East Asia History Essay Example for Free

East Asia History Essay Q1a Meaning of sumo and baseball in Japan In Japan, Sumo and baseball are the central sports and depict the cultural belief of achievement, individual effort and character. Sumo is very significant â€Å"to the roots of Japan and is a form of national pride. Therefore sumo is a reflection of the historical Japan, and is today the most important sport acting as a national symbol. Somo was always encouraged young men and boys. However with the growing number of the youth, who have not seen the importance of the traditions of their forefathers have discarded this sport and replaced it with the contemporary sport of baseball. This means that baseball is taking centre stage as the most popular sort especially for the urban youth. Sumo in a way is a representative of the old generation being replaced by a modern sport of baseball. Q3. The position of women in neo-Confucian cultures â€Å"It has been justly remarked that a nation’s civilization may be estimated by the rank which females hold in society. If the civilization of China be judged of by this test, she is surely far from occupying that first place which she so strongly claims† (Chinese repository, 313). This is the remark about women in China, and is correct by all means. In many cultures across the world women and men posses’ distinct functions and responsibilities and in the Neo-Confucian cultures women held a very important position but a lesser one from that of men. Confucians viewed the family â€Å"as a microcosm of the state† which was ruled by a male emperor, therefore it meant that the man was the natural head of the home. The position of women was at home where she was to assume the responsibilities or ‘Dao’ (woman’s way) of a wife and mother. Her other roles included the upbringing of children which included their education. The woman was called to be obedient to her father first, secondly to her husband and to her grown son. Such views portrayed a woman as a tool for men, which would lead eventually to such cultural practices of â€Å"foot-binding† (meant to limit the mobility of females and serve as erotic pleasure for the men. ) Other practices included the â€Å"cult of chastity† where windows were elevated to the role of â€Å"cultural heroes† also such practices led to such harsh traditions of selling unwanted daughters. http://chnm. gmu. edu/wwh/modules/lesson10/lesson10. php? s=0 Confucianism eventually was labeled as the â€Å"chief causes for Chinas failure to modernize† by the â€Å"May fourth â€Å"generation that comprised of communists and intellectuals. Buddhism in china and Japan changed the influence that Confucianism had on the belief of women’s position in the society. By late 19th century, the liberation for the women became a major driving force within the reform and revolution movements. Male crusaders advocated for greater role for the women in the transformation of their nation. Educated women from Japan and China rallied behind them and started speaking and writing publicly for the first time. This attracted opposition and protests from the conservatives and traditionalists who wanted the status quo of gender roles to remain. They viewed the female activists as â€Å"unseemly, unfeminine and too western†. (http://chnm. gmu. edu/wwh/modules/lesson10/lesson10. php? s=0) The journey to liberation for the women is not over yet; but bolder steps have been made towards this end. And in the contemporary East Asia, women have been honored alongside men for their militant participation against in the Taiping Rebellion, where Hakka women fought against Mancho government as soldiers. Q4.  The state of Chinese economy at the time of the Chairman Mao’s death in 1976 to date In May 16th 1966 Chairman Mao Zedong lunched the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution that resulted to widespread power struggles that almost brought China to the brink of Civil War. Because of this strain China’s Economy stagnated which also affected the social and political aspect of the republic. ( http://en. wikipedia. org) After the fall of ‘the Gang of Four’ Hua Guofeng and later in 1977 Deng Xiaoping led China in affirming the modernization Programme that had been started by Zhou Enlai in 1975. Deng Xiaoping further initiated new Policies towards achieving the Four Modernizations. The Policies played a very important role in revitalizing the economy of China. The policies played a very important role of strengthening the authority that managers and economic decision makers had as opposed to political or party officials. ( http://en. wikipedia. org) Through these policies workers were offered material incentives, research and education systems were highly strengthened and strategize for an increase in foreign trade. In the period between 1976 and 1978 the economy started peaking from the Cultural Revolution. China’s economy was wholly dependent on agriculture, which had been adversely affected by three years of poor weather in 1977 that saw the drop of agricultural output. However the harvest hit a record high of 14% in 1977 and 13% in 1978. ( http://en. wikipedia. org) Today China’s economy is rated among the highest in the world becoming the world’s second largest and rated as the fastest growing economy in modern history with ac consistent GDP of over 10 %. ( http://en. wikipedia. org)

Jungian Psychology and Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness Essay

As the Heart of Darkness snakes its way into the savage shadows of the African continent, Joseph Conrad exposes a psycho-geography of the collective unconscious in the entangling metaphoric realities of the serpentine Congo. Conrad’s novella descends into the unknowable darkness at the heart of Africa, taking its narrator, Marlow, on an underworld journey of individuation, a modern odyssey toward the center of the Self and the center of the Earth. Ego dissolves into soul as, in the interior, Marlow encounters his double in the powerful image of ivory-obsessed Kurtz, the dark shadow of European imperialism. The dark meditation is graced by personifications of anima in Kurtz’ black goddess, the savagely magnificent consort of the underworld, and in his porcelain -skinned Persephone, innocent intended of the upperworld. Though â€Å"Dr. Jung’s discoveries were not known to Conrad, â€Å" (Hayes, 43) who wrote this master work between 1898 and 1899, Heart of Darkne ss presents a literary metaphor of Jungian psychology. This paper explores the dark territory of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as metaphor for the Jungian concepts of the personal and the collective unconscious, as a journey of individuation, a meeting with the anima, an encounter with the shadow, and a descent into the mythic underworld. Like Conrad’s Marlow, who is propelled toward his African destiny despite ample warning and foreboding, I have been drawn beyond the classic analysis of the Heart of Darkness, embarking down an uncharted tributary, scouting parallels between Marlow’s tale and Jung’s own journeys to Africa, and seeking murky insight into the physical and the metaphorical impact of the dark continent on the language and the landscape of depth psychology. â€Å"Africa,†... ...Aniela Jaffe. New York: Random House, 1989. Jung, C.G. Two Essays on Analytical Psychology. R.F.C. Hull. Bollingen Series XX. Princeton: Princeton U. Press, 1977. Lord, George de Forest. Trials of the Self: Heroic Ordeals in the Epic Tradition Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, 1983. McLynn, Frank. Hearts of Darkness: The European Exploration of Africa. New York: Carol & Gey, 1992. Mellard, James. "Myth and Archetype in Heart of Darkness," Tennessee Studies in Literature 13 (1968): 1-15. Miller, David. Hells and Holy Ghosts: A Theopoetics of Christian Belief. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989. Smith, Evans Lansing. Rape and Revelation: The Descent to the Underworld in Modernism. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1990. Spivack, Charlotte. "The Journey to Hell: Satan, The Shadow, and the Self." Centennial Review 9:4 (1965): 420 - 437.

Macbeth William Shakespeare Essay

(i) â€Å"Shakespeare’s Macbeth invites us to look into the world of a man driven on by ruthless ambition and tortured by regret.† Write a response to this view of the play, Macbeth, supporting the points you make by reference to the text. Mark ex 60 by reference to the criteria for assessment using the following breakdown of marks. P18 C18 L 18 M 6 60 marks A+ B C D E- 100% 60 – 51 42 33 24 23 – 0 30% 18 – 16 13 10 8 7 – 0 10% 6 – 5 4 3 3 2 – 0 Expect candidates to respond by treating of both ambition and regret, though not necessarily equally. Allow that candidates may view Macbeth as a man â€Å"driven on† by the ambitions of others in his world, e.g. Lady Macbeth, Malcolm, Banquo, and so on. Expect the focus of discussion, in such cases, to centre on the impact that the ambitions of others make upon Macbeth. Code A for ‘ambition’, R for ‘regret’, and A/R for points combining the two. Possible points: Ambition: – his eager response to the witches – the killing of Duncan and Banquo – his obsession with ‘vaulting ambition’ – he embarks on a tyrannical rule, determined to hold on to power – Lady Macbeth, however, questions his capacity to be ruthless – his soliloquies repeatedly qualify the ruthlessness of his character Etc. Regret: – Macbeth wrestles with his conscience – he is plagued by visions of his evil deeds and their consequences – following the murder of Duncan he is incoherent and tormented – he is haunted by the realisation that he has achieved a ‘fruitless crown’ and a ‘barren sceptre’ – his mind is ‘full of scorpions’ – for him life becomes progressively more empty and worthless Etc.

What s Black, Then White, And Said All Over - 957 Words

It is a well-known fact that technology and media outlets today play a major role in a person’s life. Generally, a person has access to the media through cellphones, computers, radios in a car and television. It may be perceived by some, even within a technologically advanced society such as America, that media has no effect upon enhancing cultural relationships, though many social networks do indeed connect cultures. Media and technology give people access to various cultures at an efficient and accelerated rate; thus making media an easy tool for making cultural connections. In the article â€Å"What’s Black, Then White, and Said All Over?†, Leslie Savan explores how the media and technology is used to spread black culture and how people use this culture in their daily lives. â€Å"Whaazzzaahhh?! Was just what the nation apparently needed on the eve of a new millennium. The sound instantly became an NBA refrain, a greeting on radio sports shows, the theme of an SNL skit...(Savan 450)† This Budweiser commercial is a perfect example of how technology and media can take a â€Å"black word† and put it into mainstream media. The commercial was centered around a group of African American friends all on the phone having a conversation with each other and drinking a Budweiser. Till this very day, Whaazzzaahhh is used and identified with black culture. Another great example of how culture can be spread through media comes from the article â€Å"Visible Man: Ethics in a World without Secrets†. InShow MoreRelatedRacial Relations Between The Police And Minority Communities Essay1511 Words   |  7 Pagesnon-minority communities differ, how, and for what reasons? 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