Population Distribution of China - Annotated Bibliography Example

Population Distribution in China Very few people around the globe know that the world population just crossed seven billion in April 2012 according to the United States Census Bureau (USCB). To some of us, this may not seem so striking unless it is known that seven billion walking steps would take you around the globe 133 times. In the year 1800, the world population was around one billion, and in just over 200 years this number has been multiplied by seven times. Today, about every second five people are born and two people die. By 2045, the world population is projected to increase by about two billion. The fact that in 2010, the average life expectancy has risen to an average of 69 years makes the rate of population growth seem unreal. However, one would be surprised to know that if every human being on this planet stood shoulder to shoulder, we would just need an area as big as the city of Los Angeles. So then, why are these figures so staggering? It is because we do not need space but balance. The resources that are at our disposal are limited. Five percent of the world population consumes 23% of the world’s energy, 13% do not have drinking water and 38% lack proper sanitation facilities. Humans thrive on 17% of the Earth’s surface which is land, out of which only four percent can be used for agriculture. These problems of today have motivated me to take up the topic of population distribution. And the specific case chosen is of the most populous country in the world – China. Population Distribution can be defined as the arrangement or the spread of people in a given area. It could also mean how the population of an area is arranged according to variables such as age, race or sex. Population Distribution is influenced by factors such as climate, natural resources, work opportunities, social services, density and culture. A city or town having a pleasant climate, adequate food and water resources, and good employment opportunities is likely to have high density. China, officially known as the People’s Republic of China (PRC), has a population of over 1.3 billion with a density of about 140 per square kilometre. Therefore, this makes China’s population distribution a good topic for discussion as it is the most populous country in the world. In this annotated bibliography, we are going to describe the sources that talk about the distribution patterns of the Chinese population, whereby we will also look at the factors that contributed to the particular patterns of distribution. Zuckerman, P. (2006). Atheism: Contemporary Numbers and Patterns". In Martin, Michael "The Cambridge Companion to Atheism. New York: Cambridge University Press. This text talks about the distribution patterns of the Chinese population in terms of education, religion and ethnicity. According to the author, the population distribution of China can also be expressed based on the following criteria. Taking education qualifications as a parameter, as of 2000, 15.6 percent above the age of 14 had no schooling or incomplete primary education, 35.7 percent completed primary, 34 percent partially did secondary, 11.1 percent completed secondary and about 3.6 percent had done some post secondary education through advanced degree. Based on religious affiliations, officially China is an atheist country holding no affiliation to a particular religion or belief. However, by personal choice, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Ethnic minority religions and Ancestral worship are followed. The author also claims that three to four percent of the population follow Christianity and 1.5 percent follows Islam. Based on age structure, 16.6 percent are below the age of 15 and 72.1 percent are between the ages of 15 to 64 years. Based on sex, the distribution is fairly equal with 51.27 percent males and 48.73 percent females. In addition, the writers argue that the People’s Republic of China officially recognised 56 distinct ethnic groups, the largest of which are Han, who constitute 91.51 percent of the total population in 2010. Ethnic minorities constitute 8.49 percent or 113.8 million of China’s population in 2010. Also, migration from other states in recent times have accounted to the increase in China’s population. The 2010 Census counted 234,829 residents from Hong Kong, 21,201 residents from Macao, 170,283 residents from Taiwan, and 593,832 residents from other locations, totalling 1,020,145 residents. This text by Zuckerman is a great one as it offers the required knowledge and information that I require in my research about who lives where in China. It is very comprehensive and the researches together with discussions contained in it are very through. Min C, et at. (2007). Key natural impacting factors of China’s human population distribution. Population & Environment, Vol. 28, No. 3. pp. 187-200. This article by Min Chen and colleagues talks about the balance of population in China. According to the authors, China is a very large nation with a population of about one billion, two hundred and ninety two million, which accounts for a fifth of the total population of the world. However, the population’s geographical distribution is not balanced at all. The writers claim that there are several factors that substantially contribute to the distribution of the population in an unbalanced manner, which include the economic and social development, natural condition, together with the transportation infrastructure. The authors particularly explore the way the natural factors, which include geographical and resource factors, affect the distribution of population. They have used the multiple linear regressions in the analysis of the way the density of the population of the county and the prefecture population is affected by various natural factors. Nevertheless, the analysis is carried out at two different scales; that is the regional and national scale, which includes the northeast area, east area, the west area and the middle area. The results indicate that the arable land elevation, temperature’s accumulation, proportion together with precipitation, means that the total everyday temperature for the daily average temperature period (Td) over ten Celsius and the distance from the location of the distribution of energy, the distance from the major or bigger rivers in the country are principal factors determining all the counties in the nation. They found that for the prefectures, the major influencing factors are the distance from the major rivers, the proportion of arable land, and elevation. For the region in the east, the proportion of arable land and elevation are the major influencing the distribution of population. Proportion of arable land, temperature accumulation and precipitation are the major influencing factors in the north-eastern area. Proportion of arable land, distance from the location of distribution of energy and elevation are the major influencing factors in the middle area, for the west area, we find that the proportion of arable land, distance from the major rivers and temperature accumulation are the major influencing factors of the distribution of population. This text is also an important one as it has enabled me to have a good comprehension of the factors that affect the distribution of population in China. Overmeyer, D, et al. (2011). "Introduction". The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 54, No. 2. pp. 314–321. This article by Overmeyer talks about the population distribution of the Chinese across different provinces. According to the article, Through history, human population has been more rural than urban depending on agriculture and hunting for survival. In 1800, only three percent of the world’s population lived in urban areas and by 1900 it increased to 14%. However, in 2008, for the first time ever, the world population was evenly split between urban and rural areas and there were 19 megacities in the world having a population of over 10 million. This is because of the rapid industrialisation and technological progress that took place in the 19th and early 20th centuries. More so, he says that the more developed nations had 74% urban population while the 44 percent of residents of developing nations lived in urban areas. However, urbanisation is occurring rapidly in developing nations as well and China is no exception. Over 680 million live in cities which make up about 51 percent of China’s entire population. This has occurred due to the rapid migration to the cities in search of economic opportunities. In 1990, 26 percent represented urban dwellers, which rose to 36 percent in 2000 and 51.27 percent in the next decade. Beijing and Shanghai have a combined population of 45 million. These cities are planning to contain the increase. Rapid modernisation is putting extra pressure on the society and the already damaged environment. With 75 percent of Chinese expected to be living in urban areas by 2030, the demand for more transport, energy, water and other vital resources is bound to increase exponentially. “Urbanisation is an irreversible process...It will have a huge impact on China’s environment and social and economic development,” Li Jianmin, head of the Institute of Population and Development Research at Nankai University told reporters. This article is important to my research as it provides me with the necessary information that I require in knowing the particular locations of the Chinese provinces as well as their populations. Murphey, R. (2007). East Asia: A New History. University of Michigan Press. This book by Murphey discusses the history of the people of East Asia, and China in particular, which includes the movement from one region to another. According to the author, due to the population explosion of the last two decades, chronic water shortages have been a major issue. In 1995, 31 countries, accounting for 8 percent of the world population faced chronic water shortages. This figure is expected to rise to 48 countries by 2025. India, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and Peru are among the countries likely to run short of water in the next 25 years. Parts of other large countries like China already face such problems. The writer argues that though more than 66 percent of the planet is covered with water, only a small fraction of about 0.3 percent is available for human use and reuse. China possessed only 6.2 percent of global freshwater resources to supply 21 percent of the world’s population. Pollution, industrialisation, improper treatment before discharge and irrational use are among the factors affecting the quality of China’s water resources. Thus, the Government is realising the importance of water resources in the country and is taking steps towards safeguarding them and producing alternatives. In addition, he says that three major water conservancy projects in China are summarised. Known around the world, the Yangtze Three Gorges Multi-purpose Project is built in the middle section of the Xiling Gorge of the Yangtze River in Sandouping, Yichang City, in Hubei Province. This book has helped me in understanding the population movements in China and also given me an insight into what is expected in future. Selden, M. (2003). The Peoples Republic of China: Documentary History of Revolutionary Change. New York: Monthly Review Press. In this article, the writer talks about how the highly uneven population distribution of China reflects its climatic and physical characteristics. He claims that very limited area can be used for agriculture and this can lead to depletion of food resources in the future. Transportation problems are also faced by the continental-scale country. Rural infrastructure is still not developed and this contributes to China’s population concentration which is a big challenge to the economic development of the nation. China’s population is both the cause and the consequence of a massive migration. China is roughly about the same area as the United States and located at about the same latitude. China, however, has five times as many people and also the population is not evenly distributed. Moreover, the writer asserts that China has some nearly empty deserts and mountain areas, and in contrast, some very crowded places that have many thousands of people per square mile. The per income is much higher along the coast of China than in the interior. The one notable exception is the province of Xinjiang which is a desert area having large reserves of coal and oil, and government policies give people extra money to move to the north-west frontier. Nevertheless, the writer says that during the last 25 years, income per person in rural areas has increased more than ten times. However, during that same time, income in urban areas has increased even more dramatically. In the year 2000, the average income of a village dweller was 2000 US dollars while that of a city dweller was 6000 US dollars. Most of the wealth is concentrated in the four large urban areas of China, namely Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenyang. All these cities lie in Eastern China. Beijing is the political capital of the country. The other three cities are trading ports with factories that make tools, clothing, electronics, and many other products for sale to people in China and throughout the world. Thus, there is a direct relation between the number of economic opportunities and the population. Thus, with this research it was learned how important it is to study the population distribution of a country. The population distribution has a number of influences on the socio-economic policies of a nation. Also, the capacity of a nation to tackle the various problems depends on the data collected based on the various parameters discussed earlier. For a country like China, some of the policies that can be implemented for control are as follows. Raise taxes in order to provide better transportation in cities. Encourage people to move to other countries. This can solve the population problem and also aid in the development of the nation. The one-child policy must be continued to be enforced. Improve the coastal ports to increase exports. Thus, human geography is an important branch of research especially in current times considering the various problems the world is facing because of population. Read More