Geography of Asia
Code: 101522 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| East Asian Studies | FB | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- David Saurí Pujol
- Email:
- david.sauri@uab.cat
Teachers
- Hyerim Yoon
- Carlos Alberto Haas Fournel
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
None.
Objectives and Contextualisation
Introduce the students to the most relevant aspects of the Physical and Human Geography of East Asian countries, including geopolitics, physiography, climate, river basins, population, agricultural and food systems, manufacturing, cities ant the environment. Through lectures and practical work in the classroom, it is expected that students will gain a basic knowledge of the Geography of East Asia and that this knowledge would be useful for them in other courses of the degree.
Competences
- Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
- Developing self-learning strategies.
- Ensuring the quality of one's own work.
- Having interpersonal skills.
- Knowing and comprehending the physic and human geography of East Asia.
- Knowing and using the information and communication technology resources (ICT) in order to collect, produce, analyse and present information related to the East Asian Studies.
- Promoting the sustainable development.
- Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
- Students must be flexible and capable of adapting to new circumstances.
Learning Outcomes
- Assessing the obtained results in the information search process in order to update the knowledge about geography.
- Demonstrating knowledge about key concepts and theoretical frameworks of geography.
- Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
- Developing self-learning strategies.
- Ensuring the quality of one's own work.
- Having interpersonal skills.
- Identifying and describing the human geography of East Asia.
- Identifying and describing the physical geography of East Asia.
- Promoting the sustainable development.
- Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
- Students must be flexible and capable of adapting to new circumstances.
- Using different tools for specific purposes in the field of geography.
- Using the basic terminology of geography.
Content
Introductory course to the Geography of East Asia: Geopolitics, Physical Geography, including Climate and Water, Population, Agriculture and Food, Energy and Manufacturing, Cities, and Environmental Issues.
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Lectures | 55 | 2.2 | 1, 2, 8, 7, 12, 13 |
| Tests | 4 | 0.16 | 1, 2, 8, 12, 13 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Tutorials | 12 | 0.48 | 4, 3, 9, 10, 11, 6, 5 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Student own work | 75 | 3 | 4, 3, 9, 10, 11, 6, 5 |
The methodology includes lectures and practical work (33 percent), student supervised work (12 percent), student own work (50 percent), and tests (5 percent).
The course will use the most common tools of the univeristy's online system, news, calendars, virtual areas for the submission of practical work, etc.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Practical work | 20% | 0 | 0 | 2, 4, 3, 8, 7, 9, 10, 11, 6, 5 |
| Tests | 80% (40% + 40%) | 4 | 0.16 | 1, 2, 4, 3, 8, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 5 |
Continuous Evaluation
Students must provide evidence of their progress by completing various tasks and tests. These activities are detailed in the table at the end of this section of the Study Guide.
Review
When publishing final marks, the lecturer will provide written notification of a date and time for reviewing evaluation activities. Students must arrange reviews in agreement with the lecturer.
Missed/failed assessment activities
Students may retake assessment activities they have failed or compensate for any they have missed, provided that those they have actually performed account for a minimum of 66.6% (two thirds) of the subject's final mark and that they have a weighted average mark of at least 3,5.
The lecturer will inform students of the procedure involved, in writing, when publishing final marks. The lecturer may set one assignment per failed evaluation activity or a single assignment to cover a number of such activities. Under no circumstances will an evaluation activity be worth 100% of the final mark
Classification as "not assessable"
In the event of the assessment activities a student has performed accounting for just 25% or less of the subject's final mark, their work will be classified as "not assessable" on their transcript.
Misconduct in assessment activities
Students who engage in misconduct (plagiarism, copying, personation, etc.) in an assessment activity will receive a mark of “0” for the activity in question. In the case of misconduct in more than one assessment activity, the student involved will be given a final mark of “0” for the subject. Assessment activities in which irregularities have occurred (e.g. plagiarism, copying, impersonation) are excluded from reassessment.
Evaluation activities
Two partial exams ( 40% of the final grade each)
The final grade corresponding to the exams will be the average of the grades obtained in each of the exams. This average will only be calculated if the grade for each exam is equal to or higher to 3. A grade lower than 3 will mean that the student must take the reassessment exam for the failed part.
The average for this part must be 5 or higher in order to count towards the final grade.
Group Class Exercises Reports ( 20% of the final grade).
It is compulsory to submit this reports in order to be evaluated.
This grade will be added to the final grade only if the average of the two exams is 5 or higher.
Single Assessment
This subject may be assessed under the single assessment system in accordance with the terms established in the academic regulations of the UAB and the assessment criteria of the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting.
Students must make an online request within the period established by the faculty and send a copy to the teacher responsible for the subject, for the record.
Single assessment will be carried out in person on one day during week 16 or 17 of the semester. The Academic Management Office will publish the exact date and time on the faculty website.
On the day of the single assessment, teaching staff will ask the student for identification, which should be presented as a valid identification document with a recent photograph (student card, DNI/NIE or passport).
Single assessment activities
The final grade for the subject will be calculated according to the following percentages:
Two partial exams ( 40% of the final grade each)
Multiple choice exam ( 20% of the final grade)
Grade revision and resit procedures for the subject are the same as those for continual assessment. See the section above in this study guide.
Bibliography
ARAMBERRI, J. (2018). La China de Xi Jinping. Madrid: Ediciones Deliberar.
BENEWICK,R. Y S.H. DONALD (2009):The State of China Atlas. Berkeley: University of California Press
DUNFORD, M. and WEIDONG,L. (eds) (2017). The Geographical Transformation of China. London: Routledge
FU, T. and HUGHES, R. (eds) (2011). Ageing in East Asia. Challenges and Policies for the Twenty-First Century. London. Routledge
GAVIRATI, P. (COORD) (2022). La Naturaleza del Japonismo
JING’AI WANG , SHUNLIN LIANG , PEIJUN SHI (2023). A Geography of Contemporany China. Beijing: Spreinger Cham
KANASAKA,K, (2009). Discovering Japan. A New Regional Geography. London: JPT Europe
KAPLAN, R.D. (2015). Asia's Cauldron. The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific. New York: Penguin Random House
KERR, A. (2001). Dogs and Demons. The Fall of Modern Japan. London: Penguin Books
LIM, R. (2005). The geopolitics of East Asia. The search for equilibrium (2nd Ed.). Oxford: Routledge.
MARKS, R.B. (2012). China. Its Environment and History. Kanham UK: Rowan and Littlefield.
MILLER,C. (2022). Chip War. London: Simon and Schuster
MILLER, T. (2019) Chin’a Asian Dream. London: Zed Books
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE OF THE 29th INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHICAL CONGRESS ( 2000): Korea. The Land and the People. Seoul: Kyohaksa
PELLETIER, P. (2012) Atlas du Japon. Paris: Autrement
RIOS, X. (2005). Taiwan, el problema de China. Madrid: Catarata.
SAMUELS, R.J. (2013) . 3.11 Disaster and Change in Japan. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
SHAMBAUGH, D. (ED) (2020) China and the World. Oxford: Oxford University Press
SHAPIRO,J. (2024). China's Environmental Challenges, 3rd Edition. New York: Wiley
SHEPARD, W. (2015). Ghost Cities of China. London: Zed Books
STUDWELL,J. (2014). How Asia Works. Success and Failure in the World’s Most Dynamic Region. London: Profile Books.
TUAN, Yi –Fu (1969). A Historical Geography of China. Chicago: Aldine
TOTMAN, C. (2014): Japan. An Environmental History. London and New York: I.B. Tauris
VEEK, G., PANNELL, C.W., HUANG, Y and BAO; S (2016). China's Geography. Globalization and the Dynamics of Political, Economic and Social Change. Lanham, MD: Rowman &Little.
VILA, M. (2024). La Fi de l'Alternativa Xinesa, Manresa: Tigre de Paper.
WONG, D.W. S., WONG,K.K.K., CHUNG,H. and WANG,J.J. (2018). China. A Geographical Perspective. New York: Guilford Press
Software
Microsoft Office Package
Groups and Languages
Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 1 | English | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 2 | English | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 3 | Catalan | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 1 | English | first semester | morning-mixed |