Chapter 10: China

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 3 rd / 4 th 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

3. Lets talk about rivers? What is the 3 rd 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 – 3 rd or 4 th 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 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 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 movement was crushed by the Chinese PLA in The Dalai Lama has ruled in absentia since and never recognized PRC 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 49 th anniversary of the Tibetan uprisings of 1959.

TERRITORIAL ISSUES 1. TIBET – In 2008, the PLA put down the demonstrations 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?????