Chapter Five
East Asia
East Asian Miracle
Reemergence as a world political, economic,
and cultural force
Technological development since ancient
times
Ancient cultures
East Asian Miracle (cont’d)
From Poverty and Defeat to Renewed
Eminence
Japan defeated in World War II
Korea divided north and south
China governed by Communists after
defeating nationalists
East Asian Miracle (cont’d)
Will Miracle Growth Continue?
Uneven development
1997-1998 economic crisis revealed
weakness in the economic practices of the
“Asian Way”
Cultural and Political Influences
Chinese Empires
Foundations of Chinese Cultures
• Confucius (Kong Fuzi)
• Daoism (Laozi)
Mongol Invasions
Later Empires
Cultural and Political
Influences (cont’d)
Japanese Isolationism
Shinto
Korean Origins
Responses to European Intrusions
China Resists Colonization
Disrupted Chinese Republic
Japan Asserts Its Independence
Natural Environments
Subtropical and Midlatitude Climates
Monsoon climatic environment
Midlatitude east coast climatic environments
Mountains and Major Rivers
Himalayan Mountains (Mt. Everest)
Tibetan Plateau
Huang He (Yellow River)
Chang Jiang (Yangtze or Long River)
Xi Jiang (West River)
Zhu Jiang (Pearl River)
Natural Environments (cont’d)
Forests, Grasslands, and Desert
Natural Resources
Surface water flows
Fertile soils
Minerals
• Coal
• Oil
• Natural gas
Natural Environments (cont’d)
Country Boundaries
Environmental Problems
Natural Hazards
Human Impacts and Responses
Diseases
Pollution
Environmental Policies
Globalization and East Asia
Most countries cluster toward the top of the
world range of gross national income.
China and Japan lead in the next phases of
globalization.
Trade with the United States and Europe is
important.
Increasing trade with Southeast Asia.
Globalization and East Asia (cont’d)
Global City-Regions
In the Forefront: Japan, South Korea,
and Taiwan
Japan
Multinationals
International Tourism
Recent Entry: China
China and Global Culture
Subregions
Japan
The Koreas, North and South
China—including Hong Kong (Xianggang)
since 1997 and Macau since 1999, Taiwan, and
Mongolia
Subregions (cont’d)
Population Distribution
Highest population densities along the
eastern and southern parts of Japan, the
western parts of the Koreas and Taiwan, the
north-central part of China, and the coasts
and major river valleys of southern China.
Lowest population densities in the western
half of China and Mongolia.
Japan
People
Ethnicity
Rural to Urban Populations
• Megalopolis
• Suburbanization
• Counterurbanization
Population Change
• Low fertility and population growth rates
• Aging population
Japan (cont’d)
Economic Development
Postwar Changes
Agriculture
Manufactures: Beginnings of Modernization
Manufactures: Reconstruction
• Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI)
Manufactures: Challenges and Changes
Service Industries
Japan (cont’d)
Japan’s Regions and Cities
Hokkaido
Honshu
Shikoku
Kyushu
Ryuku Islands
Japanese City Landscapes
The Koreas
Countries
North Korea: Communist
South Korea: Paternalistic dictatorships to
democracies supported by the United States
People
Urban Focus
The Koreas (cont’d)
South Korean Economic Development
Fast economic growth
Iron and steel, shipbuilding, chemicals,
automaking, textiles, and now high-tech
Chaebol
Economic Stagnation in North Korea
Isolationist
Economic decline and famine
China, Mongolia, and Taiwan
China
China’s Ups and Downs Under Communism
Collectivization and Communes
The Great Leap Forward and Cultural
Revolution
China Joins the Wider World
• Household responsibility system
Tensions in the 2000s
China and the World Trade Organizaton
China, Mongolia, and Taiwan (cont’d)
People in China
Ethnicity
• Han Chinese
Urban Versus Rural Population in China
Chinese Population Dynamics
Attacking Poverty in China
Overseas Chinese
• Transnational Chinese economy
Point-Counterpoint: (cont’d)
POINT
The one-child policy
results in fewer births
that place claims on
national resources.
It brings slower
population increase and
a more balanced
population structure in
the early stages.
COUNTERPOINT
Family planning is most
successful when parents act
on their own initiative,
perhaps guided by
information.
It upsets the population
balance between sexes
(abortion and murder of
baby girls) and age groups
(in the later stages when
there are small numbers of
young people and increasing
numbers of older people).
Point-Counterpoint: (cont’d)
POINT
It allows better planning
for urban expansion,
housing, education, job
availability, and
transport and utility
infrastructure.
COUNTERPOINT
It ignores other factors
in population growth,
including migration, the
effect of natural
disasters (as during the
Great Leap Forward)
and diseases, and the
impact of political chaos
(as in the Cultural
Revolution).
Point-Counterpoint: (cont’d)
POINT
It provides control by the
government and local
officials in the interests
of the whole population.
It brings a rapid
realization of the
importance of family
planning in the face of
imminent overpopulation
disaster. Other policies
had failed.
COUNTERPOINT
It often requires
draconian methods of
control that go against
human rights.
It ignores cultural and
economic factors that
favor large families.
China, Mongolia, and Taiwan (cont’d)
Economic Development
The Chinese Economy, 1949-1976
New Policies and New Growth After 1976
Farming in the 2000s
Water Resources
Chinese Energy Policy
Growth in Chinese Manufacturing
Increasing Steel Output
China, Mongolia, and Taiwan (cont’d)
Regions and Cities in China
Coastal Regions
Interior Behind the Coastal Regions
Deep Interior Regions
Chinese Regional Development Policies
• Special economic zones
Hong Kong
• Entrepôt
Macau’s New Approach to Gaming
Chinese City Landscape
China, Mongolia, and Taiwan (cont’d)
Mongolian Isolation
Mongolian People
Mongolia’s Limited Resources
Taiwan
Taiwanese People
Taiwanese Economy