A Comparative Geography of China and the U.S.

Rudi Hartmann is an Associate Professor (C/T) at the University of Colorado Denver where he has taught geography and tourism planning since 1992. He received his Ph.D. from the Technical University Munich, Germany in 1983. His interests include geographic education, the geography of tourism and the history of geographic thought. His regional specialties are China, Europe and the American West. He has visited or taught at Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, Lund University, Sweden, University of California, Berkeley, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Beijing Normal University.

Jing’ai Wang is Professor at the School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, the winner of the national laureate for teaching, the leader of the Regional Geographical Education Team of China, the chair of the board of the “China Geography” Teaching Research Society, deputy director of the Geographical Education Steering Committee of the Ministry of Education of China, co-chair of the board of directors of the Society for Geography of Beijing, and the Director of the Key Laboratory of Regional Geographical Research of Beijing Normal University. For several decades, she has been actively engaged in research and teaching in the fields of geographic education, regional geography, natural areas assessment and natural disaster mapping. She was also named project leader of several national programs, National “863” Program, National Natural Science Foundation Project, National “973” Program, and National Key Technology R&D Program of China. She has published and edited many textbooks including “China Geography”, “China Geographical Atlas” and “The Spatial-Temporal Patterns of Natural Disaster in China” as well as written over 200 research papers. Among the classes she teaches is “China Geography”, a nationally recognized course. She is the winner of the First-level Award of National Teaching Achievements, the Second-level Award of National Teaching Achievements, the First Award of Science and Technology Progress of the Ministry of Education, China.