In the book originally written by Miguel Leon-Portilla, mirroring the event way back in 1519 when Hernan Cortes sailed from Cuba to Mexico and entered the capital of the Aztecs, there were accounts that he gathered from the basic viewpoint of the Aztec tribe. ‘The Broken Spears’ talks about the conquest of Cortes, although it dates back ten years before his arrival in the east coast of Mexico, in a place called Tenochtitlan. From the voices of the tribes, there was defeat and destruction with the arrival of the Spaniards… years after they saw eight omens that, for them, were warnings by the gods on the end of the world.Main Body They first heard the invasion from a common man who reported to King Motecuhzoma: “Our lord and king, forgive my boldness. When I went to the shores of the great sea, there was a mountain or small mountain floating in the midst of the water, moving here and there without touching the shore†(13). Moctezuma, then, sent people to inspect, and when he received word on the beings that appeared on the shores of his land, he was terrified and was sure that this was the god Quetzalcoatl, who had come back from his journey.Thus, he sent gifts of turquoise and gold to the Spaniards to pay homage to the returning gods. When Cortes recognized this, he frightened the messengers by firing off a canon, and then ordered them to fight in combat to prove their bravery. Cortes announced that he wanted to see Moctezuma. When Cortes, together with hundreds of soldiers, arrived at Tenochtitlan, King Motecuhzoma told Cortes: “Our lord, you are weary / The journey has tired you, but now you have arrived on the earth / You have come to your city, Mexico / You have come here to sit on your throne, to sit under its canopy†(63).Motecuhzoma was frightened and even thought of escaping, which led him to offer human sacrifices with the coming of the gods, against the advice of his counselors, and to the disdain of the Spaniards. He held a meeting with his nephew Cacama, his brother Cuitlahuac, as well as the other lords and leaders of the tribes on whether or not they should open their doors to the new arrivals in their land. In the end, Motecuhzoma decided to make friends with the Spaniards, and it led to the destruction of his throne, land, wealth, and his people.It is evident that this book should be required for Latin-American Studies, since it gives a very detailed description of the events. Most of the materials used are on the side of the Spaniards. To present a material that would reveal the side of the Aztecs, and how they viewed the event, would be very helpful because it will dramatize how the Aztecs took the invasion in the light of their beliefs, their culture, and their tradition. The style of writing is not really biased.In fact, more of the negatives could be drawn on the description of their king, Motecuhzoma—what his weaknesses were, and which mistakes made him lose his throne and his land. The Spaniards, however, were taken as greed, ruthless men who craved for gold and treasures. It would be best to include this book in Latin-American Studies, but together with the other versions that were written on the side of the Spaniards. This would paint the picture from all sides… for a good sense of balance. Conclusion The story is presented more as a work of literature, with the use of imagery and figures of speech.Having been arranged in chronological order, it presents history from the side and beliefs of the ancient Aztecs. It is well written and easy to understand, which ends up being really fascinating because of the descriptions of things that would relay how ancient human beings view things and people, which they have not seen in the past. Having used a constricted point of view, though, it should be regarded more as literature than as history. Works Cited Leon-Portilla, Miguel. The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
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12/12/2019 0 Comments Old Chinese Old Allegory“A wooden cask is made up of many planks, once one of the planks is crashed, the cask can not store water any moreâ€, goes an old Chinese Old Allegory but has a collective responsibility with other planks towards the well being of the wooden cask. The plank does not belong to itself. The damaged plank harms the cask’s capability. Like the plank, I do not just belong to myself. Now, I am the captain of my school basketball team. I had taken a lot of basketball games before I became the captain. There is a game that I bet I can hardly forget in my whole life.“Overhead pass, Zhu! †Wang, my teammate said, waving her hands aside, I was running with the ball towards the short girls who decided to block me, because I thought they do not have the ability to block me due to their short statures. ‘Zhu, come on! ’ spectators shouted. Yes! I evaded a girl successfully. ‘Brilliant! ’ spectators shouted again. Yes! I evaded another girl’s ‘talon’ secondly. ‘Come on; Come on…’ I felt my pulse rated quickly. The yelling and the attentions, which were given by almost all the spectators, made me craze. ‘Overhead pass, Zhu’ Wang shouted again.But I thought I could take the goal myself. I wanted to show my skills during the out-two count. Suddenly, I felt that there was just me, basketball and spectators in this world and my feeling was; I belonged to myself. I felt I would succeed soon… ‘AH~’ all at once, a girl was running towards me. Before I could understand what was happening, I lost the ball. I found that, time, all the yelling and my pulse almost stopped at once. I could only see my teammates’ blue grimaces, which hurt me so much. Distraught, I suddenly notified my teammates who were present.So there they were, with me. I was not fighting alone. I had my comrades, I had my friends. Their grimaces made me feel hurt and guilty. I should not have been selfish. I should have known that, I belonged to the team. I should have passed the ball to Wang. She was in a wonderful position to score. It was our last chance to win. If we got the score, we could have beaten our opponents, it was my fault. Now, we did not have enough time to win. Losing this chance, we were destined to lose this game. Finally, we lost our game, one point! We were so desperate that we could hardly believe it.This game left me with so many things to think. I felt like I am a little plank. The so called success, which collided with the team’s interests, could not last long. At most, it was just a beautiful personal short show. I do not just belong to myself, sometimes, I should not just consider myself. I have the responsibility to my team, to my school, to my home and even to my society. I cannot let my memories stick to the lost basketball game. If I was given the opportunity again, I would appreciate that, as a plank, I should do everything in my ability to keep my cask full of water.
The Hong Kong HIT has been noted for its excellence in high end services, range of shipping lines and extensive coverage of destinations. Excellent institutional framework, a business-friendly environment, the professionalism of workers. The most important is Hong Kong legal system, which is trusted, tried and tested by international business. Hong Kong retains a distinct advantage in permitting the parties in maritime arbitration, to have the contract governed and construed in accordance with Hong Kong or English law.
As an international financial centre, Hong Kong position itself as the business, trading and services hub for the Mainland and the region as a whole. At the same time, Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta will continue to be the main economic engine of southern China, as well as an increasingly wealthy consumer market and a strong regional economy aiming the global export market. Hong Kong does have a number of advantages over other Mainland cities, and will continue to do so in the future. A strong and well-regulated financial sector, a free press, the free flow of information, low taxes and a simple taxation system, a pool of ighly skilled managers with international experience, proximity to major markets, and a close network of services companies are among the strengths and advantages for business in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is supporting services for the maritime sector in Hong Kong, for example export finance, trade documentation and logistics. The business-friendly tax policy and favourable customs laws make Hong Kong competitive. Sufficient terminal basin and its approach channel depth to accommodate the increasing draughts of ultra-large container ships. The Marine Department has an annual tonnage charge reduction scheme in place for Hong Kong registered ships. It has also recently reduced fees for 24 marine-related services such as port dues, seafarers? licences fees, and certificate fees. Hong Kong competitiveness is further enhanced by the Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with China. Weakness The absolute majority of the world bigest container ports are located in Asia. Most of the container ports belongs to Mainland China, the second bigest economy in the world. All this provides enormous opportunities for HIT, however every individual port faces new challenges and competition. Hong kong HIT is not an exception. Competitiveness of HIT has become a key issue. In other words any other Mainland port could be considered a competitor threatening the success of the HIT. As before many Chinese ports were poorly equipped to handle the sudden increase in exports from a rapidly expanding manufacturing sector, HIT was the obvious port of choice. After returning Hong Kong to China almost immediately many manufacturing industries relocated from Hong Kong to Shenzhen. A report released by the Better Hong Kong Foundation noted that Hong Kong was rapidly losing market share in cargo throughput to Shenzhen „newer and cheaper ports?. Carolyn Cartier, „Transnational Urbanism in the Reform-era Chinese City: Landscapes from Shenzhen?. Oportunities It is difficult to distinguish precise opportunities for HIT. The shareholders of HIT has indicated support for closer crossborder cooperation with other ports in the region. For instance, Shenzhen Port is controlled by the owners of Hong Kong HIT and is closer to manufacturing sources. However, many vessels continue to call at both ports. It is also important to recognise the vast amount of active industry companies located in Hong Kong which makes it (the Pearl Delta Region) a sustainable location for maritime businesses. Hong Kong advantage lies in its ability to cooperate effectively with the Mainland under the CEPA (HK and Macau, Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement) and its well advanced industry. CEPA continues to provide benefits for Hong Kong businesses. As an economy, where 90% of GDP comes from services, Hong Kong strengths lie in services. On the other hand, the Mainland services sector has been developing as a noticeably slower pace compared to its manufacturing sector. The potential hence for overseas firms under CEPA is enormous. A problem with a large number of China FTZ was that they were not connected to ports. Thus cargo had to undergo customs check procedures prior to entering the FTZ or port. The opportunities for businesses in the services sector is enhanced by CEPA. The best way for overseas service suppliers to leverage on CEPA to gain access to the Mainland market is to set up a service company in Hong Kong, or partner with, invest in or even acquire service suppliers in Hong Kong. Overseas service suppliers acquiring an existing Hong Kong service supplier need to operate in Hong Kong for one year to demonstrate they are carrying on substantive business operations after the acquisition. If a foreign services supplier acquires less than 50 percent equity interest in a Hong Kong service supplier, the one year time bar does not apply. Better transport infrastructure will improve access to Mainland markets and enhance CEPA aims. For example, the integration of regional transport networks will be enhanced by the development of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge which has an expected completion date of 2016. Notably, it is an ongoing process of liberalization between the Mainland and Hong Kong. Hong Kong long-term economic prospects based on being able to maintain competitiveness and importance as a major centre for international finance, trade, transport and logistics, professional services, communications and tourism. In the past five years, Hong Kong has been positioning itself to sustain reasonable economic growth in a rapidly-changing, knowledge-based world. Reforms have been launched in the key areas of financial services, education and the public sector to enhance Hong Kong attractiveness as a business hub with a highly-skilled workforce and a small, efficient government. Major steps have been undertaken to improve the environment, consolidate and enlarge Hong Kong position and to build the infrastructure needed to ensure continued development as a hub for trade and transport in Asia, and in particular the rapidly growing Pearl River Delta. Concerted efforts have been taken to promote and position Hong Kong as Asia world city. The Brand Hong Kong programme, launched in May 2001, is a long-term undertaking to focus greater international attention on Hong Kong strengths and advantages as the most free, open and cosmopolitan city in Asia. Container Terminal 9 (CT9), now being completed on Tsing Yi Island by the private sector, will consolidate Hong Kong position as the worlds busiest and most efficient container port. The 68-hectare project will have six berths and a design capacity to handle more than 2. 6 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) a year. CT9 in a following years will bring annual total capacity at the Kwai Chung Container Terminal Basin to more than 15 million TEUs. The new marine basin will be able to handle the largest container ships. Threats Since 1997 when Hong Kong was returned to PRC the HIT has served as the gateway to China because of its strategical location in the Pearl River Delta region of southern China, the most advanced trading region in China. The Pearl River Delta Economic Zone, has been the most economically dynamic region of the Chinese Mainland since the beginning of China reform programme in 1979. The Chinese government establishment of a special economic zone in Shenzhen in 1979 gave an oportunity for Hong Kong and its container port to benefit from access to China, however development of mainland container ports in recent years has challenged HIT. Mainland ports invested in upgraded facilities with the help of foreign capital and a rapid move to privatization of ports. „Since 1985, mainland China has invested more in its port development than the rest of the world combined?. Kevin Cullinane, Wang Teng Fei and Sharon Cullinane, „Container Terminal Development in Mainland China and Its Impact on the Competitiveness of the Port of Hong Kong? Recent reports suggest that Chinese factories are moving further inland and in some cases, closer to Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta, seeking to lower evergrowing costs. The forecast annual growth rate for cargo in the region is 8. 6 per cent to 2020. The forecasts imply that Shenzhen market share of cargo in the region will increase to 55 per cent (from 16 per cent in 1999). Furthermore and contrary to the implications suggested by the report outlined above, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific pointed out that „by 2020 Shanghai is expected to be overtaken by Shenzhen to become the world? s largest container port.? Kevin Cullinane, Wang Teng Fei and Sharon Cullinane, „Container Terminal Development in Mainland China and Its Impact on the Competitiveness of the Port of Hong Kong? It is, of course, impossible to forecast which outcome will prevail. In the meantime most ports in China are concentrating on expanding capacity and upgrading and modernizing port facilities and operations. It is possible that many of Shenzhen business-friendly policies have been inspired by Hong Kong well-established and competitive customs and trade regimes, low tax and industry incentives. Nevertheless Hong Kong retains a number of competitive advantages such as well-integrated finance, legal and other service sectors, including a healthy body of industry groups. Hong Kong is clearly establishing itself as a hub for maritime services. Its traditional role as a transshipment hub will continue to face pressure from mainland China where the vast majority of export goods historically shipped from Hong Kong are manufactured. The implementation of FTZ and associated financial incentives for the maritime sector establishes the Mainland ports as a sustainable option for marine businesses, especially those seeking to move closer to manufacturing sources. Mainland ports traditionally competed at the lower end offering the lowest port charges in the region but with limited destinations and low service frequency. Yantian Port had the highest charges on the Mainland but offered a more competitive turnaround time and better global network integration. Various incentives and a rapidly developing economy in the Pearl River Delta region have shifted the balance. |