Outbound Tourism from China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Outbound Tourism from China - Essay Example Furthermore, the number of Chinese traveling to other abroad grew by over 25 per cent between 2000 and 2006 "BNET". For instance, in the year 2005 the Chinese made 31 million overseas trips (Cochrane 2008). The current high figures of outbound tourism from China did not grow overnight. China's policies in the past were restrictive and this minimized the number of travels by the Chinese in years before 1990 (Wen & Tisdel, 2001). For example, before 1990, the Chinese's travel abroad was mainly restricted to official visits or commercials functions rather than for holiday or leisure (Wen & Tisdel, 2001). Good tidings came in 1990 when China began relaxing its policies on outbound travel, first allowing visits to Southeast Asian counties for tourism purposes (Gu & Ratliff 2006). Perhaps this is the reason why outbound travel by the Chinese to the countries in this region is high. Along this line, "BNET" noted that the vast majority of overseas trips made by Chinese in 2005 were targeted for Hong Kong and Macau. In the 1998, the total number of Chinese who made overseas trips was 8.4 million, of which 5.2 travellers were doing business while the rest were on private functions (Wen & Tisdel, 2001). China's rising middle class income and an increasing crave to see the rest of the world make the country a significant outbound tourism market (Wen & Tisdel, 2001).. As cited above, China is progressively easing foreign travel policies and this adds impetus on the need to travel abroad. The rising levels of disposable income among the Chinese and constant exposure to foreign countries through television and the Internet have greatly contributed to the increase in outbound tourism from China (Prasad & Barnett 2004). The increase in number of travel agencies is indicative of the increase in number of outbound tourists. As an illustration, the number of travel agencies rose from 6,222 in 1998 to 11,552 in 2002 (Prasad & Barnett 2004). That a rise incomes among the Chinese and outbound travel policies have been phenomenal in promoting China's outbound tourism cannot be gainsaid. However, the two factors per se cannot be acclaimed to be determinants of outbound tourism. Other factors such as government limitations on the countries to which to travel come into play. For example, there is a list of countries that have an "Approved Destination Status" to which Chinese can freely travel (Lew et al 2002). Outside these countries, Chinese towards are perceived to be risking their lives (Lew et al 2002). The above factors and many others such as personal preferences and choices affect China's outbound travel. A discussion of the same and appraisal of relevant statistics forms the basis of discussion of this paper. Factors that have promoted China's outbound travel and tourism Changes in outbound travel policy China had a strict outbound travel policy that barred the Chinese from traveling overseas until 1983 (Zhang, Pine & Lam 2005). The Chinese government

Politics Essays Media Political Protest

Politics Essays Media Political Protest Media Political Protest Politics And The Media Critically consider mainstream New’s treatment of political protest and new social movements. The late 1950’s and early 1960’s brought about political protests and social movements like no other, with martin Luther kings American civil rights movement being remembered as on of the most famous and successful social movements in history. The American civil rights movement gained a considerable amount of coverage from mainstream media resulting in people being largely familiar with the movement and its success. It was then clear that there had always been a dynamic relation between mainstream media, political protests, and new social movements. From the 1960’s onwards sociologists had began to study the theory around social movements and had developed many ideas and research on the relationship between mass media, protests, and movements. When faced with a question such as one discussing mainstream news media, protests and new social movements one would have to define those concepts in order to take into consideration their significance of each other. Mainstream media has always been designed to reach to an extremely large audience across a limitless geographic, it is popularly circulated information distributed by newspapers, television, radio, and magazines. Political protest or protests in general are a form of activism that involves individuals marching, demonstrating, for or against a political policy, action, or legislation. In protesting it is seen as a way of voicing opinion to further change a concept whether to influence public opinion or government policy. And finally new social movements are usually made up of groups of individuals or organisations that focus on certain social or political issues in order to influence social change, weather to cause, prevent or reform social change. The notion (new) social movement was given as they have only been largely recognised since the 1960’s. Diana,(1992) cited in ‘culture and politics in the information age’ byFrank Webster states that a way in which we could see social movements is: ‘A network of informal relationships between a multiplicity of individuals and organisations, who share a distinctive collective identity, mobilise resources on capital issues’. Most critics would agree that the relationship between mainstream media, social movements, and political protests is vital; however their relationship has never been easy and is still considered as difficult by many critics. Social movements need mainstream media for exposure in order to expand and become recognised on behalf of their cause. In some respects the media also needs social movements as a vital news source and it is not surprising that both would exceed to reach their goals as it is apart of their nature and they must exceed to survive. However despite the fact that social movements seem to be useful for the media and are considered to be vital or important to the political landscape, with their ability to intercede with political elites and citizens, it seems that they have a disadvantage compared to mainstream media. As mainstream media have an advantage and the upper hand over social movements. This is elaborated upon by Gamson Wolsfeild, (1993) cited in ‘Media society’’. They state that social movements need the mass media more than the mass media needs them, in publicizing their activities, mainstream media needs to cover social movements so that; they could gain support, validation as a major/important political players, and maximise the attention of spotlight of conflict to attract mediators or potential allies. On the contrary the media have alternatives to having social movements or protestors as a news source. This does not seem to be the only disadvantage movements have with the media. It is argued that political protests and new social movements are covered in a negative light the majority of time. Gamson’s The strategy of social protests cited in ‘socail movements’ states his study that found that groups were more likely to be successful if they were: ‘based on one issue, used violence, disruptive tactics, selective incentrees, and came from a centralized, in factionalized and bureaucratized organisation.’ However this would lead one to think that the coverage of a violent or disruptive protest would be extremely negative as even a non-violent protest gains a negative and violent label under mainstream Media’s coverage the majority of the time critics would argue. This is proven with actual studies such as Halloran’s study. Halloran et al, (1970) studied protestor’s portrayal in the media with focus on the protest against the Vietnam War, he discovered that although it was a predominantly peaceful protest media portrayal of the protest was not positive and conveyed it as violent. This was only one of many studies that revealed similar finding. Another study by Chan Lee, (1984) on the protests had found that the protestor’s weather being violent or non violent, un-peaceful, or peaceful were represented as being ‘the other’ or in a ‘them vs. us’ notion. However in some cases when protestors are not seen as extremely deviant and questioning of the ‘status quo’ they are sometimes covered in a fair light one example of this could be the stop the war coalition in 2003 against the Iraq war, The media can use this frame however more then often chooses not to. There are two main attributes that influence a social movement or a protest being covered. these are the extent to which the movement is ‘extreme’ i.e. challenging in terms of questioning the status quo and how ‘militant’ they are in their tactics McLeod Hertog, (1999) cited in ‘Manufacturing policies: the media’s role in the policy making process’ state that the more militant a social movement is the more negative and ‘critical’ the media coverage. In talking of the word militant one means how much a socail movement is how radical and milantly tactical a movement is. In general the idea is that protestors are more likely to be portrayed as deviant members of society rather than individuals who have a right to voice their opinions The treatment of social movements has not been all that better either some have been covered in a positive light i.e. the civil rights movement, however most would argue that for that past few decades social movements have not been particularly prioritised or covered in a totally positive light either some sociologists such as Marxists would argue that social movements are not covered as it is another way for the ruling elites to keep in control of their social and economical status above the masses and that social movements should be able to vocalise their causes and be recognised. ‘The modern media have become central to the life and death of social movements’.There have been many sociological theories upon the treatment of new social movements by the media. Many critics reemphasise the fact that the media is important for social movements, in particular Kelbowiz and Scherer (1988:72) cited in ‘Frames of protest: social movements and framing perpective’ state that: In some instances, social movements have to compete to legitimize their status and be recognised in the media. Givevitch Lay, (1985) cited in ‘frames of protest’ states that in contemporary societies societal groups such as social movements and ideologies compete for the definition and construction of social reality within the media. It is evident that it is more of a struggle for social movements to gain coverage let alone positive coverage; it is also evident that governmental organisations are far more likely to gain coverage easier and faster. One reason for this is that they are seen as a vital and official news source and that they are very much legislatively based. This is something that the media look to cover as the general population are concerned with and have interest in this aspect this is summarised by the following quote from sociologists who studied movement struggles compared to political organisations ‘In terms of access struggle, institutional sources and political authorities have an ‘increased upper hand or advantage as they are considered as strong news sources’ (White 1950; Galtung and Ruge 1965: Shoemaker 1991). Social movements are coming against a hard opposition which includes collective actors such as counter movements, the state, and the media placing them in a ‘struggle for cultural supremacy’ Tarrow, (1998). social movements struggle includes not one but two battles, the first one being determining mainstream media coverage and the second being the way in which the social movement and the story is formed. This is called framing, Framing is the way in which a story is covered or the way in which it is portrayed in the media. It also means the extent the frame and the interpretation of the movement has been taken over by the media and how favourable the journalistic description bias is. (McCarthy et al 1998, smith et al (2001) cited in ‘frames of protest’ sate that it is regarded as difficult for movements to both gain coverage and do so under an ideal. One concept that is seen as important for mainstream media is news value, social movements and political protest must offer high news value to be covered or framed righteously. They must be able to attain public interest and attention in order for the story to sell. This is because some aspects of journalism mainstream media in particular has become increasingly commercialised today and is more dependant on sales. Herman Chomsky, (1988) carried out research and came up with the propaganda model which consists of five filters that social movements or protest must survive in order to be covered. These include 1) the size, ownership, and profit the media could make from the story 2) advertising 3) sourcing 4) criticism and 5) anti-communist ideology, i.e. keeping the power in the hands of elites and serving their interests. This is seen as a way of emphasising news value and reinforcing authority by some marxist critics. Consecutive to the propaganda model, a lot of research was done into news selection, and it is evident that there is a lot of research indicating that the main priority for media institutions is profit and audience interest. Meyer, (2002) states that there is another filter which is called the rules of stage-managing which (as mentioned before) he says is based on how much the news can attract audience attention. The fact that it is difficult for social movements or protests to obtain coverage means that they have to think of other ways of obtaining coverage one example is through emotion management which includes using concepts that would encourage sympathetic feelings for example sadness. An example of this would be using pictures of victims of hurricane Katrina in 2006 or pictures of children affected by the Iraq war. This is just one of the concepts social movements have to use to gain media interest. Movements and political protestors have to develop all kinds of media strategies such as adopt public relations techniques and strategies to bypass the medias selection bias (Olivier Maney 2000: McCarthy et al. 1998; smith et al.2001; Miphial Schiveingraber 1998) ‘An effective media strategy requires – at least to some extent –a willingness to cater to the often warped priorities and short attention span of the news media’Despite what critics say about social movements having to change their techniques and this being bad, Salzman, (1998:3) in the media handbook for activists cited in ‘Media Society’ says: It is not only Salzman who comments on this, others feel that if social movements adopt proactive planning despite the fact it may alter movement messages, it could lead to favourable media coverage. Therefore sacrifices to social movement messages suggest that all in all the media wins and gains more based on what it needs. It also suggests that general consensus is important when trying to obtain coverage. However one concept that has helped social movement organisations or political protestor activists is of course (the World Wide Web). With independent media sites such as ‘Indymedia’ and ‘Schnews’, it has given social movements and activists the chance to function through the web enabling them to write their own journalistic stories and publicize their movements, beliefs, and causes with the possibility of more visitors every day. These internet sites also most productively enable social movements to be Trans global news sites, as people around the world can have access to their information mediums at the click of a button. Earl Schussman, (2003) cited in ‘Social movements and internetdiscourse’ state that the internet is incredibly useful to movements or activists organisations who want to log on to the web and publicize things such as protest information, they say that in general the internet can be seen as an ‘organisational tool’ for individuals optimistic for social change. Some critics feel that the internet has the ability to excel past mainstream media outlets and centered hierarchical forms of organisations Castello, (2000) says: ‘the net gives networks the capacity to decentralise and adapt the execution of tasks while coordinating purpose and decision.’ The more movements and political protestors go online the more sociologists studying them follow them up and theorise their activities. Almeida and Lichbach, (2003) cited in ‘social movements and internet discourse’ did a study comparing four mainstream media sources with activist based internet data in both their coverage of the anti WTO protests in late 1999. They found that activist based websites had reported a higher number of international protests then mainstream media; they also found that they were less influenced by intense concepts such as large numbers of participants or violence etc then the main media outlets. However they also found some limitations into the activist based websites which includes the variability of content and the necessity to confirm and legitimize occurrences. Therefore there are issues that suggest that while the internet is extremely useful for new social movements and political protests it also has its negatives. Another issue would be that people tend to get enough information from mainstream media outlets and tend not to look to other places for more information. Conclusion In general despite some social and political protest success stories with the media it is evident that mainstream news of political protests and social movements have not been completely positive within the few decades. Parati, (1986) cited in ‘media society’ once said in summary: ‘ discrediting techniques used by the media include down playing content in favour of emphasising the spectacle of an event, painting demonstrators as deviant and portraying under representative balance to a tiny number of counter parts, and undercounting the attendance at demonstrations’ have all determined negative coverage. Because of this it would be impracticable to say that all new social movements and protests could be covered more, or that they could be portrayed in a positive light from today onwards, it is evident the more movements and activists in general questions the status quo the less likely it will gain coverage or positive portrayal (framing). Mainstream media and political protests/social movements have always had a less then easy relationship despite the notion of freedom of speech being denoted in the western world. Marxists socialists critics would argue that one way that movements and activists would be able to voice their opinion more within mainstream media would be that they could fight against it and insist on a media reform i.e. a reconsideration of the way the media is conducted and the stories it publishes resulting in it being mandatory that new social movements and protestors capitalist or communists, right wing or left wing (aimed at positive social change) be recognised. Although un-likely this would enable movements to avoid adopting other messages or techniques to fit media needs. Hackett Carroll, (2004) state that it is about: ‘time for social movements to take collective action. To start with democratic media reform needs to be recast as an end in itself a public good not simply a means by which each movement can get its message out. This suggests that while it seems that mainstream media treatment of social movements and protest is not very positive or accepting, many critics feel that social movements and protests should be made known in the interest of ‘public good’ in order for people to be able to voice more opinions freely and create better chance of realizing Habermas’ concept of the public sphere. In terms of the internet, for activists websites to be more successful as a major information source and to be looked upon as much as mainstream media outlets, more money would have to be invested in them to ensure information is official and promotion ca be maximised. Perhaps the result would be a more balances media of information or people could be aware of hidden causes such as discrimination like unfair trade that some social movements try to publicise as much as possible as these issues are still on going. Bibliography 1, Croteau, D Hoynes, W (2000) ‘Media society  : industries, images, and audiences’.  Second ed, London, sage publication 2, Webster, F (2001). ‘culture and politics in the information age a new politics  ?’. London, Routledge. 3, Anderson, R Gray, J (2008). ‘battleground the media’ United States Of America, Greenwood Press. 4, Branston, G Stafford, R (2006). ‘the media student’s book’.London, Routledge. 5, Brahim, E ‘socail movements’ http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/social_movements/?nid=6789 accessed  : 27/03/06 6, Petit, C Social Movement Networks in Internet Discourse http://www.irows.ucr.edu/papers/irows25/irows25.htm accessed:27/03/08 7, Aton, C News Cultures and New Social Movements: radical journalism and the mainstream media Napier University, UK http://joblog.ru.ac.za/News%20cultures%20and%20new%20social%20movements%20-%20radical%20journalism.pdf accessed  :26/03/08 8, Smith J, Johnston, H Globalization and resistance: Transnational Dimensions of Social http://books.google.com/books?id=9UGLVh4JifkC accessed  :26/03.08 9, R.A. Hackett, W.K. Carroll, (2004) ‘Critical Social Movements and Media Reform’ Media Development, 10, Meyer, T. (2002). Media democracy: how the media colonize politics. Cambridge, England: Polity Press. 11, Barker, M (2005) ‘Manufacturing policies: the media’s role in the policy making process’ Australian School of Environmental Studies. Griffith University http://live-wirez.gu.edu.au/jea.papers/Barker.doc accessed: 26/03/08 12, ‘socail movements’ www.wikipedia.com accessed 25/03/08 13, Chan, J. M., and Lee, C. C. (1984) The journalistic paradigm on civil protests: a case study of Hong Kong in A. Arno and W. Dissanayake (eds) The news media in national and international conflict, Boulder: Westview Press. 14, ‘mass media’ www.wikipedia.com accessed:25/03/08 15, (Kleahn. J), ‘A Critical Review and Assessment of Herman andChomsky’s ‘Propaganda Model’ Sage publications, London. 16, Halloran, J. D., Elliott, P. and Murdock, G. (1970) Demonstrations and communication: a case study, Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Steroids in Sports Today Essay example -- Athletes Athletics Drugs Per

Steroids in Sports Today   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The United State is a country that thrives on competition. We idolize our sports stars and practically make major athletic events holidays. Children grow up with their favorite athletes plastered to the wall of their bedrooms and dream that one day they will be the next Barry Bonds, Shaqullie O'Neal, or Tom Brady. Professional athletes train year-round to be in ideal psychical shape in order to perform their best. But what happens when their best just isn't good enough? We expect our sports stars to be perfect, upstanding citizens and role models but this isn't always the case. The recent exposure of athletes using steroids has exploded into a phenomenon involving athletes all around the world. It has cheapened sports and cast doubt on the integrity of our athletes. Steroid use is not exclusive to professional sports. More and more college and high school athletes are beginning to use steroids for many of the same reasons that the pros do; to enhance performance, get an edge on the competition, and improve personal appearance.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Non-medical use of anabolic steroids is illegal and banned by most, if not all, professional, intercollegiate, and interscholastic sports organizations. No matter what justifications are given for using steroids, one cannot overlook the fact anabolic steroids can cause serious physical and psychological side effects. So what exactly is this substance that appears in the headlines of our newspaper?s sport section? Anabolic steroids ?are the synthetic derivatives of the naturally occurring male anabolic hormone testosterone? (Wadler 1). Testosterone?s natural effects help a boy going through puberty grow hair, develop a deeper voice, and retain dietary protein, which aids in the development of muscles. Athletes take the drugs ?to primarily increase muscle mass and strength? (Wadler 2). Steroids do not, however, improve agility, skill, or cardiovascular capacity. Steroids can be taken orally or they can be injected. Most recently, the steroid of choice has been the k ind that is injected and is short-lasting and water-soluble. Many steroids that come in the oral form have proven to be hazardous to the liver, but as Dr. Wadler explains, ?injectable steroids aren?t free of side-effects either. There is no free ride and there is a price to be paid with either form.? Some effects in men of frequent ... ...bout the steroid controversy, the reasons behind the phenomenon is basically universal. Athletes are always striving to be the best and to take their game to the next level. Steroids may drastically enhance their performance and give them a valuable competitive edge. Because so much attention and money is directed towards professional athletics, athletes are now more than ever in the public?s spot light. Today, like it or not, the athletes that take steroids get most of the attention. Children dream of being the next superstar, but will future superstars be clean or will steroids continue to dominate professional sports? Only time will tell. Bibliography Barczy, Jason ?Olrich Centers Study on Steroids.? Central Michigan Life 8 April 2005 ?Drugs and Sports: Anabolic Steroids.? Sept. 2004   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  URL http://espn.go.com/special/s/drugsandsports/steroids.html Fahey, T.D. ?Anabolic-androgenic steroids: mechanism of action and effects on performance.? Encyclopedia of Sports Medicine and Science 1998 Farmer, Sam ?Haslett: steroid use rampant in old NFL.? Los Angeles Times 24 March 2005 Straka, Mike ?Grrr! ? Steroids Not the Issue.? Dec. 2004   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  URL http://www.foxnews.com

Essay on the Internet Essay

There are conflicting views on how people should finish their reading in the more and more productive society. Some people tend to support that a city/town should provide a public library to their citizens, while others have different views that reading could be done on the Internet instead of being finished in a library, which is a waste of money. Both views appear reasonable. On the one hand, some people’s approval of building a library by the city/town is due to the fact that readers can keep themselves away from the noisy environment and daily hassles and are able to relieve stress from work by reading in the library which makes readers peaceful, comfortable and undisturbed. Besides, the library is a boon for poor students who can’t afford to buy text books or other books of their interest. They can borrow these books and read or study them at ease at home. A library is thus a help to the society. On the other hand, advocates of reading online take the cost of running a library into consideration. The newest information online is updated so rapidly from time to time that you can research and receive the news at the same time when it happens. And all these things you need to do is just a click of the mouse which helps you finish reading in a second. In my opinion, although reading online makes us more convenient and receive information more rapidly, a library is a necessary to the society. There has been an increase in the popularity of the internet; one may pause to think the decreasing relevance and importance of a library in today’s world. But one should keep in mind that a person goes to a library not only to search and absorb knowledge from books but also to sit and study there. The ambience and the peaceful and scholarly atmosphere then helps one to concentrate more on one’s study and work.. Thus libraries will never become redundant. They will always be there to indicate the presence of a well-read and educated society.

My drama group comprised Essay

My drama group comprised of five people including myself. We set out to create an improvised piece of drama, thematically based on greed, love, betrayal, envy and revenge. During the time spent preparing for our improvisation, we came across many sources that had an immense influence on our piece. In order to appropriately progress with the play, we had to research the key elements within the sources to which were relevant to our context. As it was an improvised production we did not follow a set script but created a basic guideline from which we could refer to and enable us to keep on track. Our research into these sources was definitely apparent in our final performance, which was acted out in front of our drama set. In this essay, I intend to compare our improvised piece of drama with the sources we used in order to point out the similarities and illustrate the inspiration we drew from them. During the course of producing our play, we used the well-known novel and recently filmed ‘ The Count of Monte Cristo’ to draw influence on certain scenes, which clearly showed up in our final production. The plot of the ‘ Count of Monte Cristo’ is also thematically based upon betrayal, love, greed, envy and revenge. As a young sailor, Edmond Dantes, an honest and humble man whose peaceful life and plans to marry his wife Mercedes are ruined when his supposed best friend, Vernand, betrays him in order to get Mercedes for himself. Edmond is unjustly sentenced to an island prison after being framed by Vernand for high treason and is trapped in a nightmare for thirteen years. This key element is clearly apparent in our piece of drama, as Fernando, a rich and successful man soon to wed his Fiancà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½e Victoria, is betrayed by his two deceitful friends who envy his wealth and is cast away by them to a deserted island. Obviously we have shared and incorporated the same basic ideas and themes in order to create an improvised piece of our own. A similar pattern is followed in the theme of revenge. In the ‘Count of Monte Cristo’ Edmond is aided by an elderly and wise inmate whom he learns from and the two plot to escape from prison but only Edmond succeeds and returns to his mainland execute revenge on those who wronged him, under the title of a mysterious Count of Monte Cristo. We too were able draft the theme of revenge into our play. Fernando is aided by a castaway on the island who helps him survive and teaches him how to fight. Eventually, he escapes back to his homeland alone and executes revenge on his old ‘friends’ using his new skills. This worked effectively in our production and formed the backbone plot to our final improvisation. Both the periods of the ‘Count of Monte Cristo’ and our play is set in the mid seventeenth century so more research had to be done to make our characters realistic. Another key source that we researched carefully to progress with our island scene was the film, Cast Away. In this movie, a man is cast away to a deserted island where he is forced to learn how to survive for only one reason, his love for his wife. This inspired our play as the only things which Fernando wants to live for when he is on the island is to see his wife again and to execute revenge on his friends who betrayed him. We used the idea of being abandoned alone from home on an island but we incorporated a companion to our main character, Dar’tanion, who had been living on the island for more than seven years. Research into his character’s speech, movement, body language etc was essential as we could not comprehend how somebody would be like after living alone on an island for seven years and therefore looking into movie of ‘Cast Away’ was very useful. These two sources were our main areas of influence. However we did look into the classic story ‘Robinson Crusoe’ where a civilized man meets a savage and teaches him how to be civilised. In the case of our play, a savage man teaches a civilised man to be more savage and the basic survival skills. We made it a point to show the character development of Fernando in terms of acting and the on stage relationship between the two. In conclusion, our play was a joint extract of all these sources combined with our own interpretation and improvisation.