China

• Physical Aspects of China

  Qinling Mountains - natural border between N and S

  Tibetan Plateux

  Peal, Yangtze and Huang He River

  Mount Everest on the border (8848m)

  Gobi and Talmiakan desert - low land regions

  Both subtropical and subarctic climates
• How does China's overall climate vary?

  The majority is split into 3 climactic regions; semiarid, highland and humid subtropical

  Monsoon climate dominates in south east
• How is rainfall distributed?

  Xinjiang is the most arid region <50mm annually

  Hunan experiences at least 1200mm

  mid and Northern China - 800mm and continental
• How does water availability vary?

  Xinjiang has a saturated water supply of more than 1800 cubic meters/ person

  Urban megacities e.g. Beijing have extreme water deficit where there is less than 1000 cubic meters
• What is the distribution of China's population?

  Majority in east coast areas with 200 people per sqkm - megacities like Shanghai and Hong Kong

  Talmiakan is mostly unpopulated

  Tibetan Plateau has 1 person per sqkm
• Why has China's population structure changed?

  divide between urban and rural areas, intensified by the Mao rule and Houku system

  Before 1980, migration was tightly controlled to prevent uncontrollable city growth
• What is the one child policy

  1979

  prevented approximately 400m births

  aging population
• Reasons for the abolition of the one child policy

  Rising costs for farmers and not enough workers to meet demand

  Improve gender balance

  Approx 30% of the 1.36bn population is over 50

  By 2050, over 50% will be 65+

  Huge gender imbalance - 30m single men
• Reasons for the one child policy

  Food supply was strained

  in 1961 there was a great famine that killed 30m

  Couples faced fines, sterilization and abortion
• What are the main political changes seen in China over the past few decades

  State led economy to market led economy after Mao's death in 1976

  Mao = dictator of communist China

  Iron rice bowl destroyed

  Joined WTO in 2001

  Capitalism

  Cut benefits in state businesses e.g. China airline
• How have recent political changes caused social changes?

  There are extreme disparities in the provision of healthcare and education

  Children have 9 years mandatory education - 99% of Children are now educated

  Only 50% of rural children make it to uni

  Rural medical reforms - not for profit medicine distribution, state provided health insurance

  2015 - urban poverty eradicated but migrants get paid less and less welfare
• Attitudes towards women

  Preference for sons, female infanticide

  for every 120 men = 100 women

  35m women are missing = killed

  New gov want to ensure equality

  women are 46% of labor force

  Becoming more educated about their rights
• Attitudes towards minority ethnicity

  20m Tibetans were relocated in 2013 to prevent independence

  Communist government feared independence surge

  communities split up to assimilate villages

  Unable to hold onto heritage

  Gov trying to quell traditions e.g. Chinese new year is enforced in schools
• Attitudes towards homosexuality


  Illegal in 1987

  In 2001 it was no longer considered a mental illness

  younger generation are more accepting

  Gay fashions shows shut down

  Gay marriage is still illegal - want homosexuals to be more like the majority heterosexual population
• Where are China's mineral resources located?

  Mineral and energy resources found in Shanghai and Beijing - coal mines and oil refineries

  Iron ore and manganese found on coastal belt

  Talmiakan desert is the largest oil basin, refineries include Karamal

  Tibetan plateau has no mineral resources

  Coast - 13 major coal mines and 21 thermal hydropower plants

  Oil is not good quality and hard to recover
• What are opportunities for economic development presented by the resource base?

  97% exports are from China e.g. rare earths

  Foreign trade volume of mineral production is $833.8bn

  China has begun to stockpile mineral reserves for strategic politics

  Produces more than 90% of the worlds minerals, used to create things like iPods and weapons

  Lots of ports in Shanghai

  Fishing industry

  Manipulate global trade
• Constrains of economic development presented by resource base

  Only export 10% of their reserves

  Lack of industrial growth and economic inequality in west

  No agricultural work can take place in Talmiakan desert or Gobi

  Little economic development west of the Huang he line

  Low consumption of domestic iron ore - import from Australia

  2nd biggest oil importer

  Oil from straits of malaka
• Opportunities and constraints presented by the physical environment

  14% arable land

  70% water polluted

  85% of agriculture is exposed to heavy metal pollution

  Majority of coal mines are in water stressed regions
• What is the south / north water project

  Aims to combat water scarcity

  Cost £48bn

  Aims to transport 44.8bn cubic meters of water annually

  It has displaced many people and flooding is more common in the south

  40% of the Yangtze will eventually be diverted north
• Drought and Floods


  Between 2004 and 2009, £21.5bn was needed to combat the effects of extreme weather

  The Yangtze is almost continuously in drought

  The harvest season is now wet which creates poor storage and harvest conditions

  2013 - huge heatwave and 50 died
• What is the 3 gorges dam

  Hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangtze river

  functional since 2012

  supposed to help prevent flooding downstream

  It has flooded archaeological sites and displaced 1.3m

  Cost 180m yuan but the cost was recovered in profits

  Flooding now meant to occur only one time every hundred years
• Explain the changing patterns of the employment sector overtime

  Since 1952 the primary sector has always been the largest - 280m people

  Decreasing since 2002 with economic development

  In 1970 only 20m worked in the industry sector but in 2010 this was 280m

  secondary 120m in 2010
• Distribution of different types of employment in China

  Primary- Ta shan mine is part of Ta shan economic park in shanxi province. 3/4 of energy in China is coal and China uses 4bn tonnes per year. Industry growth slowed and miners now lose 15% on every tonne they sell

  Secondary - In coastal areas, 13 major hydroelectrical plants are found. 300 factories on the Pearl River delta

  Tertiary - east coast has high supply of graduates in companies like the bank of Shanghai
• What political systems of modified communism in China have caused economic change?

  Diplomatic relations established in 1979 by Deng

  1978 open door policy which encouraged FDI

  Stock markets opened in 1989

  By 2010 they were the second biggest economy

  By 2020 it is expected that 500m will be middle class

  70% of rural population out of poverty by 2020
• SEZ


  Aim to boost specific economy and create free trade areas

  Shenzen part of original SEZ in China

  1990s - China-Singapore co-operation park

  in 2014 there were 14 open coastal cities, 6 SEZ and 4 pilot free trade areas

  Contribute 22% of GDP and 60% of exports and created 30m jobs
• TVE


  uneven growth in China was meant to be halted by TVE's are township and village enterprises

  Between 1978 and 2013 TVE's grew 20% annually

  employ 135m and are 30% of the GDP

  63 TVEs

  Must have $200m output from one industry
• Influence of western economies and joint ventures

  In 2014 a manufacturing plant opened in Cheryshu and is the joint venture of Landrover and Chery automobile

  Shijingshang Shanmuhi is Walmart and there are 352 shops in 130 cities and has an annual profit of $7.5bn
• How has China's economy changed in recent years

  Since economic reform in 1978, half a billion people have been lifted out of poverty

  Between 2000 and 2012, GDP grew from US 1 trillion to US 8 trillion
• Account for changes seen to the economic structure of China

  44.99% in service industry

  45.02% in the secondary industry

  9.98% in agriculture industry

  95 companies on fortune 500, 80% are state owned

  2007, state private companies = 20% of output

  250m jobs in private sector
• Offshoring and outsourcing


  In 2008. 70% of MNC's outsourced their produce, including brands like NIKE

  In 2007, the outsourcing industry was worth $15.2bn with IT being $9bn

  Outsourcing industry expected to grow 30% every year
• Pros of outsourcing


  Many companies supply blue chip companies like microsoft

  Education rapidly increased

  Improvements in infrastructure

  low cost and abundant labour

  competitive wages
• Cons of outsourcing


  Jobs lost in MNC origin country

  poor living conditions

  basic regulations against waste and pollution

  lack of english

  world economic slowdown = reduced need
• Influence of China's political power

  Thousands of global confucius institutes

  in 2010, 240000 international students were in Chinese universities

  Soft power with African continent

  engagement with the UN

  24% of global CO2 emissions

  in 2015 Xi Jinping pledged $2bn to developing countries

  8000 soldiers on peacekeeping missions

  $100m to African union for military assistance
• Skepticism of China joining WTO

  Joined in 2001

  ensures market oriented economy

  Has to reform state companies - will cause unemployment
• China's stance on climate change

  Xi Jinping believes climate change should be tackled by everyone globally e.g. 2015 paris climate talks

  in 2015 first red alert for smog in Beijing

  accounts for 27% of carbon emissions
• Climate change in China

  The worlds biggest polluter

  Climate change will peak in China by 2030

  More droughts, rainstorms and higher temperatures (increase of up to 2.5 degrees) - particularly in northern regions like the Gobi desert

  30% precipitation decline expected

  40% run off rate in flood prone regions

  90% permafrost decrease in Tibetan Plateau by 2100
• Cancer Villages and water pollution

  Located near polluting factories where cancer levels are far above average

  approximately 459 in China

  Cancer and morality rates have risen 80% in the past 30 years

  70% water is contaminated

  Industrial plants release 2000 tonnes of carcinogenic chemical material

  80% of chinese cities have no sewer systems

  500m only have access to contaminated water
• Soil degradation and desertification

  400m are at risk of desertification in China and 35% of land area threatened

  HIgh intensity rainfall causes soil erosion

  In inner mongolia there are too many animals for land capacity which has led to overgrazing

  Causes direct annual losses of US$6.5bn

  It would take 300 years to regrow top soil
• Deforestation


  14% of China is covered by forests

  Illegal logging companies consumes 5000sqkm of virgin forest every year

  Accelerates desertification

  flooding 15% more common

  60% of trees removed in Shanxi province
• What strategies are used to combat desertification?

  Gobi desert grows 3000km annually

  Many villages eg Enjina are being swallowed

  Created 350,000 environmental refugees

  Great green wall

  4800km long

  66bn trees planted

  1978 - 2050

  530,000sqkm can be restored via afforestation