Chapter 10: East Asia. World Regional Geography, Tenth EditionCopyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. 2 Political Units of East Asia

Chapter 10:East Asia

World Regional Geography, Tenth Edition Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. 2

Political Units of East Asia


China: Environmental Diversity

• Third largest country in the world

• Similarities to US• Similar east–west longitudinal

pattern as forty-eight US states

• Spatial distribution of landforms and climates

• Low plains and mountains in East

• Higher mountains in West

• Not as much maritime air masses to bring rain to West as in US


China: Environmental Regions

• East more densely populated• Loess plateau–Most specialized region

• Elevated tableland 4,000–5,000 feet above sea level• Between Ordos Desert and North China Plain

• North China Plain–Extensive riverine surface built up from silt deposits

• Sichuan Basin• One of the largest interior basins in China• Densely inhabited by an agricultural population• Cool, humid winters• Warm, humid summers

• Three Gorges–Chang Jiang (“long river”)• Dam construction• Harness hydroelectric power


Environmental Regions and Zones

• Yunnan Plateau• Elevations 5,000–9,000 feet

• Dissected upland

• Northeast Plain• Extensive rolling hill surface

• Grain farming region

• Two environmental zones1. Tibetan Plateau–25% of China’s

territory• Largest, most elevated plateau in the

world

• “Rooftop of the world”

• Averages 13,200 feet

2. Tarim Basin–Internal drainage


Physiography of China & Its Pacific Rim Neighbors


Spatial Evolution of Chinese Culture

• Often referred to as world’s oldest surviving culture

• Thought of themselves as inhabitants of Middle Kingdom (Zhongguo)


Chinese Dynasties

• Shang (1766–1122 BC)–First Chinese dynasty• Zhou (1027–256 BC)

• Replaced Shang• Infused tradition of Confucianism as opposed to legalism

• Warring States Period (403–221 BC)• Qin (221–207 BC)

• China became single state and culture• Imposed uniformity

• Han (206 BC–220 AD)• Organizers of first true-scale East Asian empire• Dominated territory equivalent to present-day China• Concentration on the North• Construction of Grand Canal


Chinese Dynasties (Continued)

• Song, or Sung (AD 960–1279)• Distinctive period for economic development

• Expanded use of early ripening rice varieties

• Irrigation improvements

• Better marketing and distribution systems

• Lessons• Chinese are not static; internal forces typically force change.

• Evidence is that Europe has not always been technologically superior.


East Meets West

• 18th century brings meeting of East and West.

• Arrival of Western traders signaled start of demise of world’s oldest culture.

• Opium trade by British sparks a confrontation.

• First Opium War–Humiliating Chinese defeat• Five coastal ports forced to be open to Western interests

• These enclaves essentially became foreign-owned territories.

• Westernizing influences• China as a market for manufactured goods

• Railroads

• Western medicine and banking

• Victorian morality


Treaty Ports of Central and Riverine China


Nationalism and a New China

• Boxer Rebellion (1900)• First expression of nationalism• Opposition to foreigners and Chinese doing business with foreigners

• Nationalist movements in wake of collapse of Qing government in 1911• Establishment of the Nationalist Party• Sun Yat-sen• Chiang Kai-shek replaces Sun in 1925.

• Chinese Communist Party (CCP) established in 1921.• Mao Ze-dong emerged as leader in 1935.• Support from USSR• Urban-based party

• Civil war between Nationalists and CCP• 1949–Nationalists flee to Taiwan; Communists take over.


Transformation Under Communism

• CCP needed to rebuild an economy and a society.

• Socialism as its primary development philosophy

• Monopolization of political power

• State control of social development• Ruthless suppression of dissent

• Cultural Revolution (1966–1969)

• Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in 1980s bring aspects of capitalism.• Promoted by Deng Xiaoping

• Focused on the South and the East


Transformation of Agri-Production

• Even in 1990s, still predominantly an agricultural country.• Yet 7% of world’s most arable land and only half

considered of good quality• Three primary agricultural Regions• Widespread use of agricultural intensification• Supplementary crops• Cultivated for commercial purposes

• Vegetables• Soybeans• Fruit orchards


Agricultural Regions of China


Agriculture During Prereform Years

• Radical reconstruction of agriculture

• 1950s–Land ownership abolished.

• Collectives and People’s Communes created.

• State mandates for crops to be grown and distribution to state agencies

• “Take grain as the key link”

• Great Leap Forward (1958–1961)• Government inability to effectively control production and

distribution

• Spirit of communalization greatest

• Severe environmental degradation


Post-Mao Agricultural Reform

• Household responsibility system (1978)• Production contract• “Responsibility land” granted to peasant.• Household is obliged to produce a specific amount of grain or cotton

sold to state at regulated price.• Once contract fulfilled, free to produce cash crops.• Peasants empowered• By 1991, production increased dramatically.

• Greater use of fertilizers• Green Revolution hybrid varieties

• Still some serious drawbacks• Underproduction of grains and cotton

• Government prices favored vegetables and fruits.• Free markets increased.• Food consumption of more affluent created additional demands.


Output of Selected Chinese Agricultural Products–1981, 1991, and 2006


Industry & Regional Economic Growth

• Policy to promote regional self-sufficiency through spatially equitable distribution of manufacturing

• Reasonably successful• Global economy made China a richer nation.

• Brought inequities• Some regions benefited greater than others.

• Mineral resource endowment and distribution• Full compliment of mineral resources for industrial goals

• World’s largest coal producer• Second largest consumer of oil• Must import vast quantities• Third in global production of iron ore• First in tin• Third in lead and zinc


Major Mineral Resources of China


The Modernization of Industry

• Early development in heavy industry• Iron and steel

• Chemicals

• Electricity generation

• Textiles

• All state-owned enterprises (SOEs)

• Due to military relations, new industrial development needed interior location in order to avoid external attack


Industrial Reform & Rapid Growth

• Late 1970s–Dramatic change in industrial policy

• Increases levels of financial aid decision-making decentralization

• Transition from rigid central planning to free-market principles

• Rapid growth of town and village enterprises (TVEs)


Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) & SEZs

• Open door policy• Recognized benefits of FDI

• Win–win

• 1979–SEZs• Originally centered in Eastern

seaboard cities• Zhuhai

• Shenzhen

• Shantou

• Xiamen

• Hainan Island (1988)

• In many ways, like modern-day treaty ports


Growing Spatial Inequalities

• Factors• FDI

• Private domestic investment

• TVE economic impact

• Winners• Coastal towns

• Foreign manufacturing facilities are located

• Far outstripped other areas

• Domestically owned modern industries favored by government investment

• Specialty crop farmers cater to affluent urban markets.

• Core-periphery relationship between interior and coastal provinces is emerging.


Provincial per Capita Gross Domestic Product


Regional Influence of Economic Changes

• Northeast has fared the worst.• Bohai Sea Rim

• Includes Beijing and Tianjin• Accounts for 14% of national population• 19% of national GDP

• Southeast–Most changed region• Chang Jiang River area–Dominant economic region in East• Shanghai since the early 1990s

• Government decision as a counterweight to Guangdong• Foreign investment• Other cities have prospered in its shadow

• Suzhou• Wuxi• Ningbo


Gender Impacts of Economic Reforms

• Traditionally, a male-dominated society

• Great Leap Forward• Women elevated to equal status as men.

• Needed for heavy manual labor

• Cultural Revolution• Dress like men

• Unisex/androgynous

• Feminization of agriculture• Rural to urban migration is predominantly male.

• Typical female occupations in manufacturing


Urbanization and Migration

• Communist restriction on movement to urban centers• Reduced unplanned growth• Enabled avoidance of squatter

settlement development

• Urban places viewed with contempt and distrust.• Breeding grounds for more

educated and commercially oriented capitalist urban classes

• Antiurban bias exhibited in Cultural Revolution.


Urbanization and Migration (Continued)

• Loosening of population movement restrictions brought migration to cities (floating population).

• Urban housing• Private ownership very small

• Some movement away from state-run; toward market principles


Beijing and Shanghai

• Two largest cities• Both megacities with over 10

million population• Beijing

• Dates back to 13th century• Traditionally typified conservative

orderly and inward nature of Chinese culture

• Forbidden City• Tiananmen Square

• Political center of Middle Kingdom

• Some light and heavy industry


Shanghai

• Represents outward/commercial nature of Chinese

• Characteristic of a southern Chinese village

• Roots as a fishing village

• Leading industrial center• Chemical

• Textile

• Metal

• Food-processing

• Pudong—Financial district


Population Contours

• Population distribution highly uneven

• Reflects climatic patterns

• Spatial variation in distribution of cultural minority groups


Population Distribution of East Asia


Chinese Population Growth & Fertility Trends


Environmental Sustainability

• Environmental quality has suffered.• Large population density

• Rapid economic growth

• Clean freshwater is perhaps the biggest challenge facing China.

• Air pollution is the other major environmental problem.


The Two Koreas

• North Korea and South Korea

• Now politically divided

• North Korea• Insulated/insular society and

economy

• Communist system

• South Korea• Economic development

through foreign relations

• Democratic system


Taiwan

• Chinese Nationalists fled to island in 1949 after communists took over mainland.

• People’s Republic of China (PRC) still considers Taiwan a “province”.

• Not recognized around the world as a separate country

• Noises of independence declaration


Japan


Japan: Tradition and Modernity

• Land of contrasts (contradictions between history and modernity)

• Nature versus cluttered environment

• Traditional dress contrasting with urbanity

• Economic contrasts


A Challenging Physical Environment

• Location and insularity• NE corner of Asian region• Little smaller than California• Island country off of a large continental mainland (often

compared to Great Britain in this vein)• Archipelagic country—Main body is comprised of four large

islands.

• Climate• Varied due to long size, mountains, and surrounded by water• Monsoon climate a little different from the rest of East Asia due

to more northern location and maritime environment


Landforms

• Occupies a small, but geologically active, portion of the Pacific Ring of Fire

• Mountains are rugged with steep slopes, but not by world standards.• Most peaks are below 6,000 feet.

• Ten are higher than 9,000 feet.

• Fifty-four volcanoes

• Rest of area are flat surfaces found either as terraces at the downside slope of mountains or along relatively narrow coastal plains.

• Tokyo occupies the Kanto Plain.


Mineral Resources

• Severely lacking

• Must import everything needed for energy production and industrial development (except hydropower)

• Only 17.5% self-sufficient in 2005


The Cultural & Historical Past

• Jomon culture—Earliest known culture

• Yayoi culture• Replaced Jomon some 2,300 years ago

• Introduced religion that eventually developed into Shintoism

• Yamato period• 1,700 years ago

• Introduced great transformation of Japanese culture and politics

• Nara and Heian periods• 700 to 1100s

• Chinese influences began to mature.

• Bakafu—“behind the scenes” rulers between 1100s and 1800s


Tokugawa Period

• Shogunate (military dictatorship)

• Highly centralized administrative structure

• Elevated levels of economic development

• Urbanization and interaction with settlements increased


Tokugawa Japan


Increased Foreign Contact

• 1543—Portuguese were first Europeans to arrive.• Spanish, Dutch, and English followed over the next year.

• Impressed with Japanese technological and cultural achievements

• Japanese attracted to guns, tobacco, and Chinese luxuries.

• 1600s• Increasing suspicions of Westerners and Western religion

• 1640—Spanish and Portuguese expelled.

• Dutch, English, and Chinese confined to areas around the port of Nagasaki.

• 1853—Isolation ends with arrival of American Commodore Perry in Tokyo.


Modernization and the Japan Model

• Meiji Restoration (1868)• Powerful daimyo who, as an oligarchy, restored the

emperor• Borrowed heavily from the West, adopting what the

government perceived each country did best• Constitutional government• Division of country into prefectures with a governor

chosen from the daimyo• Samarai class disbanded—Many funneled into

government due to high levels of education• Feudal obligations ended.• Market economy was introduced.


Historical Steamship Service to Meiji


Japan Model: Unique Adaptation of Western Methods to Indigenous Japanese Culture and Values

• Aspects• Government guidance, not control• Competent bureaucracy• Proper sequencing of the development process• Focus on comparative advantage and regional specialization• Wise investment of surplus capital• Development of infrastructure• Emphasis on education• Upgrading of labor force• Population planning

• Powerful force in 20th century as other Asian states attempted to do the same thing

• 20th century adaptations to unique state conditions; it might better be termed the “East Asian Model”.


Japan’s First Transformation: Rise to Power

• Zaibatsu• Large industrial and financial cliques that provided an effective

means of marshalling private capital for investment• Fueled Meiji Restoration economic transformation

• Military victories at end of 19th century• Victory over China (1895)• Victory over Russia (1905)

• Experiences with colonization through mid-1940s• Taiwan (1895) and Korea (1911)• SE Asia and parts of Pacific• Short-lived and brutal


Japan’s Second Transformation:The Quest to Be Number One

• Economic development in the wake of defeat in World War II• Amounted to a sped-up repeat of the Rostow model

• Allies’ imposition of political structure

• American investment

• Aspects of Japan Model reemerged• Keiretsu

• Breakup of zaibatsu reconstituted

• Played a major role in post WWII growth

• Bureaucratic capitalism• Influence of governmental ministries

• Especially Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI)

• Tiered economic structure

• By 1980s, became largest single source of FDI.

• Population stabilization


Japan’s Changing Population Structure


Urban-Industrial Regions

• Levels of urbanization increased post-WWII

• Tokaido Megalopolis• Largest concentration of urban-industrial activity

• Island of Honshu

• Tokyo–Yokohama (Keihin)

• Nagoya (Chukyo)

• Osaka–Kobe–Kyoto (Hanshin)

• Industrialization provided major stimulus for urbanization.


Tokyo

• Imperial capital• Seat of Japanese government• Center of media and advertising• Country’s dominant financial and corporate center• Home to greatest number of universities• Home of Tsukuba Science City, the first and largest of

Japan’s many planned research nodes or “tecnhopoles”• Asian Pacific Rim economic hub• One of three command centers of global finance (along

with New York and London)• A growing megacity (8.6 million)


Japan’s Tokaido Megalopolis


Yokohama

• More traditional industrial region

• Primary historic and present shipping port for the larger region


Hanshin, or Kansai, Region

• 18.6 million

• Centered on Osaka (8.8 million in the prefecture)

• Second largest urban-industrial region

• More traditional industry and commerce

• Heavy industry dominates


Chukyo Region

• Centered on Nagoya

• Third largest urban-industrial region

• Notable as the home to Toyota Motor Corporation


The Tokyo Urban RegionThe Shinjuku District in Tokyo


Consequences of the Japan Model

• Urban challenges• Increasing urban populations

• Infrastructure challenges

• Housing

• Pollution of the environment• Intensified environmental pollution

• In 1970s, created their own Environment Agency (similar to Environmental Protection Agency) in reaction to protests about increasing environmental challenges.

• Regional imbalances• Economic development has favored the Pacific side.

• Tokyo served as a primate city.


Consequences of the Japan Model

• Rural challenges• Farming slow to change

• Most protected sector of the economy

• Connected to Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) control of the political system

• Shrinking population and immigration• Dramatically changed social and demographic patterns

• Has entered stage four of the demographic transformation model

• 127.5 million population (2007)

• 1.3 total fertility rate

• 21% older than 65—The second highest proportion in the world

• Adoption of a more liberalized, open immigration system to support its labor needs


Japan’s Third Transformation:Charting a New Course

• Deindustrialization• Decreasing importance of domestic industry

• Sunset industries—Those losing their international competitiveness

• Structural deficiencies—Are government and economy still stuck in “preglobalization” model?

Documents

Chapter 10: East Asia. World Regional Geography, Tenth EditionCopyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. 2 Political Units of East Asia