WRITING SKILLS ASSESSMENT PROJECT

John L. Student
HIS 372, Revolutionary Movements in Modern China
Lee a. Makela
January 29, 2001

THE INFLUENCES OF GEOGRAPHY ON CONTEMPORARY CHINESE LIFE

The impact of geography on the development of cultural variations in that area of the globe now considered part of the "Peoples Republic of China" has been enormous. Even today, evidence of humanity's adaptation to the widely varying climatic and geographical conditions found within "China" continues to be reflected in Chinese culture, cuisine and patterns of economic development.

Some peripheral areas -- the lush and mountainous southwest, for example, and the high and dry steppe areas in the north and west -- have yet to be fully incorporated into the cultural mainstream. Instead even today these geographically-defined areas are home to "national minorities" allowed by the authorities in Beijing to govern themselves, a recognition of the cultural diversity present as a consequence of local adaptations to dramatically different geophysical settings. The Nei Monggol Autonomous Region in the northeast allows the horse-riding Mongol nomads of this area a large degree of self-government in recognition of the difficulty of applying sedentary political expectations to such a mobile group of pastoral herders. In Yunnan in the distant southwest some eight different autonomous prefectures exist, testimony to the wide diversity introduced to this region due to the mountainous local terrain (Map, Chinese National Minorities and Major Areas of Distribution, 1979, < http://www.easc.indiana.edu/pages/
easc/curriculum/china/1996/EACPWorkBook/geog/bei_rev.htm >, January 29, 2001).

Even within China Proper itself, major differences in cuisine continue to exist as a result of differing climatic and geographical considerations. The wide and open plains and milder climate in the north still encourage the planting of wheat, sorghum and other grains. In the south, the smaller valleys and wetter, warmer weather common to the area influences a continued devotion to the cultivation of rice a dietary staple (Leeming, 12).

Modern economic prosperity, too, is often tied to the distinct difference between the regions to the east, blessed by relatively large expanses of arable land, and those to the west where mountains and deserts severely restrict agricultural or other forms of economic development. Both contemporary population density and industrial development patterns tend to reflect similar distribution patterns as a direct consequence of this geographical disparity (Scarborough, 122).

Whether we look at the distribution of "national minorities" in China today, at differences in cuisine or at disparities in economic production rates, then, we continue to see the contemporary influences of age-old geographical characteristics on contemporary Chinese life in the Peoples Republic of China today.

BIBLIOGRAPHY of WORKS CITED

Leeming, Frank. The Changing Geography of China. Oxford and Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1993.

Map, Chinese National Minorities and Major Areas of Distribution. China: A Teaching Workbook. Beijin Review, No.6, February 9, 1979. East Asian Studies Center, Indiana University. January 29, 2001.
< http://www.easc.indiana.edu/pages/easc/curriculum/china/1996/EACPWorkBook/geog/bei_rev.htm >.

Scarborough, Jack. "Comparing Chinese and Western Cultural Roots: Why 'East is East and ...'". Business Horizons November 1998: 120+.

Trimmer, Joseph F. A Guide To MLA Documentation: With An Appendix On APA Style. 5th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999.