Social Studies: Beijing and Your City

Summary: Students collect and compare features and statistics of Beijing and a community (or communities) in Minnesota.

Minnesota Academic Standards Information

Subject Area Focus: Social Studies

Educational Level: Teachers may adapt the activity for the various grade levels. Intermediate, Middle, High

High (9-12) Level

The student will use maps, globes, geographic information systems, and other databases to answer geographic questions at a variety of scales from local to global.

For the complete standard, see the Minnesota Academic Standards web site at http://education.state.mn.us/mde/Academic_Excellence/Academic_Standards/index.html

Middle (6-8) Level

The student will use maps, globes, geographic information systems and other sources of information to analyze the nature of places at a variety of scales.

For the complete standard, see the Minnesota Academic Standards web site at http://education.state.mn.us/mde/Academic_Excellence/Academic_Standards/index.html

Intermediate (4-5) Level

The student will use maps, globes, geographic information systems and other sources of information to analyze the nature of places at a variety of scales.

For the complete standard, see the Minnesota Academic Standards web site at http://education.state.mn.us/mde/Academic_Excellence/Academic_Standards/index.html

LEARNING ACTIVITY

Directions

Objectives:

1. To begin to understand the scope of Beijing.
2. To compare statistics of two cities/communities.

Preparation: Review areas that are to be the focus of the comparison.

Time Required: 40-80 minutes

Description

Beijing, the capital of China, is a very large city.  With over 13 million people living there, it is the second largest city in China, second only to Shanghai. The sheer volume of people, features, attractions, services and organizations staggers the imagination.  Have students compare your community with Beijing to begin to get an understanding of the size of the city and its resources.

1. Decide what community (or communities) students will compare with Beijing.  Consider comparing two Minnesota areas with Beijing to get a better perspective on the differences.  For example, if you live in a small town close to Duluth, use both your town and the city of Duluth as your comparison communities.  Or, do the Twin Cities metropolitan area and a rural community in greater Minnesota.
2. Select categories that you will compare.  Start with some of categories listed with the Beijing data below.  Also, consider features that are particular to or significant in your own community and see if you can find related data about Beijing.
3. Have students find the comparative data about the Minnesota community studied.  You may want to divide this work among small groups or partners. For example, one group might focus on transportation information while another takes the arts.
4. Have students compare and present the data from the cities.  Consider using graphs to visually represent the data and calculate how many times greater the Beijing statistics are compared to your local community (e.g., "Beijing has 200 times more parks than my city.)
5. Discuss the significance of the Beijing’s scope. Consider these questions:   Why is Beijing so large?  Why is it located where it is?  What geographic features have shaped the development of the city? How have the people modified the physical environment? What will Beijing look like in the future? What do you think would be the benefits of living in such a large city? What do you think would be the challenges of living in such a large city? What are the benefits and challenges of living in a town the size of your community?
6. To extend this activity to a high school level, include a change-over-time analysis.  For example, students could study how Beijing’s pollution has changed with industrialization and how the metropolitan area has dealt with pollution issues as it has grown.

BEIJING FACTS

Present city settled: more than 2000 years ago.

First settlement in the area: 3000 BC or earlier.

Temperatures: higher than 38°C (higher than 100°F) in July and drop lower than -15°C (lower than 5°F) in January.

Area: about 16,810 sq km (6,490 sq mi).

43 feet above sea level.

Covers an area of 16,800 square kilometers, 38% is flat land and 62% mountains.

Annual rainfall averages nearly 700 millimeters, mostly in July and August.

Winter is dry, cold and has little snow with 185 frost-free days.

Institutions for Learning

More than 70 institutions of higher learning such as the famous Beijing University, Qinghua University, two medical colleges, Beijing Institute of Foreign Languages, more than 500 scientific research institutions.

Arts, Information, Transportation and Leisure Activities:

Academies of fine arts, drama, dance and music.

More than 300 publishing houses.

Hundreds of newspapers and periodicals published within the city.

Beijing Zoo, which is famous for its collection of pandas.

Railroad hub with all sections of China linking directly to Vietnam, Mongolia, Manchuria and Russia.

Major airport expansion in 1999 with links to all major Chinese cities and numerous foreign countries.

People
Estimated population: 13,820,000.

Make-up: ten urban districts and eight predominantly rural counties. The urban districts include four dense city districts and six suburban districts.

Workers in the early 1990s: more than 2.1 million workers in industry; about 684,000 construction workers; about 900,000 in agriculture; more than 1 million workers in commercial and service activities; more than 1 million transients (visiting workers on temporary permits or illegal workers not included in the official population statistics, working as construction workers, domestic servants, and in other service activities).

Majority population: more than 90 percent Han Chinese

Minority populations: less than 10% Manchus, Mongols, Turkic peoples from western China, and other minority nationalities and foreigners

Language: Mandarin Chinese

Information from "Beijing," in Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2001: http://encarta.msn.com/

Learning Resources:

Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia

http://encarta.msn.com

InfoPlease.Com

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/A0806796.html.

U.S. Department of State

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/18902.htm

Sites for Information on Minnesota Communities:

Minnesota State Government

http://www.northstar.state.mn.us

Community Profiles

http://www.mnpro.com/

Explore Minnesota

http://www.exploreminnesota.com

Minnesota Cities

http://www.state.mn.us/portal/mn/jsp/content.do?subchannel=-536879913&id=-8494&agency=NorthStar

Electronic Library of Minnesota (ELM) through your school library or through http://www.elm4you.org.

Printable Materials: None

Evidence of Learning: The following product(s) supply evidence of student learning.

• Presentation of comparative data.
• Participation in classroom discussion.

Special Notes

Technology Integration:

Incorporate technology tools and resources in ways that enhance and support teaching and learning.

• Use spreadsheets to collect, compare, and present data.
• Use ELM, the Internet and CD-ROM resources to find comparative data.

Accommodations

Change the activity to accommodate students with different needs, knowledge and skills.

• Provide students with the data for the comparison city.
• Work with a smaller subset of the statistics.

Extensions

Extend students' learning with additional activities.

• Have students compare the economic opportunities and services available in each city.

Sources/Credits: Initial concept from Pat McNeal, Holdingford Schools. Learning resources originally collected from state library staff at the Minnesota Department of Education.

Entire List of Curriculum Activities