On this map, yellow is Eastern Asia, blue is North Asia

The China Game from the Asia Society features geography-based questions about China and Chinese history.

 

For more information about Tibet, see Third Pole: Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau

• The Third Pole is a region of snow and glacial ice that provides fresh water for nearly one-third of the world's people (National Geographic, April 2010, p. 70).

• See also, Black Carbon Deposits on Himalayan Ice Threaten Earth's "Third Pole" from NASA (2009).

 Physical Geography of East Asia:

As seen above East Asia has a great variety of geographic formations.

• What can we infer about the different colors of the map based on their labels?
• Green is wet/vegetated
• Brown and crinkly looking are mountains, if smooth just high elevation
• Yellow means desert and dry 

• The Huang He(Yellow) River runs into the basin of the Yellow Sea

• Travels 3,395 miles, making it the 6th longest river in the world

• The Chang Jiang(Yangtze) River is South of the Yellow River and runs into the East China Sea

• It runs 3,950 miles and is the 3rd longest river in the world, also the longest in Asia

• If you follow the Yellow River and god slightly North you can see the Gobi Desert

• The Gobi means “very large and dry" in Mongolian

• Occupies 1,300,000 square Kilometers(~502,000 Sq. Miles)

• Larger than Scandinavia, England and Ireland combined

   

  Temperature ranges from -40 degrees Celsius(-40 Fahrenheit) to 40 degrees Celsius( 104 Fahrenheit)

• Now follow East, to the edge of the border of China, notice the Himalayan Mountains

• Highest mountain range in the World

• 110 peaks surpassing 24,000 feet above sea level

• One of these peaks is Mount Everest, very roughly marked by the Mountain picture 29,035 Feet above sea level, making it the Highest mountain 

Track Live Expeditions on Mount Everest

The Himalayas cup the Plateau of Tibet (West of Himalayas)

• A plateau is a flat elevated surface, almost as if a mountain had its peak chopped off! (see image below)

• Many important Rivers come source from here including the aforementioned Yellow and Yangtze Rivers, as well as the Indus River(Think back to Mesopotamia)

Population Maps and What They Can Tell Us 

• Population density is very important when studying a region

• It allows us to determine where people are living within an area

• It can further be used to help with inferences about the way of life of a region

• In this Population Density map of China can you determine where most people live?

• The North East Coast, near the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea(use map above to find the East China Sea)

• When using maps sometimes we have to compare multiple maps to determine the location of a landform or event

• What can we infer about the areas where that are uninhabited?

• They are likely unable to be inhabited due to severe geographic conditions

• Comparing the two maps where are the uninhabited locations?

• Deserts, the Plateau of Tibet and mountain ranges

• What kind of population centers are the darkest red?

• Major Cities

 Interactive Population Map of the World

North and East Asian nations bordering or containing the…

Pacific Ocean: (bordering) Japan and Taiwan

Arctic Ocean: (bordering) Russia

Sea of Japan: (bordering) North Korea, South Korea, and Japan

Yellow Sea: (bordering) China, North Korea, and South Korea

East China Sea: (bordering) China, Taiwan, and Japan

Gobi Desert: (contained by) China and Mongolia

Himalayas: run along the border between China and central Asian nations of India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan

Huang He (Yellow) River: (contained by) China

Chang Jiang (Yangtze) River: (contained by) China

Siberia: a region within Russia, running along its northeastern border with the Arctic Ocean

Yenisey River: (contained by) Russia (Siberia) running near the border with Mongolia

Lena River: (contained by) Siberia in northern Russia; this is one of the longest rivers in the world, and its delta is teeming with wildlife.

Kolyma River: (contained by) Russia (Siberia); the river is frozen for most of the year

Sources:
Book:
Geography: Realms, Regions and Concepts, H.J. de Blij and Peter O. Muller, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2008

Web sites:
The Plateau of Tibet:

https://www.britannica.com/place/Plateau-of-Tibet

Himalayas:
https://www.britannica.com/place/Himalayas

Gobi Desert:
http://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/teacher_resources/best_place_species/current_top_10/gobi_desert.cfm
National Geographic article on the Lena River Delta
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/g200/g160.html

story of a traveler’s journey rowing the length of the Yenisey River in Siberia
http://www.timcopejourneys.com/index.pl?page=44

more info on the Yenisey River
http://www.angusadventures.com/yeniseyriver.html

info on the Kolyma River
http://www.mapsofworld.com/russian-federation/geography/kolyma-river.html

pictures of the Kolyma River and other rivers by marine biologists (with group PARTNERS) studying rivers
http://ecosystems.mbl.edu/partners/kolyma.html

Maps:
U Tx libraries
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/asia.html

http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/SPRINGLE/world-oceans-map.gif

http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/dept/chinese/ICL2/chinamap.gif

http://encarta.msn.com/map_701513156/Himalayas.html

http://encarta.msn.com/map_701517782/Yenisey.html