East Asia is a region that includes China, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. Although East Asian countries and peoples are extremely diverse in many ways, they have the following features in common:
- Their populations are relatively homogonous
- Chinese heritage has profoundly influenced the language, religion, and arts of the region.
- The region's highly refined cultural development was generally isolated from Western influences until the 19th century.
East Asia spreads across more than 4.5 million square miles of territory. East Asia is marked by mountain ranges, plateaus, deserts and islands where natural resources are unevenly distributed. The same landforms affect climate and vegetation. South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan have few mineral resources, and Japan especially deposits of minerals widely distributed throughout the country. Freshwater and ocean resources are so important to the livelihoods of people in coastal areas that water and fish are East Asia's traditional symbols of prosperity.
The People's Republic of China has the world's largest population and comprises about 80% of East Asia's land area. In eastern China, lowlands and coastal areas are heavily populated and cultivated. Highlands in the west have rugged mountains, scattered human settlements, and extreme climates. This western region also includes Asia's largest desert, the Gobi, and that world's highest mountain, Mount Everest, located on the China-Nepal border. Across northern China stretches the country's most notable landmark and national symbol, the Great Wall, named in 1987 as one of UNESCO's World Heritage sites. China's major rivers-the Yellow, Yangtze, and Xi-begin in the Plateau of Tibet and provide transportation routes, hydroelectric power, and fertile soil in their basins.
Other countries in the region include sparsely-populated Mongolia, North Korea and South Korean on the Korean Peninsula, the island nation of Taiwan, and the archipelago of Japan. A wide range in latitudes gives the region a great variety of climates and vegetation, from tropical rainforests in southern China and Taiwan to the subarctic forests in northern Mongolia. Seasonal weather patterns are dominated by the monsoons, which bring over 80% of the region's annual rainfall during the summer months and cold, arctic air during the winter. Ocean currents influence the climate in coastal areas, and the interaction of ocean currents and monsoons can give rise to typhoons.
Three tectonic plates meet along an arc of islands east of China and cause frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. This volcanic activity and earthquakes along part of the Pacific Ocean's Ring of Fire helped form Taiwan and the Japanese islands. Natural forces continue to affect East Asia. Undersea earthquakes can cause tsunamis.
East Asia is a region with stark contrasts between highly industrialized countries, heavily urbanized areas, poor rural areas, and largely unpopulated mountains and deserts. Most of East Asia's people today live in bustling, crowded, urban settings. Their traditional values and arts, however, stress the serenity and simplicity often associated with rural living.
East Asia's earliest civilization developed in China thousands of years ago. Other civilizations later arose in Korea and Japan. For centuries nearly impassable mountains, vast deserts, and expanses of ocean often isolated East Asia from the rest of the world. Isolation and other factors led to the development of relatively homogenous and highly refined cultures in the region.
China became the region's culture hearth, with the earliest civilization developing in the valley of the Wei River. For thousands of years, caravans journeyed on the Silk Road, an extensive network of trading routes that linked China, central parts of Asia, and Southwest Asia. Traders carried with them not only goods but also ideas and religions, especially Buddhism, Islam and Christianity. By way of the Silk Road, Chinese inventions, such as paper, printing, and fireworks, as well as food products - rice, tea, soybeans, and noodles - eventually reached the West. China greatly influenced the cultures of Korea and Japan, which went on to develop their own styles in such art forms as ceramics, painting, and calligraphy.
After a long period of political isolation, China and Japan both were forced to open their borders to Western trade and influences. Japan faced the Western challenge by modernizing many of its institutions and building industries. Although Japan's military expansion later brought about its defeat in World War II, Japan quickly rebounded economically under its postwar democratic government. Japan rebuilt its shattered economy and emerged as a global economic power by the late 20th century.
China endured a long civil war that ended in 1949, when communist Mao Zedong set up the People's Republic of China on the Chinese mainland, while rival nationalist Chiang Kai-shek and his followers fled to the island of Taiwan. A period of Cold War tensions followed the rise of communism in China and the division of Korea into communist and non-communist states. Korea is still divided between the American-backed south and the communist-led north
East Asians hold a variety of religious beliefs and often adopt practices from multiple religions, however, the communist governments of China and North Korea discourage religious practices. Even though China is now allowing some free enterprise, the Chinese lag behind their richer neighbors in their standard of living. Education and health care also are more available in the richer countries and in urban areas. East Asians engage in a variety of leisure activities, and literature, music, and theater play prominent roles in their lives. Traditional art forms include Chinese tai chi and qigong exercises, the Japanese tea ceremony, calligraphy, and landscape painting. Many of these practices derive from East Asia's major religions: Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and Shintoism.
The governments and economies in East Asia are closely related. During the mid to late 20th century, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan developed democratic governments and have become modern industrial nations, with a major stake in the global economy. Communist-ruled China has shifted to a mixed economy, with largely agricultural regions inland and industrial areas on the coast. China has been faced with repeated sanctions by other countries because of human rights violations. Democratic Mongolia is still largely rural but has been shifting to a mixed economy. Communist-ruled North Korea is one of the world's few remaining command economies, and many resources go toward its military.
Some East Asian cities, especially in China, have grown tremendously in population as a result of migration from rural areas. A major factor in this population shift is the availability of jobs in new and growing industries. Industrial progress, however, has taken its toll on the environment, mirroring similar worldwide problems: pollution, acid train, deforestation, and depletion of ocean and land resources. Most countries in East Asia rely on the burning of fossil fuels for their power. This had led to problems with acid precipitation and air pollution. China's unregulated industrial expansion - with widespread use of coal - has contributed to environmental damage. As a result of industrial and urban growth, many areas of East Asia suffer from air, water, and soil pollution.
The region relies heavily on its ocean resources and has begun aquaculture to solve the problems of overfishing. Countries in the region face such natural disasters as flooding, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and typhoons. Severe traffic congestion is a major problem in large urban centers, such as Tokyo, Taipei, and Shanghai. Clear-Cutting of forests and careless practices in farming and mining have caused soil erosion, deforestation, and flooding. Added to these environmental issues is the threat of violent natural forces that cause extensive loss of life and damage to property.
East Asian countries recently have become more active in addressing environmental issues. China has begun to solve problems such as lack of sewage treatment facilities, toxic emissions from factories, and deforestation and the resulting erosion. South Korea faces the additional issue of safely disposing of wastes from its nuclear power plants. Japan has become a leader in the region and the world in addressing environmental issues developing low-emission cars and reducing emissions of chlorofluorocarbons.
LEARNING:
Read Glencoe World Geography pages 645-655, 661-679, 685-697.
Hong Kong territory profile
Volcanoes in the Pacific’s Ring of Fire
Chinese culture and heritage
Japanese culture
Mongolian culture
MAPPING:
Add natural features to a map of East Asia including major mountains, rivers, and deserts. Label the islands of Taiwan and Japan. Label the region's seas. Label the six East Asia nations and their capital cities.
