KS3/GCSE Geography: Locational knowledge – Farming in rural China

Secondary resources > Geography > Locational knowledge

Download/print a transcript of this episode (pdf).

Video summary

A clip from the BBC series Race Across the World exploring the types of farming in rural China.

Yin and Gaz are in Jiangtou, where they have stayed on a farm.

They are now working on the farm to pay for their accommodation and are looking for lotus roots which are used in Chinese cuisine.

Download/print the teacher notes for this video (PDF)

Before watching the video

Ask students what types of foods we grow and farm in the UK. Discuss how in other countries, different types of foods are grown and that the farming methods may appear quite unusual compared to our own in the UK.

Ask students if they have tried lotus root before. You could show images of this if they are unsure. You could also ask how they think it is produced.

Introduce key terms such as:

• Rural: Countryside locations with few homes. Usually associated with agriculture.
• Agriculture: The practice of farming, this includes growing food and rearing animals.

During the video

You may wish to stop at relevant points during this short film to pose questions and check understanding or wait until the end. Useful questions might include:

• Describe the landscape shown in the beginning of the clip.
• Why do you think the ground looks like it has flooded?
• What does the lotus root look like?
• What is lotus root used for?
• Why does the farmer sell the lotus root?
• What do you think it would be like to do this type of farming as a job?
• What does Yin think of the landscape?
• How does this landscape compare to what you thought rural China would look like?

After watching the video

Ask students to give a list of words they would use to describe the landscape they could see in the clip. Did the landscape look as the students expected it to do?

Using a map, locate Jiangtou. You could use online mapping software to zoom into the region to further understand the landscape and how it is used. Ask students to write a locational description of Jiangtou and to describe the landscape and what it is used for.

Discuss the different sectors of industry: primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary. Ask students what type of industry they can see in the clip and why it is so important in China – despite China also being called the ‘workshop of the world’.

Compare Jiangtou to urban areas of China, for example Shenzhen. Students could create a table to compare the two locations and the types of jobs they would expect people to do in each location.

Where next?

Task students with researching different foods grown in China. How does agriculture change across China. Students could create a map to show where different crops are grown, for example rice, wheat and corn.

China also produces about 12 billion tonnes of bananas a year. This may surprise students as they may not associate China with growing bananas. Students could research why China produces so many bananas.

This clip will be relevant for teaching Geography at KS3 in England and Northern Ireland, Progression Step 4/5 in Wales and 3rd and 4th Level in Scotland.

In the English National Curriculum this film can be used to help teach the following:

• Types of industry
• Regions of Asia

This clip could also be used for GCSE Geography when studying types of industry and the importance of agriculture.

• KS3: Regional study – China
• KS3: Food resources
• National 4: World Power – China