Media and popular culture in China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Media and popular culture in China - Essay Example Chinese history and culture have always been difficult to understand for western intellectuals. Although trade relationships between China and the rest of the world had gone on for centuries, there is always the perception of that the country represents the other, the Orient. This construct is noted to be in complete contrast to the Occident. Seen in light of this dichotomy, while sentiments and views expressed by Chinese leaders might appear contradictory or paradoxical to the western observer, they are not necessarily so for the Chinese people themselves. Chinese leader Dengs statement to the party to â€Å"Guard against the Right, but primarily against the Left† can hence be interpreted to be logically and practically plausible. The rest of this essay will elaborate on this thesis. Ever since the communist revolution of 1945 and the rise to power of the Communist Party of China (CCP), Marxist-Leninist thought have been the backbone of much of public policy. Under the iron rule of Mao Zedong, although several millions of Chinese lost their lives through their acts of rebellion, communist ideology has been reverentially promoted both within the party and among the general public. This is not to say that there are no contradictions and countervailing tendencies within the party leadership. If anything, when one looks at the priorities of Chinese leadership during the last six decades, it is clear that their holding on to authority is of paramount importance. Whether communist principles get implemented through public policy has been secondary to monopolization of power. And since the greatest threat to power comes from popular movements, as opposed to business interests, Dengs warning against the Left makes perfect sense. Although, the tendency to repress and sub due the public have taken new modes in recent decades, it was frequent even during the reign of Mao Zedong, the founding leader of the CCP. In 1958, Mao introduced a highly

Creative Clusters & Gentrification with focus on the Hoxton area in Essay

Creative Clusters & Gentrification with focus on the Hoxton area in London - Essay Example Generally a large proportion of the urban populations are migratory. Many a times, people carry their native culture even after migration from the native place. So a city reflects spectrum of cultures. The interesting part is that people stick to their own individual values, ethos, beliefs and habits in the same city. After staying as neighbours for years after years people exchange their values and cultures. So an overlap or mixed cultures are observed on most of the big cities in the world. That is why these are known as cosmopolitan cities. The different types of cultures from different parts of the cities get blended and come out as a single or uniform culture of the city. Commonly it is observed that, in every city a number of clusters are there. These are basically geographical clusters with professional and other similar interest. If lessons can be taken from history it can be found that, initially social clusters were formed because of division of labour. It makes business sense and help people grow professionally if they are close to the profession cluster. It provides the required framework for information generation, frequent experimentation for the development of skill and product. Considering art and culture as the binding and common factor there are many cultural clusters or hubs present in the world. The globally famous cultural cities are London, Shanghai, New York, Sydney, Tokyo, Istanbul, Johannesburg and many more. According to the report of World cities cultural forum, 22 leading cultural cities are there in the world. The forum periodically organizes World Cities Culture Summit to increase the connectivity among the cities and upgrade them according to the global standard. New cities are also invited to join the league Every professional groups and likeminded people have similar mind-set. So it becomes easier for them to exchange their views and thoughts. Russo (1985) mentioned that according to a number of studies,