East Asia Population density of E Asia Landforms and Resources • Mountains – Kunlun – Tian Shan – Altai How did mountains shape culture? • Plateaus – Tibetan – Mongolian • Plains – North China Plain – Manchurian Plain • Deserts – Gobi – Taklimakan How do mountains and deserts affect population distribution? Peninsulas and Islands • • • • Shandong Leizhou Macao Korean • • • • Hainan Hong Kong Japan Taiwan River Systems • Huang He – Yellow River • Chang Jiang – Yangtze River • Xi Jiang – West River Why do the rivers mostly flow from west to east? How many of the major cities in China are on rivers? Resources Unevenly distributed • • • • • Land Forests Minerals Energy Water • List 3 ways China’s rivers contributed to its development. • Where is most of the agricultural land in China? • How are rivers important to China’s economy? Climate and Vegetation • High Latitude – Subarctic – Highland • Mid-latitude – Humid continental – Humid subtropical • Dry – Semiarid – Desert • Tropical – wet In what climate zone do most people live? Three Gorges Dam Positive vs. Negative • Control floods • Generate electricity • Facilitate shipping upriver • Human cost – relocation – lost historical sites – Threat of landslides • Financial burdens • Environmental concerns – Reduce habitat – Siltation of lake – Pollution from factories Urban Japan • Very crowded • 60% of people on 3% of land Adaptations Small houses, mainly apartments • • Limited furniture • Create new land using ‘landfill’ Grand Canal – From north to south, the Grand Canal is over 1,700 kilometers (roughly 1,100 miles) long, linking Hangzhou in Zhejiang province with Beijing in the north. An extremely important water project that was first started in the Sui dynasty (589-618), it connects several big rivers and provides an important means of transportation and communication. Why would the canal be needed in China? Why aren’t the rivers enough? With the two pictures below in mind, how do you think the access to rivers and lakes would have made the lifestyle of people in the south different from that of people in the north?