China Geography Activities
Questioning China's Geography
For this first activity you will learn more about China's geography and get practice asking good questions.
Instructions:
Instructions:
- Open the link to the right to take a Google earth tour of China.
- Click each place mark and read the corresponding text.
- Identify the most important information in the reading, something you think everyone should know.
- Think of the information you identify as "most important" as the answer to a question that needs to be asked.
- Write out that question. Remember, good, open-ended questions begin with the words who, what, where, when, why, or how.
Map Quest
Mapping China: Use your reading and your China Google Earth trip to label your map with the place names listed below.
Gobi Desert, Mt. Everest, Yellow Sea, Huang He River, Himalayas, China Sea, Mongolia, Taklamakan Desert, Yangtze River
What Do You Think?
Opinion Paper
Civilizations develop because of the gifts provided by the geography in which they rise. While civilizations benefit from their geographic location, they must also contend with and find ways to control the limitations of their geography, limitations such as seasonal flooding.
In the ancient world, cities developed along rivers because the waterways provided resources like food and fresh water for both drinking and for agriculture. Those same waterways could also flood, however, causing great destruction and devastating losses. It seems there is always a trade-off. For thousands of years, the Chinese have built dams to control and to harness the resources of their rivers.
Civilizations develop because of the gifts provided by the geography in which they rise. While civilizations benefit from their geographic location, they must also contend with and find ways to control the limitations of their geography, limitations such as seasonal flooding.
In the ancient world, cities developed along rivers because the waterways provided resources like food and fresh water for both drinking and for agriculture. Those same waterways could also flood, however, causing great destruction and devastating losses. It seems there is always a trade-off. For thousands of years, the Chinese have built dams to control and to harness the resources of their rivers.
Modern cities are no different. Think about San Francisco. San Francisco developed along the banks of a great bay. San Francisco Bay meets the Pacific Ocean at a narrow opening beneath the Golden Gate Bridge. Because of the narrow mouth of the Bay, the ports are greatly protected from ocean storms without compromising the easy access to the Pacific. San Francisco, therefore, is an ideal place to conduct trade. At the same time, however, San Francisco exists along a geologic fault line and suffers from regular earthquakes. It seems there is always a trade-off.
The people of ancient China also had to make trade-offs. Because their northern border was open to invasion from nomadic Hun tribes, they built a Great Wall. While they were better protected, they remained isolated from the rest of the world for thousands of years.
They also suffered thousands of years of seasonal flooding that often took both livelihoods and lives. In 1994, the Chinese government began building the Three Gorges Dam to disrupt that pattern of loss. Pictured below, the project has been controversial since it was first announced. While the hope is that it will protect Chinese citizens from catastrophic flooding, construction of the dam also displaced millions of people and submerged 5000 years of cultural artifacts beneath the deep water held back by the dam. It seems there is always a trade-off.
The people of ancient China also had to make trade-offs. Because their northern border was open to invasion from nomadic Hun tribes, they built a Great Wall. While they were better protected, they remained isolated from the rest of the world for thousands of years.
They also suffered thousands of years of seasonal flooding that often took both livelihoods and lives. In 1994, the Chinese government began building the Three Gorges Dam to disrupt that pattern of loss. Pictured below, the project has been controversial since it was first announced. While the hope is that it will protect Chinese citizens from catastrophic flooding, construction of the dam also displaced millions of people and submerged 5000 years of cultural artifacts beneath the deep water held back by the dam. It seems there is always a trade-off.
Follow these steps to complete this assignment:
1) Watch the short video about the Three Gorges Dam.
2) Summarize the video by writing down at least 3 pros (positives) and 3 cons (negatives) about the Dam. Please use complete sentences. You will turn in your summary with your opinion paper.
3) Next, form an opinion. Either you support the construction of the Dam or you think it should not have been built. In an opinion paper you cannot both support something and also say what you support is bad. That's the role of politicians (umm, that was a joke!). Here, you must choose one side or the other - not both.
4) Then, create a Google Doc and title it "Three Gorges Dam Opinion Paper." Please make sure that your Opinion Paper is in your shared History folder. Write a paragraph - separate from the summary you created listing pros and cons of the dam - in which you clearly state your opinion and support your opinion by offering three reasons for your thoughts.
1) Watch the short video about the Three Gorges Dam.
2) Summarize the video by writing down at least 3 pros (positives) and 3 cons (negatives) about the Dam. Please use complete sentences. You will turn in your summary with your opinion paper.
3) Next, form an opinion. Either you support the construction of the Dam or you think it should not have been built. In an opinion paper you cannot both support something and also say what you support is bad. That's the role of politicians (umm, that was a joke!). Here, you must choose one side or the other - not both.
4) Then, create a Google Doc and title it "Three Gorges Dam Opinion Paper." Please make sure that your Opinion Paper is in your shared History folder. Write a paragraph - separate from the summary you created listing pros and cons of the dam - in which you clearly state your opinion and support your opinion by offering three reasons for your thoughts.
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5) Use your paragraph writing guide to create a strong, persuasive opinion paper. Follow that guide to highlight your "claim," "evidence," and "commentary" in your Google doc.
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