Chinese language - take home final exam ( Reading comprehension in Coursework

Chinese language - take home final exam ( Reading comprehension in English) - Coursework Example Language policy was also part of government projects such as nation building and democratization. Ideology also had great role in shaping policy as the countries emphasized on unity. For example, Mainland China used Herderian ideology of â€Å"one language, one nation† whereas Taiwan used both herderian and Chinaisation ideology. Hong Kong adopted monolingualism and lingusitic purism. All the three countries adopted Modern Standard Chinese language (PTH), whose standard pronunciation is Beijing Mandarin or dialect. The two conferences on script reform in 1955 simplified Chinese character writing system, promulgated spoken PTH, and developed phonetic alphabet for unification of China (Cheng, 22). The phonetics formed the basis for language policy in all the countries. In 1958, the National People’s Congress approved Hanyu Pinyin Fangan ‘scheme for the phonetic alphabet of Chinese’ leading to emergence of a phonetic script. This pinyin offered standard pronunciation for Chinese characters and did not replace logographic Chinese script (Zhang, 567). Taiwan and Hong Kong use the traditional complex Chinese character script as the official written script. In PRC, Putonghua is medium of instruction in school, official language in workplaces and broadcasting. Prior to adopting Putonghua in 1949, PRC promoted Guoyu as the national language (Cheng, 16-22). In Hong Kong, English was the official language until 1974 when the official languages ordinance was passed giving Chinese (Modern standard Chinese,) co-official status with English. English occupied a higher status until 1987 when Chinese acquired equal status with English as working official language through an Amendment to the language ordinance (Zhang, 573). The difference from PRC policy is that Hong Kong used PTH in written form and Cantonese as the spoken form whereas PRC promoted PTH in written and spoken form (Cheng, 156). Since 1997, Hong Kong uses English and Chinese as medium of

Environmental Issues in South East Asia Research Paper - 1

Environmental Issues in South East Asia - Research Paper Example It ha been pointed out that the Southeast Asian countries are among the less developed countries in Asia that are currently in the process of industrialization. They include Cambodia, Brunet Darussalam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, and Myanmar. These countries are not as industries as Asian countries like Japan and China. The countries can take pride in the low political temperatures that have been seen in most of them over the recent past. The neighboring countries that constitute the Middle East countries like Iraq, Iran, or Syria have witnessed political revolutions that have a significant impact on the economic development of the nation. Industrialization in the Southeast Asian countries began in the second half of the twentieth century. Various industries are available in the Southeast Asia countries. The cotton textile industry had been developed in the region way back before the 1950s. Agricultural industries are common in the countries like Myanmar and Cambodia whereas countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines have manufacturing industries. Different environmental problems are experienced in different parts of the world. The key environmental issues in different countries in the Southeast Asia include seasonal smoke and haze, soil erosion/degradation, water pollution, air pollution, loss of biodiversity, deforestation, poor access to clean water, pollution from solid waste, hazardous materials, and hazardous wastes.