miles), aka Yangtze, site of Three Gorges Dam
Yalu Jiang forms border between China and
Korean Peninsula
Amur River forms border between Russia and
eastern China
Xi Jiang joins the Pearl River to empty into
South China Sea at Hong Kong
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Physical Geography Issues
Japans bulging population problem and not enough
space
Volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis are always a
threat to Japan
Yangtze River flooding and the Three Gorges Dam
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Physical Geography Issues Yangtze and Three
Gorges

• The Yangtze River has a long history of intense
  flooding, including
• 1998 3,000 dead, 14 million displaced, 24
  Billion losses
• 1954 30,000 dead
• 1935 142,000 dead
• 1931 135,000 dead
• 1911 100,000 dead
• 1887 1,000,000 dead
• To prevent future flooding disasters, the
• Chinese built the Three Gorges Dam
• 330 feet tall, almost 1 ½ mile wide
• total project cost - 26 Billion
• will create a reservoir 410 miles long

video
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Physical Geography Issues Yangtze and Three
Gorges
Positive Effects
Negative Effects

1. Energy produced will only cover 3 of Chinas
   needs, not 10 as predicted.
2. Dam will slow river traffic, restricted to
   available locks instead of the ½ mile-wide river.
3. Over 1 million people will have to be displaced
   from ancestral lands
4. Historical and religious sites will be flooded as
   reservoir rises
5. Destruction or modification of natural habitat
   may harm river species
6. Loss of free-flowing sediment may decrease
   farmland fertility

1. Reservoir creation will control or eliminate
   future flooding threats
2. 22,500 MegaWatts of clean energy will be
   produced, reducing the need for coal burning
   power plants
3. Transportation by ocean-going ships will be
   possible to Chongqing, over 800 miles inland
   (Houston to El Paso)

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Physical Geography Issues Population Density

• Japans population is about ½ of the U.S.
• (around 127,000,000 in 2008) but the
• country is smaller than California
• The average population density for the
• country is more than 871 people per
• square mile (U.S. avg. is 80 per sq. mi.)
• Tokyo is the worlds most populated
• urban area, with an estimated population
• of 35,676,000 in 2007, including Tokyo
• and suburban areas

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Physical Geography Issues Population Density

• By using land reclamation activities like
  landfill and dredging,
• Japan has created land to build three large
  airports in the
• waters surrounding the natural islands.
• Over 96 square miles of new land have been added
  in
• Tokyo Bay, and overall, Japans reclamation
  projects add
• 2-3 square miles of new land each year, making
  it possible
• to build new housing or park space for the
  people of Japan

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Physical Geography IssuesExtreme Nature in
Japan

• The Japanese islands were created by tectonic
  movement between the Pacific and Philippine
  Plates moving northwest and the Amur plate moving
  southeast, resulting in very active and
  unpredictable earthquake and volcanic activity
• Active volcanoes create a spine of Japan, so
  most of Japans population lives less than 75
  miles from a volcano
• 1,000 tremors or quakes/year in Japan
• Most are unnoticed, but they can be major
• 1923 Kanto - killed 100,000
• 1995 Hanshin (Kobe) killed 6,400, 100,000
  homeless, 100 Bil. to rebuild

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Physical Geography IssuesExtreme Nature in
Japan

• Japans location on the Ring of Fire also
  creates the potential for tsunamis
• Underwater earthquakes
• can start a wave of energy
• that can travel across the
• ocean and create a tsunami as it nears land

video

• Typhoons (called hurricanes in the Atlantic)
  can bring intense winds (100 mph) and heavy rain
  (1-2 in./hour for 12 hours) and can create
  intense flooding due to storm surge at the eye of
  the storm

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Physical Geography IssuesEmergency Preparedness

• Most major cities in Japan hold city-wide
  emergency disaster drills at least once per year
• Japanese Meteorological Agency makes predictions
  for weather and seismic activity
• Up-to-the-minute online earthquake reporting
  keeps people informed about potential problems
• Alert levels are announced on TV and radio
  stations to alert people of volcanic activity

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Human Physical Geography IssuesOverpopulation
in China

• Chinas area is slightly smaller than the U.S.
  but their population is over 4 X bigger (US 300 M
  vs. China 1.3 B)
• In 1776, Chinas population equaled U.S.
  population in 2000
• China passed 1 billion in 1980
• Physical features (desert, mountains) limit
  suitable living space
• East coast port draw people to the already
  crowded cities

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Human Physical - Issues Chinas Population
Density

• One Child Policy (since 1979) limits family size,
  in hopes of slowing and reversing population
  growth
• cultural preference for boys has led to
  selective abortions, spoiled Little Emperors,
  infanticide and increased numbers of orphans
• Fertility rate has fallen from more than 5
  children per woman in China during the 1970s to
  China to less than 2 per woman today