East Asia

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East Asia
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Introduction

• Cultural unity
• Legacy of Chinese civilization/Empire
• Confucianism, Chinese writing system
• Ideological division in the second half of 20th
  century
• Capitalist economy Japan, South Korea, Taiwan,
  Hong Kong
• Communist bloc China, North Korea
• Core areas of the world economy

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Environmental Geography
Resource Pressures in a Crowded Land
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geologically active
geologically stable
? Plate boundary
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Japans physical environment
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Taiwans environment
Also prone to seismic activities
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Chinese environments
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Landscape regions of China
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? More accessible
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Korean landscapes
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Three Gorges Dam

• Benefits
• Prevent flooding
• Generate electricity
• Costs
• Jeopardize endangered species
• Inundate a major scenic attraction
• Displace inhabitants

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Flooding in Northern China
Loess Plateau
North China Plain

• Upstream erosion
• sediment load accumulation
• rise of lake level
• flooding

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Pollution exporting

• How do you think Japans environment is?
• Its relatively clean considering large pop and
  industrialization
• Why?
• Relocating dirtier factories in wealthier
  countries to poorer countries due to high cost of
  production and its strict environmental laws
• As a result, pollution is displaced to poorer
  countries

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Population and Settlement
A Realm of Crowded Lowland Basins
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East Asia, along with South Asia, is the most
densely populated, and most populous region

• High population density, but low natural growth

• Low fertility in China ? one-child policy

• Population loss and aging in Japan

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Dense settlements in lowlands
North China Plain
Light inhabitation in uplands
Sichuan Basin
The lowlands in East Asia are among the most
intensely used portions
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Agricultural regions in China
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Subterranean housing in Loess Plateau
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Settlement and agricultural patterns in Japan,
South Korea, and Taiwan

• Highly urban
• Among the most densely populated countries
• Crowded into the alluvial plains or basins
• Major food importers
• Global resource procurement pattern
• Japan is virtually self-sufficient in rice

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Settlement and agricultural patterns in China and
North Korea

• Relatively rural
• These countries have long been self-sufficient in
  food, but recently
• China is moving towards food imports due to the
  rapid industrialization

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Major cities in East Asia
Seoul
Tokyo
Beijing
Shanghai
Taipei
Hong Kong
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Major cities in East Asia

• China
• Shanghai economic center
• Beijing political center
• Seoul (South Korea), Taipei (Taiwan)
• Characterized by urban primacy
• Japanese cities
• Characterized by superconurbation

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Urban concentration in Japan
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Cultural Coherence and Diversity
A Confucian Realm?
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East Asia is one of the worlds more unified
cultural regions

• Ancient Chinese civilization in isolation from
  other civilizations
• Writing systems
• Chinese characters
• Belief systems
• Confucianism, Buddhism

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The Chinese writing system

• Ideographic writing
• Each symbol represents an idea rather than a
  sound
• Chinese writing system spread when the Chinese
  Empire expanded
• Korean modifications
• Replaced by its own alphabetic system in 1400s
• Japanese modifications
• Chinese characters (kanji) mixed with hiragana,
  katakana

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Belief systems
Korea, Japan
Theravada
South, Southeast Asia
Mahayana
China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam
Shinto (Japan)
2c A.D.
Zen
Geomancy
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The Confucian legacy

• Confuciuss philosophy aimed at generating social
  stability (6th century B.C.)
• Deference for authority ? authoritarian
  government
• Emphasis on education (meritocracy) ? advantage
  in competition in global economy
• Confucianism in Japan was not as important as it
  was on the mainland

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Secularism in East Asia

• East Asia is one of the most secular regions of
  the world
• Confucianism as a philosophy rather than a faith
• Mahayana Buddhism is nonexclusive
• Most of Shinto-observing Japanese are not devout
• Marxist orthodoxy in communist states

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The language geography of East Asia
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• Austronesian
• Taiwanese (Fujianese)
• Mandarin

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? Non-Han Chinese who speak distinct languages
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Geopolitical Framework
The Imperial Legacies of China and Japan
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• Centrality of China (until 1800s)
• Japanese Empire (in the first half of 20th
  century)
• Political split by Cold War rivalries (after WWII)

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The Evolution of China
1800 B.C. Chinese civilization
200 B.C. The first political unification
1800s A.D. Decline in power

• For most of the past 2000 years, the Chinese
  Empire was Earths wealthiest and most powerful
  state

• The Chinese Empire failed to keep pace with the
  technological progress of Europe in the 1800s

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The historical extent of China (200s B.C. 1800s)
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China in the 1800s
1840s Opium Wars ? Hong Kong ceded to British
1850s Northernmost Manchuria annexed to Russia
1900 China divided into spheres of influence
European power
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The Rise of Japan
1868
1895
1905
1910
1931
1941
1945
Sino-Japanese War Taiwan ceded to Japan
Meiji Restoration
Annexed Korea
End of WWII
Russo-Japanese War
Attacked U.S. pacific fleet in Pearl Harbor
Conquered Manchuria
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Postwar geopolitics

• Division of Korea
• 1945 1950
• North occupied by the Soviet Union South
  occupied by U.S.
• Korean War (195053)
• Korea became a divided country with two
  governments
• Division of China
• Civil conflict between nationalists and
  communists ended with the Chinese Revolution
  (1949), forcing the nationalists to retreat to
  Taiwan

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Geopolitical issues in East Asia

• Global
• Cold War communist bloc ?? capitalist economy
• Korean DMZ, Taiwan-China tensions
• End of Cold War U.S. ?? China
• Regional Border dispute
• China ?? India, Southeast Asia, Russia
• Local Autonomy in China
• Autonomous regions in China (eg. Tibet, Xinjiang)
• Former colonies returned to China (eg. Hong Kong,
  Macau)

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The demilitarized zone in Korea
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Geopolitical issues in East Asia
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Economic and Social Development
An Emerging Core of the Global Economy
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• The Japanese economic system
• The newly industrialized countries
• Chinese development

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• Disparities between capitalist and communist bloc
• Rapid economic growth in the second half of 20th
  century
• Increasingly, East Asia function as a global
  economic core

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East Asias global ties
Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea are
highly integrated into global economic networks
Guandong, and Shanghai are relatively well
connected to the global economy while interior
portions of China are isolated from the world
economy
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Lets compare the economic system of Japan to
that of U.S.
U.S.
Japan

• Role of private sector

• Role of bureaucracy

• Firms are significantly influenced by investors

• Interconnection between a group of companies

• Loose relationship between employers and employees

• Tighter relationship between employers and
  employees

• Flexibility

• Stability

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Lets compare the social system of Japan to that
of U.S.
U.S.
Japan

• Low

High
Basic living cost
Social condition
Unemployment Crime rate Illiteracy rate Poverty
level
High High High High
Low Low Low Low
Civil liberties
Work hour
Short
Long
Discrimination
Low
High
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The Rise of South Korea
Newly industrialized countries

• In the 1960s, government initiated a program of
  export-led economic growth
• Government-business ties
• Chaebol (large industrial conglomerates)
• Economic transformation
• inexpensive consumer goods ? heavy industrial
  products ? high-tech equipment
• Economic development has been achieved at the
  expense of political and social development
• Pressure for democratization in the late 1980s

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Taiwan and Hong Kong
Newly industrialized countries

• Taiwan
• Taiwanese government guided the economic
  development of the country
• Organized around small to mid-size family firms
• High-tech business Close overseas economic
  connections
• Hong Kong
• One of the most laissez-faire economic systems in
  the world (little government control)
• One of the worlds most important trading ports
• Business services, banking, and
  telecommunication Close overseas economic
  connections

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Chinese development

• Under the communist rule, the economy was nearly
  stagnant
• Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution
• Capitalist openings in the late 1970s
• Gradual economic reform while political system
  remain the same
• Special Economic Zones (SEZs)
• Attract foreign investment with minimal state
  interference
• Mostly located in the coastal region
• Brought huge success shown in economic growth
  since 1990s
• Joined WTO in 2001

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Economic and social differentiation in China
The benefits of economic growth have not been
evenly distributed throughout the country ?
Booming coastal region ? Impoverished Interior
China
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• In general, high social indicator despite the
  poverty in China and North Korea

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Chinas population quandary

• One-child policy in the 1980s
• Has reduced its growth rate
• TFR 1.8, RNI 0.9
• But generated social tensions and human-rights
  abuses
• Growing gender imbalance through abortion and
  female infanticide

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Child-care facilities in China
? High female labor force participation in China
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Demographic change in China
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The position of women in East Asia

• Women have historically had a relatively low
  position in East Asia
• Foot binding in the premodern China
• Advanced career opportunities remain limited for
  women
• Drop in marriage rate in Japanese women