A midsummer night's dream Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

A midsummer night's dream - Essay Example The action swings back and forth between these characters and with typical dexterity Shakespeare interweaves these separate threads into a colorful tapestry. The action commences in Athens, and then repairs to the woods outside Athens before climaxing again in Athens. The setting of the action in the woods is an essential aspect of the play. It is the realm of fairies and there is magic in the air, literally! It is a world far- removed from reality and where imagination is given free rein. In this surreal, setting the lovers find an escape from the restrictions of polite society and can shed their inhibitions. The woods are beautiful, dreamy, and mysterious but it can turn menacing and the characters find themselves confronting their dark sides before completing the transformation which holds the key to their collective happiness. And it is in this theme of transformation that permeates the play that the woods have particular significance. Northrop Frye speaks of the â€Å"green world† in Shakespeare’s comedies as a place offering brief solace from the mundane difficulties that pervade human existence (qtd. in Sullivan Jr. 184). In the words of Laroque, â€Å"The green world was regarded as a place of escape from the constraints of the law and of everyday life, a place of change and deep interior transformation† (29). The woods in A Midsummer Night’s Dream perform this function admirably. Athens has become an inhospitable place for the lovers Hermia and Lysander as Egeus wishes his daughter to marry Demetrius and he would rather have her executed as per the laws of the land than allow her to follow the dictates of her heart. When Theseus is asked to preside over this conundrum he finds that his hands are tied and he says: These lines reflect the harshness and rigid cruelty of the hub of civilization that is Athens.

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison | Analysis

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison | Analysis The main protagonist of Ralph Ellison invisible man is not the only one who remains unseen as the novel unfolds. Another element also cloaked in invisibility follows our unknown character throughout the novel, changing both beat and tempo as the novel develops. Rather like the invisible man, the ongoing musical beat that runs through out the invisible man’ may not be visible yet it is very clearly felt and heard. It is the distinct incorporation of the inflowing musical beat that allows for an interloping of ideas based upon the visible, the invisible and the creative with the novel. The main theme within the ‘invisible man’ is that of the more obvious theme of invisibility. Ellison explores through the use of music such as in the form of jazz the moments or experiences where invisibility takes control. Such breaks in visibility signify a chance for the protagonist to escape and break the mould of the what can be called ‘constitutional visibility’ allowing for the exploration of ones own identity and individuality. An individuality and identity that is not in any way restricted to what is generally accepted as visible. Such breaks that allow for such explorations to take place within the novel can be seen from the very beginning where in the prologue the protagonist recalls a certain incident: Once I saw a prize-fighter boxing a yokel. The fighter was swift and amazingly scientific. His body was one violent flow of rapid rhythmic action. He hit the yokel a hundred times while the yokel held up his arms in stunned surprise. But suddenly the yokel struck one blow . The smart money hit the canvas. The long shot got the nod. The yokel had simply stepped inside of the opponent’s sense of time. Through such a passage the reader is able to see that there is an alternative to the scientific approach. The yokel uses time and space in order to overpower the violence of science allowing creativity to achieve success. The restriction imposed by science is overcome through the ability to analyze and interpret a situation differently. In the instance it was the yokel’s ability to step into the time frame of the prize-fighter and thus provide for a different strategy towards victory. One that was able to unite creativity and originality. Rather like the same way the ‘invisible man’ uses the music of Louis Armstrong with the combination of the reefer to discover a rather unconventional way of listening to Armstrong’s music, thus in that way offering new ways of interpretation. Through the work of Victor Zuckerkandl, critic Nathaniel Mackey creates a rather interesting argument. Mackey states that ‘because music exists the tangible and visible can not be the whole of the given world. The intangible and invisible is itself a part of the world, something which we encounter, something to which we respond’ this statement can be seen running throughout the ‘invisible man’. It is visible where the protagonist describes the dream like images evoked by the Louis Armstrong’s music. These images run throughout the novel as seen at the very beginning by the incorporation of the prize-fighter and the yokel. These cuts and breaks in the narrative are essential to grounding this feeling and theme of invisibility whilst at the same time allowing Ellison to create improvisation through the use of language. Such technique is central to the very framework of the novel. The novel itself flows like a piece of music, with one incident happening right after the other. Each incident offers a break, a certain point in which the protagonist is given a certain moment in which his identity and individuality are either challenged or asserted. Even so Ellison does not rely on merely the invisible man to convey the W.Bell calls the portrayal of ‘the historical quest of black American for identity in a society whose traditions simultaneously inspire and inhibit their impulse toward freedom and self-realization’.Characters like Trueblood immerge. Although he has committed the sin of incest, trueblood does not allow his guilt to bind him. He turns towards the blues for guidance and repentance. One can even say that trueblood turns inward, looking to himself and to what defines him as an individual. W.Bell says that ‘the courage and discipline that Trueblood discovers in the blues are essential values that the hero must learn by acknowledging his folk heritage’. The character of the junkman that the hero meets later in New York is also a reinforcement of the idea of the blues as being part of the cultural heritage of the black community. The idea of jazz and the blues and the power that they were able to distribute lies in their ability to parallel the then black life. Writing in ‘Living with music’ Ellison is quoted as saying ‘life could be harsh, loud and wrong if it wished, but they lived it fully and when they expressed their attitude toward the world it was with a fluid style that reduced the chaos of living to form’ This idea is reinforced through the meeting of the invisible man with the junkman who unlike Trueblood is not ultimately dismissed by the protagonist, ‘he had me grinning despite myself. I liked his words through I didn’t know the answer. Id known the stuff from childhood, but had forgotten it; had learned it back of school.’.Where as the tainted past of Trueblood causes the invisible man to cast him aside the quizzical performance of the junkman allows for him to grasp at his own heritage. A notion reinforced through the simple act of buying a baked yam from the street vendor soon afterwards.’ I yam what I am ’. It is these grasps at heritage and the acceptance of his own peoples strive for freedom that the invisible man must realise is the essential makeup of his quest for personal individuality and freedom. For they are, part of the make-up of who he is. What must also be noted is that throughout the novel and these incidents, the invisible man seems to have a certain type of plan that each time he strives to achieve. Yet as the novel progresses the plan changes. It is transformed from the mere wish of wanting to graduate and become as highly respected by the white community as Bledsoe. To wanting to work hard and be able to return to his school, to wanting assert himself within the brotherhood. To finally whilst in his hole, wanting only to assert his own humanity. In Ralph Ellison ‘The collected essays of Ralph Ellison. Ellison argues that it was the American dream that drove all Americans, ranging from different European nationalities to come to states and establish a better way of life. Even so, this was not the case for the then African slaves. Once freed these former slaves were now forced into finding a way of life that would enable them to be able to live within this European mix even though they were distinctively non-European. This, Ellison argues, resulted into an even more complex and thorough mix, eventually resulting in to the true beginnings of the American culture. Having no past in the art of Europe, they could use its elements and their inherited sense of style to improvise forms through which they could express their own unique sense of American experience. To Ellison this clearly was parallel to Jazz as it was the one form of art that could both explain and identify the American experience. Just like jazz uses improvisation, to piece together different instruments playing their own spontaneous versions of the chords that create a song, so did the many different cultures and cultural traditions come together to piece the American tradition. This piecing of the American culture and tradition is seen throughout the novel as the protagonists comes face to face with a variety of individuals, raging from different backgrounds that have all come together to form what is termed as ‘American’. Ellison comments in his ‘Shadow and Act’ that: ‘The Blues is an impulse to keep the painful details and episodes of a brutal experience alive in ones acting consciousness, to finger its jagged edge and to transcend it, not by consolation of philosophy but by squeezing from it a near-tragic, near comic lyricism. As a form the blues is an autobiographical chronicle of personal catastrophe expressed lyrically†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ In other words what Ellison is stating is that the blues offer another medium through which the philosophy of life is brought out. A philosophy as such that revolves through and around the complexities of improvisation. The crude or white-washed walls of science are completely disregarded by Ellison for a far more natural or artistic sense of being. Where ones path is life is defined by the tragedies and experiences he or she goes through, so that we are able to emerge triumphant in the end, whilst temporarily relying on the comforts of the present. This according to Ellison is the true essence of ones freedom of identity. Albert Murray further expands on this in ‘The hero and the blues’ stating that the blues present us with a near ancient tragedy sort of existence where the hero is able to persist through life and through whatever ugliness that life presents to him through what Murray calls ‘a device for making the best of a bad situation’. Such a philosophy can be partly seen through the grandfather’s words that the protagonist hears echoing through out the novel. His, the grandfathers, was a philosophy of yes-sing them. Such a philosophy may be on the surface regarded as a show of submission by the black man to the white mans dominance. Yet to the grandfather it was a way of survival. A way of like Murray says making the best out of a bad situation. In a world where the black community was regarded as lowly and inferior to the white community it is hard to see how a full on offensive would have helped in determine equality. In fact a full on offensive by the black man towards the white man would have left the black man poor, helpless and hungry. This show of submission is part of the grandfathers departing wisdom. A wisdom that urges our protagonist to fight in a defensive rather than offensive mode as this would be the fruitful result. This would be achieved by: ‘‘Live with your head in the lions mouth, I want you to overcome ‘em with yess, undermine’em with grins, agree’em to death and destruction, let ‘em swoller you till they vomit or bust open’’ Although not completely understood by the main protagonist the grandfather had imparted a rather sphinx like riddle of an advice that although appeared to be that of subjection was actually a means of survival. By urging his grandson to say yes he in not urging him to bow down to the white man but rather assert himself. He is saying ‘yes’ knowing that he has the power to say ‘no’. His ‘yes’ is a show of dignity, a statement stating that he is agreeing as a free man, not as a slave, and that that ‘yes’ is a means of survival. The grandfather is not the only one to have picked up on this idea of having to say ‘yes’ in order to survive. Bledsoe is another character who aims to ‘yeses’’ the entire white race to death. Yet the difference between Bledsoe and the grandfather is that Bledsoe does it through complete selfishness. This is the danger that as Bernard W.Bell says Ellison is ultimately implying. à ¢â‚¬Ëœ..the danger of compulsive individualism in a laissez-faire social system based on the conflicting principles of egalitarianism and racism.’ The hero’s grandfather’s words are elusive and open to a wide scope of interpretation, yet for Ellison this was the exact embodiment of the meaning of jazz. Jazz as seen in Ellison’s essay ‘The Charlie Christian Story’ was regarded by Ellison as an art of individual assertion within and against the group. Each true jazz moment springs from a contest in which each artist challenges all the rest; each solo flight or improvisation, represents a definition of his identity: as individual, as member of the collectivity and as a link in the chain of tradition. Thus because jazz finds its very life in an endless improvisation upon traditional materials, the jazzman must lose his identity even as he finds it. Ellison last words echo the very theme of the ‘the invisible man’ and the final act of the hero within the book. For in order to become visible Ellison’s hero has had to become invisible. And although our invisible man seems to have only become invisible by the end of the novel, what is conveyed through the hero himself is that he has been in fact invisible from the very beginning. This invisibility was a direct product of the white man, invisibility evoke through the hero’s blind faith in the white mans word. Although the novels hero does as his grandfather says ‘agree’em’, he does not ‘agree’em to death’. His ‘yeses’’ are ones that do not recognise his own individuality. The individuality of a black man who knows that although by agreeing the issue may not be confronted at least it is put out there. Another character in this novel that has the ability to say yes without being submissive is Mary. You have to take care of yourself, son. Don’t let this Harlem git you. I’m in New York, but New York ain’t in me, understand what I mean? Don’t git corrupted. Mary has chosen to agree in order to survive. Yet her agreement does not stretch as far as corruption ‘I’m in New York, but New York ain’t in me, understand what I mean? Don’t git corrupted’. Mary has created an ideology which allows for her survival, whilst at the same time ensuring her own honesty by not contradicting her own morals. These are the punches the yokel was able to find in order to outwit the prize fighter. These are the parallel examples to ‘the smart money hit the canvas. The long shot got the nod’. The anonymous letter received by the protagonist later on in the novel is the first time the protagonist says ‘yes’ without being submissive. This time his ‘yes’ is accompanied by resentment and fear. Tarps actions of giving his chain link to the invisible man and his words ‘don’t think of it in terms of but two words, yes and no; but it signifies a heap more’, offer another insight into the invisible mans grandfathers words. To be able to find the true meaning behind his grandfather’s word the invisible man chooses invisibility. This invisibility although offers a cloak of protection from the worlds corruption it, is unable to provide an escape from the workings of his own mind In going underground, I whipped it all except the mind, the mind. And the mind that has conceived a plan of living must never lose sight of the chaos against which that pattern was conceived. It is through the workings of the protagonists mind that the reader is told about his experiences and life. It is also through the workings of the same mind that allow the invisible man to come to conclusion. A conclusion which causes him to realise, that although he believed himself truly free he was never free from the workings of his mind. These processes or thoughts are the forces which lead him to realise that Gin, jazz and dreams were not enough. Books were not enough.† .By the end of the novel the invisible man has come to realise his grandfather words as part of his own social responsibility. It is at this point that the role of improvisation has diminished. The invisible man has come to relish his own social responsibility. A responsibility that embodies the individual yet at the same time re establishes the value of the community. A jazz player may improvise in a solo bringing out his own identity yet he must also work together with the rest of the group to bring out the larger part of the song. It is this larger part of the song, the bigger picture that allows for the protagonist to accept his social responsibilities. A bigger picture resulting not through, merely an understanding of improvisation but rather through the simple of act of forgiveness and love. It’s ’winner take nothing’ that is the great truth of our country or of any country. Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in the face of certain defeat. Our fate is to become one, and yet many.

Essay --

For more than 30 years, marijuana use has been associated with harsh penalties and irrational consequences. Millions of people are sent to prison each year for simple possession or consumption of this plant. This issue has fueled political disagreements over the years increasing conflict between both state and federal governments. Both sides have strong and supportive arguments; which still is an ongoing battle to this day. However, marijuana is here to stay; the state of Colorado has already fully legalized recreational use of marijuana. Looking at the amount of revenue Colorado brings in from marijuana sales, it's clear that marijuana has a significant potential in bringing money into the economy. Many would agree that the war on drugs has deteriorated our personal freedoms and has wasted money over the decades for both the government and people. Marijuana should be legal because prohibition has been proven not to work. Taxing the sales of marijuana, similar to alcohol, will help boost the economy. Regulating marijuana in an orderly way will make it a safe and healthy environment for users and families in the United States. Prohibition of alcohol in the 1920's is very similar to the prohibition of marijuana in recent years. The main reason the government made drinking alcohol illegal in the 1920's was to reduce the number of people consuming alcohol and to help lower crime levels. It was also enforced to protect minors from becoming alcoholics at an early age (Blocker 233-243). However, as much as prohibition had good intentions to stop people from abusing alcohol, it only made things worse. It triggered major strikes, raids in alcohol warehouses, and created a mass underground black market in which violence and crime leve... ...of Colorado and Washington. People wouldn't have to resort on getting their marijuana from shady dealers that could potentially cause harm to them. Marijuana alone doesn't lead people to trying harder drugs; the black market has opened the doors to people to try harder drugs because dealers carry a variety of them. Our economy would save billions from having to build prisons to jail innocent people. People with diseases would have a safe alternative to prescription drugs which have caused more deaths than marijuana. The production of hemp would benefit many farmers and industries. It will greatly reduce the amount of cotton used for many products. If more people open their mind and get educated in seeing the benefits that marijuana can bring into our society, marijuana legalization throughout the country will be the greatest decision to the United States in decades.

The Zebra Storyteller

Once upon a time there was a Siamese cat who pretended to be a lion and spoke inappropriate Zebraic. That language is whinnied by the race of striped horses in Africa. Here now: An innocent zebra is walking in a jungle, and approaching from another direction is the little cat; they meet. â€Å"Hello there! † says the Siamese cat in perfectly pronounced Zebraic. â€Å"It certainly is a pleasant day, isn’t it? The sun is shining, the birds are singing, isn’t the world a lovely place to live today! The zebra is so astonished at hearing a Siamese cat speaking like a zebra, why, he’s just fit to be tied. So the little cat quickly ties him up, kills him, and drags the better parts of the carcass back to his den. The cat successfully hunted zebras many months in this manner, dining on filet mignon of zebra every night, and from the better hides he made bow neckties and wide belts after the fashion of the decadent princes of the Old Siamese court.He began boastin g to his friends he was a lion, and he gave them as proof the fact that he hunted zebras. The delicate noses of the zebras told them there was really no lion in the neighborhood. The zebra deaths caused many to avoid the region. Superstitious, they decided the woods were haunted by the ghost of a lion. One day the storyteller of the zebras was ambling, and through his mind ran plots for stories to amuse the other zebras, when suddenly his eyes brightened, and he said, â€Å"That’s it!I’ll tell a story about a Siamese cat who learns to speak our language! What an idea! That’ll make ’em laugh! † Just then the Siamese cat appeared before him, and said, â€Å"Hello there! Pleasant day today, isn’t it! † The zebra storyteller wasn’t fit to be tied at hearing a cat speaking his language, because he’d been thinking about that very thing. He took a good look at the cat, and he didn’t know why, but there was something abou t his looks he didn’t like, so he kicked him with a hoof and killed him. That is the function of the storyteller.

Comparing China with the West: What Hofstede taught us about Cultural Consequences Essay

The world today is a smaller place than it has ever been, thanks to the rapid and ongoing development of the global economy; we have become a borderless and cyber-connected community (Hofstede 2001; Kottak 2008; Mead, 2009). This has resulted in greater links and more and more interchanges between different nationalities. The ease at which we can physically communicate and travel has allowed for the free movement of goods and services across borders increasing trade and investment in foreign countries. International commerce, travel, migration and the media are the forces behind globalisation (Kottak, 2008; Craig and Douglas, 2006). Globalisation has a phenomenal effect on the business world; it opens up businesses to potential new markets, allowing them to increase their supply of consumers. Setting the stage for international collaboration (Hofstede, 2003) and while doing so, it is reshaping the global economic outlook (World Investment Report, 2005). In despite of this, Osland (1990) points out, that one of the barriers to international business success ‘Is the one erected by culture’ (p.4). Each civilization breeds its own social-political-economic systems. Essentially, each culture has its own method to conducting business. Such methods are intrinsically cultural bound. In order to understand how the different systems work one must first understand the values that underlie it. Thus, managers, employees, business partners and other corporate stakeholders must recognise that the methods they use, to make their decisions, solve their problems and deals with other people are all done by reflecting on their cultural backgrounds and perspectives (Mead, 2009; Mott, 2004; Hofstede, 2005). As acknowledged above, globalisation leads to problems in cross-cultural communication. We live in a world where a cultural competency is essential for global business profitability. Over the years there have been many studies conducted on culture. In the 1950’s Kroeber and Kluckhohn, where one of the first scholars to provide a theoretical framework for explaining culture as a system of integrated values they wanted to characterize differences between national cultures (Kroeber & Kluckhohn, 1963). Since then, many scholars have focused their attention on how national differences affect the decision-making practices of professionals and have produced some tangible guidelines for cross-cultural understanding (Hofstede, 1980; Adler & Graham, 1986; Black &  Mendenhall 1989; Trompenaars, 1994; Triandis, 1994; House et al, 2004). One of the first of these studies, and perhaps the one which has had widespread implications in helping scholars and professionals interested in cultures, is Hofstede’s Five Dimension model (5-D). Its primary innovation is to class national cultures along a number of dimensions. The underlying thesis in these studies is that there are nationally influenced differences in work placed values (Hofstede, 2001; 2005). This presented scholars with insight into the composition of national culture and according to Hofstede culture-focused research is becoming more prominent, and understanding culture is becoming increasingly vital (Hofstede, 1994). Even though, Hofstede was not the first study on cross-cultural research, his study succeeded in putting cross-cultural research at the forefront of international business research (Hofstede, 2001). It is considered valuable in international business and management and due to the growing interdependence among nations; the need for a better understanding of cultural influence on organisational practices has never been greater (House et al, 2004). A cross-cultural understanding is a prerequisite to an effective entry into an international market (Morder, 1999) as businesses operating in different cultures must maintain a multifaceted approach, developing appropriate skills and compromising the interacting cultures, adjusting their norms, practices and perspectives to work within another culture’s border (Morder, 1999; Selmer, 2009). There have been many documented cases of cultural incompetence, (Selmer, 1999; 2000; Hutchings, 2005), outlining how a lack of cultural competence can have devastating effects to the success of business ventures. Thus as we move to a more connected world some might expect a convergence on a cultural level, to match the significant business transactions that globalisation has inspired by the fact that trade, travel and education has helped facilitate the global economy (Scarborough, 1998). Nonetheless, one must concede that there remains a gulf between cultures created by the different nationalities in the world today. The roots of culture are so deep that they have produced highly divergent values systems, (Scarborough, 1998) and without reconciling these differences and working around them then there is no hope of successful business relationships between the ones cultural counterparts (Uniser & Lee, 2005). Through the literature, it is suggested that a  comparison be conducted between cultures helping to promote better working relationships (Torres and Jones, 2011; Tsang, 2011) The focus of this paper is the People’s Republic of China (PRC), as it is emerging as a particularly dominant player in the global economic market and the process of globalisation brings us in a global community China will play a central role in this. Thus, understanding it is of the greatest importance. Over the last three decades, China has positioned itself in the epicentre of the global market and the world is paying close attention to this new economic giant. (Detert et al, 2000; Scarborough 1998; Dent et al 2000) More references. Before this prosperous period began, China’s business environment and economic stability had been predominately controlled by the state. More recently, the country has seen a tremendous surge of economic success due to the relaxing of the state in relation to foreign direct investment (Euromonitor, 2012). Leading to the increase of the number of foreign business people working within China, resulting in an unprecedented growth in Sino-foreign joint ventures and wholly owned foreign firms (Selmer, 1999; Detert et al, 2000). Currently there is an opportunity for growth and prosperity in China, which seems endless and has attracted businesses and professionals to move to China to live and work. The country is now considered the ‘new hub’ in the international migration order (Pieke, 2011, 40). All this force in the Chinese Business environment has engendered much scholarly attention in exploring and understanding how the Chinese operate in a business manner, (Detert et al, 2000). Thus, those involved have become acutely aware of the great divide between the Chinese cultures and other cultures. The differences in the way one thinks, one’s beliefs and how one behaves (Scarborough, 1998). A basic understanding of the core component of China’s culture is particularly noteworthy given the magnitude of China as a trading partner to the rest of the world (Pieke, 2010). Until recently, China was viewed as a mysterious nation that was literally impenetrable (Lightfoot & Almeida, 2007), because they draw their culture from a distinctive, indigenous and philosophical cultural heritage, that dates back thousands of years consequently it is unlike any other economic giant in the global market (Rinder and Starbuck, 1997; Selmer, 2009). Thus, they can bewilder other nationalities that encounter them (Chen, 2001) because they do not identify with the Chinese practices and cultural traditions. It has  been suggested that from, a Western perspective, China can be considered ‘the most foreign of foreign places’ (Selmer, 2009, 42). Thus, in order to infiltrate this dynamic market, one must learn to accept and adapt to, the distinctive business culture that makes China unique (Bond, 1991). China China is the oldest empire in recorded history; it has a continuous recorded history of about 5000 years (Hofstede, 2005) and it is one of the world’s earliest and thus oldest civilisations. It is now one of the fastest growing and vibrant economies in the world, (Wang et al 2008) and the world is now paying close attention to this gigantic influential country. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) was founded on October 1st 1949. (National Bureau of Statistics, 2012a) Below are some facts about the enormous and enigmatic county. Bibliography Adler, N. J., Campbell, N. & Laurent, A. (1989) ‘In search of appropriate methodology: from outside the People’s Republic of China looking in’, Journal of International Business Studies, 20, 61-74 Bohlander, G. W., Snell, S., & Sherman, A. W. (2001), Managing Human Resources. (12th ed.), South West College Publications. Bond, M. H. (1991) ‘Chinese values and health: A cultural level examination’, Psychology and Health: An International Journal, 5, 137-152 Bond, M. and Hofstede, G. (1989) ‘The cash value of Confucian values’, Human System Management, 8, 195-200. Black, J.S. and Mendenhall, M. (1989), ‘A practical but theory-based framework for selecting cross-cultural training methods’, Human Resource Management, 28(4), 511-39. Bratton, J., Sawschuk, P., Forshaw, C., Callinan, M. & Corbertt, M. (2010) Work and Organisational Behaviour, New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Brown, A. (1998) Organisational Culture, 2ed., London: Pitman Publishing. Cardon, W. P. (2009) ‘A model of face practices in Chinese business culture: Implication for Westerners’. Thunderbird International Business Review 51, 19-36. Chen, M. J. (2001), Inside Chinese Business: A Guide for Managers Worldwide, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press China National Tourist Office (2012a) ‘About China’, [online], available: http://www.cnto.org/aboutchina.asp [accessed 8th August 2012]. China National Tourist Office (2012b) ‘Foreign Arrivals by Purpose: Jan/Dec 2010’, [online], available: http://www.cnto.org/chinastats_2010ArrivalsB yPurpose.asp [accessed 8th August 2012]. Chinese Culture Connection (1987), ’Chinese values and the search for culture-free dimensions of culture’, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 18, 143-64. Child, J. (2009) ‘China and International Business’ in Alan, M. 2nd ed., The Oxford Handbook of International Business Oxford