Hong Kong Proposal Essay Example for Free

Hong Kong Proposal Essay INTRODUCTION and BRIEF BACKGROUND Hong Kong was a Crown Colony of the United Kingdom from 1842 to 1997, when it was returned to the People’s Republic of China.  Ã‚   This handover of Hong Kong back to China is supported by two governing laws: the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law of Hong Kong. Both laws uphold the policy of â€Å"one country, two systems,† which requires that Hong Kong will operate on its own until 2047, which is fifty years after its reversion back to China.    This means that the Central People’s Government will be responsible for the strategic defense and foreign affairs of Hong Kong while Hong Kong will retain control over its legal system, police force, monetary system, and policies on customs, immigration and delegates to various international organizations and events. The return of Hong Kong to China was received with different reactions both from its own citizens and from the international scene.   As to any situation, there are always two sides to a coin: the advantages and disadvantages of the Hong Kong handover.   This paper will present the positive and negative effects of the handover on the political, social, cultural and economic spheres of Hong Kong between 1997 and 2002.   The conclusion will deal with POLITICAL SCENE There were growing concerns with regard to the integration of a democratic system of government into the political culture of Hong Kong.   The international sphere remained skeptic about the effectiveness of democracy in Hong Kong and the number of local supporters have then declined as well. These concerns are mainly caused by the failure to solve domestic problems through democratic means and the inability of various democratic factions to come up with enticing operations to attract more supporters.   It is submitted that if the foundations of democracy cannot be held strongly by its political advocates, then democracy in Hong Kong may be even more difficult as expected, if not impossible at all. Tied with the difficulty of evolving into a democratic system is the challenge to have an independent judicial system.   There has been a loss of faith in the judicial system of Hong Kong with the rampant overruling of the decisions of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong by the courts of Mainland China.   Such loss of faith leads to the loss of credibility of the Hong Kong judicial system, which worries the locals and some international organizations. HUMAN RIGHTS The term â€Å"human rights† is not limited to rights against self-incrimination, warrantless arrests, searches and seizures.   The term â€Å"human rights† includes freedom of speech and of the press.   Although human rights is highly regarded by Hong Kong, its local policies and practices cause   its own decline. The government of Hong Kong is so high strung on preventing factors that may cause social instability that it already contributes to the unprotection of human rights within its territory.   There had been reports of arrests of overstaying citizens of Mainland China, and the arrests of people who are campaigning for various social, economic and political issues by using the Public Order Ordinance to clothe such arrests with a faint tint of legality. There has also been the censorship of the media, whether by the government or by themselves, often called â€Å"self-censorship.†Ã‚   Media practitioners are so wary about overstepping the boundaries of local news that they, themselves, censor their own news on political affairs so as not to offend or stir any commotion with the leaders of the Mainland. ECONOMIC The handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997 was actually twinned with the great Asian Financial Crisis.   And the handover did not improve the economic situation of Hong Kong during the said crisis.   Despite the recovery of EU-US relations, improvement of the Mainland economy, and high-valued activities, there is still an increasing unemployment rate.   And this unemployment rate has been present even prior to the handover of Hong Kong to China.   It seems that there is little change in the economic life of Hong Kong. SOCIAL It cannot be discounted that for over a century, Hong Kong was influenced more by the British than by their Mainland people.   This is due to the obvious fact that Hong Kong was run by the British and not by the Chinese.   But since the handover, official visits of Mainland officials to Hong Kong paved way for a greater integration for both societies. Even the adoption of Mainland of development plans, which, in great part, includes Hong Kong has caused an opening of good relationships between the two.   Moreover, the loosening of travel restrictions allowed Mainland citizens to explore Hong Kong, and vice versa, so as to realize that there is no more British barrier and that they are all just from one culture.   It must be noted that apart from Mainland China, Hong Kong is building ties with Taiwan as well. CONCLUSION It’s been almost ten years since the reversion of Hong Kong back to China and with the fifty-year program of â€Å"one country, two systems,† it is quite early to tell whether or not the reversion is purely advantageous or disadvantageous to Hong Kong, and to China as well.

Power and Starvation in the Novels and Lives of Emily and Charlotte Bro

Power and Starvation in the Novels and Lives of Emily and Charlotte Bronte      Ã‚  Ã‚   In the fictional worlds of Charlotte and Emily Brontà «, one of the few ways that women who otherwise have very little say in their lives are able to express dissatisfaction is through self-starvation and illness. It is noteworthy that in their own lives the Bronte sisters exhibited many eccentric habits in regards to eating, and both Charlotte and (especially) Emily engaged in self-starvation similar to the strategies used by the characters in their novels.    Anorexia is a general term that describes the decline of appetite or aversion to food, though it is most commonly used to refer to self-starvation. Anorexia was not new during the time of the Brontà «s. Although eating disorders are often thought of as being a modern day phenomenon, it is in fact only widespread diagnosis that is a recent occurrence. Those who had no other means to wield power, other than in terms of individual self-control, have long used starvation and fasting as a means of exerting control over an environment in which they felt powerless.    In his book, Holy Anorexia, Rudolph Bell sites a case of anorexia in a 20 year old girl from as early as 1686 (3). In fact, eating disorders were fairly common in the time leading up to the Brontà «'s era, although the motivations behind them were often quite dissimilar. Today, young women are often driven to starve themselves because, "they must conform to an impossible, media-driven standard of beauty which holds that 'you can never be too thin.'" (Orenstein 94) In the 18th and 19th century, however, thinness was not an ideal to strive towards, and the psychology behind fasting and starvation was oftentimes more complica... ...    Bemporad, Jules R. The Psychoanalytic Approach to Psychosomatics and Eating Disorders: The Prehistory of Anorexia Nervosa. New York: The Newsletter of the Psychosomatic Discussion Group of the American Psychoanalytic Association, Sept., 1997.    Bell, Rudolph M., and William N. Davis. Holy Anorexia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.    Frank, Katherine. A Chainless Soul: A Life of Emily Brontà «. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1990.    Gordan, Lyndall. Charlotte Brontà «: A Passionate Life. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1994.    Orenstein, Peggy. Schoolgirls: Young Women, Self-Esteem, and the Confidence Gap. New York: Anchor Books, 1995.    Terris, Susan. Nell's Quilt. New York: Sunburst, 1996.    Vine, Steven. Bronte, Emily Jane. Date unknown. University of Swansea. 30 March 2002. http://www.litencyc.com/   

Brent Staples’ Black Men and Public Spaces

Antoinette Johnson English 100 Prof. Horna October 3, 2012 In the essay â€Å"The second shift†, by Arlie Hochschild, he explains how the wives of two-job families with small children typically work an extra 24-hour day in a year, between the pages 145(bottom) and 148(top). I agree with Hochschild’s determination because once women come home from first shift, they go straight into second shift. Whereas men come home from first shift, and get to pick and choose when to work second shift.Most men wonder why the level of affection is lacking in the home. I believe that the man in two-job families with small children are optimistic about the things that should be done around the house. I believe that they feel because they’re the â€Å"dominant† figure, that the women are supposed to do the majority of the work around the house. Then the men/husbands start to feel a type of way because the women become resentful,.I don’t blame the men for their actions, I blame the fathers and their father’s father for not showing them the correct way to uphold their households. In my eyes women has always been the life support or backbone of any family. So really the women are the â€Å"dominant† figure. It takes a strong individual to work an eight-hour shift, then come home to cook and clean for another eight-hours. To also cater to the children and husbands with all their needs. Women should demand more help from their husbands during the second shift.That extra 24 hours should be split between the two of them. If women stood up for themselves more often, men would start to appreciate them more while still in the relationship instead of when their relationship is over. In conclusion, as time goes on, the younger generations will get it together, I believe. Husbands and wives need to come together and make arrangements to better uphold the home. A more understanding husband plus a more no holds bar wife equals a better home.

Improvement of communication Essay

Communication is an important ingredient in everyday relationships. As interactions are inevitable, much of what is going on with our relationships – in terms of work, home life, community dealings, friendships, and even ordinary and regular contact with strangers – all these depend on how effective we are in conveying thoughts, feelings, and intentions. And by the way, because communication includes at least two parties, its effectivity depends on how well or uninterrupted the exchange of ideas will flow. Everyone involved is important to the success of communication – the receiving end (the one party) and the one conveying ideas (the other party). Since not a single party should become dominant in any interactions, what particular characteristic ought to distinguish every an effective communicator? As always pointed out by experts in communication skills, the most critical part of an interaction is active listening. It comprises more than giving the other party your affirmative nod. It is even more than being physically present. Active listening includes the engagement of the whole cognitive faculty of the person. This means that if one is to possess this very important skill, he/she must exert effort to attend to the person who transmits his/her thoughts and engage all attention to process the ideas being passed on by paraphrasing, â€Å"reflecting feeling and reflecting meaning† (Citation Becoming a Better Senior Corps Supervisor: A Resource Guide for Senior Corps Project Directors, 1996). â€Å"Active listening includes listening with the body, eyes, ears and instincts, and temporarily suspending judgment. † This is essentially what active listening does. When speaking about improving one’s skills in communication, one characteristic must come right away to one’s mind: active listening. I have employed someone to help me in ordinary house work inside our home. I really do not need someone to attend to these things in my house since I myself can do the work myself. My intention is to be of some help to this person financially. He is so poor in communication skills. He even has difficulty expressing in words what he has in mind at the moment. He could not describe properly daily occurrences, and deficient in active listening. As a result of this lack on his part, all of us in the house oftentimes get drained emotionally for constantly exerting effort just to make sure he understands how to do ordinary work properly – from frying eggs for breakfast to taking initiative on those things which we assume he already know. I realized that lacking the fundamental skill necessary in communication can even get a person in danger of being fired from work. Communication is an art because like the work of art, it requires necessary skills to accomplish a work in which one has invested all his attention to secure a work well done. Reference 1. Becoming a Better Senior Corps Supervisor: A Resource Guide for Senior Corps Project Directors, by the National Crime Prevention Council and published by the Corporation for National and Community Service (1996), was developed by the National Crime Prevention Council’s National Service Training and Technical Assistance Project and is based upon work funded by the Corporation for National Service under Cooperative Agreement No. CA95-30. Accessed July 17, 2007< file:///D:/Documents%20and%20Settings/alan/My%20Documents/communication%20skils. htm>.

The Freedom Writers Diary Essays

The Freedom Writers Diary Essays The Freedom Writers Diary Essay The Freedom Writers Diary Essay The Freedom Writers Essay- Chloe Taylor How are different cultures represented in Freedom Writers? What values and attitudes do we draw from the film and its background? Cultures are shown and exposed to us in various ways everyday. Different cultures are represented in different ways in the Western Society. In the movie Freedom Writers, we witness this cultural conflict on a first hand basis. Urban youths in Freedom Writers heavily rely on respect to judge others. They also judge based on each other’s cultural back ground. Later in the film, these same teenagers begin to value education and the sense of belonging in school, rather than belonging in gangs. Gangs and groups are a part of the Western Society that we have had to learn to accept in our lives. In the feature film Freedom Writers, we are shown gangs divided up into cultures and cultural backgrounds. This has built up a lot of tension between cultures and attitudes towards other gangs. The scene in which all the students enter room 203 and take seats into their separate corners of the room divided into their certain corners of the room shows the division between students in a real life. We see a long shot of the whole classroom showing its layout and the segregation between gangs. Then multiple mid-shots are shown of the gang itself and its individual members to decipher the multiple gangs, their attitudes towards school and their way of life. Even though the students start their school year with an attitude of ignorance towards other cultures they begin to learn the value of each individual and change their point of view and their gangs and cooperate with their cultures. People may argue that respect is something that has to be earned, it is not automatic. In the 1992 Los Angeles’s race riots, respect was something that was taken for granted, as it was essential for their society. In Freedom Writers, Ms Gruwell demanded respect immediately. Not surprisingly the students refused to give it to her and why should they of, they didn’t know anything about Ms Gruwell. Towards the end of the film we see that Ms Gruwell has gradually gained the respect she wanted from her class. We are shown this in a first hand basis as Andre, a gang member, calls Ms Gruwell ‘Mam’. She takes this as an offence and claims she is not anyone’s mother; Eva soon corrects her and states that it was a ‘sign of respect to you’. This scene is shown to us by a series of close up shots of Andre, Ms Gruwell and Eva. This is purposely done to capture the changing emotion in the characters face. The students of room 203 value Ms Gruwell not only as a teacher and a person and this is reflected in their attitude and behaviour. We all know what racism is and have most likely been subjected to it or witnessed it at one time in our lives. Racism is more prominent in schools and work places although random attacks of racist acts can also be seen in the streets or at public places where the offender and the victim may not even know each other. In the feature film Freedom Writers, every student at Long Beach either dishes out racist comments or receives them. When all of the ‘unteachable’ students get integrated into the same class we see this clash of cultures collide. A racist caricature is drawn of one of the African-American students and the rest of the students find it amusing. Ms Gruwell takes the picture and compares it to the Jews during the holocaust. Erin was greeted with dumb-founded looks only to find out the kids didn’t know what the holocaust was yet they acted out their lives in a similar racist manner. This scene is shown by using close ups of Ms Gruwell and the victim of the caricature, Jamal. We see Ms Gruwell looking horrified and Jamal’s expression looking embarrassed. We are also shown mid-shots of the whole class to show their expressions and they seem amused and proud of themselves. Towards the end of the movie the students do not lash out any forms of racism at one another and instead treat each other as good friends. At the end of Freedom Writers, the students have accepted and value each other as individual people not of their cultural back ground. Ms Gruwell gained the respect she earned from devoting her life to teach these children. During this essay I have explored the movie Freedom Writers and how factors like gangs, respect and racism can have such an impact on peoples lives. It can change peoples values on life and their attitudes and behaviours towards things and that is what we draw from the film.

International business Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

International business - Assignment Example Face book provides and creates and effective platform for developing and improving the partnership between the development of the business and the non-profit organization for conducting good social programs. Face book alone serves and includes 1.11 billion users across the world. Facebook can be considered potentially for providing business to the millions of users in the new and emerging market. The development of the face book across the world has increased the complexity of the world. The complexity comprises of the opportunities and the obstacles for carrying out international business that are challenged continuously. Face book has failed to enter and penetrate in the Chinese market because of the rumour which in indicates that it may enter into partnership with Baidu which will penetrate the Chinese market and will overcome the barriers that have settled or established the internet brands of US in China. But it is likely that face book may face the censorship which is practiced by all Chinese websites. The changes and modification in the technology have developed the mechanism towards the growth and development of the international business. The reduction of the barrier in the movement of the trade and the capital has resulted in the flow of the import, export and the foreign direct investment. The multinational organization has developed as the prime agent of the coordination of the international economies. The international business promotes and improves the ability for generating innovations and delivering the goods and services in the market. The growing and development of the new industrialized countries such as China has lead to the development of the activities related to international business. At the firm level the productivity, cost and the market share are all considered as the prime indicator for increasing the competitiveness in the international business. The economies have widened and expanded in the recent years due to the

International Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

International Finance - Essay Example Furthermore, the models have been estimated with Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates of the output gap in relation to the unemployment gap and use these two figures of the same period along with one-year-ahead forecasts for determining the inflation level in order to compare with the real economic activity. Thus, the article provides an assessment of four models with specified Taylor rule. Moreover, the performances of conventional monetary, Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), and interest rate differential model have been evaluated for comparing each of the four models (Molodtsova & Papell, 2010). Due to the unavailability of euro or dollar exchange rates till 1999 when the euro had been introduced, rolling regressions methods have been used to predict the exchange rate changing from the year 1999 along with 26 observations for each regression. However, the number of observations has been kept constant while deriving the results from the year ending 20 07 with 37 predictions, all the way through to 2010, with 45 predictions. The results have further been represented through three test statistics, namely, ‘ratio of the mean squared prediction errors (MSPE) of the linear and random walk models, DMW test of Diebold and Marino (1995) along with West (1996) and the CW test of Clark and West (2006)’ with the significant values of McCracken (Molodtsova & Papell, 2010). The results derived from the Taylor rule fundamentals model reveal an attractive apparent pattern. It has been observed that along with the variables of that period and rising inflation, MSPE of the Taylor rule model is lesser compared to MSPE of the random walk model. Furthermore, utilizing the CW and DMW tests at 5% or higher level for the early predictions of year ended 2007, it has been noted that the random walk null can be discarded in favor of the Taylor rule model. Therefore, following the number of predictions increase, the strength of the rejections increased which hit the highest level in 2008. However, from the next quarter of 2008, the strength of the rejections started to decline and thus, climbed to the extreme level of financial crisis thereby, favoring the Taylor rule specifications sharply. In 2009, the ‘phoenix’ Taylor rule forecasting evolved which was discarded in favor of Taylor rule models at 1% implication level for all specifications between 2009 and 2010. Although the pattern of results has similarities with the inflation level in the beginning of 2008, the strength of the rejections is weaker. Furthermore, the results derived from forecasted variables are weaker than actual variables from that period (Molodtsova & Papell, 2010). Mark (1995) theories focused on obtaining a set of long-run fundamentals from the different models which helped in evaluating out-of-sample forecasts on the basis of the difference between the present exchange rate and its value in the long run. Another part of the theory u ses the interest rate obscured by Taylor rule whereas, Molodtsova and Papell (2009) uses the variables that are utilized in Taylor rules to estimate the exchange rate predictions. Furthermore, the Taylor rule fundamentals model helps to evaluate the correlation between the exchange rate and a number of variables that