Made in China: Assignment Where's _____? "China is a land-scarce and labor-abundant economy"

1. How is your geography - or more specifically, how good is your sense of Asian geography? We will be talking a good deal about a country and part of the world that many of you do not understand very well, partly because it has not been the subject of much work in school. That ends in this course where you will become immersed in China, and this is a good way to get going. Below is a map of Asia and you are to locate the following places. You should put the appropriate marking on the spot closest to the place and be prepared to describe why someone might include these places on a list of important places in a Made in China course? Be sure to bring to class your map with the locations clearly identified.

On a number of assignments this semester the class will be divided into two groups where the group member ship is determined by the first letter of your last name. Group A will be those whose last name begins with the letters A-K and group L will be those whose last name begins with the letters L-Z.

2. Later in the course we will be talking about the process of economic growth in an effort to better understand why some countries grow rapidly and others do not, and one of the potential explanations will be geography. Geography has played an important role in the history of China, as it did in the US, and you need to know something about the geography of China, and the place to start is reading two book chapters -  "#1: the geographical setting" by in Naughton and "Geographical Inequalities" by Starr that are available at online reserves. You should come to class prepared to discuss the important features of China's geography and how they influenced China's history and its relationship with the rest of the world. As you are reading please keep in mind the similarities and differences between China and the US. Be prepared to present your observations to the class.

3. Go to the US Census Bureau's International Data Base (IDB) where you will find a list of options that include a pointer to Population Pyramids.  Please pick the US, a country from Europe or Japan, a country from the Middle East or Africa, and China and explain the differences in the current pyramids and describe the projected change in its population pyramids as well as the possible implications of the changes. What do these tell us about China's demographic profile? For those interested in exploring a bit more about China's demographics. Be prepared to discuss your observations in class.