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Home › Forums › Core Seminars › Modern East Asia, Fall 2021 › 1. October 6 - Demography, Geography, and East Asia in 1800
Kayla Kolean.
cgaoSpeaker: Clayton Dube, USC
Hi Folks,
In general - please watch the video lectures and read the assigned articles ahead of the discussion session. Please think about them and post your thoughts or questions in the discussion forum ahead of the discussion. You may also wish to post again after the discussion. Our aim is to extend our conversation and explore ways to bring these topics alive for your students.
For our first lecture, we'll focus on some demography and geography basics for East Asia. What is the structure of the populations in each country or region? What are some geographical and environmental realities that pose challenges or offer advantages? Are you already teaching about these things in your classes? How do you work such topics into discussions? Please do some brainstorming on how such matters might be included in the courses you teach? How do population matters, land forms and water access and environmental considerations affect lives today and over the course of the past two centuries?
In addition to the lecture on the region's demography and geography, please read the articles below, pdf downloads are available attached to this post.
1. (Just scan this.) Lewis, "The End of the Rice Age," Financial Times, 2015.
2. Nohara, "The Scars of Japan's Employment Ice Age," Businessweek, 2020.
3. Various, South Korean and North Korean Environmental Challenges, The Guardian and Scientific American, 2019.
4. Ruwitch, Kennedy and Qiu, On China's 2020 Census Results, NPR and CSIS, 2021.
Please also feel free to post your articles on these topics that you have found useful.
East Asian Geography and Demography
East Asia in 1800
Required readings for the East Asia in 1800 lesson:
1. Emperor Qianlong to King George III (online at: https://china.usc.edu/emperor-qianlong-letter-george-iii-1793)
2. Heshen - charges against him and an inventory of his riches
3. Ebrey, anti-opium placards in Guangzhou
4. Aizawa Seishisai, Dealing with barbarians
Optional (browse if you have time and interest)
Daily Life in Edo
Edo Art in Japan (complete exhibition catalog from the National Gallery of Art), includes many street scenes, chapters devoted to work, to samurai, to entertainment, and more: https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/edo-art-in-japan.pdf
Todd RutleyThe 1793 letter shows that the emperor was certain of the superiority of his celestial dynasty’s “perfect governance” and "majestic virtue" compared to that of the foreign barbarians.
The letter reflects the misconception that Lord George Macartney's mission was intended to pay tribute to the emperor and that Britain sought to benefit from Chinese civilization. This reflects the view that China was the center of the world and that all foreign peoples would subordinate themselves to show respect for its superiority. This may have been the case with the other Asian civilizations that paid tribute to the Chinese emperor, but not for the British who were near the peak of their world power in the 1800s.
The tone of the letter is magnanimous, or politely condescending, towards the British supplicants who are lectured on their ignorance of the Chinese system.
The emperor’s conclusion, after a long and diplomatic letter, was strong and definitive: “Do not say that you were not warned in due time! Tremblingly obey and show no negligence!”
Historical & Modern Maps from China & Japan Reflect Asia-Centered World View
Teachers: Do you use a Mercator projection Western-centered world map or perhaps the less distorted Peters projection? Do you think the maps we use influence how students think about the world? I think that maps matter and that they reflect the worldview and biases of the mapmakers & users.
To better understand Asia I like to look at Asia-centered maps. Attached below are Sino-centric maps that show historical and modern Asian views of the world. These maps reflect how China and Japan viewed the troublesome barbarians that came over the seas from the outer reachs of the earth to threaten the peace of the Middle Kingdom (China) and feudal Tokugawa era Japan.
The 2 maps on the "world center of gravity" show the center of world economic activity in 1800 was close to China. From 1850-1950 the global center of gravity moved to the West as it industrialized ahead of China. Since 1980 the global economic center has been steadily moving east...back to the Middle Kingdom! Maybe the Sino-centric world maps are ready to make a comeback!
Todd RutleyChina's share of the global economy fell from about 33% in 1820 to 4.9% in 1978. This was the result of the industrial revolution in Europe which caused the GDP per capita there to rise steadily from about 1700 onwards. This is often called "The Great Divergence" between the East & the West
Chart 1 below shows the "great economic divergence" between East Asia and the West from 1000 to 2018. Methodology: This uses the Madison database, updated to 2021 $USD.
Chart 2 below shows the "great economic divergence" between China and Japan from 1950 to 1978.
The big question is why such large divergences have occurred historically. What are the differences in national education, economic and social organization that influence these international differences in economic development?
References
The Madison statistics database: https://www.rug.nl/ggdc/historicaldevelopment/maddison/?lang=en
Book. The Great Divergence China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy by Kenneth Pomeranz
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Divergence
Congressional Research Service: China’s Economic Rise: History, Trends, Challenges, and Implications for the United States, 2018 at: https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL33534/96
Jennifer MacchiarellaMy 10th grade world history students start with a journey around the medieval world - looking at what civilizations, trade routes, technology, etc. existed and interacted. We just finished the early Americas, and students were very interested in Incan aquaducts, and how the Mayan civilization was devastated by drought. Although here in western Washington we aren't having water shortages yet, just across the mountains the farms of central and eastern WA are constantly in need of water from the river systems, often competing with salmon runs, hydroelectric needs, and golf courses! I think adding a water component to each unit could be an interesting way of comparing civilizations based on a common need.
Jennifer MacchiarellaI'm not sure about how to use population shift information in my world history class, but my Senior English class has been looking at college demographics. This article from the Atlantic speaks about the gap between genders in college attendance and the possible problems that will arise. They have already had world and US history and we have been discussing what happens in a society with an overpopulation of disconnected men. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/young-men-college-decline-gender-gap-higher-education/620066/
Crystal BokI teach in central Los Angeles and it would be interesting to look at the geography of Los Angeles through maps and visuals to connect to why we (students, their families, and myself alike) live in this central hub and how it came to be. For example, the discussion of river basins would naturally arise as we look at images of the Los Angeles river (as it was before 1940) and to track where our source of water is. This could be implemented as a research project for students to track the source of LA’s water, which could lead them to learn about the chronic issue of historical droughts and depleting waters that affect our water supplies in the Sierras and Colorado River. It would also be an opportunity for students to analyze the political and economic conflicts that arise from resource scarcity in our own state (e.g., protests and demands from farmers with limited water).
clay dubeEast Asian societies saw population growth accompany industrialization, urbanization and reduced infant mortality. Higher productivity allowed that growth, but over time, urbanization, industrialization and education of women put the brakes on that trend. These patterns broadly fit those seen elsewhere, but with cultural preferences and new technology the gender disparity is distinctive.
Students may find it interesting to compare their own community with ones communities elsewhere and at different times. Even within US history, students are often surprised to see that many people in Massachusetts from the 17th-19th century married later than many societies at that time. Why was that? There are some great books and articles about the influence of inheritance patterns and other family strategies were at work.
clay dubeTodd, thanks for posting so many useful resources and teaching suggestions. I am sure many will find them helpful.
The challenge for all is to think of how these materials, ideas and questions might usefully fit into our own classes.
Jennifer MacchiarellaThe comparison of GDP between the US, Europe, India and China in 1800 helps students understand what tremendous global change was brought by the Industrial Revolution. It also helps us understand why China was slower to industrialize, as production was already very high. We focus a lot on why the IR began in England, as opposed to India or China, and this starting statistic helps set the stage for the major economic shift. I also encourage students to speculate WHY China's output was greater, besided just the higher population. We look at cultural attitudes, seasonal weather patterns, agrigultural output, etc.
Todd RutleyIt has long been said that “Demography is destiny”. Indeed, over time demography becomes destiny.
Here are some examples of using demographic data to explain China & East Asia.
References
https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/china-population/
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1950_population.htm
https://population.un.org/wpp/
https://www.rug.nl/ggdc/historicaldevelopment/maddison/?lang=en
Jenn BrandenburgWhat is the structure of the populations in each country or region? What are some geographical and environmental realities that pose challenges or offer advantages? Are you already teaching about these things in your classes? How do you work such topics into discussions? Please do some brainstorming on how such matters might be included in the courses you teach? How do population matters, land forms and water access and environmental considerations affect lives today and over the course of the past two centuries?
This is my first fall in Oregon as I moved from Texas to Oregon this summer due to my husband relocating because of the pandemic. I taught at a campus of 4000 students in an area that was extremly diverse. Now, I am in a rural school with a much smaller population and very little diversity. The region I once taught in had to deal with enormous population growth and urban sprawl (North Texas) and the issues of housing, infrastructure and taxes in our communities. My new campus in rural Oregon is experiencing climate change issues of wildfires and drought. I would like to see how China and other countries are handling both of these types of crises: urban expansion at the expense of the planet.
In Texas, I taught World Geography, AP European History and AP World History for nine years. I loved being able to have students engage in other cultures. Here in Oregon I am currently teaching freshmen World Studies and 10-12th grade AP US History. I am hoping to pull in more non-European and non-American perspectives into both courses. The Henshen documents above would have been such a help with teaching AP World History last year! However, I will be teaching Industrial Revolutions and Imperialism beginning next week in my World Studies classes and I want students to notice and comprehend the perspectives of Europeans in East Asia. This will also be a useful tool for my APUSH class when we discuss American spheres of influence and the economic shifts within China's economy due to reforms which allowed the US to "carve" exclusive trading zones.
In regards to water, I attended a Fulbright-Hayes study abroad to the Kingdom of Jordan five years ago and water scarcity is the prime concern for the country. Water is unsafe to drink and most water resources are used for exporting of agriculture (coriander) at the expense of the rural populations. It is already a problem in the Levant but water scarcity is a concern here in the US. This winter, my former state of Texas had the infamous power grid failure due to the February ice storms. As temperatures continued to fall, usage went up leading to state-mandated outages across the entire state. The result was frozen pipes in many communities and including mine leaving to vast water shortages for weeks in some of the highest population regions in the nation. Right now there are parts of Lousiana still without clean water due to Hurricane Ida. We are seeing this phenomenon in microcosms in real time!
Resource Scarcity:
The diversion of the rivers was fascinating as a means to solve the issues of China in the north. The levees in China are larger than those in the American South yet still have the same issues of maintaining them and the uneven terrain regarding the opposite side of the river. As the nation becomes more populous and industrial, will the maintance be able to keep up with the growth? The issues in Louisiana is rural infrastructure and I cannot help but compare the two.
In regards to using these concepts further in the classroom, I will tie it back to the "water scarcity" my Oregonian students think is a severe problem due to the pandemic: the water fountains closed. My students lament that they have no access to water because of district precautions to prevent the spread of the virus and are encouraged to bring full water bottles to school or a free bottle from the cafeteria. In order to expand on these concepts, I need to start small. I like the graph comparing American water access to East Asia. I did not know this because I have more experience with the water issues in the Middle East. I want my students to understand they have so, so much more access to safe drinking water than the majority of the world's population. Closed water fountains are not the end all be all!
It will be interesting to see as China expands if it will develop technologies similar to the Israelis with desalinization.
Jenn BrandenburgI think that with my students, they are well aware that their generation will not have the same opportunities as generations before them. My freshman may not yet understand geriatic programs but know that these programs need to be paid for by younger generations.
I use population pyramids to demonstrate the different stages of population growth (Stages 1-5) with a variety of countries to compare to the United States. Italy and Japan are excellent examples of the "egg shaped" Stage Five with a larger older population to younger population. As a class, I have students highlight the age groups where people are actively working and then compare to the two dependents groups (childhood [ages 1 to 16] and the elderly [ages 67 to 100]).
By examining the graph, I ask them if this country will continue to be sustainable for its dependents' populations. Students who have grandparents in nursing homes or elderly relatives requiring medical care typically make the connections between cost and dependents. If your district/campus has the Geography Alive Population Pyramids lesson, I highly recommend it for comparisons, discussions and the readings provide an overview the issues governments and families have to make with aging populations!
Todd RutleyAttached is a PDF version of a presentation I have used to discuss China's geography and geopolitics. The presentation was created in response to student's questions about political conflicts with India, Tibet, Xinjiang, etc. My adult students follow international news, mostly on Fox, and ask about what they see on TV.
Not sure if this is useful for your classes. What do you think?
The Lesson Plan
1. China’s Geography
2. The Important “Hu Line”
3. Tibet Geography Issues
4. Xinjiang Geography Issues
5. India Border Issues
6. Can Geography Forecast Future Conflicts?
Amanda McCarthyI really enjoyed our first session today, and grateful for the make-up opportunity!
What are some geographical and environmental realities that pose challenges or offer advantages?
clay dubeWe'll be talking more about climate change and the threat it poses at the end of the class. As you folks are aware, though, the latest climate summit will be in Scotland and opens at the end of the month: https://sdg.iisd.org/events/2020-un-climate-change-conference-unfccc-cop-26/ . China has long suffered from flooding and other disasters, but this year has been hit with devastating floods in the north-central regions. 2 million have been displaced in Shanxi in the current floods: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-58866854?piano-modal
Earlier this summer, South Korea and Japan also suffered terrible flooding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9QMejOTdsI and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYlin8BSfhY
Many are aware of the severe fires and flooding that has beset the U.S. in recent months.