Cultural Geography of China

1. By Jack Garrity

2.  Book pages
676-677

3.  China is rapidly changing and urbanizing, its
cities becoming busier than ever before. Like
other cities around the world, Chinese cites are
a mix of excitement, crowds, skyscrapers, and
shops selling everything imaginable.

4.  Ancient cultures mix with modern ways, in the
villages and megacities of China.

5.  To be Chinese means “a person from the
Middle Kingdom.

6.  China has 1.3 billion people.

7.  92 percent belong to the Han ethnic group.

8.  From 206 BCE to 220 CE, the Han rulers developed
classical Chinese civilization.

9.  8 percent of the people make up 55 different
ethnic groups.

10.  Tibet was once a Buddhist kingdom.

11.  Tibet was once a Buddhist kingdom.

12.  China took over Tibet in the 1950’s.

13.  Disagreements continue to this day.

14.  The people of Mongolia have a proud history.

15.  The people of Mongolia have a proud history.

16.  In the 13th Century, they created the largest
land empire.

17.  Genghis Khan and his grandsons conquered an
empire from China to Europe.

18.  In China, 90 percent of the people live on 17
percent of the land.

19.  Most live in the river valleys.

20.  Megacities include Shanghai.

27.  Megacities include Tianjin.

29.  Megacities include Beijing.

32.  Megacities include Guangzhou.

36.  The former British megacities of Hong Kong is on an
island.

39.  Mongolia's steppes have only 5 people per
square mile.

40.  Most Chinese live on rural farms.

41.  However, urbanization has led to overcrowded
megacities.

42.  Rural areas don’t have enough workers.

43.  The government has built new agricultural
towns in far off areas.

44.  Towns are designed to have good social
services and better quality of life for rural
people.

45.  The government tired to stop population
growth.

46.  In 1979, they made it illegal to have more than
1 child.

47.  It slowed population growth.

48.  Many Chinese killed their female babies.

49.  Today the ratio of 25- 35 year old people is 60
percent men to 40 percent women today.

50.  Like India, Chinese are expected to support their
parents and grand parents.

51.  This means you have to support 6 people, 4
grandparents plus your 2 parents due to the one
child policy.

52.  Also, there are less people to fill jobs, as the
larger older population retires.

53.  Some start work very early in life.

54.  Page 678-679

55.  China has experienced numerous long-ruling
dynasties and has had major political changes.
The country has been a powerful force in East
Asia.

56.  Dynasties: a family that rules a country or
region.

57.  China is the region’s cultural hearth, like Greece
and Rome to Europe.

58.  A cultural hearth is the place that a major
culture starts. Ie Egypt, India, Greece, China,
Mesopotamia

59.  China’s history is the story of the rise and fall of 10
dynasties.

60.  Chinese civilization began 5000 years ago along the
Xia River.

61.  Historians have documents from the Shang
dynasty .

62.  Aristocrats (land based warriors) led by a King ruled
society.

63.  The aristocrats led armies against each other,
whomever won the most was king.

64.  From the capital of Anyang, the dynasty defended itself
from rebellions, attacks from nomads, and natural
disasters.

65.  Eventually, the dynasty lost its “Mandate from
Heaven” and fell.

66.  The Gods and Goddesses approval and support for
your families rule.

67.  Positive and Negative should be balanced. Too much
happiness is thought to be as dangerous as too much
heartache.

68.  Chinese culture and trade spread.

69.  They created iron weapons and tools.

70.  Three philosophies Confucianism, Daoism, and
Legalism.

71.  Confucius taught moral conduct and self discipline.
An emperor should be like a good father to his
people.

72.  Confucius has many rules for personal relationships,
the most important the family.

73.  Children owe absolute loyalty to their father and
mother.

74.  As in other cultures, the father rule the family called
filial piety.

75.  Laozi founded Daoism, a philosophy of living
a simple life in harmony with nature.

76.  Give up city life and move to the countryside.

77.  As the dynasty lost the Mandate from Heaven,
Han Fei helped popularize legalism.

78.  Legalism taught people were naturally evil and
always acted to avoid punishment while trying to
get ahead

79.  So, the law must severely punish any unwanted
action, and reward those who follow it.

82.  China broke down into warring sections, until Qin
Shi Huang Di and legalists united all of China.

83.  He ordered the arrest and burning of the books
of the Confuciuists and Daoists.

84.  He built the first of the many Great Walls of China
to keep out the war like Mongolians.

87.  His harsh rule ended his families Mandate from Heaven.

88.  His famous tomb contains a larger than life model
of his army.

89.  The Han Emperors favored Confucianism over
Legalism.

90.  They were so popular Chinese call themselves “the
people of Han” to this day.

91.  They traded silks, porcelains, and spices as far
as the Roman Empire.

92.  India became the middle brokers in this
international trade.

93.  Buddhism spread to China along land and sea
trade routes.

94. Mahayana Buddhism
 Goal: Not just individual, but to save the whole
community.

95.  Began work on the Grande Canal

96.  Began the National Exams for government jobs, civil
service exams

97.  The Civil Service exams expanded under the
Tang and Song dynasties, considered a high
point in Chinese cosmopolitan culture

98.  Mixed Buddhism and Confucianism called Neo
Confucianism.

99.  It was the first government in world history to
print paper money, and use gunpowder as
explosives.

100.  The Civil Service Exams were the only path to
power

101.  The bureaucracy of the Song lost the Mandate
from Heaven to the warrior Yuan or Mongolian
Dynasty.

102.  The fierce Mongol ruler Genghis Khan (1162 – 1227)
had united the Mongol tribes and built an Empire.

103.  His grandson Kubli Khan conquered China, and
declared the Yuan Dynasty.

104.  The Song used hand cannons as well as bow and
arrows.

105.  The Song considered the Mongolians barbarians.

106.  Kublai encouraged Asian arts and demonstrated
religious tolerance to Buddhists, Muslims, etc.

107.  They tried to invade Japan as well, but their fleet
was destroyed by the kazakami wind.

108.  Marco Polo famously traveled to China and met
Kubli Khan.

109.  The Yuan Dynasty lost the Mandate from Heaven, as
they assimilated into Chinese society.

110.  The Ming, described by some as "one of the
greatest eras of orderly government and social
stability in human history

111.  Zheng He explored as far away as West Africa,
which soon had trade relationships with China.

112.  Zheng He explored as far away as West Africa,
which soon had trade relationships with China.

114.  Ming porcelain became prized throughout the world,
and is very valuable today.

115.  In 1644, the peasant rebelled and burnt the Ming
capital.

116.  A Ming general Wu allied with the Manchus let their
armies through a gate in the Great Wall.

117.  By the 1600’s, Europeans had set up trade
routes to get Chinese silk, porcelain, and tea.

118.  The Europeans had little that the Chinese wanted to
trade.

119.  The British tried to force China to accept silver.

120.  The British government smuggled Opium
(illegal both in China and Britain) and sold it in
China.

121.  This caused the Opium Wars.

122.  The British, Europeans and Americans sacked the
Imperial Palace in Beijing twice.

123.  During the 1800’s, the Europeans, Japan and USA
used battleships to force the Chinese to trade with
them.

124.  By the 1800’s, each country had a sphere of
influence in China.

125.  In 1922, Sun Yat-Sen led a revolution that ended
the Manchu dynasty.

126.  By 1927, General Chiang Kai-shek formed a
democratic government of the Republic of China.

127.  The communist leader Mao Zedong started a civil
war.

128.  Mao Zedong started a civil war.

129.  In 1933, the Japanese invaded Manchuria

130.  Japan conquered Manchuria China and put the
last Qin Emperor on the throne.

131.  During World War II , the Japanese ruthlessly
made China part of its Empire.

132.  Mao’s communist forces won power in 1949,
proclaiming The People’s Republic of China.

133.  Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists fled to Taiwan,
still called the Republic of China today.

134.  In the 1950’s, Chairman Mao’s government, closed
China to foreigners, and canceled all private
property.

135.  He ordered books burnt, teachers shot, and wrote
his own book that everyone had to read.

136.  During “the Great Leap Forward campaign, the
government replaced family farms with government
coop farms.

138.  80 million Chinese starved to death, and China still
cannot feed its people today.

139.  People who disagree with the un elected government
go to reprogramming camps, to correct their
thinking.

140.  In the 1970’s, Deng Xioping allowed some private
ownership of small business, and welcomed foreign
business and technology.

141.  Today, the non elected government owns all major
industries, but allows some private business..

142.  Chinese factory workers live and work at the factory.

143.  They have one day a week off, but have to get their
bosses permission to go outside the factor on their
day off.

144.  US and European corporations move their factories
to China to take advantage of this cheap labor.

145.  Since the 1950’s, Taiwan and China have been
separate countries.

146.  Taiwan with its elected government and free market
is an economic powerhouse..

147.  Taiwan produces computer and electronic parts.

148.  Taiwan produces computer and electronic parts.

149.  During the revolution of 1911, Mongolia
declared independence.

150.  Mongolia allied with the USSR and became a
communist country.

151.  In 1991, Mongolia became a democracy after the
fall of the USSR.

152.  Since then, Mongolia has had a booming
economy and freedom for its people.

153.  The people of China have a long, rich cultural
heritage with influences that include Confucianism,
Buddhism, and communism.

154.  Recently the government of China has pushed
for more education.

155.  They even recruit experts from around the
world to teach.

156.  During the “Cultural Revolution” Mao had most
teachers shot as they disagreed with him during the
1960’s.

157.  After Mao’s death, the government has been
again promoting education for all.

158.  Today, the life expectancy in China is above 70
years.

159.  The government owns all the hospitals, so
there are long lines always.

161.  Most people in China read Mandarin.

162.  Mandarin is written using ideograms.

163.  Each province in China has its own language.

164.  People from Shanghai cannot understand
people from Canton.

165.  But they can communicate by writing in
Mandarin.

166.  The government of China is officially atheists,
and only atheists are invited to join the party.

167.  But, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism are
still popular.

168.  The government often tries to arrest Buddhist
monks, especially the Dalai Lama of Tibet.

170.  The Dalai Lama of Tibet has spent his life in
exile, preaching peace around the world.

171.  The government tried to wipe out traditional
arts, but today they are returning.

172.  Chinese calligraphy and poetry.

173.  Chinese traditional paintings.

174.  Chinese porcelains are still the best in the
world.

175.  The martial arts of Kung Fu and tai shi.

176.  Beijing Opera has elaborate costumes and
acrobats are amazing.

179.  END