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PENNSVALLEY
Lesson 70:
Physical Features of East Asia
If you look at a physical map of East Asia in your classroom atlas, youwill notice that much of the
region, China inparticular, has steepplateaus,mountains, anddeserts.TheHimalayaMountains form
China’s southwestern border. TheTibetan Plateaumakes up one fourth of China. Two huge deserts
are theTaklaMakan inwesternChina and theGobi inChina andMongolia.
Another dominant feature is that Japan is situated along the Pacific volcano zone known as the
Ring of Fire
. Japan alone has 30 active volcanoes. The region also is an active earthquake zone.
Some of the deadliest earthquakes have occurred inChina and Japan.
Only about 10 percent of the land throughout the region of East Asia is suitable for raising crops.
Mongolia’s land is not suitable for raising crops. However, the land is very suitable for nomadic living
and grazing livestock.
Another major feature is human-made. The Great Wall of China snakes its way across northern
China for nearly 4,000miles.During early times, it was built to keep out invaders from the north.
ACTIVITY 1:
Let’s learn more about the main physical features of East Asia. Use your classroom atlas and the
regional map on the next page to complete labelingParts A andB.Trace the riverswith blue.
Part A – LabelingWater Forms
Part B – LabelingLandforms
Rivers
Highlands andMountains
Y =YangtzeRiver
HimalayaMountains =A-D,4
HH =HuangHo (YellowRiver)
Mt. Fuji = I,4
SK =Si-KiangRiver
JapaneseAlps = I,3
TibetanPlateau =B/C,4
Seas
East ChinaSea =G/H,4
Plains andDeltas
SouthChinaSea = F/G,5/6
YRP =YellowRiver Plain = F/G,4
YellowSea =G,3/4
MP =ManchurianPlain =G/H,2
Sea of Japan =H/I,3
KP =KantoPlain = I,3
Straits
Desert
KoreanStrait =H,4
Gobi Desert =D/E,2/3
TaiwanStrait =G,5
TaklaMakanDesert =B/C,3
Others
Others
PacificOcean = I/J,5
GreatWall of China =D-G,3
TarimBasin =B/C,2/3
East Asia
