World Regional Geography

East Asia!

Picture
There are 6 countries in this region these countries are:
ChinaJapan
 North Korea
South Korea
 Mongolia
  Taiwan




Physical Features:

Topography in this region is the most rugged in the whole world.

 The Indian Australian Plate

 This is another major Tectonic Plate in the region of East Asia. It carries the Indian Subcontinent. This Began 60 million years ago, colliding with the Eurasian Plate. This caused most of the landscape in this region. The Himalaya’s are the most dramatic result from the collision of these two plates.

 Plateau of Tibet= Xizang-Qinghai Plateau, or Northern Plateau

A Cause from the Indian Australian and the Eurasian tectonic plates colliding. Most of the rivers in this region have their headwaters that begin along the eastern rim of this plateau. The plateau goes from West to East in this region.

 Qaidam Basin/ Tarim Basin

To the north of the plateau Located in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province. This land responded to the tectonic plates moving by sinking and forming basins Tarim Basin is at sea level.

 Deserts of Xinjiang and Qinghai are deep dry basins

 Mongolian Plateau

The Mongolian Plateau is Northeast of Xinjiang. This step also includes upper portions of China’s two great river basins

 Four Descending Steps: Roughly moving west to east…

Top step is Plateau of Tibet- Second step down is a broad arc of basins plateaus upland…(476)

The Third step is directly east of upland zone- coastal plains deltas low mountains and hills

The Fourth step consists of the continental shelf- waters of the yellow sea and numerous islands.


Climate:

Two contrasting climate zones: Dry interior west and the wet (monsoon) east. Seasonal reversal winds from Eurasian Continent and to surrounding oceans during winter and from the oceans inland during the summer.

Dry Interior: heats up and cools off more rapidly than water, locations in the middle of large landmasses in the midlatitudes tend to experience intense cold in winter and intense heat in the summer time. Grasslands and deserts of several varieties cover most of the land here in the dry region.

Monsoon East: Influenced by the extremely cold conditions of the huge Eurasian landmass in the winter and the warm temperatures of the surrounding seas and oceans in the summer.

Environmental Issues:

Air Pollution in China

       Late 1970’s

       Late industrial output growing at an annual rate of 18 percent.

       China’s use of fossil fuels have been rising, China is the largest consumer of Coal.

       The use of Coal is blamed for poor air quality due to the energy deficit china has.

       Combustion of coal releases two pollutants suspended particulates and sulfur dioxide.

       Can be ten times higher in Chinese cities than the World Health Organization guidelines.

Water in China

       Too much, Too Little, and Polluted.

       Flooding: caused during the summer monsoons….

       Drought: Occur somewhere in china every year…

       Water Pollution: causing health problems that cost more than 4 billion dollars a year from the U.S. One third of the population does not have safe drinking water.

Role of Gender in East Asia:

Population patterns in East Asia began to change after World War II. By the 1970’s policies against rapid urban fertilization reduced fertility in Japan and Taiwan. Women were bearing on average fewer than 2 children. One-Child-Per-Family Policy in China (498). Women in different areas respected differently. Mongolian women are almost equal to men in the family, helping making household decisions. Families have a great respect for their elders, live with many generations in their households. There are about 100 girls per 114 males, where as normal is 100 girls to 105 males.  Females usually don’t work in the outside world.

Technology in East Asia:

Work based economy. The computer science is some of the best in the world. Top technical countries in the world are in East Asia. Number one physical labor in the work force.

 Population Patterns:

East Asia is the most populous world region. All though people are not evenly distributed on the land. China, which has 1.3 billion people, has more than one fifth of the world’s population but many areas are very lightly populated because of their difficult terrain or climates in the region. Ninety percent of China’s population is clustered on only one sixth of the total land. They use a very high level of agricultural production from this land, though at considerable environmental cost. People are concentrated especially densely in the eastern third of China. Throughout East Asia people are having markedly fewer children than in the past. The Chinese are now reproducing at a rate considerably lower than the world average.  Japan currently has the lowest reproduction rate. Thus Japan and China’s population are considerably ageing society.

References:

Pulsipher, A. & Pulsipher, L. (2008) World Regional Geography: Global Patterns, Local Lives (4th Edition) New York:  W.H. Freeman Company
Map of East Asia from:
http://wwwi.ccs.edu/~bmcintosh/Images/east-asia.gif