Monsoon Asia The Geography of Rice and Rain

This is the story of the Pacific and its peoples, of the peaceful sea and the lands and lives its touches and their meaning to watch and to the generations to come. The Pacific story, presented by the National Broadcasting Company as a public service and dedicated to a fuller understanding of the vast Pacific basin.

This broadcast series comes to you as another feature of the NBC Inter-American University of the air, with drama of the past and present and commentary by Owen Matamor, a quality on the Pacific and director of the School of International Relations, Johns Hopkins University.

Monsoon Asia, the geography of rice and rain. This is Monsoon Asia, Southeast and Asia, where the rain drives down in Holland, and the lush green vegetation rivals man for existence. Burma, Thailand, French Indochina, British Malaya, the Philippines, the Netherlands Indies. Here there is no winter, no rockers, no springs, but only a rainy season

and a dry season caused by the monsoon winds. Half the year the monsoon winds blow from the sea bringing rain. Half the year they blow from the land and monsoon Asia broils in the dry heat.

Monsou, nature, land of fabulous witches, for centuries the battleground for imperial power. In Monsou, nature, live 147 million seepers, Malays, Chinese, Indians, Arabs, whites. Here is a mosaic of races and religions and cultures built on an economy of rice and rain.

Murely, every man grows his own right. They work in that water-covered field without seeming to notice the waters. That is a white idea. They accept this work as their existence. There must be millions of rice growers like these people.

There are many means. Far more than any world grow high than grow weak. Ninety-five percent of all rice in the world is produced and consumed here among two nations. But the plot is smaller than this one.