Communism in East Asia!

Hi! So, I was bored and had some extra time so I decided to research communism! There are two main places with communism in East Asia- China and North Korea.

CHINA




























Communism in China started in 1949 and was led by a man named Mao Zedong. Mao was poor and didn't get a good education, but he was really smart. After the Boxer Rebellion, which was when Chinese slaughtered all foreigners, China was kind of messed up. There were famines, poverty, and a lot of people were feeling rather guilty for killing so many innocent people. This made China the petri dish for communism. There were civil wars and invasions by Japan, but in the end, communism it was and Nationalists had to run away to Taiwan (Where, crazily enough, they have one of the strongest economies in the world and are doing that... but I doubt that China's going to be reading this so I'll stop rubbing it in their face.)

Anyway, Mao immediately started his plan to ruin-I mean help- China. He started the Great Leap Forward, where he made a lot of people do things like make steel. Sadly, as Mao learned, if you don't look where you're jumping, well, you could take a great leap off a cliff!!! No one knew how to make the steel they were trying to make, so it came out useless and weak. Plus, there weren't enough people who were farming, so about 30 million people died of starvation.

Now, the problem with people like Mao is they don't realize that if you drag your whole country off a cliff, it probably means you shouldn't just run right back up to it again!!!! At the very least, you should get your eyesight tested before you try to climb up that mountain!!! Still, Mao decided to skip the sight exam, call it an accident, and run right off another cliff!!!!! He started the Cultural Revolution, where he was trying to destroy everything old-old culture, old habits, old ideas, and old customs! He made a group of students called the Red Guard who attacked people who might possibly be against Mao and destroyed old buildings. I don't really know when it happened, but apparently keeping people from getting sick and dying is an old idea, because they decided that doctors, along with artists and professors, were all bad for Mao, because they imprisoned them!! Finally, the Red Guards got out of control and had to be imprisoned and China was freaked out and stopped the economy.

Finally, China learned to trade with other countries and became a huge power like today. I could go on and on about this, but if I did then I'm pretty sure I'd be out of steam before I can even get started on digging out North Korea and eating it alive! But if you want more information on Chinese communism, go here!

NORTH KOREA

Ooooh, these guys got me when I was already all angry, they're totally going to get slaughtered.

North Korea, once a part of the beautiful South Korea, decided that they wanted to be communist in the early 20th century. They have a ton of resources but no idea how to use them!!! Why? Because they had the brilliant idea of staying completely closed off from the rest of the world, so while we learn new things, they stay with their foot firmly planted in the exact same spot. Their economy is rather TERRIBLE, and although they have resources South Korea would kill for, South Korea is way ahead of them! Their farming methods are outdated, meaning that they have a ton of famines. They're fighting South Korea, meaning they have a huge zone that is really dangerous called the DMZ, or the Demilitarized zone, and their making nuclear weapons, although how that will help their economy, I don't know.

Well, my computer just had a little pop-up that said that if I typed anymore about this, it would explode because of the sheer amount of anger that's running through it now. So I'm going to have to wrap this up, saying that if you want more information, go here, and don't become a communist, it's not really a good idea.

(By the way, on the map, the top part is North Korea. Just thought you'd like to know...)

Confucianism in East Asia

Hi! It's Julianna. So, here we are in East Asia! It's really cool here- very pretty and open. Still, that's not what I'm here to talk about! I'm here to tell you about Confucianism!

K'ung Fu Tzu, or Confucius, as we call him in English, was born in 551 BCE in Lu, or the modern Shantung Provence. He was born in the Age of Warring States. Confucius is what's called a sage, or a wise person, and so he had a lot of ideas about government and stuff. For example, he thought that rulers should be chosen by how educated and talented they were. He didn't think that family was enough to make you a leader.

He died in 479 BCE when he was about 72.

He was kind of sexist, but I'll let that slide because he was is a time that that was common so we should cut him some slack. Anyway, he basically made the Golden Rule. He said, "What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others."

Speaking of quotes, he said a lot of things like, "Before you start on a journey for revenge, dig two graves." And "It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop." And a lot of other quotes, like you can find on this page And if you just want more information on Confucius, go to this page!

The Himalays

Hi, this is leah from THE ASIA and a place i would like to go to would be the Himalayas. I would want to travel here to see close up how tall and wide they are and see how it is to try to climAlthough the Himalayas is the highest mountain range in the world, it is also the youngest.

b them.
The Himalayas formed approximately 70 million of years ago following a collision between India and AsThe Himalayas are geologically alive! The southern front moves approximately 20 mm a year and it is estimated that in 10 million years time, the Himalayas will have moved approximately 1,500 km into Asia
ia via the Indo Austrlian and Eurasian plates. This tremendous collision resulted in the beautiful Himalayan range for which Nepal is now so famous.
The Himalayas formed approximately 70 million of years ago following a collision between India and Asia via the Indo Austrlian and Eurasian plates. This tremendous collision resulted in the beautiful Himalayan range for which Nepal is now so famous.When translated, the Himalayas means the ‘abode of snow’!


The Himalayas is formed by three key ‘bands’ all of which are parallel with each other. The highest peak of mountains from within these three bands is the Great Himalayan Range. The Great Himalayan range has an average height of 4,570 meters.

Where to go, Where to go...

Okay, so, now that we're in western China, Olivia just *had* to ask "The Question."

"The Question" is, "Where would you like to go around here?"

Well, like I had thought of that. I want to go somewhere that is happy and has a ton of fresh grapes and cool water and a nice sunny beach and a little bit less competitions. But sadly, that's called Paradise Island and it's where we're racing to. Crap.

So anyway, I had to think of another place to go to. I thought about it and I finally made my decision-

The Jokhang Temple, a Buddhist temple in Tibet.

Okay, now, I'm just going to admit it- I have no freakin' clue weather or not you can just walk into the Jokhang Temple and say, "Hi, we just wanted to see this." But I kind of hope we can because the Jokhang temple is amazing! It was built by King Songtsän Gampo in about 642 A.D. (I'm guessing on the A.D. here... I am pretty sure that it is not 642 B.C. but if you think I'm wrong, please leave a comment so I can edit it!) It is supposed to be the most important temple in Lhasa since Atisha, a famous Buddhist master, taught there in the 11th century. The Monguls attacked it several times, but because it is just that amazing, it is still standing! It is a site of Buddhist pilgrimage and has been for centuries!! There are a lot of statues there. In the cultural revolution, a lot of them were destroyed, but they were remade- often with pieces of the old statues.

Now, if you don't know why I want to go here, you're CRAZY!!!!! Still, in case of crazy readers (and our Social Studies teacher) I will explain-
This temple is an amazing cultural experience. Plus, from the pictures I've seen, it's beautiful. I mean honestly, if you don't want to go there... well, I don't know. You're weird, I guess.



Ohhhhh, if you want more information and the site that was super helpful to me, check out this site.

Into East Asia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey, everyone! Okay, so, we just left South Asia and have entered the land of East Asia! It's beautiful here, very mountainous and pretty. There are views like you wouldn't believe!

China is amazing! We traveled around it to check out some really lovely mountains. There are the Himalayas in the southwestern part of the country. That goes into the Plateau of Tibet, which we weren't allowed to see a lot of, seeing as Tibet is still off limits to us. Still, we managed to see a bit, and the Roof of the World is simply astonishing. China is cool because it has these huge mountains and plateaus but it also has these wide plains and deserts. You wouldn't believe what it's like here. It's sad, though, because most of the plains are so packed you can barely see a member of your group a foot away! It's really noisy, too. If you want to talk, duck into a coffee shop or something that's doing badly! Don't actually order anything, though. You do not know how gross coffee can be until you get in there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Mongolia is stunning as well. It's a lot like China with mountains, plateaus, deserts, and wide plains. In fact, China and Mongolia are the only two countries that have wide plains instead of narrow, small ones. Mongolia is also the only East Asia country that isn't packed to death! Most of it has less than 1 person per square mile!!!!!! That means it's important that we don't get a horrible sickness because we might not find anyone, but you feel so much more free then in the packed cities everywhere else!!!!! It's mainly because Mongolia is covered in the Gobi desert and the Altay Shan Mountains!


Finally, Taiwan! This little island nation does not have the wide plains of China and Mongolia but it's still pretty densely packed! It makes you miss Mongolia! It has some mountains on the less populated areas, but that's the basic makeup of every place! Low areas=high populations!

Well, I'm off to learn the many different languages around here.(Why can't the all just have one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) We'll catch you up later!

(By the way- if you want more information, you can go Here for China, (Yes, they are all wikipedia pages) Here for Mongolia, and Here for Taiwan.)