【People's Education Press】High School Geography Compulsory Course Part Two

📚 Content Summary

This textbook is a core component of the compulsory high school geography curriculum, delving deeply into population distribution and migration, the evolution of rural and urban areas, industrial location choices, transportation layout and its impact on regional development, culminating in a focus on environmental issues and sustainable development. The course aims to cultivate students’ human-land coordination perspective and comprehensive thinking through case analysis and practical activities.

Explore human-land relationships, appreciate geographical wisdom, and jointly design a blueprint for sustainable development.

Author: Fan Jie, Gao Junchang

Acknowledgments: Approved by the National Textbook Committee Expert Review Board (2019)

🎯 Learning Objectives

1. Analyze and Summarize: Be able to use maps and materials to summarize patterns of global and national population distribution.
2. Synthesize and Explain: Be able to explain the causes of population distribution and migration from multiple dimensions—natural (topography, climate, water resources, etc.) and human (economy, history, politics, etc.).
3. Evaluate Critically: Understand the distinction between regional carrying capacity and reasonable population size, and apply the "limiting factor effect" to analyze resource constraints in real regions.
4. Recognize and Understand: Be able to identify the distribution characteristics of major urban functional zones, explain economic factors influencing internal urban spatial structure, and describe the stage-specific features of urbanization.
5. Analyze and Apply: Be able to use the S-curve model to analyze differences in urbanization across countries and regions, and design basic logical workflows for geographic information technology applications in urban management (e.g., 110 emergency response).
6. Integrate and Evaluate: Be able to provide examples illustrating how regional culture influences rural and urban landscapes, and evaluate the significance of rational use of urban-rural space and protection of regional cultural landscapes.
7. Identify and Analyze: Be able to use charts to identify key locational factors affecting agriculture, industry, and services.
8. Principle Analysis: Understand the changing patterns of industrial locational factors, particularly the economic logic behind corporate headquarters relocation.
9. Trend Assessment: Evaluate the empowering role of geographic information technology in modern services, and analyze the necessity of physical businesses’ transformation and upgrading in the internet era.
10. Be able to summarize and explain general principles of regional transportation layout, and illustrate the necessity of "appropriate foresight" using cases such as Beijing Capital International Airport.

🔹 Lesson 1: Patterns of Population Distribution and Assessment of Reasonable Capacity

Overview: This lesson aims to guide students in understanding the logic behind human spatial distribution. It covers global-scale population distribution patterns and their underlying natural and human drivers, the spatiotemporal evolution of population migration and its influencing factors, and finally explores scientific assessments of how many people Earth—or specific regions—can sustainably support (carrying capacity) versus how many are ideally suited to be supported (reasonable population capacity).

Learning Outcomes:

• Analyze and Summarize: Be able to use maps and data to summarize patterns of world and China’s population distribution.
• Synthesize and Explain: Be able to explain the causes of population distribution and migration from multiple dimensions—natural (topography, climate, water resources, etc.) and human (economy, history, politics, etc.).
• Evaluate Critically: Understand the difference between regional carrying capacity and reasonable population size, and apply the "limiting factor effect" to analyze actual resource constraints in specific regions.

🔹 Lesson 2: Urbanization Process and Regional Cultural Landscapes

Overview: This instructional design covers internal urban spatial structure, the process and impacts of urbanization, and the profound influence of regional culture on urban and rural landscapes. By analyzing land rent capacity, the S-shaped curve of urbanization, and applications of geographic information technology, students will understand the economic logic and management tools behind urban development. Meanwhile, through case studies like the Red River Hani Rice Terraces, they will explore how regional culture shapes unique material and spiritual landscapes, achieving harmony between humans and nature.

Learning Outcomes:

• Recognize and Understand: Be able to identify the distribution characteristics of major urban functional zones, explain economic factors influencing internal urban spatial structure, and describe the stage-specific features of urbanization.
• Analyze and Apply: Be able to use the S-curve model to analyze differences in urbanization levels across countries and regions, and design basic logical workflows for geographic information technology in urban management (e.g., 110 emergency response).
• Integrate and Evaluate: Be able to provide examples showing how regional culture affects rural and urban landscapes, and evaluate the importance of rational use of urban-rural space and preservation of regional cultural landscapes.

🔹 Lesson 3: Industrial Location Choices and Service Sector Transformation

Overview: This course thoroughly explores the locational logic of the three major sectors—agriculture, industry, and services—and their evolving patterns over time. Students will learn to identify natural and human factors influencing industrial location, understand the balance among economic, environmental, and social benefits in industrial planning, and focus on the transformation pathways of modern services, especially those driven by e-commerce and geographic information technology.

Learning Outcomes:

• Identify and Analyze: Be able to use charts to identify the main locational factors affecting agriculture, industry, and services.
• Principle Analysis: Understand the changing patterns of industrial locational factors, particularly the economic rationale behind corporate headquarters relocation.
• Trend Assessment: Evaluate the enabling role of geographic information technology in modern services, and analyze the necessity of physical businesses’ transformation and upgrading in the internet era.

🔹 Lesson 4: Transportation Layout and Its Regional Development Impacts

Overview: This lesson aims to explore the fundamental logic of regional transportation layout and its profound effects on regional development. It first clarifies the five general principles governing transportation planning, with particular emphasis on the dialectical relationship between "meeting transportation demand" and "appropriate foresight." It then analyzes how funding and demand jointly determine the scale of transport lines and stations. Finally, it examines how transportation layout promotes economic growth through optimized resource allocation, reshapes settlement patterns, and discusses governance solutions for urban traffic congestion in modern cities.

Learning Outcomes:

• Be able to summarize and explain general principles of regional transportation layout, and illustrate the necessity of "appropriate foresight" using cases such as Beijing Capital International Airport.
• Be able to analyze the role of transportation layout in promoting regional economic development (e.g., improved resource allocation, reduced travel time and distance) and its impact on settlement patterns and decline or rise.
• Be able to identify the causes of urban traffic congestion, and evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of different mitigation measures (e.g., BRT, bus-oriented systems, administrative restrictions).

🔹 Lesson 5: Environmental Issues and National Strategy for Sustainable Development

Overview: This course aims to help students deeply understand major environmental challenges humanity faces, their root causes, and the historical evolution of human-land relationship concepts. It emphasizes the three core principles of sustainable development (equity, sustainability, commonality), their implementation pathways, and, based on China’s national conditions, provides detailed explanations of the main functional zone strategy, expansion of blue economy space, and maritime rights protection—thereby strengthening students’ awareness of national sovereignty and commitment to sustainable development.

Learning Outcomes:

• Be able to accurately summarize the causes of environmental problems (population pressure, resource depletion, pollution) and identify their primary manifestations (global warming, excessive land reclamation, etc.).
• Understand and distinguish the meaning of sustainable development (the three principles) and its practical applications in daily life and production.
• Master the geographical context of China’s national development strategies, identify key concepts related to maritime rights (territorial sea, exclusive economic zone, etc.), and clearly articulate China’s position on sovereignty in regions such as the South China Sea.