1. Why is the interior west of continental East Asia (western China and Mongolia) so dry and subject to extremes in temperature?
2. Historically, China has been afflicted with recurring famines. While famine is no longer a concern, China’s access to food has changed with economic development. How?
3. How might a less authoritarian political system have resulted in changes in the overall conception and design of China’s Three Gorges Dam?
4. Why might a Confucian praise or criticize China’s current political system and its approach to economic and political change?
5. In what ways might globalization have taken a different course if the voyages of Admiral Zheng He had inspired China to conquer a vast colonial empire, like that of Great Britain?
6. Contrast Japan’s pre–
7. In what ways has the one-
8. How has East Asia’s spatial pattern of urbanization been shaped by integration into the global economy?
9. What information technologies are now available to the Chinese and what role can such technology have in the democratization of the country?