East Asia |
From the information of each country, you should principally focus on the geography, the capital, the population, the extension and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita (the GDP is the value of the total production of goods and services of a given country within a national territory, divided by the average population. Per capita = per head, per habitant. Data of the World Development Indicators, World Bank)
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China
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Population: 1,336,310,713 inhabitants
Land surface: 9,598,060 km2
Currency: Chinese Yuan Renminbi
GDP per capita: US$ 6,757
Language: Chinese
Official name: Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo.
Capital: Beijing, 10,848,000 inhabitants (2003).
Other cities (inhabitants – 2000): Shanghai 12,900,000; Tianjin 9,200,000; Xianggang (Hong Kong) 8,087,700; Shenyang 6,326,000.
Government: socialist republic
Religion: 59.2% of the population claims to be non-religious. The combination of mystical elements of Buddhism and Taoism, Confucianism (which is a moral code, not a religion) and other rites and popular beliefs constitute what might be called the prevailing "belief". The main formal religion is Buddhism (6%). There are Muslim and Christian minorities.
Geography. In China, there are three distinguishable regions: Central Asian China (Inner Mongolia, Tibet and Sin Kiang) composed of high plateaus that are frozen during the winter and covered by steppes and meadows during the summer. Northern China, where the great plains of Manchuria and Hoang-Ho extend, has large plantations of wheat, barley, sorghum, soybeans and cotton. Moreover, it has gone from having a surplus of agricultural products to becoming a net importer. The north is also characterized by its deposits of coal and iron; the Manchurian region is the main metallurgic region of the country. And finally, Southern China is a region of hills and is crossed by the Yangtze Kiang and Si-kiang rivers. It has a warm and humid climate and it is also characterized by monsoons. The country has large mineral resources: coal, oil, iron and non-ferrous metals.
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Geography. The Japanese archipelago consists of 3,400 islands, of which Hokkaido, Kyushu and Handoikoku are the most important. The terrain is mountainous and volcanic, dominated by the so-called Japanese Alps. As 85% of the land is made up of steep and uninhabitable mountains, 40% of the population is concentrated in only 1% of the territory in the narrow plains of the Pacific coast. There, the population densities are always higher than 1,000 inhabitants/km2. The climate is subtropical in the south, temperate in the center and cold in the north. Located at the meeting point of two marine currents (one hot and one cold), the seas of Japan are conducive to fishing, which represents one of the pillars of its economy. Intensive and mechanized agriculture is practiced in the coastal plains and the main crops are rice, soybeans and legumes. Excessive use of fishery and agricultural resources is leading to their extinction. The mineral resources available are limited. The country, which is highly industrialized, has a large foreign trade activity. It exports manufactured goods and imports large amounts of raw materials.
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Taiwan
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Geography. Taiwan is located 160 km southeast of continental China. It is integrated within a chain of volcanic islands of the west of the Pacific, which also integrates the islands of Japan. Mountains stretching from north to south occupy the central part of the island. The main agricultural region of the country is a narrow plain on the west coast, where rice, sugar cane, bananas and tobacco are grown. Forests cover more than two thirds of the island. It has some mineral resources: coal, natural gas, marble, limestone and some amounts of copper, gold and oil.
1. Answer which country the statement refers to: China, Japan or Taiwan
