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READING
Here's a state of things
Local Ecologies
Grand Histories
Modern Predicaments
What next?


WRITING
Local Ecologies
Grand Histories
Modern Predicaments
What Next?

Preparing for the Quiz on April 19, 2016


In order to discuss anything intelligently about China's environment, you will have to go beyond the usual NYT or other journalistic practice of locating someplace "700 miles southwest of Beijing" or "here in China's rugged West." You need, in fact, to know the following things, so you will be quizzed on them. You need to get 95% correct in order to get a passing grade for this class; if you don't make 95%, you will be able to retake the quiz as many times as you need (in my experience, it has never taken more than 2 retakes), but you cannot pass the class, no matter how good your paper grades, until you have passed this quiz with a 95% score.

Here is what you need to know:
  • All the provinces, directly administered municipalities, and provincial-level autonomous regions. You will be given a version of the maps and dates to fill in without the numerical keys to what's what, but with a list of provinces.
  • The locations of the following major cities: Shanghai, Beijing, Harbin, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Chengdu, Xi'an, Kunming, Tianjin, Hong Kong.
  • The names of the major rivers: Songari, Liao, Yellow, Huai, Yangtze, West, Red, Mekong, Salween
  • The approximate location of the boundary between agricultural and pastoral regions, and the approximate location of the boundary between rice farming and dry-grain farming.
  • The major mountain ranges: Xing'an, Taihang, Qinling, Daba, Wuyi, Nanling, Altai, Tianshan, Kunlun, Himalayas
  • The location of the following important features: North China Plain, Loess Region, Zungarian Basin, Tarim Basin, Tibetan Plateau
  • The order of the major dynasties in Chinese history: Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, Wei-jin, Northern and Southern Dyansties, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing, and the approximate dates of the longest ones: Zhou, Han, Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing. They are listed on the quiz preparation sheet.
  • The order and dates of the following events in PRC history: Founding of the PRC (1949), Land Reform (1947-51), Collectivization (1953-58), Great Leap Forward (1957-60), Period of Collective Agriculture (1956-82), Cultural Revolution (1966-78), Beginning of Reforms (1978), Tian'anmen Massacre of June 4 (1989), Logging Ban 1998), Olympic Games (2008).