Perpetual holiday is a good working definition of hell Essay

Every now and then everybody needs a little holiday, time to themselves. After a long period of working, sunny beaches, snowy mountain peaches or a quiet house by a river together with your family may seem to be as close to paradise as possible. Many would dream of a â€Å"never ending holiday† where all you have to do is what you feel like to, but not all fairytales end well. To begin with, in a world where everybody sits around doing nothing, enjoying their life the end would be imminent and quick. A â€Å"global holiday† would mean a sudden stop of production, resources would be consumed in a matter of days or weeks whereas it takes a longer time for them to be produced and even an immediate comeback would generate a great loss. Secondly, during holiday many tend to loosen up, take things less seriously and usually forget the knowledge they have accumulated during the lifetime. This results in not using your brain properly and within some generations information would be lost and progression stagnated. Nonetheless, on the other hand being in a perpetual holiday may positive. There wouldn`t exist any more stress, worries, rush, responsibilities. People would live longer and happier. The only worry we would have would be how to make us and the others around us more fortunate. We would have time for all our hobbies; we could fulfil the gaps in our social life. Taking these points into consideration, I would say that many of us would be ready to give up their career for a peaceful life but too few think about the consequences of such a choice.

Innovation, Design, and Creativity Essay

Innovation, design, and creativity are typically interchangeable, but are in fact defined as separate qualities with business implications that can be compared and contrasted. While some companies can survive solely on creativity, a rise in global competition has domestic companies striving to develop more innovative products and services. These new found ideas are then made concrete by implementing a successful design. Creativity is the creation of a new idea or concept. The term is a necessary step towards the innovative process of applying a creative idea. Creativity is an essential building block for innovation (von Stamm, 2003). A person that is naturally creative must have broad vision to meet organizational challenges. These visionaries are a company’s adventurers and risk takers who see and think further than most. Innovation equals creativity plus successful implementation (von Stamm, 2003). The introduction of a new idea should be implemented within all levels of a c ompany; from upper management executives to mere janitors. In order to have an innovative product or service, it has to be converted from an idea into action; the creativity is delivered or put into effect. Design is the conscious decision-making process by which an idea is transformed into an outcome, be it a tangible product or intangible service (von Stamm, 2003). It is about researching possible outcomes to particular scenarios and selecting the best design thereafter. Any obstacles that conflict with a creative idea will be resolved with design. Teamwork may help since the design implementation may be too complex for one person’s expertise; a person typically does not possess creativity, innovation, and design; which is what is needed for a total quality result. Although I’m unemployed at the moment, these three concepts were successfully applied in my previous organization. As a former Accounts Payable Clerk, my direct supervisor thought like a designer by thinking about our department’s future goals, rather than focusing solely on the present (or current) accounts. This calculated decision making process is defined as design but without having an initial creativity and innovation, the successful design of an organization could not be possible. Reference von Stamm, B. (2003). Managing innovation, design and creativity, 1e. [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-Text]. : John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, OI361 website.

Should the Endangered Species Act be Strengthend Essay

Should the Endangered Species Act be Strengthend - Essay Example Species have an indescribable amount of benefits to humans-with some not yet discovered. â€Å"An antibiotic was discovered in the soils of the threatened New Jersey Pine Barrens Natural Area, a species of perennial corn was found in Mexico; it is resistant to several diseases of corn and an insect was discovered that when frightened produces an excellent insect-repelling chemical.† (Regina Bailey, about.com) The Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973 in order to control the fast rate of extinction for a variety of beneficial reasons discussed further in the paper. The Endangered Species Act In order to foster the Protection and conservation of endangered species, the Endangered Species Act was passed on December 28, 1973 by Richard Nixon. Presently, the Act is administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). According to the National Wildlife Federation, since 2009, 1361 plants and animals in th e US have been listed as endangered or threatened. The FWS carries out a multiple research on different species and they are organization responsible for listing a species as endangered. For a specie to be considered endangered, a number of factors are considered such as; the amount of its habitat destroyed, is it being over-consumed, is it being threatened by disease or other predation or are there other man made factors affecting its survival. The Endangered Act of 1973; authorizes the determination and listing of listing species as endangered and threatened. It prohibits the unauthorized taking, possession, sale and transport of endangered species. It provides authority to acquire land for the conservation of listed species, using land and water conservation funds; it authorizes the establishment of cooperative agreements and grants-in-aid to states that establish and maintain active and adequate programs for endangered and threatened wildlife and plants; it authorizes the assess ment of civil and criminal penalties for violating the Act or regulations; and authorizes the payment of rewards to anyone furnishing information leading to arrest and conviction for any violation of the Act or any regulation issued hereunder. (Cited from Fws.gov, May 7, 2011) Should the Endangered Species Act be strengthened? It is seen by some non-environmentalists as a weapon used by radical environmentalists and is the most wasteful and counterproductive laws in the books. In addition to that, they believe that it practically turned into a tool exerting political leverage. Some are even vouching for cancellation of the ‘critical habitat’ designation which limits development in the habitat of endangered species. With reference to some consulted literature- the majority of persons wanting to trash the 1973 legislation is more than the amount who want to strengthen the Act by 9%. The researcher is in total disagreement with the persons who want to the Act to be demolis hed and considers these actions selfish. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the most important laws passed in America of all time. It’s had many successes and undoubtedly will have far greater success if and when strengthened. America has a fast rate of extinction and should the Act not be strengthened or demolished we will all be faced with the consequences. Considering all the benefits discussed in this paper, there should be enough reason for the act to be strengthened. There are

Innovation in History Impact and Change How Gunpowder Revolutionized Essay

Innovation in History Impact and Change How Gunpowder Revolutionized Warfare - Essay Example Although being a low explosive, gunpowder burns rapidly without outside air. In a confined space like the barrel of a gun, the gases build up enough pressure to push the bullet or shell out of the muzzle with high velocity. The gunpowder does not explode like high explosives such as TNT and dynamite. Gunpowder has played its main part in revolutionizing warfare and military thinking. Cannons, muskets, rockets and bombs powered by the black gunpowder removed all weapons and forces that were before them. Apart from playing its role as a weapon, it brought a tremendous boon in civil engineering. It made the development of Quarrying, cathedral foundations and roadways easier. And changed the way the engineers thought about major earth moving constructions. Gunpowder has been used in various fields including mining, military, naval warfare's and as a smokeless powder in propellants which provide higher energy density and lack of smoke. It was used as an igniter to charge the propellant in large guns. In comparison with World War 1 when less sensitive explosions were used; World War 2 saw a drastic change when flash emitted from gunpowder was used to temporary blind the ship crews. Various flash suppressors were created and mixed with the powder, which was formed into grains for small guns and into pellets for the larger guns. Before the invention of gunpowder peop... In between A.D 850-1000 Chinese first invented and used the gunpowder. "The sort of universal belief has been given to China or India, the credit of being the birthplace of this destructive compound" (Anderson, 1862). Gunpowder was bought to Europe after 1200; its formula was found in a letter from Francis Bacon to Pope Clement IV in 1267 A.D. Then by 1275 chemist Albertus Magnus described its formula. Bacon with amazing accuracy predicted and described the formula. He was considered the alchemist of his time; he did series of experiments with saltpeter, charcoal and other elements from nature until he arrived at the right composition of all the 3 ingredients; charcoal, saltpeter and sulfur to give gunpowder. His formula included 75% saltpeter, 10% sulfur and 15% carbon. It was after a century when German Friar Berthold Schwartz found out that Bacons experiment could be used as a weapon. Gunpowder's impact on medieval warfare The impact of gunpowder for the medieval army changes the warfare for all times. It brought the beginning of cannon and firearms which revolutionized the way people fought battles. The commander had to reform the ideas on how the war had to be fought and the military leaders that that properly recognized the use of firearms were successful. The archaic stones of the old age could not stand against iron and brass artillery cannons; lowly peasants could gun down well trained and disciplined knights of noble blood and as a result the mighty medieval horsemen's role was changed forever. Gunpowder became a mighty asset in the battlefield and its psychological impact was that the judgment criteria for hiring soldiers had to be changed. "One thing is for certain though: the impact of gunpowder on medieval warfare was profound, and its introduction

Barthes vs Kipnis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Barthes vs Kipnis - Essay Example There are different strategies of marriage interpretation in the books of these two authors. Currently, the issues of love discourse have not been properly covered in the sudies of modern scholars. Barthes marked his narration by a vivid tone, lyrical descriptions, and emotional appeal for reader’s feelings. Consequently, his main concepts presented throughout his book, are more emotional than dewless considerations of Kipnis. Barthes and Kipnis about love A lover’s Discourse by Roland Barthes is focused on different aspects of communication between two beloved people. He discusses different lingual peculiarities of communication between two beloved individuals. For example, he says: â€Å"As a jealous man, I suffer four times over: because I am jealous, because I blame myself for being so, because I fear that my jealousy will wound the other, because I allow myself to be subject to a banality: I suffer from being excluded, from being aggressive, from being crazy, and from being common† (Barthes). To be the one who waits, or to be in love means a lot for people. During all our lives we are striving for a feeling of love and it is very difficult for us to realize that our beloved persons do not understand us etc. These things are challenging and we come across these difficulties every day, but we do not pay a proper attention to these considerations. There are many mishaps between beloved ones, but their commonality and ability to find a common decision cannot be underestimated for sure. Barthes devoted himself to explorations in the fields of sociology and lexicology. This unique writing opens our eyes on peculiarities and specific features of our daily communication with our beloved people. The basic feature of a beloved person, as it is outlined by Barthes, is ability and a strong desire to wait: â€Å"Am I in love? --yes, since I am waiting. †¦ Whatever I do, I find myself there, with nothing to do, punctual, even ahead of time. Th e lover's fatal identity is precisely this: I am the one who waits† (Barthes). At this point it is very easy to restore in our memories the way we want to suffer and to wait for our beloved; to live their lives etc. Barthes is marked by his romantic considerations and his lyrical narration.    When we read the book by Barthes, we are enchanted by gentle and sympathetic expressions. A soft tone of his book entertains the readers and they are impressed by a direct nature of the writer’s narration. Though relationship between two beloved people is often imperfect, they are attracted to each other and it is very important for them to find a mutual understanding. Barthes often talks about irrationality of lover’s behavior. Constant controversies and arguing between two beloved persons cannot be denied. He claims: "I encounter millions of bodies in my life; of these millions, I may desire some hundreds; but of these hundreds, I love only one. The other with whom I am in love designates for me the specialty of my desire† (Barthes, p. 19). Love objects may suffer from inconsistencies with their partners or beloved people. They find it very difficult to find a common understanding. The author does not implement social, economic or any other external factors. Beloved persons are focused on their own feelings, as Barthes claims. Unlike Barthes, Kipnis’s book â€Å"Against Love† is written from a different perspective. The author talks about

Report on Diversity day episode Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Report on Diversity day episode - Essay Example Employees are inconsiderate of other employee’s feelings. One employee shreds papers rudely inconveniencing another, who is on the phone. He even goes further to cut off a call from a client. Dwight steals a colleague’s client. Such behavior illustrates the absence of office etiquette. Michael Scott as the Scranton Regional Manager should set a good example and the standard for the way people conduct themselves in the workplace. The Diversity Day training is organized by corporate in response to an incident in which Michael made racially offensive statements. Having everyone sign the Diversity commitment paper in order to avoid embarrassment shows preferential treatment in corporate. There should be fair treatment of all members of an organization. At the seminar, he does not provide a good environment for Mr. Brown, the course facilitator to do his job. Michael also discriminates against black people in the office. He lashes out at them for failing to take responsibility for mistakes they make and blames them for expecting praise for doing what is expected of them. He later extends this discrimination to the Mexicans by suggesting that the term represents something that one should feel ashamed. Role acting about minority communities propagates stereotypes. The role of Michael representing Martin Luther Jnr is an insult to the civil rights movement and the black community he represented. The statement that most streets named after the civil rights record the highest number of violence propagates the stereotypes that black people are violent. The show also suggests that Arabs are violent people while upholding the perception that Jews are shylocks. It is worth noting that several laws broken in the show. For example, the slapping of Michael breaks the law against violence at the workplace. His imitation of Indians deliberately singles a member of the minority community subjecting her to emotional pain

HR Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

HR - Assignment Example Effective change management is the driving force behind any successful organization. In an organization that staff always resist any proposed change, the ultimate results are backwardness and a stagnant organization that cannot undertake any innovative product development (Creasey & Hiatt, 2003). Such firms cannot stand fiercely competitive environment and the collapse are an obvious outcome. As a result, the event will take the staff through the outstanding benefits of accepting change within the organization. An organization that can influence its staff to accept and harmoniously implement change will remain relevant amidst the competition levels within an industry. In addition, the workforce benefits greatly as sale volume rises beside attracting and retaining more customers. Such workforce can thus get better remuneration packages thus increased living standards. A motivated worker gives his all in the organization leading to ever rising firm’s productivity that increasingly facilitates better wage and other motivational packages to workers. Thus, staff must embrace a readiness to change

Mistake On Contract Law Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Mistake On Contract Law - Case Study Example As a landmark decision, Great Peace has been observed by various other sources as the final arbiter of the confusion that arose out of the Solle case. The essay will cite various sources that share a common observation of the impact that Great Peace has on contractual law, particularly on the disposition of issues relating to mutual mistake. Before proceeding to establish a position relative to the statement under scrutiny, it is essential to first understand, in the proper context, the "mistake" being alluded to as the core of the case in point. When parties enter into a contract, it is with the understanding that both sides understood what they were contracting about. However, there are instances when an incorrect belief as to a matter relevant to that contract gives rise to a situation wherein one party was mistaken but the other was not. This is referred to as unilateral mistakes and generally will not void a contract in the absence of vitiation of consent through fraud or delibe rate misrepresentation. Nevertheless, there are situations where the mistake is suffered by both contracting parties. In this situation, there are 2 types of mistakes recognized, common mistake and mutual mistake, although the two can sometimes be used interchangeably. Strictly speaking, there is the common mistake when both parties essentially make the same false and fundamental assumption of a fact. It is the opinion of some commentators that this does not necessarily render the contract void. However, if the common mistake relates to the existence of the subject matter of the contract such that it either does not exist or has ceased to exist without the knowledge of the parties, then the contract is void. Even under these circumstances, the contract will not be automatically voided if a) there was a warranty by one party, b) misrepresentation of the existence of the subject matter by one party, c) if one party assumed the risk of the existence of the subject matter and d) when th ere exists an overlap between the doctrine of mistake and the doctrine of implied terms.1 The mutual mistake happens when both parties misunderstand each other's intentions and are at cross-purposes. Compared to common mistake, here the parties do not actually make the same mistake but are proceeding on different assumptions. Ordinarily, this mistake will void a contract because it negatives consent. However, it has been argued that if by the behaviour or conduct of one party the other party is led to believe that the former was agreeing to the terms proposed by the latter, then the mistake will not necessarily be a ground to void the contract despite their obvious disagreement as to the purposes for such contract. Applying the above considerations to the Great Peace case, there was a common mistake which related to the misapprehension by both parties of the close proximity of their respective ships to one another on the basis of the information that was relayed to them by a third p arty. Consequential to this erroneous information, both parties proceeded to perfect the contract to avail of the service of Great Peace for a minimum of 5 days to stand-post for assistance in case of any untoward incident that was then most likely to occur to the casualty ship Cape Providence.

Safety Management System in the Airline Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Safety Management System in the Airline - Essay Example In this paper, the consequences of a poor safety culture on the effectiveness of an airline organisation namely Southwest Airlines will be taken into concern. Moreover, the procedures to detect or measure a poor safety operational culture along with setting effective plans in order to improve a safety culture in the organisation will also be portrayed in the discussion. Consequences of a Poor Safety Culture in the Airline The notion of safety culture is considered to be the ‘engine’ which drives the procedure towards the objective of preserving the utmost resistance in relation to any operational associated hazards in relation to airline industry. The consequences of a poor safety operational culture are the occurrence of individual as well as organisational accidents which in turn impose considerable impact upon the effectiveness of a particular airline organisation such as Southwest Airlines. ... In this context, it can be said that the chief kinds of human error include decision and skill-based faults. The pilot of a respective airline can make a rule-based mistake which ultimately results in the person to take a wrong decision that ultimately causes the crash. From the viewpoint of the skill-based errors, the accidents are duly caused due to the malfunction of the memory or the attention of the pilot about a particular operational function (Shappell & Wiegmann, 2004). The effect of the individual accidents leads to huge damage to the people. Along with the individual accidents, organisational linked accidents can take place in the systems of an organisation like Southwest Airlines. The chief reason for the occurrence of organisational accidents is the lack of technological innovations. It involves various people who work at different functioning levels within the organisation. The crucial effect of organisational accidents often disturbs the entire working procedure of the airline organisation such as Southwest Airlines which ultimately puts huge amount of people into danger (Reason, 1998). For instance, the cause of Lexington Plane Crash which occurred in the year 2006 was human error that can be considered as a type of individual accident. In this regard, it has been viewed that the pilot involved in the crash used the wrong pathway to take off the plane or flight which ultimately led towards the crash. The effect of this plane crash led to the death of 49 people and posed tremendous negative impact upon the business image as well as the customer service linked facilities of the organisation by a considerable level (ThinkReliability, 2011). Detection or

Individual Power Plan Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Individual Power Plan - Term Paper Example By definition, personal or individual sense of power denotes the capacity of an individual to persuade or manipulate others (Lusssier and Kimball, 2013). My current sense of power within my organisation is patented by the constructive associations or relationships I have formed with other nurses, as well as other individuals involved in the provision of care. This I have achieved through an all-inclusive form of leadership that enhances motivation within the workplace. As a result of these relationships, nurses respect my decisions and approach me for directions and advice in relation to provision of care to patients and the community in general. In doing so, I have been able to influence their behaviours, manipulate their activities, and have also been able to persuade them to support my decisions. There are numerous factors that motivate people to increase or enhance their power base. A good example is the fact that employees prefer to work for powerful leaders. The notion that power is imperative in influencing and persuading others is motivation enough to strive to increase individual power base (Paynton, 2008). Subsequently, there are many ways that a leader in the nursing profession can enhance his or her individual power. According to Lusssier and Kimball (2013), "Power is gained only with time, experience, success, and the increasing respect of your colleagues" (p. 246). To enhance my power base as a nurse and leader therefore, it would be imperative to enhance individual competency through building superior relationships with co-workers, and improve on people skills. One of the important strategies for achieving this plan is networking. Pfeffer (2010) posits that linking and forming connections with other influential individuals in the nursing profession is of significance in order to ensure support is attained when necessary. Secondly, rewarding individual nurses who perform well in their duties and

Change Speech -Kite Runner, Poem, Article Essay Example for Free

Change Speech -Kite Runner, Poem, Article Essay One can perceive change within themselves in various ways and through various mediums. Today I stand before you, ladies and gentleman to discuss with you three significant Changing Self texts I believe, strongly connect in their own ways with the Representations of Changing Self expo. Change can be an immediate process or it can be a series of events over a prolonged period of time like it is in Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, published in 2003. However, using different texts The Kite Runner and perhaps a poem, like The Door, by Miroslar Holub for example, can represent change of self not only in a different format, but also connecting ideas that change can be triggered by a certain event or experience in history which can leave a lasting impact on the present and future. At times we need to be coached or pushed into change, however in other instances we are called to embrace the opportunity as it arises. Sometimes we come across change unknowingly, by innocence or fear of circumstances as of a true story of an Indian boy named Saroo who unknowingly was driven through the process of change. Changing Self can be a very difficult process to acknowledge and to accept. This idea is significant in The Kite Runner; a ‘deeply moving’ novel demonstrates how a horrific experience of one unforeseen event can change the present and future of a young life. Amir slowly develops realisation with age that another change is required to bring about a new beginning or ‘a way to be good again’, as Rahim Khan said presented as a ‘one time’ opportunity . As discussed in the beginning of the novel we are revealed with a component of the past which reflects the choice of future Amir is faced with. The result of Amir’s dreadful experience of watching his servant friend, or not-so-much friend, Hassan being raped and the fact that he didn’t do anything about it, or step in and fight Asef before any commotion began fills Amir with unsound guilt and remorse which he proved unable to hide away from, ‘it was my past of untatoned sins† as quoted. This guilt is too powerful for him to acknowledge, so much so that he takes the course of trying to change the way things ran around his home, by getting rid of Hassan from his life. Amir runs away, metaphorically and literally from the environment and surrounds in hope to seek a better mind and reality. Using the literal ‘running’ from Afghanistan to America to seek safety, he does this metaphorically as he tries to run away from the guilt he cannot let go of. The symbolic use of the cleft lip is a significant detail in the novel used to classify that a person can be identified through specific events and choices, positive or negative. By this whereas Hassan had a cleft lip as a child, this same scenario is changed around as Amir embraces the opportunity to ‘become good again’ and save Sohrab, Hassan’s son, and Amir’s own nephew, from Asef. Amir changes his old cowardice to courage, stepping fourth to fight a losing battle with Asef, a noted, ‘cathartic’ experience, relieving himself from pain, with pain from the blows of Asef, leaving Amir with a cleft lip also. Only to be saved by Sohrab with the repeated symbolic use of the slingshot, this was also used to save Amir from Asef by Hassan years before. Amir feels as though he has positively changed for the better by embracing opportunity and new attribute of courage, filling in the gaps of his stained past. Changing self may be presented as a door of opportunity or experience we may be called to open. The Door, an influential, yet daring poem by Miroslar Holub emphasises in an imperative tone of urgency and pushiness that any change is better than no change at all. Therefore, one must embrace any change as the opportunity presents itself. The symbol of the door is an indicator of opportunities, and the need for them to be open, just as Rahim Khan was a door of opportunity for Amir to open and experience the ‘drought’ or movement of change willing to take place, good or bad. The words, ‘if there is a fog, it will clear’ demonstrates how this presented opportunity for Amir to relieve his life of guilt with be finally removed with action of ‘opening the door.’ The repetition of ‘go and open the door’ is not only encouraging but coaching and emphasising that if all doors are opened and even if so many are negative, there will still be a positive movement because the door was opened and ‘at least there will be a draught,’ or rather, at least you will have tried to do something about an awful event or experience with an unseen future and not remain in the same position, dealing with the guilt and regret, which cannot escape. As long as the door remains shut, the air will remain stuffy and uncomfortable to breathe in, so coming fourth and opening the door will let fresh air and new opportunities to evolve. The writer explains the positives of change which is used to entice or urge the reader to want to experience a new change of air. Changing circumstances in one’s life can erratically change and impact one’s life within a series of events contained by a short span of time. This concept is represented in the deeply touching true story of an Indian boy, named Saroo which was published in the Sydney Morning Herald back in March this year. Throughout 25 years, young Saroo went through an array of unforseen events which lead him away from lifelong poverty and his mother to where he is today, amongst the rich living in Australia. Just as the Herald Sun writes, ‘Australia’s very own, slum dog millionaire!’ Why was this so? Many say it occurred because of fate. When Saroo, whom at the time was only five years old- awoke alone and very frightened at one of India’s very many train stations very late in the evening after he had fallen asleep waiting for h is brother to return. At this part of Saroo’s life, he had very little and was uneducated. Was it fear or was it God or a mixture of the both who persuaded young Saroo to pursue looking for his brother in the closest train simply because, ‘he might be in there.’ This simple child’s thought shunted and altered his life away from anything he ever knew one unforseen event, encouraged by fear, taking the opportunity to open the doors which lead to a train, almost leaving to go to Australia. The Sydney Morning Herald describes this event as ‘the night his young life’s course was altered forever.’ This change of self is represented by the innocence of a young boy. This concept is characterised by Saroo explaining how the reality of trying to get home became a dead end, just like, all the trains he road, to try and reach home, only to meet with another dead end. Various aspects of Saroo’s life were in fact ‘dead ends’ but when it came to his life depending on it, just as Amir depended on the opportunity from Rahim Khan, as unforseen at the time as it was both boys embraced their opportunities to find something, whether a brother or second chance. They opened the door. Saroo’s door opened eventually to a family from Australia whom adopted him, suddenly and strangely out of his life course, he landed himself in Hobart. In conclusion, we can gather that changing self can be a difficult process, yet also an unforseen process which may take place over a series of events. These three researched texts have shown connecting and similar views that we must make use of experience and opportunity of change as it arises. Through these views, we are challenged that ultimately it is up to ourselves via thoughts or actions or a mixture of both to decide the course of change we are willing to take. In the Kite Runner, it is up to Amir to choose to put himself in danger to make up for his guilty past, The Door commands us to take opportunities, and yet in the Sydney Morning Herald’s feature Story illustrates that with physical experience change is forever impacting. Each of these demonstrates in their own way how change can somewhat be forced upon a person and ultimately deliver them into a new direction.

The Crush Is A Short Film Film Studies Essay

The Crush Is A Short Film Film Studies Essay The film starts off with a white text saying a purdy picture production behind the text a black background appears. As it clears up you can hear a soft and strong womans voice saying three words Reveal, Pretend and love. This leads to an Establishing shot which sets up a classroom scene, suggesting that the woman is a teacher the camera has a long shot of the teacher; the camera goes around the room which shows all the kids in the classroom. Warm colours are implicated to show a positive attitude towards the teacher which applies those three words that should to be learned. There is a shot with a young boy the camera has a close up shot of his face to show his kid like emotions, there are birds singing in the background also with the soft music playing. By looking at the young boys face tells me that his emotions are dreamy towards the teacher and hasnt been paying attention. The school bell goes off in the background, which courses the students to leave class which creates a medium shot. Ardal the young boy sitting at his desk and still dreamy hears Ms Purdys voice saying his name; the lighting is a sense of Joy and good. A medium shot is used as he calmly walks to Ms Purdys desk, a tracking shot follows him to show Ms Purdy curiosity and interest with what Ardal has got. Ardal gives her the ring Ms Purdy was surprised and also great full the lighting is a sense of Delight which contrasts with the colour and sends him of to have a great weekend. A head on shot is used while Ardal walks home therefore the action comes straight to the audiences. He arrives home he starts to have dinner with his parents, sitting right in the middle with his parents sitting on either side of him which creates a medium shot. The light suggests that of a delight and also the colour is a calmer, relaxed feeling. A close up shot of dad emotions suggesting to be interested, he asks everybody about their day but also continuing about his story of the day. He tells his son the exciting story with his facial expressions makes the story even more exciting to listen to which becomes into a swish Plan. Ardal all of a sudden asks his mum about when is the prorate age to get married. The dad is shocked with this statement and looks at his wife with disbelieve. His wife answers and asks why have you got some news of us but with a smart response he says that hell keep his mum posted about marriage. After dinner he is in his room a low angle shot is used, he op ens up a Ten year planner diary goes to the year 2015 month 22-28 page and writes down Marry Ms Purdy. He looks at the text after his done writing which is an Aerial shot; dim lighting is implemented to suggest a Force and strength. A long shot shows Ardal enjoying himself and using a public bin as a prop, a feeling of happiness which suggests warm colours. Also a soft but enjoy full music plays in the background suggesting that its a nonviolent act. Ardals mum walks out of the shop she looks at her son and yells come on Ardal with a sense of being in a rush. The music stops playing, Ardal follows his mum he immediately faces the ground. As he walks a ring of a door bell goes off on the background suggesting that someone he matter know is walking out of a shop. He hears a soft but kind voice saying hello Ardal with excitement he recognises the voice and immediately looks up, his eyes brightens up with excitement that its really Ms Purdy. She complements on his new shoes a high angle shot is used at the same time a close up shot of her new ring to show Ardal but he doesnt recognise the ring. A High Angle is used to show how powerful Pierce is, while Ms Purdy is talking about the ring and how they are engaged. Pie rce isnt interested at all and seems to be in a rush to watch a football game. He pulls Ms Purdy away from the conversation which automatically ends the conversation and leads her away. Close up shot of Ardals emotions with an angry facial toward Pierce is implemented. Ardal is back in his room, the colours give the sense of anger and also the dim lighting. He rips a page out of his diary it seems to me that his crunching up the page was he wrote Marry Ms Purdy. A close up shot is used when He throws the paper on the floor and stomps on it, which suggests anger towards the idea of getting married. A scene with dim lighting suggests the idea of death which shows Ardals dad examining a gun; he hides the gun on the top section of the wardrobe from reach. Ardal stands near the door peaking as his dad hides the gun, he shows a lot of interest towards the gun. Ardal comes back in his room, he reattaches the crunched up paper to his diary. At the same time he looks to his side and stares at a poster of a cowboy that is having a challenge a duel to the death. Suggesting a high angle shot with the sense of power he wants to be over Pierce. A grey golf Volkswagen is packed outside the school. Pierce is waiting for Ms Purdy; he looks frustrated that she is always the last teacher to leave school. A sudden knock on the car window, Pierce calmly puts the window down. As the window goes down, there is a close up shot of Ardal standing beside the car fearless he demands him not to marry Ms Purdy, she is mine Ardal says. Pierce laughs with joy and disbelieve he explains that its never gone happen. Ardal demands a duel to the death, he tells Pierce where and when to meet him of this challenge the lack of communication suggests a dim of lighting. A Reverse angle is used as Pierce accepts this challenge with a laugh he also asks with a childlike behaviour which weapons to bring. Ardal says pistols, he calmly walks away. Ms Purdy comes and sits inside the car, the lighting in the car suggests a sense of Innocences. A Head on shot is used again when Ardal walks home but his facial emotions suggests a seriousness, it seemed to me t hat he is planning ideas while his walking home. Ardal is back in his parents room sitting on their bed, a high angle is used and the lighting once again gives of Death and evil look to the scene. While Ardal stares up giving him a low angle shot of the wardrobe where his dad has hidden the gun, the background music play which helps with the senses of stargazing a plan of attack. Pierce is once again waiting of Ms Purdy at the school but this time his in an energetic mood of his close up facial expressions. Ms Purdy walks to the car and sits inside. She and Pierce connect lips with a kiss, as the kiss ends. Ardal is given a long shot therefore tells us that his standing in front of the school doors the shot was taken from the car pointing towards Ardal which also gives him a horror look. Pierce gets out of the car while Ms Purdy is trying to calm him down also letting him to leave it alone his just a kid. Engorging her, Pierce leaves and closes the door behind him which leaves Ms Purdy worried suggested by the dim lighting and also the close up shot. Pierce walks into a four walled concrete room, Suggesting to me that it looks like a squash room with one white line going across and one thick line at the bottom going across the wall. The Camera zooms into his face and then out, which gives him a side view. In the shot Ardal appears by the door Pierces full body turns around to look at him, Ardal drops his bag on the floor. Ardal asks Pierce were is his pistol but he doesnt care about this problem, he pulls out a gun and points it to Pierce a close up shot of him holding the gun, helps to determine that idea. His shocked with Ardals actions also thinking it might be a fake gun but Ardals knows its real. Ms Purdy walks into the building she sees Ardal pointing a gun at Pierce. A close up is used to determine how afraid she is of what might happen next. Pierce begs him to put the gun down but Ardal is determined to kill Pierce and stop him marring Ms Purdy. The lighting of scene suggest a more Evil which also is Death , Ardal activities the trigger of the gun aims it at Pierce, Pierce going down on his knees and tells the true about why he got engaged to Ms Purdy just to shut her up about marriage. As Pierce yells at Ms Purdy to call the cops, Ardal shoots a big loud bang goes off. The camera shots move around with Pierce as he flows to the ground, a close up shot comes back to Ms Purdy as she screams wit h fear. A close up shot of Ardals face shows his eyes not blinking once and fearless. A Blank screen shows for 3 Seconds Slowly the blank screen disappears. Orange ball roles across Pierces body, a close up of his eyes opening and realising that his not dead. Ardal looks back at Ms Purdy and says see Ms she also realises that the gun is fake, she takes out her ring and throws it at Pierce. Pierce gets up with anger towards Ardal but Ms Purdy protects him. They both leave the room, leaving Pierce alone in with disbelieve. Conclusions The director has used good angle shots for each scene to make the film as real as it can be. With the use close up, long shots, medium shots, high/low angle shots and also head on shots. The lighting was well implemented throughout the movie, with the sense of Death, Joy and good will. Colours helped with all aspects of the film mainly with lighting. Ms Purdy takes the gun of Ardal and she puts it in her handbag he explains that his dad had gotten him toy gun for his birthday and he was hiding it form him, Ardal asks if his actions are going into his report but Ms Purdy tells him that it is they little secret. Ms Purdy walks Ardal home and the back ground music is a happier and more relaxed. At the end the directors/written and also the produces name show up also with the rest of the crew members of the movie.

Analysis of Economic Factors in a Business

Analysis of Economic Factors in a Business Profit Sharing, Revenue Sharing, Piece Rate, Time Clocks and Spot Checks Submitted by Group 6:- Neethi Nair-14020541031 Neha Paswan-14020541032 Nilesh Tayade-14020541033 Nishant Thool-14020541034 Nishith Mohanty-14020541035 Nitish Vats – 14020541036 Akanksha Chaudhary 14020541065 Profit Sharing:- Profit sharing are the commission plans to introduced by business firms that provides direct or indirect wages to the employees that is dependent on the company’s profit earned, in addition to the employee’s regular salary and bonuses. In public companies, these are the profitability assigned to the employee as the equity shares. Profit sharing plans are generally based upon the predetermined economic sharing regulations that define how much should be split between the company as a principal and the employee as an agent. The manager can use this to enhance workers’ efforts making the workers’ compensation dependent on the underlying profitability of the firm. Offering workers compensation that is tied to underlying profitability provides an incentive for workers to put forth more effort. The company can also earn profit from this, by sharing the profit with the employees’ retirement benefit account, which will be non-taxable for the company. Profit sharing is a type of variable pay, which is dependent on the profit gained by the company. Wells Fargo Company is an American multinational banking and financial services holding company which is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with hub-quarters throughout the country. It is the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by assets and the largest bank by market capitalization. Its profit sharing is as follows:- (https://www.wellsfargo.com/biz/retirement/profit-sharing-plans/) For companies, size really doesn’t matter to offer profit sharing. Employee eligibility is set while joining. Employer: Up to 25% of compensation or $52,000 in 2014. Profit sharing plans allow the company to vary every year according to the profit. The contributions are deducted from the taxable income. The withdrawn contribution and earnings are taxed as ordinary income. Stocks, bonds, mutual funds and Advisory Products available through a Wells Fargo Advisors brokerage account. There will be a 10% IRS early withdrawal penalty if the profit is withdrawn before age 59 ½ unless valid exception. Exceptions: Normal retirement age Separation of service after five years and reaching age 55 Death Disability Substantial equal periodic payments over life expectancy Qualified military reservist Required withdrawals must begin at age 70 ½ Deadline to set up and Fund Must be established by the last day of the business’ fiscal year Contributions may be made up through the business tax filing date (plus extensions) REVENUE SHARING : Revenue sharing is a business arrangement that makes it possible for two or more parties to share in the profits and losses realized by a business operation. The exact structure of the revenue sharing strategy varies based on governmental regulations that are applied in the jurisdiction in which the business is located, and the terms and provisions found in the contract that establishes the working relationship between the concerned parties. This approach may be used to compensate employees of the firm above and beyond the usual salary or wages, or be used to provide compensation to affiliate partners in an online business venture. Within a business setting, revenue sharing may take place as part of a limited partnership arrangement. Here, the partners agree to share in the profits and losses sustained by the operation, with specific provisions on how those profits and losses are shared each accounting period. Essentially, the general partner has the responsibility of reporting the l evel of profit or loss incurred to the limited partners, then compensating them according to the terms found in the partnership agreement. USER ROLES: Managers will setup available business models and parts of them are the revenue share model Service provider will setup revenue share model associated to Applications and services, and they have to be loaded in the Revenue Settlement Sharing System Developers have to know about the revenues of their applications and services Involved service/applications providers have to know about the revenues of their applications and services The following figure shows a conceptual architecture of a system for settling and sharing revenues. There are a number of different sources of revenues for a given service that will be integrated and processed according to the business model of each service and the revenue sharing policies specified for each partner. The final revenues balance will be transferred to a payment broker to deliver the payments to each provider/developer Infinite Risk/Reward Revenue-Sharing model Case Study: Raising the Bar in Smart Pricing Smart Pricing has received a lot of attention in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) industry over the last 12 months. IT service providers are touting it as a key differentiator in a very competitive post-crisis environment, and organizations are demanding for more risk/reward and usage-based pricing so that their ICT partners have more accountability in each engagement and these ICT engagements are more aligned to business priorities. International Data Corporation (IDC) is predicting that Smart Pricing will account for close to 50% of all ICT services transactions by 2015. Infinite, an Indian IT services and software provider, has been one of the most aggressive services providers in this game changing market dynamic whereby approximately 30% of its total revenue is derived from risk/reward pricing models. Its intellectual property–based revenue sharing model is certainly setting the pace in the industry where many ICT service providers are still struggling to co me up with the right formula. Infinite is not only setting the pace in Smart Pricing models in the ICT industry, it has clearly raised the bar for the rest of the field. Organization Overview: Infinite Computer Solutions is an India-headquartered global services provider of infrastructure management services, intellectual property (IP)-leveraged solutions, and IT services. The company focuses on the telecom, media, technology, manufacturing, power, and healthcare industries. Presently, telecom is its principal vertical and this includes telecom service providers as well as networking equipment vendors. Its services portfolios span application management outsourcing, packaged application services, independent validation and verification, product  development and support, and higher value-added offerings including managed platform and product engineering services. It currently has 3,668 employees and has a global footprint of 16 offices across the globe including Singapore, the U.S., the U.K., India, Malaysia, and China. RD sites are concentrated in Indian cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Gurgaon. The company is listed on the NSE and BSE and its FY10 revenue was approximately US$140 million. Infinite has a healthy mix of customers from the list of Fortune 100 companies including IBM, Alcatel Lucent, and Motorola across several verticals, but its strengths continue to be in the telecom and healthcare sectors. Challenges Solutions : Mature products are targets: Currently, Infinite works with organizations, examines their or their clients product portfolios, and identifies products or solutions that are mature and have a significant installed base. The products continue to be essential to many buyers, have a proven revenue generating record, and can be better streamlined via an off shoring model to India. The upside potential must be significant: Infinite will have to execute careful due diligence before actually making any large-scale investment. One of the guiding principles is that the product or solution must be able to deliver 20%–50% growth over the next few years with further investments. Risk/reward pricing models vary: Infinite has made significant progress in raising the share of its revenue that is derived from risk/reward pricing models. It currently stands at close to 30%, one of the highest if not the highest in the industry. Revenue derived or splits between Infinite and client varies from deal to deal but it is dependent on several factors. For every There are usually three sets of revenue streams to drive growth. Additional new sales of the product, services revenue, and annual maintenance are the three sets of revenue streams to drive growth. The combination of these three must be able to deliver an upside that ranges 25%–50% of growth. The proportion of revenue that is attributed to the customer will generally be lower if the revenue upside potential is less, accounting for new investments that could refresh the product. How much to invest in the new product? : Infinite would also need to do its due diligence as to what and how much investment it needs to put into these products to generate the type of growth that it is looking for. Aware that some of these products have great fluctuations in revenue, which may be difficult to forecast, the company has to factor this into its planning. Results: According to IDC this unique engagement model and smart pricing will eventually define the ICT industry over the next few years. Clearly one of the trendsetters, Infinite is setting an excited pace in Smart Pricing that many of its competitors will have to play catch-up. Infinites unique smart pricing model has achieved sustainable returns. In todays economic environment, organizations are looking for flexibility and agility; and as a result of this relationship, many of its existing clients are now able to realign their resources by channeling them into strategic areas of growth. Increase in the value of offerings as RD investment in core products as well as additional Infinite capital ploughed in will have the overall impact of enhancing the total solution or product portfolio. The company posts 20%–50% revenue growth, usually depending on a number of factors including how speculative the product or solution is. Infinite is clearly on a growth trajectory and thus, its IP-based risk/reward model has found a warm reception among some organizations. Piece-rate pay:- Piece-rate pay gives a payment for each item produced and is therefore the easiest way for a business to ensure that employees are paid for the amount of work they do. Piece-rate pay is also sometimes referred to as a â€Å"payment by results system†, â€Å"piece work† or â€Å"performance related pay†. The oldest type of performance pay, piece rate is when an employee is paid a fixed rate for each unit of production. In other words, he or she is paid by results. For example, a factory worker may be paid per item he or she makes on a production line. In the United Kingdom and in various other countries with minimum wage laws, pay rate must be used in unification with minimum wage laws for employees. For example, an employee who works at a $0.1 per-piece rate and completes 70 pieces in an hour would not receive $7.00 but would receive his state’s minimum wage, which might be, for example, $7.25 an hour. However if he is able to work fast enough to complete 90 pieces in an hour he can earn $9.00 per hour. So, per-piece rate pay can act as an incentive for employees. Incentive contracts such as piece rates and profit sharing are designed to solve principal–agent problems when effort is not observable. The benefits of the piece rate system is that it motivates employees financially to complete as much work as they can, and consequently they can increase their monetary reward by maximizing their output. A potential problem with paying workers based on a piece rate is that effort must be expended in quality control; otherwise, workers may attempt to produce quantity at the expense of quality. Therefore, piece-rate pay encourages effort, but, it is reasoned, often at the expense of quality. From the employee’s perspective, there can be certain problems which might affect the production and eventually affect their pay. The problems which can possibly hamper the production may include breakdown of the production machinery or delay in the delivery of the raw materials which slows down the production. These factors are outside of the employee’s control – but could potentially affect their pay. The solution to these problems is that piece-rate pay systems tend, to have two elements: A basic pay element which is a fixed time- based element An output-related element- Generally the piece-rate element is only elicited by the business exceeding a target output in a specific defined period of time Piece-rate systems are broadly classified into three categories: i. Straight Piece-rate ii. Piece-rate with Guaranteed time rates iii. Differential Piece-rates Straight Piece-rate method payment is made on the basis of affixed amount per units produced without regard to the time taken. Thus the earnings could be calculated as follows: Earnings= Number of units x rate per unit. The fixations of piece rate generally depend upon: The comparable time rate for the same class of workers The expected output in given time In Guaranteed time rates system payment is at time rates but adjusted to the cost of living. The employer balances the high labor cost by increasing the price of the products. The merit awards for skills, personal qualities, ability, punctuality etc. are also considered in this system. Differential Piece-rate system is a wage plan based on a standard task time wherein the worker receives increased or decreased piece rates as his production varies from that expected for the standard time. This is also known as an accelerating incentive. Comparison of three price rate systems Wages during Differential Piece rate Period Straight Piece rate Guaranteed Base wage Straight piece rate with minimum guaranteed wage Standard output Output in pieces produced Time clocks and spot checks :- Few methods of encouraging workers to put forth their best efforts are piecework, time clocks, and spot checks. Time clock is relatively simple and inexpensive technique to introduce into a place of business; however the flaws in it is that the information received from time clock is relatively useless in determining employee’s working habits. A time clock can only inform a manager of how long an employee spends in the workplace, but not how much time the employee is actually spending working i.e. how efficiently is he working. There could be a possibility that the employee is simply socializing most of the day or just doing the irrelevant tasks and the time clock would make no determination between employee with such behavior and the employee who works diligently throughout the workday. So, we can say that Time clocks don’t monitor efforts made by the employee; rather, simply measures his presence at the workplace from beginning to the end of workday. Thus it acts as an inferior method to monitor manager-worker problems. A more efficient method than Time clock that not just measures the time spent by employee at workplace ,but also measures his/her performance, is spot check. In this case the manager gives time to time visit at workplace to monitor its employees. The objective of these spot checks and inspections is to counter irregularities committed against the Community budget. The spot checks may concern, in particular Business books and documents such as invoices, pay slips, bank statements, lists of terms and conditions, statements of materials used and work done, and Computer data Packaging, Production and dispatching systems and methods Physical checks as to the nature and quantity of goods or completed operations The collection and checking of samples The progress of works and investments for which financing has been provided, and the how it has been used Accounting and budgetary documents The technical and financial implementation of subsidized projects The advantages of spot checks are as follows: It reduces the cost of monitoring workers The managers need not to be available at different places at same time It also increases employee efficiency. With workers not knowing if the manager will show up or not, they put more effort at work, as suddenly getting caught â€Å"goofing off† may lead to dismissal or a reduction in pay As everything has its pros and cons, same is the case with Spot checking. Some of disadvantages of spot checks are as follows: Frequent spot checks, however, are costly and reduce the firm’s profitability Spot checks work, in effect, through threat These can have negative impact on employees moral; he/she can’t work freely at workplace due to threat of being watched every moment.

Free Macbeth Essays: Blameless Macbeth :: Macbeth essays

Blameless Macbeth  Ã‚      Macbeth, a tragic play by William Shakespeare, involves the downfall of a military hero, Macbeth. Our hero, however, is not to blame for his own fate – the downfall of Macbeth is the result of the actions by those around him. Three evil withes foretell that Macbeth will become Thane of DCawdor and even King of Scotland. Macbeth dismissed their prophecies, but after he is promoted to Thane of Cawdor for military action, Macbeth wonders if he shall not be King, too. Macbeth is a good and loyal kinsman who would never harm his King. Were it not for outside forces, he would have lived happily as Thane of Cawdor, an illustrious title in itself. Macbeth does not even want to kill King Duncan. He says Ã’chance may crown me without my stir.Ó Fearing the withes message means that he will kill the king in the future, he says Ã’Present fears are less than horrible imaginings.Ó Macbeth writes to his wife, telling her about the withes and how one prophecy has already come true. As soon as she hears about it, she calls on evil spirits to fill her full of cruelty so that she will the King if necessary. Macbeth, one the other hand, does not like a possible future by the withes prophecy: that he will kill his King. This shows the difference between Lord and Lady Macbeth. It is only after much nagging and cajoling from his wife that he decides to go through with it, and then halfheartedly. His wife uses insults, demeans him, and makes him feel less than a man, so Macbeth finally gives in. While Lady Macbeth is the one who sets the ball rolling, to use an analogy, it was the witches that put the ball at the top of the hill,. The three withes are a physical manifestation of evil. They conspire to kill as many mortals as possible, under their ‘superior,’ Hecate. Using their evil ability to see into the future, they can tell that by using Macbeth as a tool for destruction, the maximum destructiveness will be reached. To get Macbeth to do their evil biddings, the first influence this seed of evil into his mind. By giving Macbeth that prophecy, they ensure that their plans will work.The prophecy is a self fulfilling one: for the future to be as it turns out to be, someone must know of it. Free Macbeth Essays: Blameless Macbeth :: Macbeth essays Blameless Macbeth  Ã‚      Macbeth, a tragic play by William Shakespeare, involves the downfall of a military hero, Macbeth. Our hero, however, is not to blame for his own fate – the downfall of Macbeth is the result of the actions by those around him. Three evil withes foretell that Macbeth will become Thane of DCawdor and even King of Scotland. Macbeth dismissed their prophecies, but after he is promoted to Thane of Cawdor for military action, Macbeth wonders if he shall not be King, too. Macbeth is a good and loyal kinsman who would never harm his King. Were it not for outside forces, he would have lived happily as Thane of Cawdor, an illustrious title in itself. Macbeth does not even want to kill King Duncan. He says Ã’chance may crown me without my stir.Ó Fearing the withes message means that he will kill the king in the future, he says Ã’Present fears are less than horrible imaginings.Ó Macbeth writes to his wife, telling her about the withes and how one prophecy has already come true. As soon as she hears about it, she calls on evil spirits to fill her full of cruelty so that she will the King if necessary. Macbeth, one the other hand, does not like a possible future by the withes prophecy: that he will kill his King. This shows the difference between Lord and Lady Macbeth. It is only after much nagging and cajoling from his wife that he decides to go through with it, and then halfheartedly. His wife uses insults, demeans him, and makes him feel less than a man, so Macbeth finally gives in. While Lady Macbeth is the one who sets the ball rolling, to use an analogy, it was the witches that put the ball at the top of the hill,. The three withes are a physical manifestation of evil. They conspire to kill as many mortals as possible, under their ‘superior,’ Hecate. Using their evil ability to see into the future, they can tell that by using Macbeth as a tool for destruction, the maximum destructiveness will be reached. To get Macbeth to do their evil biddings, the first influence this seed of evil into his mind. By giving Macbeth that prophecy, they ensure that their plans will work.The prophecy is a self fulfilling one: for the future to be as it turns out to be, someone must know of it.

Iraq War Is Both Necessary and Justified Essay -- Political Politics

Iraq War Is Both Necessary and Justified This essay is in defense of the Iraqi War. President Bush’s vocal critics state that American troops’ have been sacrificed in the Iraq War. First of all, the word â€Å"sacrifice† means that a person voluntarily does or gives up something at his or her own free will (like a bunt to advance a runner in baseball or Catholics sacrificing and giving up chocolate for Lent). I don’t believe that any of those soldiers that have been killed in the war deliberately intended to die or were â€Å"sacrificed† as Michael Moore has erroneously stated. And I’m sure that if President Bush knew the names of those soldiers that were going to be killed, I’m certain he would have ordered those individuals to stay on U.S. military bases and not engage in combat in Iraq. Secondly, in World War II over 405,000 American military personnel had been killed, and that happens to constitute over 400 times the sacrifice that our nation has made in the combined Afghan/Iraq Wars. And besides that horrendous astronomical figure over 671,000 American soldiers were wounded during WWII. I agree with the anti-war pundits that each American life should be valued, but when you analyze â€Å"sacrifice† in its true context, look to the past to equate the true cost of freedom. The World Trade Center twin-towers catastrophe was very comparable to Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and in fact more people died on September 11th on U.S. soil than were bombed and killed at Pearl Harbor. Now here’s where the liberal mindset suddenly turns philosophical. â€Å"The Iraq War should not be fought and it cannot be validly compared to WWII,† they will argue. President Bush does not like or want war, but sometimes war is the only viable measure to take. I stro... ... Palestinian suicide/homicide bomber’s family $30,000 of â€Å"oil for food money† just to ensure that terrorism in the Middle East would thrive and continue. The same attitude that prevailed among the demented German Fascists exists among the radical Islamic Fascists: â€Å"Blame it all on the Jews!† The United States of America protects all of the free world including anti-war protestors in Canada, Europe and even here in America. The USA is the greatest force for good the world has ever known, but our nation can only continue being great through strength, economic prosperity, free enterprise and courage to act, to demonstrate leadership and to defend what is right, what is just and what is necessary. And there’s one final thing to say to all anti-war liberals. How much money is Al Qaeda donating to the hurricance victims? Get on the right side of the fence and stay there.

Modern Feminism and Violence Against Women Essay -- Gender Studies

The 20th century has seeing many progresses for women across the world. Prehistory showed that women could not vote, educational institution excluded them, and work outside the home was limited. Women today live longer and are more educated, enjoy more job opportunities, and earn a little higher salary. However, we still live in a world were society is run by religious laws, customs, and male dominances. These traditions and customs still limit women mobility and women are still regarded as subordinate to men and violence against women still exists despite having many strives in the 20th century. In many countries around the world women still find themselves limited from education, employment, health care, political influences, wage equality, and rights solely due to their gender. Whereby, violence against women is regarded as unfair treatment towards women and it reflects the inequality which still exists in our society today between genders. However the invention of modern feminism has been the naming and exposure of the violence women endure. Modern feminism would argue that violence against women is not just related to men in power, nor that women enjoy violence and domination, and or that victim of abuse invited the violence on themselves but rather rape and any other act of violence against women is a social and societal, historic and cultural, and economical issue that is rooted in the relationship of power and dominance between men and women which is infused in a patriarchy society. The main focus of this paper is to explore how violence against women is viewed in modern feminism. First, the term modern feminism and violence against women will be defined. This paper will be using term such as gender which refers to h... ..., D. (2010). Counting woman abuse: a cautionary tale of two surveys. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 13(3), 265-275. doi:10.1080/13645579.2010.482263 Dekeseredy, W.(2011). Feminist contributions to understanding woman abuse: Myths, controversies, and realities: Aggression and Violent Behavior. Retrieved on February 19, 2012, from, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359178911000541 Roberts, D. E. (1994). SYMPOSIUM: GENDER ISSUES AND THE CRIMINAL LAW. FOREWORD: THE MEANING OF GENDER EQUALITY IN CRIMINAL LAW. Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 85(1), 1-14 Nayak, M., & Suchland, J. (2006). Gender Violence And Hegemonic Projects. International Feminist Journal Of Politics,8(4), 467-485. doi:10.1080/14616740600945024 VanNatta, M. (2005). Constructing the Battered Woman. Feminist Studies, 31(2), 416-443

Colonial Peru: History Takes a Dramatic Turn

It is hard to realize that historical accounts such as these could be so intriguing and actually reeks of scandals that could match any modern day soap opera could muster on television. The relationships, marriage, litigation and the drama are intensely strewn as each turn of events heat up.   Noting old court records and letters narrating the life of Francisco Noguerol de Ulloa, we become witnesses to his unwitting marriage to two women transformed into the main plot of Alexandra and Noble Cook’s book Good Faith and Truthful Ignorance (1991).In the novel type historical account, the story begins as Noguerol receives a letter one day from his two sisters, who are nuns in a Benedictine convent.Doà ±a Ynà ©s and Doà ±a Ynà ©sa Francisca, nuns in the Benedictine convent of San Pedro de las Dueà ±as, had corresponded occasionally with their brother who resided in Peru. But the mail was slow and undependable. This time they wrote to tell Francisco that his wife, Doà ±a Beat riz de Villasur, had died, and to reprimand him for neglecting his own family. They desired, above all else, his return (p. 7).Apparently, his two sisters schemed to convince their brother to go back home, telling him that his wife, Doà ±a Beatriz de Villasur had died. Rather than going home, Noguerol took a new wife, Doà ±a Catalina de Vergara, in a grand ceremony â€Å"among knights and people of much authority and quality.† But when the happy couple did return to Spain, they were greeted with a royal litigation: not only was Noguerol's first wife was still alive, King Philip II wanted him arrested for bigamy.This sparked the beginning of a complicated legal drama in the 16th century Latin America that trailed all the way to the Vatican, where Pope Paul IV decreed that Noguerol could keep his second wife. As the story unfolds, the readers are treated to a dose of bickering lawyers and sexual intrigue–including a lengthy debate over whether Noguerol first had  "carnal intercourse† with first wife or second wife.We could draw out from the book about colonial Peru’s adherence to marriage customs, such as the endowment of dowry by the wife’s family. Francisco Noguerol's first marriage demonstrates the importance of the dowry and is an example of the â€Å"arranged marriage† that was rampant during those times. In the story, we have learned that as a young man in Spain, Noguerol agreed in a marriage arranged by his mother against his will. To wit:The marriage between Francisco and Beatriz had been arranged by their families. It was a business transaction between a wealthy merchant and less affluent gentry, where personal wishes of the young people about to be linked were not considered relevant. Doà ±a Costanza, a widow of only four years, settled a modest annuity on the young couple, but her son's allure lay in his status.The Noguerols descended from a notable family in Galicia and could clearly be categorized as hidalgos. Cristà ³val de Santander was a merchant who could afford to endow his daughter with an enticing sum in order to attract a husband with a higher social standing. The parents had negotiated a mutually satisfying deal, and their children could only dutifully accept the terms.Francisco had protested; Beatriz had remained silent. They were betrothed, and the reluctant groom sweetened his fate with the delectable dowry. On 21 December 1530 Francisco Noguerol de Ulloa, who must have been about twenty years old, acknowledged to have received from â€Å"Cristà ³val de Santander my father-in-law† 30,000 maravedis â€Å"for the dowry and marriage that you have promised me, and that you have agreed to give with Doà ±a Beatriz de Villasur, your daughter and my spouse.† On 29 January 1532 Francisco accepted another â€Å"1,000 reales of silver that are worth 34,000 maravedis, that I receive as partial payment of the dowry,† (p. 43).After receiving a substantial d owry, Noguerol left for America, where he played a role in the Peruvian civil war and amassed a good-sized fortune. Noguerol's second marriage was by his own choice and especially his wife's choice, but it further demonstrates the importance of property for marriage. In his second marriage, Francisco received another large sum of money:Doà ±a Catalina de Vergara had agreed to marry Francisco Noguerol with the condition that he would take her back to Spain and even extracted an oath to that effect from her suitor. On the fifth day of October of 1549, the groom signed a receipt for all the goods Doà ±a Catalina was bringing as dowry, worth some 3,105,000 maravedis (p. 25).Before he was slapped with a bigamy suit, Noguerol did not know that his first wife is still alive. He married again in Peru several years after he received letters from his two sisters, who were nuns in Spain. They erroneously informed him that his first wife had died. Though neither spouse was in any way coerced into this marriage, both were careful to choose a marriage partner with sufficient property to constitute an excellent match. But, it turns out the wives were the ones who gave large sums of money to the man they chose to marry.As soon as she learned that her husband had remarried. Dona Beatriz de Villasur initiated the dramatic bigamy suit after Noguerol began concluding his affairs in Peru and had sent a substantial amount of money to be invested in Spain, thereby alerting her and her relatives to his present prosperity.The suit was first litigated before the Council of the Indies prior to Noguerol's arrival in Spain. When he returned, he went to the ecclesiastical court to have his first marriage annulled. The suits and countersuits lasted several years and included a long period in which Noguerol was imprisoned and not permitted to live with his second wife. The Council of the Indies finally ruled in favor of Dona Beatriz, declaring Noguerol a bigamist. He was fined and exiled f rom several Spanish cities for several years, but he was not ordered to return to his first wife.During that time, records such as administrative documents, the proceedings of the judiciary, and the minutes of both Andean and Spanish cabildos (town councils)–were also useful, especially when analyzed document by document specifically to compare Andean and Spanish views. Punishments for bigamy could be as heavy and could even cost the life of the offender. One person, Don Juan, cacique of Collique, offered buried treasure to the Spanish official who wanted him hanged for bigamy. He successfully tricked the Spanish, at least for a short while, by sending another woman in the place of his favorite mistress to the home of a good Christian woman for religious instruction (Ramirez, 1996).During the two and a half centuries in which the Peruvian Inquisition functioned (from 1570 to 1820), some forty autos da fà © were held. In these ceremonies, the maximum punishments — â₠¬Å"relajacià ³n† (delivery to secular authorities) or death — were enforced as was forced reconciliation with the Catholic Church. Of the three thousand persons probably tried during the entire history of the Lima tribunal, only 48 were condemned. to burn at the stake.The classic and always useful Historia del tribunal de la Inquisicià ³n de Lima first published by Josà © Toribio Medina in 1887 contains a statistical summary of crimes listed most often in the Inquisition records. Heading the list is bigamy (20 percent of the cases); practicing the Jewish faith (17 percent); witchcraft (12 percent); heresy (10 percent); and solicitation by clergymen (7 percent) (see Medina 1956, 2:406-7). The leading position of bigamy can be explained by the great distance, the lengthy separations, and the difficulties in communicating that made the New World a likely setting for the proliferation of marital ties (Hampe-Martinez, 1996).Paulino Castaà ±eda Delgado and Pilar Hernà ¡n dez Aparicio (1985) explored the development of bigamy trials over the two and a half centuries of the Lima tribunal. They pointed out considerations of a canonical nature in the treatment of marriage and polygamy by the Catholic Church, above all during the Counter-Reformation.These authors demonstrated that double marriages were more common in the Indies than in Spain, a phenomenon readily explained by the distance, lengthy stays, and difficulty in communicating from the New World. Like the witchcraft trials, the number of bigamy cases increased progressively in the jurisdiction of the Lima Inquisition. Between 1700 and 1820, these two misdeeds represented almost half of all cases tried.In Good Faith and Truthful Ignorance, Doà ±a Catalina, who is the second wife, sought the needed favorable ecclesiastical ruling for Francisco. Thus, the couple appealed to the Papacy and they were endowed a Papal brief. The Pope and the Salamanca apostolic judge ruled in favor of Noguerol and Don a Catalina, returning them to married life together. Regarding marriage, Church law was more powerful than civil law.The authors found documentation for money sent much later to a member of the Roman curia, which suggests that the favorable Papal brief may have been influenced by a venal under ­ling. When Francisco Noguerol died, Doà ±a Beatriz again sued Doà ±a Catalina for the return of her dowry and half the joint earnings. The ecclesiastical court reversed their judgment and ruled in her favor. Rather than continue the litigation that might endanger her grandson's inheritance, Dona Catalina offered to settle out of court and paid Dona Beatriz an amount much larger than the original dowry.In the book, the legal position of women in Spanish colonial society had been featured. These were established by codes written in the thirteenth century (the Siete Partidas ) and the early sixteenth century (the Leyes de Toro ) and was reinforced by a corporate view of society that equated the authority of the paterfamilias in the nuclear family with that of the king in the monarchical state. In the public sphere, women could not vote, become lawyers or judges, or hold public office (Arrom, 1985).Married women needed the permission of their husbands to engage in many transactions, including buying or disposing of property, lending or borrowing money, and forming business partnerships. In terms of inheritance under Spanish law, daughters and sons inherited equal shares of their parents' property, and a widow generally received half of the couple's community property on the death of her husband. Any dowry a woman brought to a marriage legally reverted to her when her husband died or if the marriage was legally dissolved. Until that time, however, the husband could administer the dowry and could keep any interest that it earned (Zulawski, 1990).In Good Faith and Truthful Ignorance, we could draw out the rule before that in the matter of guardianship of their own children , women's rights were limited. Only the father could give consent for a child to marry, and a widow became her own child's legal guardian only if her husband had not named anyone else in his will.  For their work, Cook and Cook have woven a commendable picture of marriage, relationships, litigation and the status of women in 16th century Spain and Peru. Packing it with lots of historical accounts and careful presentation of arguments, we could visualize both sides of the story as seen in the documents themselves and resisting the temptation to speculate without convincing evidence. However, there have been parts that felt short. Like the analysis of the Papal brief that countered the ruling of the Council of the Indies when they favored Noguerol. But, all in all, the work is commendable because the unexpected decision make the readers forget that we are reading historical accounts, which are usually boring. The writing style is exciting as it definitely intrigues it its readers to finish the story till the end.Works CitedArrom, S.A. The Women of Mexico City, 1790-1857, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press 1985, p. 77.Castaà ±eda, P.H. and Aparicio, P.H. The crimes of bigamy in the Inquisition of Lima, Missionalia Hispanica, Madrid, vol.   42, no. 24174, 1985.Cook, A. P. and Cook, N.D. Good Faith and Truthful Ignorance: A Case of Transatlantic Bigamy. Duke University Press, 1991Hampe-Martinez, T.   Recent Works on the Inquisition and Peruvian Colonial Society, 1570-1820, Latin American Research Review, vol. 31, 1996Ramà ­rez, S.E. The World Upside down: Cross-Cultural Contact and Conflict in Sixteenth-Century Peru, Stanford University, 1996 Zulawski, A. Social Differentiation, Gender, and Ethnicity: Urban Indian Women in Colonial Bolivia, 1640-1725, Latin American Research Review, vol. 25, no. 2, 1990 Colonial Peru: History Takes a Dramatic Turn It is hard to realize that historical accounts such as these could be so intriguing and actually reeks of scandals that could match any modern day soap opera could muster on television. The relationships, marriage, litigation and the drama are intensely strewn as each turn of events heat up.   Noting old court records and letters narrating the life of Francisco Noguerol de Ulloa, we become witnesses to his unwitting marriage to two women transformed into the main plot of Alexandra and Noble Cook’s book Good Faith and Truthful Ignorance (1991).In the novel type historical account, the story begins as Noguerol receives a letter one day from his two sisters, who are nuns in a Benedictine convent.Doà ±a Ynà ©s and Doà ±a Ynà ©sa Francisca, nuns in the Benedictine convent of San Pedro de las Dueà ±as, had corresponded occasionally with their brother who resided in Peru. But the mail was slow and undependable. This time they wrote to tell Francisco that his wife, Doà ±a Beat riz de Villasur, had died, and to reprimand him for neglecting his own family. They desired, above all else, his return (p. 7).Apparently, his two sisters schemed to convince their brother to go back home, telling him that his wife, Doà ±a Beatriz de Villasur had died. Rather than going home, Noguerol took a new wife, Doà ±a Catalina de Vergara, in a grand ceremony â€Å"among knights and people of much authority and quality.† But when the happy couple did return to Spain, they were greeted with a royal litigation: not only was Noguerol's first wife was still alive, King Philip II wanted him arrested for bigamy. This sparked the beginning of a complicated legal drama in the 16th century Latin America that trailed all the way to the Vatican, where Pope Paul IV decreed that Noguerol could keep his second wife. As the story unfolds, the readers are treated to a dose of bickering lawyers and sexual intrigue–including a lengthy debate over whether Noguerol first had †Å"carnal intercourse† with first wife or second wife.We could draw out from the book about colonial Peru’s adherence to marriage customs, such as the endowment of dowry by the wife’s family. Francisco Noguerol's first marriage demonstrates the importance of the dowry and is an example of the â€Å"arranged marriage† that was rampant during those times. In the story, we have learned that as a young man in Spain, Noguerol agreed in a marriage arranged by his mother against his will. To wit:The marriage between Francisco and Beatriz had been arranged by their families. It was a business transaction between a wealthy merchant and less affluent gentry, where personal wishes of the young people about to be linked were not considered relevant. Doà ±a Costanza, a widow of only four years, settled a modest annuity on the young couple, but her son's allure lay in his status. The Noguerols descended from a notable family in Galicia and could clearly be categorized a s hidalgos. Cristà ³val de Santander was a merchant who could afford to endow his daughter with an enticing sum in order to attract a husband with a higher social standing.The parents had negotiated a mutually satisfying deal, and their children could only dutifully accept the terms. Francisco had protested; Beatriz had remained silent. They were betrothed, and the reluctant groom sweetened his fate with the delectable dowry. On 21 December 1530 Francisco Noguerol de Ulloa, who must have been about twenty years old, acknowledged to have received from â€Å"Cristà ³val de Santander my father-in-law† 30,000 maravedis â€Å"for the dowry and marriage that you have promised me, and that you have agreed to give with Doà ±a Beatriz de Villasur, your daughter and my spouse.† On 29 January 1532 Francisco accepted another â€Å"1,000 reales of silver that are worth 34,000 maravedis, that I receive as partial payment of the dowry,† (p. 43).After receiving a substantial dowry, Noguerol left for America, where he played a role in the Peruvian civil war and amassed a good-sized fortune. Noguerol's second marriage was by his own choice and especially his wife's choice, but it further demonstrates the importance of property for marriage. In his second marriage, Francisco received another large sum of money:Doà ±a Catalina de Vergara had agreed to marry Francisco Noguerol with the condition that he would take her back to Spain and even extracted an oath to that effect from her suitor. On the fifth day of October of 1549, the groom signed a receipt for all the goods Doà ±a Catalina was bringing as dowry, worth some 3,105,000 maravedis (p. 25).Before he was slapped with a bigamy suit, Noguerol did not know that his first wife is still alive. He married again in Peru several years after he received letters from his two sisters, who were nuns in Spain. They erroneously informed him that his first wife had died. Though neither spouse was in any way coerce d into this marriage, both were careful to choose a marriage partner with sufficient property to constitute an excellent match. But, it turns out the wives were the ones who gave large sums of money to the man they chose to marry.As soon as she learned that her husband had remarried. Dona Beatriz de Villasur initiated the dramatic bigamy suit after Noguerol began concluding his affairs in Peru and had sent a substantial amount of money to be invested in Spain, thereby alerting her and her relatives to his present prosperity. The suit was first litigated before the Council of the Indies prior to Noguerol's arrival in Spain. When he returned, he went to the ecclesiastical court to have his first marriage annulled. The suits and countersuits lasted several years and included a long period in which Noguerol was imprisoned and not permitted to live with his second wife. The Council of the Indies finally ruled in favor of Dona Beatriz, declaring Noguerol a bigamist. He was fined and exile d from several Spanish cities for several years, but he was not ordered to return to his first wife.During that time, records such as administrative documents, the proceedings of the judiciary, and the minutes of both Andean and Spanish cabildos (town councils)–were also useful, especially when analyzed document by document specifically to compare Andean and Spanish views. Punishments for bigamy could be as heavy and could even cost the life of the offender. One person, Don Juan, cacique of Collique, offered buried treasure to the Spanish official who wanted him hanged for bigamy. He successfully tricked the Spanish, at least for a short while, by sending another woman in the place of his favorite mistress to the home of a good Christian woman for religious instruction (Ramirez, 1996).During the two and a half centuries in which the Peruvian Inquisition functioned (from 1570 to 1820), some forty autos da fà © were held. In these ceremonies, the maximum punishments — à ¢â‚¬Å"relajacià ³n† (delivery to secular authorities) or death — were enforced as was forced reconciliation with the Catholic Church. Of the three thousand persons probably tried during the entire history of the Lima tribunal, only 48 were condemned. to burn at the stake.The classic and always useful Historia del tribunal de la Inquisicià ³n de Lima first published by Josà © Toribio Medina in 1887 contains a statistical summary of crimes listed most often in the Inquisition records. Heading the list is bigamy (20 percent of the cases); practicing the Jewish faith (17 percent); witchcraft (12 percent); heresy (10 percent); and solicitation by clergymen (7 percent) (see Medina 1956, 2:406-7). The leading position of bigamy can be explained by the great distance, the lengthy separations, and the difficulties in communicating that made the New World a likely setting for the proliferation of marital ties (Hampe-Martinez, 1996).Paulino Castaà ±eda Delgado and Pilar Hernà ¡ndez Aparicio (1985) explored the development of bigamy trials over the two and a half centuries of the Lima tribunal. They pointed out considerations of a canonical nature in the treatment of marriage and polygamy by the Catholic Church, above all during the Counter-Reformation. These authors demonstrated that double marriages were more common in the Indies than in Spain, a phenomenon readily explained by the distance, lengthy stays, and difficulty in communicating from the New World. Like the witchcraft trials, the number of bigamy cases increased progressively in the jurisdiction of the Lima Inquisition. Between 1700 and 1820, these two misdeeds represented almost half of all cases tried.In Good Faith and Truthful Ignorance, Doà ±a Catalina, who is the second wife, sought the needed favorable ecclesiastical ruling for Francisco. Thus, the couple appealed to the Papacy and they were endowed a Papal brief. The Pope and the Salamanca apostolic judge ruled in favor of Noguerol and Dona Catalina, returning them to married life together. Regarding marriage, Church law was more powerful than civil law.The authors found documentation for money sent much later to a member of the Roman curia, which suggests that the favorable Papal brief may have been influenced by a venal under ­ling. When Francisco Noguerol died, Doà ±a Beatriz again sued Doà ±a Catalina for the return of her dowry and half the joint earnings. The ecclesiastical court reversed their judgment and ruled in her favor. Rather than continue the litigation that might endanger her grandson's inheritance, Dona Catalina offered to settle out of court and paid Dona Beatriz an amount much larger than the original dowry.In the book, the legal position of women in Spanish colonial society had been featured. These were established by codes written in the thirteenth century (the Siete Partidas ) and the early sixteenth century (the Leyes de Toro ) and was reinforced by a corporate view of society that equa ted the authority of the paterfamilias in the nuclear family with that of the king in the monarchical state. In the public sphere, women could not vote, become lawyers or judges, or hold public office (Arrom, 1985).Married women needed the permission of their husbands to engage in many transactions, including buying or disposing of property, lending or borrowing money, and forming business partnerships. In terms of inheritance under Spanish law, daughters and sons inherited equal shares of their parents' property, and a widow generally received half of the couple's community property on the death of her husband. Any dowry a woman brought to a marriage legally reverted to her when her husband died or if the marriage was legally dissolved. Until that time, however, the husband could administer the dowry and could keep any interest that it earned (Zulawski, 1990).In Good Faith and Truthful Ignorance, we could draw out the rule before that in the matter of guardianship of their own chil dren, women's rights were limited. Only the father could give consent for a child to marry, and a widow became her own child's legal guardian only if her husband had not named anyone else in his will.  For their work, Cook and Cook have woven a commendable picture of marriage, relationships, litigation and the status of women in 16th century Spain and Peru. Packing it with lots of historical accounts and careful presentation of arguments, we could visualize both sides of the story as seen in the documents themselves and resisting the temptation to speculate without convincing evidence. However, there have been parts that felt short. Like the analysis of the Papal brief that countered the ruling of the Council of the Indies when they favored Noguerol. But, all in all, the work is commendable because the unexpected decision make the readers forget that we are reading historical accounts, which are usually boring. The writing style is exciting as it definitely intrigues it its reader s to finish the story till the end.Works CitedArrom, S.A. The Women of Mexico City, 1790-1857, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press 1985, p. 77.Castaà ±eda, P.H. and Aparicio, P.H. The crimes of bigamy in the Inquisition of Lima, Missionalia Hispanica, Madrid, vol.   42, no. 24174, 1985.Cook, A. P. and Cook, N.D. Good Faith and Truthful Ignorance: A Case of Transatlantic Bigamy. Duke University Press, 1991Hampe-Martinez, T.   Recent Works on the Inquisition and Peruvian Colonial Society, 1570-1820, Latin American Research Review, vol. 31, 1996Ramà ­rez, S.E. The World Upside down: Cross-Cultural Contact and Conflict in Sixteenth-Century Peru, Stanford University, 1996 Zulawski, A. Social Differentiation, Gender, and Ethnicity: Urban Indian Women in Colonial

Country Analysis Report China

A Country Analysis report on â€Å"CHINA† Subject: International Business (IB) Prepared By: Devang M Dhedhi. (Enrollment No: 117040592010) M. B. A. -Semester-||| Submitted To: Mr. Amit Shah (Assistant Professor) BHAGWAN MAHAVIR COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT, SURAT MBA PROGRAMME Affiliated to Gujarat Technological University, Ahmedabad 2011-2013 INDEX SR. NO| CONTENT| PAGE NO. | 1| COUNTRY PROFILE| 1| 2| HISTORICAL BACKGROUND| 4| 3| GEOGRAPHY| 6| 4| SOCIETY| 11| 5| GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS| 18| 6| ECONOMY| 25| 7| INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS| 38| 8| TRANSPORTATION AND TELECOMMUNICATION| 41| 9| SUMMARY| 49| 1. COUNTRYFormal Name: People’s Republic of China (Zhonghua Renmin Gonghe Guo — ). Short Form: China (Zhongguo — ). Term for Citizen(s): Chinese (singular and plural) (Huaren — ). Capital: Beijing (Northern Capital — ). Area: 9,956,960 sq km (3. 7m sq miles) Population: 1. 3 bn People: Han Chinese make up around 92% of the population. The remaining 8% i s comprised of  five minority ethnic groups. Official Language: Mandarin (Putonghua) with many local dialects. Religion(s): China is officially atheistic, but there are  five State-Registered religions: Daoism, Buddhism, Islam, Catholic and Protestant Christianity.Currency: Yuan or Renminbi (RMB) Major political parties: Chinese Communist Party Government: There are  major hierarchies in China: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the National People's Congress (China's legislature), the government and the military. The supreme decision-making body in China is the CCP Politburo and its 9-member Standing Committee, which acts as a kind of ‘inner cabinet', and is headed by the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. The National People's Congress (NPC) is China's legislative body. It has a 5-year membership and meets once a year in plenary session.However, in practice it is the CCP who takes all key decisions. Head of State and General Secretary of the CCP: Preside nt Hu Jintao Chairman of the Standing Committee of the NPC: Wu Bangguo Premier of the State Council: Wen Jiabao State Councillor (Foreign Affairs): Dai Bingguo Foreign Minister: Yang Jiechi Membership of international groups/organisations: United Nations (including permanent membership of the UN Security Council), ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF); Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC); Asian Development Bank (ADB); Shanghai Cooperation Organisation; World Trade Organisation (WTO).Major Cities: Based on 2000 census data, the largest cities are the four centrally administered municipalities, which include dense urban areas, suburbs, and large rural areas: Chongqing (30. 5 million), Shanghai (16. 4 million), Beijing (13. 5 million), and Tianjin (9. 8 million). Other major cities are Wuhan (5. 1 million), Shenyang (4. 8 million), Guangzhou (3. 8 million), Chengdu (3. 2 million), Xi’an (3. 1 million), and Changchun (3 million). China has 12 other cities with populations of betw een 2 million and 2. 9 million and 20 or more other cities with populations of more than 1 million persons.Independence: The outbreak of revolution on October 10, 1911, signaled the collapse of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), which was formally replaced by the government of the Republic of China on February 12, 1912. The People’s Republic of China was officially established on October 1, 1949, replacing the Republic of China government on mainland China. Public Holidays: The official national holidays are New Year’s Day (January 1); Spring Festival or Lunar New Year (movable dates—three days—in January and February), Labor Day (May 1), and National Day (two-day observance on October 1–2).Also commemorated are International Women’s Day (March 8), Youth Day (May 4), Children’s Day (June 1), Chinese Communist Party Founding Day (July 1), Army Day (August 1), and Teachers’ Day (September 10). Flag: The flag of China is red wit h a large yellow five-pointed star and four smaller yellow five-pointed stars (arranged in a vertical arc toward the middle of the flag) in the upper hoist-side corner. The color red symbolizes the spirit of the revolution, and the five stars signify the unity of the people of China under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.The flag was officially unveiled in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on October 1, 1949, the formal announcement of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. 2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND The Chinese imperial system came to an end in 1911. The Qing (Manchu) dynasty was overthrown and China was proclaimed a republic, partly through the efforts of revolutionaries such as Sun Yat-sen. The country then entered a period of warlordism. In 1927 the Nationalist Party or ‘Kuomintang' (KMT), under its leader Chiang Kai-shek, established a central government in Nanjing. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was founded in 1921.It broke with the KMT and was forced to flee into the interior in the Long March in 1934/35. Both KMT and CCP forces opposed Japan during World War Two but a civil war broke out from 1945-1949. CCP forces under Mao Zedong routed their KMT opponents. In 1949 Mao announced the establishment of the People's Republic of China. The government of the then Republic of China under President Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan, together with approximately 2 million supporters. The period between 1949 and Mao's death in 1976 was characterised by an ambitious political and economic restructuring programme.This involved the collectivisation of industry, the establishment of communes and the redistribution of land. The Cultural Revolution from 1966-1976 brought enormous upheaval in the political system. Mao had to rely on the armed forces to maintain order and exercise control. Recent History In December 1978 the CCP, inspired by Deng Xiaoping, launched a wide-ranging programme of economic and social reform. This sought to mo dernise the economy, develop China's external relations (the ‘open door policy') – especially with the West, and implement a gradual and limited liberalisation of Chinese society.This period of ‘reform and opening up' since 1978 is expected to be widely commemorated in China this autumn as the basis of its current economic success and these commemorations may also be used as the platform for further policy reforms. There are no details at this point, but there is much speculation that rural land ownership reform may be prominent. Political opposition to the more liberal reforms forced periods of retrenchment. In June 1989, following the brutal suppression of pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing, political control swung firmly into the hands of conservative elements within the CCP.The Chinese government labelled the demonstrations a ‘counter-revolutionary rebellion' and clamped down on dissent. Prominent dissidents fled the country or went into hiding. Many activists were arrested. Party General Secretary Zhao Ziyang was replaced by Jiang Zemin, former Mayor and Party Secretary of Shanghai. Jiang was appointed to the additional post of State President in March 1993. Jiang continued the policies of Deng Xiaoping, prioritising economic growth, particularly in China's coastal provinces. Jiang retired as President in March 2003.Hu Jintao was named President and Wen Jiabao became Premier. Wu Bangguo replaced Li Peng as NPC Chairman. The leadership transition was completed in September 2004 with Jiang retiring from the Chairmanship of the Central Military Commission (CMC). Hu assumed the post of CMC Chairman to add to his roles as State President and Party General Secretary. 3. GEOGRAPHY Location: Usually described as part of East Asia, China is south of Mongolia and the Siberian land mass, west of the Korean Peninsula and insular Japan, north of Southeast Asia, and east of Central and South Asia.Size: China has a total area of nearly 9,596 ,960 square kilometers. Included in this total are 9,326,410 square kilometers of land and 270,550 square kilometers of inland lakes and rivers. From east to west, the distance is about 5,000 kilometers from the Heilong Jiang (Amur River) to the Pamir Mountains in Central Asia; from north to south, the distance is approximately 4,050 kilometers from Heilongjiang Province to Hainan Province in the south and another 1,450 kilometers farther south to Zengmu Shoal, a territorial claim off the north coast of Malaysia.Land Boundaries: China has a total of 22,117 kilometers of land boundaries with 14 other nations. These borders include: Afghanistan (76 kilometers), Bhutan (470 kilometers), Burma (2,185 kilometers), India (3,380 kilometers), Kazakhstan (1,533 kilometers), North Korea (1,416 kilometers), Kyrgyzstan (858 kilometers), Laos (423 kilometers), Mongolia (4,677 kilometers), Nepal (1,236 kilometers), Pakistan (523 kilometers), Russia (4,300 kilometers), Tajikistan (414 kilometers), and Vietnam (1,281 kilometers). Length of Coastline:China’s coastline extends 14,500 kilometers from the border with North Korea in the north to Vietnam in the south. China’s coasts are on the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea. Maritime Claims: China claims a 12-nautical-mile territorial sea, a 24-nautical-mile contiguous zone, a 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone, and a 200-nautical-mile continental shelf or the distance to the edge of the continental shelf. Boundary Disputes: China is involved in a complex dispute with Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and possibly Brunei over the Spratly (Nansha) Islands in the South China Sea.The 2002 â€Å"Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea† eased tensions but fell short of a legally binding code of conduct desired by several of the disputants. China also occupies the Paracel (Xisha) Islands, which are also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan, and asserts a claim to the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands (Diaoyu Tai) in the Pacific Ocean. Most of the mountainous and militarized boundary with India is in dispute, but Beijing and New Delhi have committed to begin resolution with discussions on the least disputed middle sector.China’s de facto administration of the Aksai Chin section of Kashmir (which is disputed by India and Pakistan) is the subject of a dispute between China and India. India does not recognize Pakistan’s ceding lands to China in a 1964 boundary agreement. In October 2004, China signed an agreement with Russia on the delimitation of their entire 4,300-kilometer-long border, which had long been in dispute. Topography: Mountains cover 33 percent of China’s landmass, plateaus 26 percent, basins 19 percent, plains 12 percent, and hills 10 percent.Thus, 69 percent of China’s land is mountains, hills, and highlands. China has five main mountain ranges, and seven of its mountain peaks are higher than 8,00 0 meters above sea level. The main topographic features include the Qingzang (Qinghai-Tibet) Plateau at 4,000 meters above sea level and the Kunlun, Qin Ling, and Greater Hinggan ranges. In the Himalaya Mountains, the world’s highest, are Mount Everest (known in China as Qomolangma) at 8,844. 4 meters (based on new official measurements) and K–2 at 8,611 meters, shared with Nepal and Pakistan, respectively.The lowest inland point in China—the second lowest place in the world after the Dead Sea—is at Turpan Pendi, 140 kilometers southeast of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, at 154 meters below sea level. With temperatures that have reached 49. 6 C, it also ranks as one the hottest places in China. Principal Rivers: China has 50,000 rivers totaling some 420,000 kilometers in length and each having a catchment area of more than 100 square kilometers. Some 1,500 of these rivers each have catchment areas exceeding 1,000 square kilometer s. Most rivers flow from west to east and empty into the Pacific Ocean.The Yangzi (Changjiang or Yangzte River), which rises in Tibet, flows through Central China, and, having traveled 6,300 kilometers, enters the Yellow Sea near Shanghai. The Yangzi has a catchment area of 1. 8 million square kilometers and is the third longest river in the world after the Amazon and the Nile. The second longest river in China is the Huanghe (Yellow River), which also rises in Tibet and travels circuitously for 5,464 kilometers through North China before reaching the Bo Hai Gulf on the north coast of Shangdong Province. It has a catchment area of 752,000 square kilometers.The Heilongjiang (Heilong or Black Dragon River) flows for 3,101 kilometers in Northeast China and an additional 1,249 in Russia, where it is known as the Amur. The longest river in South China is the Zhujiang (Pearl River), which is 2,214 kilometers long. Along with its three tributaries, the Xi, Dong, and Bei—West, East, and North—rivers, it forms the rich Zhujiang Delta near Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Macau, and Hong Kong. Other major rivers are the Liaohe in the northeast, Haihe in the north, Qiantang in the east, and Lancang in the southwest. Climate: Most of the country is in the northern temperate zone.There are complex climatic patterns ranging from the cold-temperate north to the tropical south, with subarctic-like temperatures in the Himalaya Mountains, resulting in a temperature difference of some 400 C from north to south. Temperatures range from –300 C in the north in January to 280 C in the south in July. Annual precipitation varies significantly from region to region, with a high of 1,500 millimeters annually along the southeastern coast and a low of fewer than 50 millimeters in the northwest. There is an alternating wet monsoon in the summer and a dry monsoon in winter.North China and southward are affected by the seasonal cold, dry winds from Siberia and the Mongolia Plateau bet ween September/October and March/April. Summer monsoon winds bring warm and wet currents into South China and northward. Natural Resources: China has substantial mineral reserves and is the world’s largest producer of antimony, natural graphite, tungsten, and zinc. Other major minerals are bauxite, coal, crude petroleum, diamonds, gold, iron ore, lead, magnetite, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, natural gas, phosphate rock, tin, uranium, and vanadium.With its vast mountain ranges, China’s hydropower potential is the largest in the world. Land Use: Based on 2005 estimates, 14. 86 percent (about 1. 4 million square kilometers) of China’s land is arable. About 1. 3 percent (some 116,580 square kilometers) is planted to permanent crops. With comparatively little land planted to permanent crops, intensive agricultural techniques are used to reap harvests that are sufficient to feed the world’s largest population and still have surplus for export.An estimated 54 4,784 square kilometers of land were irrigated in 2004. Environmental Factors: The major current environmental issues in China are air pollution (greenhouse gases and sulfur dioxide particulates) from overreliance on coal, which produces acid rain; water shortages, particularly in the north; water pollution from untreated wastes; deforestation; an estimated loss of 20 percent of agricultural land since 1949 to soil erosion and economic development; desertification; and illegal trade in endangered species.Deforestation has been a major contributor to China’s most significant natural disaster: flooding. In 1998 some 3,656 people died and 230 million people were affected by flooding. China’s national carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are among the highest in the world and increasing annually. The CO2 emissions in 1991 were estimated at 2. 4 billion tons; by 2000 that level, according to United Nations (UN) statistics, had increased by 16 percent to nearly 2. 8 billion tons. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), between 1990 and 2002 the increase was closer to 45 percent.These amounts cited by the UN are more than double those of India and Japan but still less than half those of the United States (comparable figures for Russia are unavailable but estimated at probably half the level of China’s). China’s ozone depleting potential also is high but was decreasing in the early twenty-first century. The CO2 emissions are mostly produced by coal-burning energy plants and other coal-burning operations. Better pollution control and billion-dollar cleanup programs have helped reduced the growth rate of industrial pollution. Time Zone:Although China crosses all or part of five international time zones, it operates on a single uniform time, China Standard Time (CST; Greenwich Mean Time plus eight hours), using Beijing as the base. China does not employ a daylight savings time system. 4. SOCIETY Population: China officially recognized th e birth of its 1. 3 billionth citizen (not counting Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan) on January 5, 2005. U. S. Government sources put the population at an estimated 1,313,973,713 in July 2006. The annual population growth rate was estimated at 0. 59 percent (2006 estimate).The nation’s overall population density was 135 persons per square kilometer in 2003. The most densely populated provinces are in the east: Jiangsu (712 persons per square kilometer), Shangdong (587 persons per square kilometer), and Henan (546 persons per square kilometer). Shanghai was the most densely populated municipality at 2,646 persons per square kilometer. The least densely populated areas are in the west, with Tibet having the lowest density at only 2 persons per square kilometer. Sixty-two percent of the population lived in rural areas in 2004, while 38 percent lived in urban settings.About 94 percent of population lives on approximately 46 percent of land. Based on 2000 census data, the provinces wi th the largest populations were Henan (91. 2 million), Shandong (89. 9 million), Sichuan (82. 3 million, not including Chongqing municipality, which was formerly part of Sichuan Province), and Guangdong (85. 2 million). The smallest were Qinghai (4. 8 million) and Tibet (2. 6 million). In the long term, China faces increasing urbanization; according to predictions, nearly 70 percent of the population will live in urban areas by 2035. Demography:China has been the world’s most populous nation for many centuries. When China took its first post-1949 census in 1953, the population stood at 582 million; by the fifth census in 2000, the population had almost doubled, reaching 1. 2 billion. China’s fast-growing population was a major policy matter for its leaders in the mid-twentieth century, so that in the early 1970s, the government implemented a stringent one-child birth-control policy. As a result of that policy, China successfully achieved its goal of a more stable and m uch-reduced fertility rate; in 1971 women had an average of 5. children versus an estimated 1. 7 children in 2004. Nevertheless, the population continues to grow, and people want more children. There is also a serious gender imbalance. Census data obtained in 2000 revealed that 119 boys were born for every 100 girls, and among China’s â€Å"floating population† (see Migration below) the ratio was as high as 128:100. These situations led Beijing in July 2004 to ban selective abortions of female fetuses. Additionally, life expectancy has soared, and China now has an increasingly aging population; it is projected that 11. percent of the population in 2020 will be 65 years of age and older. Based on 2006 estimates, China’s age structure is 0–14 years of age—20. 8 percent; 15–64 years—71. 4 percent, and 65 years and older—7. 7 percent. Estimates made in 2006 indicate a birthrate of nearly 13. 3 births per 1,000 and a death rate of 6 . 9 per 1,000. In 2006 life expectancy at birth was estimated at 74. 5 years for women and 70. 9 for men, or 72. 6 years overall. The infant mortality rate was estimated at 23. 1 per 1,000 live births overall (25. 9 per 1,000 for females and 20. for males). Migration: In 2006 it was estimated that China was experiencing a –0. 39 per 1,000 population net migration rate. Of major concern in China is its growing â€Å"floating population† (liudong renkou ), a large number of people moving from the countryside to the city, from developed economic areas to underdeveloped areas, and from the central and western regions to the eastern coastal region, as a result of fast-paced reform-era economic development and modern agricultural practices that have reduced the need for a large agricultural labor force.Although residency requirements have been relaxed to a degree, the floating population is not officially permitted to reside permanently in the receiving towns and cities. As early as 1994, it was estimated that China had a surplus of approximately 200 million agricultural workers, and the number was expected to increase to 300 million in the early twenty-first century and to expand even further into the long-term future. It was reported in 2005 that the floating population had increased from 70 million in 1993 to 140 million in 2003, thus exceeding 10 percent of the national population and accounting for 30 percent of all rural laborers.According to the 2000 national census, population flow inside a province accounted for 65 percent of the total while that crossing provincial boundaries accounted for 35 percent. Young and middle-aged people account for the vast majority of this floating population; those between 15 and 35 years of age account for more than 70 percent. Other migration issues include the more than 2,000 Tibetans who cross into Nepal annually, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).The government tries to pr event this out-migration from occurring and has pressured Nepalese authorities to repatriate illegal border-crossing Tibetans. Another activity viewed as illegal is the influx of North Koreans into northeastern China. Some 1,850 North Koreans fled their country in 2004, but China views them as illegal economic migrants rather than refugees and sends many of them back. Some of those who succeed in reaching sanctuary in foreign diplomatic compounds or international schools have been allowed to depart for South Korea. Ethnic Groups:Besides the majority Han Chinese, China recognizes 55 other nationality or ethnic groups, numbering about 105 million persons, mostly concentrated in the northwest, north, northeast, south, and southwest but with some in central interior areas. Based on the 2000 census, some 91. 5 percent of the population was classified as Han Chinese (1. 1 billion). The other major minority ethnic groups were Zhuang (16. 1 million), Manchu (10. 6 million), Hui (9. 8 millio n), Miao (8. 9 million), Uygur (8. 3 million), Tujia (8 million), Yi (7. 7 million), Mongol (5. 8 million), Tibetan (5. million), Bouyei (2. 9 million), Dong (2. 9 million), Yao (2. 6 million), Korean (1. 9 million), Bai (1. 8 million), Hani (1. 4 million), Kazakh (1. 2 million), Li (1. 2 million), and Dai (1. 1 million). Classifications are often based on self-identification, and it is sometimes and in some locations advantageous for political or economic reasons to identify with one group over another. All nationalities in China are equal according to the law. Official sources maintain that the state protects their lawful rights and interests and promotes equality, unity, and mutual help among them.Languages: The official language of China is standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua, which means standard speech, based on the Beijing dialect). Other major dialects are Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, and Hakka (Kejia). Becau se of the many ethnic groups in China, numerous minority languages also are spoken. All of the Chinese dialects share a common written form that has evolved and been standardized during two millennia and serves as a unifying bond amongst the Han Chinese.The government has aggressively developed both shorthand Chinese and Pinyin (phonetic spelling) as ways to increase literacy and transliterate Chinese names. The Pinyin system was introduced in 1958 and was approved by the State Council in 1978 as the standard system for the romanization of Chinese personal and geographic names. In 2000 the Hanyu (Han language) Pinyin phonetic alphabet was written into law as the unified standard for spelling and phonetic notation of the national language. Religion: The traditional religions of China are Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism.Confucianism is not a religion, although some have tried to imbue it with rituals and religious qualities, but rather a philosophy and system of ethical conduct tha t since the fifth century B. C. has guided China’s society. Kong Fuzi (Confucius in Latinized form) is honored in China as a great sage of antiquity whose writings promoted peace and harmony and good morals in family life and society in general. Ritualized reverence for one’s ancestors, sometimes referred to as ancestor worship, has been a tradition in China since at least the Shang Dynasty (1750–1040 B. C. ).Estimates of the number of adherents to various beliefs are difficult to establish; as a percentage of the population, institutionalized religions, such as Christianity and Islam, represent only about 4 percent and 2 percent of the population, respectively. In 2005 the Chinese government acknowledged that there were an estimated 100 million adherents to various sects of Buddhism and some 9,500 and 16,000 temples and monasteries, many maintained as cultural landmarks and tourist attractions. The Buddhist Association of China was established in 1953 to overse e officially sanctioned Buddhist activities.In 1998 there reportedly were 600 Daoist temples and an unknown number of adherents in China. According to the U. S. Department of State in 2005, approximately 8 percent of the population is Buddhist, approximately 1. 5 percent is Muslim, an estimated 0. 4 percent belongs to the government-sponsored â€Å"patriotic† Catholic Church, an estimated 0. 4 to 0. 6 percent belongs to the unofficial Vatican-affiliated Roman Catholic Church, and an estimated 1. 2 to 1. 5 percent is registered as Protestant. However, both Protestants and Catholics also have large underground communities, possibly numbering as many as 90 million.Chinese government figures from 2004 estimate 20 million adherents of Islam in China, but unofficial estimates suggest a much higher total. Most adherents of Islam are members of the Uygur and Hui nationality people. The Falun Dafa (Wheel of Law, also called Falun Gong) quasi-religious movement based on traditional Chi nese qigong (deep-breathing exercises) and Daoist and Buddhist practices and beliefs was established in 1992 and claimed 70 million to 100 million practitioners in China in the late 1990s.Because of its perceived antigovernment activities, Falun Gong was outlawed in China in April 1999, and reportedly tens of thousands of its practitioners were arrested and sentenced to â€Å"reeducation through labor† or incarcerated in mental hospitals. The constitution grants citizens of the People’s Republic of China the freedom of religious belief and maintains that the state â€Å"protects normal religious activities,† but that no one â€Å"may make use of religion to engage in activities that disrupt public order, impair the health of citizens or interfere with the educational system of the state. † Education and Literacy:Education in China is the responsibility of the Ministry of Education. The population has had on average only 6. 2 years of schooling, but in 198 6 the goal of nine years of compulsory education by 2000 was established. The education system provides free primary education for five years, starting at age seven, followed by five years of secondary education for ages 12 to 17. At this level, there are three years of middle school and two years of high school. The Ministry of Education reports a 99 percent attendance rate for primary school and an 80 percent rate for both primary and middle schools.Since free higher education was abolished in 1985, applicants to colleges and universities compete for scholarships based on academic ability. Private schools have been allowed since the early 1980s. The United Nations Development Program reported that in 2003 China had 116,390 kindergartens with 613,000 teachers and 20 million students. At that time, there were 425,846 primary schools with 5. 7 million teachers and 116. 8 million students. General secondary education had 79,490 institutions, 4. 5 million teachers, and 85. 8 million st udents. There also were 3,065 specialized secondary schools with 199,000 teachers and 5 million students.Among these specialized institutions were 6,843 agricultural and vocational schools with 289,000 teachers and 5. 2 million students and 1,551 special schools with 30,000 teachers and 365,000 students. In 2003 China supported 1,552 institutions of higher learning (colleges and universities) and their 725,000 professors and 11 million students. While there is intense competition for admission to China’s colleges and universities among college entrants, Beijing and Qinghua universities and more than 100 other key universities are the most sought after.The literacy rate in China is 90. 9 percent, based on 2002 estimates. Health: Indicators of the status of China’s health sector can be found in the nation’s fertility rate of 1. 8 children per woman (a 2005 estimate) and an under-five-years-of-age mortality rate of 37 per 1,000 live births (a 2003 estimate). In 200 2 China had nearly 1. 7 physicians per 1,000 persons and about 2. 4 beds per 1,000 persons in 2000. Health expenditures on a purchasing parity power (PPP) basis were US$224 per capita in 2001, or 5. 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Some 37. percent of public expenditures were devoted to health care in China in 2001. However, about 80 percent of the health and medical care services are concentrated in cities, and timely medical care is not available to more than 100 million people in rural areas. To offset this imbalance, in 2005 China set out a five-year plan to invest 20 billion renminbi (RMB; US$2. 4 billion) to rebuild the rural medical service system composed of village clinics and township- and county-level hospitals. In 2004 health officials announced that China had some 120 million hepatitis B virus carriers.Although not identified until later, China’s first case of a new, highly contagious disease, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), occurred in Guangd ong in November 2002, and within three months the Ministry of Health reported 300 SARS cases and five deaths in the province. By May 2003, some 8,000 cases of SARS had been reported worldwide; about 66 percent of the cases and 349 deaths occurred in China alone. By early summer 2003, the SARS epidemic had ceased. A vaccine was developed and first-round testing on human volunteers completed in 2004.China, similar to other nations with migrant and socially mobile populations, has experienced increased incidences of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS). Based on 2003 estimates, China is believed to have a 0. 1 percent adult prevalence rate for HIV/AIDS, one of the lowest rates in the world and especially in Asia. However, because of China’s large population, this figure converted in 2003 to some 840,000 cases (more than Russia but fewer than the United States and second in Asia to India), of whom 44,000 died. About 80 percent of those infec ted live in rural areas.In November 2004, the head of the United Nations AIDS program (UNAIDS) cited China, along with India and Russia, as being on the â€Å"tipping point† of having small, localized AIDS epidemics that could turn into major ones capable of hindering the world’s efforts to stop the spread of the disease. In 2004 the Ministry of Health reported that its annual AIDS prevention funding had increased from US$1. 8 million in 2001 to US$47. 1 by 2003 and that, whereas treatment had been restricted to a few hospitals in major cities, treatment was becoming more widely available.According to the study by the World Health Organization, China’s Ministry of Health, and UNAIDS, China had an estimated 650,000 people who were infected with HIV by the end of 2005. In the 2000–2002 period, China had one of the highest per capita caloric intakes in Asia, second only to South Korea and higher than countries such as Japan, Malaysia, and Indonesia. By 2002, 92 percent of the urban population and 68 percent of the rural population had access to an improved water supply, and 69 percent of the urban population and 29 percent of the rural population had access to improved sanitation facilities.Welfare: In pre-reform China, the socialist state fulfilled the needs of society from cradle tograve. Child care, education, job placement, housing, subsistence, health care, and elder care were largely the responsibility of the work unit as administered through state-owned enterprises and agricultural communes and collectives. As those systems disappeared or were reformed, the â€Å"iron rice bowl† approach to social security changed. Article 14 of the constitution stipulates that the state â€Å"builds and improves a social security system that corresponds with the level of economic development. In 2004 China experienced the greatest decrease in its poorest population since 1999. People with a per capita income of less than 668 renminbi (R MB;US$80. 71) decreased 2. 9 million or 10 percent; those with a per capita income of no more than 924 RMB (US$111. 64) decreased by 6. 4 million or 11. 4 percent, according to statistics from the State Council’s Poverty Reduction Office. Social security reforms since the late 1990s have included unemployment insurance, medical insurance, workers’ compensation insurance, maternity benefits, communal pension funds, and individual pension accounts. . GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS Recent Political Developments President Hu's first term was spent consolidating his position and proceeding with economic reform. But he recognised the potential for instability caused by the previous strong focus on promoting high growth as the overriding policy priority. Examples of the imbalances this has caused in society include: * wide income imbalances between rich, eastern coastal cities, and poorer inland cities * income differences between urban and rural dwellers – the average urban resident of Beijing earns around RMB 2000 a month (around ? 30), but 135 million people in China still live below the international poverty line of US$ 1 a day, and up to 500 million on US$ 2 a day * a collapse of the health insurance scheme, which means that 80% of all healthcare costs have to be paid in cash at the time of consumption * Inequalities between urban residents and migrant labourers who have moved to the cities.Unable to transfer their official place of residence, they cannot access public services, including education for their children * rampant corruption by those in public office * 87,000 incidents of mass violence which took place in 2005, often provoked by land expropriations or lay-offs from state-owned enterprises. Under the slogan of a â€Å"harmonious society†, he is therefore promoting a range of policies in the health, education, environment and other fields which will address social inequality.But these policies will not be allowed to compromise eco nomic growth and reform. The 17th Party Congress of October 2007 provided President Hu with an opportunity to put his own stamp on the ideological agenda, advance his preferred candidates to senior positions and secure a political succession consistent with that programme. Whilst the â€Å"harmonious society† remained pre-eminent, Hu's singular success was in having his theory of â€Å"scientific development† written into the Party Constitution.This means that although economic development will remain the key goal, growth will be balanced and sustainable in order to address imbalances in society between the prosperous cities and the impoverished rural hinterland. Although this will require innovation in methodology, it will also be gradual and measured, not radical. This is indicative of Hu's consensus building style, following neither those advocating continued economic reform at all costs, nor the so-called ‘new Left' who have called for more focus on social is sues.Although â€Å"democracy† was mentioned over 50 times in President Hu's speech, this was very much qualified as â€Å"democracy with Chinese characteristics† or â€Å"socialist democracy†. He alluded to novel methods to increase popular participation in politics to effect electoral reforms at grass roots levels, and even allow direct elections of Party officials in limited circumstances at local levels. Yet the driving purpose is to ensure the long term stability of one-party rule under the CCP.The senior Party hierarchy after the 17th Congress may similarly represent consensus rather than a definitive Hu Jintao ‘stamp'. We have little doubt that the President has prevailed in placing his successor(s) at the peak of the Party to assume power in 2012, although this has been done in such a way to co-opt competing interests behind his overall programme. Political Structure China has all the structures a modern democratic state would expect to have, with in theory a separation of powers between the different functions of state similar to most western democracies.But all structures are subordinate to the leadership of the CCP. * The Legislature: Key laws are passed by the National People's Congress (NPC) and its Standing Committee. The NPC has around two thousand members, and only meets in full session for a fortnight every March. Outside that time, a Standing Committee of around three hundred members carries out business. The Chairman is Wu Bangguo. Members are â€Å"elected† from Provincial and Municipal People's Congresses, who are in turn â€Å"elected† from People's Congresses below them.Only at the lowest level are members â€Å"elected† by the public, but from a very narrow slate of approved candidates. (NB see â€Å"Village elections† below). A handful of independents manage to get elected. The NPC also votes the executive into office. * The Executive: The Government is headed by Wen Jiabao, who is Premier. There are 4 Vice Premiers, 5 State Councillors, 28 Ministers, and 50 Offices, Institutions or Bureaux under the State Council or other Ministries. Between them they carry out all the functions of government, from health policy to water resources, to meteorology.Two bodies many would not expect to be part of government are Xinhua, the news agency, and the State Administration of Religious Affairs, which are directly under the State Council. * The Judiciary: there are several levels of People's Courts which hear both criminal and civil cases (though the majority of criminal cases are actually dealt with by the police as administrative cases). The People's Procuratorate acts as an investigator and public prosecutor. Officially, the courts continue to be instruments of the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat', and there is provision for political involvement in their judgements.In the next layer down from central government, China has 22 provinces; 4 municipalities directly under the central government (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing); 5 autonomous regions (Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and Guangxi); and 2 Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong and Macao). The full hierarchy of government is: * central government * province, municipality or autonomous region * prefecture or city * county or district * township * village (though see below). A province may contain within it autonomous counties or towns where there is a large ethnic minority population.Each layer of government will have departments similar to those of central government; a Communist Party Committee; a People's Congress; and a Political Consultative Committee. The head of government in each province is the Governor, but in practice the provincial Party Secretary is more powerful. Villages are now officially regarded as self-governing (and therefore not part of the formal government hierarchy). There are direct popular elections to village committees. They are respo nsible for providing some public services, and receive a budget from higher authorities to do so.They have no revenue-raising powers of their own. The quality of the elections varies, but they are more or less free and fair. The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (and its provincial and local off-shoots) brings together all permitted strands of political opinion and activity in China. It is not the legislature, but its main annual meeting comes just ahead of the NPC, and its views are officially fed into the NPC. Its Chairman is Jia Qinglin.Its main components are: * China's 8 political parties other than the Chinese Communist Party (known collectively as the ‘United Front'). They include the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Guomindang; the China Democratic League; and the China Democratic National Construction Association. They are small, and all accept in their constitutions the dominant pos ition of the Communist Party. * Representatives of China's â€Å"mass organisations†: the Communist Youth League, The All-China Federation of Trade Unions; the All China Women's Federation; and 50 other organisations covering everything from film artists to religious organisations.In the next layer down from central government, China claims  23 provinces (as it includes Taiwan);  4 municipalities directly under the central government (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing);  5 autonomous regions (Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and Guangxi Zhuang); and  2 Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong and Macao). The full hierarchy of government is: * central government * province, municipality or autonomous region * prefecture or city * county or district * township * village (though see below).A province may contain within it autonomous counties or towns where there is a large ethnic minority population. Each layer of government will have departments similar to those of central government; a People's Congress; a Political Consultative Committee (and a Communist Party Committee). The head of government in each province is the Governor, but in practice the provincial Party Secretary is more powerful. Villages are now officially regarded as theoretically self-governing (and therefore not part of the formal government hierarchy).There are direct popular elections to village committees. They are responsible for providing some public services, and receive a budget from higher authorities to do so. They have no revenue-raising powers of their own. The quality of the elections varies, but they are more or less free and fair. The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (and its provincial and local off-shoots) brings together all permitted strands of political opinion and activity in China.It is not the legislature, but its main annual meeting comes just ahead of the NPC, and its views are officially fed into the NPC. Its Chairman is Jia Qinglin. Its main components are: * China's  8 political parties other than the Chinese Communist Party (known collectively as the ‘United Front'). They include the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Guomindang; the China Democratic League; and the China Democratic National Construction Association. They are small, and all accept in their constitutions the dominant position of the Communist Party. Representatives of China's â€Å"mass organisations†: the Communist Youth League, The All-China Federation of Trade Unions; the All China Women's Federation; and  50 other organisations covering everything from film artists to religious organisations. The Party The real power in the land is the Chinese Communist Party. Founded in 1921 and now with around 70 million members, it has ruled China exclusively since 1949. Party structures Hu Jintao is General Secretary of the Communist Party. He heads the Pol itburo, which has 24 full and 1 alternate members.Nine members of the Politburo form a Politburo Standing Committee. They are the real government of China, and agree all major policies of the Party and government in the Standing Committee, using their positions elsewhere in government to implement them. Each member of the Politburo has a particular portfolio or government position, as follows (in order of precedence): Hu Jintao – President of China, Chair of the Central Military Commission Wu Bangguo – Chairman of the National People's CongressWen Jiabao – Premier Jia Qinglin – Chair of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Xi Jinping – Vice President of China Li Keqiang, Hui Liangyu, Zhang Dejiang, Wang Qishan – Vice Premiers He Guoqiang – in charge of Party discipline Li Changchun – propaganda Zhou Yongkang – law and order The Party has a number of Departments, Committees and Leading Groups to formulat e policy which often mirror government Ministries.Notable ones are: * Party Central Committee: the national Party committee, which meets once a year in the autumn, and has around 300 members   * The Central Military Commission: which is in effect the same thing as the state Central Military Commission, and therefore runs the armed forces   * The Commission for Discipline Inspection: responsible for fighting corruption among Party members   *   General Office and Central Bodyguards Bureau: which control access to the President   *   Organisation Department: in charge of personnel policy and appointments   *   Propaganda (or Publicity) Department   United Front Work Department: manages relations with other political parties, religious organisations and other non-Party organisations   *   International Liaison Department: manages relations with political parties in other countries. Leadership At the lowest levels there is a limited amount of democracy within the P arty. Branch committees are elected from their members. At the highest level, the Party is effectively a self-perpetuating oligarchy. The outgoing Politburo Standing Committee selects its successor and members of the Politburo. Officially the Politburo and its Standing Committee are appointed at theParty Congress every  five years. The next Party Congress will take place in Autumn 2012. 6. ECONOMY GDP: US $6. 9trn (est. ) (2011) GDP per capita: Int’l $8,394 per capita (2011 – source: IMF) Annual Growth: 9. 2% (est. ) (2011) Consumer prices: 4. 8% (est. ) (2011) Exchange rate: 10. 4 Renminbi = ? 1 (2011 average exchange rate) China has been one of the world's economic success stories since reforms began in 1978. China is the world's second biggest economy. Official figures show that GDP has grown on average by 10% a year over the past 30 years with an estimate of 9. 2% recorded for 2011.The current growth model, and policy underlying it, remains heavily skewed towards exports and investment, with little emphasis on private consumption. China has started to adjust its economic policies to better promote sustainable growth. The Government has highlighted its intention to: * undertake more banking reform (and encourage banks to provide finance to rural areas and smaller firms)   * develop the capital markets (so firms can more easily raise finance) * further reform of the insurance sector to expand the options available to consumers and   * provide a sounder regulatory structure aimed at promoting financial integration.A growing share of China's economic growth has been generated in the private sector as the government has opened up industries to domestic and foreign competition, though the role of the state in ownership and planning remains extensive. China's entry into the World Trade Organisation in December 2001 is further integrating China into the global economy. Gross Domestic Product (GDP)/Purchasing Power Parity (PPP): In 2005 China ha d a GDP of US$2. 2 trillion. China’s PPP was estimated for 2005 at nearly US$8. 9 trillion. PPP per capita in 2005 was estimated at US$6,800.Based on official Chinese data, the estimated GDP growth rate for 2005 was 9. 9 percent. Government Budget: The state budget for 2004 was US$330. 6 billion in revenue and US$356. 8 billion in expenditures. In the revenue column, 95. 5 percent was from taxes and tariffs, 54. 9 percent of which was collected by the central government and 45 percent by local authorities. The expenditures were for culture, education, science, and health care (18 percent); capital construction (12 percent); administration (14 percent); national defense (7. percent); agriculture, forestry, and water conservancy (5. 9 percent); subsidies to compensate for price increases (2. 7 percent); pensions and social welfare (1. 9 percent); promotion of innovation, science, and technology (4. 3 percent); operating expenses of industry, transport, and commerce (1. 2 percen t); geological prospecting (0. 4 percent), and other (31. 9 percent). The overall budget deficit in 2004 was approximately US$26 billion, an amount equivalent to about 1. 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Inflation:China’s annual rate of inflation averaged 6 percent per year during the 1990–2002 period. Although consumer prices declined by 0. 8 percent in 2002, they increased by 1. 2 percent in 2003. China’s estimated inflation rate in 2005 was 1. 8 percent. Special and Open Economic Zones: As part of its economic reforms and policy of opening to the world, between 1980 and 1984 China established special economic zones (SEZs) in Shantou, Shenzhen, and Zhuhai in Guangdong Province and Xiamen in Fujian Province and designated the entire island province of Hainan a special economic zone.In 1984 China opened 14 other coastal cities to overseas investment (listed north to south): Dalian, Qinhuangdao, Tianjin, Yantai, Qingdao, Lianyungang, Nantong, Shanghai, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Zhanjiang, and Beihai. Then, beginning in 1985, the central government expanded the coastal area by establishing the following open economic zones (listed north to south): Liaodong Peninsula, Hebei Province (which surrounds Beijing and Tianjin), Shandong Peninsula, Yangzi River Delta, Xiamen-Zhangzhou-Quanzhou Triangle in southern Fujian Province, Zhujiang (Pearl River) Delta, and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.In 1990 the Chinese government decided to open the Pudong New Zone in Shanghai to overseas investment, as well as more cities in the Yangzi River Valley. Since 1992 the State Council has opened a number of border cities and all the capital cities of inland provinces and autonomous regions. In addition, 15 free-trade zones, 32 state-level economic and technological development zones, and 53 new- and high-tech industrial development zones have been established in large and medium-sized cities.As a result, a multilevel diversified pattern of opening and integrating coastal areas with river, border, and inland areas has been formed in China. Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing: China traditionally has struggled to feed its large population. Even in the twentieth century, famines periodically ravaged China’s population. Great emphasis has always been put on agricultural production, but weather, wars, and politics often mitigated good intentions. With the onset of reforms in the late 1970s, the relative share of agriculture in the gross domestic product (GDP) began to increase annually.Driven by sharp rises in prices paid for crops and a trend toward privatization in agriculture, agricultural output increased from 30 percent of GDP in 1980 to 33 percent of GDP by 1983. Since then, however, agriculture has decreased its share in the economy at the same time that the services sector has increased. By 2004 agriculture (including forestry and fishing) produced only 15. 2 percent of China’s GDP but still is huge b y any measure. Some 46. 9 percent of the total national workforce was engaged in agriculture, forestry, and fishing in 2004.According to United Nations statistics, China’s cereal production is the largest in the world. In 2003 China produced 377 million tons, or 18. 1 percent of total world production. Its plant oil crops—at 15 million tons in 2003—are a close second to those of the United States and amounted to 12. 6 percent of total world production. More specifically, China’s principal crops in 2004 were rice (176 million tons), corn (132 million tons), sweet potatoes (105 million tons), wheat (91 million tons), sugarcane (89 million tons), and potatoes (70 million tons).Other grains, such as barley, buckwheat, millet, oats, rye, sorghum, and tritcale (a wheat-rye hybrid), added substantially to overall grain production. Crops of peanuts, rapeseed, soybeans, and sugar beets also were significant, as was vegetable production in 2004. Among the highest l evels of production were cabbages, tomatoes, cucumbers, and dry onions. In 2004 fruit production also became a significant aspect of the agricultural market. China produced large crops of watermelons, cantaloupes, and other melons that year. Other significant orchard products were apples, citrus fruits, bananas, and mangoes.China, a nation of numerous cigarette smokers, also produced 2. 4 million tons of tobacco leaves. Fertilizer use was a major contributor to these abundant harvests. In 2002 China consumed 25. 4 million tons of nitrogenous fertilizers, or 30 percent of total world consumption and more than double the consumption of other major users such as India and the United States in the same period. Among the less used fertilizers, China also was a leader. It consumed 9. 9 million tons of phosphate fertilizers (29. 5 percent of the world total) and 4. 2 million tons of potash fertilizers (18. percent of the world total). With China’s accession to the World Trade Organi zation (WTO) in 2001, food export opportunities have developed that have brought about still more efficient farming techniques. As a result, traditional areas such as grain production have decreased in favor of cash crops of vegetables and fruit for domestic and export trade. China’s livestock herds are the largest in the world, far outstripping all of Europe combined and about comparable in size to all African nations combined. For example, in 2003 China had 49. 1 percent of the world’s pigs, 22. percent of the world’s goats, and 7. 5 percent of the world’s cattle. Converted into food production, China’s major livestock products in 2004 were pork (47. 2 million tons), poultry eggs (28. 0 million tons), cow’s milk (18. 5 million tons), poultry meat (13. 4 million tons), and beef and veal (6. 4 million tons). Other meats of significant amounts were mutton, lamb, and goat. Major by-products were cattle hides (1. 6 million tons), sheepskins (32 1,000 tons), and goatskins (375,000 tons). Honey (300,000 tons) and raw silk (95,000 tons) also were major products destined for the commercial market.Forestry products, measured in annual roundwood production, also abound. In 2004 China produced an estimated 284 million cubic meters of roundwood, the world’s third largest supplier after the United States and India, or about 8. 5 percent of total world production. From the roundwood, some 11. 3 million cubic meters of sawnwood are produced annually. China also leads the world in fish production. In 2003 it caught 16. 7 million tons of fish, far out catching the second-ranked nation, the United States, with its 4. 9 million tons.Aquaculture also was substantial in world terms. In the same year, China harvested 28. 8 million tons of fish, an amount more than 10 times that of the second-ranked nation, India, which produced 2. 2 million tons. The total fish production in 2003 was 45. 6 million tons. Of this total, 63. 2 percent w as from aquaculture, an increasing sector, and 36. 7 percent from fish caught in rivers, lakes, and the sea. Mining and Minerals: Mineral resources include large reserves of coal and iron ore, plus adequate to abundant supplies of nearly all other industrial minerals.Besides being a major coal producer, China is the world’s fifth largest producer of gold and in the early twenty-first century became an important producer and exporter of rare metals needed in high-technology industries. The rare earth reserves at the Bayan Obi mine in Inner Mongolia are thought to be the largest in any single location in the world. Outdated mining and ore-processing technologies are being replaced with modern techniques, but China’s rapid industrialization requires imports of minerals from abroad.In particular, iron ore imports from Australia and the United States have soared in the early 2000s as steel production rapidly outstripped domestic iron ore production. The major areas of produ ction in 2004 were coal (nearly 2 billion tons), iron ore (310 million tons), crude petroleum (175 million tons), natural gas (41 million cubic meters), antimony ore (110,000 tons), tin concentrates (110,000 tons), nickel ore (64,000 tons), tungsten oncentrates (67,000 tons), unrefined salt (37 million tons), vanadium (40,000 tons), and molybdenum ore (29,000 tons).In order of magnitude, bauxite, gypsum, barite, magnesite, talc and related minerals, manganese ore, fluorspar, and zinc also were important. In addition, China produced 2,450 tons of silver and 215 tons of gold in 2004. The mining sector accounted for less than 0. 9 percent of total employment in 2002 but produced about 5. 3 percent of total industrial production. Industry and Manufacturing: Industry and construction produced 53. 1 percent of China’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2005. Industry (including mining, manufacturing, construction, and power) contributed 52. percent of GDP in 2004 and occupied 22. 5 pe rcent of the workforce. The manufacturing sector produced 44. 1 percent of GDP in 2004 and accounted for 11. 3 percent of total employment in 2002. China is the world’s leading manufacturer of chemical fertilizers, cement, and steel. Prior to 1978, most output was produced by state-owned enterprises. As a result of the economic reforms that followed, there was a significant increase in production by enterprises sponsored by local governments, especially townships and villages, and, increasingly, by private entrepreneurs and foreign investors.By 2002 the share in gross industrial output by state-owned and state-holding industries had decreased to 41 percent, and the state-owned companies themselves contributed only 16 percent of China’s industrial output. An example of an emerging heavy industry is automobile manufacture, which has soared during the reform period. In 1975 only 139,800 automobiles were produced annually, but by 1985 production had reached 443,377, then j umped to nearly 1. 1 million by 1992 and increased fairly evenly each year up until 2001, when it reached 2. 3 million.In 2002 production rose to nearly 3. 3 million and then jumped again the next year to 4. 4 million. Domestic sales have kept pace with production. After respectable annual increases in the mid- and late 1990s, sales soared in the early 2000s, reaching 3 million automobiles sold in 2003. With some governmental controls in place, sales dipped to 2. 4 million sold in 2004. Some forecasters expect sales to reach 6. 9 million by 2015. By 2010 China’s automobile production is projected to reach 9. 4 million, and the country could become the number-one automaker in the world by 2020.So successful has China’s automotive industry been that it began exporting car parts in 1999. China began to plan major moves into the automobile and components export business starting in 2005. A new Honda factory in Guangzhou was being built in 2004 solely for the export market and was expected to ship 30,000 passenger vehicles to Europe in 2005. By 2004, 12 major foreign automotive manufacturers had joint-venture plants in China. They produced a wide range of automobiles, minivans, sport utility vehicles, buses, and trucks. In 2003 China exported US$4. billion worth of vehicles and components, an increase of 34. 4 percent over 2002. By 2004 China had become the world’s fourth largest automotive vehicle manufacturer. Concomitant with automotive production and other steel-consuming industries, China has been rapidly increasing its steel production. Iron ore production kept pace with steel production in the early 1990s but was soon outpaced by imported iron ore and other metals in the early 2000s. Steel production, an estimated 140 million tons in 2000, was expected to reach more than 350 million tons a year by 2010.Energy: As with other economic categories, China is a major producer and consumer of energy resources. In 2002, the most recent year avai lable for United Nations statistics, China produced 934. 2 million tons of oil equivalents and consumed 889. 6 million tons. Per capita consumption was 687 kilograms, only a quarter of North Korea’s estimated consumption, a third of that in Hong Kong, and well below the average for Asia. China’s energy consumption has risen dramatically since the inception of its economic reform program in the late 1970s.Electric power generation—mostly by coal-burning plants—has been in particular demand; China’s electricity use in the 1990s increased by between 3 percent and 7 percent per year. In 2003 electricity use increased by 15 percent over the previous year, and supplies could not keep up with demand, thus slowing economic development. Government statistics indicate that the overall demand for electric power for 2004 was projected to be around 2 trillion kilowatt-hours, but by June of that year a 60-b