Issues of Geography
Student Handout 2: Economic
Reasons for Peasant Migration in China
Prepared
by Amparo Rivera-Gonzalez, Central Park East High School, Manhattan
Directions:
As a group, take a look at the Tables you have been given and the Maps
of China's Agriculture and Geography. Examine the information on these
tables and maps and discuss what they are telling you about the Chinese
peasant's reason for moving. As a group discuss what you see, comparing
the tables to each other. Write down your answers to the following questions.
- Where do people
earn more money, in rural (countryside) or urban (city) areas?
- What an some
of the reasons you think might be the cause of people in the cities
earning more money than people in the countryside. (Use your knowledge
of China and other societies to hypothesize a little for this question.)
- What are
the environmental or geographic reasons:
- Political:
- Historical:
- Social:
- Look at the
provinces on Table 4 and at your maps. What are some geographical
reasons for people in these provinces (states) making less money than
people in other parts of China.
- Look at Tables
4 and 5. What are the connections between the number of people from
these provinces who migrate and the amount of money they make?
- Why would peasants
in China want to move to the cities? What opportunities do you think
they hope to find in the cities?
- Answer this
question after watching the slide presentation. This question, you
may want to answer as an individual. Based on your observations of
the slides in class, do you think migrants in China have it easy or
hard? Back up your opinion with the ideas we discussed in class and
what you may already know about China.
