Lorenzo The Magnificent Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Lorenzo The Magnificent - Research Paper Example I believe this to be a possibility because of the many works of art, sculpture and architecture that are being made during this period. Much of this beauty only exists because it was commissioned by the wealthy ruling families of Italy. People such as myself, Lorenzo Medici, commission artwork not only to promote culture and the arts in my city, but also to show off the material wealth my family commands. The types of works I commission demonstrate the recent advancements that have taken place in architecture and art as well as convey a sense of the impression I wish to make upon my neighbors and associates. Having been raised in a family already strongly committed to the arts, I hope to one day be remembered as one of art’s finest patrons but remain somewhat fearful that it is other areas of my life history will focus upon. The physical world I knew while growing up went a long way toward fostering my love of the arts, but it also helped shape my personality in other ways. In our Florentine society, it is necessary for princes who can afford it to build huge residential palaces, villas, fortresses, governmental buildings, churches and convents that we can then fill with statuary, paintings, sculptures, brilliantly performed original pieces of music and other fine works of art. This is how we demonstrate our status in our very class-conscious society. â€Å"Art historians bury the why – and hence the sociology – by their excessive emphasis on questions of form and style. Most of the great building projects of the Italian Renaissance †¦ had behind them the urge to exhibit now: to exhibit an identity, to show the power or piety of the man and his family dynasty, and to carve out a space in the city that would belong to that name, that individual and dynasty, for all times† (Marti nes, 1979: 236). These sentiments applied equally to other commissioned works of art as well. At three stories tall, the family’s Medici Palace in

Turkey Vultures :: essays research papers

Turkey Vultures   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Vultures are large birds of prey closely related to hawks and eagles. They are divided into New World vultures and Old World vultures, both belonging to the order Falconiformes. The New World vultures, in the family Cathartidae, consist of seven species in five genera. Among the New World vultures include the Cathartes aura, also known as the Turkey Vulture.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Scientists say that turkey vultures are shy, inoffensive birds. Some researchers have discovered that the bird is very helpful to the environment. Its habit of cleaning up decaying and diseased carcasses makes it a sanitary engineer par excellence, while its keen sense of smell has been pressed into service to find wasteful and dangerous gas leaks. And the vulture’s unique knack for conserving energy has intrigued scientists for years.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although the turkey vulture has a large, turkeylike body and sporty red head, it is not even distantly related to the turkey. Instead, turkey vultures- along with their cousins in the United States, the black vulture of the South and East, and the nearly extinct California condor-belong to a group of raptors called New World vultures. Chromosome analysis shows that the New World vultures are actually more closely related to storks than to the vultures of Europe, Asia, and Africa.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Turkey vultures are remarkably successful birds. They range everywhere from parts of Canada and much of the United States to South America. At home in deserts, prairies and woodlands, they have even settled close to people in a number of urban and suburban areas.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Observed in flight, the turkey vulture appears black with the underside of its wings grayish or silvery, giving the birds a two-toned appearance. They characteristically hold their wings in a slight V, or dihedral, thus aiding identification. On rare occasions, they hold their wings flat and eagle-like which, if seen at a great distance, may cause the birds to resemble eagles. In flight, the turkey vulture holds it’s naked head, crimson-red as adults and grayish-black as immatures, downward in contrast to eagles, which hold their heads forward.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The tail of the turkey vulture extends far beyond the rear edge of its wings. They typically rock or tilt from side to side while gliding or soaring on updrafts or circling overhead. Their occasional wingbeats are powerful and labored. Turkey vultures are large birds with wingspreads of about six feet. Their wings are long, moderatly wide, and have strongly slotted tips. Typically, the wings are held slightly above a horizontal plane when the bird is aloft. This forms a characteristic dihedral which is very useful in making correct field identification. Although turkey vultures use thermals, they are more

In What Ways and to What Extent Was China Modernized During the Republican Period (1912-49)?

In what ways and to what extent was China modernized during the Republican period (1912-49)? After the fall of Qing Dynasty in 1911, the unprecedented, new form of government emerged in China immediately. Whereafter the betrayal of the Republic of Yuan Shikai (1913-1916) and the turmoil of Warlordism (1916-27), China was in a relative stable situation till the Nationalist Government was established in Nanjing in 1928, a period first possible for any modernization effort.That is, most of the modernization efforts, both externally and internally, which including diplomacy, financial, industry, education, of the Republican period (1912-49), were done in the Nationalist Government period, from 1928-37, and subsequently disturbed and made impossible by the Sino-Japanese War. The external modernizations made by the Nanjing Government were unprecedented, which revealed by the revival of tariff autonomy and recovery of foreign concessions. Diplomatically, during the Nanjing Government period , the tariff autonomy was regained, to replace the fixed tariff of 5 percent ad valorem imposed after the Opium War in 1842.Adding to this, in 1928, two guiding principles in which treaties and agreement s that had expired would be abolish and renegotiated according to legal procedures. That is, the foreign powers agreed in principle to give up their consular jurisdiction. Furthermore, several municipal foreign concessions, including the one in Hankow, Kiukiang, Chinkiang, Weihaiwei, Amoy and Tientsin, were recovered. And in 1943 finally the United States and Britain voluntarily abolished all unequal treaties with China. The century-long humiliation upon the Chinese was finally abolished while China could gain a place in the foreign diplomatic map.Internally, political structure was modernized in terms of the clear establishment of separating powers as changed from the absolute Chinese monarchical rule. The dominant feature of the Nanjing Government was its five-yuan structure, incl uding the Executive Yuan, the Legislative Yuan, the Judiciary Yuan, the Examination Yuan and the Control Yuan. Each Yuan owned their special authorities in the Government politics. This fulfilled The Three People’s Priciples, the Five-Power Constitution, the Fundamentals of National Reconstruction, proposed by Dr Sun Yixian.In 1928, the Nanjing Government also brought China into the Period of Political Tutelage. Although the Executive Yuan was different to the Western practice, in terms of the organ was responsible to the party (KMT) and the president of the republic (Jiang Jieshi), basically, the political structure was modernized in the Nanjing period. Besides, people mind was modernized in terms of voicing their opinions actively and bravely. The 1911 Revolution gave a new sense to the people that mass opinion could place a weigh in the society, which was unprecedented in Chinese history.This could be reflected by several mass movements since 1912, Chinese people were brav e to voice their opinion upon social, mostly, and foreign affairs. The most notable were the May Fourth Incident in 1919, and the May 30th Atrocious Incident in 1925. Chinese people in the former successfully voiced their nationalism of which not accepting the unfair treatment in the Paris Peace Conference, used mass power to give pressure on the exiting government, forcing it to release strikers, and striking a general boycott on Japanese goods.The Chinese participated in both incidents were diverse, including students, workers and merchants alike. This showed the modernized, mature mind of Chinese people. Politics was modernizing in terms of the circulation of different opinion freely: the emergence of the Nationalist Party and Communist Party. Although the Nationalist Party, the KMT (Kuomintang), was established and in power immediately after the 1911 Revolution, the rapid intellectual development was not barred from that.Amid those eagerness to acquire western ideologies and ref orming China, different â€Å"isms† were introduced. Confronting to the relatively more capitalistic KMT, the CPC, the Communist Party of China, emerged at the same time. Until 1949, the two ideology-confronted parties were working in China, which showed a relatively modernized Chinese society that could allow different ideologies. Practically, many modernization efforts were made by the Nationalistic Government domestically. In the financial aspects In the industrial development aspects,In the education aspect, But all the modernizations mentioned above were constrained to a limited extent. This was mainly because the interference of internal and external upheavals: the warlord periods and the Sino-Japanese War. These modernization efforts could only be done in the Nationalist Government period, from 1928-37, this confined the scope and the extent. Secondly, there was no any social and economic reform. Thirdly, all modernization efforts were confined to the coastal areas, an d untouched by the vast rural mass.Also the classes incurred in several mass movements were yield to the hard life in wars and no longer willing to voice their opinion. Fourthly, there were no modernizations on the majority population: peasants. Fifthly, the multi party politics was never realized in China, and the introduction of constitution never materialized six years after 1928. Only external modernizations were realized and truly beneficial to Chinese, the majority Chinese. The internal material modernizations were only confined to the Nationalistic Government period, and limited places in China.

Summarise The Life Of Buddha And The History Of Buddhism

1. Summarize the life of Buddha and the history of Buddhism. To summarize the life of Buddha I tried doing a little more research myself. There is not a complete biography on him. Not until centuries after his death and that is still very little. We know that he was born Siddhartha Gautama in Lumbini near the present Indian-Nepal border. We know that he was the son of a ruler of a petty kingdom. He was raised a young prince who was raised in sheltered luxury. When he turned 29 he saw how empty his life was and renounced earthly attachments. He then went on his way to embarking on his quest of peace and enlightenment. Seeking rebirth. Buddhism is a major world religion which was founded in northeastern Indiaand is based on the teaching of Buddha. The Buddha rejected many aspects of Hindu philosophy, but also challenged the authority of the priesthood, denied the validity of the Vedic scriptures. Buddhism was also opened to all castes, denying that a person’s spiritual worth is a matter of birth. Buddhism today is divided into two major branchesknown as Theravada and Mahayana. Buddhism is found all over the world not just in India. 2. Explain the basic Buddhist teachings including the three marks of reality, the Four Noble Truths, and the Noble Eightfold Path. Buddhism teachings are based on the three jewels. Buddha or another ideal human should be imitate. Dharma is second, this is the total of Buddhist teachings on how to view theShow MoreRelatedThe Four Characteristics of Religion1212 Words   |  5 Pagesintellect and differentiated between the dimensions of immanent and transcendent. Every religion has a core belief that a person must adhere to, to truly belong to that religion and this is referred to as its paradigm. In Buddhism, the paradigm is a belief in the Three Refuges - The Lord Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. For Hinduism, the belief that ultimate union with Brahman is the only real purpose for humans, is extremely fundamental. Every religion has a paradigm and in addition, has other beliefsRead MoreEssay on Wonderment and Awe: the Way of the Kami4711 Words   |  19 Pagesworlds with an animistic world-view that references ancient Japanese beliefs, practices and myths. His films describe an intrigu ing mixture of earthy spirituality particularly drawn from the Shinto tradition. Shinto is less a religion than a way of life – a pantheistic and animistic faith that believes that every object possesses a spirit, and encourages nature worship, folk beliefs, ancient deities and rituals. It has no dogma or moral doctrine, except for four general tenets: worshipping and honouring