Download Cultures of East Asia

Countries of East Asia
©CSCOPE 2008
REGIONS OF EAST ASIA
CHINA PROPER- Eastern half
 XIZANG (TIBET)- Mountains and high
plateaus; sparsely populated
 XINJIANG- Desert basins and mountains;
a cultural contact zone with Islam
 MONGOLIA- A desert; buffer between
Russia and China
 THE JAKOTA TRIANGLE


JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA, TAIWAN
©CSCOPE 2008
Cultural Characteristics of East Asia
WORLD’S MOST POPULOUS REALM
 One of the world’s earliest cultural
hearths
 Political and economic forces continue to
force the historical and cultural
landscapes
 Population concentrations in the East,
situated in river basins and special
economic zones.

©CSCOPE 2008
CHINA’S RELATIVE LOCATION

ISOLATION
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Natural Protective Barriers
EFFECTS OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN
A history of emperors who restricted the
use of the coastline.
 Today the ocean is playing a major role
in the economic transformation of
COASTAL CHINA.

©CSCOPE 2008
Historical Perspectives: China
One of the world’s greatest cultural hearths
 Continuous civilization for over 4,000 years
 View of China as the center of the civilized
world.
 Historically China is a closed society

©CSCOPE 2008
CONFUCIUS
CHINA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL
PHILOSOPHER AND TEACHER
551- 479 BC.
 EMPHASIZED THAT HUMAN
VIRTUES, RATHER THAN GODLY
CONNECTIONS, SHOULD
DETERMINE A PERSON’S PLACE
IN SOCIETY
 TEACHINGS HAVE DOMINATED
CHINESE LIFE AND THOUGHT
FOR MORE THAN 20 CENTURIES

©CSCOPE 2008
Buddhism
Buddha
©CSCOPE 2008
Taoism
Lao-tzu
The Great Wall
©CSCOPE 2008
©CSCOPE 2008
CHINA’S POLITICAL MAP
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4 CENTRAL-GOVERNMENT-ADMINISTERED
MUNICIPALITIES
 BEIJING (CAPITAL); TIANJIN (PORT CITY);
SHANGHAI (LARGEST CITY); CHONGQUING
(INTERIOR RIVER PORT)
5 AUTONOMOUS REGIONS
 NEI MONGOL (INNER MONGOLIA); NINGXIA
HUI; XINJIANG UYGUR (NW); GUANGXI
ZHUANG (SOUTH); XIZANG (TIBET)
22 PROVINCES
 LARGER IN THE WEST
©CSCOPE 2008
Chinese Leaders in the 20th Century
 Chiang
Kai-shek (Nationalists)
 Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung)leader of Communist Party
 Deng Xiao Ping- replaced Maocreated the Chinese socialist market
economy
 Hu Jintao (2002 - )
 Present leader
©CSCOPE 2008
MAO’S CHINA:
COMMUNISM RISES
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1950s- 1976 COMMUNIST
REGIME LAUNCHED MASSIVE
PROGRAMS OF REFORM
FARMING WAS
COLLECTIVIZED
INDUSTRIES WERE
REORGANIZED AS STATEOWNED ENTERPRISES
DRAMATIC SOCIAL CHANGESEDUCATION, RELIGION,
POPULATION GROWTH
©CSCOPE 2008
DENG XIAOPING ERA
TOOK POWER IN 1979
 ATTEMPTED TO UNITE COMMUNIST
POLITICAL RULE WITH CAPITALIST
ECONOMIC PRACTICES= SOCIALIST
MARKET ECONOMY.
 DECENTRALIZED DECISION-MAKING

©CSCOPE 2008
ECONOMIC INITIATIVES
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SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES
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OPEN CITIES
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6 SEZs ESTABLISHED; 3 IN GUANGDONG
PROVINCE
INVESTMENT INCENTIVES: LOW TAXES,
IMPORT/EXPORT REGULATIONS
LESSENED
INCLUDED 14 COASTAL CITIES
NATIONAL INVESTMENT FOCUSED ON
SHANGHAI
OPEN COASTAL AREAS


ALSO DESIGNED TO ATTRACT FOREIGN
INVESTMENTS
CONCENTRATED ALONG PACIFIC COAST
DELTAS AND PENINSULAS
©CSCOPE 2008
SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES
INVESTOR INCENTIVES
 LOW TAXES
 EASING OF IMPORT AND
EXPORT REGULATIONS
 SIMPLIFIED LAND LEASES
 HIRING OF CONTRACT LABOR
PERMITTED
 PRODUCTS MAY BE SOLD IN
FOREIGN MARKETS AND IN
CHINA (UNDER CERTAIN
RESTRICTIONS)

©CSCOPE 2008
ETHNIC GROUPS
Other
8%
Han
92%
©CSCOPE 2008
Han
Other
LANGUAGES
Chinese is one of the world’s oldest
active languages.
 Spoken Chinese varies dialect to
dialect although the characters (over
50,000) used to represent the
language remain the same.
 Since Chinese is written in
characters rather than by a phonetic
alphabet, Chinese words must be
translated so foreigners can
pronounce them.

©CSCOPE 2008
PINYIN

THE MOST ACCEPTED SYSTEM OF ROMANIZING
CHINESE
Chinese
Bei
Nan
Xi
Dong
Jing
Shan
He
Jiang
©CSCOPE 2008
Translation
North
South
West
East
Capital
Mountain
River (in the north)
River (in the south)
XIZANG (TIBET)
A HARSH PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
 SPARSELY POPULATED
 CAME UNDER CHINESE CONTROL DURING
THE MANCHU DYNASTY IN 1720
 GAINED SEPARATE STATUS IN THE LATE
19TH CENTURY
 CHINA’S COMMUNIST REGIME TOOK
CONTROL IN THE 1950s
 CORNERSTONE OF BUDDHISM, THE DALAI
LAMA, AND MONASTERIES
 NOW AN AUTONOMOUS REGION

©CSCOPE 2008
The Potala
Palace in
Lhasa, Tibet, is
the ceremonial
home of the
14th Dalai
Lama, now in
exile in India.
©CSCOPE 2008
XINJIANG
COMPRISES ONE-SIXTH OF CHINA’S
TOTAL LAND AREA
 A REGION OF HIGH MOUNTAINS AND
BASINS
 CHINESE ONLY ACCOUNT FOR 40% OF
THE POPULATION
 MUSLIMS ACCOUNT FOR HALF OF THE
POPULATION
 HAS EXTENSIVE RESERVES OF OIL AND
NATURAL GAS

©CSCOPE 2008
MONGOLIA
STEPPE AND DESERT
ENVIRONMENT
 SPARSELY POPULATED WITH AN
ESTIMATED 2.5 MILLION
INHABITANTS
 PART OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE
FROM LATE 1600s UNTIL 1911
 FUNCTIONS AS A BUFFER STATE
 ECONOMY IS FOCUSED ON
HERDING AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS

©CSCOPE 2008
JAPANESE HISTORY
600 - 800 Chinese cultural
influence
 1000 -1300 War, Medieval
society arises, shoguns evolve
 1600 -1867 Tokugawa
Shogunate, isolation,
foreigners and Christianity
expelled, individualistic
culture, emphasis on Shinto
belief system
 1868:
Meiji Restoration
©CSCOPE
2008

MEIJI RESTORATION
1868 Rebellion brought in reformers.
 Reinstated the emperor and began to
transform Japan from a Feudal society with
pre-machine age technology to an industrial
power.
 Focus was on industrialization and
education system.

©CSCOPE 2008
EXPANSIONIST JAPAN
TAIWAN
 KOREA
 MANCHURIA
 CHINA
 HONG KONG
 SOUTHEAST ASIA

©CSCOPE 2008
1895
1910
1931
1937
1939
1941
SHINTOISM
©CSCOPE 2008
JAPANESE POPULATION
Population:
 Birth rate:
 Death rate:
 Growth rate:
 Life expectancy:
 Urbanization:

©CSCOPE 2008
127.4 million
8 births/1,000
8 deaths/1,000
0.0%
78 (M), 85 (F)
78%
KOREA
The size of “Idaho” but with a
population of 73 million
 Turbulent political history:
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A dependency of China
A colony of Japan
Divided along the 38th parallel
by Allied Powers > WWII (1945)
Cease-fire line established in
1953 (DMZ) separates North
Korea and South Korea
©CSCOPE 2008
NORTH-SOUTH CONTRASTS
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NORTH KOREA
 55% of the land, 1/3 of the population, extremely rural
 Antiquated state enterprises
 Inefficient, non-productive agriculture
 Limited trade – former Soviet Union and China
SOUTH KOREA
 45% of the land, 2/3s of the population, highly urbanized
 Modern factories
 Intensive, increasingly mechanized agriculture
 Extensive trade – US, Japan, and Western Europe
©CSCOPE 2008
THE KOREAS- COMPARED

POPULATION
23,600,000
49,200,000

GNP (BILLIONS)
$ 21.3
$ 508.3

GNP/CAPITA
$ 920
$ 17,300
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AGRICULTURE

(as % of GNP)

(% work force)
©CSCOPE 2008
25 %
36 %
8%
21 %
TAIWAN
©CSCOPE 2008
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial
TAIWAN
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Historical background:
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A Chinese province for centuries
Colonized by Japan in 1895
Returned to China > WWII
1949 – Chinese Nationalists (supported by the
US) fled from the mainland and established the
Republic of China (ROC)
Population – 22.7 million
 77% urbanized
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©CSCOPE 2008