Chapter 10:Chapter 10:ChinaChina

CHINA

• What is the formal name of the country?

• Would you be surprised if I told you that the “People’s Republic of China” was incorrect?

CHINA

• What is the formal name of the country?

• The answer is:

• ZHONGHUA RENMIN GONGHE GUO

CHINA

• What is the Nickname of China?

CHINA

• What is the Nickname of China?

• THE MIDDLE KINGDOM

• WHY???

CHINA

• THE MIDDLE KINGDOM

China is called Zhongguo ( 中國 or 中国 in Chinese). The character zhōng ( 中 ) means "middle" or "central," while guó ( 国 or 國 ) means "state".

CHINA

• THE MIDDLE KINGDOM

During the Dynasty period, China often referred to itself as the “center of civilization” – the center of the civilized world.

CHINA

• THE MIDDLE KINGDOM

Reflected a very ethnocentric belief that the rest of the world had nothing to offer China!

CHINA

• THE MIDDLE KINGDOM

One of the world's oldest continuous civilizations.

The world's longest continuously used written language system.

CHINA

• THE MIDDLE KINGDOM

The source of the Four Great Inventions of Ancient China: paper, the compass, gunpowder, and printing.

CHINA

• THE MIDDLE KINGDOM

GEOGRAPHY

• What is China’s most important geographic characteristic?

GEOGRAPHY

• Its size – land area and population of course

• It is the world’s largest country in terms of population and 3rd / 4th largest in square mileage.

GEOGRAPHY

• Important Geographic features:

• Access to oceans and ice free ports

• Many large, navigable rivers

• Mt ranges, deserts, and oceans separate China from rest of world

GEOGRAPHY

• Important Geographic features:

• Major geographic / climate cleavage between north and south

• Geographic isolation of the western part of China

GEOGRAPHY

• Geographic features have shaped political culture and development of China

GEOGRAPHY

• 1. LOCATION?

• East Asia

GEOGRAPHY

• 2. Borders?

• 14 countries border China

• Let’s name them shall we?

GEOGRAPHY

• 2. Borders? Afghanistan, Bhutan, Myanmar / Burma, India, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Kyrgyztan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Vietnam

GEOGRAPHY

GEOGRAPHY

• 3. Lets talk about rivers?

• What is the 3rd longest river in the world?

• The Yangtze River – flows (like many of China’s rivers) from the Himalayas in Tibet

GEOGRAPHY

• 3. Lets talk about rivers?

• Huanghe (Yellow) River

• Heilongjiang (Black Dragon) River

• Zhujiang (Pearl) River

GEOGRAPHY

• 3. Lets talk about rivers?

GEOGRAPHY

• 3. Lets talk about rivers?

• Many large, navigable rivers and good harbors means that most of the Chinese population have settled in the eastern side of China

GEOGRAPHY

• 4. Climate

• China is mostly northern temperate but it runs the gamut from sub arctic in the Himalayas and in north to tropical in the south

GEOGRAPHY

• 4. Climate

• Major climate differences reflect major cultural differences between the north and the south

GEOGRAPHY

• 5. Natural Resources• Large land area = substantial• Labor force is key • World’s largest = antimony,

graphite, tungsten, and zinc• Also bauxite, coal, petroleum,

diamonds, gold

GEOGRAPHY

• 5. Natural Resources

• But the biggest deal is in hydropower – China has the largest potential in the world due to its rivers

GEOGRAPHY

• 5. Natural Resources

• Hydropower – 3 Gorges Dam

GEOGRAPHY

• 5. Natural Resources

• Hydropower – 3 Gorges Dam

• a hydroelectric river dam that spans the Yangtze River in Yichang, China. It is the largest hydro-electric power station in the world by capacity

GEOGRAPHY

• 6. LAND – 3rd or 4th largest country but most of the land is mountains and desert

• Only 10% is arable but only 1.3% is planted with permanent crops

• Need intensive agricultural techniques to feed people.

GEOGRAPHY

• 6. LAND – • The rugged terrain (mountains and

deserts) in the west has limited population growth in those regions

GEOGRAPHY

• 7. CITIES

• What is the capital of China?

GEOGRAPHY

• 7. CITIES

• What is the capital of China?

• BEIJING with 13.5 million people

GEOGRAPHY

• 7. CITIES

GEOGRAPHY

• 7. 10 cities over 3 million people• Chongqing (30.5 million)• Shanghai (16.4 mil)• Tianjin (9.8) ; Wuhan (5.1) ; Shenyang

(4.8) ; Guangzhou (3.8) • Chengdu (3.2) ; Xi’an (3.1) and

Changchun (3)

GEOGRAPHY

• 7. 12 more cities with 2 to 2.9 million people

• 20 more cities w1 to 1.9 million

• ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

CITIES / URBAN AREAS

• 7. Where do most of the Chinese people live?

CITIES / URBAN AREAS

• 7. Where do most of the Chinese people live?

• On the eastern side of China

• 62% in rural areas and 38% urban

ORGANIZATION

• 8. How is China organized?

ORGANIZATION

• 8. How is China organized?

• Into 21 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, and 3 centrally governed special municipalities

ORGANIZATION

• 8. How is China organized?• It is divided into Provinces• Henan 91.2 million• Shandong 89.9 million• Sichuan 82.3 million • Guangdong 85.2 million

ORGANIZATION

• 8. How is China organized?• It is divided into Autonomous

Regions covering 60% of the Chinese Territories:– Tibet, Xinjiang, Guangxi, Inner

Mongolia, and Ningyia

ORGANIZATION

• 4. How is China organized?• Special Municipalities = Hong

Kong and Macau

GEOGRAPHY

TERRITORIAL ISSUES

• China has had or still has territorial land disputes with every neighbor.

• I guess that notion of good walls make good neighbors is not working so well.

GEOGRAPHY

• 1. TERRITORIAL ISSUES

• TIBET ? What is up with that?

GEOGRAPHY

• 1. TERRITORIAL ISSUES

• TIBET - When the People's Republic of China (PRC) refers to Tibet, it means the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR): a province-level entity

TERRITORIAL ISSUES

• 1. TIBET – The history of China and Tibet goes back thousands of years. China has never renounced its sovereign claim over Tibet.

GEOGRAPHY

• 1. TERRITORIAL ISSUES• TIBET – Since 1951, Tibet has been

under China's control. According to a 1951 agreement between Tibetan government and Chinese central government, Tibet was supposed to be a highly autonomous area of China.

TERRITORIAL ISSUES

• 1. TIBET – China under Mao claimed that the Tibetan gov’t was refusing to modernize the region and was holding back the serfs

TERRITORIAL ISSUES

• 1. TIBET – This was the justification for China taking over Tibet in 1951– to help modernize and to advance the working class

TERRITORIAL ISSUES

• 1. TIBET – Resistance movementwas crushed by the Chinese PLA in 1959. The Dalai Lama has ruled in absentia sinceand never recognizedPRC rule

TERRITORIAL ISSUES

• 1. TIBET – Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of Tibet and is the figurehead of the independence movement.

TERRITORIAL ISSUES

• 1. TIBET – In 2008 during the Olympic Torch Relay which China called the “Journey of Harmony” riots and demonstrations broke out on the 49th anniversary of the Tibetan uprisings of 1959.

TERRITORIAL ISSUES

• 1. TIBET – In 2008, the PLA put down thedemonstrations to protect the Chinese image leading up to the Olympic games.

TERRITORIAL ISSUES

• 2. TAIWAN – What is this all about?

TERRITORIAL ISSUES

• 2. TAIWAN – China considers Taiwan a province and an inalienable part of China.

TERRITORIAL ISSUES

• 2. TAIWAN has been separate from China since 1949, when Chiang Kai-shek led his Guomindang forces off mainland China after defeat by the Communist led Mao

TERRITORIAL ISSUES

• 2. TAIWAN is recognized as an independent state by most countries in the world including the USA which trades heavily with Taiwan

TERRITORIAL ISSUES

• 2. TAIWAN = Beijing is adamantly opposed to independence of state status for Taiwan

TERRITORIAL ISSUES

• 2. Taiwan is a major foreign policy issue for China and the USA

• China alternates between peaceful negotiations and threats of force.

TERRITORIAL ISSUES

• 2. Taiwan is run as a democratic nation and is a major economic force in the world

TERRITORIAL ISSUES

• 3. UYGHURS in XINJIANG = These are Muslim people of Turkish descent living in the far western side of China near Afghanistan and Pakistan and former USSR states.

TERRITORIAL ISSUES

• 3. UYGHURS in XINJIANG =Uyghur Militants want to create a separate Islamic state and have resorted to violence to achieve goal.

TERRITORIAL ISSUES

• 3. UYGHURS in XINJIANG = Chinese government is opposed to any separatist movement on nationalistic and strategic and natural resource grounds.

TERRITORIAL ISSUES

• 3. UYGHURS in XINJIANG =

In July of 2009, riots broke out in Urumqi, the capital city of Xinjiang, over dissatisfactions with Chinese control

TERRITORIAL ISSUES

• 3. UYGHURS in XINJIANG =

In July of 2009,

the PLA once

again came in

and put down riots.

FINAL QUESTION

• WHAT DOES “AUTONOMOUS”

MEAN?????