research one
Geography of East Asia
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East Asia
Introduction to
East Asia
Introduction
East Asia
History
- Dynasties & Empires
- Imperial Decline
- 20th Century Change
- Revolutionary China
Population Characteristics
Environmental History and Issues
Culture and Ethnicity
Economic Development
- Development Theory
- The Asian Tigers
- China
- Japan
East Asia
Introduction
East Asia is the eastern sub-region of the Asian continent, which can be defined in either geographical or ethno-cultural terms.
Geographically and geopolitically, it includes China, Mongolia, South Korea, North Korea, and Japan; it covers about 28% of the Asian continent.
East Asia
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Introduction
The East Asian people comprise more than 1.6 billion people. About 38% of the population of Asia and 22%, or over one fifth, of all the people in the world live in East Asia.
Although the coastal and riparian areas of the region form one of the world's most populated places, the population in Mongolia and Western China, both landlocked areas, is very sparsely distributed, with Mongolia having the lowest population density of a sovereign state.
East Asia
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Introduction
Historically, societies in East Asia have been part of the Chinese cultural sphere, and East Asian vocabulary and scripts are often derived from Classical Chinese and Chinese script.
Major religions include Buddhism, Confucianism or Neo-Confucianism, Taoism, Chinese folk religion in China, Shinto in Japan, Korean shamanism in Korea. Shamanism is also prevalent among Mongolians.
Islam is popular in Northwest China and Kazaks in Mongolia. The Chinese calendar is the root from which many other East Asian calendars are derived.
East Asia
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History
The Chinese Dynasties dominated this region culturally and militarily for a lengthy period of time. Cultural and religious exchange between the Chinese and other regional Dynasties and Kingdoms occurred.
As connections with the Western world strengthened, China's power began to diminish. Around the same time, Japan solidified itself as a nation state.
During World War II, Korea, and Vietnam all fell under Japanese control. Following Japan's defeat in the war, the Korean peninsula became independent but then it was divided into two rival states.
East Asia
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History
- Chinese Dynasties
- Imperial Japan
- Mongol Empire
East Asia
Agricultural societies
Shifting boundaries / sizes
Trending towards larger empires over time
Mongols most of East Asia in 1279
The last dynasty (Qing) was overthrown in 1912.
- Inward looking societies
- Imperial decline
- 20th century change
- Significantly different routes
- Japan: industrialization and expansion
- China: revolution and communism
- Korea: North/South division
- Mongolia: Soviet domination
East Asia
History
Agricultural societies
Shifting boundaries / sizes
Trending towards larger empires over time
Mongols most of East Asia in 1279
The last dynasty (Qing) was overthrown in 1912.
- 1912 Qing Dynasty Falls
- Nationalist Party
- Long March 1934-35
- Mao Zedong
- Organized rural peasants
- 1949 Communist control – Nationalist government flees to Taiwan.
- 1950 Korean War
- China enters on behalf of North Korea
East Asia
Revolutionary China
- The Great Leap Forward
- Large agricultural communes
- Crops determined by central planners
- Five Year Plan
- Attempt to industrialize rural areas
- Bad weather and poor planning lead to famine
East Asia
Revolutionary China
- The Cultural Revolution
- Attempt to re-educate
- Remove corrupt officials
- Millions displaced
- Mostly “intellectuals”
- From city to country
- 10’s of thousands killed
- 1976 – Revolution Over
- Mao Zedong dies
- “Gang of Four” arrested
- The Four Modernizations
- Industry, agriculture, science and defense
- Deng Xiaoping
- Decentralization
- Market economy
- Private entrepreneurship
- Open-door policy
- Manufacturing grows by 15% per year
- Allows foreign investment
- Normalized trade relations
East Asia
Revolutionary China
- China
- 2nd largest economy
- Potential to be center of world economy
- Japan
- 3rd largest world economy
- Asian Tigers
- Hong Kong
- South Korea
- Taiwan
- “Pacific Destiny”
East Asia
Modern Day East Asia
- North Korea
- World’s 5th largest standing army
- Nuclear capability?
East Asia
Geopolitical Hotspots
Environmental History & Issues
- North China Plain
- Forests cleared
- Water control
- Draining of marshes
- Irrigation
- Korea / Japan
- Terrain limits agricultural land
- Outer China / Mongolia
- Sparsely populated
- Limited human impact
- Air and Water pollution
- High coal usage
- Industrial waste
- Limited regulation
East Asia: Debate !!
There are mixed debates around the world whether these countries or regions should be considered in East Asia or not.
Vietnam (officially part of Southeast Asia geographically, although culturally it is a part of the East Asian cultural sphere, politically, it is related to both Southeast Asia and East Asia).
Siberia in Russia (often described as North Asia due to its location, although this part of Russia is often seen as more closely related to its East Asian neighbours).
Sovereignty issues exist over some territories in the South China Sea.
East Asia
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