How did Genghis Khan and the Mongols change the world?

How did Genghis Khan and the Mongols change the world? Throughout Genghis Khan’s time, and even after, the Mongol Empire reigned supreme. Thoughtco.com says that the historic empire is considered one of, if not the largest, to ever appear on the face of the Earth, with an estimated range of twenty-four million square kilometers across Eurasia (“Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire”).

To put that huge number in comparison, the current size of the United States is a little less than ten million square kilometers. How does one empire become so strong, so large, and how did Genghis Khan start this historic empire?

The first ruler of the Mongol Empire, Genghis Khan, rose to power in a rather unorthodox way. History.com tells how before Khan was even ten-years-old, his father was poisoned and killed. The death of his father resulted in him, his mother, and six siblings being thrown out of the clan to fend for themselves.

The clans reasoning for this was because of the vital element known as food. With an entire family gone, the clan could feed more of its people for a longer period of time (“Genghis Khan”). Later, Khan killed one of his brothers to become the head of the house, but was later captured by the clan that had once called him their own. Once Khan finally managed to escape, he married a woman named Borte. The two of them had four sons and an unknown number of daughters. Eventually, their sons would have to deal with the problem of dividing up their fathers land

With Genghis Khan being one of the most powerful people on the planet at the time, his wife was most likely valued just as much as he was. This seemed to be true as she was eventually captured by another clan. Luckily Khan was able to save his wife. Because of the success of this assault, his popularity grew tremendously. This led to Khan receiving a great number of followers, and even allowing him to forge new alliances among other clans. Khan would later be known to his people, and others around the world, as the “Great Khan.”

By the time Khan had united the Mongols after rising in military power, he had amassed around one million followers. Two of the main things that Khan had done to help gain followers, and create an astonishing army of great strength, was that he brought in peasants from villages he had conquered and promoted military personnel based on their merit rather than what bloodline they were from. While capturing villages, Khan would welcome the peasants into his empire after killing the leaders of said villages.

This would help bring more people into the empire as they had no other leader to tell them no to or to stop them. John Green reveals how some villages even went to lengths as to surrender as soon as the Mongols arrived. This was done simply so that there would be no slaughter or bloodshed from the innocent people as the Mongols had done before to other villages (Green 00:06:43-00:06:54).

After joining the Mongol Empire, the people were allowed or given rights such as religious freedom, something that had not been introduced or been in effect anywhere else in the world at the time. As a result, people of all religions could coexist together because Khan and the Mongols had allowed them to have this now cherished freedom.

Among other things, the Mongols also abolished torture, created trade routes similar to the silk road (which had been used long before the empire), and made a pony express type communication relay system known as the Yam System. They forbid the selling and kidnapping of women since this had been a common thing among the Mongols even when Khan was young, and banned the enslavement of any persons in the Mongol Empire. Finally, livestock theft was made punishable by death, as many of the people in the empire were farmers or dealt with livestock in their respective professions.

The Mongols decided that to help their empire thrive, they should relocate specialists such as artists, musicians, merchants, and administrative people to where they would be needed the most. Because of this, culture was spread all around the country as different people were sent to different locations. Now the question is how did these couple of things have such a massive impact on the world at the time and maybe even today? Well, with the trade routes stretched across the Mongolian Empire, people in the far east were buying items or foods that might have only been native to the areas on the western side of the empire.

People from the northern areas were trading to the southern areas and sharing everything to everyone across the lands available. This resulted in the expansion and growth of knowledge and culture. Maybe a new way of thinking, eating, dressing, living, or any other thing that could be traded along these routes. The communication system had news traveling much faster and farther than before with new checkpoints along the way with food, water, and other supplies so that the messenger and their horse could stay in the best shape to deliver things at a much faster rate than before.

There are many other ways the Mongols had an impact on the world. John Green again talks about the fact that it is estimated that Khan had around 1,000 – 2,000 children during his years as the Mongols leader and is estimated that he now has around sixteen million direct descendants worldwide (Green 00:04:47-00:05:29).

There is another large-scale impact that left a stain on the Mongols and on humanity itself. This stain being that the Mongols may be credited with setting the plague known as the “Black Death” in motion. With intercontinental trading, there is a risk of unwanted pest and the diseases that come along with it. It is believed that with the massive amounts of trading happening, the fleas that were feeding on the onboard rats could have possibly been brought by the Mongolian empire to other nations during trade, which is not a good thing to have in your legacy.

The Mongols also revolutionized how wars were fought. Instead of using foot soldiers with spears, swords, and armor, they had warriors atop horses with bows and arrows ready to fire at their commanders will. With the combination of their horses being much faster than the average human, the Mongols being fantastic archers, and brilliant leadership, it is no wonder the Mongols were a dominant force. Green talks about how even when attacking and sieging a castle or fort, the Mongols seemed to easily learn how to quickly infiltrate and destroy the building or the army inside (Green 00:05:59-00:06:42).

One tactic that was used by the Mongols was sending the corpses of fallen soldiers, and possibly citizens as well, that had been plague-ridden over the walls. Once the infected bodies were launched over, disease and panic soon spread inside. Because of this early use of biological warfare, it is theorized that this helped set in motion the spread of the black plague.

All these tactics continued to be used throughout the years to come as they had been shown to work. It should also be noted that at the time the Mongols were thought to have killed around 5% of the world’s population. This was a major problem, as areas such as Iraq and Iran were believed to only have recently recovered from these major decreases in population in the early 20th century.

The Mongol Empire covered a vast area in its time. It covered the modern countries such as Russia, China, Mongolia, Korea, India, Hungary, Persia (Iran), Armenia and many more countries in the European and Asian continents. Even after Khan’s death, his sons and grandsons continued to rule and grow the vast empire for over one-hundred years, but all things must come to an end, and the Mongol empire did in 1368 when the Chinese dynasty, known as the Ming Dynasty, overthrew the Mongol empire, only to itself be put out years later.

This once great empire redefined warfare. They brought back intercontinental trading, created a message relay system, started religious freedom, and will forever be known as one of the greatest Empires to ever rule on the face of this Earth. The Mongol legacy will forever be solidified as one of the greatest and most influential of all time.

Read more

China Rural Poverty

After Deng Xiaoping took over the power, he imposed a lot of policies to change the economic, social and political structure. The first thing that Deng insisted to do was to improve the economic growth. But the lack of concern with the rural area brings China the decline in output and income of the peasants which widened the gap between the coastal and interior areas. In the articles “Economic growth, income inequality and poverty in China under economic reforms”, the author described the improvement under Deng’s policies.

In “Reducing Absolute Poverty in China”, fundamental problems in education and health care aspects which remained unsolved were introduced. During these few years, the government put a great effort in minimizing the rural poverty situation and there was a significant change in the rural area. There was no doubt that China has improved from time to time, although rural poverty is always a problem for the government, they start to have better plans to implement compare to the Mao and Deng eras.

Yao’s article, “Economic growth, income inequality and poverty in China under economic reforms”, analyzed the failure of the Deng’s policy. Because most poor people lived in the rural areas, Deng decided to reform agriculture first before reforming the urban and industrial sectors. The household production responsibility system was introduced. This system allowed farmers to keep a certain proportion of outputs after fulfilling a production quota set by the production team1.

This method would be able to provide a better incentive for the peasants to work harder since now, they could get their own reward, the proportion of the production. Also, the government could still guarantee they would get the standard amount from the peasants, therefore, it seemed to be beneficial to both sides. Grain output increased from 305 to 407 million tons between 1978 and 1984. Real per capita income more than doubled, rising by 14. 9 per cent per year2. Since the reform seemed to be very successful, they began to reform the state-owned enterprises.

Mao’s doctrine had put a lot of ideological barriers on the economic policies and it was time to break all those. Major reform methods were introduced to raise enterprise accountability and autonomy with a flexible wage system to link work efforts with rewards more directly for individual workers3. Although existing state-own enterprises were not privatized and they would be benefited from state budgets, non-state enterprises such as private and collective sectors got a lot of advantages as well.

In order to increase the agricultural output, the government encouraged the rural peasants to work hard by giving peasants more capital, establishing better incentive systems, allowing greater freedom of crop selection, changing the structure of the administration of agriculture4. The agricultural production seemed to be ameliorated during the early 1980s. In the rural areas, non-farm enterprises, particularly the township and village enterprises (TVEs) quickly developed to become a new economic force.

In 1992, TVEs employed more than a quarter of the total rural labour force and contributed about 40 per cent of per capita rural income5. There was no doubt that these policies had contribution to a great amount for improving the poverty situation, it had not solve the fundamental problems for the poverty. In the article “Reducing Absolute Poverty in China”, the authors described poverty problem stepped backward after a short improve. During the second half of 1980, a few economic policies such as the increase in prices for grain and the rapid growth of the working-age population .

The population exceeded the expansion of employment opportunities, created a worsening of rural underemployment from 1989 to 1990. Since the official government did not want to put as much subsidy on the farming projects, the costs for production increased quickly while the income from production remained the same. Officials tried to attract foreign investment but it was not successful because they knew the damages which had created in the countryside during the Mao era.

Besides the decline in income, the township officials were exploiting peasants. They gave the peasants IOU’s instead of cash so that they would have more cash to invest in new township enterprises6. Peasants did not get the “incentive” as what the government originally imposed anymore. They wanted to revolt but they found out it was useless because most of the officials were corrupted at that time. Most of the peasants commented, “Why risk so much to remove one corrupt cadre? 7 Except bearing all the exploitation, they had no other choices to choose. Although poverty had reduced from 1985 to 1990, agricultural growth and rural development did not increase a lot during the same period, therefore, only the urban areas had improved during the reform. While a lot of peasants wanted to get a chance to go to the South, most of the poor peasants were remained in the poor countryside. The author also explained the major causes of rural poverty the government did not solve.

Although the overall status seemed to be improved, the government neglect about some basic aspects in the society which would affect the peasant’s directly. The educational and health status of Chinese were still far way below the standard. Due to corruption the central government provided financial transfers to the poor areas of China but resources were not adequate to meet all primary education. The lack of financing, school facilities are often insufficient and ill equipped. Also, due to limited access, the teacher training programs did not work out efficiently.

Although current training courses focus on content and pedagogical techniques appropriate for large urban schools, but few programs offer teachers instructional methods and skills needed for small and sometimes ethnically mixed rural schools8. At least half of the boys in the poorest villages, especially in some minority areas, and nearly all of the girls did not have a chance to receive education and achieve literacy9. The infant mortality rate in some very poor counties exceeded 10 percent which was greater than the national level by one fold. Diseases such as tuberculosis and iodine deficiency disorders concentrated in poor areas.

Half of the children were malnutrition because they did not even have enough food to eat. In the health aspect, although China has reached a national health status comparable to many middle-income countries, people in the rural areas never had sufficient access to basic health service. During the 1980s, the government budgetary funding declined from 30 percent of total health expenditures to 19 percent. Although the number of health institution and doctors increased each year since 1980 in a national level, the statistics did not apply to the rural villages.

The government support for rural doctors decreased by 45 percents in the same time period10. Due to the poor education and health systems, rural peasants were suffering from the poverty with no chance to make themselves better off. Since the government noticed the serious problem which remained in the countryside, they started to impose some poverty reduction program in late 1980s and early 1990s. The Agricultural Development Bank of China offered subsidized loans for poor-area development through provincial bank branches and county- and lower-level banks.

The regional office of the State Planning Commission administers a food-for-work program assisted in building roads and other transportation systems, drinking water systems, irrigation works and other capital construction in poor areas. In addition, each of 27 central ministries and agencies has its own special poor-area project and every province has its own specially funded programs11. In 1986, the government found 331 poor counties which were eligible for development assistance. The program provided aid in providing labour for road construction and drinking water facilities.

Living standard increased because of that. These programs contributed to the construction of 131,000 km. of roads, 7,900 bridges and 2,400 km. of inland river channels. Water supply conditions for 20 million people and 13 million animals were improved12. They also selected some provinces to get the provincial funding based on their situations. The poverty reduction strategy was announced in the eighth Five-Year Plan during 1991-1995. Once again, they put emphasis on supporting the poor-area agriculture and rural enterprise through subsidized loans.

The government’s poverty reduction strategy was further defined during the National Seven-Year Plan in 1994 to 2000. They had a few plans such the concentration of available funding in the poorest counties and the improvement in access of the poor to employment opportunities outside the poor areas, greater investment in the development of human capital, funding for health, education and relief services in the poorest areas and the continuing investment in poor-area agricultural, rural enterprise, road and other rural infrastructure development projects13.

The Central Committee and the State Council issued a blueprint for solving the problem of inadequate food and clothing for China’s rural poor in 1997. The government will allocate an additional $180 million to help build the agricultural and facilities and apply scientific and technological advances in rural areas. The better tools and equipment they have, the faster they can build up the economic system. $350 million will increase government loans for the poor annually. The priority of the use of funding is the irrigation, infrastructure and transport projects.

The government would guarantee that households short of food and clothing would be exempt from state-fixed quotas on grain purchasing and some agricultural taxes. Industrial enterprises built in poor areas will be exempted from income tax for the first three years. Economically developed coastal regions and municipalities will be encouraged to establish ties with inland areas and assist with funds, technology transfer, information and technical personnel. The central government will offer training courses for officials and managerial personnel in poor areas.

The government tries to use these methods and regulations to improve the rural development so that it can catch up with the urban areas as soon as possible. Since the Chinese government wanted to be competitive among the whole world, they now had the motivation to improve the poverty situation. According to China’s State Statistical Bureau, 250 million people, 31 percent of the rural population, were living in poverty in 1978, all of them in the countryside. By 1985 this number was cut in half to 125 million14.

At that point, the Chinese government started the first major rural development program assisting the rural poor. However, with implementation of a coastal development and financial decentralization, policies that would accelerate economic growth nationally but exacerbate the plight of significant sections of the rural poor and slow poverty reduction. The government started to concern about the rural poverty issue in 1990s, they applied a lot of financial aid programs and relief programs to deal with the problem.

Premier Zhu Rongji delivered a speech in the Central Poverty Relief and Development Working Conference in May 2001. He concluded that China’s rural poverty situation is improving during the last twenty years. Although there is still a long way to go in order to minimize the gap between the coastal and rural area, and to defeat the rural poverty, the government have the confidence that they will be able to improve themselves so that they will be able to compete with the foreign in all aspects.

Read more

Sino Soviet Split

Communism in US was embraced as an ideology but in China it was seen as an alternative)bureaucracy, different levels of productive force, dominant role of peasantry,( in china, they had no clue, so the role of town workers and farmers in US and China) different perspective to imperialism ( when communism was instilled in SO, Stalin etc was interested in bringing about a strong US empire, so they felt that other countries should subordinate to theirs, because they feel they were the leader. US volcanically and militarily aided the countries to spread communism-China, believed strictly In sovereignty, no Interference In domestic policies.

Mao received extremely Limited aid, he spread It Individually. Hence, China did not see why they should have to succumb to SUE leadership. He refused to conform. In the long march to the mountain, when he recruited and spread communism, the used the farmers, and the loyalty was instilled thru how communism could help their socio economic problem. China has plenty of cheap labor. So Mao Sedona took into account all this factors. -As a result of all the difference in ideology, dominant players, ways, what happen is that when Mao finally established communism in China, he felt independent, he did not feel obligated to SO.

They did not respect US s the supreme leader of communism as opposed to Eastern European countries. Ideological – approach + practice difference ( policies headed of , 2 different directions – personality , challenges to USSR supreme leadership. Communist Crises 1) Sino soviet split 2) Chinese Economic Reforms (1978) -by 1980 china was already full on economic reform. Resulting in a major crises June 4th mass demonstration and Attainment Square massacre 1 ) agriculture and farming -leasing land to the farming, in return a fixed quota, incentive to increase farming. Decentralized party power. Province power increased to make decisions.

Adoption of household responsibility system. 2) industry- as china began to reform, how are you going to measure economic efficiency? What measures were taken to modernize Industry 1) gradual approach 2) pilot project XSL Chuan, starting with the smaller SEE, they were given autonomy. More than 6000 See’s were given power. All the state Industrial, manufacturing and production of Industrial products, they were also supposed to be financially independent. They were supposed to increase the among the farmers. But the SEE failed, because of corruption, lack of training of skilled people, lack of enterprising managers. 3) open door policy 4)

Read more

Emerging Markets; Risks and Challenges

Trade among these countries has also grown by a staggering amount in recent years and their multinational companies are now competing with those from the developed economies. There remain, however, significant risks and challenges to investing in these countries. They are discussed here under these broad headings; Political, Economic, Legal and Socio cultural. They affect the different countries in deferent ways and sometimes Interact in deferent ways to produce deferent results. For example, political processes more often than not drive economic, legal and social policies of governments.

China and India, two of the largest emerging markets operate very different political processes and therefore have two very different sets of political institutions. Chinese communism and Indian democracy vary significantly, and their political systems ultimately affect the choice of economic, legal and social policies. The first step to emerging market status for most of these countries can be traced to political reforms and/or movements, examples being the transition from authoritarian to democratic governments and economic liberation’s.

It can also be argued that social reforms and/or popular movements brought about the downfall of the authoritarian governments in the first place, allowing for reforms in the political and economic systems In place (the political economy), thus paving the way for economic gains witnessed today. Despite the often complex interactions between these factors, wave attempted to simplify them by grouping them In broad categories. Emerging markets also face challenges as they come to grips with economic prosperity and their new status in the global community.

Read more

Warlord – Creative Writing

“Half a year before you were born, a great battle was fought and many brave men lost their lives. Your father led his army of seven thousand men into battle, they were fighting the evil Rovonaga. It was a lost cause right from the start, only three thousand of the seven were trained warriors, the rest ordinary men trying to save their homes. The odds were four to one as Rovonaga had a force twenty-eight thousand strong, including five thousand cavalry and five thousand archers, each extremely well trained in what they did. It was said every archer could pierce an apple at four hundred yards.

The other eighteen thousand were fully armoured samurai with swords so sharp they could cut a human torso clean in half. Our men fought bravely, but the outcome was inevitable, they lost and with it the land. Rovonaga gave no mercy, he murdered every last man until a river of blood flowed. Your father was killed last, they hung him from a tree at the top of a hill so everyone could see him. His body was left there and nobody ever took it down, it slowly decomposed over time and nothing is left, except the rope, which still hangs as a symbol to show what happens if you get in Rovonaga’s way.

That is how your father died son, he died an honourable man. A brave man, like your father, may die, but cowards do not live at all. ” Akechi remembered when his mother told him that story when he was six years old. That same night Rovonaga’s soldiers broke into their house, tied Akechi to a chair and made him watch as his mum was slowly tortured to death. He managed to break free and run from Yalu, a large province in Japan where he lived. When he was young he remembered his mother telling him what Yalu used to be like before Rovonaga took over. He pictured the image in his head now, a beautiful, free place.

Miles upon miles of fields, covered in crops. The warm sun beaming down giving colour and growth to all. The place was alive with animals of every kind, freely running here and there. Butterflies filled the air and birds the sky as rabbits roamed the ground. Farmers tended to their crops happily, at one with the creatures. She said the air smelt so fresh and every breath was like new life rushing into you. The highest hill was covered with trees, its top barely visible. Flowers flourished in-between each tree and she said it was like walking through paradise. No sounds, except those of animals, no smell, except that of freshness.

He remembered she once told him she climbed a tree on top of the hill. When she reached the top she was in the clouds, like being in heaven. She never climbed it again as she thought it was so holy it was only meant to be visited by God. Akechi desperately wanted to see this land, as it should be. Then he remembered what it was like before left. Chitu Village lay at the centre of Yalu, this was where Rovonaga lived. It was basically a huge palace for him and his generals. Not a nice place, an ugly place, too big and covered in statues of eerie creatures. Small men with horns and great, giant goblins on top of towers.

Surrounding his palace was where his soldiers lived, another ugly place, but luxury compared to outside of Chitu. In the six and a half years Rovonaga had been in Yalu, he had sucked the life out of everything. The people were treated like slaves, only kept alive to serve Rovonaga and his soldiers. They grew all the crops, harvested them yet at the end they saw none of them. They were lucky if they got a meal a day and many died of starvation and exhaustion. The hill where the trees once grew and the flowers flourished was now where a big, black iron gate stood, the only way in or out of Yalu.

Walls soared high all around the border, covered with spikes, just as much to keep people in as out. It was a huge prison and the people were prisoners in their own homes. All animals had fled, their habitats destroyed and no life lived inside of these walls. The land was suffocated and the air heavy. People breathed unwillingly, they only did because they knew they had to. Although the sun shone it appeared colourless and so did the land, everything black and white. The dead were not cared for and bodies lay here and there, some fresh others half decomposed.

People did not live, they were merely bodies, without souls or spirits, all doing the same routine everyday. Nobody smiled, nobody laughed and most people did not even talk. Guards watched and drove the people on, whipping, beating and killing. When he was six Akechi escaped. He found a small gap in-between the land and the bottom of the wall. He dug furiously, earth flying out behind him. He heard guards coming and so surged on. The gap was now just big enough for him to get through, he did and he had made it, he was free. He ran and ran that night, too scared to stop, tears blurring his vision.

Most of the way he cried for his mother, but she was never coming back. By sheer fortune he had run to the coast. There he saw a small trading vessel lying in the harbour. He sneaked upon board and hid himself inside a box. Inside he collapsed from exhaustion and slept for hours. He was in such a deep sleep he did not even know the boat had set sail. The boat took him to China and there he spent the next twenty years of his life. A family took him in and he was raised as if he were one of their own. He joined the Chinese army and with his father’s spirit and his intelligence he rose higher.

He became general of the whole of South-East China and many people looked up to him. He was a fine leader and a great strategist. He also became well known for his excellence with the blade. Like his father before him, Akechi was a true samurai warrior. Rovonaga became bored with hid palace life and one day he ordered his troops to got o Chinese ports and burn any ships they saw. He wanted a war, and a war he would get. The Chinese government reacted straight away and ordered Akechi to take his men over to Japan and crush Rovonaga. Akechi rallied his men and they boarded their ships.

Under his command Akechi had ten thousand samurai, six thousand archers and two thousand cavalry. A total force of eighteen thousand, but he was outnumbered by Rovonaga’s force. They landed in the same port Akechi had fled from twenty years ago. There the army camped and stayed for the night. The next day was spent unloading the ships and gathering provisions. That night they marched until they were just three miles from the walls of Yalu. Akechi’s plan was one which relied on the element of surprise. He planned to camp for that day and attack at dawn of the next.

Armour was strapped on, swords worn and bows carried. He gathered his troops together and told them this. “I know we are outnumbered in total force, but we will win. We will catch our enemy by surprise and overthrow them. We have more archers and this is a great advantage. Also I am sure you are all thinking that we cannot get past the Walls of Yalu. We will use ladders to get over, rams to smash the gate, any means possible. Have you thought the people of Yalu may help. When they see what is happening they will rise and rebel. Giving us time and maybe letting us in. Be brave all of you.

Someone once told me: a brave man may die, but cowards do not live at all. Which one are you, I know my men and all of you are the first. Come on lets march on to victory. ” Just as he planned Akechi attacked at dawn. He ordered his archers to fire, and his men to go and ram the gate. A storm of arrows went over the walls, many hitting targets. Ladders went up and men climbed over. Rovonaga quickly rallied his troops and sent them to meet this onslaught. The gate held and could not be breeched, men fell from the ladders and Rovonaga was winning, there was simply no way in.

The solid iron gate could only be opened from the inside. The people in Yalu did do what Akechi had hoped, they rebelled and fought the soldiers. This gave Akechi some time, in which he thought and planned. The gap in the wall where he had escaped, it was just around the corner. He had a plan, a trap. He sent his foot soldiers to go down the hill and stay there, he did the same with his cavalry and archers. He took about a thousand men and five hundred archers around to the gap. There he ordered his archers to give covery fire and keep the enemy’s heads down, and with his thousand men he ordered them to dig, but slowly.

As he had hoped Rovonaga had seen them do this and assumed it was the whole army. He could not get to them, but he could not afford to let them in. So he chose to go and meet them. The gate opened and first out was Rovonaga and his five thousand cavalry, they galloped around the side to meet the army at the gap. As did the eighteen thousand men that followed. His archers stayed on top of the wall firing down upon Akechi and his men. The men did not see the main bulk of the army at the bottom of the hill, and the trap was set.

The gates were left open and three thousand of Akechi’s archers and a thousand of his foot soldiers went inside. Here they killed any remaining soldiers and all of the archers. Then Akechi’s men did what Rovonaga’s archers were doing and fired upon the enemy below. Meanwhile the cavalry and the remaining two thousand five hundred archers and eight thousand foot soldiers went to meet Rovonaga’s force. They attacked the rear and the cavalry charged and chopped the men to pieces. The archers were very effective against Rovonaga’s cavalry and foot soldiers, and severely weakened both.

The samurai soldiers cam in to finish the fight off. Rovonaga surrendered and Akechi had won. His men were spared as was he. Rovonaga and his men were kept in prison for the rest of their lives and things slowly returned to normal. The walls were torn down as was the place and the great iron gate. Colour returned to Yalu and so did life. New trees were planted, animals returned and over the years things became increasingly better. Akechi retired from the Chinese army and became ruler of Yalu which China gave back to Japan. Life went on better than ever. Akechi was a great ruler and his people loved him, a true warlord.

Read more

Regional Connectivity

Though this reticular Issue has somehow reduced the limelight of proposed “Aslant Highway; but It Is something that represents even bigger prospect for Bangladesh as the road connecting 23 countries through proposed Asian Highway network. The proposed deep sea port is also opening up the prospect of connectivity as it might be accessible for whole region. Neighboring countries like Sardinia has created a deep sea port in recent times and so far it has been a success story. That might prompt Bangladesh to push this plan forward. By utilizing these opportunity eloquently Bangladesh might turn Into a hub of connectivity.

But It’s a country that Is suffering to construct necessary infrastructure for the internal demand. In this situation if given access of connectivity then it will be worse and might cause a negative impact. So, the necessary infrastructure should be build before giving any such access. What is the ultimate benefit of connectivity? How one can resolve the issue of Sovereignty vs. Connectivity? Will the extended connectivity result In an expansion of drug trafficking and Illegal trade? These are some questions which ultimately come Into play. Many uses this Issues as an argument against connectivity.

It is unlikely to enjoy benefit only through a policy. Especially when it comes about the question of issues like this one got to take all the aspects into consideration. Connectivity and development In this era of globalization the world is more connected then before. Day by day this connectivity is increasing more and more. Now a day it’s quite impossible for the states to take alienated policy. Today we see ideology is playing trivial role then It played before. Today International system Is moving on the three fast highways of globalization, liberalizing and vaporization In a unpopular world.

Economic development seems to be the common goal of every nation. This commonality has made it possible for the states to become physically connected through the flow of – people and trade. That’s why the idea of “interconnected world” is getting more and more voice. Even States that have traditionally been sovereignty sensitive, at least in terms of Integrating themselves through roads, today, are trying to negotiate multilateral economic arrangements that Include transit and transportation across their national boundaries But this interconnectivity is not purely interconnected.

As it’s the connectivity driven by interest so countries that have common interests or the egging which represents more opportunity are the one to be connected or willing to establish connectivity. As a result regional connectivity is becoming more fashionable. E is a perfect example. Following the success of E regional organizations and regional connectivity Is getting stronger. Also countries are more higher investment in public infrastructure brings invariably in its wake economic prosperity and improved quality of life.

It’s also used as a remedy of eradicating inequality which has emerged as a threat of the present time. The improved transport facilities impact through faster mobility of labor, materials, and gods, in hat way reducing transport costs as well as saving time for further engagements. Transport cost is an important determinant of competitiveness, making an integrated and capable transport networks an essential element of the enabling environment for economic integration at any level.

The provision of physical infrastructure in the form of an integrated transport network is essential, but not a major condition in itself for efficient and effective international movement. It is necessary to have adequate facilitation measures to address all the non-physical barriers so that goods, icicles and people can move freely across international borders. Bangladesh prospect as a hub of connectivity: Location and gee-spatial reality: Bangladesh is a country which is virtually “India locked”. So, the geographical point of view it apparently seems to be a disadvantage for her.

But it has many geographical advantages. The access of Bay of Bengal , and through to the wider open seas and to the sea routes towards the strategically important regions such as East and Southeast Asia, on the one hand , and West Asia and the Middle East on the other. This geographical and location can be utilized by Bangladesh for her own benefit. That’s the reason why a deep sea port or the modernization of Chitchatting sea port can have a better prospect it can be both economically beneficiary and strategically an important point. Nepal, Bhutan and Afghanistan are landlocked countries in this region.

Bangladesh can benefit tremendously through opening up transit and great opportunities for crossing from east to west and giving the land-locked neighbors access to the sea. But it’s not given proper attention like the issue related transit. As said earlier Bangladesh is virtually an “India locked” country; so it’s almost impossible o improve connectivity excluding India. It has massive territorial depth and the biggest democratic country. India over the years has made massive progress and it’s the regional super power. So, when we talk about the country that comes first is India.

But India has some vulnerability that can be used in favor of Bangladesh. Bangladesh occupies an important strategic position for India. Slinger Corridor is the only access of the North Eastern state which separates Nepal from Bangladesh only by a few miles. During Indo-China war this situation became more eminent. This vulnerability is still present. Right now, anything produced in that region can’t be marketed in the rest of India, due to the distance from port (Kola). From past decade, India is becoming more dependent on foreign and private investments in growth picture.

But, no company will want to invest in this remote corner of the Northeast, because of the logistical problems of Sevens Sisters linking in with the rest of India. So the only real economic future of Northeast lies in reopening its route through Bangladesh to its West and with Manner and South-East Asia to the East. For additional benefit, if they are allowed to use a Bangladesh port, the export oriented business can also come up in this region. The region is rich in energy resources, like natural gas and hydro-electricity.

The economic progress in this region recent times has increased greatly and has become a real headache for the Indian government. It’s now creating a threat for national integrity. It’s obvious that the insurgency is not going to stop until a drastic economic development take place. But Indian government is finding it hard without the access of Bangladesh. Many in India perceived Bangladesh as an “economic bridge” between Indian’s north-eastern states and the rest of the country. For India, it makes extremely good economic sense to be able to use a corridor to its northeastern states.

It would spare them constructing a long and tortuous road through hostile territory, infested with insurgents of many hues. It had been estimated – in the ‘ass – that construction of new tracks would cost RSI. 2 core per kilometer. It would cost many times more that amount now. For India, access through Bangladesh makes extremely good economic sense to be able to use a corridor to its northeastern states. India has to across Kim to passage its goods & passengers from its mainland to its north-eastern dates, which is expensive & time consuming as well as inefficient in economic sense.

If Bangladesh allows transit, India will require to across only km to complete same job. The Chitchatting port can become a modern busy port like Singapore serving the SCARS countries and even China. Huge foreign investment may be attracted to Bangladesh and finally a throbbing service sector like banks, insurance, hotels, rest houses, petrol pumps etc. May develop around the Tarn’s continental roads and railways. There is an estimate of direct economic gain from transit fees. It ranges from 500 core take to 4,666 core take. The last but not the least, is the mutual transit.

Bangladesh, in return, will get a much shorter route to China, which already is its second largest trading partner. Unfortunately, most of the trading nowadays takes place through sea-route. The cost of import increases, as well as Bangladesh goods loose competitiveness in Chinese market. If Bangladesh wants to access South Chinese underdeveloped market, they must go through India. This was a point of concern for the Chinese delegates during Gumming initiative in 1999, an initiative to link Chinese province of Yuan with Seven Sisters of India, Manner, Thailand and Bangladesh.

Better Co-operations for Connectivity South Asia inherited an integrated transport infrastructure from the British. This was fractured not only by the partition of India but by its political aftermath. The transport network still continue to remain fragmented due to various historical, political and economic reasons which needs to be rebuilt within the context of greater political harmony in South Asia. The transport system of the main land countries of South Asia has developed only in a national context with little consideration given to cross border issues of compatibility, uniformity of standards in infrastructure and equipment design.

It is felt that for socio-economic development if South Sais’s intra-regional trade is to grow rapidly, among others, this will require integration of the transport infrastructure of the region. This calls for cooperation in the strengthening of transportation, transit and connectivity across the region, including harmonistic of standards and simplification of customs procedures and other similar trade facilitation initiatives to minimize the non-physical trade barriers in support of investment in the transport infrastructure.

The decisions of Islamabad SCARS operation in a number of areas including strengthening transport, transit and communication links/connectivity across the region. Recognizing the importance of transport integration in South Asia, SCARS initiated the SCARS Regional Multimode Transport Study (SORTS) with the main objective of enhancing multi-modal transport connectivity among SCARS member states, so as to promote intra-regional trade. Since then the issue of connectivity has been the highlighting issue in every SCARS summit.

Though the countries of this region have many things in common and there re better prospect of development through the process of connectivity; but it’s the most poorly connected part of the world. For example – Bangladesh products constituted only 0. 5 percent (approximately) of total Indian imports. Indian’s informal and formal exports to Bangladesh stand at around $5 billion dollars while Bangladesh exports are about $ 358 million during the financial year of 2007-08. This shows the poor condition of connectivity.

Also the imbalanced situation is eminent of trade between the small country (Bangladesh) and big country (India). As aid earlier Bangladesh has a territorial advantage and India is pushing hard for the access of transport from mainland India to North-East India. So, Bangladesh can use this opportunity to gain economical balance and also to resolve her unresolved issues. One of the main obstacles for regional connectivity is the hostile relation between India and Pakistan. This hostility has made the SCARS ineffective. They are the two big powers in this region.

Both of them have nuclear weapon and plays important role in the world politics. Especially India is moving fast as a regional power and also as a world power. So no progress can be made without the improvement of these two nations. Though over the years little progress has been made, but we see a kind of rational approaches from both the parties in recent time. For example-After the recent Bomb attack in Bombay Indian unlike the previous incident did not blame Pakistan took cautious attitude . Pakistan on the other hand immediately after the attack expressed deep sympathy about the incident.

Both the parties have expressed hope about continuing the ongoing peace process. This shows that they are serious about the issue and if in the future these co-operative environment progress then surely connectivity will increase in this region. Trading in transport connectivity with neighboring countries could reduce trade deficit. It is crucial to understand clearly that these transport connectivity will have no market elsewhere outside this sub-region and that these opportunities of trading in transport services may not continue long.

It is also important for the sub-regional countries to recognize that no country other than Bangladesh can provide these transport connectivity and services. Issues to tackle: Politics of regional connectivity Though it’s an issue which is a part of foreign policy, closely interlinked with economic policy, but political relation can’t be separated from economic and foreign relation. It has been seen that in most case progression has been from close political relations to the deepening of economic relations.

Political relationships that are not characterized by mistrust or suspicion allow first steps in economic relationship which would then expand and generate vigorous inter-state economic activities. But unfortunately this has not been the case with us. Our political culture is marked by tit India exploited by both the political parties as a political agenda. We see a lack of proper planning or commitment on the question of connectivity. All the major aspects such as-Asian Highway, Transit with china or even the Deep sea port there is clear distinction among the political parties and also among the people.

Security The issue of security is closely linked with the issue of connectivity. The fear that connectivity will increase security threat is not without basic. The north eastern region of India is a war prone area. Here the most powerful Indian forces are failing to maintain stable situation. The threat of ALFA and Moist insurgency can poise real problem for us. Also in the region of Manner there are rebel forces fighting against the Junta government. Also the religious extremist groups may misuse the connectivity. So, the security threat should be taken into consideration.

Lack of infrastructure The road and ports of Bangladesh could get overcrowded, thus resulting in poor efficiency in domestic industries. Keeping in view the benefits, it seems the above mentioned risks are too small, from economic perspective. But, a country is not made up of its economy only; it has its political, ideological and popular faces also. To sum up the whole condition, Bangladesh currently does not allow grater connectivity because of non-economic reasons. Lack of co-operation from Big Brother As we all know India at present stage has huge economic advantage with all the countries of this region.

The reason that she is pushing hard for transit is mainly for her own stake. India doesn’t want to allow Bangladesh to have land route with Nepal and Bhutan which is purely for trade purpose, India shows the excuse that it goes against its territorial integrity, using the same logic Bangladesh cannot allow transit. The proposed Asian Highway route provides transit rights to India through Bangladesh because both the entry and exit are with India from Bangladesh. Bangladesh government is naturally concerned about it without reciprocal transit rights from India.

It seems that this is a misplaced concern in view of the fact that at the Dacha SCARS Summit, Indian’s Prime Minister made it clear that India was agreeable to provide transit rights to SCARS countries. But India is not interested to progress over the issue. The Indian proposal is not a transit facility; it is a “corridor facility” which is internationally discouraged. As said earlier Bangladesh already has huge trade deficit with India. So allowing India the access on bilateral basic has little chance through which we can get benefited.

There are many unresolved issues on which India over the years has shown little interest. The worst act was the Freak barrage. Bandstand’s trust in India was not honored properly. We are suffering from less supply of Ganges water than committed. BBS are killing Bangladesh without adequate reasons. Maritime boundaries need to be finalized, issues like Tailgate, demarcation of 6. Skims borders, stoppage of push-in, and Bangladesh-Nepal ND Bangladesh-Bhutan corridors can be solved without much difficulty.

But in the process of connectivity mutual co-operation and trust is the key and it should be formulated through a win-win situation. Connectivity should be implemented in such a way so that all the parties can get the benefit. Conclusion: “Connectivity is the key’ a popular dialogue of the present time. Day by day world is getting smaller through the advancement of globalization and technological connectivity. Singapore is a perfect example of connectivity and progress. “Connectivity’ has worked as the key for them as key in real sense. The success story of E.

IS is the perfect example of regional connectivity. This connectivity has been a trademark for the European countries. South-Asia is one of the poorest regions of the world. Being the part of world’s most poorly connected region, one can obviously say that there are prospects for development through connectivity. As Bangladesh has certain benefits and strategically constitutes an important position so the connectivity can provide greater opportunity for us. But creation of a win-win situation is what that can ensure better progress and ensures equal opportunity for all countries.

Read more

Proposal

Hotel International and the Roaring Dragon Hotel alma Student Sullivan university MGM 510 Executive Summary This proposal provides a roadman toward Improving communications between the Hotel International (HI), a global hotelier, and the management control of the Roaring Dragon Hotel (3RD), one of the original three-star hotels in southwest China and a state owned enterprise (Grainier, 2008).

Failure to recognize cultural norms and the relationship between employees, customers, and contractors will result in dramatic failure of modernization and an effective business plan (Grainier, 2008). Introduction: Management Control Takeover The management control takeover of the Roaring Dragon Hotel (3RD). One of the original three-star hotels in southwest China had a direct impact on the hotel’s employees, its popularity among current customers, and generating profit. 3RD is a state owned enterprise located in southwest China by Hotel International (HI), a global hotelier (Grainier, 2008).

McNally (2011) observed, “Over the past thirty years China has witnessed a gradual transition towards a capitalist political economy with an emphasis on capital accumulation, market competition, and International economic Integration” (p. 1). Background: Deployment of corporate Governance and Global Marketing The provincial government was concerned that the hotel would not meet their potential and needed modernization. The current general manager, Titan Went, focused more on the security of its employees and not the hotel’s profit margin.

The state negotiated new management hoping to drive increased revenue (Grainier, 2008). Currently, the 3RD had a great reputation. “Since the early sass it had enjoyed a long, colorful history and reputation as the region’s premium guesthouse” (Grainier, p. 1). Problem: Organizational culture There was a deep division separating the organization cultures of RED and HI. The HI business strategy and environment went against the current guan-based or Influence-based organizational culture. Guan Is the Chinese word describing Chinese business.

The culture at 3RD promoted social business relations, drinking and eating etiquette, exchanging gifts and donations for favors. RED employees have a strong psychological need associated with receiving and giving “perks” that is tied their self-identification. These interpersonal relationships with each other and customers are relatable to both partnerships and friendships (Yuan & Allele, 2007). In addition, 3RD employees were excited to work for the hotel because it showed they had achieved status based on the strength of their social connections.

3RD was not as worried about the hotel’s decline in popularity, revenue, or in delivering quality service standards. 3RD also had a long nepotistic history tied to the Guiana culture (Grainier, 2008). HI considered the networks of influence irrelevant and changed non-productive behaviors. New performance standards were enacted and employees unwilling to meet these new standards were fired. HI also began processing scheduled redundancy program. Once a place considered as secure employment, became uncertain and untrustworthy.

This caused a deep division separating organizational cultures between RED and HI (Grainier, 2008). Another concern was the lose of important contracts. Nu If Travel was unsatisfied with the new pricing structures and canceled all future tours. This caused a reduction in revenue and also made competition look more favorable for unhappy employees. The conditions at 3RD continued to deteriorated with the loss of industry contacts and Guiana connections (Grainier, 2008).

Opportunities: Satisfied Employees & Success HI has the business strategy to promote efficiency in the hotel’s domestic management style and processes, thereby increasing income and popularity if they recognize the risk of alienating the current organizational culture. A healthy balance should be addressing all the concerns from both parties (Grainier, 2008). Robertson wrote, “people form personal intentions to achieve a variety of desired outcomes, and are satisfied with their Job to the extent that they perceive these goals will be successfully attained” (2009).

By improving communications, HI has the opportunity to promote efficiency and improve processes at 3RD with the help of the employees. Recommendation: Open Communications HI should give special consideration to address changes in culture and conditions within 3RD with open communications between HI management, 3RD employees, contractors, and the public (Grainier, 2008). Addressing concerns and anticipating current customers’ needs and expectations will help the “gradual transition towards a capitalist political economy with an emphasis on capital accumulation, market competition, and international economic integration” (McNally, p. ). Communicate hanged, train new employees, inform contractors, and especially listen to your customers and the public (Grainier, 2008). Want, D (1999) asserted, “Guiana practices have played an important role in China’s capitalist transition, making them an indispensable element of any conceptualization of Chinese capitalism” (as cited in McNally, p. 7). Friendship, trust, honesty, influences offer a more direct and open communication style. By nurturing relationships already established and identifying critical industry contacts, HI can positively establish themselves in the China market (McNally, 2011) (Grainier, 2008).

Read more
OUR GIFT TO YOU
15% OFF your first order
Use a coupon FIRST15 and enjoy expert help with any task at the most affordable price.
Claim my 15% OFF Order in Chat
Close

Sometimes it is hard to do all the work on your own

Let us help you get a good grade on your paper. Get professional help and free up your time for more important courses. Let us handle your;

  • Dissertations and Thesis
  • Essays
  • All Assignments

  • Research papers
  • Terms Papers
  • Online Classes
Live ChatWhatsApp