...Landon Thompson EALC 145 Professor Cheung 9 April 2010 Buddhism and Buddhist Characteristics of the Cave Chapels Along with Confucianism and Taoism, Buddhism is among China’s most influential religions throughout its history. Buddhism taught the Chinese to believe in the Four Noble Truths and to follow the Eightfold Path to achieve nirvana, or a state of complete understanding with the world. Buddhism’s influences stretched to all regions of the country; it became influential enough that Emperors even commissioned cave chapels to be dedicated to Buddhism and the Buddha. The cave chapels of Yungang, Longmen, and Dunhuang, although each different, are the most famous of the cave chapels and best capture the different styles and characteristics that were used throughout that time period. The Yungang caves in the Shangxi province of China are a series of caves, mostly carved into the cliffs. The Five caves of Tanyao are the most famous caved chapels in the Yingang area. Although they are each unique in their own matter, the five caves collectively are dedicated to the five previous Tabgatch rulers (Thorpe 164). The Five Caves of Tanyao (Caves 16-20), reflect the faith in a phase of reliance on lavish imperial patronage. The history of Wei, or Weishu, records that Fa Guo, the Administrator of Monks, required monks to pay homage to the emperor, declaring "the person who has the ability to advocate Buddhist faith is our sovereign. I am not paying...
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... toilet paper and the compass were and still are important pieces of Chinese and global life. These inventions were major blocks in the building of the world that we know today. The four main innovations that I consider essential in our lives are printing, gunpowder, compass, and paper. The method of printing and woodblock, or movable, printing are considered ancient Chinese inventions. This ancient Chinese invention was seen before the first dated book in 868 (Lad). Printing books was time-consuming, as the blackline method used required a new block to be carved for each page. Movable type in printing was invented during the Song Dynasty. Movable Chinese characters were carved from wood, which could be arranged as needed and even reused. Later versions used clay, but these broke easily. During the Ming Dynasty, the wooden movable type was refined and books were printed using the two-color printing process. After the development of paper, printing was one of the most important inventions as it led to expansion in spreading stories, news, and knowledge. Another innovation that changed the world was gunpowder. Gunpowder is believed to be development as a by-product of trying to make an immortality elixir. Taoist alchemists experimenting with sulphur and potassium nitrate discovered it could be used as an igniter or explosive (Temple, 1986). Later in...
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...Situation The “Eurochem Shanghai” case study is a familiar example of problems associated with the global marketplace and the failure to adapt to cultural differences when going international. The young high-flier Paul Paus is sent by the head office of the European chemical company EUROCHEM to run the marketing team in the Shanghai office. Paus, who seemed to be the perfect person having the necessary skills and qualification for this job, has proven to be ineffective in his team-building program and failed to develop cultural awareness by ignoring local practices. Despite Paul Paus was a young, innovative manager performing very well in Europe he failed in Europe. But why? There are the following characters in case: * Paul Paus: the European expatriate who worked in the head office in Antwerp for 4 years * Mr Olsen: an expatriate with intercultural experience, general manager & head of China Eurochem * Mr Li: deputy manager, close relationship to Olsen * Mr Wu: young employee of marketing department, expertise in marketing * Mr Vandenbergh: director of marketing in head office, sent Paus to Shanghai Analysis Significant mistakes have been made by all persons involved in the project. Three major issues occurred in the case of “Eurochem Shanghai”: * problems of international managerial transfers, * management, communication and strategic issues, * as well as leadership and managing diversity problems all caused by cultural differences...
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...Introduction. This report aims to analyse the two possible steps that Eton College could potentially take to expand their student population. The first plausible action would be to increase the number of foreign students in the UK and the second is to set up a new school in China. Throughout the paper, one will focus on the issues facing Eton College with regards to the globalisation of its education services and how it will impact the school. Context for globalisation of services. Many other schools and universities have already taken the approach to expand their campuses into foreign countries, many of which are in China. Should Eton just increase their student population in their current school, it will find it difficult to compete with other renowned schools competitively in the future. As observed by Dirk Willem teVelde in 2005, “The education sector itself is subject to globalisation (Sauvé, 2002).” Although for many years, education has been very much considered a public good, it is now debated that “GATs (General Agreement on Trade in Services) is becoming more flexible in governments being able to decide whether or not they wish to open up to education provision from foreign providers, whilst there are others who suggest that education is about more than just a (traded) commodity.” Therefore, as a result, many educational institutions are branching out away from their original locations and creating replicas or slightly adapted versions of themselves in other...
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...Politics of the Tang Dynasty: Military force helped the Tang Dynasty to enhance the empire’s borders and influence. Power was shared by the scholarly-elite and imperial families (Craig, et al, 2010) and imperial unity was restored reducing aristocratic rule. A Bureau of Censors was established to oversee all officials. Improvements for civil service were done by investigation. Emphasis was placed on knowledge of Chinese literature and Confucian classics. Society of the Tang Dynasty: Wise governing, international trade, national strength and a strong economy established a stable social order. An open door policy was in place and there was a lack of extortion. Economics of the Tang Dynasty: The dynasty faced economic stress due to the focus on the arts and pleasurable existence. Political weakening of power led to further economic distress. Politics of the Sui Dynasty: The 29 year Sui Dynasty built the Grand Canal and began the restoration of the Great Wall. This required over-taxation of the peasants. A rebellion in 618 ended the dynasty. The country returned to a focus on establishing a legal code. The political structure has endured. A central government system united China under a new system. Political unity returned as nomads and nobility were brought together under state control and the bureaucracy was rebuilt. The central government was known as the “System of Three Cabinets and Six Departments” .The three cabinets were a legislative policy making branch, a deliberation...
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...How Does China’s Reemergence Impact the Current World’s Dynamics? * Background China’s reemergence In retrospect, there were three glorious dynasties of Han, Tang and Ming in China. During that time China took the leading position in economics, politics, culture, military and diplomacy. But after Ming dynasty China lost its leading position for a long time. Since the reform and opening-up in 1978, China’s reemergence of economics impresses the world substantially. In 2010, China witnessed GDP of 5,878.3 billion US dollars, which is at the second place just following United States 1. During the last decade, China moved from the being the ninth-largest exporter to the largest in the world. According to the Global Competitiveness Index 2011-2012 report, China’s global competitiveness index scored 4.90 and ranked 26 out of 142. The group performance of the developing world is boosted by the strong dynamics of some of the largest economies including China. At the meantime, China’s military power is also strengthened. From 1989 to 2010 China's official military budget increased by double digits every year 2. Based on above positive and negative facts, China’s reemergence really impacts the world’s dynamics in various dimensions. In general these impacts can be divided into areas including goods, technology, people, capital and culture. * China’s reemergence impacts world’s dynamics in different aspects Goods According the percentage distribution of Merchandise...
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...an adult and make a cocoon. Silk harvesters will use straw to pick up the adult silkworms then unwind the cocoon. The cocoons must be heated to kill the pupae or a moth will grow from the pupae and destroy the silk. An interesting fact about silkworms is one cocoon can produce about 1,000 meters of silk. After china mastered this sophisticated technique the west traders were willing to pay gold for the same weight as silk. today china is still the main producer of silk. Ancient alchemists in China tried to discover an immortal elixir that grants the gift of immortality. Instead of immortality they discovered gunpowder which is a combination of saltpeter charcoal and sulfur. This mixture is known as potassium nitrate. During the Tang Dynasty (850 AD) this invention was used to make fireworks and signal flares before being adapted for military. The English translation for the Chinese word gunpowder is fire medicine. unique material and no other clothing material is comparable. In order to cultivate silk it takes an average of 24-28 days for a silk worm to become an adult and make a cocoon. Silk harvesters will use straw to pick up the adult silkworms then unwind the cocoon. The cocoons must be heated to kill the pupae or a moth will grow from the pupae and destroy the silk. An interesting fact about silkworms is one cocoon can produce about 1,000 meters of silk. After china mastered this sophisticated technique the west traders were willing to pay gold for the same weight...
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...Shan Zhou TD N Chinese culture The Chinese economic reform began in 1978,ever since then,China opened up to foreign investment,China's amazing economic growth for the past years was due to the cheap labour,large resources and huge quantity of production.With the increasing of economics, Chinese people were aware of the fact”made in China”couldn't bring this country to one of the top countries in the world as the ancient China uesd to be.So,China invested a lot of money into developing new technology.Only in the year of 2005,the country filed over 170,000 patents.The new identity”made by China”will change Chinese brands' image and change the Chinese manufacturing model to promote the economic growth. If your want to be successful for doing business in China,your have to understand Chinese culture.Many Chinese are quite superstitious,they use divination tool such as “Feng Shui”to juge whether they can purchase the business location or not. Because the bad”Feng Shui” could bring the misfortune.(They like to put some rare rocks or some animal status to promote fortune,if you saw something strange in their house,don't touch them,you could break the miracle of Feng Shui!) If you want to get along with Chinese people,you have to understand 3 main definitions: ‐''Guan Xi''‐Relationships or Connections ‐''Saving face'' ‐''Gift giving'' Chinese are tightly connected to one another through a relationship network.The sccussful ...
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...Cultural Views on Health HCA/230 November 21, 2010 Introduction The largest subgroup of Asian Americans is Chinese Americans. The United States Census Bureau (2000) reported that 22.6% of all Asian-Americans are of Chinese descent. Another culture’s population that is quickly increasing is natives from India. Approximately, 8.7 million Indian natives live in the United States. Both of these cultures are dominant in the United States and share similar health views. Chinese Americans Often, Chinese Americans access to health care and other services is denied because of discrimination. Even with Chinese Americans having the highest tuberculosis and suicide rates in the United States, access to health care becomes difficult because of language barriers, cultural conflicts, and attitudes toward illness. Because of these barriers, most Chinese Americans rely on traditional Chinese herbal medicine. There are several agencies such as the Richmond Maxi Center, located in the Richmond district of San Francisco and the Asians for Community Involvement in the Silicon Valley of California that were established to meet the needs of Chinese Americans and other Asian Americans. Today, both Chinese and Western medicines are widely used by Chinese Americans, although some use exclusively Chinese medicine while others only Western medicine. Traditional Chinese health beliefs include adopting a holistic view while emphasizing the importance of environmental factors in increasing...
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...HUMN432 Week 6 Assignment: Final Draft of the Paper Technology: The Invention of Gunpowder Professor: Adam Ravalovich August 12, 2011 Title: The Invention of Gunpowder A. Introduction: The invention of gunpowder was one of China’s four greatest inventions that made a significant contribution to Chinese culture. Gunpowder in Chinese is called “huo yau”, meaning flaming medicine. The use of gunpowder gave the Chinese a greater ability to protect them from enemies and to conquer and control others. Although fireworks today are used as entertainment, the Chinese used it to scare-off enemies in the time of war. Chinese firearms, fireworks and gunpowder were also popular items of trade along the Silk Road to Europe. As we can imagine this invention had a profound effect on human history and although gunpowder was invented by the Chinese, it gave rise to the powerful western world while it inevitably left China and the Eastern World behind. B. Description of the Chinese Culture (Brandy Miller) 1. Chinese Society: Understanding a people's culture exposes their normalness without reducing their individuality. There are many different realms of Chinese society. China is well known for its centuries of traditional values, customs and beliefs. These beliefs are deeply linked with the language, religions and collective values which have always been the center of traditional festivals, customs and everyday life of man as a collective in harmony with nature...
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...Cultural Environment of China Nowadays, the core of economic is move gradually from America to China. However, not many business people are familiar with Chinese culture, so study the cultural environment of China become the first mission. Business people will contact with Chinese business people and officials, so they have to understand Chinese culture deep enough. Below will list a few cultural facts in China. Giving Gift Etiquette "Unlike many countries, the giving of gifts does not carry any negative connotations when doing business in China."(2012) In, China exchanged gifts in a celebrations as a thanks for assistance. In addition, the business gifts should be always reciprocated. They will make a same value gift to reciprocate. Therefore, do not be an iron rooster for the gift given to Chinese business people. Face "Roughly translated as 'good reputation', 'respect' or 'honour,' one must learn the subtleties of the concept and understand the possible impact it could have on your doing business in China."(2012) There are some categories of the face situation. "1) where one's face is lessened through their involvement in an action or deed and it being exposed. The loss of face is not the result of the action, but rather it's being made public knowledge. when face is given to others through compliments and respect. 3) face is developed through experience and age. When one shows wisdom in action by avoiding mistakes their face is increased. 4) where face is increased...
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...financial crisis and 2008-2012 global recession, are at the background as the executive chairman of Shanghai Tang Raphael Le Manse has to make decision regarding a creative director position. During the both times, Le Masne longed for a change in a creative aspect of Shanghai Tang. In 2001 he was in search for a totally creative direction for the brand in order to overcome the challenges and turn the sales figures towards a rising course. In 2006 he asks himself how he would evolve the design and style to ensure economic turbulence doesn’t sweep Shanghai Tang off. As the company was in financial trouble and needed a new creative strategy the executive chairman was at the helm with a crucial decision to make. 7 years ago the result was an offer of the creative director position to Joanne Ooi who for the upcoming year became the unit of support to the executive chairman. Ooi and Le Manse discussed and debated about the brand, its image and reflection of China in its collections. Joanne was the person who would provide the theme for the season and elaborate on it by giving feedbacks to designers on a regular basis. Ooi was indeed “at the center of the design team” and demonstrated the importance and strength in having a creative director in the organization. The case clearly demonstrates the preference differences of two different markets that Shanghai Tang operated within. Although the luxury brand positioned itself as a provider of fusion of “Chinese culture...
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...undoubtedly, many inventions, four stand out above others that I believe and nominate for are: (1) Iron technology (cast iron), (2) papermaking/currency, (3) guns and gunpowder, (4) medicine, all of which are still utilized by modern humanity. The first nominate greatest Chinese invention is the development of iron and steel. The development of iron and steel led to other advance. In the 5th century BC during the Zho Dynasty (1122-256BC), the Chinese had developed the blast furnace to obtain cast iron from iron ore. The Chinese had access to large amount of clay; clay was the most important ingredient in making blast furnace. The Chinese also figured out that by adding a substance the called “black earth” they could lower the melting point of iron; today iron and steel are used in many things from cars to buildings. The second nominate and the most important Chinese contributions to the modern world are papermaking. The earliest known piece of paper with writing on it was discovered near the 2nd century B.C, some say about 150 B.C. Although it is recorded that the Han Dynasty (202 BC –AD 220) court eunuch Cai Lun (b.c. 50-AD 121) invented the pulp papermaking process and established the use of new raw materials used in making paper, ancient padding and wrapping paper artifacts dating to the 2nd century BC have been found in China. In the papermaking process established by Cai Lun in the 105,...
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...Chinese market entry strategy for the Turner’s Ice Cream Introduction This report sets out to analyse the selected UK ice cream manufacturer – the Turner’s strategy to entry to China’s ice cream market. It uses SWOT analysis approach analyses the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The report has identified a general marketing entry strategy which will help the company developing new market effectively. It contents the introduction of the Turner’s company in brief, the Chinese ice cream market, the SWOT analysis and the suggested marketing entry strategy. The Turner’s Ice Cream in brief The Turner’s Ice Cream was founded in 1950. Two years later, “Verona” rang of flavoured ice cream was introduced. By 1960, the company had over 30 outlets along the south coast of England, and by 1988, there were 250 Turners’ shops around the UK. The company has recently launched a franchise option, and there are now 14 franchisees operating near key tourist centres in England, Scotland, and Wales. Turner’s ice cream has justifiable acquired a high quality, upmarket image, and the company has continued to emphasise traditional values, traditional products, and traditional ingredients. From 2004 to 2006, the company’s sales stood at around 1.5 m GBP, trading profit reached 1.1 m GBP. The company’s profile looks OK, but there is no doubt that times are getting harder. The UK ice cream market previously is dominated by three large players – Walls, Lyons, and...
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...Hum 111 Abstract Ancient Chinese Contributions. (1) Identify eight to ten of these useful inventions or contributions. (2) Nominate four that you believe are the most ingenious or innovative. (3) Explain why you believe these four inventions or contributions are the most useful inventions or contributions from the ancient Chinese. (4) Identify one invention or contribution that you cannot live without and explain why. The Ancient Chinese Contributions (1) Gunpowder One of the inventions created by Ancient China gunpowder as early first century and was used at that time to make medicine for perpetual rejuvenation. Black gunpowder was not invented till the end of the ninth century and was first used to make fireworks, and later the lighting of fireworks became a Chinese tradition to celebrate festivals. The gunpowder was used in weapons at the end of the 10th Century, when firearms such as exploding arrows heads, flintlock rifles and cannon became available on a large scale. During the 18th century when Western powers invaded China, the Chinese troops were still using flintlock rifles and cannons. At the end of the 14th century a Chinese named Wan Hu fitted a chair with 47 prototype self-made rockets and held a large kite in his hands. His plan was to fly into space and then float back down to the Earth using the kite. The rockets ended up exploding and killing Wan Hu but in his honor In the 1970s, the International Astronomical Union named a lunar crater after...
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