...the Life along the Silk Road by Susan Whitfield. What stood out to me, as I read these tales, was the imagery that Whitfield painted in my mind. It was as though each tale was like a documentary, albeit a short one that showed the past lives of average people that you don’t normally see or read about. Whether you were a merchant, soldier, or horseman, each tale had its own spin on what the value of the Silk Road was to them. To begin with, Nanaivandak, the merchant, saw the Silk Road as an opportunity to travel and explore the vast mountains of Central Asia (Whitfield, 37). He thought that the “mountain scenery [was] endlessly fascinating” as he travelled with his uncle on trading trips. However, his uncle travelled simply for the reason of monetary gain; a vast contrast to his nephew who travelled for adventure and excitement. It must have been wonderful to hear the hustle and bustle of a trading town with tens of different languages and spices dazzling the senses with their smells (Whitfield, 28). No wonder Nanaivandak cultivated a sense for travelling! Although I must note, Nanaivandak’s travels were only possible because of the relative stability of the Tang Empire and its open policy of welcoming foreigners into their land. As a beginner to China’s history, the Tibetan Empire was what surprised me the most. I did not know that Tibet and China were so interwoven together especially with regards to military engagements in order to control the Silk Road, a portal to the West...
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...to explore what became known as the “New World”. There were many reasons that motivated these cultures to set out into the unknown but the most compelling reasons included gold, religion and the drive to explore and expand territory. The first motive was wealth. Although Genghis Khan was best known for his bloody legacy, he had done wonders to improve the trade across Eurasia. He provided the security for travelers to cross what is now known as the Silk Road. This trade route extended over 5000 miles on land and sea with interconnected trade routes that connected with Asia Minor and the Mediterranean. The world had developed a taste for the spices and silks that had been brought back by the crusaders, and now men saw this as an opportunity to make their fortune. They traveled the Silk Road to bring back to the items that were in great demand and brought a large profit (Rossabi, n.d.). However, the Mongol empire eventually fell. China became Buddhist and a rising Islamic threat shut down travel on the Silk Road. Trade was restricted to the sea. Finally, in 1452, Constantinople, the last refuge for European trading in the East, was conquered by the Muslims. Europe fell into what might be considered a depression. Asian goods were no longer reaching the market even as the demand for these goods increased. The Italians had established trading posts in the Mediterranean and along the coast of the Black Sea. They...
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...Iran & China Historical Relations Compiled and written in parts by: Arash Akrami Introduction History of relationships between Iran & China can be viewed and written from two perspectives, a Chinese perspective or an Iranian one. Goal of this short paper is to catch a few points based on both perspectives. First of all it’ll brief on the first signs of relationships between two nations in the bed of history. And then a little treat on current similarities and what is happening in the current days. Back in the history Name of China in Persian language written as چین read exactly as Qin in pinyin writing of Chinese mandarin language implies the starting point of mutual acquaintance going back till the time of Qin dynasty in China which coincides with the rule Arsacid dynasty (Parthian Empire) in Iran. However the oldest document currently available about these relationships points out to the time of Chinese Han Dynasty and Iranian Parthian Empire(247 BC - 224 AD). These relations continued further up to next Iranian dynasty of Sassanids and after invasion of Arabs to Iran and continued in different forms of commercial, religious, cultural & scientific transactions. Mutual relations before Islam An outstanding document from Chinese part is Zhang Qian words in Shiji 史记 one of the most reliable records on Chinese history written by grand Chinese historian Sima Qian 司马迁. The Chinese explorer Zhang Qian, who visited the neighbouring countries of Bactria and Sogdiana in 126...
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...NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC READING EXPEDITIONS Civilizations Past to Present CHINA KEVIN SUPPLES INTRODUCTION I magine living in the oldest civilization in the world. You could have been the first person to walk along the Great Wall or to use paper money. You wouldn’t get lost if you had the latest invention, a compass. And for good luck, you would be wearing red. These are just some of the things that you could have done in ancient China. The Chinese created many wonderful works of art. They invented many things that we still use. Today, people have found art and writings that tell us about ancient China. They have even found a huge army that the Chinese made from clay. This clay army was buried underground for thousands of years! Let’s take a look at the Chinese people and their history. There is a lot to learn about them. CHINA: THEN AND NOW C hina is in East Asia. The Chinese word for China is Zhongguo. This name means “middle country.” In English, the country’s official name is the People’s Republic of China. China’s capital is Beijing. The official language of the country is Mandarin. People in different part of China speak different languages and dialects. Putonghua, the common speech of Chinese language, is the standard Chinese pronunciation. China has many kinds of landforms. In the west there are tall, snow-covered mountains. Among them is the tallest mountain...
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...International trade is exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories. In most countries, it represents a significant share of gross domestic product (GDP). While international trade has been present throughout much of history (see Silk Road, Amber Road), its economic, social, and political importance has been on the rise in recent centuries. Industrialization, advanced transportation, globalization, multinational corporations, and outsourcing are all having a major impact on the international trade system. Increasing international trade is crucial to the continuance of globalization. Without international trade, nations would be limited to the goods and services produced within their own borders. Although the path of world trade growth has been uneven in the past few years (Contraction in 1998, rebound in 1999 and 2000, followed by a slowdown in 2001), the fact that trade continued to expand faster than output is indicative of the increasing openness of national economies. Part of this development is due to the gradual but continued trend towards more liberal trade policies around the world. Since the establishment of the WTO in 1995, Members have been implementing staged reductions in bound tariffs, in domestic levels of support and export subsidy levels for agricultural products, and lifting non-tariff barriers. Specific measures, targeted on improving market access for least-developed countries in particular, have also been implemented...
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...Under the Silk Cotton Tree: A Healing Narrative for Grenada In Under the Silk Cotton Tree, Jean Buffong tries to recreate a prelapsarian, pristine, pre-communist, 1950s or 60s picture of Grenada that can heal Grenadian society after its violent history. What stands out in this novel is that, even though Grenada has had such a violent political history, it does not even mention politics. It is as if Buffong has given up on politics; so much so that she does not even bother to critique it any more. Yet she does critique corrupt religious figures, from obeah practitioners to those of the higher echelons of the Roman Catholic Church. This suggests that Buffong sets her hopes on a return to an African-based spirituality in harmony with nature and community, illustrated by the novel’s nature symbolism and African-Caribbean religions and folklore. In Healing Narratives, Gay Wilentz develops the idea that “cultures themselves can be[come] ill” from a brutal history of colonial conquest and slavery (1). The colonists’ violent disruption and dislocation of African communities were compounded by the psychological violence caused by the repression of the root culture and the imposition of the dominant culture; conditions which laid the foundation for sick Caribbean communities. Members of these communities suffer from the identity crises caused by the conflict between Western materialism and African spirituality. Although the enslaved Africans clung to their culture to maintain...
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...Globalization has advantages as well as disadvantages. It is viewed as a cause for increasing problems and also as a way of balancing things with one another. Globalization is all around, can be seen everywhere, and effects everyone. Globalization is a continuous process through which different societies, economies, traditions, and cultures integrate with each other on a global scale. This is made possible through the various means of communication and the interchange of ideas. Globalization goes all the way back to the Silk Road. It ran across central Asia, connecting China and Europe. The Silk Road made it possible and easier for the exchange of goods between the two which would have been virtually impossible otherwise due to the great distance between them. (Mann) The extreme advances in technology, travel, and telecommunications over the past 30 years are responsible for the recent huge increase in globalization. The period from 1980 through the present is the most remarkable period of globalization to date due, in part, to the elimination of hindering causes which was made possible by the improvement of telecommunications, transportation, and technology. Some other periods of increased globalization occurred between 1945 and 1980, when there was a huge increase in international trade after World War II and 1870 and 1914, which sparked World War I. There are several...
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...220 C.E. these cities, built by rulers to move troops and supplies, were traveled by traders transporting such items as metal tools and utensils, lacquered wood plates and boxes, silk, pottery, gems, salt, and lumber. A money economy emerged, using copper coins called cash, with center holes for stringing them together for counting and carrying. China's towns and cities were likewise linked into a large economic system . Trade between China and distant lands A metal bell from the Zhou era. was difficult and dangerous, but by the era's end commerce was conducted by sea with Southeast Asia and by land routes crossing Central Asia. The Central Asian Connection Central Asia, a vast expanse to China's north and west where the climate was too dry for farming (Map 2), was home mainly to pastoral nomads who grazed herds on its plateaus and plains. Skilled on horseback, the nomads occasionally attacked Chinese settlements to carry off goods and supplies, but they also spread commerce and useful knowledge. Some nomads, for example, exchanged their Central Asian nomads connect China with other cultures Nomads and Chinese adopt horse riding and crossbows from each other Iron tools and weapons spread to China, enhancing farming and warfare hides, wool, and horses for Chinese silk, pottery, metalware, and wood products and then traded these items with other societies across Central Asia. Over time, connections with the nomads, and through them with other Eurasian...
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...control of your own currency, its accessibility, security, and remaining virtually anonymous while using it are what give it value. For both parties, the information for transactions using Bitcoin is transparent. This transparency protects merchants from losses incurred via fraud, robbery, or NSF since the transaction cannot be reversed. Since it is a digital currency, which is community regulated, it inherently carries less fees in use and conversion. The costs for using Bitcoin for transactions are ones which can be seen as opportunity costs. The volatility of its price and demand tend to stem from the current events that affect digital currencies. These events can reflect positively or negatively for its value in such instances as the Silk Road or foreign bank crisis & capital restrictions increasing demand for secure anonymous currency. The increased exposure over its volatility acts to stabilize it; as it becomes more well-known it is accepted in more places. The most significant issue Bitcoin faces is the uncertainty of its future. With improvements and innovations being made daily in the fields which control digital currency it reduces the likelihood that BTC will keep up, rather than be replaced with a newer iteration of itself. Digital currencies are not going to leave us, but in fact they will inevitably become a part of our daily lives. The benefits of it are seen by all, with the disadvantages felt by only a large few. With our daily lives being more inundated with...
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...globalization and it is that, as the world gets smaller, opportunities for growth and development become wider and better. Nowhere is this more clearly manifest than in the sphere of international trade and business relations where foreign market economies, domestic politics and diverse legal systems are linked to each other to create more advantages for the contracting states. Origin of Globalization The origin of the Globalization is not new one. It has been gone thousands of years, first people, and, then later on the corporations and industries have been selling to and buying from each other in different lands and nation’s at large distances. This origin of globalization can be elaborated by taking an example of Silk Road. The Silk Road is an entity that is connecting the Europe and China during the middle ages. The same, for centuries, industries and people have been investing in enterprises and venture in other countries. If truth be told, there are number of characteristics of the contemporary wave of globalization are parallel to those existing before the occurrence of the First World War in 1914. Brecher et al. try to conceptualize the roots of the alternative globalization movement by giving an account of how different counter movements in the second half of the twentieth century, more specifically from the early 1970s onwards, first realized that trans border solidarity was necessary if they wished to further their own agendas in the global...
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...ASHRAF SILK AND GENERAL MILLS In mid October 2002, Khawaja Fawad Kalim, Director, Ashraf Silk and General Mills (ASGM), Gujranwala, Pakistan was faced with the difficult choice of whether or not to reemploy the two weavers who had left his company earlier. Fawad also realised that he had to take some long term measures to attract, retain and motivate weavers, to optimise the benefit from the already installed automatic looms. COMPANY BACKGROUND At the time of the partition of India in 1947, Khawaja Mohammed Sadiq, Fawad’s grandfather (see Exhibit 1) emigrated from Amritsar, India, to Gujranwala, Pakistan. The newly formed Government of Pakistan gave him some shares in the Okara Textile Mills, in lieu of his looms left at Amritsar. In 1951, because of disagreements with the other partners, Sadiq left Okara Textile Mills. He formed Ashraf Silk and General Mills at Gujranwala, in collaboration with his son, Khawaja Mohammed Kalim, (Fawad’s father). In 1951 ASGM had only one main competitor. ASGM produced silk-velvet cloth for products like bed-covers, prayer rugs, and suiting for men and women. The product mix changed with time to accommodate changes in demand. Sadiq or Kalim would either modify the existing looms or replace them with new ones to meet the market requirements. Before 1960 all the looms at ASGM were manually powered (handlooms), with the operator himself pushing the shuttle through the warp. In 1960 ASGM imported four power looms from Japan and started...
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...different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology. This process has effects on the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on human physical well-being in societies around the world. Globalization is not new, though. For thousands of years, people—and, later, corporations—have been buying from and selling to each other in lands at great distances, such as through the famed Silk Road across Central Asia that connected China and Europe during the Middle Ages. Likewise, for centuries, people and corporations have invested in enterprises in other countries. In fact, many of the features of the current wave of globalization are similar to those prevailing before the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.This current wave of globalization has been driven by policies that have opened economies domestically and internationally. In the years since the Second World War, and especially during the past two decades, many governments have adopted free-market economic systems, vastly increasing their own productive potential and creating myriad new opportunities for international trade and investment. Governments also have negotiated dramatic reductions in barriers to commerce and have established international agreements to promote trade in goods, services, and investment. Taking advantage of new opportunities in foreign markets, corporations have built foreign factories and established...
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...CONSUMER AWARENESS GUIDELINES Be an Alert Consumer ! Also be a Responsible Consumer !! Issued by Government of Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies & Consumer Protection Department, Ezhilagam, Chennai-5. Phone: 044-28583222 / 28583422 Web: www.consumer.tn.gov.in E.mail: consumer@tn.nic.in A. WHO IS A CONSUMER? A ”consumer” is a person who buys any goods or hires any service for valuable consideration (including deferred payment). The term does not include a person who obtains goods or services for resale or for any commercial purpose. However, persons who avail goods or services exclusively for the purpose of earning their livelihood by means of self employment are considered as ‘consumers’. B. CONSUMER RIGHTS Rights 1 to 6 are directly guaranteed under the Consumer Protection Act 1986 while Rights 7&8 are implied under the Constitution of India. 1. Right to safety Right to be protected against marketing of goods which are hazardous to life and property. 2. Right to information Right to be informed about the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and price of goods or services as the case may be, so as to protect the consumer against unfair trade practices. 3. Right to choose Right to be assured, wherever possible, access to a variety of goods and services at competitive prices. 4. Right to be heard Right to be heard and to be assured that consumer’s interest will receive due consideration at appropriate fora. 5. Right to redressal Right to seek redressal against Unfair...
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...03-336-89-1 ASHRAF SILK AND GENERAL MILLS In mid October 2002, Khawaja Fawad Kalim, Director, Ashraf Silk and General Mills (ASGM), Gujranwala, Pakistan was faced with the difficult choice of whether or not to reemploy the two weavers who had left his company earlier. Fawad also realised that he had to take some long term measures to attract, retain and motivate weavers, to optimise the benefit from the already installed automatic looms. COMPANY BACKGROUND At the time of the partition of India in 1947, Khawaja Mohammed Sadiq, Fawad’s grandfather (see Exhibit 1) emigrated from Amritsar, India, to Gujranwala, Pakistan. The newly formed Government of Pakistan gave him some shares in the Okara Textile Mills, in lieu of his looms left at Amritsar. In 1979, because of disagreements with the other partners, Sadiq left Okara Textile Mills. He formed Ashraf Silk and General Mills at Gujranwala, in collaboration with his son, Khawaja Mohammed Kalim, (Fawad’s father). In 1965 ASGM had only one main competitor. ASGM produced silk- velvet cloth for products like bed-covers, prayer rugs, and suiting for men and women. The product mix changed with time to accommodate changes in demand. Sadiq or Kalim would either modify the existing looms or replace them with new ones to meet the market requirements. Before 1974 all the looms at ASGM were manually powered (handlooms), with the operator himself pushing the shuttle through the warp. In 1974 ASGM imported four power looms from Japan and started...
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...Music, Drama and Dance Chinese Music Chinese music has a very long history. In the primitive society, about four to five thousand years ago, dances and songs had already occurred. This can be prove by a excavated cultural relic - an egg-shaped wind instrument called Xun (ocarina) which made of pottery clay with six holes which believed it is from the Neolithic Stone Age. The evolution of musical culture in Chinese history was begun to develop rapidly and successfully in the Zhou Dynasty (11th century-256 B.C.). A large number of orchestras or ensembles started to occur during that time. Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) was the most influential time in terms of musical culture. It had viewed as one of the best in the world and greatly influence on the development of music in other countries such as Korea and Japan. In general, there are five categories for Chinese music and each of the categories has various types, styles and forms which they are are song, ballad-singing music, Chinese Opera music, instrumental music and dancing-and-singing music. Song can also be divided into two categories which are ancient art songs and folk songs. Folk songs can be subdivided into mountain airs, labor songs, epic songs, songs with multiple sounds of voices, and ditties. In addition, due to the different regions with different national minorities, the mountain sough could be so different in style. There are many different types and styles in the musical cultural in China. Another good example...
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