A Brief History of Falun Gong essays

A Brief History of Falun Gong essays The Chinese practice of Falun Gong has a relatively short but already important history. Its specific history is a mere ten years old, however the ideas and practices it is based on have a history that stretch throughout the entire history of the Chinese civilization. The practice of different forms of qigong, the cultivation of qi or the energy that flows throughout the human body and the universe, has been a staple in many different practices of Chinese culture including being the basis for traditional Chinese medicine. In its ten-year history, Falun Gong has garnered millions of practitioners and followers and much attention from many others including the Chinese government, although this attention has been mostly negative. Falun Gong is a form of qigong, an age-old Chinese tradition of meditation and exercise. (Beliefnet 1) Falun Gong is essentially a practice of five sets of movements, including both physical exercise and meditation, believed to heighten the physical, spiritual and moral health of its practitioners. (Beliefnet 1) The exercises of Falun Gong are an effort to rotate the falun, or the spinning body of energy thought to be located in the lower abdomen. (Beliefnet 1) The belief is that the performance of these exercises will stimulate the energy in the falun and in the body in general. It is also believed that this practice absorbs energy from the universe and will release negative elements from the body, which can remedy irregular conditions within the body such as pain, disease and the like. (Beliefnet 1) The Falun Gong practice/movement was founded by Li Hongzhi. In the 1980s, there was a resurgence of interest in qigong in China, with many different sects or forms being developed by numerous masters. (Madsen 244) Until 1992, Li Hongzhi and Falun Gong were members of the Qigong Research Association of China, which grew out of the boom in interest in qigong. (Beliefnet 1) Li Hongzhi withdrew himself and...

Charlotte Perkins Gilman Quotes

Charlotte Perkins Gilman Quotes Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote in a variety of genres, including The Yellow Wallpaper, a short story highlighting the rest cure for women in the 19th century; Woman and Economics, a sociological analysis of womens place; and Herland , a feminist utopia novel. Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote in favor of equality between men and women. Selected Charlotte Perkins Gilman Quotations And woman should stand beside man as the comrade of his soul, not the servant of his body. In New York City, everyone is an exile, none more so than the Americans. It is not that women are really smaller-minded, weaker-minded, more timid and vacillating, but that whosoever, man or woman, lives always in a small, dark place, is always guarded, protected, directed and restrained, will become inevitably narrowed and weakened by it. The woman is narrowed by the home and the man is narrowed by the woman. It is the duty of youth to bring fresh new powers to bear on Social progress. Each generation of young people should be to the world like a vast reserve force to a tired army. They should life the world forward. That is what they are for. To swallow and follow, whether old doctrine or new propaganda, is a weakness still dominating the human mind. Until mothers earn their livings, women will not. So when the great word Mother! rang once more,I saw at last its meaning and its place;Not the blind passion of the brooding past,But Mother the Worlds Mother come at last,To love as she had never loved before To feed and guard and teach the human race. There is no female mind. The brain is not an organ of sex. Might as well speak of a female liver. The mother poor invaded soul finds even the bathroom door no bar to hammering little hands. The first duty of a human being is to assume the right relationship to society more briefly, to find your real job, and do it. Love grows by service. But reason has no power against feeling, and feeling older than history is no light matter. To be surrounded by beautiful things has much influence upon the human creature: to make beautiful things has more. We have built into the constitution of the human race the habit and desire of taking, as divorced from its natural precursor and comcomitant of making. The women who do the most work get the least money, and the women who have the most money do the least work. There should be an end to the bitterness of feeling which has arisen between the sexes in this century. Eternity is not something that begins after you are dead. It is going on all the time. It will be a great thing for the human soul when it finally stops worshiping backwards. Two persons love in one another the future good which they aid one another to unfold. In our steady insistence on proclaiming sex-distinction we have grown to consider most human attributes as masculine attributes, for the simple reason that they were allowed for men and forbidden to women. George Sand smokes, wears male attire, wishes to be addressed as Mon frà ¨re; perhaps, if she found those who were as brothers indeed, she would not care whether she were a brother or sister. Habits of thought persist through the centuries; and while a healthy brain may reject the doctrine it no longer believes, it will continue to feel the same sentiments formerly associated with that doctrine. The softest, freest, most pliable and changeful living substance is the brain the hardest and most iron-bound as well. Death? Why this fuss about death. Use your imagination, try to visualize a world without death! . . . Death is the essential condition of life, not an evil. When one is assured of unavoidable and imminent death, it is the simplest of human rights to choose a quick and easy death in place of a slow and horrible one. Related Resources for Charlotte Perkins Gilman Charlotte Perkins Gilman PoemsThe Yellow Wallpaper - text About These Quotes Quote collection assembled by Jone Johnson Lewis. Each quotation page in this collection and the entire collection  © Jone Johnson Lewis. This is an informal collection assembled over many years. I regret that I am not be able to provide the original source if it is not listed with the quote.

English Curriculumn Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

English Curriculumn - Essay Example .† (Dec 2010, p. 16). Green and Cormack in their attempts to explain the wide acceptability of the English language specified that the hybrid quality of the English language that has resulted in its generosity. Empowered by the â€Å"hybridity† as specified by Green and Cormack, the English language has the capacity to satisfy an array of purposes, having multiple social, cultural and educational effects. Keeping in mind the wide acceptability and appreciation of the English language as an essential medium of communication in academic disciplines it has also become important to teach and consequently encourage students to learn the language with such effectiveness so that they can acknowledge effects of the English Language in social, cultural and educational peripheries. Green and Cormack have identified that irrespective of its development and phenomenal success as the language for communication in the global context adequate measures have not yet been taken to context ualise the language within the educational philosophy: â€Å"What has not been understood to date, or sufficiently appreciated, is the extent to which such matters can, and need to, be related to and contextualised within a more general educational history† (Oct 2008, p. 253). Thus, in it important in this context to revaluate theoretical models, pedagogical rationales and â€Å"hybridity† of the English language so that possibilities can be explored to make students realize about the wide scope of its effects in social, cultural and educational aspects. Keeping in accord with Green and Cormack argument about â€Å"hybridity† of the English language that has resulted in the... This essay stresses that while the theoretical models have aimed at enhancing aptitude of a student from different approaches, on the other hand, there is no denial of the fact that unless a student develops the expertise in understanding linguistic diversity and rich rhetoric of the language, he will not be able to communicate with the text and consequently the entire effort will fail. The English Language has been considered by academicians as the most effective medium that would help them to communicate with the text. The element of linguistic variety and ‘hybridity’ of the English Language has been widely accepted and it is because of this reason the language has been able to give birth to so many forms in different regional and cultural domains. This report makes a conclusion that the Victorian 7-10 Syllabus of the English language is ordained in such manner that finds a close relevance with the principles of different theoretical approaches, such as, the Personal Growth Model, Cultural Heritage Model and the Critical Literacy Model. While on one hand, the 7-10 Syllabus enables the education department to follow a specific and well planned structural approach to guide students in the context of enhancing their efficiency in learning the English Language, moreover, it also germinates among students the capacity of creative thinking, analytical power, an aptitude to understand the politics of modernist existence and finally the spontaneous will to realize the responsibilities of civic and citizenship, irrespective of the radical change that has occurred in the socio-cultural scenario compared to the earlier times.

Basic Quantitative Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Basic Quantitative Analysis - Essay Example The glossary- like essay is prepared based principally on the typical book by Paul C. Cozby titled Methods in Behavioral Research. Some other established and authentic books are also cited. It is used to compare between two or more individual students of two or more divisions, classes or schools or the performance of two or more classes or schools, or the performance of an individual under two or more dissimilar testing conditions in terms of possession of some attributes or characteristics. Gravetter, Forzano (2008) assert that when the data is presented not in numerical values we have no alternative other than comparing the proportions or percentiles (p.452). In order to compare the achievements of two individuals or groups, the means are compared. It is possible when the scores are distributed in numerical figures. We compare mean score first, and then we do means. Contrary to both, in co relational study, we compare two variables for each and every individual, included in a particular group, and the score of different groups. If the data is numerical we resort to co relational studies, if not we use chi-square. (p.453) The name pie chart is given to a circle diagram. In determining the circumference of a circle we have to take into consideration a quantity known as ‘pie’. In this form of graphical representation, the data is represented through the sections or portions of circle. It is a graph in which frequencies are represented by bars, arranged one touching the next. The height of the bar will represent the frequency of the class. The area of the rectangle is proportionate to its frequency. In this way the total area of a bar graph which includes all those rectangular bars will represent the total frequency or ‘N’. A polygon is a many-sided closed figure. A frequency polygon is a graphic representation of a given frequency distribution. In this graph, the midpoints of the classes are plotted on the X-axis, to

People, Management & Organisations Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

People, Management & Organisations - Case Study Example It is clear from the case study that Cox’s Container Company is suffering from several internal issues related to the workplace culture and organizational behaviour. It is highly important for an organization to adopt and implement effective change management process in order to overcome the current issues and challenges. However, it is highly important for the Cox’s Container Company to implement change management process in the organizational culture in order to enhance strategy development and decision making process. In addition to this, it will help the organization to overcome the current issues that is affecting the profitability and business performance of the organization. This case analysis will outline and analyze the current internal issues and problems related to the organizational structure, organizational behaviour and work culture of the company. In addition to this, this report will discuss about motivation and change management theory that can be imple mented in the management of the organization in order to overcome the issues. Lastly, the study will provide some recommendation plans in order to overcome the current issues. Being one of the leading and profitable organizations, the management of the Cox’s Container Company failed to overcome the organizational behaviour related issue. The organization was founded by Harold Cox. This part of study will outline and analyze the problems that are affecting the business performance of the organization. The management of the organization was following family ownership structure. It can be considered as the consideration, adoption and implementation of the centralized decision making process. The organization faced several issues due to the adoption of centralized decision making process. It is highly important for an organization to ensure effective strategy development and decision making process in order to overcome the issues (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2010, p.73). Poor

Australian Property Market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Australian Property Market - Essay Example However the interest rates have all along been one of the dominating factors in determining the demand and supply position of the residential properties, as the initial investment is heavy in the case of large residential property developments and the gestation period is also long to get back the investments. This paper analyses the impact of interest rates on the demand for residential properties. On an analysis it is found that the residential property market in Australia is getting stronger every year. There are several factors that affect the growth of the property market in any country. It so happens that any factor affecting the residential property market in the major cities will follow course to smaller towns and cities and affect the country as a whole over the period. The prices of residential properties continue to increase during the period 2003 through 2005 in spite of a slight increase in the interest rates of up to 0.5 percent. However this increase caused a slow down in the property market in Sydney and Melbourne for some period, but the boom in the property market continued despite the increase in the interest rate. The demand for the house properties remained strong during the period, due to the fact that the Gross Domestic Product of Australia in general remained stronger showing an enhanced progress of the economy. Similarly the support from the government in the form of certain tax cuts and other measures had improved the household disposable incomes and raised the consumer confidence. This also gave rise to the boom in the property market. Another factor that led to the increase in the demand for the house properties is the change in the general attitude of the people in getting the financial support form families making the purchase of property as a life time dream comes true. But in spite of all these positive factors there was a decline in the demand. Analysts point out various factors responsible for this slowness in the property market. Though not the only reason, increase in the interest rates was cited as one of the factors responsible for the reduction in the demand for the properties. With this background I intend to present this paper reporting in detail the impact of interest rates on the residential property market in Australia. 2.0 Aims and Objectives: This research will mainly center around the impact of the interest costs among other factors on the demand position of the residential properties in the Australian property market. To achieve the main objectives of the research study, the level of the interest rates during the historical period will be analysed and the demand for the residential properties during the corresponding period will be correlated to report the trend of the demand position on the basis of the changes in the

Compare the Ways in Which the Roles of Women are Portrayed Essay Example for Free

Compare the Ways in Which the Roles of Women are Portrayed Essay When focusing explicitly on the topic of a woman’s seemingly ever-evolving status, one would constantly perceive it to be a working progress of the woman and the rise of her independence. So, why when analysing both, ‘The Wife of Bath’ and ‘Death of a Salesman’ do these roles of the most prominent women seem to be in reverse? The history of a woman’s autonomy branches outwards from the past, therefore enforcing the idea of a woman, living in an earlier period, to exist under high demands of fulfilling the traditional expressive position. Yet with regards to Chaucer’s tale, why is it that Alisoun is able to possess characteristics that are both a controversy for the 14th century during in which it was written, and to a certain extent, this era momentarily? On the other hand, the 1950s ‘Death of a Salesman’ harbours a heroine who remains true to her decade’s basic notion on how both a woman and a wife should persist to be, consequently presenting Linda Loman as a stock character. With a distance of 6 centuries, is there an abstruse intention to why both the female protagonists are depicted in an unusual fashion, and totally out of the ordinary when its context is taken into account, or, is this simply the writers’ approach to manifest some sort of a response, whether it be mere shock, indulgent laughter, or utter appreciation? The titles alone contain an instantaneous conception on how both women are portrayed concurrently. ‘The Wife of Bath’ obtains an immediate link to Alisoun, unlike ‘Death of a Salesman’ which simply refers to Willy Loman and includes no innuendo of his wife Linda. Alisoun’s ownership of the tale is reinforced by the noun ‘Wife’ as a direct association to her, suggesting that she is the focal point of the tale. But is she? The prologue is definitely in her possession with her martial history being the key plot; however the tale on the other hand clearly centres the knight as the protagonist, consequently endorsing the audience to make an initial judgment on Alisoun’s character as one which is strong enough to acquire her own title. Maybe Chaucer’s main purpose was to make his eponymous hero a female to either stagger the audience by the pragmatical meaning of this whereby such power and eminence is handed to a female character, or to purely ridicule a woman with any supremacy, and in effect, is symbolic since it contains the intention of formulating humour for an audience existing in a 14th century world. With this reasoning in mind, the common use of the noun ‘Wife’ would then become a more abstract version of this since, in essence, this is merely an idea of her control and alliance to the city. Perhaps the title ‘The Wife of Bath’ can be decoded then as a euphemism that solely associates with Alisoun’s, ‘Housbandes at chirche dore I have had five-‘ This has been translated as a misrepresentation of her being promiscuous which uses hyperbole to reinforce the concept and also assists in the beginning of a caricature adaptation of a woman who is unlike most others. On the contrary, since ‘Death of a Salesman’ purely refers to Willy, this would consequently support how dominating the male gender had been in the early 50s. In relation to Linda however, the absence of any insinuation of her in the title holds a vital insight of how she is portrayed through the play itself. This maintains the persistent imagery of Linda conserving her private role as a housewife, and to an extent, Willy’s constant positive conscience, Willy – ‘I suddenly couldn’t drive anymore. ’ Linda – ‘Maybe it was the steering wheel again. ’ The adverb ‘Maybe’ certainly exhibits some indecision with Linda’s response indicating that even though she may not entirely know what Willy requires, she knows it is necessary for her to provide a reasonable answer that will help ease the blame off Willy, facilitating the assumption of Linda’s loyalty to her husband, even during the worst of times. Arthur Miller’s intention of having no connotation to Linda in the title could be indeed for the purpose of supporting the idea of her selflessness compared to Willy’s egotistical behaviour. This theory of Linda’s ignored compassion is also demonstrated when Willy commits suicide. ‘I can’t understand it. ’ This simple sentence is most commonly used with the verb ‘do not/don’t’, but, semantically, Miller permits Linda to unusually phrase this with the modal auxiliary verb and the nagator ‘can’t’ to express her rejection towards comprehending his refusal of living life fully. Perhaps the importance of this approach was to portray just how vulnerable and helpless not just Linda, but the rest of the female population was in the 50s. As if to say it had nothing to do with the capacity of the female brain but the knowledge of where that woman should remain to be. The title is therefore a description of Linda’s personality and depicts just how much Linda is taken for granted. In the earliest stage directions of ‘Death of a Salesman’, the lexis used to describe Linda Loman all relate to the semantic field of household items and the act of obeying a person: ‘stirred’ ‘iron repression’ ‘admires’ ‘listening’ Semantically, theses lexicons relate to the play itself. The stative adverb ‘admire’ implies Linda may not feel worthy of Willy therefore she can only have a high regard for him and not the ability to put herself in his position. According to this then, Linda could be summarized as a character that has a low opinion of herself. The comparison to household items proves to be crucial since it could be categorized as an exposition, introducing the audience to Linda’s most prominent characteristic. A more modern audience, and in particular contemporary women, would argue that this was very demeaning since it implies this was all they are known for. Throughout the description of the Wife from the General prologue, the audience obtains a direct inkling of her character. ‘Housbandes at chirche dore she hadde five’ This sentence delivers an eye opener as to what Alisoun’s social status is. Since only the elite managed to marry inside of a church, this would then imply that from the age of 12, Alisoun has supposedly not ascended the ladder of social mobility. The syntax of this however creates some hesitancy to admit the true number of her failed marriages. Given that she leaves the actual amount ‘five’ till last reinforces the idea of her true emotions towards them. The similarity between Linda and Alisoun then would be that aside from the fact that one woman has had considerably more partners than the other: Alisoun is still in search of love, remaining to be ever willing to find her true match. This is further proven with the syntax from the quotation. As ‘Housbandes’ is the first word in the sentence, it indicates she finds pleasure in having a husband because of the urgency to articulate the concrete noun ‘Housbandes’, despite the fact that they were all failures. Linda’s crime is that she loves her only husband far too much. It is evident that in spite of her devotion to Willy, he still ignores her and takes her for granted, Linda- ‘Take an aspirin. Should I get you an aspirin? It’ll soothe you. ’ Willy- ‘I was driving along, you understand? ’ Here it is visible that Willy does overlook his wife completely by his sudden change in topicality and the flouting of the Grice’s maxim of relevance. Perhaps this is due to the way he perceives Linda, and the minimal respect he has for her. This is further evident with his tag question, ‘you understand? Unlike Robin Lakoff’s female language theory, this does not abide by her rules. In her opinion these tag questions imply a need for some support rather than a critical remark. However it is obvious that Willy does not require any backing since he is the most dominant speaker. The pragmatics of this statement show how much of a low disregard he has on Linda’s capability of understanding such a simple concep t as driving, consequently suggesting he does, in actual fact, take his loving wife for granted. Miller’s intentions here differ depending on the gender perspective. Since this is one of many occurrences where Willy insults Linda’s intelligence, this provides evidence of her complete devotion to her husband. Perhaps this mirrors the reality of the 1950s’ female audience therefore Miller’s motive in creating such a character was simply to please the existing female population at that time and nothing more. From a male point of view following the same thesis of art imitating life, Willy’s ability to have both control and authority over Linda would have also been Miller’s method in satisfying the male audience. Linda’s speech also indicates some reluctance of being abrupt towards her husband. ‘Take an aspirin. Should I get you an aspirin? ’ This reads to be an almost repaired statement, strengthening the notion of her delicacy when interacting with her husband. Depending on the stage direction as to how this is supposed to be acted out, another contention could be that Linda’s true being slipped out for a moment. The unusual abruptness of the first sentence followed by the modal verb ‘Should’ may imply how Linda must always remain to be conscious of the words she speaks even if she truthfully isn’t like that. This could possibly have been Miller’s subtle approach in exposing just how human a woman truly is. Linda’s character is one that appears to be careful in every action she undertakes, Alisoun on the other hand gives the impression of being self-sufficient in her decisions. ‘What that he mente therby, I kan nat seyn; But that I axe, why the fifthe man Was non housbonde to the Samaritan? How manye mighte she have in marriage? Yet herde I nevere tellen in myn age Upon this nombre diffinicioun. ’ In a Russian Formalist literary opinion, her attitude here in this verse would suggest she is blasphemous and very defensive of her deeds. By allowing an illiterate female commoner challenge basic Christian belief, Chaucer invites an astonishing controversial angle on reality. An audiences’ reaction to this from the 14th century would be of great annoyance towards Alisoun since she occupies no immense background to express such a powerful opinion. According to the first line ‘What that he mente therby, I kan nat seyn’ this also suggests that her judgment is based on a more personal outlook rather than facts. From my own 21st century perspective following the same Russian Formalist fundamentals, this verse stands to be an opinion and nothing more. Alisoun’s analysis may not have changed but the reaction from the audience would have instead. In actual fact, her intrusive manner would have been one that would have been valued despite of her gender. Regardless of the fact that both texts are fictional, their mediums exhibit various conclusions: since ‘The Wife of Bath’ is classed as poetry there are some limitations as to what could have been written. It would appear that Chaucer’s main objective was to entertain the listener rather than being factual. This is evident due to the consistent structure of rhyming couplets and alliteration. Somme seyde women loven best richesse, Somme seyde honour, somme seyde jolinesse,’ There is a distinctive pattern here which works throughout the rest of the tale. Seeing as though there are no breaks or clear stanzas in the poem, the use of parallelism suggests that a list is about to form without abiding by the usual formation of a list. The rhyming, alliteratio n and sibilance ‘Somme seyde’ ‘richnesse’ ‘jolinesse’, adds emphasis on the ideas explored throughout the tale in a way which amuses an audiences of any age. Death of a Salesman’ has none of these restrictions, whereby no rules or patterns are needed to be followed. Miller is able to write as he wishes, therefore could it be said that this enables him to write according to the truth? As an audience we are only ever permitted to listen and believe the character’s opinions. This limits exactly how much we should class as valid and thus acts as a confinement of plays in general. The importance of this does not only rest on how valid these texts are historically. In context to the essay question, the mediums affect the way the theme of power is portrayed. With the aid of humour, Chaucer is able to manipulate how the audience perceives the unusual occurrence of a woman who owns such authority. This comedy enables the audience to interpret the dubious topics mentioned in the prologue half -heartedly therefore suggesting that the text can’t completely be taken seriously. Conversely ‘Death of a Salesman’ does not include many entertaining scenes to conceal the control Willy has over Linda and consequently Miller sanctions the audience into producing their own take on the subjects referred to all through the play. Sometimes a woman’s basic actions can be justified by her experiences. Alisoun has the ability to convey such intense concepts because of her endless incidents in the past. Her character’s reputation appears to be licentious which consequently enables an audience to reign in on their annoyance of her. Chaucer has portrayed Alisoun in a way which can only be described as caricature. What should be taken into consideration is that perhaps Chaucer’s overall intention when creating such an exaggerated character like the wife was to humour the audience with the ridicule of a woman with such freedom. Or perhaps it was to produce a character like no other that owns the ability to question the acts of society and their standard beliefs. Out of the entire ‘Canterbury Tales’ there are only two women who possess the ability to tell their story: the Prioress and the Wife. Since the Prioress already maintains the basics of a 14th century woman graciously, Alisoun is possibly Chaucer’s technique in inventing a woman who stands for everything the ordinary woman of that time would not and as a result, portrays life on each end of the pole for all types of audiences to experience. Linda’s character owns a front which, even after the analysis, maintains the idea of an obedient wife. However, the initial idea of her abiding by this characteristic has evidently changed. Yes, she still sticks by with her husband, even after affairs and a lack of care and attention, but is she not a stronger woman in spite of all this? Alisoun has the ability to end her marriage as soon as it goes wrong as if to say she is still searching for her ‘ideal man’ and so self-sufficient that she refuses to lead a miserable life, yet Linda remains to be as courteous as ever even after the marital problems. For a 1950s audience, Miller birthed a female icon, a woman who exists in a realist play regarding the common aspiration of the attempts at conquering the ‘American Dream’. All in all, the roles which appeared to be in reverse now seem to walk side by side along the path of independence. Six centuries apart, diverse situations at hand but both individualistically vigorous women ready to undertake what life has planned for the both of them.