East Asia UNIT 9

Physical Characteristics  Mountains influence the region  population settlement patterns  ability of people to move  climate

 Mountains  Himalayas  Western and Eastern Ghats  Mount Fuji-Japan

 Varied climate regions--ranging from tropical wet to humid continental  Many natural hazards-- monsoons, typhoons, volcanoes, and earthquakes

 Monsoon--a seasonal shift in the prevailing winds that influences large climate regions  Typhoon--a destructive tropical storm occurring in the western Pacific Ocean or the China Sea, similar to a hurricane

 Influence of water--(rivers, seas, and ocean currents) on agriculture, trade, and transportation

 Important bodies of water-- Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal, Ganges River, Indus River, Brahmaputra River, Pacific Ocean, Yangtze River (Chaing Jiang), Mekong River, Yellow River (Huang He)

 Area have abundant arable land  areas of loess  Plateau of Tibet hard to live on  Gobi Desert--second largest in the world

Economic Characteristics  Varied economies in the region ranging from subsistence/commercial agriculture to high-tech industrial manufacturing  Active participation in global markets

 Many newly industrialized countries--South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore  Japan is the economic leader of the area  China is in a transition period-- from a centrally planned economy to more of a tradition free market economy

 Agricultural advancements and technology are enabling greater food production-- “Green Revolution”  Environmental degradation  deforestation  fishing is important

 Many countries are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which was set up with the US  main crops are rice and tropical crops such as bananas

Disputed Areas North Korea and South Korea —two countries that are conflicted North Korea is communist and South Korea is a democracy. The Peoples Republic of China and Taiwan- Divided after Communist took over China in 1949 China and Tibet- China took over Tibet in There is a movement to encourage the Chinese to return Tibet to the Buddhist. Tibet is the homeland of the Buddhist.

Cultural Characteristics  Areas of extremely dense and sparse population  severe contrast between rural and urban areas  serious religious conflicts-- primarily between Hindus and Muslims

 deep respect for ancestors  Religious diversity-- Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism, Shinto, Confucianism are the major religions

 Important cities--Tokyo, Japan; Beijing, China; New Delhi,India

Tokyo, Japan

 Capital of Japan and part of the most urbanized area on Earth; on the island of Honshu  One of the world’s major global cities; home of a major stock market

Tokyo, Japan  Historically hit by several major earthquakes, most recently in 1923  The Tokyo area has a larger economy than all but 7 countries  Very efficient public transportation; center of culture, trade, and education

Beijing, China

 Capital of China and the center of culture, politics and education (although Hong Kong and Shanghai are more important for trade and economics); host of 2008 Summer Olympics  Forbidden City in Beijing was the home of many Chinese emperors  Tiananmen Square was the center of political protests in recent years

 Cultural landscape--Taj Mahal, Angkor Wat, Great Wall of China, floating markets, mosques,minarets, pagodas, temples and shrines, terraced rice fields

Angkor Wat

 Located in the jungles of Cambodia; built in the 12 th century as a Hindu temple  Later became a center of Buddhist worship; largest religious structure in the world

Great Wall of China

Himalayas

Mount Fuji

Mount Fuji—outside of Tokyo

Mt. Fuji

Himalayas—Mt. Everest

Gobi Desert

Buddha

Buddha in New Delhi

Shinto Shrine

Temple

Pagoda

Pagoda

Temple

The Great Wall of China was built to keep out invaders.

Great Wall of China  Built by a series of Chinese dynasties to keep out Mongol and Turkic invaders from the north around 200 B.C.  Possibly as many as one million people died during its construction  The Wall was minimally successful in keeping out the invaders  About 80% of the Wall is now in disrepair

 In Asia, many people live on the water. Vendors on small boats sell goods in areas of Southeast Asia; Many in Thailand and Vietnam Pictured below is a floating market.

Terraced rice fields  Terracing creates usable farmland in mountainous areas of China, Southeast Asia  High population of Asia demands that land isn’t wasted

Planting rice in a terraced rice field.

Temple in Asia

Religious Temple

A religious shrine in an intersection. What sign of globalization do you see in the photo?

 Today, China's half-a-million square kilometer Loess plateau is very favorable for farms and grazing if the rainfall is enough, Nearly the whole Loess Plateau is being exploited by agriculture and it has about one-fifth of China's tillable land and supports more than one-fifth of its population.

Blowing sand from the Gobi Desert creates loess landforms in China.

 Cultural heritage  Silks  Batik  wood and ivory carving  ideograms--unique alphabets  jewels

Batik

 Batik: “painting” technique using melted wax on fabric; common in Indonesia and Malaysia  Batik fabric is made in India.

Chinese silk rug Silks: famous Chinese silk has been traded for thousands of years

 Wood and ivory carving: India is famous for ivory carvings from the  tusks of elephants; ivory trade has been illegal in most countries since 1989

Drought Silk

 Ideograms  A character or symbol representing an idea or a thing without expressing the pronunciation. A stop sign is an example of an ideogram.

Chinese calligraphy characters and translation.

Jewels Many jewels are mined in Asia. Jewels were frequently used in art in Asian countries such as India and China Sapphires and rubies are found in Southeast Asia