CHINA:

The World’s Most Populous Country

 GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
 Ancient Chinese believed China stood at the
center of the World and that they were the only
civilized society on Earth (much like many other
ancient civilizations.)
 WHY, YOU ASK????

 China was isolated from the rest of the world…

 West= deserts and mountains cut China off from the
rest of Asia
 East= Pacific ocean

Today the Chinese refer to China as Zhong Guo, “The Middle Kingdom”
CHINA
 Nearly equal in shape and size as the U.S., but
China is a bit larger
 CHINA’S LANDSCAPE
 Geographers sometimes describe China as a giant
slope- it stretches from mountains of Central Asia in
the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east.
East:
West: Central: Low hills
Mountains Lower mountains Fertile river valleys
Plateaus Hills Plains
basins Plateaus Vast floodplains
Gobi Desert covered with fields
THIS IS WHERE
MOST OF
CHINA’S 1.3
BILLION PPL
LIVE
CHINA’S POPULATION… WHY IS IT SO
LARGE?

MAO ZEDONG Why is he important?

 Great Teacher. Great  Lead a revolution that

Leader. Great brought a communist
Supreme Commander. gov’t to China in 1949
Great Helmsman  He ruled until his
death in 1976
 Mao believed large
families would make
China
strong=population
grew rapidly=average
woman had 5 kids
 1958 GREAT LEAP FORWARD
 GLF was a plan to become a modern industrial
country
(when other countries=modernized by use of new
technology such as machines & computers)
 Mao thought China could leap forward by getting
more work out of a huge population
 1) INCREASE STEEL PRODUCTION
(people began to make “backyard furnaces” that they
would take metal possessions- bikes- cooking pans- iron
bed frames- doorknobs and melt them down
2) INCREASE FOOD PRODUCTION= small farms
were lumped together to create large factory farms

THIS DID NOT TURN CHINA INTO AN INDUSTRIAL GIANT

At the same time… severe droughts across China=FAMINE= more than

20 million people died btw 1958 & 1962
NEW SOCIETY- UNDER MAO
 Goal to create a new society in China- everyone
would follow his ideas and work for the common
good (COMMUNISM)
 People were sent to prison if they were suspected
of not being loyal to Mao
 Turned the country into chaos state/revolutions

 Communist gov’ts decide what should be

produced and at what price- gov’t controls who
should do what job and for what pay
 1976 MAO DIES  NEW GOV’T IMPLEMENTS
“ONE CHILD POLICY”
benefits
 Moving toward ZERO
POPULATION GROWTH
 Slowed growing population
rate=reduced the strain on
food and water supplies
 Reduced the problem of too
many workers and too
little jobs
 Moms/babies had healthier
lives in small family units-
fewer kids= more money-
women have more time for
education & career
cost
 People don’t want to be told
how to live their life/how many
kids they can have
 Rural areas=large families are
tradition=more farm workers
 BOYS are preferred in China-
many people want a son if they
can only have one kid- some
couples end pregnancy if they
find they are having a girl=
more boys than girls (who will
all the boys marry…?
 Old people are cared for by
their kids (esp. sons)- one child
policy leaves fewer kids to care
for their elderly parents
CLEAN ENERGY
 Most electricity the Chinese need is supplied by
power plants that burn coal= not clean energy=
smoke containing toxic chemicals (mercury) pours out
of power plants=winds carry poisonous fumes around
the world
 US discovered mercury pollution from China
 Disease related to air pollution=leading cause of
death in China
 SOLUTION: Three Gorges Dam (hydroelectric power
to meet energy needs= clean energy)
 Dam provides 1/9th of China’s electricity
 Built on Yangtze River=longest River in Asia- used to
transport people/cargo and provides fresh water
3 G DAM
benefits cost

 Clean energy  Cover up 100s of ancient

historical settlement sites-
 Flood control- river china’s distant past will be
floods about every 10 lost
years=causes  Cover up 13 cities-140
widespread death and towns- 100s of villages
destruction-dam will  10s of 100s of acres of
farmland will be submerged
hold back extra water  Over 1 million people were
that would usually forced to move
cause problems  Animal and plant species
 Help river will lose habitats
shipping=easier to  Dam sits on earthquake
fault
navigate by boat
ECONOMIC GROWTH: NEW LEADERS AFTER
MAO’S DEATH
SEZs

 Special economic zones with different laws

than the rest of China pertaining to
businesses
 In these zones businesses have the right to
choose what to produce and at what price
SEZS
benefits cost

 Economic growth  Widening gap between

 Created millions of jobs rich and poor-may
often filled by migrant lead to unrest if it
workers from rural
areas continues to widen
 Wages are not high but  Floating population of
most ppl earn more than migrant workers
they would in rural
 If they can’t find work
areas
 Ppl can support they may turn to
themselves and have crime in order to
enough to send some survive
back to support families