Saturday, February 15, 2020

Confucianism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Confucianism - Essay Example Thus politeness being a universal communication phenomenon it reflects particular cultural values that come with or rather which are linked to diverse cultures. Being a relatively vital aspect in cross-cultural communication, politeness enables people from different cultures to establish, consolidate or maintain harmonious interpersonal relations that reduce misunderstandings and conflicts in the society. A snapshot on various aspects of politeness in the two cultures, Chinese and English, depicts that the rules of communication differ as they are influenced by the values and beliefs of individuals from these communities. For instance, the English people always address others according to their genders; Mr., Mrs., Miss and Ms, followed with a surname, depending on age and marital status. On the other hand, the Chinese address people using a surname and the title of the occupation; â€Å"Wang yi sheng† to mean Doctor Wang, â€Å"Lee xiao zhang† to mean Principal Lee and â€Å"shi fu† can be used to address strangers. In addition, the Chinese culture, especially for children, â€Å"shushu† and â€Å"a yi† are always used to address uncle and aunty respectively. Another aspect of politeness in the two cultures is farewell and greetings. Whenever the English people meet, they always use phrases like â€Å"Nice to meet you,† â€Å"Good Morning,† â€Å"Good evening† and â€Å"Good afternoon.† For the Chinese, the phrase â€Å"ni hao† is always used whenever people meet. Moreover, when the China people meet their acquaintances, one can say â€Å"qu na li† to ask where one is going or â€Å"chi le ma?† to ask whether one has eaten or not. Thus, whenever an native speaker of English hear the Chinese phrases, he or she might interpret them as invitation lunch or dinner and any other interference in their personal affair. I met one of my colleagues, an English speaker on my way to a restaurant. I was

Sunday, February 2, 2020

What was the artistic ideology of the Bauhaus Assignment

What was the artistic ideology of the Bauhaus - Assignment Example According to the Bauhaus, art was supposed to bring creativity and modernity in modern architecture (Forgacs 197). This came in time when art and creativity in Germany has been overly suppressed by the previous leadership regime claiming that art in modern architecture was a form of communism. Bauhau’s idea was that art should be helpful to the society in all aspects including architecture. The ideology was that architecture could be approached from an artistic direction such that the resultant architectural designs would represent modernity and most importantly, be a tool of making more meaningful and useful buildings. However, the politics of constructivism, modernism were, evidently, behind Bauhaus conceptions of art and architecture. Bauhaus strongly argued that Bauhaus was apolitical in nature. However, the ideology came at a time when German was undergoing constructivism and modernism. These two functions were politically driven since the ideologies of German leadership at the time determined the future of Germany through supporting or suppressing such ideologies. Therefore, the desire of Bauhaus to shape the future of German architecture through art was based on politics of constructivism and modernism. Sadly, Bauhaus had to close down its Berlin institute in April 1933 following pressure from Nazi regime. Actually, the pressure for demobilization of Bauhaus began before even the Nazi regime came to power. They accused Bauhaus of â€Å"Un-German† approach to architecture and made claims of negative influence from the western nations. How did the World War One and its aftermath (inflation, rise of political extremism, etc) influence the artistic production of artists such as Otto Dix, Max Beckmann, George Grosz and Laszio Moholy-Nagy? Interestingly, most of the German artists who were active after World War One were influenced by the war to express their ideas through art. For instance, Otto Dix was actively involved in World War One and was greatly affected by the war. Otto Dix, Max Beckmann, George Grosz and Laszio Moholy-Nagy had one thing in common in that they all had ideologies that contradicted the ideologies of the Nazi regime. Therefore, their art of expressionism faced political extremism to the extent that some of them had to either quit their art or change it to a more favorable art depending on the political climate. For instance, Dix was branded a degenerate artist as was barred from producing art of expressionism against the ruling regime. These artists had to reduce their level of criticism of the Nazi ideologies. Dix's work including â€Å"The Trench  and  War cripples† were destroyed by the Nazi regime. Likewise, over 500 artwork pieces belonging to Max Beckmann were impounded during Hitler’s regime through claims of degenerate art. Laszio Moholy-Nagy felt the pinch of political extremism when Bauhaus was overly criticized and suppressed. Whereas inflation affected virtually everybod y in Germany, artistic productions were also affected. The most affected artists were George Grosz, Laszio Moholy-Nagy and other artists who were part of Bauhaus. Whereas modern and artistic architecture required heavy capital investment, funds became unavailable during the aftermath of World War One. Cost of production of artwork became high and therefore, the artists found it difficult to keep producing large volume of artwork during the inflation period. What is â€Å"Dada† and how did it both influence and reflect the Berlin of the 1920’s? Dada refers to an artistic and literary transformation that began during World War One. At the time, Switzerland being a neutral country acted as a safe haven for artists, intellectuals, and writers.