The East Asian region stretches over 11,285,070 cubic km, a total of 8.4% of the world's landmass; the population is approx. 4.5 billion people, many whom live in the political divisions of : People’s Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. Many may follow the religions of Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Islam, etc. Some languages spoken in this region are Chinese (mainly Mandarin and Cantonese) , Japanese, Korean, and Tibetan.

The monsoon is a determining factor of the climate in China, but generally, the regions have long winters, the cause being frigid north/northwest winds incoming from Siberia, and dry summers with scarcely no precipitation. There is constantly in the area "low soil moisture and air humidity in spring and early summer; and frosts in spring and autumn.” -(Regional Overview: East Asia.) Vegetation such as "northern tundra and arboreal to southern tropical and subtropical ecosystems, include several major mountain ranges, and comprise forest ecosystems, grasslands, deserts, and also important wetland systems." -(East Asia Biomes) are a trademark of the region; the Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau, which is a source of major rivers and drives monsoon climatic  patterns, is a globally unique feature.

East Asia still remains one of the main economic powers, being the reason for the 2/5 of the world' economic power. The region itself is expected to grow 6.5% economically; China is to sprout 7% while other countries reach 4.5%. China's imminent slowdown in economy is destined to lower economy in neighboring countries seeing as this and U.S. interest rates are going to usurp the set economy.  Policies are more likely to focus on reforming countries' situations economically as a hope of lifting people out of poverty.

China's president is the head of state and the Premier is the head of government; the Chinese Communist Party controls the government and is more likely to get "top posts in government, economy, the military, and security services." -(Government of East Asia.) Japan's figurehead is the emperor but power lies in the Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Ministers; there is universal rights for mature adults. North Korean citizens have civil and political rights, but because it is defined as a dictatorship of people's democracy, protects political and speech rights from them; on the other hand, South Korea focuses on protecting human rights as well as greatly on economic rights. Taiwan's government establishes control over power of other branches, examining civil service, passing fair laws, and judging others for crimes.

East Asia trades chemical products, transportation equipment (passenger cars, passenger and cargo ships, etc.), machinery (metalworking machines), electrical equipment (integrated circuits, LCDs, etc.), fuels (coal briquettes, refined petroleum, etc.), et cetera. Imports consist of, but are not limited to, electrical equipment (semiconductors,photoelectric cells, etc.), manufactured goods (iron, steel, rubber, etc.), apparel/accessories (synthetic filament yarn woven fabric), fuel (crude petroleum, petroleum gas, etc.), and agricultural products. All of the listed above exports are expensive in the market, people paying millions for them because of their importance to transportation, meaning there would be a rise in East Asian economy/trade.

23.5000° N, 121.0000° E

"Taiwan Latitude and Longitude Map"

25° 03'N and 121° 30'W 

Existing in both the eastern and northern hemispheres, Taiwan is bisected by the Tropic of Cancer, its position being the southeastern area of Asia, immediately east of China. It is also bordered by the East China Sea, South China Sea, Luzon Strait, Taiwan Strait and Pacific Ocean. Source: World Atlas

The population of Taiwan is about 23 million people, with ⅘ of the population being descendants of Han Chinese settlers. Most people living in Taiwan live in the north; average people living up in the northeast while aborigines live in the northwest. In Taiwan, Mandarin Chinese is the national language but Taiwanese citizens are able to speak on of the seven local/aboriginal languages as well. The national currency is the use of the New Taiwan Dollar. The president controls the five administrative branches: executive, legislative, control, judicial, and examination. The legislative is the lawmaking body and the control is law enforcement; the 29 control members serve six-year terms. The judicial administers judgement of those suspected of crimes and are appointed by the president, serving 9-year terms.

Source: World Atlas, China Highlights, and Culture of Taiwan

People have changed the environment to better suit the area in the sense that they are using it to generate power. They have taken advantage of the seemingly endless winds and solar power, and put them to use as generators. There are also six active nuclear power reactors (Chinshan 1-2, Kuosheng 1-2, Maanshan 1-2) that provide 1/4 of the country's power. According to the article "Nuclear Power in Taiwan": "Electricity production grew at 4.4% per year 1992-2012, and per capita electricity consumption was 10,424 kWh in 2012. Nuclear power has been a significant part of the electricity supply for two decades and now provides one quarter of base-load power and 16% overall. Total power generated in 2012 was 250 billion kWh gross, nuclear providing 40 TWh, coal 123 TWh, oil 6.4 TWh, LNG 67 TWh, hydro (including pumped storage) 8.6 TWh, biofuels and waste 3.4 TWh, solar and wind 1.6 TWh. Generating capacity in 2012 was 48.4 GWe, with 17.4 GWe coal, 15.9 GWe LNG, 5.1 GWe nuclear, 4.7 GWe hydro (including pumped storage), 0.57 GWe wind and 0.22 GWe solar." (TWh stands for Terra-watt hour, and GWe stands for Gigawatt.) Taiwan uses nuclear power as it is very cheaper compared to other methods of getting energy, it "[doesn't] require large-scale fuel imports and produce virtually no carbon emissions." ("The world can't shun nuclear power" by Stephen Stromberg.) As well, "Taiwan has between 300 and 400 onshore wind turbines" ("The world can't shun nuclear power" by Stephen Stromberg) that they use as another source of electricity.

24% of the land is used for cultivation, Taiwan's agriculture being characterized by "high yields, irrigation, terracing, multiple cropping, and extensive use of fertilizers." (Agricultural Features of Taiwan.) According to the article "Agricultural Features of Taiwan": "Rice is its principal food crop, others include sweet potatoes, bananas, peanuts, soybeans, wheat, pineapples, crude tea, and asparagus… etc..." Being surrounded by 1,600 km of coastline, Taiwan has an abundant domestic market in seafood. The forest counts for 58.8% of Taiwan's landmass, meaning forest resources are overflowing, and that is well deserved seeing as "Taiwan red false cypress and Taiwan hinoki false cypress are the most valuable types of softwood grown in Taiwan's mountain area." (According to the article "Agriculture in Taiwan")

The movement of information in Taiwan is the Taiwan’s Sunflower Protest. According to “Taiwan’s Sunflower Protest: Digital Anatomy of a Movement” by Tracey Cheng it says,“March 18th, 2014, hundreds of students occupied the “Legislative Yuan,” Taiwan’s parliament, to protest against the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement (CSSTA). A network of tech-savvy volunteers immediately began to use digital tools to broadcast their message to sympathizers and the public. Soon, thousands of citizens rallied on the streets outside the parliament to support the students inside. This movement became known as the “Sunflower Movement." This shows us that the information is moving throughout Taiwan.

Major exports in Taiwan are (according to the article "U.S.-Taiwan Trade") "Electrical Machinery ($13.9 billion), Machinery ($6.6 billion), Vehicles ($2.4 billion), Iron and Steel Products (screws, bolts, nuts) ($2.3 billion), and Plastic ($1.7 billion)." as well as (according to the "Culture of Taiwan") "electronics and computer products, textile products, basic metals, and plastic and rubber products." The U.S. primarily exported agricultural products to Taiwan, such as ("U.S.-Taiwan Trade") "nursery products and cut flowers ($56 million), snack foods (including chocolate) ($47 million), and processed fruit and vegetables ($34 million)." The costs for transportation of these goods as well as citizens in both countries are that ("U.S.-Taiwan Trade") "U.S. imports of private commercial services* (i.e., excluding military and government) were an estimated $7.4 billion in 2012 (latest data available), up 12.7% ($835 million) from 2011, and up 49% from 2002 level. Other transportation (port services), passenger fares, and other private services (business, professional and technical services) categories accounted for most of U.S. services imports from Taiwan."

Taiwan and East Asia in general are both very interesting subjects to research, as they have interesting histories and characteristics. Although many things vary from country to country, they are all connected in the sense that they all share similar features and/or characteristics.

Overall, Taiwan and East Asia are very diverse due to their vast majorities of porpulations, climates, and the ways people have usued the land. These people have shaped the land to their needs of power, whether it be nuclear power or wind power, food, and exports/imports for economical needs or political power over citizens.