Countries of East Asia
©2009, TESCCC
©2009, TESCCC
REGIONS OF EAST ASIA
CHINA PROPER- Eastern half
 XIZANG (TIBET)- Mountains and high plateaus;
sparsely populated
 XINJIANG- Desert basins and mountains;
a cultural contact zone with Islam
 MONGOLIA- A desert; buffer between Russia
and China
 THE JAKOTA TRIANGLE


©2009, TESCCC
Japan, South Korea, Taiwan
Cultural Characteristics of East Asia
WORLD’S
MOST
POPULOUS REALM-1.28
Billion people (1/5 of world)
One of the world’s earliest
cultural hearths
Population concentrations in
the East
©2009, TESCCC
CHINA’S RELATIVE LOCATION

ISOLATION


Natural Protective Barriers
EFFECTS OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN
A history of emperors who restricted the use of
the coastline.
 Today the ocean is playing a major role in the
economic transformation of COASTAL CHINA.

©2009, TESCCC
Historical Perspectives: China
Continuous
civilization for over
4,000 years
View of China as the center of the
civilized world.
Historically China is a closed
society
©2009, TESCCC
CONFUCIUS
 China’s
most influential
philosopher and teacher 551479
 Emphasized that human virtues,
rather than godly connections,
should determine a person’s
place in society.
 Teaching have dominated
Chinese life and thought for
more than 20 centuries.
©2009, TESCCC
©2009, TESCCC
Buddhism
Buddha
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Taoism
Lao-tzu
The Great Wall
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©2009, TESCCC
©2009, TESCCC
CHINA’S POLITICAL MAP



4 CENTRAL-GOVERNMENT-ADMINISTERED
MUNICIPALITIES
 BEIJING (CAPITAL); TIANJIN (PORT CITY);
SHANGHAI (LARGEST CITY); CHONGQUING
(INTERIOR RIVER PORT)
5 AUTONOMOUS REGIONS
 NEI MONGOL (INNER MONGOLIA); NINGXIA HUI;
XINJIANG UYGUR (NW); GUANGXI ZHUANG
(SOUTH); XIZANG (TIBET)
22 PROVINCES
 LARGER IN THE WEST
©2009, TESCCC
Chinese Leaders in the 20th Century
 Chiang
Kai-shek (Nationalists)
 Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung)- leader of
Communist Party
 Deng Xiao Ping- replaced Mao- created
the Chinese socialist market economy
 Hu Jintao (2002 - )
 Present leader
©2009, TESCCC
MAO’S CHINA:
COMMUNISM RISES




1950s- 1976 Communist Regime
launched massive programs of
reform
Farming was collectivized
Industries were reorganized as
state-owned enterprises
Dramatic social changeseducation, religion, population
growth
©2009, TESCCC
DENG XIAOPING ERA
Took power in 1979
 Attempted to unite Communist political rule with
capitalist economic practices =
Socialist Market Economy
 Decentralized decision-making

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ECONOMIC INITIATIVES

SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES



OPEN CITIES



6 SEZs ESTABLISHED; 3 IN GUANGDONG
PROVINCE
INVESTMENT INCENTIVES: LOW TAXES,
IMPORT/EXPORT REGULATIONS LESSENED
INCLUDED 14 COASTAL CITIES
NATIONAL INVESTMENT FOCUSED ON
SHANGHAI
OPEN COASTAL AREAS


©2009, TESCCC
ALSO DESIGNED TO ATTRACT FOREIGN
INVESTMENTS
CONCENTRATED ALONG PACIFIC COAST
DELTAS AND PENINSULAS
SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES






INVESTOR INCENTIVES
LOW TAXES
EASING OF IMPORT AND EXPORT
REGULATIONS
SIMPLIFIED LAND LEASES
HIRING OF CONTRACT LABOR
PERMITTED
PRODUCTS MAY BE SOLD IN
FOREIGN MARKETS AND IN
CHINA (UNDER CERTAIN
RESTRICTIONS)
©2009, TESCCC
ETHNIC GROUPS
Other
8%
Han
92%
©2009, TESCCC
Han
Other
LANGUAGES
Chinese is one of the world’s oldest active
languages.
 Spoken Chinese varies dialect to dialect
although the characters (over 50,000)
used to represent the language remain
the same.
 Since Chinese is written in characters
rather than by a phonetic alphabet,
Chinese words must be translated so
foreigners can pronounce them.

©2009, TESCCC
PINYIN

THE MOST ACCEPTED SYSTEM OF ROMANIZING
CHINESE
Chinese
Translation
Bei
North
Nan
South
Xi
West
Dong
East
Jing
Capital
Shan
Mountain
He
River (in the north)
Jiang
River (in the south)
©2009, TESCCC
XIZANG (TIBET)
A harsh physical environment
 Sparsely populated
 Came under Chinese control during the
Manchu Dynasty in 1720
 Gained separate status in the late 19th century
 China’s communists regime took control in the
1950s
 Cornerstone of Buddhism, The Dalai Lama,
and monasteries
 Now an autonomous region

©2009, TESCCC
The Potala
Palace in Lhasa,
Tibet, is the
ceremonial home
of the 14th Dalai
Lama, now in
exile in India.
©2009, TESCCC
XINJIANG
 Comprises
one-sixth of China’s total
land area
 A region of high mountains and basins
 Chinese only account for 40% of the
population
 Muslims accounts for half of the
population
 Has extensive reserves of oil and
natural gas
©2009, TESCCC
MONGOLIA
Steppe and desert environment
 Sparsely populated with an
estimated 2.5 million inhabitants
 Part of the Chinese Empire from
Late 1600s until 1911
 Functions as a buffer state
 Economy is focused on herding
and animal products

©2009, TESCCC
JAPANESE HISTORY




600 - 800 Chinese cultural influence
1000 -1300 War, Medieval society
arises, shoguns evolve
1600 -1867 Tokugawa Shogunate,
isolation, foreigners and Christianity
expelled, individualistic culture,
emphasis on Shinto belief system
1868: Meiji Restoration
©2009, TESCCC
MEIJI RESTORATION
1868 Rebellion brought in reformers.
 Reinstated the emperor and began to transform
Japan from a Feudal society with pre-machine
age technology to an industrial power.
 Focus was on industrialization and education
system.

©2009, TESCCC
EXPANSIONIST JAPAN
TAIWAN
 KOREA
 MANCHURIA
 CHINA
 HONG KONG
 SOUTHEAST ASIA

©2009, TESCCC
1895
1910
1931
1937
1939
1941
SHINTOISM
©2009, TESCCC
JAPANESE POPULATION
Population:
 Birth rate:
 Death rate:
 Growth rate:
 Life expectancy:
 Urbanization: 78%

©2009, TESCCC
127.4 million
8 births/1,000
8 deaths/1,000
0.0%
78 (M), 85 (F)
KOREA
The size of “Idaho” but with a
population of 73 million
 Turbulent political history:





©2009, TESCCC
A dependency of China
A colony of Japan
Divided along the 38th parallel by
Allied Powers > WWII (1945)
Cease-fire line established in 1953
(DMZ) separates North Korea and
South Korea
NORTH-SOUTH CONTRASTS


NORTH KOREA
 55% of the land, 1/3 of the population, extremely rural
 Antiquated state enterprises
 Inefficient, non-productive agriculture
 Limited trade – former Soviet Union and China
SOUTH KOREA
 45% of the land, 2/3s of the population, highly urbanized
 Modern factories
 Intensive, increasingly mechanized agriculture
 Extensive trade – US, Japan, and Western Europe
©2009, TESCCC
THE KOREAS- COMPARED

POPULATION
23,600,000
49,200,000

GNP (BILLIONS)
$ 21.3
$ 508.3

GNP/CAPITA
$ 920
$ 17,300

AGRICULTURE

(as % of GNP)

(% work force)
©2009, TESCCC
25 %
36 %
8%
21 %
TAIWAN
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial
©2009, TESCCC
©2009, TESCCC
TAIWAN

Historical background:




A Chinese province for centuries
Colonized by Japan in 1895
Returned to China > WWII
1949 – Chinese Nationalists (supported by the US)
fled from the mainland and established the Republic of
China (ROC)
Population – 22.7 million
 77% urbanized

©2009, TESCCC