East Asia, Second Edition

Douglas Phillips

Description

This eBook introduces readers to the geography of East Asia, covering the culture region as a whole rather than individual countries. The volume emphasizes the region's people and their various ways of life, considering how they have adapted to, used, and changed the natural environments in which they live.

Like other titles in the 10-volume Modern World Cultures set, East Asia, Second Edition explores the geographical features, climate, and ecosystems; population, settlement, and culture; and the history and economy of the region at hand. Also covered are the region’s diversity, challenges, and prospects.

Illustrated with full-color maps and photographs, and accompanied by a chronology, glossary, and further readings, these accessible titles offer an ideal starting point for research on the culture regions of the world.

Sujets

• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Lifestyle
• East Asia
• Geography
• Demography
• Politics
• Anthropology
• History
• Asia
• Social
• Culture

Informations

• Publié par: Infobase Publishing
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438199443
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

East Asia, Second Edition
Copyright © 2021 by Infobase
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For more information, contact:
Chelsea House An imprint of Infobase 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001
ISBN 978-1-4381-9944-3
You can find Chelsea House on the World Wide Web at http://www.infobase.com
Contents Chapters Introducing East Asia Physical Geography Historical Geography East Asia from the 20th Century to the Present Cultural Geography Political Geography Economic Geography East Asia Looks Ahead Support Materials Glossary Chronology Bibliography Further Reading About the Author and Series Editor Index
Preface
Geography provides a key that unlocks the door to the world's wonders. There are, of course, many ways of viewing the world and its people, places, and environments. In this series—Modern World Cultures—the emphasis is on people and their varied ways of life. As you step through the geographic door into the 10 world cultures featured in this set, you will come to better know, understand, and appreciate the world's mosaic of peoples and how they live. You will see how different peoples adapt to, use, and change the natural environments in which they live. And you will be amazed at the vast differences in thinking, doing, and living practiced around the world. The Modern World Cultures series was developed in response to many requests from librarians and teachers throughout the United States and Canada.

This is what the Earth looks like at night. This image is a composite of hundreds of pictures made by orbiting satellites. Human-made lights highlight the developed or populated areas of the Earth's surface.
Source: NASA.
As you begin your reading visits to the world's major cultures, it is important that you understand three terms that are used throughout the series: geography, culture, and region. These words and their meanings are often misunderstood. Geography is an age-old way of viewing the varied features of Earth's surface. In fact, it is the oldest of the existing sciences! People have always had a need to know about and understand their surroundings. In times past, a people's world was their immediate surroundings; today, our world is global in scope. Events happening half a world away can and often do have an immediate impact on our lives. If we, either individually or as a nation of peoples, are to be successful in the global community, it is essential that we know and understand our neighbors, regardless of who they are or where they live.
Geography and history are similar in many ways; both are methodologies—distinct ways of viewing things and events. Historians are concerned with time, or when events happened. Geographers, on the other hand, are concerned with space, or where things are located. In essence, geographers ask: "What is where, why there, and why care?" in regard to various physical and human features of Earth's surface.
Culture has many definitions. For this series and for most geographers and anthropologists, it refers to a people's way of life. It includes everything we possess because we are human, such as our ideas, beliefs, and customs, including language, religious beliefs, and all knowledge. Tools and skills also are an important aspect of culture. Different cultures, after all, have different types of technology and levels of technological attainment that they can use in performing various tasks. Finally, culture includes social interactions—the ways different people interact with one another individually and as groups.
Finally, the idea of region is one geographers use to organize and analyze geographic information spatially. A region is an area that is set apart from others on the basis of one or more unifying elements. Language, religion, and major types of economic activity are traits that often are used by geographers to separate one region from another. Most geographers, for example, see a cultural division between Northern, or Anglo, America and Latin America. That "line" is usually drawn at the U.S.-Mexico boundary, although there is a broad area of transition and no actual cultural line exists.
The 10 culture regions presented in this series have been selected on the basis of their individuality, or uniqueness. As you tour the world's culture realms, you will learn something of their natural environment, history, and way of living. You will also learn about their population and settlement, how they govern themselves, and how they make their living. Finally, you will take a peek into the future in the hope of identifying each region's challenges and prospects. Enjoy your trip!
Entry Author: Gritzner, Charles F.
Chapters
Introducing East Asia

The term East Asia brings to mind countries filled with people in crowded cities bustling about their daily business. This is true of some of the region, but there is also a large agricultural sector in countries such as the People's Republic of China (PRC). The PRC is the world's most populous nation, with nearly 1.4 billion people. In contrast, China's neighbor to the north, Mongolia, is one of the world's most sparsely populated lands with barely over 3 million people. The world's second and third largest economies are in East Asia, but one country, North Korea, is unable to adequately feed its people. These and many other striking contrasts exist in this complex and fascinating region. This region is thousands of years old, its past richly filled with intrusions, intrigue, inventions, and interplay.


Source: Infobase.
East Asia includes mainland China, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. All except Taiwan are recognized countries with seats in the United Nations and other major international bodies. Taiwan is unique in that the People's Republic of China (PRC or China) considers the island to be its renegade 23rd province. Thus, Taiwan's international relations differ from those of the other countries in the region. It is not technically a country, although it operates independently of mainland China.
The Li River gently flows through the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in China. Visitors from around the world come to take the leisurely and spectacular five-hour river cruise that passes through hundreds of beautiful limestone formations along the river's banks. Here, cormorants are used to catch fish. Fishermen can be seen loosening the nooses on the birds' necks so that they can breathe but cannot swallow the fish that they dive to catch. Fish are extracted from the birds' beaks, and then the hungry birds are sent back to fish again. Every bend of the river brings a new vista, and the clouds that top the limestone formations create an atmosphere of mystery. Fishing villages along the river reveal a life that started long ago; many traditions of this life are still maintained.

There are hundreds of beautiful limestone formations along the banks of the Li River that were once part of the seabed in prehistoric times.
Source: Jose L Vilchez. Shutterstock.
Today, East Asia has become a modern economic powerhouse. China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are major players on the world's economic stage. North Korea stands in sharp contrast to these economic giants. This country lies dormant as a political and economic exile from most of the world because of its repressive communist government. Mongolia is also different because it is landlocked. Goods that enter or leave the country must be transported by air or pass through China or Russia, its two powerful neighboring countries. Today, the country continues to build on the strengths that it had in the past and the political changes that have taken place in recent years.
East Asia is a huge region, and it holds more than one-fifth of the world's population. It is bordered to the north by the world's largest country, sprawling Russia. To the east, it is bordered by the Pacific Ocean and extends to include the Korean Peninsula and the islands of Japan and Taiwan. The southern border is formed by boundaries with Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), and Bhutan. To the southwest are India and Nepal. Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan are located to the west. Kazakhstan borders East Asia on the northwest. China itself, the world's fourth-largest country, shares its land border with 14 nations.
Much of the region is subject to natural hazards. Devastating earthquakes have killed hundreds of thousands of people and have caused billions of dollars in damage to property. Much of the land that borders or lies within the Pacific Ocean is in the path of typhoons (hurricane-like storms) that can strike with vicious winds and drenching rain.
Flooding is common in many areas and withering drought is in others. East Asia experiences extremely diverse environmental conditions. To the south, it is bordered by the Himalayas, the world's highest mountain range, whereas eastern China has vast areas of fertile plains and sand dune filled deserts. The region's climates and ecosystems include areas that are hot, humid, and forested; parched deserts; and frigid lands buried beneath fields of ice and snow.
With the exception of Mongolia, all countries lie on the Pacific Ocean, which gives these lands valuable access to international trade. Vital resources such as petroleum and natural gas can be brought into the region, and manufactured goods can be exported by sea to other countries at low cost. Historically, the Pacific served as a protective barrier from outsiders, but today the ocean provides an important linkage to the rest of the world.
With a history that spans thousands of years, East Asia easily could get trapped in its romantic past. Yet today, Japan, South Korea, China, and Tai