Chapter 1 General Introduction to Southeast Asia

Chapter1GeneralIntroductiontoSoutheastAsia1.BriefIntroductionSoutheastAsiaincludes11countries:Brunei,Cambodia,Indonesia,Laos,Malaysia,Myanmar,Philippines,Singapore,Thailand,VietnamandEastTimor(independentfromIndonesiabyreferenduminOctober,1999).SoutheastAsiacoversanareaof4,470,000squarekilometersandhasatotalpopulationofabout530,000,000.SoutheastAsiaisthelargestoverseasChinesecommunity.OverseasChineseinSingaporeaccountforover70%,thenabout30%inMalaysia.InSoutheastAsia,thelargest,alsothemostpopulouscountryisIndonesia,withanareaof1,904,443squarekilometersandapopulationof215,000,000.Thecountrywiththesmallestarea(only707squarekilometers)isSingapore,andithasapopulationof4,839,000.BruneiistheleastpopulouscountryinSoutheastAsia,andithasonly379,000people.2.GeographicalFeaturesSoutheastAsiaisthesoutheasternpartofAsia.BorderingonChinainthenorth,overlookingAustraliainthesouth,closetothePacificOceanintheeast,facingtheIndianOceaninthewest.Itlinksthreecontinents(Asia,AfricaandOceania)andtwooceans.SoutheastAsiaconsistsoftheIndo-ChinesePeninsulaandMalayIslands.IntheIndo-ChinesePeninsula,thereare7countries:Vietnam,Laos,Myanmar,Cambodia,Thailand,MalaysiaandSingapore.Amongthem,Laosistheonlyland-lockedcountrywithoutacoastline.IndonesiaandPhilippinesareislandcountriesinSoutheastAsia.Tosumup,SoutheastAsia’sgeographyhastwooutstandingcharacteristics:“heat”and“sea”.“Heat”referstothetropicalareas.Itishotalltheyearroundwithanannualaveragetemperaturebetween25℃to30℃.Mostareashavejusttwoseasons---dryseason(NovembertoMaynextyear)andrainyseason(JunetoOctober)Consideringtherainfall,therearetwoclimatetypes:tropicalmonsoonclimateandtropicalrainforestclimate.TheperiodfromApriltoMay,isthehottestwithleastrainfall.ExceptforLaos,SoutheastAsiannationsareallcoastalcountriesorislandcountries.Indonesia---theLandofTenThousandIslands,over17,000islands.ThePhilippines---theLandofThousandIslands,7,083islands.VolcanoeruptionandearthquakesfrequentlyoccurinIndonesiaandthePhilippines.Malaysiaisoneoftheareaswiththemostvolcanoesintheworld.ThemainriversinSoutheastAsiaallgatherintheIndo-ChinesePeninsula,includingtheMekongRiver,theRedRiver,theMenamRiver,theSalweenRiver,theIrrawaddyRiver.TheMekongRiver,withatotallengthof4,400kilometers,isnotonlythebiggestriverinSoutheastAsiabutalsooneofthemostimportantinternationalriversintheworld.3.HistoryAncientTimes(1)ThemostimportantancientcountryintheIndo-ChinesePeninsula---CambodiaCambodia,locatedinthesouthoftheIndo-ChinesePeninsula,isanorientalcountrythathasevercreatedsplendidancientcivilization.(2)SoutheastAsiaislandcountryancientcivilizationgatheredinIndonesiaModernTimesThemoderntimehistoryofSoutheastAsiaisallaboutinvasion,governanceandcolonialism.ExceptforThailand,alltheSoutheastAsiacountrieswereoccupiedandcolonizedbyEuropeanpowers.Sixcountries---Portugal,Spain,theNetherlands,GreatBrain,France,andtheUnitedStates---hadcoloniesinSoutheastAsia.TheindependenttimeofSoutheastAsiaNations(cf.P10)f4.DiversePoliticalSystemsTheycanbegenerallyclassifiedintothefollowingfivetypes.(1)CountriesofthePeople’sCongressSystem:VietnamandLaos(2)CountryofParliamentaryRepublicSystem:Singapore(3)CountriesofPresidentialCabinetSystem:IndonesiaandthePhilippines(4)CountriesofMonarchySystem:Thailand,Cambodia,Malaysia(theconstitutionalmonarchy)andBrunei(absolutemonarchysystem)(5)CountriesofMilitaryJunta:MyanmarAfterachievingindependencein1948,Myanmaradoptedtheparliamentarysystemforatime.5.TheUnbalancedEconomyDevelopmentResourcesandindustry(1)AbundantcropsespeciallythetropicalcropsTheworld’sthreemajorbarns:Siam(Thailand),Yangon(Myanmar),Saigon(Vietnam),thelargestriceproducingareas.(2)HugepotentialfisheryThecultivationofmarineproductsinSoutheastAsiaisstillinaninitialstage.(3)AbundantreservesofpetroleumandtinIndonesiaisthelargestpetroleumproducingcountryinSoutheastAsiaandthelargestnaturalgasexportcountry.Bruneiisthesecondlargestpetroleumproducingcountrywithadailyyieldof200,000barrels.Malaysiaisthelargesttinproducingcountryintheworld,accountingforalmosthalfoftheworld’stotalproduction.(4)Rapidindustrializationprocess(5)DevelopedtourismTherearesomefamousscenicspots:PattayaBeach(Thailand),AngkorWat(Cambodia),HalongBay(Vietnam)(下龙湾）TheFourLevelsofEconomicDevelopment(1)DevelopedcountrySingaporeandrichoilcountryBruneiSingaporehasbecomethenationwiththehighestpercapitaincomeinSoutheastAsia.Brunei,withthemostpetroleumandnaturalgaspercapita,hasbeenanotherrichnationinSoutheastAsiathroughexportingpetroleumandnaturalgas.(2)Malaysia,Thailand,thePhilippinesandIndonesia:risingindustrialcountries(3)Vietnamunderreforminganddeveloping(4)Cambodia,Laos,MyanmarandEastTimormovingintheirownconventionalwaysTheyarethefourwiththelowesteconomicdevelopmentlevelsinSoutheastAsia.6.MultiplexCulturesSoutheastAsiancountrieshavemultiplexcultures,andtheycanbeclassifiedintoBuddhism,Islam,CatholicismandEasternConfucianism.Myanmar,Laos,ThailandandCambodia---BuddhismIndonesia,MalaysiaandBrunei---IslamThePhilippinesandEastTimor---Cat