east asia

• East Asia is a large expanse of territory with China as its largest country.
• The countries of Mongolia, North and South Korea, and Japan are China’s neighbors.
• The Three-Way Split in China occurred in the second half of the twentieth century.
• Political structures in the second half of the twentieth century in East Asia were vastly different from the political structures that had been in place when the century began.
• The island of Taiwan, off the eastern coast of China, has an independent government that has been separated from mainland China since shortly after World War II.
• Under an agreement of autonomy, Hong Kong and its port were turned over to the Chinese government in 1997.
• Next door, to the west of Hong Kong, is the former Portuguese colony of Macau, which has also been returned to Chinese control.
• In western China is the autonomous region of Tibet, referred to by its Chinese name, Xizang.
• Tibet has been controlled by Communist China since 1949, shortly after the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was declared a country.
• Lobbying attempts by the Dalai Lama and others for Tibetan independence have not been successful.
• The region of Tibet has recently become more integrated with the country of China because of the immigration of a large number of Chinese people to the Tibetan region.
• Japan has emerged as the economic dragon of East Asia.
• Japanese people have a high standard of living, and the country has been an industrial and financial engine for the Pacific Rim.
• Up and coming economic tigers like Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea have also experienced strong economic growth and are strong competitors in the global economy.
• Balancing out the advances of the economic tigers and Japan is the extensive labor base of the Chinese people, which has catapulted the Chinese economy to its position as a major player in the global economy.
• North Korea, which has isolated itself behind an authoritarian dictatorship since World War II, is left behind in the region.
• A number of countries that were former enemies in World War II are now trading partners, such as China and Japan, as economic trade bridges cultural gaps with common goods and services.
• Cultural and political differences between these countries remain.
• East Asia is home to one-fifth of the human population.
• The realm’s location on the Pacific Rim provides access for interaction with the global economy.
• The location of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, just off the coast of mainland China, creates an industrial environment that has awakened the human entrepreneurial spirit of the realm.
• Cantonese heritage and traditions form a foundation for the cultural background of the people who live in Guangzhou.
• The earliest Chinese dynasty dates to around 2200 BCE and it was located in the rich North China Plain.
• Northeast China was formerly known as Manchuria, named after the Manchu ethnic group that had dominated the region in Chinese history.
• This region is known as the Northeast China Plain, which has extensive farming activities located next to an industrial landscape of smokestacks, factories, and warehouses.
• Oceangoing ships can travel up the Yangtze to Wuhan and, utilizing locks in the Three Gorges Dam, these cargo vessels can travel all the way upriver to Chongqing.
• In its zenith in the 1970s, this was China’s main steel production area, but the region is being reduced to a rustbelt since many of China’s manufacturing centers are now being developed in the southern regions of China Proper.
• Two river basins create a favorable industrial climate for economic activity: the lower Liao River Basin and the Songhua River Basin cut through Northeast China.
• Major global urban centers are located on the estuary of the Pearl River, where the mouth of the river flows into the South China Sea.
• The system includes the Xi River, Pearl River, and their tributaries, and these rivers process an enormous amount of water, and have the second-highest volume of water flow after the Yangtze.
• Guangzhou, Macau, and Hong Kong are the largest cities located here, alongside the rapidly expanding industrial center of Shenzhen.
• Guangzhou is one of the largest cities in China, along with Shanghai, Beijing, Wuhan, and Tianjin.
• Considerable mineral wealth and iron ore deposits in the region have augmented the industrial activities and have created serious environmental concerns because of excessive air and water pollution.
• The cities of Harbin and Shenyang are industrial centers located on these rivers.
• Macau was a former Portuguese colony and Hong Kong was a former British colony, and these urban areas are now hubs for international trade and global commerce.
• The southernmost region of China Proper is home to the Pearl River Basin, an important agricultural and commercial district.
• Sichuan is among the top five provinces in China in terms of population and is dependent on the Yangtze River system to provide for its needs and connect it with the rest of China.
• The Yangtze River is a valuable and vital transportation corridor for the transport of goods between periphery and core and between the different urban centers of activity.
• British colonizers also exported opium, an addictive narcotic, from their colonies in South Asia to China to help break down Chinese culture.
• Europeans colonized the Americas, Africa, and South Asia, and it was only a matter of time before technology, larger ships, and the European invasion reached East Asia.