Reading notes

The region is very rich in terms of culture and has both sacred and political cultural meaning and as per description of Chikafusa play the central importance.

The author also illustrate in detail how the country or the continents were formed from a disaster caused by slow motion collision of India and Eurasia.

It is quite clear that the formation of these countries was a result of natural disasters which separated them. The Collison altered landforms through compressing and distorting earth crust.

There are authorities in charge and people are practices farming and livestock keeping as they engaged in trade and they experienced conflict especially in boundary areas. Several concepts also emerges out of this landforms and they include

Rivers

These regions cannot be defined effectively without looking at the water bodies. One of them are rivers which are said to have one source.

The great collision divides china into region and that is north and south china where two rivers which are Huanghe and Yangzi. North China is known for winter, wheat production and people struggling with life through powdery soil.

South China on the other hand, has enough rainfall, green land, full of bamboo, water buffalo, tea and rice.

River Huanghe or the yellow river seems to be a problematic to the people instead of benefitting them and the main problem is that the river breaks its bank and farmers are affected by the floods. It has been the duty of the government to construct dikes that will prevent flood from reaching the farmers.

Yangzi on the other hand is a blessing to the country since it has commercial benefits and it has contributed to development of the major cities like shanghai.

These two rivers only flowed from west to east and rulers decided to create rivers that world flow from north to south of china for more economic benefits especially in growing rice.

Apart from economic benefit, the rivers have cultural impact and Hindus for instance do not only bath in river Ganges for dirt purposes but also cleanse their sins in the holy water.

The Outer Ring of Islands

In the southeast of Asia, there are group of islands which make up the Philippines and Indonesia. All these islands emerge due to volcanism taking place and split the land although thousands of people lose their lives.

At the end, several islands are formed and they include Singapore, Malaysia, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Bali and others.

The only benefit of these volcano eruptions is fertile soils which attracts people to settle for agriculture purposes.

Before looking at the life of people in the region, the author discusses another important geographical site and that is monsoons.

Monsoon Asia and Rice Adaptations

The region experiences monsoon in the mid of winter where the sun is far from the south of tropic of Capricorn. The Tibetan plateau blocks the warm southern oceans from moderating the frostiness.

There high pressure in the region which pushes the cold air eastward and goes to the north china and south Himalayas. When the sun starts moving northwards, the vice versa takes place.

The area experiences monsoons because the land heat faster compared to Indian Ocean.

The presence of monsoon is not only celebrated to appoint of attracting visitors but also significant period for farmers who have prepared their paddy land and it get water essential for growth of rice.

Rice, Dry and Wet

The monsoon Asia is mainly for rice and the crop covers a third of the cultivated area.

The area also experiences longer dry and weaker wet season hence making the place good for growing grains like wheat and sorghum. In the west there is wheat while east has rice.

Origins of Rice Cultivation

The rice is associated with monsoon of Asia.

The Asia rice originates from a single species known as Oryza sativa and there exist over 120000 species of rice in the region.

Rice does well in adaptable hot, wet, waterlogged regions and these are common in the monsoon Asia.

Two Rice Cultures

Since the domestication of rice begun, its cultivation has diverged into two main patterns and that is dry rice cultivation and wet-rice cultivation.

There are two rice ecosystem which corresponds with two types of societal complexity.

Prestate people lives in the upland environments while the state people live in the fertile riverine regions.

Rice and the Green Revolution

Green revolution scientists tend to believe that application of technology technique is the only means of getting high yield from the agriculture.

However the farmers in the region have depending on the ritual system when it comes to farming.

The family-owned paddies are locked in system which involves involvement of temple congregations and irrigation and for thousands of years that how farmers have been accessing high yields.

Although the green revolution technology could harness and leads to more yield, the traditional practices of Asian people depending on their religious believe cannot be undermined since it has been practised for centuries.