...When I was waiting for my wonderful summer vacation last year, I suddenly saw a red and yellow poster posted at a narrow corner outside the corridor which is drew my attention. It was the information about going to Beijing internship for one month. I knew this is a good chance for me to experience a brand new life without my family. Under the keen competition, I could enhance my working experience in China. It would help me to improve Mandarin and become competitive in the future. I watched the TV in the airport for the Shenzhou 9 rocket launch when I was arrived in Beijing. This is an amazing moment that I can watch the long rocket launch in the capital of Beijing, a place where is politically aware. At the same time, I was the first time to feel proud to be one of the Chinese people. As the rocket means the national achievement for a country, I would feel that all people who surrounded by me do have a strong sense of identity. It shows a miracle in China again. In Beijing, it is shocking to see a mountain of people inside the MTR station every day. If you walk slowly, other people will use their invisible hand to push you to walk faster magically. When people want to get off in the next station, they are likely to ask a question, “Are you getting off in the next station?”. If no, he/she will then switch the place with you so the person can get off quickly. Also, I needed to take transportation nearly two hours to office. The colleagues told me that it is normal to take at...
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...and so I ended up arriving one whole day late to Beijing. That meant that nobody was going to pick me up at the airport and I had to get to my apartment complex all by myself. This wouldn’t be as much of a problem if I knew how to speak Mandarin. I learned that in Beijing, not very many people speak English; not even a few words. From my American perspective, I thought what kind of country doesn’t even speak English, especially taxi drivers! At the airport a taxi driver approached me and asked if I needed assistance. I thought that the taxi drivers hear provide great hospitality, however I was wrong. I later learned that I had gotten into a ‘black cab’. I ended up paying 400 Yuan for what should’ve been a 100-150 Yuan expense. Another instance in which language was a major barrier/obstacle was during my first day of work. The staff members of the internship program said they would drop interns off at their workplace on the first day of work, however interns must go home by themselves. After my first day of work I was off to go home, but of course I got lost. I tried to hail a taxi. I used my map and pointed to the location I needed to go but no taxi driver would take me. I didn’t know why and never found out either because I didn’t know Mandarin. My whole trip consisted of hand gestures that substituted as a language. Lastly, because I am a vegetarian I had difficulty in ordering...
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...CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION China’s emergence on the world scene is one of the most important and challenging developments of the 21st century. Its remarkable growth since the early 1980s has the potential to greatly expand the global economy, and with it, global wealth, more than any other nation in history. China’s more proactive global engagement and the modernization of its military have already greatly altered the economic and political balance of power in East and Southeast Asia and has added yet another actor to the world scene. Several scholars recently have speculated that China and India will emerge as two great superpowers as the twenty-first century progresses. China’s uninterrupted economic growth of about ten percent GDP per year since the late 1970s is unprecedented and there are few signs that the world’s fastest growing economy will taper off any time soon. Real per capita output in 2005 was nine times that of 1978, which is when real economic reform began. Depending on how one calculates and interprets economic data, by 2007 China had become the third or fourth largest economy in the world. While economic growth is most notable in the large cities along China’s east coast like Shanghai and Beijing, virtually everybody across China is much better off now than in 1978. Rapid economic growth has brought vast improvements in the quality of life throughout China over the past three decades. Life expectancy rose to 71 years by 2000, the last time China...
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...ever changing, but never interrupted. • Belong to the “Sino-Tibetan” language system. • More people speak Chinese than any other language in the world. • One of the five official languages of UN. • About 2 million American residents are Chinese home speakers. • 60% of Korean vocabulary comes from Chinese. • Written Japanese has several thousand characters borrowed from Chinese. • It has been estimated that until the 18th century more than half of the world's printed books were in Chinese. • Yes! • It’s only one of the many dialects of Chinese (Yue Dialect). • The difference is mainly in pronunciation, slightly in vocabulary and grammar, but not in writing system. • The Romanized phonetic spelling system created in 1950’s for Mandarin or standard Chinese (Putonghua) • It is based on Beijing Dialects, a branch of the Northern dialects of Chinese language • It uses 25 letters in English except “ V ”. • Initials (consonants) 声母 • Finals (a vowel, or a combination of vowels, sometimes with a nasal at the end) 韵母 • Tones (four distinct and one light tones) 声调 • Each Chinese character corresponds to one syllable. A syllable is consist of an initial, a final and a tone. b d g j z zh y w p t k q c ch m n h x s sh f l r 6 simple finals: 13 compound finals: 16 nasal finals: a o e i u ü ai ao ei ia iao ie iou uai üe uei (ui) uo 8 front nasals: 8 back nasals: (iu) ou ua an en ian in uan üan uen (un) ün ang eng iang ing iong ong uang ueng ...
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...KUAILE HANYU IN SHANGHAI “The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.” ~Benjamin Disraeli I can still remember the time when my Principal told me the good news that I will be the one to represent our school for Special Program in Mandarin Language, I was so shocked and did not expect it. Why? I was a newbie in our school and do not have the experiences unlike the teachers around me. But as the quote stated above, when opportunity comes, grab it. And that has made all the difference in my teaching career. This amazing and once in a lifetime opportunity to be here in Shanghai, China is one of the best and most unforgettable experience I will forever cherish in my life. To be able to work with awesome and wonderful co-teachers and Chinese teachers as well is indeed such a blessing. I’ve learned so much from them, from teaching expertise to strategies, values and words of wisdom; these strives me to be more productive and excellent teacher in my field. Indeed, learning a new language is difficult more so if you have to adapt their culture and ways of living. But I can say that because of the hospitality, care and support of the Chinese mentors and tutors to us, it made our journey here so easy, comfortable and we feel at ease all the time. There are many memorable moments that I will never forget while staying in Shanghai. First is the cold-freezing temperature in China that I’ve never experienced...
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...KARL LOUIE ANJELO M. YU JULY 17, 2014 PRN MKT-BMM0918 PROF. NITTO P. VICTORIA ------------------------------------------------- _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Parts of the growth-share matrix The growth-share matrix helps organizations assess its companies and business units on two levels. The first is its level of growth within the market, while the second measures its market share relative to the competition within its industry. To help businesses further analyze its assets, the matrix divides the business units or products into four categories, including: Stars: The business units or products that have the best market shares and generate the most cash are considered stars. However, because of their high growth rate, stars also consume large amounts cash. This generally results in the same amount of money coming in that is going out. Stars can eventually become cash cows if they sustain their success until a time that the market growth rate declines. Cash cows: Cash cows are the leader in the marketplace and generate more cash than they consume. These are business units or products that have a high market share, but a low growth prospects. According to NetMBA, cash cows provide the cash required to turn question marks into market leaders, to cover the administrative costs of...
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...Japan will hear a bee go bonbon while a South African girl will hear it go zoem-zoem. In the Netherlands, an owl's hoot will be heard as oehoe, while elsewhere, say in Thailand, its hoot will be interpreted as hook hook. A little boy in Japan will hear a bee go bonbon while a South African girl will hear it go zoem-zoem. In the Netherlands, an owl's hoot will be heard as oehoe, while elsewhere, say in Thailand, its hoot will be interpreted as hook hook. In Indonesia, a dog is known to bark guk guk, in Catalan it barks bup bup, while in Albania it barks ham ham. A Japanese dog, in turn, barks wanwan, while its counterpart in England barks bow-wow or woof. Pigs also have different sounds depending on where you are in the world. A Mandarin Chinese pig goes hu-lu hu-lu, while further up north in Finland it goes roh roh. Next door in Sweden, a pig goes noff noff, while in Wales it goes soch soch. In the English world, a pig goes oink oink. Bird sounds also vary around the world. In English, a small bird chirps while a medium-sized bird tweets. A larger bird, however, squawks. In Spanish, a bird goes pio pio, while in Korea it will be heard going jek jek. In French? Pit pit. Although animals sound the same the world over, humans, with our many languages, do not. Different human societies simply have different ways of describing similar sounds. Part of it is explained by the speech sounds used in a particular language. Another part by random choice – how a sound was first...
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...Downturn English Level in Hong Kong Hong Kong is a prosperous international financial city of the world. For this business world, English is important. But Hong Kong students have a downturn English level, they have got worse and worse result of English public examinations in recent years, many people state that is the responsibility of local schools and universities. In fact, the poor English proficiency of students is created by their own personal motivation and living environment or government policy. I am going to discuss several reasons how students are getting poor English. One of the reasons, I believe, is the changing educational policy by the government. Not only will it affect the environment of studying English for students, it also makes it difficult for teachers. Both students and teachers are always to adapt these new and complex educational systems. For example, the government implemented the policy called “Mother-tongue Education” earlier. Obviously, students have got worst English proficiency in this program, because some of the subjects had been changed into Chinese. Students have less opportunity to write, read, speak and listen. In addition, both politically and economically, but also from the economic aspect, Hong Kong society must recognize Putonghua, due to the rise of China. So the government had to carry out the educational policy “two language and three dialects”. This reduces the important of English and Putonghua has become more important...
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...R. Lee Continuity and change in Chinese spirit mediumship in urban Malaysia In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 142 (1986), no: 2/3, Leiden, 198-214 This PDF-file was downloaded from http://www.kitlv-journals.nl RAYMOND L. M. LEE CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN CHINESE SPIRIT MEDIUMSHIP IN URBAN MALAYSIA The spirit medium occupies an important position in popular Chinese religion. As an arbiter between the spiritual and the mundane world, he not only provides services in healing and divination but also performs vital roles at temple and spirit festivals. The history of Chinese spirit mediumship can be traced to the Shang Dynasty of the second millennium B.C., where priest-shamans (wu) were accorded high official standing in the imperial courts, until their decline in the late Chou period in the third century B.C.1 However, spirit mediumship did not become obsolete but continued to be practised at the popular level (Yang 1967: 106, 303). Few reports of spirit mediumship in modern China have appeared in print, except for the detailed observations of De Groot (1964) made in the southern provinces in the late nineteenth century. Since then, most anthropologists have studied Chinese spirit mediumship in various Chinese communities, particularly in Taiwan (Jordan 1972, Seaman 1978, Kleinman 1980) and Hong Kong (Potter 1974). Spirit mediumship is also practised in various Chinese communities in Southeast Asia, but few ethnographies have been published...
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...BUSINESS 427 GLOBAL ISSUES IN BUSINESS DeVry University Global Business Opportunities Project: Burlington Coat Factory/China Prepared By: Group A March 30, 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3 Module 1: IDENTIFYING GLOBAL BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES 3 Module 2: ANALYZING INTERNATIONAL COMPETITORS 7 Module 3: ASSESSING THE ECONOMIC-GEOGRAPHIC ENVIRONMENT 9 Module 4: ASSESSING THE SOCIAL-CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT 11 Module 5: ASSESSING THE POLITICAL LEGAL ENVIRONMENT 14 Module 6: SELECTING A GLOBAL COMPANY STRUCTURE 16 Module 7: FINANCING SOURCES FOR GLOBAL BUSINESS OPERATIONS 18 Module 8: CREATING A GLOBAL MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM 20 Module 9: IDENTIFYING HUMAN RESOURCES FOR GLOBAL BUSINESS 23 Module 10: MANAGING INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL AND BUSINESS RISKS 25 Module 11: PRODUCT AND TARGET MARKET PLANNING 27 Module 12: DESIGNING A GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY 28 Module 13: PLANNING A GLOBAL PROMOTION STRATEGY 30 Module 14: SELECTING AN INTERNATIONAL PRICING STRATEGY 31 Module 15: DETERMINING ORGANIZATIONAL FINANCIAL RESULTS 34 Module 16: MEASURING INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SUCCESS 35 CONCLUSION 36 BIBLIOGRAPHY 36 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Burlington Coat Factory was originally formed in the year 1924 as a wholesaler of junior’s coats and women’s coats. Its original location was in Burlington, New Jersey and they are now a national retail chain. Burlington Coat Factory offers...
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...Success in China For a foreign business, success in China is largely hinged upon the company’s ability to adapt in a different environment and to understand (and be accepting of) how much they simply don’t know. A company looking to enter the China market will quickly realize either they are in unfamiliar territory and proceed prudently with the right help, or, maybe because of ignorance or anxiety, they will act irresponsibly and fail. Foreigners familiar with China may recognize that there seems to be an unending number of misunderstandings between China and the rest of the world. In a business context, these misunderstandings might range from scheduling a business trip to China during Spring Festival to not considering the government in a market entry plan. Companies seeking to enter China must do their homework and prepare to be flexible. Success in China can be extraordinary, but it is not won easily. In China, the government is omnipresent. Depending on the nature of your business, the government may figure into every step of your China strategy. It is important to remember that the Chinese government’s #1 priority is watching out for China. It would be foolish to think otherwise. The five-year plan is not a suggestion as much as it is a mandate. That means, to be successful in China, your goals must align with the goals of the government at every level. Indeed, a successful plan would help the government to reach its goals. Demonstrating an interest in the well-being...
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...Luxury fashion is about gaining acceptance; what you wear and how you wear it is a projection of who you are as a person and how you want to be seen. The garments that fill your wardrobe are therefore heavily influenced by your social circle. Getting a professional office worker in Shanghai to sport a mandarin collar instead of necktie is no easy task – no matter how premium the product on offer. The mandarin collar is low, unfolded and can be buttoned to fit snugly around the neck, conjuring the image of a Qing dynasty scholar. For less conspicuous wear, it can be unfastened into a V-neck as Raphael le Masne De Chermont, executive chairman of Shanghai Tang, a Hong Kong-based clothing company, prefers to wear it. Since the mid-1990s, Shanghai Tang has been known for its apparel with a strikingly traditional Chinese influence. For the past several years, however, as it bids for attention of wealthy Chinese consumers who disdain dragons on their jackets, the brand is remaking its image with a far lighter Chinese touch. The change in ideology is not without its challenges. De Chermont refuses to wear neckties and demands others to take their's off. “It's the leash of the corporate animal,” he says on the sidelines of a luxury brand forum in Shanghai on March 22, before exhorting this reporter to unknot his own. As an ideological statement, Shanghai Tang does not sell neckties despite the huge mainland market for them. The decidedly Chinese collar isn't just about comfort or...
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...Culture of China China exists over many centuries and the culture of China is one of the oldest and most complex cultures in the world. To explore and understand the culture of China, people can have a look on its architecture, Feng Shui, cuisine, language, etc. Architecture The history of Chinese architecture has been built over many centuries. Its distinctive and special structural features have significantly influenced on the architectural styles of the East Asia countries such as Korea, Japan and Vietnam. In Chinese architecture, bilateral symmetry and the articulations of buildings are mainly concerned. These features did not only apply for the palaces, but also apply for the humble farmhouses. Apart from the main buildings, the open courtyard and/or the “sky well” can be easily found within the building complexes. Open courtyard and the “sky well” is an empty space surrounded by buildings that connected one building to another one building either directly. Chinese Siheyuan in Beijing is a very good example showing the symmetry, use of open courtyard and “sky well”. Another important feature of Chinese architecture is that Chinese architecture emphasizes on width, in contrast, Western architecture emphasizes on height. The wide halls of Forbidden City and castles in Western countries are very good examples in respect of Chinese and Western architectures. In relation to the structural materials, bricks, stones and wooden timber (frame and roof) are frequently...
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...the success of the company, they will have to have a production plan that strong and grounded. In the processing stage, Riordan’s business in China serves the needs of handling of shipping to the company adequately. Therefore, the company has made a decision to put together a design of supply chains of electric fans to China. This plan will let Riordan know the size of resources such as equipment, buildings and the workforce size. Some of the possible challenges that will occur in the Chinese plant include; barrier communication with language. Another big challenge would be the extreme weather conditions in the region. In solving the communication barrier Riordan Manufacturing employs part-time personnel who can speak the Chinese Mandarin Language. The Failure...
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...The varieties of Chinese are usually described by native speakers as dialects of a single Chinese language, but linguists note that they are as diverse as a language family.[a] The internal diversity of Chinese has been likened to that of the Romance languages, but may be even more varied. There are between 7 and 13 main regional groups of Chinese (depending on classification scheme), of which the most spoken, by far, is Mandarin (about 960 million), followed by Wu (80 million), Yue (70 million) and Min (70 million). Most of these groups are mutually unintelligible, although some, like Xiang and the Southwest Mandarin dialects, may share common terms and some degree of intelligibility. All varieties of Chinese are tonal and analytic. Standard Chinese (Putonghua/Guoyu/Huayu) is a standardized form of spoken Chinese based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin. It is the official language of China and Taiwan, as well as one of four official languages of Singapore. It is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. The written form of the standard language (中文; Zhōngwén), based on the logograms known as Chinese characters (汉字/漢字; hànzi), is shared by literate speakers of otherwise unintelligible dialects. Of the other varieties of Chinese, Cantonese (the prestige variety of Yue) is influential in Guangdong province and Cantonese-speaking overseas communities and remains one of the official languages of Hong Kong (together with English) and of Macau (together with Portuguese)...
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