In Dept To China Essays - Steelmaking, Agricultural Machinery

In Dept To China The World is forever in debt to China for its innovations. Ancient China was extreme advance and many of its discoveries are still in use today. This is what Robert Temple, the author of The Genius of China 3000 years of science, discovery and invention. The book is based on 11 main parts of Chinese innovation. Within these 11 categories, there are 3 main parts that contain the most significant inventions. Robert Temple concentrates the bulk of his examples in these three categories, agriculture, domestic and industrial technology , and engineering. Temple's examples were not limited to these fields of innovation. The Chinese excelled in many other areas, including mathematics, warfare and transportation, to name a few. Although Temple wrote about eleven fields of invention, I feel that these three sections contain the greatest examples of Chinese innovation, and the debt that the modern world owes China. The first main area is the field of engineering. Within this chapter, the devel opment of iron and steel is the greatest achievement. The development of iron and steel led to other advances. By at least the 4th century the Chinese have developed blast furnaces to obtain cast iron from iron ore. This was 1200 years before the first blast furnace showed up in Europe. The reasons that the author gave to explain the reasons why the Chinese developed this technology are simple. The Chinese had access to large amounts of clay, the key ingredient in making blast furnaces. The Chinese also figured out that by adding a substance they called :Black Earth,? they could lower the melting point of iron. Another major invention of the Chinese, that led to other achievements, is steel. The common belief today is that Henry Bessemer discovered the process of refining iron into steel. The fact is Chinese had developed the process to refine iron into steel in the second century BC The Chinese learned that by injecting oxygen into the blast furnace, they could remove the carbon fr om the iron. The Chinese called this process the ?hundred refinings method? since they repeated the process that many times. The finished product was highly prized in China for its strength and ability to hold an edge on a sword. The Chinese would weld the steel onto weaker iron thus creating a strong edge and a superior weapon. The Chinese iron and steel workers were the best at making different types of metals into modern times. But then, no one else could have done so at the time, since iron existed nowhere else but in China. The Chinese invented the chain pump in the first century AD The chain pump allows water to the pumped from lower to higher elevations. The chain pumps were used for draining and pumping in civil engineering, but what is more important is it was used for irrigation. Irrigation allows for greater and more intense farming, thus resulting in a better crop yield. With the greater crop yields larger populations can be supported. The chain pump was exported to all parts of the world by way of visiting ambassadors and dignitaries. The first European chain pump appeared in the sixteenth century, and was a direct copy of the Chinese version. The second area of great Chinese achievement is in domestic and industrial technology. The most recognized Chinese invention is in the field of domestic and industrial technology, paper. Paper was invented around the second century BC and was used as clothing. One might not believe that paper could be used as clothing, but the paper made at that time used thicker and tougher paper fibers. Not only was paper used for clothing, it was also used for military body armor. The Chinese found out that pleated sheets of paper could stop the penetration of arrows. The paper armor was standard issue with Chinese land and sea units. Paper's writing property was not discovered till about one century after its discovery. The earliest example of writing on paper was found an abandon military post. The paper found dates bac k to 110 AD and contained two dozen readable characters. The area that let China grow and expand was the innovations in the area of agriculture.

Descrimination in the 1920s Essays - Politics Of The United States

Descrimination in the 1920s Essays - Politics Of The United States Descrimination in the 1920s subject = History title = Descrimination in the 1920s American History Imigration and Discrimination in the 1920's Beginning in the early nineteenth century there were massive waves of immigration. These "new" immigants were largely from Italy, Russia, and Ireland. There was a mixed reaction to these incomming foreigners. While they provided industries with a cheap source of labor, Americans were both afraid of, and hostile towards these new groups. They differed from the "typical American" in language, customs, and religion. Many individuals and industries alike played upon America's fears of immigration to further their own goals. Leuchtenburg follows this common theme from the beginning of World War I up untill the election of 1928. If there was one man who singlely used America's fear of immigrants to advance his own political goals it was Attorney General Palmer. The rise of Communism in Russia created a fear of its spread across Europe, and to America. Palmer tied this fear to that of immigration. He denounced labor unions, the Socialist party, and the Communist party in America, as being infultrated with radicals who sought to overturn America's political, economic, and social institutions. Palmer exasperated this fear in Americans and then presented himself as the country's savior, combatting the evils of Communism. He mainly centered his attack on Russian immigrants. During the infamous Palmer raids thousands of aliens were deported and even more were arrested on little or no evidence. Their civil liberties were violated, they were not told the reasons for their arrests, denied counsel, and not given fair trials. What followed was an investigation of Palmer led by Louis Post which overturned many of Palmer's actions. Palmer's cretability was shattered after in a last minute attempt to gain the 1920 presidencial nomination, he made predictions about a May Day radical uprising, the nation perpared itself, but on May 1st 1920 all was peaceful. While the raids had stopped, the hostilities towards immagrants still remained prevelent. Immigrants were used by organized industries as a source of cheap labor. But as labor unions began to form and push for better pay, shorter hours, and improved working conditions industries saw that it was not as easy to exploit these immigrants as it had been before. Like Palmer, they tied the American's hostilities towards immigrants to the newly emerging fear of radicalism. When workers struck, industry leaders turned public opinion agains them by labling the strikes as attemps at radical uprising. As a result, workers were often left with no other choice than to accept the terms of industry management. The fight for prohabition was aided by America's antagonism for immigrants. Protestants and "old-stock" Americans attempted to link alchol with Catholic-Irish and Italian immigrants. They were viewed as immoral and corrupt for their vice. Prohabition was a means of counterattacking the evils of the urban cities and their immigrant dwellers. In addition, the rise of the KKK was a direct result of the hostilities harbored towards the immigrant population. Started by native born, white, Protestants, the KKK was afraid of "the encroachment of foreigners," expecially those who answered to a foreign Pope as their religious authority. Playing upon these fears, the KKK gained support and was it's members were able to politically control parts of Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and much of Indiana.

Evaluation essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Evaluation - Essay Example The movie drew numerous reactions from Americans. For some Americans, the movie exposed what has been happening in the health care system denying the Americans the level of health care they deserve. For others, the movie is, but an exaggeration of the existing drawbacks in the health care system. A close analysis of the movie reveals that Moore addresses critical issues that need attention if the health care system is to be improved. This paper will highlight how Moore successfully exposes the frauds and the scandals in the health care system. A documentary that seeks to make a revelation of an existing failed system should present facts and accurate statistics. It is wrong to make false accusations that lack evidence of proving the claims. This is what is expected in Moore’s film. For it to qualify as a successful documentary, it is critical to analyze whether Moore uses facts and provides evidence for all the claims that he makes. In addition, the claims made by a documentary should be compelling and strong enough to influence policymaking. This is the reason why producers should look for substantial evidence that can influence policy making in the end. The purpose of the documentary should remain evident and the producer should stay from propaganda. The integration of the producer’s opinion with voices from people considered as an authority in a specific field serves to validate the claims made in the film (Moore). Moore’s film can be analyzed based on these criteria in an effort to ascertain that he succeeds in making a documentary that exposes the failure of the health care systems. Evidently, Michael Moore presents facts in his film. He uses statistics to explain the percentage of Americans who lack insurance. He also highlights that over 45 million Americans have insurance covers that prove inadequate when they need medical care