MID TERM

Study Guide Geog324 Spring 2008 -- Updated 5/5/2008

The midterm will have three parts:

1.  Multiple choice, maps, and or short fill-ins (about 40 points worth)

2.  Short answers -- few sentences (about 10 points)

3.  Comparative Essay Question (about 50 points)

As you study for the exam you may want to write out your answers to practice for the test.  Also I realize that essay questions are bottomless pits, anyone could spend 2 or 3 times the allotted test time even with only a moderate improvement to their answer.  So pace yourself.  Don't ignore easy points to add redundancy.  Make a statement and provide examples/evidence then move on to another point in your essay.

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Below are study questions for many of the readings, lectures, and videos that we have utilized in the first half of the course. Questions on the midterm will be very similar to these, but do not limit your understanding of the readings to only these specific questions. Try to critically integrate materials. Also, realize that many of the questions raised here can be quite open ended, so do not necessarily limit your thoughts to a single book, article, … in fashioning an answer.  In fact the essay question will ask you to compare and contrast material from more than one source.

As an example of how you might want to answer a question consider the following example:

What are the general patterns of human habitation and activity in China and Japan. How has the physiography, climate, resources, other natural and environmental factors effected the location of population across the landscape of China and Japan?  Are there also historical factors that have played a role?  Today do all of these factors have an impact on the location of urban areas and industrial activities?  Are there any other social or historical factors which also have had an impact on these patterns across the landscape?

How one might answer this type of question:

Then in actually laying-out an answer simple titles like the following could be used:

Section 1:  China

Paragraph subheadings
  • Population patterns
  • Landforms, climate, and environment on patterns and processes
  • Impact of Physical Geography on Human concentrations
  • Impact of historical and social factors including migration patterns
  • Industrial and Economic activity concentrations and how site and situation effect these

Section 2:  Japan..... (ditto)

Section 3: Selected Comparisons between the two countries....

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China

The questions below were drawn mainly from China the PowerPoint slides (followed by more questions from the readings). Note that in developing a good answer to these questions you should also be able to illustrate your points with simple maps when appropriate.

At the macro-scale where are the largest concentrations of population?  Be able to identify these patterns if given a map.  What patterns emerge and what processes have helped to create these patterns?

In regards to climate and population density, what is the difference between the Red Basin and the other interior basins in China?

For climate what are the macro patterns and the  micro level patterns in China and where do each dominate?

How would you describe the physiographic/topographic regions of China with the largest population densities?  What factors in these regions has allowed such large populations to occur?

What are the two major river basins in China and how do they differ in regards to agriculture and transportation? What are causes of these differences?  There is also a smaller southern River Basin, where is that?  And what is it called?  How does it differ from the above two?

Where are the Qinling Mountains and what important role do the play in China?

What is the Grand Canal, where is it, and why was it important to China?  What is its currently proposed use?

Describe and discuss in some detail the causes of aridity in North China.

Where is drought most likely in China and why?  What degree of impact would drought have in this region?  High or low and why.

During the year how does the precipitation pattern vary in China across space and time?

When comparing the east coast of the US to coastal China what important differences exist? Also, between these two countries which has more habitable land?  Why is this?

What are the major grain growing and cropping patterns in China?

What are the major precipitation patterns in China? How has this effected agriculture and population?

Historically and geographically where did "China proper" begin and in what directions did it move/expand? What were some causes of these movements?

Barriers: By looking at the climatic and population patterns in China what barriers to population expansion and migration can you find on the landscape? Be specific not general and give examples.

Where do micro-climates exist in China? What are they and how do they operate?

What natural barriers to invasion exist in China? Where are these barriers lacking? Historically, over time have these barriers become less effective? Explain. Today how might this effect the Chinese outlook on the world?

Describe the geography of the major ethno-linguistic patterns of China. What does this tell us about the country and its people and even its history?

What major minority regions exist in China?  From a geographic view, why is China so concerned about them?

Besides major minority regions, can other smaller ones be identified?  How might we geographically locate them that is what tools or techniques might we use?

What is the rice/wheat divide and what natural barrier is it associated with?

Where is/was the Silk Road located? What was its role in Chinese history?

Why have Chinese capitals tended to be located in the North and inland from the coast? How has this effected food distribution networks?

What was the relationship between railway construction in late 19th and early 20th century China and the fall of the last emperor?

Currently, what are some of the major considerations for railway construction in China?

How important is coal to the Chinese economy?  Where is it concentrated?  What about oil?

What are China's major energy sources?

What kind of spatial industrial patterns have evolved in China over the last 100 years?

What is the global environmental impact of wildfires in the coalfields of China? Provide some statistics to indicate the size and importance of these fires.

Over the last two centuries there have been four patterns to industrial location and development in China. In a broad sense (era not exact year) when were are these four periods and what are the patterns that they produced? Today, can we still find evidence on the landscape of any of the older periods' geographic patterns of industrial location? If so, give some examples.

What is China's environmental policy for the next three decades?  Do you find it much different then the official US government policy on green house gases?

What is the pattern of rainfall variability in China and what does it seem to be associated with?

Discuss the factors leading to the aridity of Inner Mongolia.

Ancient Religions

In ancient China what was the expected relationships between mankind and the Heavens?  What were the two most important features of this relationship and how were they expected to work?

What is theodicy and why is it important to consider at this time in China?  What happened and what was the reaction?  What is the difference between an objective and subjective relationship with the Heavens?

How did environmental events effect change in the ancient religions of China and lead to the creation of Confucianism?

Confucius

What is Confucianism, a religion or something else?  What is The Way?  How does family fit into Confucianism?  What is the Social Hierarchy of this system?

What is a Zhunza?  Who can become one?  Who can't?

What are the 5 natural relationships and their accompanying virtues?  What's is the role of women in this system?

Has Confucianism provided an important underpinning to the structure and organization of governments in China since ancient times?

What is Li and Ren and how do they work?  Are they always in agreement?

Based on our class exercise give examples of where Confucianism is still alive and well in East Asia and where it is being challenged.  Based on your reading of Starr, historically has the Confucian ideal family always existed in the past in China?  Explain.

Japanese High School Baseball

What examples can be provided from this video that Confucianism is still a very important part of Japanese life?  Think of at least three.  Provide a statement of what aspect of Confucian thought this demonstrates and then describe the actual event or activity.

What evidence was there in this video that non-Confucian (perhaps more Western) ideals might be displacing earlier Confucian ones?  Again provide a statement then indicate the evidence.

Does this video confirm or refute the idea that religion is more subjective then objective as we learned was the case in China with the introduction of things like Confucianism.  Again, state your view and provide evidence.

Starr, John Bryan

Chap 1: Geographical Inequalities Plus Class PowerPoint notes and Salter et. al. and references to Japan readings as well

Where are China's most fertile agricultural lands? How does this relate to population concentrations? Is climate also a factor? Explain. Be able to identify these patterns if given on a map..

Now consider similar questions and provide an answer  for Japan (use the Japan reading materials)

China's western border region is far different then the western side of the United States. What physical geographic and climatological factors explain this difference? How does this effect agriculture and population? Is there also any cultural difference? (Hint: consider the Han Chinese as being similar to the American white majority group).

Does Japan face anything similar to any of these above points?  Speculate as to why these two Asian countries are different/the same?

Energy: What are China's main energy sources? How well is it distributed?  Relative to the USA and Saudi Arabia how much oil might China have?  In your opinion will China be joining OPEC in the near future? Why or why not? What might this mean for desire to protect shipping lanes from the Middle East? Could this effect defense policy for China? What about the US?  Be able to identify the general pattern of oil and coal major reserves in China.

Now consider the same questions for Japan.

 Hydroelectric: There has been much talk about the Three Gorges Hydroelectric Dam in China (slated to be the world's largest). If successfully completed might this change China's energy consumption pattern? Explain.

Urban areas: Roughly 300 million people reside in China's urban areas. Over time what three factors lead to the rise of urban areas in China.

Now look at a map of Japan, is there a strong relationship between the location of its urban areas and physical geography? What about industry?

Transportation: How well is China interconnected? What is it currently doing about transportation?  How important are inland and coastal waterways in comparison to surface transportation systems? 

How well is China served by rail, especially in comparison to the US?  What new rail lines are being built and why?

Barriers: What natural barriers effected China's defense policies over historical time? Did this sometimes effect the location of a national capital like Beijing? 

For Japan what natural barriers protected it? Also are there internal barriers to transportation and communication?

Might these geographical factors help to explain why such distinct cultures arose in these two nations?

In regards to minorities in China, does geography help explain where they are located and China's relationships with them?  Explain.

Might geography also explain why some languages in China, although written the same way, when spoken are mutually incomprehensible?  Explain.

Regionalism: Is there a significant regionalism in China in regards to economic development?  If so what are the regions and how do they differ?  Under Mao and Deng what and how has regional economic policy been changing in the last several decades?

Chap 2: Patterns from the Past

Has China always been a strong unified state?

Since the Meiji restoration what about Japan?

Since when have Taiwan and Tibet been integral parts of China?  What about Hokkaido in Japan? How does this compare with our own states of California or Hawaii for the US?

China exerted control over its vast state with minimal state structure. What four interdependent elements enabled it to do this? Which was the key building block in this process? How does Confucianism help to explain this situation?

What was the historical "Sinocentric" worldview?  How did it affect China in the 19th and 20th centuries?  Might Japan have had a similar outlook in the past? 

A key ingredient in the glue that kept China's traditional system in balance was the idea that one's position was not fixed for all time. How might a family change its fortunes in the past (imperial times)? Now let's turn the clock to the present. Might similar factors be at work today to explain why Chinese are so willing to educate their children?

What caused China's population to surge after 1644?  How much did it surge over the next 250 years?

Traditionally the emperor of China was supposed to look after three things -- military security, food security, and mitigate natural disasters.  In a simple sense many historians then translated these tasks into maintaining the Great Walls, the Grand Canal, and Dikes along the Yellow River and elsewhere.  Since dynasties were cyclic (rising and falling) why could a dynasty accomplish these things at the beginning of their reigns but fail to do so at the end?

China seems to have had a long historical pattern of rise and fall of dynasties with a constant imperial system for about 2000 years until 1911. What three important factors in the 19th century brought to an end the imperial governments in China early in the 20th century?

Chap3: China's Political System

Starr talks about the four relationships of the Chinese political system, what are these?

"The most important difference between the American and the Chinese political systems concerns their political parties." What does this mean?

Chinese government is based on three separate branches, yet they work differently then they do in the US, explain what this means.  Might this difference have anything to do with China's historical heritage including the Imperial system and Confucianism?

Is the CCP the government or are these two separate and independent entities, Explain and give examples.

Under Mao what was the role of the NPC?  Today what is its emerging role?

What are China's autonomous regions?  How autonomous are they?  Explain.

What is the relationship between the military and the CCP?  If the CCP were to falter, what might happen and why?

Why does Starr conclude that the Chinese political system ..."is a highly complex and inefficient structure that tends to thwart much more than foster effective governance."  What's wrong? 

Japan

The questions below were drawn mainly from Japan the PowerPoint slides and the reading. Note that in developing a good answer to these questions you should also be able to illustrate your points with simple maps when appropriate.

General Questions

Japan a Cultural Atlas:  The Geography of Japan  &  PowerPoint presentations

Why does Japan have so many earthquakes and volcanoes?

What impacts do the off-shore currents have on Japan?

How did the mountains in Japan effect the establishment of urban areas? Explain.

How has the ocean effected the climate of Japan?

Where are the heaviest snowfalls in Japan and why?

What are the population concentration patterns in Japan?  Be able to identify these on a map. 

Where are the lowest population densities and what might help explain this?

When did Japan start populating Hokkaido? Who were they displacing and who were preventing from coming into this territory?

Honshu's Kanto lowlands were historically among Japan's richest agricultural areas, what is it mainly used for today? What urban center is located here?

Kyushu is divided into an industrial and agricultural region. Where is each?

Japan

When was the modern Japanese state started?

When faced by Imperialist countries in the 19th century forcing open Japan's borders, how did Japan respond? Did it eventually become a colonial power? If so name some colonies?

What is the relative size and location of Japan and China in comparison to the US?

Of the four main islands of Japan which one refers to the origin of the country and which is the newest addition, when did this addition really take place?

In considering the geography and history of Japan and China how has isolation, local communication and interaction, and fear of invasion effected each? Begin by considering the relative location of each country versus outsiders and then internal features and reactions to these. Might this assist us in understanding how each of these nations views the outside world even today?

When and how did Europeans first arrive in Japan? What about the second time after the country had been closed for about 250 years? Again, what kind of impact might this have had on Japan, even today?

How has volcanism and tectonics effected the creation of the Japanese islands? Are these factors still important today? Explain.

How has the existence of mountain arcs and the low proportion of low lying areas effected the history of Japan, the current location of its major cities, transportation routes, and industrial zone?

How do air masses effect Japan's climate? What are these air masses and what role does each play? A simple map will be helpful in explaining this situation.

Besides air masses what other major climatic, physical or oceanic features effect Japan's climate and how? A simple map will be very useful in illustrating these points.

How are the paths of typhoons effected in Japan? Drawing a simple map would be helpful here.

How does the mixing of warm and cold currents off the coast of Japan effect its fisheries?