East and Southeast Asia Introduction

EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA

European Name? Far East

When you think of the “Far East”, what countries come to mind?

The region is over 3500 miles from north to south. Geographically, this means they have a number of ________________. How does this affect them climatically?

Houston’s approx. latitude

latitudes

The varied landforms that makeup E & SE Asia

World’s highest mtns.

Dense jungles

Archipelagos and volcanic activity

Vast deserts

The region is part of the most active fault lines on Earth, the “Ring of Fire.”

The building blocks and the destroyers of the region. Earthquakes and Volcanoes.

Why is a common term for East Asia the “Orient.”

The ancient Greeks “oriented” their maps towards the East, where the sun rises.

CULTURE

E

The topography of China has served to keep many invaders (and diffusion) out.

Deserts

Mountains

Oceans keep land based invaders out.

The Mongols were the exception to this rule.

Great Wall

Name a great East Asian explorer similar to Columbus, Magellan, De Gama?

In fact, up until the 1400’s, Chinese ships roamed the Indian Ocean. Then, the emperors turned inward, closed off contact and became:

The Chinese always felt they were the center of the world.

xenophobic

Though their culture turned inward, the Chinese invented many items that diffused to the West. Gunpowder

Noodles

Paper Compass

Printing (books)

In the 1300’s, the Silk Road opened a diffusion route between Europe and the East. While the Europeans found many goods that they wanted (silk especially,) the Chinese found little they wanted from Europe.

How do most East Asians still make a living?

Intensive subsistence farming

Most still live in small farming villages.

Culture:Many of the alphabets of East Asia use a series of symbols, or, pictograms, rather than the letters we are familiar with.

Culture

In many East Asian countries, overcrowding is a problem. The population density is high, particularly in Japan.

In China and Japan both, the population must live on less than 20% of the total land area. Why?

Mountains and deserts.

How do they adapt?

They build up.

POPULATION CARTOGRAM

Note: Japan is really about the size of California while China is about the same size as the USA.

The population issue in East Asia is critical, although China and Japan have vastly different problems.

With over 1.3 billion people, China instituted a “one baby” policy to reduce population growth. Has it worked? What is a by-product of the policy (see the pyramid.)

How is the population pyramid of Japan different from its neighbor China?

What could you attribute the difference to?

Mao Zedong ruled China from 1949 until the 1980’s as a strict Communist country.

His command economy programs such as the Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward devastated the country, killing millions.

Political and Economic

With the exception of China, North Korea, Vietnam, and Laos, countries of E & SE Asia are generally democratic. Like China, Vietnam has opened its economy to a form capitalism (free market.)

While China still has a Communist government, their economy has turned towards capitalism. Today they are one of the largest exporters in the world.

The USA trade deficit with China is over 200 billion dollars (2005.)

Japan is the #2 economic power in the world.

One of the most densely populated countries.

A mix between the modern and traditional.

National symbol of Japan-Mt. Fuji

Tokyo

Many Japanese businessmen work long hours and want to avoid a long commute home. An innovation in Japan has been the “capsule hotels.” These have caught on and can be found in major cities.

About 120 yen to the dollar.

While the economies of East Asia are growing rapidly, their GDP per capita remains low compared to the West.

Exceptions?

Infant Mortality Rate is still High in S & E Asia

USA 7 per 1,000

Beginning in the 1980’s, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong experienced an economic boom, becoming developed countries (*Hong Kong is now part of China.)

These countries were called the “economic dragons or tigers.”

Singapore is a city/state that is located a the tip of the Malay Peninsula. It is considered one of the safest and cleanest cities in the world.

What does Singapore’s relative location have to do with their success?

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!

Today the economies of Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan are built on technology, but like the new “dragons” or “tigers”, their initial success was built on:

Cheap labor costs.

Many believe that the 21st century will be the “Asian Century.”

ShanghaiTokyo

Hong Kong

Kuala Lumpur