.
"China Night"
Learning event
Date: 03 / 04 / 2008
Topic: "China night"
Type of meeting: Study meeting, research findings presentation, videos
No of participants: 10
Roles:
Creator of the Agenda - Marios Perdiou
Presenter – Marios Perdiou
Moderator – Marios Perdiou
Recorder/Author of the output – Daniel Uszucki
Articles - Maciej Janusz
Videos - Omiros Trofidis
Pictures, music - Nikos Iosifidis
We started our event from the slide show with photos about China at about 18.00. Watching it we were listening traditional Chinese music. When all guests arrived we started from presentation about AIESEC and project Horizon. After this briefly introduction to to the organization, project and current event we played our first movie. It was about the education in this country. The most amazing was, that it shown the difference between children and more generally people from the countryside and from more urbanized parts of China. Of course in the first case "picture" doesn't look good. Just the view for building of school, whose conditions were very bad, says that this is not the priority of the government. The most amazing is the last scene when all parents and teacher from the school are preparing kids for the trip to city. On one hand they know that it's only way to provide them better future, on the other one they are very worried about these and warn the children, saying that there everything is different. Scale of the differences between cities and countryside is stressed by the sentence about spending money. The teacher says that their pupils used to spend just few dollars a month when in cities it's few hundreds. After first movie we discussed for a while, sharing our views and opinions about the movie.
Next in the schedule was also movie, but this time about media in China, which shown how the Chinese government is manipulating the people. Generally both parts tried to show, that of course everything what happened in Lhasa was result of the Dalai Llama, who calls for the fight for independence. The material of the movie was very selective and some scenes where distinctly cut by the specialists, just to stress that all bad things are only because of Tibet and its people. For example we could see the monks attacking buildings and burning cars or attacking people just passing by. But the funniest was the moment when Chinese police, with weapons and shields started to flee from the monks. Certainly also the numbers which was the movie talking about were totally different than these, announced by the Western media or just witnesses of the event. Last very important thing was that government reaffirmed that situation is stable now (after just few days).
The material called out the discussion. We were commenting the movie and also talking about other evidences of partiality of the Chinese media. One of us, new member from Poland, Daniel, said, that there is also a website - www.anti-cnn.com , where you can find “all lays of the western countries media”. Then also rest of the people told about some other examples of changing reality by the government. In this phase we tried also to show the reasons of this and we retraced to the roots of the conflict.
Next stage was “China Says Dalai Lama Rejects Dialogue”, an article from the New York Times. It raises the issue of Dalai Lama, who was the person responsible for Tibet and China. Government said that the leader of Tibet and his “clique” are responsible for all, what happened in March and for ending talks between and attempts of understanding. Generally the article was very similar to the movies, we have seen and shew again the propaganda machine of communistic government.
At the end we ate the fortune-cookies and watch the last, documentary movie, which was about two big explorers of Asia and the area between India and China and their influence for history.
Some general conclusions from the meeting:
· differences between cities and countryside are huge
· they are sill getting bigger together with the rise of GDP (about 10%)
· people have to immigrate to more urbanized areas if they want to improve their life
· children have to travel to cities in order to get good education and keep the chance for better future
· government totally doesn't care about the environment, important is only the economy
· media are only the tool in the government's hands
· because of that fact there are always two pictures of all events – unfortunately most people in China know only the governmental one
· last events in Lhasa shew, how big is the frustration of people there
· the reasons of it are very complex and to understand them you have to know the past (“liberation” of the Tibet in 1951)
· no respect for the autonomy of this country, Tibetan people – discriminated minority
· because of communistic ideology fighting with Tibetan religion, tradition for many years (destroying monasteries, temples, killing people, tortures)
· no respect for human rights
.
|
|
March 30, 2008
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 8:10 a.m. ET
BEIJING (AP) -- Chinese state media accused the Dalai Lama on Sunday of closing the door to talks over Tibet's future, an apparent response to rising international calls for Beijing to negotiate with Tibet's exiled Buddhist leader.
In a lengthy article, Xinhua News Agency cited past actions and statements attributed to the 72-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner that it said contradicted or undermined his calls for negotiations.
''It was the Dalai Lama clique that closed the door of dialogue,'' Xinhua said, using China's standard term for the Tibetan government-in-exile.
The statement came a day before the arrival in Beijing of the Olympic torch, which has become a magnet for Tibetan activists and other groups seeking to use the August Games to draw attention to their cause.
China has accused the Dalai Lama of orchestrating protests in Tibet's regional capital Lhasa and other heavily Tibetan areas that started peacefully among Buddhist monks, but turned deadly on March 14. Beijing says 22 people were killed in Lhasa, while Tibetan exiles put the overall death toll at 140.
China's Premier Wen Jiabao told Hong Kong media in Laos Sunday that Lhasa is ''basically stable,'' and that ''social order has returned to normal.''
Wen reiterated China's position that it is open to talks with the Dalai Lama if he gives up his desire for independence, and acknowledges that Tibet and Taiwan are inseparable from China.
Officials with Lhasa's municipal government described the city as calm Sunday, a day after a protest reportedly broke out at a monastery there. The officials said they were sending text messages to area residents telling them not to ''believe or pass on rumors of unrest.''
A woman who answered the phone at Lhasa government headquarters said the reported protest on Saturday was merely a rumor.
''You shouldn't believe such things,'' said the woman, who hung up without giving her name. No new incidents were reported on Sunday.
Xinhua said in another report Sunday that a suspect in the riots confessed that the security department of the Tibetan government-in-exile asked him to distribute leaflets about the ''Tibetan people's uprising movement'' to monasteries and laypeople in Tibet that encouraged the March 14 riots.
The Dalai Lama has condemned the violence and urged an independent investigation into the protests, the most serious anti-Chinese demonstrations in the region since 1989.
Xinhua said late Saturday police had found guns and explosives at a monastery in Aba county in western Sichuan province, where state media first acknowledged police had fired at protesters March 16, wounding four.
The police found 30 guns, hundreds of bullets, along with explosives and knifes at the Geerdeng monastery Friday, Xinhua said. Flags of Tibet's government-in-exile and banners with ''Tibet Independence'' written on them were also found in monks' rooms, the report said. Police confiscated satellite phones, receivers for overseas TV channels, as well as fax machines and computers, the report said.
Calls to the monastery rang unanswered and officers who answered the phone at police headquarters in Aba county and the surrounding prefecture said they had no information about the reports.
''The monastery has been very quiet these days,'' said a woman who answered the phone at county police headquarters. None of the officers gave their names as is common among Chinese government officials.
While Beijing has imposed a massive military clampdown, a new protest was reported to have broken out Saturday in Lhasa as diplomats wrapped up a visit organized by Beijing in an effort to blunt criticism of its handling of the unrest.
According to the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet, the demonstration at Lhasa's Ramoche monastery lasted several hours. Calls to Ramoche rang unanswered on Sunday and receptionists at hotels in the area said the monastery was closed to the public.
People also protested at the Jokhang Temple, a major Buddhist site in Lhasa, the Tibetan government-in-exile said on its Web site.
Diplomats from the United States, Japan and Europe returned to Beijing on Saturday after a tightly controlled two-day visit to Lhasa.
The diplomats toured damaged areas of the city and met people selected by Chinese authorities, who accompanied them at all times, the American Embassy said in a brief written statement. It gave no other details but repeated Washington's appeal to China to show restraint.
The unrest has been a public relations disaster for communist leaders, who want to use the Olympics to showcase China as a prosperous, stable society.
A group of foreign reporters was taken on a similar trip to Lhasa earlier in the week. That effort backfired when about 30 monks burst into a briefing room shouting that there was no religious freedom in Tibet.
The protests, led by monks, began peacefully March 10, on the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. Tibet had been effectively independent for decades before Chinese communist troops entered in 1950.
The United States and other foreign government's have urged Beijing to talk with the Dalai Lama, who has repeatedly said he would be willing to meet with Chinese officials.
Meanwhile, officials were tightening up security for the Olympic torch's Monday arrival in Beijing, requiring journalists covering the event to pick up their accreditation in person.
The torch is due to arrive in Beijing aboard an Air China plane and be displayed at a gala ceremony in Tiananmen Square, the heart of the Chinese capital.
2nd
16:25 – 16:30 Designation of moderator and minutes keeper. Announcement of the suggested agenda
16:30 – 16:40 Presentation of 1st
16:40 – 16:55 Reading of the suggested articles
16:55 – 18:30 Discussion
Topic: ‘
We tried to answer this question by thinking of the effects of
18:30 – 18:40 Reflection/Feedback
Date: 15 / 2 / 2008
Topic: "China: An Opportunity or a Threat?"
Type of meeting: Study meeting, research findings presentation
No of participants: 9
Roles:
Creator of the Agenda - Elpida Theodosiadou
Presenter – Klio Douka
Moderator – Nikos Moustakas
Recorder – Marios Perdiou
Agenda: click here
Articles found by Elpida Theodosiadou
Notes taken, by the given articles:
- 8 barels of oil per person , that’s why there is a huge amount of oil import
- Request for luxury goods is rising
- China is the first country in the world in air pollution
- But the average income per capita is 200 euros/ month
- Average income is 2.000 US dollars
- China is considered as a communistic country, but adopts capitalistic practices
- China and India together form the 40% of the glopal youth population.
- 1 billion of workers have been added to the global market. This is a threat for some part of the “western world”.
- 2000 china has been accepted to the world trade organization (WTO)
- The European Union tries to block the unlimited import of chinese products, especially clothing products.
- Greece is doing business with china mainly in the marine and tourism sectors.
- Before their accession in the WTO, there was no problem with the cheap chinese products.
- On the other hand EU countries’ economies somehow needed this kind of products.
- Talking about Greece, it’s also the greek mentality that merchants are nagging about the new situation that has been rised.
- The sales of branded goods in china are rising, the same happens with the luxurious lifestyle.
- When chinese students are immigrating into European countries they try to adopt the local lifestyle of dressing and also of manners.
- Western world is the main exporter of luxury goods in China.
Presentation Of Mihali’s research findings in the local “chinatown”, in Thessaloniki.
Statistical research on the stores, owned by chinese.
- Aisopou str. Many of the responders speak better Italian than English
- Only the 20% of the questioned persons responded
- There are only 58 registered stores from a total of 200.
- The responders where 80% employees.
- During their first 4 years here, they knew that they live in “Macedonia”. (Confused it with Greece or Skopje).
- The most of the employees were greeks or Albanians
- During the last 8 years the number of the stores has been rised.
- Most of the products are shipping to Thessaloniki, through Italy.
- Customers profile: biggest part are greeks, the rest are foreigners, mainly from Skopje.
- Customers say that they prefer these kind of stores firstly because of the low prices and secondly because of the quality.
- There are some rumors that when a chinese factory makes an agreenment with a western company to produce a good quality branded product, then they have the know-how and they extend the production to double for example. Then they have noname quality products which they can sell to whoever they want.
- Most of the stores sell shoes
- There are greek stores which operate in the same area, without selling chinese products at all.
- The greek store owners are not protesting as much as it is being said, for the dominance of chinese products.
- The responders’ age was between 25-49. and the average income of the customers was between 5.000-10.000 euros.
- The customers who buy from Chinatown, are not frequent buyers there.
- When it comes for an accusation or complaints in general, the Greek Center of Customer Protection doesn’t take into consideration the product’s country of origin.
-----end of the Presentation. We continued the discussion -----
Consumers: have gain from the cheap products.
On the other hand there is a threat, when it comes to the shortage of the final product specifications.
Greek companies: find china as a threat or an opportunity, depended on which sector they belong.
Greek economy: doesn’t produces the same kind of products as china does, so we are not competitors at the moment.
Employees:
Giorgos ec
Giorgos eu
Threat for the Greek employees and for Greek economic development. We shouldn’t think of our country only when we are buying goods.
Klio
Marios
Adaption to the new realities is the key.
Mihalis
It depends on us.
Nikos I.
It’s a cheap solution. The Chinese people in Thessaloniki, could have brought more products other than clothes, for example good quality electronics. reverse engineering
Greek employees could work in Chinese companies
Τι εννοούμε λέγοντας Project ;
Ο όρος project στην AIESEC αναφέρεται κατά κύριο λόγο σε Projects Based On eXchange (PBOX), δηλαδή projects που στη βάση τους έχουν τις ανταλλαγές φοιτητών μέσω του Προγράμματος Διεθνούς Πρακτικής Άσκησης της AIESEC. Οι ανταλλαγές αυτές για εργασία στο εξωτερικό (όταν πρόκειται για κάποιον Έλληνα φοιτητή) ή εργασία στην Ελλάδα (όταν πρόκειται για ξένους φοιτητές) σχετίζονται με μία πολύ συγκεκριμένη θεματική –αυτή που διαπραγματεύεται το εκάστοτε project- ενώ παράλληλα πλαισιώνονται και από το ειδικό εκπαιδευτικό περιβάλλον που δημιουργούν τα μέλη των τοπικών επιτροπών στην χώρα-αποστολέα και στην χώρα-υποδοχής. Έτσι, ουσιαστικά δίνονται ευκαιρίες στα μέλη του οργανισμού να ασχοληθούν με την θεματική-πάθος τους, να αποκτήσουν θεωρητικές και πρακτικές γνώσεις πάνω σε αυτό και να τις χρησιμοποιήσουν μετέπειτα κατά τη διάρκεια της πρακτικής τους άσκησης. Στόχος των projects είναι η ευαισθητοποίηση και η ενημέρωση πάνω σε συγκεκριμένα θέματα από τη μία και η εφαρμογή όλων όσων έχει μάθει κάποιος, κατά τη διάρκεια της ενασχόλησης του με το project, σε ένα διεθνές εργασιακό περιβάλλον από την άλλη. Τελικά και τα δύο μαζί συντελούν στην θετική αλλαγή που προσπαθεί να επιτύχει ο οργανισμός με τη δραστηριότητά του.
Κάθε τοπική επιτροπή του κόσμου επιλέγει μόνη της τις θεματικές με τις οποίες θέλει να ασχοληθεί. Αυτές επιλέγονται με κριτήριο τα ενδιαφέροντα των φοιτητών του κάθε πανεπιστημίου και τις ανάγκες/προβλήματα της τοπικής κοινωνίας που ωστόσο σχετίζονται με το διεθνές περιβάλλον.
Τα project με τα οποία αποφάσισε να ασχοληθεί η τοπική επιτροπή της ΑIESEC Α.Π.Θ. για το ακαδημαϊκό έτος 2007-2008 περιγράφονται με λίγα λόγια εδώ .
Τα τελευταία χρόνια παρατηρείται μεγάλη ανάπτυξη, κυρίως σε οικονομικό επίπεδο, στις χώρες της Ασίας και ειδικότερα στην Κίνα. Η Ασία αποτελεί πλέον την πρώτη επιλογή των διεθνών επενδυτών, εκθρονίζοντας την ηπειρωτική Ευρώπη. Γι’ αυτό άλλωστε η χώρα μας ενδιαφέρεται να αναπτύξει περισσότερο οικονομικές και εμπορικές σχέσεις με τα κράτη της περιοχής, εκμεταλλευόμενη τις οικονομικές και επενδυτικές ευκαιρίες που απορρέουν από τη ραγδαία ανάπτυξη των ασιατικών οικονομιών. Καθώς η κινεζική οικονομία αναπτύσσεται, μεγαλώνουν και τα περιθώρια συνεργασίας σε όλα τα επίπεδα.
H AIESEC λαμβάνοντας υπόψη την τάση αυτή αποφάσισε να διοργανώσει το Horizon Project με σκοπό την ανάπτυξη της επιχειρηματικότητας και των εμπορικών σχέσεων μεταξύ των Ευρωπαϊκών και των Ασιατικών χωρών. Το Project αυτό θα χρηματοδοτηθεί από το Asia Europe Foundation που επιθυμεί να συμβάλει στη πολύπλευρη συνεργασία, τις κοινές δραστηριότητες και ανταλλαγές νέων μεταξύ των χωρών αυτών.
Οι χώρες που μπορούν να συμμετέχουν στο Project είναι:
Κεντρική και ανατολική Ευρώπη: Τσεχία, Εσθονία, Ουγγαρία, Λετονία,Πολωνία, Λιθουανία, Σλοβακία, Σλοβενία
Δυτική Ευρώπη: Αυστρία, Βέλγιο, Δανία, Φινλανδία, Γαλλία, Γερμανία, Ελλάδα, Ιρλανδία, Ιταλία, Ενωμένο Βασίλειο, Ολλανδία, Πορτογαλία, Ισπανία, Σουηδία, Μάλτα
Ασία: Κίνα, Ινδία, Ινδονησία, Ιαπωνία, νότια Κορέα, Μαλαισία, Ταϊλάνδη, Βιετνάμ, Φιλιππίνες.
Τι περιλαμβάνει το project?
Στόχοι του Horizon:
