Chinatown Essay example -- China Culture Cultural Essays

Chinatown A bus pulls up to its stop on College Boulevard and passengers stream out. Cars are flowing steadily through the streets as I stand perfectly still on the street corner in an attempt to greedily absorb the smells, sights, and sounds. The green hand shaped light appears and I proceed to cross the street with an increasing sense of discovery. There were signs everywhere; mostly in Chinese characters. Some of the signs in English read: Dim Sum Lunch $3.50, English Books about Chinese Herbs, China Kung Fu Acupuncture Treatment Center and Chinatown 2002. Looking at people walking along the sidewalks, the restaurants, bakeries, auto-repair shops and bookstores, I get the distinct impression that this is a place of great importance in almost every imaginable context. What saddens me is that I also understand how ill equipped I am to understand the magnitude of its import. In an effort to gain a rudimentary understanding of what Chinatown represents from a cultural, social, political and historical context, we will examine the historical background of the area, basic geographical data, contemporary situation and a few of the major issues facing this community. Chinatown first began in an area know as Sonoratown, where the notorious street Callae de los Negros (, named for the dark deeds committed there and the individuals who committed them,) was located. By 1870, it is estimated that about 200 Chinese laborers, servants, road-builders, and small shopkeepers shared the block long area located near the plaza in El Pueblo with gamblers, drifters, and outlaws. (Rasmussen: 4). Despite their important contributions to the Southern California economy, Chinese communities were faced with anti-Chinese legislation a... ...nd rich cultural tradition. Bibliography â€Å"Chinese Americans in Los Angeles." Retrieved Oct. 6 2002. http://www.camlas.org/history.htm. Hamilton, Densise. â€Å"Immigration and Molestation Service: How the INS mistreats Refugees.† Los Angeles Times. 14 March 2002. â€Å"Map of Chinatown in Downtown Los Angeles.† Retreived Oct. 6 2002. http://www.csun.edu/~hbgeg069/LA/chinatown.html. Marquez, Sandra. â€Å"California immigrants thrive where little English is spoken.† The Associated Press & Local Wire. 30 August 2002. State and Regional. Parrillo, Vincent. Strangers to These Shores. Massachusetts: Allyn & Bacon, 2000. Rasmussen, Cecilia. â€Å"Violence, Bias Mark Chinatown’s Evolution.† Los Angeles Times. 25 November 2001, Home ed.: Page 4. Yu, George. â€Å"Open Air-Shelter Would Hurt Chinatown.† Los Angeles Times. 27 November 2001, Home ed.: Page 10. Chinatown Essay example -- China Culture Cultural Essays Chinatown A bus pulls up to its stop on College Boulevard and passengers stream out. Cars are flowing steadily through the streets as I stand perfectly still on the street corner in an attempt to greedily absorb the smells, sights, and sounds. The green hand shaped light appears and I proceed to cross the street with an increasing sense of discovery. There were signs everywhere; mostly in Chinese characters. Some of the signs in English read: Dim Sum Lunch $3.50, English Books about Chinese Herbs, China Kung Fu Acupuncture Treatment Center and Chinatown 2002. Looking at people walking along the sidewalks, the restaurants, bakeries, auto-repair shops and bookstores, I get the distinct impression that this is a place of great importance in almost every imaginable context. What saddens me is that I also understand how ill equipped I am to understand the magnitude of its import. In an effort to gain a rudimentary understanding of what Chinatown represents from a cultural, social, political and historical context, we will examine the historical background of the area, basic geographical data, contemporary situation and a few of the major issues facing this community. Chinatown first began in an area know as Sonoratown, where the notorious street Callae de los Negros (, named for the dark deeds committed there and the individuals who committed them,) was located. By 1870, it is estimated that about 200 Chinese laborers, servants, road-builders, and small shopkeepers shared the block long area located near the plaza in El Pueblo with gamblers, drifters, and outlaws. (Rasmussen: 4). Despite their important contributions to the Southern California economy, Chinese communities were faced with anti-Chinese legislation a... ...nd rich cultural tradition. Bibliography â€Å"Chinese Americans in Los Angeles." Retrieved Oct. 6 2002. http://www.camlas.org/history.htm. Hamilton, Densise. â€Å"Immigration and Molestation Service: How the INS mistreats Refugees.† Los Angeles Times. 14 March 2002. â€Å"Map of Chinatown in Downtown Los Angeles.† Retreived Oct. 6 2002. http://www.csun.edu/~hbgeg069/LA/chinatown.html. Marquez, Sandra. â€Å"California immigrants thrive where little English is spoken.† The Associated Press & Local Wire. 30 August 2002. State and Regional. Parrillo, Vincent. Strangers to These Shores. Massachusetts: Allyn & Bacon, 2000. Rasmussen, Cecilia. â€Å"Violence, Bias Mark Chinatown’s Evolution.† Los Angeles Times. 25 November 2001, Home ed.: Page 4. Yu, George. â€Å"Open Air-Shelter Would Hurt Chinatown.† Los Angeles Times. 27 November 2001, Home ed.: Page 10.

Hannibal Essay -- essays research papers

Hannibal, a Carthaginian general and one of the greatest generals that ever lived was renown for his strategies and courageousness, such as crossing the Alps and using the "bottleneck strategy" at Lake Trasemene. He used strategies that a lot of generals at this time, especially Roman generals, would never think of and in doing this he almost destroyed the Roman republic. Hannibal's first battle took place when he was only nine. He went on an expedition with his father, Hamilcar Barca, to conquer Spain. From the beginning Carthage’s push into Spain, Hannibal vowed eternal hatred for Rome; Hannibal became Commander in Chief of Carthage’s army when he was 26 after his father was assassinated. His conquest of the Roman town of Sagunto in Spain led to a new declaration of war by Rome; which started the second Punic War and Hannibal’s promise to visit Roman injustice back on Rome a hundred fold. For Carthage to take the town of Sagunto was completely within the rights of the Carthage and the treaty but Rome at the time was getting too big and becoming very imperialistic. All Rome could see was that they had to have all of the Mediterranean and the only thing that stood in their way was a single General and his men. The way in which the Romans were unconsciously straying from "mos maiorum" to manipulate the course of events wa s disturbing. Though these actions were not entirely the "evil" work of Rome. Hannibal from his earliest memories could recall nothing but hatred for Rome. Hannibal’s Father had instilled a horrifically self-destructive desire within Hannibal to see the fall of Rome. This desire manifested itself during The Second Punic War, which was the ultimate fight for supremacy in the Ancient World. The victor would have control over the entire Mediterranean Sea and all of the trade routes bringing land, pride, wealth, and dominance over the victors enemies. Hannibal took a 1,000 mile trek from New Carthage, Spain, through the Alps, Northern Italy, and finally to Carthage. Hannibal won most of his battles with Rome, but never got the reinforcement he needed to over take Rome. The men that he had with him at the time were renowned for their loyalty to Hannibal and unconventional fighting tactics. Their "Gorilla" type war fair or wars of "delaying" almost saw t... ... death and destruction for the Romans that Adolf Hitler would to our Civilization. Hannibal’s name became synonymous with the stereotype that Rome had of the Carthaginian perfidy. And it was this that Rome never wanted to see again; so to be a good Roman, one had to be taught what it was to be a "Hannibal" and how not to be a "Hannibal." In the end Rome was taught many valuable lessons and to the victor go the spoils; so it is a measure of the fear Hannibal’s name instilled, that long after he was dead and gone, parents would scold naughty children with the warning that if they weren't good, Hannibal would come to get them in the night. Italy itself suffered cruelly in the war. Hannibal spent fourteen years there, mostly in southern Italy. As the years went by, the steep hillsides began to lose their topsoil. By war's end, southern Italy was permanently impoverished. In fact, in our own century, in the 1960s, the Italian government began to attempt to recover and reclaim the land from Hannibal, an effort that still goes on intermittently. Hannibal's legacy outlived Rome itself, Cato the Elder would be turning over in his grave if he knew this.

Swot Analysis of the Green Directory

SWOT Analysis Of The Green Directory Strengths: –The Green Directory (â€Å"GD†) allows unlimited access for all users and no fee is required. –The relevant information is available to all visitors. –GD recommends and presents only classified, selected and specialised companies –Website presentation is clearly structured and designed. –Provides ‘one-stop service’ website, as well as the leading ‘green’ guides within Australia. –Easy to find directory – GD provides direct links to its partners, sponsors and advertisers. -Wide range of services and products as well as topics has made the website easy for user to find anything related ‘Green’. Weaknesses: — Unclear information on the support and recommendations by the Australian Government. — GD is just facilitator which means that interested visitors have to contact the listed companies directly. –The benefits for adverti sing are not clearly shown in the website. –Online enquiry form is not available – Interested visitors in ‘green’ products and services have to contact the listed companies directly. -Certain information provided in the web page is not up to date. –Poor maintenance of the website as there are few missing links found in the website. –Limited information about local events, fairs and exhibitions. –No contact number or hotline number for customer enquiry Opportunities: –Increase the profile of GD by cooperation with nationwide and regional publishers (such as Yellow Pages, newspaper, magazine) as well as popular ‘green’ institutions. -It is a green awareness happening all over the world and it’s about social responsibility and ethic of environmental friendly. –Further enhance the website by placing more latest offers and products photos to attract more users. –Send frequent e-mail to users to keep them updated with the latest information. –Provide a hotline number to handle real-time customer call-in enquiry to improve the customer service –Provide hardcopy brochure when requested by user so as not only limit the usage to internet users only Threats: -People without internet access have not the opportunity to receive the requested information. –Unavailable/ inaccurate information to users due to the missing/ outdated contents might cause reputational risk to the GD. –Easy to copy by competitor to create new business/ competition. –Green products price usually higher than normal product that would cause very big investment to the users. Thus there is a challenge in convincing user to purchase without much attractive promotion/ offer. –Data security is not clarified and this might affects customer confidence.

Kiswana Browne Essay

â€Å"She stared at the woman she had been and was to become.† — Kiswana Browne Mother-daughter relationships are complex and diverse. Some mothers and daughters are best friends, and others talk once a week. Some see each other weekly while others live in different cities or states. Kiswana Browne and her mother have a relationship like other mothers and daughters. She only wants the best for her daughter. They may fuss and they may argue, but they are more alike than they realize. Kiswana Browne, whose real name is Melanie, was born and raised in an affluent black suburb called Linden Hills. Like most people that graduate from high school, Kiswana went on to college to further her education. While in college, Kiswana was discovering her blackness and protesting for equality amongst black people. She changed her name and tried to wear an Afro, but her hair was so thin and fine-textured. She had to use lacquer so it would not lay flat. But before she had the chance to graduate from college, she dropped out and decided to move to Brewster Place to live with her p eople. Kiswana’s mother unexpectedly came to visit her at her new place. Kiswana is still afraid of her mother despite the fact that she has left her house and rejected her parents’ way of life. This is shown when she says, â€Å"Oh, God, it’s Mama!† She still feels the guilt that all the kids have when they do something against their parents will. Kiswana and he mother was not seeing eye-to-eye. Her mother did not want her to live in the poor community, but Kiswana has her mind set on being there with her people. She picks to live in a poor area of town, because she is trying to retaliate from the oppressions of the government and her families’ standards. In the beginning of the story, she sees her mother as distant and different. She believes that her mother is a sell out to her African heritage. Her mother assures her that she and Kiswana’s father are as concerned about the poor as much as she is. She also explains that they do not have t o live in Brewster Place to prove themselves to anyone. She cautions Kiswana that the long-awaited revolution will not materialize because society has moved to another phase. Instead, she suggests Kiswana to work within the system by becoming an assemblywoman or a civil liberties lawyer or by opening a freedom school in the neighborhood. She provides Kiswana with various ways of using her talents instead of allowing them to waste away in dead-end jobs. As Kiswana and her mother continue to argue about her new life in the poor area of town, it confirms all of Kiswana’s expectations of her mother’s disapproval. When her mother tells her she lives in a world of fantasy, Kiswana says that she is proud of her heritage and accuses her mother of being â€Å"a white man’s nigger who’s ashamed of being black†. Her mother then became angry with Kiswana and started to tell her about her family history. Yet after her mother explains her beliefs and concerns about her family, Kiswana begins to see the similarities between herself and her mother. After Mrs. Browne gave Kiswana a lesson about her family, she took off her shoe because they were hurting her feet. Bright red nail polish glared at Kiswana through the stockings. Her mother never really wore nail polish, but her husband talked her into. In the beginning of the story, Kiswana talked about how her friend was a foot man and how often she changed the color of her polish. Kiswana then thought, â€Å"I’ll be damned the young woman thought, feeling her whole face tingle. Daddy’s into feet! And she looked at the blushing woman on her couch and suddenly realized that her mother had trod through the same universe that she herself was now traveling. Kiswana was breaking no new trails and would eventually end up just two feet away on that couch. She stared at the woman she had been and was to become.† She learns that she is more like her mother than she ever imagined. Mothers and daughters go through situations similar to this a lot. The child thinks that they know everything, and things are to be done their way. They are not always right. Some individuals think that their parents are always against them and that they do not care about what they are doing in their life, but most of the time they are wrong. Some individuals also think that their parents have not gone through the things that they are going through, but some parents do. There is a saying â€Å"The apple does not fall far from the tree† and â€Å"L ike Mother, Like Daughter.† More than likely, you will act somewhat like your mother or father; you may also go through things that they went through. You never know.

Nomads on Notice Essay

In â€Å"Nomads on Notice,† anthropologist Daniel Stiles describes the changing lifestyle of the Gabbra pastoralist. They are one of the numerous nomadic societies that are at odds with the industrial world. The unforgiving territory of Northern Kenya is divided among several tribes. They are all very fierce when it comes to defending their territory. This is very similar to what we have learned in class, relating to the Warrior Groups. The Warrior Groups are usually young males, around twelve years of age, whom protect their land, animals, and people. This region consists of 35,000 Gabbra pastoralists. They claim the dry and salty mud flats of the Chalbi Desert and the eastern shore of Lake Turkana. The Gabbra must move often, up to ten times a year. This is due to the scarcity and temporary nature of water sources and vegetation. Camps would usually split and travel in smaller groups to accommodate the carrying capacity of the land. This is considered Pastoralism, another topic we have learned in class. Pastoralism is the ownership and control over domesticated animals that appear to be about ten thousand. They have more material items than hunting and gathering, but not as much as agriculturalists do. The Gabbra have very few possessions and can pack a settlement and be on their way within a number of hours. Gabbra societies are lead by married men. Their levels of authority are based on their age, how old they are. The main animals of Gabbra society are camels, goats, cattle, and sheep. The animals that provide milk are usually kept at the main camp. The animals that do not give milk are sent off to distant camps called fora, to prevent overgrazing. The fora serve as the border of tribal territories and they are run by young warriors, so they can prevent raids by other tribes. Pastoral societies travel in small groups, usually less than one hundred. They travel frequently, usually every season, to find the most nourishing land for their livestock. In class, we have learned the same, such as they are nomadic with a seasonal around and they move and travel every season. Approximately one hundred through five hundred people will move together at a time. It is also heard for them to engage in a limited amount of horticulture. In class, we have learned that the term horticulture is control over land that they use no tools or factors whatsoever. Everything is done by hand, which means no irrigation or complex machinery. Almost all Pastoral societies consist of all male. In order to fulfill excellent labor needs, the Gabbra rely on their extended kinship and social ties for help. People have large families and live as extended families in large households. Each male in the household may have a different herd to care for. Their duties and tasks may be paid for with food or stock offspring. People may obtain animals as gifts, inheritance, or on a loan. Due to this, it is difficult to figure exactly how many animals one Gabbra may own. The Gabbra does not allow someone to obtain more animals than he and his dependents actually need. If someone exceeds of their livestock, he would redistribute them to the needy as loans or gifts. We have also learned this in class, redistribution. Redistribution is where goods and services are sent to a central authority, and then given out to those who need it. This system of redistribution minimizes the burden placed on the environment. The Gabbra usually store small portions of food, because they are in short supply. Although they are in short supply, the foods that they store can be kept for long periods of time. The recent problems that the Gabbra are facing are nothing new, but they are being heavily influenced to deal with them in much different manners by Westerners. Foreign relief services, missionaries, and government officials are not only providing food relief, but they are telling the Gabbra that their way of life is backwards and primitive. This is an example of ethnocentrism, which is when one culture believes that another culture is wrong and their culture is superior. The lifestyle of the Gabbra can improve if the rain returns and neighboring countries regain stability. If the conditions do not improve, the Gabbra may be forced to change their way of life altogether. Many cultures have been destroyed or nearly destroyed, because of assimilation. People who attempt to assist Gabbra must understand that they must accept their way of life and not change it. References: http://www.questia.com/library/1P3-4957983/nomads-on-notice http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/9308230122/nomads-notice

Food and Money Essay

Why did Huang Tsung-hsi see the well-field system as a foundation of a renewed Chinese culture and a stable political state? The well field was the center of a plot of land divided into 9 sections. Eight families farmed the plot; each held one of the sections and the central one belonged to lord of the whole plot. Why? The well-field system is believed to be the most ideal arrangement between landowners and tenants. Under this system, the families occupying each of the eight fields will befriend each other, cooperate in guarding the crops, watch each other’s back in case of danger, and rescue one another in times of trouble and illness. This system promotes harmony and equal treatment by the landlord. The burden of taxation is also distributed evenly among the families. Huang Tsung-hsi saw this system as the foundation of a renewed Chinese culture and stable political state because, as a follower of Mencius, he advocated that rulers must rule their subjects justly and well. Huang Tsung-hsi abhorred selfish autocratic rule. If a ruler promotes equal distribution, people will not be afraid of getting poor. If the people are assured of their just treatment, there will be peace in a society. Once people are content, government will not fail. In Ibn Khaldun’s analysis of Islamic society, did â€Å"group feeling† function in the same way as the well-field system did for Huang? In Ibn Khaldun’s analysis of Islamic society, he defined group feeling as subordinating of an individual’s personal needs to that of the interest of the group. He argued that if an individual won’t prioritize the group, there would be no peace and social development. Comparing this with the well-field system, I should say that in a way they are the same. The same because both systems promote solidarity and cooperation to achieve a purpose. In the well-field system, it can be assumed that individual needs are secondary in relation to what is best for the group. Works Cited Swann, Nancy. Food and Money in Ancient China. Princeton, 1950.

SLP 3 HRM - 402 Designing Training Programs Essay

SLP 3 HRM - 402 Designing Training Programs - Essay Example It must be noted that adult learners are rarely passive learners meaning that they tend to work very hard in and out of the classrooms. This is because most of them tend to fund their own studies and some are receiving support from their employers. Time is indeed a very important factors for the learners since they are trying to juggle among many things at the same time. In this case their interaction with the trainers should be very active so as to save on their time and resources. Adult learners have life skills and experiences that are reflected in their coursework and what they expect from their programs. These people have wide range of experiences that they wish to apply in the course of their study as well as questions that they wish to be answered appropriately. Furthermore, the courses must be relevant and timely for such a learner to find them valuable. Time constraints is another factor that need to be taken into consideration when designing training programs for adults. These are people who have to handle many things at the same time hence they do not have much time to spare as opposed to young learners. In many cases, those who design the training programs often mistakenly just factor in time constraint as work hours available during the design phase. This leads to work-around which include cases like holding classes or lectures afterhours or on weekends which does not go well with adult learners. As a result, one need to consider prioritizing the actual work that the adult learners are engaged in and then allocate time in a manner that will be favorable to all the learners (Akhila, et al, 2011). Employers need to provide incentives to employees so as to encourage them to take an active role in the training process. When new information needs to be learned or processes and understanding need revised, it is best to reinforce this learning and provide incentives as well. When someone gets to