Foreign Literature Essay

Last night I was at the presentation of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, at the National Portrait Gallery, where a young Angolan writer, Josà © Eduardo Agualusa, was announced the 2007 winner for his novel The Book of Chameleons, translated from the Portuguese by Daniel Hahn. Set in contemporary Angola, the book is particularly notable for being narrated by a lizard. The judges this year were the poet David Constantine, writer and editor Jennie Erdal, Arts Council Literature officer Kate Griffin, novelist Ali Smith and the literary editor of the Independent, Boyd Tonkin. Admirably the prize is shared between the translator and author, thus honouring an art that often goes unsung. The book was evidently a popular choice and Agualusa received his award in person, accompanied by whoops and cheers. Tonkin extols the prize as â€Å"a unique bridge between writers abroad and readers at home†. As thrilled as I was that this talented newcomer beat such literary heavyweights as Ismail Kadare and Javier Marà ­as, however, I was even more delighted that the award honours a small literary publisher, Arcadia, who recently celebrated their 10th anniversary. The dedicated team at Arcadia are worthy recipients of this prestigious award, not just for bringing this imaginative young writer to an English readership, but overall for their championing of cultural diversity and for widening our literary choice – 50% of their 2007 lists are books in translation. Given the effects of globalisation elsewhere, it seems astonishing that we don’t translate more foreign literature in this country. Apparently, translated fiction accounts for only 3% of fiction sales in the UK, compared with 30-40% in France or Spain. The British are voracious readers, so why are we so insular? Don’t we welcome unusual voices and different perspectives? How can we exert pressure on publishers to produce more translated fiction? For those interested in foreign literature, an excellent resource is Words Without Borders, an online magazine dedicated to promoting international exchange through translation and publishing works/extracts on the web. And if you’d like to see Josà © Eduardo Agualusa and Daniel Hahn, they’ll be reading from The Book of Chameleons this evening at Foyles bookshop, London, 6.30pm – 8.30pm.

How Fashion Effects Today’s Society

Fashion has been a major part of our society for hundreds of years. In most societies, years ago, the way an individual dressed may have identified their social class, political standing, or maybe even their respective age group. Fashion has evolved so rapidly over the years, from the zoot suit in the 30’s, to the bell-bottoms and Afros of the 70’s, and finally to the Mohawk and skinny jeans worn by individuals today. However, has fashioned evolved for the better? Fashion has been used as a way to establish a type of individualism and set a person aside from others.Because fads have evolved so rapidly over the years in unique and bizarre ways due to today’s media, they have been unaccepted in today’s society. During a classic discussion of fashion change by George Simmel, a major German sociologist says that, â€Å"fashion was nothing more than a process of imitation. † (Johnson, 2003). This process leads to equalization and ultimately the need to f urther differentiate ones self. â€Å"The innovation of fashion derives from the privileged social classes from those found underneath.† (Johnson, 2003).Simmel proposes that, â€Å"the more elite social class plays a major role in the change in fashion with the â€Å"trickle-down† theory regarding fashion. † (Johnson, 2003). However, in today’s society the media plays a very specific role in pinpointing the trends and styles considered as today’s fashion. People in today’s society, mainly the younger crowd, thrive for a sense of belonging and acceptance. Teenagers view a music video, flip through a magazine, and see an artist or actor portraying a certain image.They immediately want to emulate those images to fit in with society and be accepted by their peers. Some of us can relate to having been young at one point and wanting to buy the newest shoes that our favorite basketball player put out. According to a Speaking of Fashion article, â⠂¬Å"public appearances have been encoded in a panoply of theories concerning topics dealing with morality, individuality, and the relation of appearance to deeper character traits. † (Reference and Research, 2010).The way someone is dressed can affect the likelihood of that person getting chosen for a job. â€Å"The way you dress can discredit a particular event. † (WordPress Admin, 2008). Fashion has become such a major factor in today’s society on so many levels. â€Å"Fashion can effect the way people are perceived by others, especially when it comes to meeting an individual for the first time. † (WordPress Admin, 2008). In this new world, people don’t get a second chance at a first impression.As discussed in the previous paragraphs fashion is amongst one of the things people look at when making  an impression or wanting to appear a certain way in the eyes of others. Fashion has it’s own lifecycle and will eventually make full circle thr oughout the years. What keeps fashion alive are celebrities such as music artists and actors. When the public sees the way these individuals dress their styles are often duplicated from the East Coast to the West and back. When going to a job for an interview we imitate the dress code of the company and wear something to adapt to our surroundings of what the job position is.

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This age is called the age of science, yet' we can’t deny the importance of literature in our lives. Literature is called the mirror of life; it is also called a mode of the expression of feelings and emotions. As long as human beings do have emotions and feelings, literature will be created and literature will be read. It gives a way to one's thought, modifies and brings new dimensions. It relaxes you when you are tense' enlightens your dark mind and lightens your heavy heart. This age is called the age of science, yet' we can’t deny the importance of literature in our lives.Literature is called the mirror of life; it is also called a mode of the expression of feelings and emotions. As long as human beings do have emotions and feelings, literature will be created and literature will be read. It gives a way to one's thought, modifies and brings new dimensions. It relaxes you when you are tense' enlightens your dark mind and lightens your heavy heart. â€Å"Roselilyâ₠¬  by Alice Walker, is one of the literatures that I really liked. In the short story Roselily, Alice Walker tells two stories in one.The most obvious story is the one about the Black American woman Roselily, who stands before the alter, just about to marry a muslim, while she thinks about her past, wonders about the future and is questioning whether she is making the right choice. The other, hidden story is the story about Black American women in general, their history and their ongoing search for something better. The way I understand the short story, Roselily`s story is, as it is presented to the reader through Roselily’s thoughts as she is in the middle of her wedding, a reflection of Black Americans` and women in particular situation around the 1960s.At this time, Blacks are free Americans with the equal rights as other Americans, in theory. Roselily is an independent woman of her time, but being a single mother of four children, working long hours for most likely lousy wages in a sewing plant, she is far from free. The Blacks are no longer slaves in the cotton fields, they are now paid slaves in the refinement industry. Roselily is most aware of her situation, and she is willing to leave her past and start a new life with a new man. She has probably been searching for a better life for quite some time, by being with different men, who all could give her a child, but not a new life.I am sensing an urge in Roselily, to move on, symbolized by all the cars described in the short story: They are constantly moving from one place to another, they give you mobility, prevent you from being stuck somewhere you do not want to be. Roselily knows that she does not want to stay in the sewing plant, she knows that she wants to move on to something better, but she does not know what better is, and she certainly doubts if what she has chosen will be better than what she had. Her divided personality is like the different groups of Blacks in the civil rights moveme nts.Some Blacks wanted segregation, some wanted their own nation, some wanted to be more African, some wanted to live like the White Americans, some were Muslims and some were Christians. They all agreed that their current situation was not acceptable, but they did not know how to improve it. At the same time as Roselily wants to start a new life, she is afraid of losing her roots. She pictures her children  «exalted on a pedestal, a stalk that has no roots », and  «She wonders how to make new roots ».Alice Walker here describes Black Americans and probably also her own search for identity. Which heritage is the right one; the one from their Black American ancestors, or the one from the African ancestors? As Roselily is about to marry, about to go to Chicago and start a new life with her husband, she is starting to regret her decision and faces the truth: Just like Black Americans went from the slavery in the cotton fields to paid slavery in the sewing plants, she is now mov ing to the slavery of Islam. She thinks of his religion and sees ropes, chains, handcuffs.She thinks of Chicago, her new home, and realizes that all she knows about the place is Lincoln, the president. President Lincoln abolished the slavery, but that did not free the Black Americans. Alice Walker shows feminism in this literature. Most of her works depicts racism, sexism, feminism, troubled relationships, and isolation. Alice Walker was the eighth child of sharecroppers. Despite the economic hardships of her family, she was remarkably dedicated to her education and graduated with degrees from both Sarah Lawrence and Spelman College.While attending school, Walker became frustrated with the lack of literature on the culture and history of the black experience, so she challenged educational institutions to create a representative curriculum. In the 1960s, she became involved in the civil rights movement. Her experiences became the basis for her excellent novel Meridian. Her best-known work, however, is The Color Purple. Critics and audiences alike have praised its richly drawn female characters and seemingly effortless use of black vernacular. Although she has written six novels, Walker remains very active politically, championing women’s issues and women’s work.

E-Commerce and E-Business Fundamentals (Business Report on WH SMITHS) Essay

E-Commerce and E-Business Fundamentals (Business Report on WH SMITHS) - Essay Example In addition, the corporations that cater to the requirements of media are more probable to obtain regular coverage as well as minimize the potential for errors in published stories. Moreover, the online press rooms are working as hubs for organizations, presetting the product information, latest news and visual elements to facilitate them better recognize products and services. In the scenario to enhance the online business corporations are now trying redevelop their business strategies. This report presents a detailed analysis of WH Smiths web based business re-development process and expected potential enhancements. Additionally, this report will offer a new and much better online strategy regarding the potential enhancement in the customary online business practice of the WH Smiths. This report will also present suggestions that can enhance the WH Smiths business and offer better competitive edge to the business. Business industry is by no means an exception to internet mania in view of the fact that, with the passage of time, the online business is turning out to be an exhortation. The online business means that people can buy and pay from home and even while sitting in their bedroom via an internet equipped PC or laptop. The universal wave of information technologies (ITs) development and implementation has turned out to be a driving force in approximately every part of human job. In this scenario, the internet that is a main element of this global wave has been transformed into a double-edged weapon offering a lot of opportunities, facilities, tools, and capabilities to individuals and corporations (Salifu, 2008). Liam (2009) stated that growing amount of people who make use of the internet is showing to be a boon intended for businesses that are interested in expanding their reach to the online community. Additionally, the huge number of internet clients shows a huge potential customer b ase that is there

Positive Impacts of Free Trade on Economic Development Essay

Positive Impacts of Free Trade on Economic Development - Essay Example Free trade is particularly vital in aligning a country’s economy with the global partners. It is worth noting that countries which had initially centralized their economy lost many years of enormous benefits due to their politically driven isolation from the market economies. Today, they have aspired to tap into the benefits of joining the trading global system. However, active involvements in international trade present potential or associated risks. This is caused by active participation in global markets that are characterized by stiff competition. For instance, a country risks shutting down upcoming industries - those that are less competitive or adaptable - owing to the stiff competition presented by free trade. This is the greatest risk of free trade and has to be looked into carefully before opening up borders for free commerce (Sen., 2004). In addition to this, free trade encourages overdependence on foreign suppliers. This is unacceptable especially when dealing with sensitive supplies or those that play a crucial role in the country’s economy. A good example is supply of food commodities where many nations prefer stabilizing their food security supply so as to avoid crisis in the event of uncertainties such as war or shortage in the supplying nation. Although many countries have opted to have free trade, economists from developing countries argue that newly developed industries ought to be protected until a stage that they are less vulnerable to global competition. Therefore, some governments do so by opting to reduce the amount of imports or prohibit imports at all through trade barriers such as quotas. Additionally, imposing tariffs on imports makes it expensive hence imported...This paper offers a thorough review of numerous contributions of free trade to the economic development of countries. As it is shown in the essay, free trade contributes positively to economic growth and should be encouraged by all nations. In the last few decades trade has undergone transformation from the ancient traditional trading with goods for goods to modern exchange of goods and services for cash. Free trade can be defined as the cross boundary exchange of goods and services without government restrictions, taxes and tariffs. Every nation can find its own place in international labor division. Therefore, every country need to identify their path of supply based on her viable advantages, intensify it and make it the heart of their economic survival and progress. It is important to note that the cost and benefits of global trade is dependent on the magnitude of a nation’s domestic consumption. It is also dependent on the amount of natural resources at its disposal and the ease to tap such resources. The advantages free trade brings are, as follows. First, free trade encourages the theory of comparative advantage through specialization in goods that can be produced more efficiently. Secondly, reducing tariff barriers encourages development of trade. Thirdly, free trade encourages increased exports which are beneficial for domestic producers. Fourthly, free trade gives countries an opportunity to benefit from economies of scale. Finally, international trade enhances increased completion among nations.

The Success of Napoleon's Strategy throughout His Conquest Essay

The Success of Napoleon's Strategy throughout His Conquest - Essay Example A study into Napoleon’s military influence on Europe should first describe a brief background on the his rise before focusing on the military strategy he deployed in battle, utilizing the various battles he won to demonstrate the success of the strategy. Napoleon grew up in pre-revolution France and attended a military academy before being selected to study the scientific and mathematical aspects of warfare.3 When the French revolution removed the autocratic leadership creating a room for other individuals to take up positions, a scenario a situation developed with Napoleon becoming the beneficiary. He rose up the ranks due to military adeptness in squashing the counter revolutions that characterized early post-revolution France, and was later appointed an operational planner for the army in Italy.4 His military brilliance in Italy saw him take senior leadership in the military and lead an army to Egypt before returning to his homeland and organizing a successful coup d`etat a nd transforming France into a form of a military dictatorship. He however made civil law standard through the Napoleon Code which ensured the revolution’s objectives were not lost especially in terms of freedom and religion. Napoleon’s Military Strategy Napoleon devised a highly effective approach to war that had no rival at that time hence leading to numerous victories against his enemies and driving his conquest. Of particular note is the fact that Napoleon was more of a practical General rather than an innovator, utilizing approaches by former Generals after adapting them to his cause. He adopted the aspects that worked and ignored the useless. His strategy was based on military agility, speed and surprise attacks hence he configured his army in a manner that could carry this out.5 The Napoleonic army was organized into basic units or corps;6 self-sustaining and semi-independent units that could be deployed effectively even against large armies and hold their ground until the other units reinforced them or attacked the enemy from a different side. Napoleon recognized the soldier as the most important function in the overall organization and hence undertook to boost morale across his forces.7 As a result, he had a close personal relationship with his subordinates and was a charismatic figure that created bravery and boosted fighting spirits amongst his men. This can be evidenced by the several proclamations he made to his army such as †¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"You have won battles without cannon, crossed rivers without bridges, made forced marches without shoes and camped without brandy and often without bread. Soldiers of liberty, only republican phalanxes could have endured what you have endured. Soldiers, you have our thanks! The grateful Patrie will owe its prosperity to you. The two armies which but recently attacked you with audacity are fleeing before you in terror; the wicked men who laughed at your misery and rejoiced at the thought of the triumph s of your enemies are confounded and trembling...†8 With an army boasting of such high levels of morale, Napoleon could then implement his strategy that was developed after taking into consideration each specific battle

Bhopal Union Carbide Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Bhopal Union Carbide Case Study - Essay Example With an incidental accident occurring in the year 1984, in Union Carbide Chemical Factory, in Bhopal in India, a lethal chemical gas was released in the air killing and injuring thousands of people who were living in the region. While several individuals were killed, thousands of others suffered from severe health illnesses even till death. The company was held responsible for the incident considering their lack of sincerity and effectiveness in maintenance of the equipments and units that caused the leakage on one hand and on the other hand could not prevent the spread of the chemical as well. Although the US Union Carbide Company had its holdings in the Indian Company; yet it was the Indian company and its members who were accountable for the incident (Bhopal-Union Carbide Case Study). The present study focuses on studying and analyzing the case and discuss on the ethical issues associated with the incident, and also issues such as liability of the members, the effect on the workfo rce, the effect on the management, and ways to reduce negativity. Analysis of the Case: As could be obtained from this particular case, the Indian Union Carbide Company can be said to have neglected severe issues in relation to the maintenance of its units and equipments which was significantly necessary as the factory was dealing with harmful chemicals. The management of the company should have been careful to understand that the slightest of the leakages or malfunctioning of the units or equipments could lead to such massacre. Particularly, when individuals were working within the factory, and also there were people living in the surroundings, the company should not have neglected even any minor issue in regard to handling of the chemicals and their leakages. It could be obtained from the case study that the company had been performing well initially and opportunities of jobs were also increased for the Indians at a time when the welfare of India could not be considered as healthy . However, gradually negligence occurred in the activities of the company and few years before the incident even the US inspectors detected faults and warned them of areas that needed repairing and monitoring. But, the Indian company did not take such warnings seriously and the result was the accident. It is clear from the case that if the company had been careful in its handling of chemicals, and in maintaining their units and equipments, then the incident would not have occurred in the first place. Even if it occurred, the company could have prevented the spread of the chemical in the air, but no equipments worked at that time. Hence the Indian company was to be blamed and was blamed, an incident that has left several lives into suffering till the present day. Ethical Issues Raised by the Case: The most essential ethical issue that could be observed from the case study is in regard to the responsibility of the company to provide for protection of the human lives. The company effec tively failed to protect the lives of its employees. Not only that, the company also proved to be inefficient in protecting its environment as the incident killed hundreds and injured thousands of people residing in the surroundings, affecting the entire area. Ethical issue arises as such an incident clearly reflects that the company had not been sincere in following and maintaining the safety procedures that it needed to. The focus of the company was only on increased production of pesticides and hence gained profits. Thus profits were given more value by the company than the protection and safety of human lives. The company did not care to ensure the fundamental standards of safety in the factory. Moreover, although the company was under the holding of its American company, yet the standards set by the American firm were not followed by the Indian company. Ethical issues can also be raised to be in the way the factory was built in a surrounding where so many people resided. The

Internal and External Threats Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Internal and External Threats - Essay Example The health information technology has been implemented in major health organizations in the country. Cedar Sinai which is one of the major health providers in the country did not have a very successful outcome from the implementation of this program. Health information technology has its benefits but it is a subject of concern for the health care executives. The healthcare executive should be concerned with the potential threats that may exist within the health organization. The proper implementation of the health care program is a task that needs to be undertaken with utmost care. It requires proper supervision and implementation of the program in a health organization effectively so that it is brought into use and improves the working of the hospital rather than delaying the normal work of the physicians. This is because it is believed by some physicians that clinical records on the computer can serve to take longer hours than otherwise. Errors in handling the information technolog ical systems can result in blunders with regard to patient health care and hence the health executive needs to be aware of such threats as well. Hence, extensive training and investment is very important with regards to the implementation of such programs. External threats also need to be considered with regard to this implementation. Electronic Health Record is an essential component of the maintenance of the records of the patient electronically. There are differing ways which can be used to keep these records which include buying the software for the organization’s computers or another option is ASP which uses a different server which holds the electronic health record of the patient and the software is present on that server. ASP is a more widely used option and it needs to be understood by the healthcare executive that information via this method is shared on a remote server which may be viewed by

What Is An Historical Fact Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

What Is An Historical Fact - Essay Example A prolonged conflict may, at times, culminate or involve historical facts. According to Carr, historians of times to come do not expect production of decisive history (7). This is because they possess expectations that their history will experience archaism after every undefined period. The notions that past knowledge originate from human thoughts make them conclude that knowledge is devoid of elemental aspects as would be in elements as atoms with nothing to transform (Carr 7). Further investigations suggest scholars to involve their self in skepticism depicting historical judgments of lacking succinct truths. The reliance emanate from the notions that judgments as found in history, entail the ideas of humans (Carr 8). Controversy arises where the pundits in opposition leave space for questions. Some historians would brand some works emanating from the recent past as outdated because they have no idea if the work is updated (Carr 9). The issue of inquiry in historical facts and the need to unravel the succinctness of information brings out the nature of history. Regarding on how to answer such queries, every historian will rely on current issues to an extent of including the ideas of the communities they dwell (Carr 9). Various historians suggest 19th century era as successful period entailing various issues of history transformed into facts of history. Historians emanating from France and Britain were optimistic and wanted to expose to the people their suggestions plus evident indicating history as science (Carr 10). They thought of a unique approach such as ascertaining factual issues and drawing assumptions from them. The notions of history are evident, mainly, in Britain where they conform to the tradition of empiricism whose dominance is viewable from philosophical notions of philosophers in the region. Empiricism dominance is evident in differentiating the subjects plus objects. Various facts of history originate from the observer, and are self-sufficien t (Davidson & Mark 9). Empiricism would define a historic fact as one possessing a datum of experience, and having dissimilarities from conclusions. Historian’s view facts availed to them from materials such as documents. Carr equates them to â€Å"fish on the fish mongers chunk† in order to draw the meaning of historical facts to concerned individuals (Carr 8). It is the accountability of the historian to filter and transform facts to anything that is pleasant to him. Interpretation of facts requires sound approach including freedom when choosing opinion and how to portray those facts (Carr 8). Carr uses an example of Caesar making it across Rubicon, and the presence of an object in a room to represent facts that are comparable (Carr 11). The facts hold similar aims as seen by a knowing person. However, this culminates to a thought development that facts, though there may be evidence of their occurrence, cannot attain the status of being regarded as historical facts, unless the historian himself decides to separate them from other events of the past (Carr 9). In order to define a historical fact, one has to consider the common facts which form the basis of the entire history. Some historical facts should remain no matter the direction that a historian decides to embrace to ensure that certain facts are rigid (Davidson & Mark 9). In order to give attracting implications of historical facts, Carr uses examples to convey his message. Facts like â€Å"battle of Hastings occurring in 1066† should remain because they indicate the time plus the place the event occurred (Carr 10). Accuracy is an aspect that every historian builds and portrays in his work. To enhance accuracy in history, the historian incorporates science in his work by embracing archaeology,

Mobile Phone Survey EXCel Coursework Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mobile Phone Survey EXCel Report - Coursework Example Methods In order to gain some idea of the phone usage a sample of students was asked to complete a questionnaire (Appendix 1). The questionnaire included questions on the service providers used, the level of satisfaction with these providers, the type of payment method used and the amount spent on phones. A sample of students was chosen by selecting those students taking a particular first year module. In total 230 questionnaires were distributed by email and 150 were returned. Results and appropriate analysis of the survey are discussed below. Results and Discussion The paper wanted to know the distribution of students in terms of the mobile service provider that they use. Figure 1 shows that majority of students use OM service (24%), followed closely by Yellow service (22%), Modafone service (21%), and W-mobile service (18%). Very few students use AT mobile service (7%), and Verity service (5%). In addition, 3% of the students use other service providers. Figure 1. Percentage distr ibution of students using each mobile service provider. ... Around 13% of the respondents were not inclined to rate their service provider as either Good or Poor. The amount spent by students on the use of their mobile phones was also of interest to this investigation. Computations indicate that students spend an average of ?27.46 (SD = ?6.44) on the use of their mobile phones. Moreover, upper 25% of the students spend ?25, upper half of the students spend ?28, and upper 75% of students spend ?30. This actually tells us that 25% of the student population spend more than ?30 on their mobile phone services. In addition, the coefficient of variance was found to be 23.4%, which indicates moderate variability of the data. This means that there is quite a moderate chance that there were differences in the way each respondent was requested for data. When the respondents were grouped by gender, it was found that males (n = 81, Mean = ?27.25, SD = ?6.17) spent almost the same amount on mobile phone services as females did (n = 69, Mean = ?27.71, SD = ?6.77). The length of time that the students have owned their current mobile phone is also an important consideration because it will provide insights as to how frequent they changed their mobiles. Figure 2 clearly indicates that majority of the students have owned their current mobile phone for less than six months, indicating that they have most likely disposed of their â€Å"old† phone only a few months ago and went on ahead to acquire a new one. in fact, very few students have had their mobile phone for at least two years, indicating the fast turnover of mobile phones with the student population. Figure 2. Frequency distribution of students by length of time owning a mobile phone.

The Great Depression of the 1930's Research Paper

The Great Depression of the 1930's - Research Paper Example The depression not only resulted in loss of jobs, but also resulted in psychological crisis which was attributed to loss of income and property, and the resultant sense of gloom which was endured by the country during those tragic years. Such events put the government and the Federal Reserve under great pressure to safeguard the rapidly deteriorating economy from worsening further and eliminate the social and commercial crisis faced by its people (Campbell, 2008). The exact reasons which led to the great depression are highly complicated in nature, and have been the subject of various debates among historians. Initially during the beginning of 1920s, the nation’s economy was relatively strong and consumer-oriented, with a booming automobile and consumer goods industry which produced products in large numbers to cater to the wide market. This could be substantiated with the presence of large companies such as General Motors and General Electric, which were not only successful i n the consumer goods market but also a major source of investments in the New York Stock Exchange along with other financial markets. The stock markets and financial institutions prospered greatly during those years, which led to a huge investment in those sectors, leading to an unprecedented rise in stock prices. The government concern increased, with the increase in stock prices, and the Federal Reserve along with the government began to introduce and develop policy measures to control the rising stock prices. Such measures taken by the government and the Federal Reserve paved way for the impending crash of the stock market, which began during October 1929. Although historians so far, have failed to pinpoint one single event which led to the collapse of the stock markets, and the resultant economic downturn that followed, resulting in billions of dollars worth of loss, large scale unemployment, failure of banks, and years of economic and social unrest. Timeline history of the peri od Year Events 1929 Feb 2 Federal Reserve Bank bans bank loans for margin trades June 15 - August Agricultural Marketing Act passed, Economic expansion peaks Sept, 3 Stock prices peak Oct 24, Oct 29 Black Thursday, sales of stocks was recorded at an all time high of 12,895,000, and 16,410,000 respectively resulting in a record forty points drop in the New York Times index Nov 13 Stock prices record a new low 1930 October Unemployment rises, Committee for unemployment relief formed Dec 2 Government funds a $150 million public works program. By the end of 1930, nearly 1350 banks suspend their operations 1931 Official report suggests that nearly 4-5 million people were unemployed Oct 16 New York Federal Bank increases its discount rate from 1.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent Oct 23 New York Federal Bank once again increases its discount rate from 2.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent Dec 11 New York Bank collapses. By the end of the year nearly 2293 banks shut down Lack of economic safeguards During the depression there was large scale unemployment, various banking and other financial institutions failed and had to shut down, and there was a sharp decline in the GNP leading to disastrous outcomes. Such widespread and negative repercussions were mainly as a result of lack

Value Chain Essay Example for Free

Value Chain Essay Value chain management has become more and more important in industry in past decades. This report provides an insight view of value chain in automotive industry and then examine leadership role of engineer in value chain management. Furthermore, the report will analyse why engineer is so important in management of value chain. Analysis of value chain Automotive industry plays an important pillar role in the economic development of all countries. This is because the development of automotive industry will definitely drive development of new technology, development of relative industry sectors and increasing revenue of the country. In this day and age, value chain management is becoming more and more important in automotive industry to improve their competitiveness. As value chain management is crucial part of automotive industry, how to improve the efficiancy of value chain is the key target. The value chain is aim to deliver valuable products to customer, therefore, the components involved in value chain need to integrate with others effectively to achieve high value products with less cost. One of the components is supply chain, the supply chain in motor vehicle industry is not only the process which tramsform raw materials, parts into a finished vehicle, it also include financing, product developing, transporting, distributing to customer. Thus, many small firms may involved in the supply chain to produce a product. These organizations should cooperate closely and coordinate material, information effectively to speeding up flows in supply chain (Stadtler and Kilger, 2008). Thereby, improving competitveness of the firm. Demand chain is the other part of value chain. Demand chain in motor vehicle industry is a process which company can anticipate customer’s demand in the vehicle market. For instance, there is a research that shows a increasingly number of young people prefer SUV cars to sedan cars, as a result, almost every car manufactors introduce fangle SUV cars to attract customers buying their cars. Advertising can be seen everywhere in order to improve the demand of vehicle market. Consequently, the purpose of demand chain is to drive and sustain customer’s demand. Marketing and sales is a way to sustain customer’s demand (Bacheldor, 2003). However, product is the most important factor to satisfying customers’need. The product of the automotive industry is not produced by engineer without a plan, a marketing plan is necessary prior to launch a new product. The product strategy shoud be developed clearly and relisticly with the analysis of intended market, otherwise, the product may unattract to customer and the company may suffer a great of lost. Operations is all the business activities of the company, including making products and delivering to meet the goal of company. In order to run the business more effectively, managers will make a detailed operations strategy to attain their goal. A framework is setted to carry out functions of organization. Leadership Role of engineer in value chain management The concept of how to sustain the value chain has become a hot topic within managers. One of effective way is to apply supply chain management, which is define as combine supply chain, material and imformation for the purpose of satisfying customer’s need to create net value and improve competitiveness. According to Ayers (2001), he states that actions of supply chain management include planning, maintenance, responding to external changes and supply chain processes activities to fulfill consumer’s needs. First, in supply chain planning, engineers focus on the control of cost and satisfaction of customers’ demand, they play as a customer interface role to ensure value chain system are customer friendly and reduce cost. Secondly, it is obivous that engineers is a maintenance role in making sure all designed system meets the specified requirements. Thirdly, they also good at respond to risk, engineers are specialists in risk management, they asess risk and control risk to minimize the loss. Lastly, engineers play vital role in value chain, especially in fulfil constomer’s demand kown as requirements role, they design products based on the requirements of consumers, considering and making sure function of all system. Overall, engineers are significantly contribute to value creation, value mantainence and guarantee of efficiency and effectiveness, which are the characteristics of a leader (Hick et al. 1999). Benefits of using an engineer in value chain management Engineers are the core of value chain management, this is because they create and add value to the value chain. Firstly, engineers are creative, which greatly contributes to innovate and invent new products. They have professional skills to deal with complex problem and able to develop the products of what customer’s expect. Secondly, they have responsibilities in restricting cost, making plan and strategy and guiding the process of value chain (Simchi-Levi et al. 2008). They so focus on addding value to value chain that by taking these actions can greatly improve company’s competitiveness and increase profitability of company. Lastly, engineers are required in mantaining the normal operation of value chain process and improving efficiency by coordinate participants. Conclusion his report analyzes the value chain in automotive industry and examines the leadership role in management of value chain. Engineers have the characteristic of value creation, value mantainence and guarantee of efficiency and effectiveness which determined them leadership role in value chain management. Benefits of using an engineer like possess of professional skills, guiding operation process and improving efficiency are very attractive to companies. Therefore, it is recommended that engineers used as managers in value chain management.

Volvo Group Of Companies and the challenges it faces

Volvo Group Of Companies and the challenges it faces 1 Introduction AB Volvo is the mother company of the Volvo Group of companies with its head office in Gothenburg, Sweden. The company was formed in 1924, with the first Volvo truck rolling off the production line in Sweden in 1928. The Volvo Group is one of the worlds leading suppliers of transport solutions for commercial use, also providing complete solutions for finance and servicing. This mission statement for the company is ‘By creating value for our customers we create value for our shareholders. We use our expertise to create transport-related hard and soft products of the superior quality, safety and environmental care for demanding customers in selected segments. We work with energy, passion and respect for the individual (AB Volvo Group Presentation 2011). Volvo as a group is tremendously proud of the core corporate values of, Safety, Quality and Environment and has retained and lived by these values from the start of the organisation. These three values are evident in every aspect of the business. The Volvo Group has now grown to become the second largest manufacturer globally of heavy trucks, and as illustrated in Figure 1.1 incorporates many different brands. As illustrated in Figure 1.2 , the Volvo Group is separated into business areas and business units. The business areas are responsible for generating revenues for the company and the business units are the recognised support units to support all business areas. Volvo Information Technology (Volvo IT) is the recognised support business unit for information technology strategy and systems support. Volvo IT does not confine their business to the Volvo Group, outsourcing their expertise to such organisations as the Ford motor company and the Stockholm Government. This ensures the Volvo IT is continually benchmarking the Volvo Group to other businesses in the open market to stay in the market forefront. Volvo Group works with external interest groups to continue to develop and drive progress in the transportation industry, especially on projects that align with the corporate values of quality, safety and environmental care. An example project requiring the key involvement of Volvo IT is the Alternative Fuels project. This project is examining a viable replacement of fossil fuels for commercial applications (Alternative Fuels 2011). In the Alternative Fuels project, the Volvo Group is working with customers, suppliers and governments to investigate workable fossil free fuels, with all business areas and units working towards making this possible. Volvo IT is involved to introduce software changes for engine management systems to ensure clean burning of these fuels. The solution is to utilise a centralised and shared IT infrastructure, platform and software application serving content to authorised users over the web. In this report we discuss the IT infrastructure issues and challenges for the Volvo Group and the business benefits and costs of a modern IT model called Cloud Computing. Recommendations are provided as to the adoption of Cloud Computing by the Volvo Group followed by concluding statements. 2 IT Infrastructure: issues and challenges 2.1 IT infrastructure challenges Two of the major components {Laudon, 2010 #159}of an IT infrastructure that must be coordinated by a firm include computer hardware platforms and enterprise software applications ( Laudon Laudon 2010, p. 203). These two essential components of an organisations IT infrastructure ecosystem ( Laudon Laudon 2010, p. 203) are concentrated on in this report as they exhibit the most risk to the Volvo Groups business, but they also provide the most opportunities for an information technology strategy to add business value to the Volvo Group. An information system is defined by Laudon Laudon ( 2010, p. 46) as ‘a set of interrelated components that collect (or retrieve), process, store, and distribute information to support decision making and control in an organisation. In modern organisations, most information systems are implemented via IT infrastructure that includes computer hardware platforms and enterprise software applications. These systems are ‘typically the backbone of an organisations information flow and the main vehicle for consolidating business information ( Bisbal et al. 1999, p. 103) and their failure can have a significant impact on the business. 2.2 Legacy information systems Information systems that have been in existence for a long time and continue to be resistant to modification and evolution due to a high replacement or redesign cost are called legacy information systems ( Brodie Stonebraker 1995, p. 103; Laudon Laudon 2010, p. 634). The evolution or appearance of legacy information systems in an organisation can also typically occur due to mergers and acquisitions ( Macknight 2005, p. 14). As described by Bisbal ( 1999, p. 103), legacy information systems can cause an organisation a number of problems: Running on old or obsolete hardware. Expensive software maintenance. Inflexibility in extending the systems. Difficult to integrate with other systems. Long failure or disaster recovery times. Old and obsolete hardware can be power hungry. Replacement can be expensive or sometimes impossible due to lack of skills or unavailable parts. Some organisations need to maintain spares holding and skills within their organisation to mitigate such risks. Similarly skills in software maintenance and fault-finding may be hard to out-source or outsourced service levels may not align with the needs of the business. The system may need to be flexible and able to integrate with other systems in order to respond to changing business requirements ( Bennett et al. 1999, p. 153) 2.3 The evolution of Volvos global information systems strategy Volvo Group has seen an increase in their legacy information systems mainly due to the impact of company acquisitions over the years. Many areas in the IT infrastructure ecosystem ( Laudon Laudon 2010, p. 203) required particular attention during acquisitions to ensure compliance through coordination of the many components of the ecosystem. Hardware platforms differed as did internet platforms. Data management and storage needed to be centralised. The need to change and centralise was evident. Throughout these acquisitions, the focus of the information management strategy of the Volvo Group has been to ensure key enterprise systems are incorporated into the acquired organisations. The ERP system based on SAP is an example one of the key enterprise systems common throughout the entire Volvo Group. In contrast, supply chain systems have remained as point solutions unique to each business area and physically deployed on a geographically separated basis. As specified by ( Ives Jarvenpaa 1991, p. 34), a ‘global information technology application contributes to achieving a firms global business strategy by using information technology platforms to store, transmit and manipulate data across cultural environments. With AB Volvo being a true global corporation experiencing ongoing growth through acquisition, challenges have presented themselves in most countries with legacy systems across the supply chain. Cultural diversity such as different languages utilised from regional area to regional area continue to discourage the upgrade of legacy supply chain systems. Also, the resultant point solutions all require local IT support. Evidently, having multiple point solutions poses many challenges for the Volvo Group, but it also causes misalignment with their core corporate values. For example, the Volvo Group core value of environmental care leads to goals to reduce energy usage in efforts to reduce the companys carbon footprint. With the multiple point solutions, and many of these being legacy systems, there would be a propensity for excessive energy usage due to the hardware platforms not complying with environmental requirements and other inefficiencies. There are better solutions available. Hospitals in the USA have started to use energy efficient, environmentally friendly hardware, as well as using cloud like technology for patient files access and program access ( Does Green Really Pay Off? Ideas from Hospitals That Say Yes!   2009). 3 Cloud Computing and its business benefits and costs 3.1 Cloud computing explained Cloud computing is referred to as a ‘model of computing by Laudon Laudon ( 2010, p. 196) ‘where firms and individuals obtain computing power and software applications over the Internet, rather than purchasing their own hardware and software. Typically ‘cloud computing infrastructure resides in a large data centre and is managed by a third party ( Jaeger et al. 2008, p. 270). Gilbert ( 2010, p. 1) states that ‘Cloud computing has been recognised as one of the most important developments in information technology in the past 60 years. Globally, organisations are implementing cloud computing solutions in order to reduce costs; be more responsive to market demands; to share information more readily and rapidly; ( Gilbert 2010, p. 1); to provide better customer service, and much more. Cloud computing has been enabled through technological drivers such as reducing communication costs, the internet and its growing speed, smaller footprints required for more processing power and data storage, advances in internet security, virtualisation and much more. Figure 3.1 describes further characteristics of the cloud environment. 3.2 Cloud computing service models Cloud computing services can be provided in three models ( Gilbert 2010, pp. 18-9) Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), Platform as a service (PaaS), and Software as a service (SaaS). These models are described in more detail in Figure 3.1. For organisations such as Volvo, the cloud computing service models tend towards the use of IaaS and SaaS. The staff of Network World ( 2007, p. 28) quote eBays Paul Strong as stating ‘companies must decide what is core to their business and what can be commoditised as a utility served up by a SaaS (software as a service) provider. Cloud service providers are able to consolidate computing resources enabling cost reductions derived from centralised management and economies of scale, passing on these cost savings to the user of the cloud service who can utilise the service without the initial capital outlay and maintenance of a dedicated infrastructure ( Jaeger et al. 2008, p. 270). 3.3 Cloud computing delivery models Cloud delivery models can be public, private, hybrid or community ( Gilbert 2010, p. 19). These are described in more detail in Figure 3.1. For organisations, cloud computing ‘presents many major problems of information policy, including issues of privacy, security, reliability, access and regulation ( Jaeger et al. 2008, pp. 269-70) with legislation lagging commercial interest in this computing model. In evaluating their potential utilisation of a cloud computing service, organisations would need to consider a range of issues. Two typical issues revolve around trust in the integrity of the service provider. Organisations would need to trust in the ability of a cloud service provider to ensure the security of their valuable private information. There must also be trust in the business continuity of the service provider, along with the ability of the service provider to maintain their quoted service levels ensuring the appropriate access and reliability of the service. Subsequently organisations are more likely to take up a private cloud delivery model for enterprise software applications and computer hardware platforms. For larger global organisations with multiple business units, such as Volvo, a hybrid model of a private cloud and community cloud delivery model would be more desirable. Such a model is illustrated in Figure 3.2 3.4 Cloud computing business benefits to Volvo The Volvo Group can benefit greatly from the use of cloud computing. With the group having its own business unit that handles and manages IT requirements, Volvo Group has an opportunity to reduce costs from infrastructure and hardware duplications, have competitive advantage via speed to market of new services for customers and reducing the costs of good sold into markets via supply chains. Other benefits to the group include much lower cost of entry and capital expenditure, low and transparent cost of ownership, and tax advantages ( OSullivan 2009, p. 21). The supply chain systems within the Volvo Group are characterised as legacy point solutions with regionally located and managed data centres housing multiple software applications and hardware platforms, each providing the same business function. These legacy supply chain information systems would appear to be prime candidates for replacement by a cloud computing solution. Indeed, supply chain systems are one of the types of systems that are quickly moving from their traditional platforms to the cloud computing model ( OSullivan 2009, p. 20). 4 Recommendation of cloud computing adoption/adaptation 4.1 Volvos five year strategy The five year strategy from the Volvo Group is to continue to reduce their environmental impact, produce quality products in all areas of their business and continue to create value to customers and shareholders. A key aspect of the Volvo Groups five year strategy is to continue to reduce the carbon output in all areas of the business (Volvo Truck Corporation Sweden 2011). Laudon Laudon ( 2010, p. 223) provide six factors that should be used to answer the question â€Å"How much should our firm spend on IT infrastructure?†. They are: 1. Market demand for Volvos services These are ever increasing with more services being provided to Volvo Truck Customers through the complete life of the vehicle. 2. Volvo Business Strategy The group will continue to develop services and vehicles that reduce CO2 footprint and lead to better ways of commercial transportation. 3. Volvo information technology strategy, infrastructure and cost A cloud computing model should be considered for the replacement of supply chain information systems and considered for further system replacements and introductions. 4. Information Technology assessment The adoption of a cloud computing model would not be considered to be lagging behind the technology curve, nor would adoption at this stage be considered early. A review of the risks associated with policy associated with the implementation of a cloud computing model should be undertaken before adopting the model. 5. Competitor firms services Many other European competitors are experimenting with cloud computing. 6. Competitor firms IT Infrastructure investments Mercedes Benz are also investing in future services for customers, showing a trend of high IT infrastructure investment for the global market (Daimler Trucks Germany 2011). 7. Investment can be sought into cloud computing on a business case basis, generating revenues for Volvo IT, and reducing costs for Volvo business areas on a user pays system. Investment in IT infrastructure will give a competitive advantage to the Volvo Group. Investment can be sought into cloud computing on a business case basis, generating revenues for Volvo IT, and reducing costs for Volvo business areas on a user pays system. 4.2 Plan to consolidate of legacy supply chain information systems For the replacement of legacy information systems, Volvo Group Australia has the option to upgrade the current local legacy systems and servers. This would result in high upfront and ongoing costs. Another option is to move to centralised systems hosted by Volvo IT with all storage, maintenance and upgrading performed centrally for considerably less cost. Supply chain system workflows typically extend beyond the internal organisation, typically to dealers (retailers). A cloud computing model can connect entire networks of suppliers and service providers providing efficiency and cost savings ( Ford 2010, pp. 57-8). It is recommended that the Volvo IT department adopt a cloud computing model for the replacement of legacy supply chain systems. This model should be based on a global policy taking into account the issues surrounding cloud computing and its characteristic lag behind appropriate legislation and legal precedence. It is expected that the most appropriate model will be a SaaS service model delivered via a hybrid of a Private and Community model with the cloud service provider being Volvo IT. The cloud community members in this model would be the Volvo Groups Business Areas. The recommendation would be to identify all legacy supply chain information systems across the Volvo Group as candidates for replacement by a SaaS solution under the hybrid model. A business case aligning with the Volvo Groups corporate values should be completed for the replacement of each system or groups of systems. A pilot implementation of a cloud computing solution should be utilised as a proof of concept before a larger roll-out. The recommended pilot implementation is the TruckShop SaaS. 4.3 TruckShop SaaS Pilot Volvo Group Australia has the requirement to upgrade an online catalogue purchasing supply chain information system called TruckShop that allows dealers (retailers) to purchase truck parts via suppliers of the Volvo Group. The TruckShop SaaS model would represent the characteristics of Cloud computing, namely on demand service, internet accessibility, pooled resources, elastic capacity and usage based billing ( Goodburn Hill 2010). The service developed for the TruckShop project will be able to be sold to other business areas in AB Volvo to provide similar solutions. TruckShop is currently running on a legacy system platform with local servers in Sydney. Maintenance and upgrade costs are on the increase, with limitations also being evident on performance and capability to meet current user requirements. Energy consumption costs were noted as increasing due to more servers being required to store data. Whilst the costs of hardware had reduced in the last 10 years, the Volvo Group Australia wanted to capture more data to analyse business trends, something evident in most industries globally ( Tallon 2010). The legacy systems also are prone to downtime, costing thousands of dollars in lost revenue while not being available to the dealer network. 4.4 Post TruckShop pilot Should the TruckShop pilot prove successful the system is recommended to be rolled out into other business areas. The continuing success of the TruckShop roll out is expected to result in high availability, high reliability, low entry cost and ongoing cost effectiveness for all users of the system. All new supply chain enterprise system projects, and indeed other candidate enterprise systems within the group would be recommended to proceed with this cloud computing service and delivery model to ensure overall cost reductions, efficiency gains, centralising and amortising maintenance, upgrades and improvements across all business areas. 5 Conclusions For cloud computing solutions, Volvo IT would generate their revenue by charging the Business Area departments based on the number of users. Users could apply for only the access to systems that they required. System updates and improvements would be performed centrally in Sweden, and users would not have to concern themselves with updates nor have to present their hardware to IT to update. The pilot of TruckShop should prove to the company what cloud computing can achieve. Many other business areas in the Volvo Group can benefit from adopting cloud computing practices. With technology being built into Volvo Trucks, and the focus on providing business partnerships more online services will be developed into the future.  

Russian Folk Dance: History and Relationship with Ballet

Russian Folk Dance: History and Relationship with Ballet Introduction 1.1 Background Information Russian people think that the Russian dance is a celebration of their lives. Russian folk dance and folk music discloses the feeling and an expression of spirituality. The visit to Russia is becoming an experience of this new land. Russia is known as an attractive destination due to the scary size along with an interesting history of Europe. It is considered as an ultimate tourist destination and the country is one third part of European countries with the diverse musical background. Russian dances are full of individual and huge performers (Chitranshi, 2009). Russian dances are the human activities which constitutes all properties about human. Thus Russian dance exists at this land along with their terminology, sayings, proverbs and conversations. In Russia, classical ballet is a ruler. There is no training for the modern dances and also there is no performance space along with some modern schools. Russian folk dance was common among the peasants, commoners and the lower class peopl e living outside the city (earlier than the rule of Peter). The higher class people did not dance but they were getting pleasure from the enjoyable performances of dancing trainers. The major differentiation among social classes within the culture of Russian dance took place as a historical event. That attack had broken the peoples way to live life and it also it changed the progress of Russian dances by stumbling its logical sequences. Russian classical ballet dance is very popular dance all around the world and it remained very popular since the nineteenth century (Chitranshi, 2009). 1.2 Aims and Objectives The researcher here aims to understand the concept of Russian folk dance and the reason for conversion of this into Russian Ballet dance. While the objective of this study is to analyse the concept of folk dance in Russia and various types of Russian dances which are famous in the country. 1.3 Research Questions In order to attain aims and objectives of the research, researcher has designed below stated research questions:- What are the various forms of folk dance in Russia? What is the history attached with Russian folk dance? How did Russian folk dance transformed to Ballet dance? How the dance, as source of entertainment had converted into professional dance? Who are the famous people linked to Russian folk and Ballet dance? 1.4 Russian ballet The actual ballet dance did not invent in Russia but the country has contributed very much for its development and currently Russian ballet has gained popularity all over the world. Various ballet dance performers along with the ballet companies have raised out of Russia and ballet theatres are attracting people in larger number. Ballet came into Russia during 1700s and in 1734, first ballet school was introduced (AlbrÑ–ght DanÑ–Ã Ã‚ µl 2004). After few years, an imperial school of St. Petersburg found first Ballet Company in Russia. It was first dominated by Italian and Russian dances as well as chorographers. In 1800s Russias Ballet dance incorporated some ideas from folk dancing. The higher class people did not increase and promote the art by supporting some companies. The French choreographer named as Marius Petipa and he was renowned for inventing ballet of Tchaikovsky. Russian ballet took place and observed in new era in the 20th century. It has been id entified in previous studies that Michel Fokine (choreographer), Vaslav Nijinksy (dancer), Sergey Diaghilev and Alexandre Benois (designer) set up the ballet company in Russia. At that point of time, superb dancer Anna Pavlova was taking the place. At present Russian ballet is known throughout the world and attracting lots of visitors. There is several ballet companies are operated in Russia such as Kremlin Ballet, Perm ballet and Imperial Russian ballet academy. The well known cities have established their own ballet orchestras and theatres and that are focused by number of supporters. The role of Russian ballet to the classical dances cannot be undervalued. It has been known from past many decades and considered as the indicator of the classical dance. It leads other type of dances. Young girls are becoming ballerinas and their dreams have been powered by the famous Russian dancers. Thus Russian ballet dance has captivated large number of audiences all around the globe. 1.5 Contribution of choreographers 1.5.1 Vaslav Nijinsky This choreographer is renowned as the male dancer of all times and he has also called the god of dance (Parker and Derek, 1988). After the long time of female dominance in the field of ballet, he overtook the ballet dancers of those times such as Pavlova, Karsavina and Kschà Ã‚ µssÑ–nska established superiority in the within the male dance stage in twentieth century. His career in the ballet dance field has ended from past ten years due to his mental disease. But legendary of Nijinsky will continue until the appearance of such type personality who will overtake the ballet generation. Pole became the hero of an imperial Maryinsky theatre just after completing his studies from St. Petersburg school at the age of 18 years. He was the inspiration for the ballets in the western side. Then Fokine invented ballets for Nijinsky and other people like Ravel, Debussy and Stravinsky prepared music for him (AlbrÑ–ght, DanÑ–Ã Ã‚ µl 2004). At the time of First World War, Nijinsky as a Russian citizen was interned in Hungry. Diaghilev got success in getting him out of the country for the purpose to visit North American tour in 1916 and then he choreographed his main part in Till Eulenspiegel. Indicators of dementia praecox became clear for the members of the company and then became sacred of other dancers (Anthony, 2002). The first ballet of Nijinsky named as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“LAprÃÆ' ¨s-mÑ–dÑ– dun Faunà Ã‚ µÃƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? has become a milestone within the history of ballet Russes of Diaghilev. That ballet was marked near to the period in which Fokine was the biggest dancer. Thus the dancer Nijinsky emerged as a choreographer and his thoughts stimulated the doubts raised by Diaghilev and it ran contradictory to the classical folk dances of Russia. The production of first ballet was totally based some choreographic scores and they were recorded by Nijinsky in his dance entry system. It remained for many years and he became unavailable due to his mental illness for reproducing the work. 1.5.2 Michel Fokine Michel Fokine got training from the Imperial school in St. Petersburg and then he joined Ballet Russes of Diaghilev in 1909. Then he went to United States in the year 1923 where he performed for the American Ballet theatre and Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Fokine considered some artificial as well as random traditions along with the methods and techniques for expressive and natural choreographic styles. This style is known as the recurrent topic in the field of ballet dance. His new ideas and thoughts led the success of the Diaghilev Company. He choreographed so many ballets and Chopiniana that led Balanchine for trying the ballets which became his brand name. The classical ballet dance or folk dance has become unlimited since the days of Fokine and the people thinks that his choreography is old fashioned. So his ballets remained unproductive and suffered from deformation. He was surprised and shocked that it would happen in his career (Michel Fokine, 2011). 1.5.3 Petipa along with the Russian Ballet Marius Petipa was the leading dancer and the choreographer along with the ballet of St. Petersburg in the year 1962. At that time he invented multi- acted ballet for the imperial theatre of Tsar. That ballet gave directions to other ballets and it was considered as classical ballet. In 1869, Petipa took the position of the master of ballet to the Tsars imperial theatre. Then he created so many single and multi act ballets for the presentation on the Russian stages. Then he created and developed Don Quixote type for the ballet in Moscow. He choreographed large number of dances along with numerous types of ballets. 1.6 Russian Ballet Pushkin The present days consider importance of Russian ballet at quite a notable rate. Bolshoi and Maryinsky are among the most renowned companies and training schools for teaching of ballet. These are well known all across the world for their remarkable practices. It is appreciable to note that the tradition of Russia is into existence even in present era. The firmness among dancers and choreographers along with the support by audience has resulting in attainment of this position. However, the past of virile nature represents the main factor for survival of this dance. The ballet of Russia was imported from France though; it admiringly attained its own position in the culture and dance. The dancers and choreographers of Russia considered themselves as equivalent to that of Western countries. However, Alexander Pushkin was the main cause for writing style by Russia. The involvement of this man had resulted in portrayal of characters and story telling by utilizing themes of Russia that fits with the stage and survived for more than two centuries for Russian ballet. Western Europe was the main contributor to Russian ballet dance since the nineteenth century. However, the end of nineteenth century has resulted in formation of Russian ballet dance that differentiates itself from all over the world and become a leader in the arena. Didelot, the person well known as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Russian Ballets fatherà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Steinberg, 1980), in the year 1816 along with explored Pushkin also termed as talent at local level, Russia started making strides for development of its unique form of ballet dance. There was overlap between the Didelot and Pushkins era at St Petersburg for Imperial ballet. In comparison to the ballet dance of Western European countries, ballet dance of Russia lied far behind in the field of art. Talented Didelot along with Pushkin had resulted in foundation of unique dance of Russian ballet. In spite of the reason that these two individuals were not able to see the domination of Russian ballet, but they deserved appreciation for their efforts. The main characteristics for Russian ballet include as follows (Nickles Kalman, 2008):- There is an opposition existing between gender and nationality. Here nationality means the Western European and Russian region. Storys location for Russians Music composition of Russians Attitude against nation to reflect work of individuals. Unique dancing steps supported by choreography illustrating special characteristics for Russian dancing. On unfolding the ballet dance of Russia, the efforts by Pushkin in his development is influenced. The composition of music and theatrical efforts had been quite unique in Russia due to the talent of Pushkin. On combining these aspects, there raised development in new arenas. The effect of Pushkin to develop Russian opera finally resulted in improvement of Russian ballet. The ballet is usually dependent on music for most of the countries. However, as per Slominsky (1947) stated that there exists strong relationship between these characteristics. The experiments by Pushkin along with the fresh rhythm had resulted in creation of challenging situation among composers. As per Gerald Abraham, the Russians in this century enjoyed favourable time due to better lyrics in spite of pseudo classicism related to Derzhavin that are related to love poems resulting in new song in Russian for Pushkin (Abraham, 1985). However, this was inspiring to note for the dancers and choreographers. The influence by Pushkin allowed in recognizing ballet of Russian for recognition of unique genera and not the import of talent belonging to different countries. The influence of Pushkin had helped in influencing the Russian ballet dance to be recognized all over the world with own image. The influence of Pushkin and Didelot had resulted in enhancing history of Russia to provide a strong background for artistic power. The involvement of Soviet along with arts had resulted in better improved arts. The companies created in Russia, by imperial decree had gained favour from government to result in better learning experience. This had resulted in giving an opportunity along with the challenge. The support by two companies had further resulted in higher value of material found and helps in improvement of opportunities for research, but shall be well defined to ensure that there is no conflicting situation. Chapter 2- Literature Review 2.1 Soviet Union and Folk Dance The Soviet Union concerns for the study of folk dance as an important arena in addition to drama art and music. However, there was lack of recording that would have helped the dancers to develop their skills (Blacking Kealiinohomoku, 1979). Prior to the revolution, there was no focus laid on folk dance. An individual needs to be aware of choreography, philology in addition to musical folklore (Blacking Kealiinohomoku, 1979). Lack of recording system resulted in not availability of recording for choreography. The history of folk dancing in Soviet has been into existence from the 1920s to 1930s (Blacking Kealiinohomoku, 1979). The composers from Ukraine had been involved in this arena and the country was among those who started this concept of folk dance earliest among Soviet Union. The efforts by cultural groups have resulted in good collection of wide range of roles from all across (Bukland, 2007). After the formulation of Russia, the country was left with two choices: outward choice to follow western tradition, and inward trend to follow their culture and tradition (Schultz, 2000). That had raised the urge to have a thorough plan in such a manner that there exists a good balance between the two. The ballet present at St. Petersburg had been considered as Bolshoi too. The development of Maryinsky theatre at St. Petersburg in 1860s followed by the imperial ballet that performed at new theatre in the year 1889, and the company was named as Maryinsky Ballet Company. Thereafter, the name of ballet at St. Petersburg was changed due to the assassination by Sergei Kirov in the year 1934. Thereafter, Soviet Politburo was favoured for replacement of Josef Stalin. There was the opposition for Kirov, by left opposition party (Treadgold, 1995). Renamed ballet institutions had been compounded due to imperial city for Soviets. The ideology from patrons had acted against Russian ballet, and that raised the concept of training of dancers for demonstrating the Bolshoi Theatre and Maryinsky. The seats were restricted for higher official authorities. The subject however had to face censorship resulting in ballet dance as being quite conservative (Dees, 2004). That acted against the introduction of this form of dance as a professional business. Individuals willing to carry on the operation for their profession had to face this as the major barrier against growth of industry and individuals attached with it. However, there still persisted the importance for all the ballet training centres. Moscow Company was among the famous training centres for the name of step child in the end of 19th century. Talented pool of people gathered at Petersburg however due focus was laid on Maryinsky Theatre. This was the main cause of Petersburg Company leading quite ahead of Bolshoi Company and resulted in its brand value in European context (Bailey Ivanova, 1999). Regulating institutions too became an uneven situation. The Bolshoi Ballet was not as tough to be carried on as compared to Maryinsky Ballet. Therefore, the latter had to make available all the resources along with the support provided by imperial court. Therefore, Bolshoi court enjoyed freedom of art. That was too tough to find out when the ballet dance in Russian context came to be known all around the world. The native dancers had to be well renowned at that instance to bring awareness among the genera. The dancer named as Theophile Gautier at St. Petersburg, belonging to Imperial school had stated that the institution of dance results into remarkable group of soloists, incepting the corps for ballet which was same as for movement speed, precision, and unity. That was the moment of joy for the group to disband the right moment for reforming in quite a unique manner. The movement of those feet in perfect manner with proper match among the group, without any confusing stage were the causes of this success. The laughter and chattering were never there. The pantomime for dumb with no action, had the frame as per Lifar (1954), and his studies. That was the unique form of Russian ballet dance for executing during the mid of 19th century. Additionally, the starting of 1844 was the time when ballet dancers of Russia got trained at their place to start formation in West Europe for applauds. Though the dancers were applauded both at national and international level, non Russian choreographers belonging to different locations had formed the dancing groups. Number of dance historians at those times stated that the ballets of Russia are not too different than those of French ballets for the Northern wind (Lifar, 1954). Additionally, the researcher had pointed that the dancers of Russia get training and learning from outside sources. The choreography training in Russia too was not of good standard. Therefore, the training and development was though noted in the country for Russian folk dance followed by the ballet dance, there still lacks the trainers. In case there would have been good number of trainers in the country, there can be improvement in ballet dancers of Russia. The Russian dancers were one or the other way linked to non native place (Lifar, 1954). The learning from those locations results into convergence among Russians including Pushkin, various choreographers and composers for establishment of Russian ballet. There raises the importance to make an effort to improve the chronological sequence for ballets in Russia. There need to be a strong link between the choreographer, composer and writer. For this purpose, ballet dancers had to be compared with that of western counterparts to compare and contrast relationship between the two. Charles Didelot was among the most famous choreographers in his times and was in link with Pushkin. However, previous ballet dancers too had worked to explore the poems of Pushkin to develop ballet dance. 2.2 Isadora Duncan dance: the revolution of an artist in Russia Isadora Duncan dance is known as revolutionary person of modern type of dances who made the first Russian show or presentation in the year 1905 in St. Petersburg at the Marinsky theatre. That was the time making event that had changed the grand Russian ballet tradition. Serge Diaghileff was the founder of the ballet Russe and he told about Isadora that she have given the permanent shock to classical Russian ballet dance and she had pointed the ways which were followed by them (Netti et al., 1991). Then Isadora returned to Russia for six times in her life time and found inspiration of the Russian workers. It has been revealed in the researches that after several years, the people will make the professional as well as personal journey in the country to bring the gift of American Duncan dance to the Russian people or dancers and also they will find that what would be remained within the art of Isadora in modern St. Petersburg. CEC international partners which is a Russian company and it sponsors for an artistic exchange between Eastern and Central Europe. Isadora established a training school in Moscow by getting invitation from the commissioner of people who made efforts for brining art in front of the people. An ideology of Soviet anti-capitalistic requested to disappointment of Duncan with the millionaires in America who failed to fund the schools in Germany, France and Greece (Lomax, 1959). There was little stability within the training for current dancers outside the world of ballet of the Bolshoi and Kirov. From past so many decades, after the communism, an imitation of modern dance has been seen. It was the work of Martha and Graham and her European contemporaries along with the training in Jazz. The dance of Isadora Duncan has brought together another dancers named as Michelle Vazquez Kickasola (Ivette Sotomayer and Cuban American) are elevated in Miami where the Cuban community acts as anti communist party. There were bothered about the choreography of red tunic dances to the red army songs and that may be disgusting for the people who have reformed themselves in the Russian countries in twenty first century (Hilton, Alison, 1995). It has been viewed that so many people have learned the dance as well music being as the main part for their history. Number of old people from independent states like Uzbekistan and Georgia has lamented the lives of people economically and politically under the communism. 2.3 Ballet dance of Ludwig Minkus Ludwig Minkus was one of the biggest musical composers in the mysteries. He was having powerful posts in the imperial ballet theatres in Russia in the nineteenth century. He was known as an antecedent of Tchaikovsky but he was delicate being as a musician. Despite the obscurity, Minkus can never be forgotten. In early 1990s, the imperfection by Natalia Makarova and Rudolf Nureyev, the name of Minkus began to go outside again. Then Richard prepared the ballet recordings that presented some dumpy passages from the Minkus work and thus it provided surprising and wonderful things. From past so many decades, the words came to know about the music of Minkus and it was the traditional part in Soviet Union. That was linked with the legendary of ballet master, named as Marius Petipa. These works such as La Bayadere and Don Quixote were the two choreographers who carried by some valid protection from eighteenth century to the present day (Corona, 1991). They were presented first time to the pe ople all over the world. To ignore the expression of regret, the ballet was proved as successful. That success was consolidated and now it has been carried out by many companies from the federation of Russia. Thus it has resulted into the transformation of old ballets to new type of ballet. The success of these ballets with other types of ballets has laid within the power of score for bringing the emotions of the people and dance of life. Thus Minkus neither published nor revised but played several arrangements that have become very popular in all over the world. It needs a new life for the people who had given up the hopes of their lives. The musical power and authority of ballet has become surprising for the people. These ballet stories has the real power and human demand in which the choreography attracts the esteem of Balletomanes, attracts music in its regularity, the beauty of the music keeps the attention of many people and it engages everyones heart. Don Quixote is a comedy and known as one of the most touching novels in the world and it is about the beauty among the ordinary things. La Bayadere is a tragedy that keeps an eye on the sorrows of people in case of love with full of passion, unfaithfulness, separation and death. It talks about the two things together shows a satisfying symmetry. The ability of the musician responds to the effectiveness of both the sides such as dark and light of the human being touches the main demand of the drama. The life of Minkus and the compositions of ballets and the works are poorly diagnosed and documented, thus the proper and right investigation is needed for them to explo re the historical and critical material. The studies provided the help of George Verdak of Indianapolis and it made the copes of this material from the collected ballet scores. It continued by his inheritor before her death. Some major contributions gave by a professor who made scores of La Bayadere. 2.4 Partnership with Marius Petipa The rich success of his work of Don Quixote have taken a part as a major step in the career of Minkus and his first appointment at the imperial Russian theatre in St. Petersburg in the year 1872 as the first court composer of ballet (Degh, Linda, 1965). The death of other choreographer named as Pugni led Minkus to take his place. He became responsible for musical devices as well as library in the Bolshoi theatre. Then he was told to compose music for ballet dance for the opera Mlada. It was commissioned by the director of imperial theatre. Then the projects was ended, Minkus revised prolonged his materials after some years for the development of ballet. That was followed by ballet one after another and Minkus appeared at the Maryinsky and Bolshoi theatre and it was all the choreography of Petipa. The researches have revealed that between the year1869 and 1886, Petipa generated only 4-8 ballets without composing any music by Minkus and that was the important partnership of these two a rtists. Chapter 3- Research Methodology 3.1 Introduction The chapter here explores research methodology used to complete this dissertation. Researcher explores the type of study undertaken at this instance and the approach used for analysing results. The researcher also explores the type of data used in the research and the approach used for the dissertation. The researcher has also explored aims and objectives of the research followed by research questions to achieve these. 3.2 Aims and Objectives The researcher here aims to understand the concept of Russian folk dance and the reason for conversion of this into Russian Ballet dance. While the objective of this study is to analyse the concept of folk dance in Russia and various types of Russian dances which are famous in the country. 3.3 Research questions In order to attain aims and objectives of the research, researcher has designed below stated research questions:- What are the various forms of folk dance in Russia? What is the history attached with Russian folk dance? How did Russian folk dance transformed to Ballet dance? How the dance, as source of entertainment had converted into professional dance? Who are the famous people linked to Russian folk and Ballet dance? 3.4 Paradigm for Research For this research, researcher has used interpretative approach for research. Therefore, the interpretations acted as the main source for data analysis. In addition to this, the descriptive nature of approach was used for research purpose. Researcher has made an effort to collect secondary data from various sources to have a clear thought process for the subject under study. The folk dance in Russia, right from its history to present times is analysed. Various famous personalities were also covered in the research to understand the philosophical approach in the country. Although it is preferred by researchers such as Richards Hall (2000) to collect both primary and secondary data while carrying on the research process, secondary data was chosen hereon by the researcher due to complexity attached with primary data collection approach. Collection of primary data would have added too much to the complexity of this project. First of all, researcher had a clear understanding of the research topic to understand all the concepts related with Russian folk dance. This helped in designing clear aims and objectives of the research. Thereafter, secondary data was analysed further to formulate the dissertation sections and integrate them well to ensure the logical flow of discussion. Then researcher had made an effort to attain the aims and objectives of research by answering research questions. This helped in final conclusion to demonstrate the findings. 3. 5 Research Strategy Used The researcher has made use of case study as research strategy by designing of complete research process. This helped in clearly defining research problems that relate with the subject under study. The use of case study helped in gaining solution for the research. This had helped in acting as main cause for decision making stage to attain the aims and objectives of research. Theories related to folk and ballet dance of Russia were discussed to have a sound understanding of the subject under study. Therefore, case study was taken as a favourable approach for determining the research and evaluating it thoroughly (Robert, 2003). This approach helps in analysing results based on the theoretical framework prepared for the research. Case study is used widely as per researchers such as Robert (2003) to analyse the outcomes due to high reliability and consistency associated with the concept. These help in exploratory study of the subject topic using numerous case studies for using the replication process to analyse based on the theory collected (Yin, 1994). The conceptual methods have been explored well through the use of case study method to analyse the results (Yin, 1994). Through case study method, theoretical background of folk dance in Russia would be created to know about the existence of this traditional approach, which had resulted in Ballet dance introduction and the conversion of dance into professional dance. Therefore, case study seems to be the reliable tool for getting results within short span of time. This would also help the researcher to get rid of any sort of biasness due to different beliefs. 3.6 Method to Collect Data For this research purpose, researcher has taken secondary data as the choice. Number of books, and magazines were referred along with journals and various internet sources. These would help in formulation of strong base to carry out research process. The results would be obtained thoroughly through this strategy to attain outcomes.

Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl Essay -- English

Harriet Jacobs' words in Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl clearly suggests that the life as a slave girl is harsh and unsatisfactory. In this Composition, Jacobs is born a slave, never to be freed. She struggles through life in many instances making life seem impossible. The author's purpose is to state to the people what happened during slavery times in the point of view of a slave. Her life is so harsh that she even hides from her master for 7 years in a cramped space in the top of a shed without any room to walk. The theme of the story is a statement on how slavery was a much harder way of life than many people may have thought. Many people during these times thought that slaves were happy where they were and that their lives were much easier in the southern states than in their ...

Women In Corporate America :: essays research papers

The once male dominated, corporate, "white collar" America has seen a phenomenal influx of women within the last thirty years. Although a female lawyer, physician, or CEO is no longer considered a rarity in our times, women still face quite a deal of oppression in comparison to their male counterparts. In retrospect, some professions have always been controlled by women, and men have not made a noticeable advance in these fields. In 1970, finding a female lawyer to represent you would be a difficult task, since less than five percent of the profession were women. Today, that number has risen to almost thirty percent. The percentage of female doctors has almost tripled in the course of thirty years. African Americans have not made such a conspicuous progression within the last fifty years, while women have made a tremendous impact on the corporate world. One may wonder, how did women make these extraordinary advances? For the most part, it is due to the education they receiv e. At the present time young girls are encouraged to enroll in classes dealing with math and science, rather than home economics and typing. As pointed out by Nanette Asimov, in her essay "Fewer Teen Girls Enrolling in Technology Classes", school officials are advocating the necessity of advanced placement, and honor classes for teenage girls, in both the arts and sciences. This support and reassurance than carries over onto college, and finds a permanent fixture in a woman’s life. While women are continuing their success in once exclusively male oriented professions, they are still lacking the respect and equality from their peers, coworkers, and society. The average male lawyer, and doctor make twenty-five percent more money than their female equivalent. Women have always lived with the reputation of being intellectually inferior to, and physically submissive to men. This medieval, ignorant notion is far fetched from the truth. In 1999, high school men and women p osted similar SAT scores, being separated by a only a few points. In addition to posting similar scores on the SAT, the average males score was a mere two-tenths of a point higher than an average females score on the ACT. Even though a woman maybe as qualified as a male for a certain occupation , women receive unwanted harassment, and are under strict scrutiny. A good illustration of this would be the women represented in "Two Women Cadets Leave the Citadel.

Macbeth :: essays research papers

"Macbeth Essay" In the play Macbeth we see many common themes that do emerge. One of which is the theme of ambition which will at the end eventually lead to the death of the main character. We see this in the eventual death of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. In this essay I hope to show the dominant theme of ambition and how it leads to the downfall of the main characters in the play. We first start to see Macbeth getting his ambition to become king in his quote when he says "if chance will have me king, why chance may crown me, without my stir"(I.iii.34-37). Here we see that Macbeth is growing impatient and eager to become the king. He just doesn’t want to sit back and wait for himself to be crowned and let destiny run it’s course, he wants to be part of it when it happens, and he wants to be king right now. And this is when it all turns downhill. He is starting to become very ambitious for the thrown. We will also soon see that he will stop at nothing short of killing the current king and he will even go so far as to kill one of his friends, and try to kill his son in order to try and become the new king. Next we see this theme again when Macbeth says "Me thought I heard a voice cry "Sleep no more, Macbeth does murder sleep," the innocent sleep"(II.ii.64-66). Here again we see Macbeth is starting to hear voices and he is starting to go a little crazy. Here is where things really start to head downhill, and they go down fast. Because of Macbeth’s ambition for king he has killed the current king. Now he thinks he is hearing voices that keep him from getting his sleep. And as we will later see, Macbeth will eventually die due to his over eager ambition to become the new king. The event of killing the king will set into play a whole chain of events that will soon show the downfall of Macbeth from his short lived thrown. On the other hand we can also see this ambition with Lady Macbeth. She also shows us the signs that she is getting over ambitious to become the new queen when she says "Thou wouldst be great; Art not without Ambition, but without, the illness should attend it"(I.

Religion in Ancient China and Egypt Essay

Religion has played a very important role in society and the history of mankind for over thousands of years. Originally created by ancient peoples as a way to explain the unknown, religion has greatly evolved and spread across the globe. As new religions have formed and spread, the diversity and similarities between these new religions have also increased, especially due to their geographic locations. Two civilizations in particular with both similar and distinct religions are ancient China, and ancient Egypt. Ancient Chinese religion and ancient Egyptian religion share many things in common with each other, yet at the same time they are also vastly from one another. Even though there are similarities between many of their gods, beliefs, ideas, and practices, the differences between the two religions helps clearly separate one from the other, and also helps identify their origins. In ancient Egypt, people were constantly faced against natural disasters, famines, droughts, and plenty of other natural phenomena. Without an explanation for all of these events, ancient Egyptians had to create an explanation of their own, and by doing so ended up creating their own religion. By creating a religion, these ancient Egyptians were able to provide explanations to each other for these natural phenomena by making them appear as if they were actions of the gods. In ancient Egypt, religion became a tool to help the Egyptians go about their daily lives without having to worry about disaster striking all the time. The Egyptians began to believe that if they honored the gods correctly everything would be fine and nothing would go badly for them. One key part of the ancient religion was called maat, which was the order of the universe created by the gods at the start of time. Maat was crucial to the daily life of the  Egyptians, and consisted of ideas about truth, justice, an d moderation. The Egyptians were polytheistic, and believed in hundreds of different gods. Of these gods some were lesser and not as important while others were more important and powerful. The king of the Egyptian gods was called Amen-Re. He was accredited for all military victories, and was one of the most powerful gods. Another very important god in ancient Egyptian religion was Aten the minor sun god. At one point Aten was decreed the only god in Egypt by the pharaoh Akenhaten and was to be the only god worshipped, however, after his death Egypt returned to worshipping all of its old gods. A few other gods that were important to Egyptian religion were Osiris; the god of fertility and the underworld, Isis; the goddess of funerals, Anubis; the god of embalming and burial, and Thoth; the god of wisdom and learning. Along with gods, another important part of ancient Egyptian religion was burial rituals. Burial rituals held a lot of significance to the ancient Egyptians because they believed that t heir buildings, prayers, and burial ceremonies were designed to reflect and keep the status of the dead person in their next life. Just like the people of ancient Egypt, the people of ancient China also used religion as a way to explain the unknown and natural phenomena that they encountered. People in the Shang Dynasty worshipped many different types of gods as well including weather gods, sky gods, and river gods, however the most powerful god was Shang-Ti. Shang-Ti was the supreme god who ruled over all of the other gods. Similar to Shang-Ti was T’ien, which translates to â€Å"Heaven†, who also ruled over the other gods, but T’ien also decided who would be the emperor or empress of China by giving them the Mandate of Heaven. The Mandate of Heaven was the right to rule granted to the emperor or empress from the gods, and it was believed that whenever an emperor or empress lost power it was because T’ien had revoked the Mandate of Heaven. While the people of ancient China worshipped many gods, another very important part of ancient Chinese religion was ancestor worship. The people who lived under the Shang Dynasty strongly believed that whenever their ancestors died, they became similar to gods, and deserved to be worshipped as if they too were gods. Each family in  the Shang Dynasty would not only worship the gods, but would also worship their own ancestors. Along with ancestor worship, during the late Shang Dynasty, people in ancient China also began to use written oracle bones to try to predict the future and also to communicate with the gods. Ancient China and ancient Egypt were both two sophisticated civilizations that created a religion as a way to explain the natural phenomena they encountered and the unknown. Although different in many ways, their religions do share many similarities with each other. One of these similarities is that both of the religions are polytheistic. In both Chinese and Egyptian religion, there are many different gods, and each god rules in their own domain. However, not only do both religions have more than one god in them, but also many of the gods from both religions are very similar to each other in the sense that they rule over the exact same thing. For example in ancient Chinese religion there is a sky god, just like the sky god in ancient Egyptian religion. Another similarity that both religions have in common with each other is that each religion has it’s own â€Å"high god† that rules above all of the other gods. For the Chinese it is Shang-Ti, the supreme god who rules above all of the others, and for the Egyptians the supreme god is Amen- Re. Along with similarities between their gods, both ancient Chinese and Egyptian religion also share a lot in common  amongst their burial rituals. In ancient China and ancient Egypt the people held a strong belief in an afterlife after death. Which is why in both ancient China and ancient Egypt, during the of burials of their leaders, pharaohs and emperors were buried with large amounts of treasures and other material items to help prepare them for their next lives. One more similarity between the two religions is that in both ancient China and in ancient Egypt the rulers were viewed as gods. In Egypt the pharaoh was viewed as being the direct descendent from the gods and was seen as a god himself. In ancient China the king of the Zhou dynasty was also viewed as the descendent of the spirit god, and was also seen as a godlike figure. While there are many similarities between the religions of ancient China  and ancient Egypt, there are also many differences between the two that clearly separate them from each other. One of the main differences between the two religions is the practice of ancestor worship. To the ancient Chinese ancestor worship played an extremely important and essential part in their religion. While the ancient Egyptians did have plenty of respect for their ancestors, ancestor worship did not occur amongst them on the scale that it did amongst the ancient Chinese. Along with ancestor worship, another difference that clearly separates the two religions is in their burial practices. While there are some similarities between their burial practices, there are also differences. One difference between the two burial practices is that the Egyptians preferred to preserve their dead because they believed the dead would need their bodies in the afterlife where as the Chinese tended to either bury or cremate their dead. On top of different burial practices, the ancient Egyptians also spent immense amounts of resources building elaborate pyramids to house their dead pharaohs. Even though the ancient Chinese did build elaborate tombs for their dead emperors, they did not spend nearly as much effort or time as the Egyptians did. Furthermore, the ancient Egyptians tended to clean out the organs of their deceased before wrapping them up in linens where as the Chinese would wrap up the bodies of their deceased in silk and would not remove the internal organs. Originally used as an explanation for the unknown, religion evolved into a huge part of society. Two societies where religion became a very significant part of daily life were ancient Egypt and ancient China. Both of their religions appear to have similar origins, and purposes and share similarities in practices, gods, beliefs, and customs. While there is much in common between the religions of the two civilizations, there are also many differences between the two religions including their worshipping and burial practices. Separated by thousands of miles, these two civilizations created their own religions that held many similarities with each other, but also had significant differences to help clearly separate the two. Bibliography: Bellah, Robert N. Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP, 2011. Print. Pu, Muzhou. In Search of Personal Welfare: A View of Ancient Chinese Religion. Albany: State University of New York, 1998. Print. Teeter, Emily. Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2011. Print. â€Å"An Introduction to the History and Culture of Pharaonic Egypt.† Ancient Egypt: An Introduction to Its History and Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. â€Å"Egypt’s Golden Empire. New Kingdom. Religion.† PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.