KS3 Geography Year 9 – China

Unit title/key question: ChinaTerm: October half term until Christmas Number of hours: 14

Sequence of learning:

Component 1: China’s Physical Geography

Pupils explore their preconceptions of China by writing down the first five words they associate with the word ‘China’. Teacher note – this exercise is likely to unearth a variety of misconceptions and potentially some prejudice. It is important to consider how to address this confidently and leave pupils with a more accurate representation of China whilst not feeling ‘wrong’ for sharing their thoughts as this will inhibit openness in future lessons and remove the opportunity for the teacher to educate pupils. See misconceptions box below for likely points pupils will raise.Show pupils the series of photographs on the slides, every photo has been taken in China, there are some ‘traditional’ ones of terraced paddy fields, the terracotta army and silk farming but also images of ‘modern’ China, a Louis Vuitton shop in Beijing and the Longines Polo Tournament in Hong Kong. Pupils can use thumbs up/downs or mini-white boards to indicate whether they think an image shows China or not. Encourage pupils to explain their reasoning.Pupils label the following on a blank map:China – country of studyThe following which are neighbours or close to China:North KoreaSouth KoreaJapanVietnam

LaosThailandMyanmarMalaysiaIndonesiaAustraliaBangladeshBhutanNepalIndiaPakistanAfghanistanTajikistanKyrgyzstanTurkmenistanKazakhstanRussiaMongoliaTaiwan

Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean – provides global contextHong Kong – major, global cityShanghai – largest city in China – 23.4 million populationChengdu – city of 16 million, famous for being the home of Giant Pandas

Show pupils videos of three different environments in China, the Gobi Desert, Tibetan Plateau and Pearl River Delta. This will develop their understanding of the diversity of China and its scale but also provides an opportunity to practice comparative writing in geography.

Assessment - A Do Now at the start of Component 2 requiring pupils to add labels to a map of Asia showing countries surrounding China

Component 2: China’s Climate

Recap the difference between weather and climate so that pupils are specific in their understanding. Weather is the minute by minute changes in the atmosphere of a given location. Climate is the 30-year average weather conditions for a location.

Explain the conventions of a climate graph. A bar chart showing precipitation overlaid with a line graph showing temperature. The horizontal axis shows the months of the year. The left vertical axis shows the scale for precipitation and there is a second vertical axis on the right which shows the scale for temperature. Emphasise to pupils that in tests, sometimes the years of the months don’t start in January to take care to read the labels. Also, be specific and refer to months of the year rather than seasons as seasons refer to different months depending on the hemisphere. For example, in the UK, summer is June, July and August, this would not be true for Australia.

Pupils will construct climate graphs on axis templates for Beijing and Sanya in China using the data provided on a worksheet. Beijing has been selected as it is the capital, it has a temperate climate with four seasons like the UK. Sanya has been chosen because it has a tropical climate and will show a significant difference when compared to Beijing’s. This provides pupils with the

opportunity to practice comparative writing in geography.

Assessment - A Do Now activity in which pupils use data from climate graphs to complete cloze statements comparing Beijing and Sanya’s climates.Component 3: China’s Family Planning Policy

Pupils are provided with a brief history of China’s population to contextualise the One Child Policy.

Points to cover:

A catastrophic famine in which 30 million people starved to death coupled with the government’s desire to improve the standard of living led to a family planning policy, of which the One Child Policy was just part, and continues to evolve.

• 1959-1961 – The Great Chinese Famine – 30 million people starve to death

• 1970-1976 – Late, Long, Few

• 1979 – 2015 - Couples in towns and cities could only have one child. In rural areas, they could get permission to have two children if both parents were only children or if the first child was a girl. If couples had more children than their quota, they were fined, lost various benefits and/or forced termination

• 2013 – Rules were relaxed so that couples who were both only children could have 2 children

• 2016 – Rules changed so that all married couples could have 2 children

• Single mothers continue to face strict sanctions – their children can be denied birth certificates and not allowed to attend school or receive medical care

• Ethnic minorities were and continue to be exempt from the policy

Pupils will create a timeline to document the development of the policy.

Pupils will complete a line graph on an axis template showing China’s population using data provided by the teacher:

YEAR POPULATION (millions)

1910 410

1920 445

1930 480

1940 516

1950 552

1960 697

1970 842

1980 987

1990 1135

2000 1263

2010 1338

2016 1379

Pupils view population and the economy as a system which the Chinese government has sought to actively influence. Pupils will evaluate whether this has been effective or not.

Pupils will reinforce their locational knowledge of China by examining where people live in China today, by examining population density using the map below.

Pupils will use a template to create their own population density choropleth map. Pupils will analyse population distribution using their maps. Key points to include:

Population density is highest at the coast. This is driven by historical reasons such as most trade being done via sea because goods were easier to move by water before motor vehicles were invented. Easy access to protein is another factor leading to high population densities along the coast.

Population density is linked to climate. The more arid parts of China that form the Gobi Desert have the lowest density. Along the

coast, whilst high for almost the entire length, it is even higher as the climate transitions from tropical to temperate.

Population density is also linked to relief/terrain. The highly mountainous Tibetan Plateau has a low population density because it is difficult to travel around, is hard to build on and has limited farm land to grow food to support a population.

High population density means that people are living in towns and cities rather than rural environments. The movement of people from rural to urban environments is called rural to urban migration and is a common feature in NEEs (NEEs were covered in the previous unit). Pupils will examine how the dynamics of rural to urban migration in China and the impacts on both environments.

Cover the following points:

By 2050 another 2.5 billion people will live in cities around the world, this means that two thirds of all humans by that point will live in urban environments.

Shanghai has a population of 24.18 million, the same as Australia.

1960 – 16% of China’s population lived in urban environments

1980 Factories were built on the south east coast and rural migrants began moving there for better jobs – link back to the population density map

1990 – Companies from other countries began to build factories in China too

2017 – 58% of China’s population lived in urban environments

2030 – China’s cities will be home to 1 billion people

Recap the definition of push (reasons why people leave their homes) and pull factors (reasons why people move to a particular place). Pupils covered these in detail in Year 8 when studying migration so should be familiar with the concept.

Pupils should consider the factors that have led to rural to urban migration in China

Push factors:

Lack of jobs other than farming, which is hard, physical work with low wages

Limited electricity supply

Poorly built housing

Poor schools

Limited entertainment options

Poverty

Unreliable water supply or dirty water

Pull factors:

Good healthcare

Lots of government investment in infrastructure

Entertainment opportunities

Jobs are well-paid and varied

Good schools

Modern, well-built homes

Reliable electricity supply

Reliable clean water supply

Pupils will consider two first-hand accounts the factors leading to rural to urban migration, that of a building site manager in

Shanghai and a factory worker in Beijing.

Pupils will consider the impact of rural to urban migration on rural areas.

Cover:

As the people that move away tend to be young, there are fewer people in rural areas to care for the elderly

Lack of farm workers may lead to food shortages

Poverty increases – this causes a cycle as more young people move away, food production falls, poverty increases and so on

The Chinese government is trying to break this cycle and encourage people to stay in rural areas or even relocate to them. In 2018 they announced a 3-year plan with measures such as making farming easier, reducing the cost of setting up a business in rural areas, improving basic services such as sanitation and improving infrastructure.

Assessment - Pupils to produce a balanced piece of writing about China’s family planning policy to apply their knowledge and practice their extended writing for geography skills.Component 4: Harnessing the Physical Environment

Pupils will learn about how China’s natural resources have been harnessed to facilitate improved living standards and economic development.

They will also develop an understanding of how case studies are used in geography to illustrate fundamental principles by completing an in-depth study on the Three Gorges Dam.

Points to cover:

A dam is a large barrier built across rivers and streams to confine and use the flow of water for human purposes such as irrigation or the generation of electricity. The dam blocks the flow of water creating a reservoir (name for a lake created by humans) behind it. People can then control the flow of water by releasing it through gates built into the dam.

Dams can only be built for electricity generation when there are certain geographical features. Steep-sided gorges are best,

formed from impermeable rock so that the water collected in the reservoir does not soak away (percolate).

The Three Gorges Dam is the largest dam and power station in the world. It illustrates China’s commitment to economic development, the power of centrally-planned government and challenges the image of China being reliant of heavy, polluting, coal-fired industry.

Pupils will explain how the landscape of the gorge has provided the perfect location for the dam and why it is needed. They will also learn about the negatives of the dam, an important aspect of case study work as pupils need to be able to provide a balanced narrative.

First proposed in 1919

Three main purposes; flood control, energy production and improved navigation

Construction began in 1994 and the dam became operational in 2009

1.24 million people had to be relocated to accommodate the reservoir created by the dam

Cost $39billion USD to build

The flood of 1931 covered more than 30,000 square miles (77,700 square km)—including the cities of Nanjing and Wuhan—killed more than 300,000 people, and left 40,000,000 more homeless. Subsequently, more-effective levees were built, but the floods of 1954 and 1998 were still highly destructive and killed some 30,000 and 3,650 people, respectively.  One of the major objectives of the Three Gorges Dam project was to alleviate flooding on the lower Yangtze. The dam proved effective during the extraordinarily rainy summer of 2010 by holding back much of the resultant floodwaters and thus minimizing the impact of flooding downstream. However, the dam still had to open its floodgates to reduce the high-water volume in the reservoir, and flooding and landslides in the Yangtze basin killed several hundred people and caused extensive property damage.

Assessment - A Do Now activity to recall and correctly categorise facts about the Three Gorges Dam into economic, social and environmental concerns/impacts

Component 5: China’s Re-Invention

China invested heavily in the 2008 Beijing Olympics as an opportunity to re-position itself on the world stage. Pupils will evaluate how successful this has been and the legacy of the games, including hosting the 2022 Winter Games.

Points to cover:

• The 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

• Officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad.

• Took place in Beijing, People's Republic of China.

• August 8 (except football, which started on August 6) to August 24, 2008.

• A total of 10,500 athletes competed in 302 events in 28 sports, one event more than was on the schedule of the 2004 Games.

• The 2008 Beijing Olympics marked the first occasion that either the Summer or Winter Games were hosted in China, making it the 22nd nation to do so.

• The Chinese government promoted the Games and invested heavily in new facilities and transportation systems.

• A total of 37 venues were used to host the events including 12 newly constructed venues.

• At the closing ceremony IOC president Jacques Rogge declared the event a "truly exceptional Games" after earlier asserting that the IOC had "absolutely no regrets" in choosing Beijing to host the 2008 Games.

• The choice of China as a host country was the subject of criticism by some politicians and NGOs concerned about China's human rights record.

Contrast China’s reinvention through sport with their role in globalisation and fostering influence in Africa. Points to cover:

China is actively working to make the world more interconnected and interdependent i.e. further globalisation. They see this as the way to continue the meteoric economic growth the country has experienced over the last 20 years that has resulted in China

becoming the second largest economy.

The centre piece is the Belt and Road Initiative. China is going to build infrastructure across Asia such as pipelines and a port in Pakistan, bridges in Bangladesh and railways to Russia. This will create a new ‘silk road’ (ancient trading route bridging Asia with Europe). It will connect 65% of the world’s population directly with China.

The road is not a land road but rather sea routes connecting China’s southern coast with east Africa and the Mediterranean. The belt is a series of overland corridors linking China with Europe via Central Asia and the Middle East.

The idea that improved infrastructure will open up new trading markets so China can export even more goods and make even more money, continuing their economic growth.

China has taken a particular interest in developing interests in African nations and overtook the USA as Africa’s largest trading partner in 2009. 15% of Africa’s exports, mainly raw materials, go to China.

China in turn provides 21% of Africa’s imports, mainly manufactured goods.

Encourage pupils to think about the difference between LICs and NEEs. LICs remain poor whilst they are dependent on exporting raw materials and only transition to wealthier NEEs when they begin to manufacture their raw materials into more valuable finished goods. Is it beneficial for Africa to have this kind of relationship with China?

China is investing extensively in Africa’s transport infrastructure as part of the Belt and Road project, for example the railway line it financed connected landlocked Ethiopia to the Red Sea. This has given much easier access to Ethiopia’s natural resources and to selling manufactured goods to the country’s 100 million people.

Assessment - Class discussion about whether China’s hosting of the 2008 summer and 2022 winter games have and will affect how the country is viewed internationally with a vote at the end

Knowledge & vocabulary

Substantive knowledge

Location of the following:

North KoreaSouth KoreaJapanVietnamLaosThailandMyanmarMalaysiaIndonesiaAustraliaBangladeshBhutanNepalIndiaPakistanAfghanistanTajikistanKyrgyzstan

TurkmenistanKazakhstanRussiaMongoliaTaiwanPacific Ocean and Indian Ocean – provides global contextHong Kong – major, global cityShanghai – largest city in China – 23.4 million populationChengdu – city of 16 million, famous for being the home of Giant PandasA mental image of three different environments in China, Gobi Desert, Tibetan Plateau and Pearl River DeltaThe difference between weather and climate so that pupils are specific in their understanding. Weather is the minute by minute changes in the atmosphere of a given location. Climate is the 30-year average weather conditions for a location.

Explain the conventions of a climate graph. A bar chart showing precipitation overlaid with a line graph showing temperature. The horizontal axis shows the months of the year. The left vertical axis shows the scale for precipitation and there is a second vertical axis on the right which shows the scale for temperature. Emphasise to pupils that in tests, sometimes the years of the months don’t start in January to take care to read the labels. Also, be specific and refer to months of the year rather than seasons as seasons refer to different months depending on the hemisphere. For example, in the UK, summer is June, July and August, this would not be true for Australia.

Beijing has a temperate climate

Sanya has a tropical climate

Key points of China’s family planning policy:

A catastrophic famine in which 30 million people starved to death coupled with the government’s desire to improve the standard of living led to a family planning policy, of which the One Child Policy was just part, and continues to evolve.

• 1959-1961 – The Great Chinese Famine – 30 million people starve to death

• 1970-1976 – Late, Long, Few

• 1979 – 2015 - Couples in towns and cities could only have one child. In rural areas, they could get permission to have two children if both parents were only children or if the first child was a girl. If couples had more children than their quota, they were fined, lost various benefits and/or forced termination

• 2013 – Rules were relaxed so that couples who were both only children could have 2 children

• 2016 – Rules changed so that all married couples could have 2 children

• Single mothers continue to face strict sanctions – their children can be denied birth certificates and not allowed to attend school or receive medical care

• Ethnic minorities were and continue to be exempt from the policy

Key points about China’s population density:

Population density is highest at the coast. This is driven by historical reasons such as most trade being done via sea because goods were easier to move by water before motor vehicles were invented. Easy access to protein is another factor leading to high population densities along the coast.

Population density is linked to climate. The more arid parts of China that form the Gobi Desert have the lowest density. Along the coast, whilst high for almost the entire length, it is even higher as the climate transitions from tropical to temperate.

Population density is also linked to relief/terrain. The highly mountainous Tibetan Plateau has a low population density because it is difficult to travel around, is hard to build on and has limited farm land to grow food to support a population.

High population density means that people are living in towns and cities rather than rural environments. The movement of people from rural to urban environments is called rural to urban migration and is a common feature in NEEs (NEEs were covered in the previous unit).

Key points about rural to urban migration in China:

By 2050 another 2.5 billion people will live in cities around the world, this means that two thirds of all humans by that point will live in urban environments.

Shanghai has a population of 24.18 million, the same as Australia.

1960 – 16% of China’s population lived in urban environments

1980 Factories were built on the south east coast and rural migrants began moving there for better jobs – link back to the population density map

1990 – Companies from other countries began to build factories in China too

2017 – 58% of China’s population lived in urban environments

2030 – China’s cities will be home to 1 billion people

Rural to urban migration push factors:

Lack of jobs other than farming, which is hard, physical work with low wages

Limited electricity supply

Poorly built housing

Poor schools

Limited entertainment options

Poverty

Unreliable water supply or dirty water

Rural to urban migration pull factors:

Good healthcare

Lots of government investment in infrastructure

Entertainment opportunities

Jobs are well-paid and varied

Good schools

Modern, well-built homes

Reliable electricity supply

Reliable clean water supply

For the impact of rural to urban migration on rural areas cover:

As the people that move away tend to be young, there are fewer people in rural areas to care for the elderly

Lack of farm workers may lead to food shortages

Poverty increases – this causes a cycle as more young people move away, food production falls, poverty increases and so on

The Chinese government is trying to break this cycle and encourage people to stay in rural areas or even relocate to them. In 2018 they announced a 3-year plan with measures such as making farming easier, reducing the cost of setting up a business in rural areas, improving basic services such as sanitation and improving infrastructure.

China invested heavily in the 2008 Beijing Olympics as an opportunity to re-position itself on the world stage.

Points to cover:

• The 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

• Officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad.

• Took place in Beijing, People's Republic of China.

• August 8 (except football, which started on August 6) to August 24, 2008.

• A total of 10,500 athletes competed in 302 events in 28 sports, one event more than was on the schedule of the 2004 Games.

• The 2008 Beijing Olympics marked the first occasion that either the Summer or Winter Games were hosted in China, making it the 22nd nation to do so.

• The Chinese government promoted the Games and invested heavily in new facilities and transportation systems.

• A total of 37 venues were used to host the events including 12 newly constructed venues.

• At the closing ceremony IOC president Jacques Rogge declared the event a "truly exceptional Games" after earlier asserting that the IOC had "absolutely no regrets" in choosing Beijing to host the 2008 Games.

• The choice of China as a host country was the subject of criticism by some politicians and NGOs

concerned about China's human rights record.

Alongside sporting events, China has sought to reposition itself globally as an agent of acceleration of globalisation. Key points:

China is actively working to make the world more interconnected and interdependent i.e. further globalisation. They see this as the way to continue the meteoric economic growth the country has experienced over the last 20 years that has resulted in China becoming the second largest economy.

The centre piece is the Belt and Road Initiative. China is going to build infrastructure across Asia such as pipelines and a port in Pakistan, bridges in Bangladesh and railways to Russia. This will create a new ‘silk road’ (ancient trading route bridging Asia with Europe). It will connect 65% of the world’s population directly with China.

The road is not a land road but rather sea routes connecting China’s southern coast with east Africa and the Mediterranean. The belt is a series of overland corridors linking China with Europe via Central Asia and the Middle East.

The idea that improved infrastructure will open up new trading markets so China can export even more goods and make even more money, continuing their economic growth.

China has taken a particular interest in developing interests in African nations and overtook the USA as Africa’s largest trading partner in 2009. 15% of Africa’s exports, mainly raw materials, go to China.

China in turn provides 21% of Africa’s imports, mainly manufactured goods.

Encourage pupils to think about the difference between LICs and NEEs. LICs remain poor whilst they are dependent on exporting raw materials and only transition to wealthier NEEs when they begin to manufacture their raw materials into more valuable finished goods. Is it beneficial for Africa to have this kind of relationship with China?

China is investing extensively in Africa’s transport infrastructure as part of the Belt and Road project, for example the railway line it financed connected landlocked Ethiopia to the Red Sea. This has given much

easier access to Ethiopia’s natural resources and to selling manufactured goods to the country’s 100 million people.

Disciplinary knowledge

Using different sources of information to build a detailed and nuanced understanding of a place The data used to create population density maps and population pyramids comes from census

surveys Impact of historic events on comprehension of human geography How geologists know that a site would be suitable to build a dam

Teachers note, not required knowledge for pupils:

There are several methodologies for the creation of climate classification systems, the broadest terms of which are temperate, polar, hot desert, tropical and so on. Pupils will not encounter the complexities of these systems until degree level. For more information see the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, branch of US government) website for more details: https://www.climate.gov/maps-data/primer/how-do-scientists-classify-different-types-climate

Vocabulary

Beijing – Capital of ChinaCommunism – System of government in which nearly all property and resources are collectively owned and run by the government not individuals so that each person receives what they needCapitalism – System of government in which nearly all property and resources are owned by individuals and run for profitWeather – the minute by minute changes in the atmosphereClimate – the 30-year average weather conditions for a particular place at a particular time of year

Densely populated – lots of people live in a place e.g. a citySparsely populated – few people live in a place e.g. the countrysideChoropleth map – a map that is shaded to show different amounts of something, the darker the colour, the more of something there is in that placeFamine – shortage of food which leads to people dying of starvationGorge – a steep-sided valley with a river running in itRural to urban migration – movement of people from rural (countryside) to urban (towns and cities), common feature of NEE development

Subject methods and resources

PPT to display LO, key terms, cloze statements, data, maps and images

Documentary about Chinese wildlife Knowledge Organisers

Prior Knowledge Map skills, difference between weather and climate, graph skills, population pyramids, different stages of economic development for countries, migration concepts and vocabulary (e.g. push and pull factors), what the Olympic Games are

Assessment of components and summative assessment of the unit (composite).

Components:

Component 1 – A Do Now at the start of Component 2 requiring pupils to add labels to a map of Asia showing countries surrounding China

Component 2 – A Do Now activity in which pupils use data from climate graphs to complete cloze statements comparing Beijing and Sanya’s climates.

Component 3 – Pupils to produce a balanced piece of writing about China’s family planning policy to apply their knowledge and practice their extended writing for geography skills

Likely misconceptions and suggested strategies to tackling them

There are likely to be many around Covid-19. This may be very emotive for some pupils. Teachers will present a balanced view based on the data available at the time and not be drawn into conspiracy theories, particularly around the origins of the virus, which at the time of writing have not been confirmed. Teachers will need to check the latest update on the virus origin research prior to starting this unit so they are in the strongest position to explain how this is being investigated.

Weather and climate are the same thing. Pupils will have been taught the

Component 4 – A Do Now activity to recall and correctly categorise facts about the Three Gorges Dam into economic, social and environmental concerns/impacts

Component 5 – Class discussion about whether China’s hosting of the 2008 summer and 2022 winter games have and will affect how the country is viewed internationally with a vote at the end

Composite:

Pupils to complete an end of unit test. This will consist of multiple choice, knowledge recall questions, key term definitions, graph skills question and a longer essay question.

Low Stakes:

Cold-Calling with robust creation of a collaborative, supportive learning atmosphere i.e. no silly answers or questions, just opportunities to learn. Pupils to be offered opportunity to select a peer if they are unsure of the answer themselves after thinking time.

Mini whiteboards for answers to Do Now starters, low stakes for pupils but also handy for teacher to gain snapshot of class when held up

Think, pair, share giving pupils chance to think through their answers to more challenging

definitions of both of these terms in Year 7. Definitions will be re-capped as a Do Now activity at the start of the relevant component so that pupils clearly link prior learning to current. This will also be beneficial for pupils who were not present for the lessons in Year 7.

General racism towards Chinese people sometimes comes to light when teaching about China. It is important to be open and frank when presented with this views. Pupils need to be reminded of the British Values of mutual respect and tolerance. Where necessary, incidents should be logged on CPOMS.

Chinese people are cruel for having the One Child Policy. The origins of the policy will be taught to contextualise it – approximately 30 million people starved to death in the Great Chinese Famine, which made acceptance of the policy much easier both politicians and the Chinese people to avoid it happening again.

Chinese are ninjas or samurais – these are both Japanese

Chinese and Japanese people are the same – show locations of countries on the map

Pupils may pull their eyes into an

questionselongated shape – direct challenge that this is unacceptable and unpleasant in calm manner

Chinese people eat dogs/cats – some people in China do consume cats and dogs, an estimated 10 million dogs and 4 million cats are slaughtered for human consumption in China each year. However, surveys indicate that the majority of Chinese people have never nor intend to ever consume cat or dog meat. As a comparison there are 91.49 million pet cats and dogs in China. The political tide in China also seems to be turning as the Chinese government re-classified dogs as companion animals from their previous ‘livestock’ in April 2020. There are also high-profile campaigns in China to ban the practice and associated Yulin dog meat festival, with 64% of Chinese people saying it should be banned. In conclusion, this is a complicated point and whilst not a misconception as some Chinese people do eat dog and cat meat, it is not representative of the population as a whole.