Housing In India And China Essays - Urban Geography, Development

Housing In India And China Housing in China China is by far the most populated country in the world. With billions of people China has many different way in which they are housed. From farm villages to gigantic cities the Chinese all need a place to live. Like the other countries in this paper China is mostly rural countryside where farmers grow everything from rice to wheat. With the exception of its mountains and hills, the overwhelming majority of Chinese settlements are rural compact villages. The formation of these villages are caused by it water source, population and in earlier years, defense. Live in these villages are very simple and have not changed for centuries. Even with populations in the thousands farm villages have no aspect of urban life at all. A normal house in a farm town is made of either sun dried brick, or packed earth. Roofs are typically thatched or made of tile. Homesteads are connected footpaths and cart tracks. Larger farm villages are known as market towns because they usually have a market in which nearby villagers can barter their crop for manufactured goods. Several villages can be linked to a market town by dirt roads. Many market towns have a larger population and more wealth than farm villages. For this reason the towns where walled for protection from bandits and barbarians. In the south the land is dominated by rice patties. Along to Yangtze river delta, villages are only two miles apart and most have their own markets. The town and villages in the south are generally larger and people travel and communicate using boats on the river. Another type of housing in China are cave dwellings found in the Loess Plateau, where timber is scarce. The advantage of these dwellings are that they are naturally insulated making them warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Urbanization in China began in 1953, as the government intensified its efforts to make it a industrial power. As factories and mining centers where developed, cities and towns were built around them. People who live in cities usually live in large apartment buildings. There is good heath care, schools, but they are generally very crowded. Large roadways and railroad systems also helped to spread urbanization throughout the country. In China, because of communism, there are no classes. People are either poor or wealthy, there is not much of a median. Government officials live in the bigger cities in large estates. Today, China is on the cutting edge of architecture. Huge skyscrapers have been built and other nations have been taking in what the Chinese have built. In earlier years China was the most technologically advanced civilization in the world. Reminders of this era still stand today, like the great wall and the emperors palace. Also, we can see reminders of this period in our own country for example, the Chinese theater in Hollywood. Now Chinas style in decoration is a popular trend its art and luxurious nature. In conclusion, housing and the way people live, are very similar yet different between the three countries China, India, and Africa. I believe the best way to learn about it is to actually go there which I hope to do someday. Housing in India India has the second highest population in the world, only surpassed by China. Indias billion plus citizens live in huge cities and small farm villages. Although most are people are poor, some are rich and live in large estates, while most of the population lives in one room shacks. India is a large, diverse, nation and its many people live in all different kinds of houses. Most Indians live in rural villages. A typical farm village has narrow, unpaved roads that usually end in a culs-de-sac. They are packed close together with the higher classes in the core, and lower castes expand outwards. The villages have a school that is on the outskirts if the village so children can have some space to play, because there is little room. As a classes population expands stories grow on houses to compensate for them so they can stay in the ring with their class, rather than living with lower classes outside of town where there is plenty of room