Chapter
Where Does China Stand Globally?
Box 1.1. China: World “Superpower”?
Internal Territorial Divisions
The Origins of Chinese Civilization
Territorial Expansion: Assimilation or Invasion?
Box 1.2. Is the Great Wall of China Still “Great”?
One “Chinese Culture”: Far from the Truth
2. Physical Environment and Resources: Diverse and Abundant
Diversity of Landscape: A Blessing or a Curse?
General Location and Physical Layout
Box 2.1. China Is Shaking
Natural Resources to Sustain Development in the 21st Century
Box 2.2. How Smartphones and Hybrid Vehicles Damage China’s Environment
3. Population: Dynamic and Diverse
China’s Population: A Driving Force behind Everything?
How Did China’s Population Become So Large?
Box 3.1. What’s in a Chinese Name?
A History of China’s Population Policies
Demographic Characteristics of China’s Population
Are All Chinese the Same?
Spatial Dimensions of Population in China
Box 3.2. One Country, “Many Nations”?
Dynamics and Quality of the Population in China
4. Agriculture, Food, and Culture
Food Culture, Population, and Feeding the Masses
The Physical Environment and Chinese Agricultural Regions
Box 4.1. What Crops Should Grow Where?: An Economic Land Rent Model
Seafood Production and Aquaculture
Food Production Trajectories, Food Security, and Food Safety
Agricultural Practices, Diet, and Food Culture
Box 4.2. Some Famous Chinese Foods
5. China’s Changing Economic Geography: State, Space, and Market
Chinese‑Style Economic Reform: A Planned versus Market Economy
Making Space for Economic Growth
Box 5.1. “Making Space” Globally for Economic Development
Building a New Regional Geography of Industrial Locations
Box 5.2. What Does “Made in China” Mean?
Serving over 1.3 Billion People
6. Chinese Cities: Growing in Size and Number
City Systems, Size Distribution, and Urban Hierarchy
Internal Structure of Chinese Cities
The Changing and Globalizing Chinese Cities
Box 6.1. Ghost Towns and Ghost Cities
7. Beyond the Cities: The Chinese Countryside
How Important Is Rural China?
What Does “Rural” Mean in China?
Box 7.1. Being Rural as “a Way of Life”
Segregation of Urban and Rural
Box 7.2. Villages-in-the-City
Distinctive Rural Practices
Chinese Peasants and Rural Life
8. Transportation Geography and E‑Commerce Logistics in China
When Many People Move at the Same Time
A Shift in Transportation Network Development: From Railways to Highways
Box 8.1. What Do Those Highway and Railway Numbers and Letters Mean?
The Rapid Development of Ports for International Trade
Traveling by Air or by High‑Speed Trains?
Driving or Taking Public Transit in a Chinese City?
Box 8.2. Bus Rapid Transit in Guangzhou
The Coevolution of Online Shopping and Express Parcel Delivery
9. An Environmental Crisis with Chinese Characteristics
China’s Environmental Crisis: The Setting
Box 9.1. Air Quality and the Olympic Games
Dwindling Water Resources
Box 9.2. Water Pollution Problems in Lakes and Reservoirs: The Blue-Green Algae Bloom in Taihu Lake
The “Bad Earth”: Desertification in China
Coping with Climate Change
Part III. Selected Regions
Physical Settings of the Coastal Region
Economic Development Policy and Its Importance to the Coastal Region
Historical and Economic Variations within the Coastal Region
The Yangtze River Delta Region as an Economic Engine
Box 10.1. Shanghai: The Most Westernized Chinese City, Then and Now
Hainan: Isolated but Attractive
11. The Periphery of China
What Is Special about the Peripheral Region?
South–Southwest: Land of Diversity
North–Northeast: Land of Adversity
Box 11.1. Where Is the “Silk Road” Today?
Box 11.2. Ice and Snow for Fun, but How Much Longer?
12. Beyond the Mainland: Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan
Box 12.1. Let’s Take a Day Trip to “Vegas”
Box 12.2. Occupy Central/the Umbrella Movement
Economic Integration of the Greater China Region
Box 12.3. Evolving National Identities of Residents in Hong Kong and Taiwan
13. China at the Crossroads
Further Development and Tourism
Websites for Organizations
China
：A Geographical Perspective
( Texts in Regional Geography )
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