Who Stole My Cheese? Self-Analysis Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Change, like time, is always happening. There is no way to stop it, not even for a second. Whither or not you realize it, you are always changing in every possible way. However, we commonly simplify change to only the large differences in our normal routines each day or week, whither they are expected or unexpected. These large problems can sometimes become problems for people, which is not surprising. They should be problems, whither they are good problems to have, or bad. It is our job to adapt to these changes, and to adapt quickly. All of the time it takes you to adapt, is time lost, time you will never regain. This principle is easily explained by Spencer Johnson, M.D. in his book Who Moved My Cheese?.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hem, Haw, and two speedy mice running through a maze looking for cheese first sounded like a very odd way to analyze how people deal with change, however, after reading a section, the comparison between two different people and mice is a very creative and correct comparison. The mice, are concerned with one thing, their cheese. They do not worry about having a permanent home or structure to fall back on. They are like Indians following the buffalo wherever they roam. They are constantly on the move following their source of life. The little people, Hem and Haw, however, are more concerned with have a home, and a schedule. A life that stays the same with themselves always perfectly content. They do not want to hav...

Biography of Julius Caesar Essay -- Julius Caesar Roman Empire Essays

Biography of Julius Caesar A baby was born on July 12 or 13 of 100 BC in Rome. Little did the proud parents of this baby know that he would rule most of the known world. This baby was born to the name of Gaius, his personal name, Julius was the name of his family's clan and the name of his family was Caesar meaning hairy. Caesar was such an amazing man that many people couldn't believe that he was born the same way as them. Over time stories have arisen about Caesar's birth. One story says that Caesar was pulled from an incision in his mother's stomach. This is where the medical term of Cesarean section came from, from Caesar's birth. Not everyone paid that much attention to the birth of Caesar, it was overshadowed by exploits of his Uncle Gaius Marius. Marius was a politician, he was a "new man" or a plebeian politician. He married into the aristocratic Caesar family so he would have a name to back up his words. Marius did not receive a first-class education or a lot of other advantages some politicians had. Marius was elected consul in 108 BC, once in office he proved himself as a brilliant general. He persuaded the senate to send him to Africa and replace the general in the war there. He took over for General Metellus. Soon he ended the war that had been dragging on for many years. When he returned to Rome Marius found another chance for fame. Nomadic German tribes had invaded the north of Italy and winning a couple battles over Roman armies. Marius took the spotlight away from this little bundle of joy named Caesar.No matter what he wanted he was propelled into politics. Many of his relatives were senators or held other important political offices. He listened to many political discussions between his family which had substantial influences on him. He was trained to be a politician by his tutor Antonius Gnipho. He studied Greek and Latin literature, philosophy, and most important, rhetoric or the art of persuasive argument. At the age of twelve he was brought to the senate house to watch speeches and debates.As a kid he wrote numerous poems and plays. Augustus believed that these writings might tarnish his reputation, when he became emperor he burned all of Caesar works. Caesar was a very handsome boy and for that matter man too. He dressed in a style all his own. He was not very strong as boy. All male children were expected to be goo... ...ors over the edge. Caesar wanted to lead armies again in new and glorious conquests. He made plans to leave Rome for two years and lead an army. He was to leave on March 19. This meant the assassination had to take place soon, Cassius had to make final plans. Caesar knew something was wrong he had spies everywhere and a soothsayer openly said that he would be killed. He refused to take precautions and even dismissed his bodyguard. This whole time he refused to be crowned king. Caesar was scheduled to attend a meeting on the Ides, or fifteenth, of March, that was the day the conspirators would attack. On March fourteenth Caesar's wife had terrible dreams of her husband's death. In the morning his wife pleaded with him not to go. Caesar postponed the session. One of the conspirators named Decimus Brutus came to Caesar's house and persuaded him to come to the session. He gave in and came to the session. His wife's try to save him failed. When Caesar entered the Senate a group formed around him and stabbed him to death. He was stabbed 23 times then fell on a statue of Pompey. So Caesar died. Caesar had a great life and then was stabbed because people were jealous of him.

The Importance of an Ant :: Personal Narrative Ants Essays Insects

The Importance of an Ant I gaze carefully. My little red friend scrambles across my keyboard. Amazing, all those limbs and joints bending and stretching in a rhythmic fluidity, tiny feelers waving excitedly. He approaches a friend, and they tap each other in friendly camradrie, perhaps even love. He waves in understanding and he is off again, this time swiftly scampering toward the Collegiate Coupon book sitting on my desk. He surges upwards a few millimeters and slips into the crack between the pages. Okay. So my desk isn’t exactly Walden Pond. The last time I saw leaves change color in here was when my plant died last year. And there certainly are no long lines of wisdom-seekers at my door searching for inspiration. But the ants don’t care. They simply go about their business, whatever it may be. I used to think their existence was pointless. Now I know it is. They spend their lives migrating from the radiator to my computer and back. I have no idea what they could possibly eat in my room, unless they somehow discovered how to eat through the canned kidney beans or the dried pasta stored under my bed. Even their movements have no purpose. I watch in stupefaction as they turn around at least ten times while traveling a mere six inches. Maybe the most pitiful thing is that the ants have no individual identity. â€Å"Oh, that ant! The red one with the three body segments and the six legs. The one that likes to scurry. Why didn’t you say so?† Have you ever seen an ant smile? Have you swapped stories with an ant over a warm cup of cocoa? Do the ants that live by the Great Pyramids or by the Taj Mahal appreciate these wondrous monuments? Do they feel sympathy for the victims at the World Trade Center? No. My little friends just continue to walk around aimlessly. They are born in obscurity and they die in obscurity. Unlike ants, humanity has achieved greatness. We marvel at the intellect of Leonardo da Vinci or the musical genius of Beethoven.

Dixons Hrm Brief

Human Resource Management Functional Brief Dixons Group’s decision to reorientate the business around serving the customer has had far reaching implications for Human Resource Management (HRM). The emphasis on first-class customer service is intended to help Dixons differentiate itself from its online competitors. The decision to stress personal, face-to-face interactions is clearly something that online competitors will be unable to replicate and if this can be turned into a source of competitive advantage for the company then it represents a sound strategic move.The strategy does, however, hinge on Dixons being able to deliver this excellent customer service. The very face-to-face nature of service delivery means that it can only be provided through the employees of Dixons group which, in turn, means that human resource management is pivotal. This shift in emphasis is best illustrated by the two delivery drivers in the video of the customer plan who comment that when deliver ing goods ‘we shouldn’t just be saying â€Å"sign here† and then running off. We should give them [the customer] that experience’. http://www. dixonsretail. com/dixons/templates/modules/video. jsp) Aligning HRM strategy with this shift in business strategy has considerable implications for Dixons employees. With employee turnover at 15% – a low level for a retail organisation – the majority of employees affected by the change have spent time working under the previous system. This means that a significant amount of retraining is necessary to ensure that employees both know and are able to implement the new strategy.At the heart of the new strategy is the idea of solving problems for the customer. As Group Chief Executive, Sebastian James points out ‘When customers come in and say they want a television what they actually mean is that they want to do something – they want to watch the game, entertain the kids†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Traini ng Dixons staff to help solve the customers’ problems involves ensuring that they not merely have excellent product knowledge but also the know how to provide ancillary services around the product.Dixons achieves this through a mixture of techniques, for example workshops and e-learning. Techniques to help the employees remember the key features of particular products are also employed. Through a clear, customer orientated approach, Dixons hopes to be able to help solve their customers’ problems, rather than simply sell them a box. This training has cost Dixons a great deal of money, with all staff having been through at least three cycles of retraining.These efforts, however, appear to be bearing fruit with significantly improved customer advocacy measures. The percentage of customers who are ‘very likely to recommend’ Dixons has risen from 43% to 73% since 2010 (Dixons Annual Report and Accounts 2011/12, p. 9). The Dixons case illustrates how the alignme nt of business strategy with people strategy is important in achieving organisational objectives. The customer metrics appear to be improving and it will be interesting to see how this impacts on the financial performance of the business.

Counselors as Companions and Ethics in Human Services Essay

In this article the counselor states: â€Å"I found that when working with such clients, my role as counselor is more akin to a special type of travel companion who is willing to understand and respect the process of walking along a sacred life path. This is the only way I can effectively help a client explore the deeper dimensions of the self that are being challenged. As the hero’s companion I must be willing to share in the client’s pain as well as new, and oftentimes unexpected, discoveries.† (Halstead, 2000) The counselor learned that he needed to be a companion not a guide. He also learned that no matter how hard a situation is or no matter how many times someone tells you that you cannot do something, if you have the willpower and want to, you can overcome anything you encounter on life’s journey. As the counselor, we must show the client that we are there for them and not tell them what they should be doing or how they should handle a certain situation. In the future, I feel the counselor will be more supportive of the decisions his clients make. As a counselor, we may sometimes feel that the client should do something one way and try to push them towards it but in the end the client really does know what is best for them. There are so many people like Steve in The Hero’s Journey, who are told they will never be able to do something and they work hard, overcome every obstacle thrown their way and prove everyone wrong. I believe that everyone we come in contact with changes us in one way or the other. I believe everyone has a story that can help the next person. I have a best friend who called me one day and was telling me about this girl she knew who had lost everything, kids, house, car, job, everything someone can  lose, she had lost it. My best friend starts telling me that this girl had turned to drugs, prostitution, living on the streets and had also mentioned suicide a few times. My best friend told me that she felt like if this girl was to hear my story then it would help her so I told her to bring this girl to my house. They get to my house and I immediately wanted to cry because when I looked at this girl, I seen what I looked like eleven years ago. She was about 5’11 and maybe 100 pounds, her face was sunk in and you could tell she had not had a shower in a long time. I got her something to eat and drink and then told her my story. I told her about how I was raised Pentecostal by my grandmother who taught me right from wrong. I never wanted for anything growing up and had a family that loved me just like she did. When I turned 18 years old, I started doing drugs, prostitution, being beaten almost on a daily basis by a man who I thought loved me, being rapped on several occasions, almost killed three different times, dying from a drug/alcohol overdose but the doctors were able to bring me back, being sent to prison while I was pregnant for something I didn’t do, having my son in prison and losing custody of him and how I turned my life around when I got out of prison. While I am telling my story to this sad and lost girl, she is crying the whole time and I know it is because she is just a younger version of me. I was told that I would never be anything but a failure at life and would never amount to anything but looking at my life now, you would never know that I had went through any of that unless I told you. Today, this girl has her kids back, a beautiful home, making about $50,000 a year, a husband who truly loves her and she says it is because my story gave her the strength she needed to turn her life around. When we got done that night, she looked at me and said, â€Å"Thank you for sharing your story with me, it has given me the hope and strength that I have been looking for to turn my life around. I wanted to end my life and just be done with it all.† That night she promised me she was not going to stop fighting and she didn’t. So yes, I believe with all my heart that most people you come in contact with change you in some way. Steve states in the article that, â€Å"I really grew up because of all this. Before the attack I was going nowhere. Now I have a direction.† (Halstead, 2000) His challenges gave him a greater sensitivity to others needs who were  recovering from strokes and brain injuries. (Halstead, 2000) I believe that having a counselor who believed in him also helped Steve to not give up. Steve had been told by doctor after doctor that he would always be limited to things he would be able to do. Having just one person tell him that he could do anything he put his mind to, gave him the extra push he needed to overcome those limitations the doctors had given him. I feel that both Steven and the counselor benefited from this relationship. When Steve’s psychiatrist called the counselor, I do not feel the psychiatrist had a right to discuss Steve with the counselor without his permission. I do feel the counselor did right by not going into details about his sessions with Steve and waited until Steve returned to school to speak with him about it. However, when the counselor seen that Steve was depressed and thinking about suicide when he received his fall semester grades, the counselor had a responsibility to Steve to seek help from someone else. In the Ethical Standards for Human Service Professionals it states that â€Å"if it is suspected that danger or harm may occur to the client or to others as a result of a client’s behavior, the human service professional acts in an appropriate and professional manner to protect the safety of those individuals. This may involve seeking consultation, supervision, and/or breaking the confidentiality of the relationship.† (National Organization for Human Services, n.d) If I ever have a client that is thinking about suicide, I will talk to my supervisor and ask for his help in coming up with a plan to help my client, maybe ask my supervisor to sit in on a session with me and talk to the client as well. Because of the personal nature of their work, human service workers at all levels are held to a code of ethics that protects the rights and dignity of clients and establishes standards of practice. (Sessoms, n.d) The National Organization of Human Service ethical standards places a responsibility on human service workers that have for their clients, the community, colleagues, employers, the profession and the human service worker themselves. The National Association of Social Workers approaches ethics through a core set of values, which include service, dignity and worth of the person, social justice, integrity and competence. (Sessoms, n.d) Reference Halstead, R. W. (2000). FROM TRAGEDY TO TRIUMPH: COUNSELOR AS COMPANION ON THE HERO’S JOURNEY. Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.lib.kaplan.edu/eds/detail?vid=2&sid=5b062172-ddf2-4c9d-a107-d6387c05f54b%40sessionmgr198&hid=115&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=aph&AN=2768884 National Organization for Human Services. (n.d.). Ethical Standards for Human Service Professionals. Retrieved July 5, 2014, from http://www.nationalhumanservices.org/ethical-standards-for-hs-professionals Sessoms, G. (n.d.). Code of Ethics for Human Service Workers. Retrieved July 5, 2014, from http://http://work.chron.com/code-ethics-human-service-workers-8132.html

Investments for Inflationary and Deflationary Environments Essay

Inflation is the raise of a price level of good and services over a period of time. When there is an inflation each unit of currency buys fewer goods than it was possible before. Inflation affects can be both positive and negaive. Positive effect inclule ensuring that central banks will ajust real interest rates and encaurage investment in non-moneaty capital projects and the negative side is that people hav uncertainty over future and can damage investments and savings. Inflation can be cosed because of big amount of money supply. So now what are the best investments during inflation? The good thing is that there are some places there money investments will be secured. Important during inflationary environment is to avoid having cash, it is good not to hold cash for long time and allocate it into other assets and investments. It is very good to invest cash into gold or other precious meas. It always casts a lot after the inflation or crises. Gold is seen as a hedge against uncertainty and store of value. Investing into gold is possible to buy gold or just to invest into company which are mining gold. It is profitable to invest in crude oil, a lot of people invest into it as a protection against inflation. Oil is inelastic supply, so any decrease or increase in price would not result the increase or decrease in supply. There is many ways investing into crude oil with its con and pros. If you want to invest in short fixed income, you should avoid the US treasure because they may underperform. When yields start to raise bond price will fall. This investment provides a return in the form of fixed periodic payments and eventual return of principal at maturity. Investing into technology is also very good both at deflationary and inflationary environment. Does not matter on an environment technology is in demand and will continue to evolve. It is good and profitable to buy treasure protected securities so called TIPS, it gives a safety of the government bonds during inflation. Deflation is the opposite of inflation, decrease in the general price-level of goods and services. Deflation occurred when inflation rate falls below 0%. Deflation increases the real value of money. While deflation cash is â€Å"king†. It the rule number one, cash is one of the best and the most safety investment at the deflationary environment. Pay off debts is also very good while deflationary time. It is a period when every single dollar matters, each dollar can be profitable in future. Companies may have problems while deflation, so it is very good to invest in companies which have ideal short selling targets. Buy also high quality dividend paying stocks. While most of the firms will lose pricing power large cap high quality companies will dominate their industries and will be able to maintain pricing power. Seek companies with pristine balance. While deflation, house prices fall, as such it is better or rent rather than own. While deflation technology will still be in demand. The technology was announces as one of the best areas to allocate capital in high quality equities. As we already know TIPs are long-term protection while inflationary environment. But there is an opinion that deflation will lead to inflation after a period of time. This is an early protection in deflationary environment to avoid problems in future.

Peking Opera

Modern observers in the West may not understand why, but they can certainly recognize when males are used to portray female roles in the Chinese theater. A quote from Act 2 Scene 7 of David Henry Hwang's opera, â€Å"Madam Butterfly,† provides a useful example of how and why males are used to play female roles. There, a male singer who plays female roles in Beijing Opera deceives a French diplomat into thinking he actually is a woman. He explains that males take the female roles â€Å"because only a man knows how a woman is supposed to act† This explanation resonates on multiple levels with varying degrees of irony, suggesting that gender is as performative in life as it is in theater. To this end, this paper examines how men playing the tan role in the Beijing Opera define and enforce the idea of femininity by performing the female role to determine how men perform femininity on stage in the Beijing Opera. A summary of the research is provided in the conclusion. Review and Discussion Background and Overview. The importance of actors and acting has long been celebrated in China; in fact, the first document concerning â€Å"actors† can be found in the Records of the Great Historian, written by Sima Qian (145-90 BCE), who was appointed to the court of Emperor Wu (reigned 141-87 BCE) of the Western Han dynasty (cited in Thorpe 269). Likewise, the use of male actors to portray female characters also has a long history in China, although many contemporary researchers consider its origins to be primarily in the last century and a half. According to Tian (2000), â€Å"The art of male dan –specialists in female roles — is one of the most important issues in traditional Chinese theatre, especially in jingju (Beijing or Peking opera)† (78). Beijing opera, or literally â€Å"opera of the capital,† emerged in the mid-19th century in China by incorporating components of huidiao from Anhui, dandiao from Hubei, and kunqu, the traditional opera that had predominated the country since the 14th century; performed in Mandarin, the dialect of Beijing and of the traditional elite, the jingxi musical verse plays came to be performed throughout China, although most provinces and many major cities developed their own operatic variants using local dialects (Brandon 2). As Beijing opera spread out from its original roots in Beijing to become an actual national theatre in China, there were some issues that arose concerning tradition and innovation. For instance, in his book, Diasporas and Interculturalism in Asian Performing Arts: Translating Traditions, Um (2004) reports that, â€Å"The art as performed in Beijing was considered the ‘pure' form, referred to as ‘jingpai' ([Bei]jing style). But somewhat paradoxically, innovation was only regarded as truly successful if it was recognized in Beijing. For instance, liupai, the schools or styles of acting representative of the creative work of individual actors, could only be established through the validation of Beijing audiences and critics† (161). Before the mid-20th century, Beijing opera was considered to be actor-centered, both in terms of performance as well as the creative process; this mindset meant that all major creative work was either accomplished by or supervised by the actors but even this creative work had be approved by Beijing (Um 161). In fact, â€Å"An actor's original composition, scripting, staging and performance achieved the power of long-term influence and continuity only when Beijing conferred liupai status† (Um 161). According to Brandon (2006), Beijing operas are highly conventionalized in terms of movements, costumes and makeup; the respective attitudes of the individual characters in Beijing opera products are communicated through traditional postures, steps, and arm movements. In addition, both actors and actresses wear carefully applied face paint to indicate which characters they portray and various acrobatic movements are often employed to suggest violence (Brandon 2-3). Other devices are also used in Beijing opera to communicate what may not be readily discernible to uninitiated Western observers, but which are immediately recognized by Chinese audiences. For example, musical accompaniment for Beijing opera is provided by a small orchestra of stringed and wind instruments, wooden clappers, and a small drum; brief interludes of spoken narration allow singers to rest periodically during the characteristically lengthy performances; these devices also carry with them understood conventions that convey important points to be made (Brandon 3). As noted above, the Beijing opera has traditionally employed an all-male cast, including males portraying the female parts; however, during the late 20th century, Beijing opera expanded its scope to admit female actors as well (Brandon, 2006). The most popular male performer in the Beijing Opera was Mei Lanfang, who played mostly female roles; he introduced the art form to an international audience by touring in Japan, the United States, and the Soviet Union (Brandon 3). In her chapter, â€Å"Traditional theater in contemporary China,† Elizabeth Wichmann (1988) reports that, â€Å"Beijing opera has been the nationally dominant form of theater in China for at least one hundred years. However, it is only one among more than 360 indigenous, or traditional, forms of Chinese theater currently being staged† (184). The salient features of Beijing opera today can be traced to the Yuan dynasty, when the particular styles of costume and makeup were indicative of the nature of the character wearing them (Wichmann 184). According to this author, â€Å"At least in terms of refinement and elaboration, the Beijing opera (jingju) and other allied styles of Qing dynasty regional theater probably represent the high point of Chinese stage costume, and their styles of ‘painted face’ makeup are more numerous and complex than the stage makeups of any other culture or period† (Wichmann 2). Likewise, the distinctive Beijing opera walking styles of the dan (female roles) and sheng are clearly recognizable in other traditional forms, just as are the stylized hand and eye movements of the huadan (Wichmann 2). Although some localized forms of theater have not include certain role types (the jing being the role type most frequently excluded), the walk, posture, and gestures techniques used for every other role type traditionally included in each form and can be recognized by modern Chinese audiences without fail as belonging to that role type throughout the various forms of traditional Chinese theater (Brandon 3). Vocal stylizations, though, in many cases are significantly different from one theater form to the next, being reflective of a specific role type and of the specific form of theater (Brandon 3). In Beijing opera, actors portraying female roles typically use distinctly different vocal ranges and tonal qualities, including extremely high natural register production, midrange chest-supported nasal production, and a type of vocal production that is similar to the yodel, in which the performer must have a very wide vocal range (Wichmann 187). According to Wichmann (1988), â€Å"Through their combined imagery, the vocal and physical stylizations of each role type convey the primarily Confucian values and resulting behavior patterns traditionally deemed appropriate by society for each type of role thus portrayed† (187). Historic Influences on the Use of Male Actors for Female Roles in Beijing Opera. Fortunately for contemporary historians, there is a good account of how male actors came to portray female roles in the Beijing opera in the historical records. According to Guy (2001), Beijing opera is just one of more than 360 different regional forms of Chinese opera that differ primarily according to the regional dialect used in song and speech as well as in their musical materials. â€Å"In comparison with many of the world's other great musical theater traditions such as Japanese Noh, Italian opera, or Javanese wayang, Peking opera is a relatively new form. Its birth is popularly traced to 1790† (Guy 377). In reality, though, the origins of the male dan role can be traced back much further in Chinese history. For example, in her essay, â€Å"Male Dan: The Paradox of Sex, Acting, and Perception of Female Impersonation in Traditional Chinese Theatre,† Tian (2000) reports that, â€Å"The tradition of the male dan can be traced back to ancient music and dance. It probably dates back as early as the Han dynasty (206 B. C. -A. D. 219)† (78). A highly regarded scholar of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Jiao Xun (1763-1820), cites a source suggesting that in the Han dynasty, there were also male actors that impersonated jinu (female singers and dancers), a tradition that served as the basis for the convention of female impersonation later called zhuang dan (Tian 78). By the end of the Wei dynasty (220-264), Emperor Cao Fang, who reigned from 240-254 CE, was reported to have enjoyed watching his young male jesters portray nubile young women whose excessive wantonness was an embarrassment to onlookers (Tian 78). Likewise, Emperor Xuan Di, who ruled from 578-579 CE of the North Zhou dynasty (557-581), issued a decree that required handsome young men of the city to dress as women and to sing and dance inside the imperial court for the emperor and his entourage (Historical records of the Beijing theatre cited in Tian at 78). During the reign of Emperor Yang Dig (605-616) of the Sui dynasty (589-617), from January 1 to January 15, a period in Chinese history when foreign princes and visitors were taxed by the Emperor in the form of tribute, thousands of singers and dancers gathered and performed in the country’s capital; the majority of these performers were dressed as females, and wore flowers and jewelry (Wang 190 cited in Tian at 78). By the mid-7th century, during the Tang dynasty (618-906), the Chinese empress requested that women be prohibited from taking part in any theatrical performance, a proclamation that resulted in the conventional segregation of male players and female singers and dancers employed at the court (Tian 78). Emperor Xuan Zong, who ruled from 712-756, was responsible for the development of the Liyuan (â€Å"Pear Garden†) and Yichunyuan (â€Å"Pleasure House†); the Liyuan used male performers exclusively while the Yichunyan used female singers and dancers (Tian 78). According to Tian (2000), â€Å"It is highly possible that the performances by the Liyuan actors might have involved female impersonation. It is clear that outside the court, jiafu xi (a performance featuring female impersonation) was part of various performances and entertainments in the Tang dynasty† (78). Historical accounts confirm that many male actors were proficient at playing female roles; furthermore, there is also historical evidence that confirms boys dressed as women performed for aristocratic families (Tian 78). During the Tang dynasty, a highly popular performance that involved female impersonation was the folk singing and dance performance known as â€Å"tayaoniang† (stamping and swaying wife). These performances were characterized by the wife being impersonated by a man, who complains about being beaten by her inebriated husband and sings to the rhythm of â€Å"her† dance while the audience responds in chorus (Cui 1959:18 cited in Tian at 78). Peking Opera Peking Opera Peking Opera is China’s national opera. Opera is so popular in China that they declared a â€Å"Peking Opera Month†. Peking Opera has been around for 200 years. â€Å"Its main melodies originated from Xipi and Erhuang in Anhui and Hubei respectively and, overtime, techniques from many other local operas were incorporated†. Peking Opera is said to have come to the front after 1790 when the famous four Anhui opera troupes came to Beijing. Peking Opera was developed quickly over the reign of Emperor Qianlong and the Empress Dowager Cixi under the imperial patron and became accessible to the common people.Peking Opera was originally performed on outside stages such as a teahouse or temple courtyards. The singers developed a piercing style of singing that could be heard over the loud orchestra. â€Å"The costumes were a garish collection of sharply contrasting colors to stand out on the dim stage illuminated by oil lamps†. Peking Opera incorporates parts from â€Å"The Grand Opera, ballet and acrobatics, consisting of dance, dialogue, monologues, martial arts and mime†. The â€Å"Nueva Cancion† Song Tradition Nueva Cancion† is Spanish for new song. Nueva Cancion â€Å"is a movement and genre within Latin American and Iberian music of folk music, folk-inspired music and socially committed music†. Nueva Cancion is seen as playing a powerful role in the social upheavals in Portugal, Spain, and Latin America during the 1970s and 1980s. Nueva Cancion started in Chile in the 1960s and was known as â€Å"The Chilean New Song†. Soon Nueva Cancion started to emerge in Spain and other areas of Latin America. Nueva Cancion renewed tradtitional Latin American folk music, and was soon associated with revolutionary movements, the Latin American New Left, Liberation Theology, hippie and human rights movements due to political lyrics†. Many Neuva Cancion musicians were often censored, exiled, forced to disappear and even tortured by â€Å"right-winged military dictatorships, as in Francoist Spain, Pinochet’s Chile and in Videla and Galtireri’s Argentina†. Neuva Cancion songs were so politically strong and because of this have been used in more recent â€Å"political campaigns, the Orange Revolution, which used Violeta Parra’s Gracias a la vida†.