Since15th century, the order of world powers has changed several times. /kloc-at the end of 0/5, Portugal and Spain, the world's first generation of maritime powers, dominated the ocean. After 1580, Spain defeated Portugal to dominate the ocean. After Britain defeated Spain in July 1588, it also quickly became the maritime hegemon. In the great war between England and Spain, the Netherlands got rid of the feudal rule of Spain and established a powerful maritime force, which is known as the "sea coachman" of the world. Marine commercial capitalism developed rapidly and gained the hegemony of maritime trade. The whole17th century was a century in which Britain and the Netherlands competed for maritime hegemony. Therefore, Britain and the Netherlands can be called the second generation maritime hegemons in the world. 19 At the end of the 20th century, under the influence of Mahan's sea power theory, German maritime power developed rapidly, and the competition with Britain for maritime hegemony became increasingly fierce, and finally World War I broke out. In this great war, Britain still occupied the ocean. After the First World War, more and more countries realized the importance of the ocean. France, Germany, the United States, Russia, Japan and other countries have actively developed maritime power, and have successively become the second generation maritime hegemons or maritime powers. After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union were far ahead in maritime power and became the two giants in the marine world. At present, the American Stars and Stripes appear in the world's oceans and become the third-generation ocean hegemon. There are many reasons for this order change, among which historians generally believe that people who are stronger than the world will prosper in the ocean, and those who are weaker than the world will lose in the ocean first.
China sent people to the East to look for a panacea from Qin Shihuang to "the end of the world", and Zheng He (137 1- 1435) made seven voyages to the Western Seas in the Ming Dynasty, all of which took political diplomacy as the main purpose and ignored the marine economy. Zheng He's large-scale ocean voyage, in particular, was plundered by the Japanese in the southeast coast of China shortly after his fleet closed its sails. A vast country, not only failed to grasp the sea power in time and annihilate the invading enemy, but only built a "seawall" to defend against foreign enemies, which was the evil result of China's weak maritime consciousness at that time. Therefore, it was not until the end of the Qing Dynasty that the great powers invaded China from the sea and succeeded repeatedly.
It can be seen that on this blue planet, the answer to the rise and fall of great powers lies in the ups and downs of the vast ocean. But what is worrying is that China people's marine awareness is still very weak. The great pain in modern history did not awaken China people's maritime consciousness. Even after the founding of the People's Republic of China, most people are influenced by the traditional concept of "attaching importance to the land but neglecting the sea", and there is still an ideological tendency of focusing on the land and looking inward, lacking a strong marine consciousness and a positive marine enterprising spirit. And according to the sampling survey, 97.8% of college students don't know that there are more than 3 million km[2] of sea areas under national jurisdiction in China (including about 370,000 km[2] of sea and land). Therefore, it is particularly necessary to educate the whole people, especially the middle school students who are future builders and successors.
As we know, the ocean is the source of life, the treasure house of data, the new living space and future hope of human beings, and the important base for the sustainable development of the world. As a maritime power with a continental coastline of18,000 km, more than 6,000 islands, an island coastline of14,000 km, an inland sea and a territorial sea of 370,000 km[2] and a sea area under the jurisdiction of more than 3 million km[2], it is of great significance to China's politics, economy and security to give full play to its great potential and advantages. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen marine education in geography education.
(A) to strengthen the education of marine land view
Marine land education is mainly to let students establish a sense of marine land. 1994 165438+1October16 The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which came into effect formally, confirmed the concept of "archipelagic state", making large areas of high seas the internal waters of these countries. Confirmed the concept of "exclusive economic zone" with a width of 200 nautical miles; The concept of "continental shelf" is redefined. The longest continental shelf extends to 350 nautical miles, and coastal countries with less than 200 nautical miles can also extend to 200 nautical miles. China has more than 3 million km[2] of sea areas under its jurisdiction (including inland sea, territorial sea, exclusive economic zone, continental shelf and archipelagic waters, etc.). ), can be called the "maritime territory" of China. It should be emphasized that according to the provisions of the Convention, "marine land" is different in different sea areas. The inland sea is an integral part of a country's territory, and its legal status is exactly the same as that of land territory. The territorial sea is an area where coastal countries are connected with the inland sea and extend outward from the baseline of the territorial sea 12 nautical mile. Coastal countries exercise exclusive sovereignty over their territorial waters, which include airspace, territorial waters, seabed and subsoil, but allow ships from other countries to pass through their territorial waters harmlessly. The exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is the waters of coastal countries from the baseline of territorial sea to 200 nautical miles. The continental shelf is a natural extension of the land territory of coastal countries to the ocean. Less than 200 nautical miles can be extended to 200 nautical miles, and more than 200 nautical miles can be extended to 350 nautical miles or beyond the 2500-meter isobath 100 nautical miles, whichever is shorter. The exclusive economic zone and continental shelf are "quasi-marine territories" of coastal countries.
(2) Strengthen the national education of maritime sovereignty.
Students should know that the ocean is related to China's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Maritime rights are an important part of national sovereignty, and their maritime rights and interests such as territorial sovereignty, territorial sea sovereignty and maritime jurisdiction sovereignty are directly related to national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Since the mid-Ming Dynasty, especially since the Qing government implemented the closed-door policy, China has been repeatedly invaded by foreign invaders from the sea, and a series of tragedies have been staged without guards at sea. From the middle of19th century to the middle of 20th century, China was invaded by foreign powers for more than 470 times. From the isolated island in Liaodong Bay to Taiping Island in the South China Sea, from Lushun Port to Macau Port, almost all islands and harbors have been ravaged and plundered by foreign powers, so that China can hardly find a port as its naval base. Since the founding of New China, the People's Navy has established a maritime combat team that has begun to take shape, capable of performing various maritime combat missions in the offshore, and China's coastal defense strength has been continuously strengthened. However, it can't be ignored that there are still nearly 6,543.8+0,000 km[2] in the waters under our jurisdiction, which are disputed with neighboring countries or occupied by other countries, and some countries covet our maritime rights and interests from time to time. As geography educators, it is necessary for students to know that the situation of safeguarding China's maritime sovereignty rights and interests is very severe and the problems are very complicated, and the struggle will be long-term. We should let them establish a sense of responsibility to shoulder the historical mission at an early age, and cultivate their ability to compete in the trend in Lu Haiyang.
(3) Strengthening the education of maritime powers
Since 1993 China became a net oil importer for the first time, its oil imports have been increasing. It rose to 694 1 10,000 tons in 2002, close to 1 10,000 tons in 2003, and exceeded 1 10,000 tons in 2004. According to the most conservative forecast, China's oil consumption will exceed 300 million tons by 20 10 and reach 390 million tons by 2020. Around 2020, the peak oil production in China is about 200 million tons, and the gap is close to 200 million tons, which must be obtained through overseas supply. In addition, in the next 20 years, China will be short of 3 billion tons of iron, 500 million to 600 million tons of copper and 654.38 billion tons of lead, all of which need to be imported in large quantities. The per capita possession of mineral resources is only half of the world average, of which the main mineral resources are less than half. Except for coal and a few non-ferrous metals, the enrichment degree of mineral resources is relatively low. Judging from this, China will encounter the problem of "resource security" in the next five years to 10. 10 to 20 years, this problem will become serious. Before and after 2020, if we don't make full preparations, "resource security" is likely to become a "soft rib" that restricts China's economic development.
In order to cope with and solve the upcoming "resource security" problem, apart from making full use of the international resource market, developing marine economy and exploiting marine resources will inevitably become the only way for China's economic rise, and defending marine resources will become its primary task. With its rich resources, vast space and great adjustment to the earth's environment and climate, the ocean has become an important part of the global life support system and a valuable asset for the sustainable development of human society. The ocean accounts for 70.8% of the earth's surface. It is the largest deposition site on the earth, the most extensive activity site for aquatic organisms, and a huge treasure house of resources, which is rich in marine life, seawater chemistry, ocean dynamics and marine tourism resources. The South China Sea covers a total area of 3.5 million square kilometers [2], which is more than 2 million square kilometers within the discontinuous line of China's national boundary [2], of which the fishing ground area is 6.5438+0.82 million square kilometers [2], accounting for 65% of the total fishing ground area in China, and it is the sea area with the richest fishery resources in China. The latest statement about the oil and gas reserves in the South China Sea is that the oil reserves reach 20 billion tons and the natural gas resources reach 25 trillion cubic meters [3].
Therefore, it is particularly important to accelerate the implementation of the strategy of maritime power. Whether China can rise peacefully depends, first of all, on whether China can rise in the marine cause involving a series of national survival issues. In view of this, China should raise people's awareness of marine resources utilization as soon as possible, so as to promote the development of China's marine industry.
(D) Strengthen political education in coastal areas.
Although peace and development are the themes of today's world, coastal countries have fully realized the political, economic and military importance of the ocean and have formulated coastal political strategies.
For the benefit of the same nation, the "NATO" headed by the United States can assemble its maritime military forces in a certain sea area at any time to attack other countries; For their own interests, there are many internal contradictions. In order to compete for the Antarctic, some developed countries often cruise in the nearby waters. In the Pacific Ocean, the United States regards the Pacific Seventh Fleet as the most powerful tool to dominate the ocean, which is mainly used to contain and attack Russia, China and India. At present, the world maritime competition is mainly distributed in Asian waters. In East Asia, the activities of the Japanese navy gradually expanded southward. On the one hand, the maritime threat to China extends from the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea to the South China Sea; On the other hand, it provides maritime safety guarantee for Japan's maritime lifeline (Japan-Ryukyu Islands-South China Sea-Malacca Strait-Persian Gulf), thus realizing its dream strategic goal in the Pacific War. In South Asia, India not only thinks that the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean have natural interests, but also thinks that it has necessary interests for the Persian Gulf in the northwest and the Andaman Sea in the southeast. Therefore, India's active development of the navy and continuous expansion of the ocean have become one of the most unstable factors in South Asia.
2 1 century is the century of the ocean, and the competition for the ocean itself will intensify among countries all over the world. Some countries will seize the maritime territory of other countries by hook or by crook, even by force. China is not only a land country, but also a maritime country with a land area of 3 million km[2]. China's maritime territory has been threatened and violated by other countries, and China's maritime security is close to the bottom line. Therefore, we must establish a new view of the ocean, especially to let middle school students as successors of future builders, understand the political trend of the future ocean and understand the importance of the ocean.
(five) to strengthen the education to accelerate the development of marine science and technology.
Today's marine competition has actually become the competition of marine science and technology. Without developed marine science and technology, even if there is a vast territorial sea, we can only look at the ocean and sigh.
Since the 1960s, marine development, atomic energy engineering and space technology have become the three cutting-edge technologies in the contemporary era. In addition to the modernization and expansion of the traditional marine industry, marine development is also manifested in the use of high technology to develop alternative land resources and form emerging industries. Japan, the United States and France all attach great importance to the development of marine science and technology and have invested a lot of money in the research and development of marine science and technology. Comparatively speaking, the development of China's marine industry was not really valued until the late 1990s. At present, the survey level of marine geology and mineral resources in China is still very low, especially the gap between marine high-tech research and development capabilities is quite large, and there are also shortcomings in marine scientific research. Marine developed countries have done a lot of work in the investigation and study of exclusive economic zones, but China has not done enough in this respect. Generally speaking, China is at least 20 years behind the developed countries. Therefore, China should not only increase investment in scientific research, but also educate middle school students on marine awareness, so as to cultivate a group of high-quality marine researchers and improve China's marine scientific and technological capabilities.
To sum up, the development of the ocean is related to the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the peaceful rise of China. We must make our citizens establish the concept of ocean from childhood, strengthen the maritime homeland security and cultivate the awareness of participating in the development of high seas resources, enhance the sense of crisis of maritime powers and increase their confidence.