Geography 2: Shifting South and West

Geography 2: Shifting South and West

Since the Yangtze valley and southwards become more populous than the Yellow valley from the Song Dynasty to today, our action shifts there for the Ming, Qing, Republic of China, and People’s Republic of China history.

So let's learn the territory so you can picture the 19th and 20th century action:

1. Manchuria (region with the three northeastern provinces)

--the Qing conquerors come from here.

--the Japanese will invade and occupy here.

--the Korean War with the US is set here

--there's a really cool Ice Festival in Harbin that tourists love today.

2-3. Beijing and Tianjin

--Beijing is the capital from the Ming to today

--Tianjin province houses TIanjin city, the third largest city in China today

Going down the coast:

4. Hebei

5. Shandong (Japan and Germany problems here during WW I)

6-7. Jiangsu

--Nanjing city, capital of Southern Song, Taiping Rebels, Republic of China; site of Japanese atrocity

8. Shanghai

--Largest city in China, on mouth of Yangtze River

9. Zhejiang

10. Fujian

--across from Taiwan

11-12. Guangdong ("Canton")

--Guangzhou was the port city for foreign trade under the Ming and Qing Canton Policy. British and Dutch East India Companies, later Free Traders had to import and export here, and only with Chinese gov't officials (or illegal drug smugglers).

12. Hong Kong -- ceded to the British after the Opium War of 1842, returned to Chinese control in 1999.

13. Macao--Portuguese built a settlement here in the 1500s, remained a European trading post for centuries

--all the setting of the Opium Wars and the early years of Mao Zedong

14. Hainan Island ("Hainan Dao"): China's "Florida" -- a resort island across the Gulf of Tonkin from Vietnam. A fun place for vacation, with a strong emphasis on green tourism and sustainability.

Now let's follow the border states west from Guangdong:

15. Guangxi (extra credit)

--one of five ethnic "autonomous regions"

16-17. Yunnan

--mostly Tibetan ethnicity

--capital Kunming -- Mao's epic Long March runs through here; it's a beautiful city to visit, as well

18. Tibet

--another ethnic autonomous region

--a threatening tribal state during Wave 4, conquered by the Qing, lost in the ROC, re-conquered by Mao and the PRC

--a source of controversy for the West today because of Tibet's independence movement and the Dalai Lama

19. Xinjiang

--ethnic autonomous region

--Uyghur tribe is of Turkish origin; Muslim

--mostly desert, Silk Road territory

--Muslim separatists a threat to PRC; violent uprisings occasionally against Han elites here

--the size of Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy combined

--mineral rich

--nuclear missile bases

--military buffer zone

--so of strategic and economic value

20. Gansu and Qinghai (extra credit)

21. Inner Mongolia

--ethnic autonomous region

22. Ningxia (extra credit)

--last ethnic autonomous region

Interior states:

South of Shandong, west of Jiangsu, going down:

23. Anhui

--a Yangtze province

--northern region mountainous, beautiful -- some of China's sacred mountains special to Taoism are there

--one of the most dirt poor, undeveloped provinces. Prone to drought and flood. Many migrant workers in the cities from here.

24. Jiangxi

--the Taiping Rebellion started here

--also poor and mountainous, like Anhui

--connected by river to Guangzhou, so economically dependent of river trade

25 - 26. Hubei and Hunan (again, "north and south Hu")

27. Guizhou

--mountainous, rural, famous for lakes and spiky mountains, fairy-tale appearance

--Guilin city a major tourist destination

28. Taiwan

PRACTICE MAPS ON NEXT PAGE
Practice maps:

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