The Economics Of Life And Death :: Economic Theory

The Economics Of Life And Death This paper begins with an explanation of the "life sequence of value," which is defined by the formula Life->Means of Life->More Life (L->MofL->L1). The analysis then contrasts this general sequence of value to the "money sequence of value," which is shown to have three autonomous forms not before distinguished: (1) Money->Means of Life->More Money ($->MofL->$1); (2) Money->Means of Life Destruction->More Money ($->MofD->$1); (3) Money->More Money->More Money ($->$1->$2->$3->$n). I explain how the first money sequence of value, analyzed by Marx in his classical formula of industrial capital (M->C->M1), has mutated so that the standard sequence of (1) assumed by economists has, in fact, been increasingly displaced by sequences (2) and (3). The argument shows that these sequences of economic "growth" increasingly dismantle environmental and civil life-fabrics, but remain unproblematic to the dominant economic paradigm whose measures of value do not register life-losses in their value a ccounts. It is concluded that a regrounding of economic understanding in the life sequence of value is required to avoid a cumulative breakdown in the conditions of social and planetary existence. "The techniques which induce a paradigm change may well be described as therapeutic, if only because, when they succeed, one learns one had been sick before." - Thomas Kuhn (1) The life sequence of value can be formulated in simple axiom as the sequence: Life --> Means of Life --> More Life ( L--> MofL -->L1) In this formula, life refers specifically to sentient life. Sentient life, in turn, is life which can move, feel and - in the case of humans - think in concepts. These three planes of being - organic movement, sensation and thought - all admit of ranges of function. These ranges of function or capability can be reduced by their economic conditions (as with the vital capabilities of a malnourished child), or increased (as with the opening horizons of movement, felt being and cognition of the same child with access to nutritious food). (2) Means of life refer to whatever enables life to be preserved, or to extend its vital range on these planes of being alive. Clean air, food, water, shelter, affective interaction, environmental space and accessible learning conditions are such "means of life". To reproduce life is to maintain its achieved ranges of capability. To increase life is to widen or deepen them to more comprehensive range. To reduce life is to diminish or to extinguish any vector of their vital domains of being.

Analysis of Stephen Cranes, Maggie: A Girl Of The Streets Essays

Analysis of Stephen Crane's, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets Today in modern America, it has become almost impossible to avoid the tales of horror that surround us almost anywhere we go. Scandals, murders, theft, corruption, extortion, abuse, prostitution, all common occurrences in this day in age. A hundred years ago however, people did not see the world in quite such an open manner despite the fact that in many ways, similarities were abundant. People’s lives were, in their views, free of all evil and pollution. They assumed they lived peaceful lives and those around them lived the same flawless lives untouched by corruption as well. Many were too blind to see beyond their own homes and into the lives of others who dealt with a more unfortunate fate. Those being the ones who lived in poverty, abuse, and other harsh conditions which were finally exposed to America in 1893 by a 22-year old college free lance writer who simply wished to show things as they appeared to him: bitterly real. Stephen Crane was America’s first re alistic writer who exposed the realities of the slums, tenement living and other unfavorable conditions to a very naà ¯ve American audience. Through hard work and his great devotion to the examination of the darker side of life Crane finally was able to publish his novel in which explored his experiences of the New York slums. Through his great use of dialect, irony and realism in his novel Maggie: A Girl of the Streets Stephen Crane is able to accomplish his goal of creating a vivid picture in his reader’s mind, portraying the harsh, abusive conditions of the many lives condemned to this fortune. Stephen Crane began his quest for the truth in the summer of 1889 while visiting his brother who lived in New Jersey (Peden, 104). While living with his brother Crane was drawn to the idea of realistic writing. He would travel to New York on almost a daily basis to witness and experience the poverty and abusive conditions of the slums (Colvert, 104). During his visits to New York Crane was able to establish an understanding and develop a feeling for what life was like in the slums. He soon acquired a craving for individuality and a yearning to express his experiences. He began his mission by placing upon himself the desire to become his own individual, separating himself from other writers of the era by using his unique style of r... ... Garland, Hamlin. â€Å"Maggie: A Girl of the Streets.† The Arena June 1893. Rpt. in Twentieth Century Literary Critcism. Ed. Dennis Poupard. Vol. 11. Detroit: Gale, 1983. 121. Karlen, Amo. â€Å"The Craft of Stephen Crane.† Georgia Review Fall 1974: pp 470- 84. Rpt. in The Chelsea House Library of Literary Criticism. Moses, Edwin. â€Å"Stephen Crane.† Magill’s Survey of American Literature. Ed. Frank N. Magill. Vol. 2. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corp., 1991. 427-41. Peden, William. â€Å"Stephen Crane.† Encyclopedia Americana. 1998 ed. Pizer, Donald. â€Å"Stephen Crane’s Maggie and American Naturalism.† Criticism Spring 1965: 168-75. Rpt. in The Chelsea House Library of Literary Criticism. Ed. Harold Bloom. Vol. 10 New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989. 5858-53. Quinn, Arthur Hobson. â€Å"The Journalists.† American Fiction: An Historical and Critical Survey. New York: Appleton Century-Crofts, Inc., 1936. 521-49. Seymour-Smith, Martin. â€Å"Stephen Crane.† Funk and Wagnalls Guide to Modern Literature. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1973. 37-40. Walford, Chester L. â€Å"Stephen Crane.† Critical Survey of Long Fiction. Ed. Frank N. Magill. Vol. 2. New Jersey: Salem Press, 1983. 638-47.

American Chemical Corporation Essay

Statement of the problem In October of 1979, the American Chemical Corporation (ACC) began looking for a buyer for the Collinsville, Alabama plant after successfully acquiring 91% of the shares of Universal Paper Corporation. Dixon Corporation, a specialist chemical company with customers primarily in the paper and pulp industry agreed to the possibility of purchasing the Collinsville plant for $12 million. This purchase will diversify Dixon’s product line, adding the sodium chlorate chemical, produced at the Collinsville plant, needed by its existing customers. Dixon is evaluating different streams of cash flows for the possibility of purchasing the Collinsville plant. Discussion The decision to acquire Collinsville’s plant will translate into strategic and economic benefits. Dixon could increase their supply of chemical products to their existing clients. However, first we looked in to the risk of the possible venture. Dixon has never produced sodium chlorate which could add risk to the new venture. For this reason we calculated the beta of the project based on the beta of the sodium chlorate industry. We focused on Brunswick and Southern Chemical which are pure play sodium chlorate companies. The average unleveraged beta obtained from the two companies is 1.035 which reflects the risk of the project. Adjusting Dixon’s beta by re-levering it using its own target capital structure of 35% ends with a beta of 1.59. The beta obtained is used to derive the CAPM method, resulting in a 21.45% cost of equity. We assumed that the debt borrowed by Dixon has a rate of 11.25% calculating an after-tax cost of debts of 5.85%. Therefore, the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) for Collinsville’s plant cash flow is nearly 16%. This ratio will be used to evaluate the different NPV’s of the projects. To make an investment decision three scenarios have been analyzed. The first and second scenarios are to finance the plant in 5 years or 10 years respectively both with a zero salvage value at the end of the term. The Third option is to purchase the plant with a laminated technology, ACC’s technical support, and zero salvage value at the end of the term. The first two alternatives resulted in negative NPVs of ($1,928) and ($1,932) respectively, through an incremental cash flow analysis. However, acquiring Collinsville with the laminated technology will result in a positive NPV of $4,960, as well as, reducing the electric power by 30%, and the possibility of adapting this technology to other plants to reduce operating costs. Recommendation Based on our analysis, we recommend that Dixon Corporation invest in Collinsville with the laminate technology. Any of the other options, based on our incremental cash flow analysis, resulted in negative NPVs. We recommend investing in nothing other than the laminate technology project for the benefit of the shareholders. However, Dixon should make an acquisition agreement protecting itself in case the laminate technology fails in providing expected results. It should be stated that ACC should compensate Dixon for any installation charges. The acquisition of the plant will increase wealth to the shareholders, as well as, complement the supplying of chemical products to our existing clients.

Japanese culture Essay

1. Briefly discuss the Japanese business practices. Business traditions and practices are greatly influenced by the culture in which they function. The values of a culture help to define the underlying structure and philosophy of business. Many traditions and practices within a culture are often integrated into the country’s businesses.   Japanese culture greatly affects its business practice on all levels. It is a unique country with many distinct cultural traditions. As a result, cultural traditions tend to be uniform and community is central to daily life. Culturally, the Japanese are rather introverted in their ways, focusing on their own culture and traditions. A strong sense of community, family, and being part of a larger group and business family are central to the Japanese culture. The ritualistic traditions that are characteristic of the home environment typically spread to the social and work sphere of life. The Japanese culture maintains a very formal style of interactions. Even introducing oneself in Japan is formal in nature. Exchange of business cards is an obligatory custom at business meetings. The exchange of gifts is an accepted custom in Japan.   The Japanese bow is part of Japanese culture that expresses honor and greetings to a guest. Thus Japanese are well behaved in their business practices and try to do a lot of good stuffs which can influence the international relations. They believe in a business where trust exists. The do their level best to be recognized as nice people in the business market. 2. What is the appeal of the Japanese market for world business? The Japanese government and business leader’s marks deep changes in their market from closed to open while acknowledging its competitive nature (Shetty and Kim, 1995). They argue that all firms should understand their market and do provide the quality products and services demanded by the consumers. Large firms should offer lifetime employment, and employees may be reluctant to accept employment with foreign firms that do not. Furthermore, the firms must consider employment with a foreign company less desirable than employment with a domestic firm. It suggests that long-term relationships and mutual commitments in the market will encourage practices such as bidding and close parent company-supplier ties. â€Å"Japan appeals that the three factors to compete successfully in the world market is quality, followed by the ability to hire qualified employees and the attitudes of top corporate management.† (Shetty and Kim, 1995) Japanese focus on quality of products and services, keeping good personnel, hiring local staff, strong corporate head office with limited interference, reputation of the business, brand image, latest technology and strengthening value chain. These are some of the major deciding factors that help a firm to gain profits in the market. Besides, Japanese, have understanding of respect, they are persistent, they have perseverance and ability to develop strong global network. To increase the world business, the market should value advanced technology and innovation and should willing to try new products or technologies. Finally, establishing manufacturing and distribution facilities is a visible sign of a firm’s commitment. So the market must take care of it. But the main theme is that the market should value personal, harmonious, and long-term relationships with distributors, customers, suppliers, and employees. 3. Briefly discuss the major business trends and opportunities in Japan’s economy. Japan is the worlds second-largest and Asia’s largest economy. United States is the largest economy.   This is the only member of G8 from Asia. It is also a member of the UN Security Council on a temporary basis. In Japan the wages are highest in the world. From 1960s to1980s, there was a swift economic growth with a growth rate of 10%, 5% and 4%. The economy of Japan was in the state of turbulence in the late 1980s. The reason was falling stock and real estate prices.   By 1989 the situation turned worst. The Tokyo Stock Exchange crashed. During 1990s the country’s economic growth remained slow. The economy trend of Japan is a slightly uneven but it is continuously focusing on increasing the GDP. Japan has lot of business opportunities and it supports business activities. Eco-towns are being promoted in order to build a resource recycling-type economic society, which limits waste while encouraging recycling. Japan has developed a robust way of dealing with the pollution and completely self-sustainable industrial parks with zero emissions (JETRO). â€Å"The Kawasaki Foundation for Promotion of Industry (Kawasaki Small and Medium-Sized Business Support Centre) and KSP (Kanagawa Science Park) are providing various types of venture support, including assistance for businesses, help in establishing new enterprises, and educational research.† (JETRO)   Government is providing assistance from operations management consultation to assistance with publicity. 4.  Briefly discuss the different modes of entry to Japanese market. These are some common modes of entry in the Japanese market. A) It is possible to directly go to Japan and establish a firm. B) Local distributer and partners for the companies.   These are good way of entering to the market at the early stage of the business. c) Specialized business consultant can be hired. The market is matured. This forces the marketer to focus more on keeping the cost low and at the same time performance and features should be maintained. The quick increase in revenue is not possible in the Japanese market. Understanding of Consumer behavior is very important.   In approach ‘A’ one need to justify the stagnant revenue to the investors. After some years of experience in Japanese market, the revenue may grow with steady rate. Plan ‘B’ is a convenient way to enter the market. The reason is that here one is utilizing Japanese resources. However success largely depends on finding right distributor and partners, with good market connections, commitment on financial and operations. 5.  Ã‚  Compare and contrast the Japanese and the American commercials. The difference of American and Japanese advertisements appears to be in the degree and not in kind. The advertisement appeals of these two different countries are different. It is based on general employment of the traditional and respect of elders in Japan. Japanese appeal is based on moral values. The general usage of status is different. American advertisements have consumer based appeal. American advertisement is based on western values. The product merit appeals are higher in American advertisements as compared to the Japanese advertisements. The difference also exists in use of youthful or modernity appeals. Japanese advertisement is based on relationship model. 6.  Briefly discuss the Japanese way of product development The Japanese approach to product development emphasizes continuous technological improvement. It is also aimed at making a successful product and providing better solutions for the consumer needs. They have clear competitive vision of product development. They know what types of investments are required to maintain their market positions. Japanese manufacturers invest their resources into technology development, product development, productivity improvement and quality control and thus making the international market becomes more competitive. They focus on high-quality, high-performance products which are relatively inexpensive against those of the same level offered by European and American competitors and thus their products can be easily available to common man in the market. Japanese identify customer needs and develop new products and roadmaps for technological development on the basis of the same. They use modern technologies for keeping the cost low. They hire trained and skil led people and invest in technology and development of human resources. They emphasize on quality and minimization of the production cost.

Taxation Assignment

Question 1: a>Tax treatment to an individual if his employer was to provide the following benefits in package 1: Rental of apartment $ Salary Airfare for home leave (1trip) (20% x 5000) 1,000 220,000 Employee’s remuneration 221,000 Rental of apartment (housing accommodation benefit) for a non- director will be assessed based on the lower of: the annual value of the accommodation provided or 10% of the employee’s remuneration inclusive of all other benefits except hotel accommodation.Therefore, housing benefit will be assessed at $22,100 because it is assessed based on the lower of (10% x 221,000= $22,100) or annual value of rental apartment of $60,000. Home leave passage According to Singapore tax law, home leave passage is provided by the employer to nonSingaporeans and non-permanent residents, the benefit is assessable to tax based on 20% of the cost to the employer.This concessionary treatment only can apply to ONE return leave passage per annum each for the employee and spouse, and TWO return passage for each child of employee per annum if child should be unmarried, under 16 years old or otherwise receiving full-time education or incapacitated. Therefore, in this package 1, Mr Rouse will be assessed for home leave passage at: 20% x 5,000= $1,000 Relocation passageAccording to Singapore tax law, relocation passages are by concession not a taxable benefit on the employee so that all the relocation expenses is not taxable benefit for Mr Rouse. b> Package 1: $ Salary Annual rental of apartment Home leave passage (20% x 5000) Statutory income Less: donation Assessable income Less : Relief Chargeable income Tax on 1st $160,000 Balance @ 17% (238,100 – 160,000) x 17% 220,000 22,100 1,000 243,100 NIL 243,100 (5,000) 238,100 15,500 13,277 28,777 Less : 20% tax rebate (capped at $2000) Net tax payable (2,000) 6,777 Package 2: $ Salary Statutory Income Less: donation Assessable income Less: Relief Chargeable income Tax in 1st $160,000 Balance @ 17 % 17% x (295,000-160,000) 300,000 300,000 NIL 300,000 (5,000) 295,000 15,500 22,950 38,450 Less : 20% tax rebate (capped at $2,000) Net tax payable (2,000) 36,450 c> Mr Rouse should choose package 1 because in this package, he can receive many benefits as well as many concessionary treatments that can reduce the net tax payable, in order to get higher return than in package 2. > Singapore is a country where the government uses many policies that include many benefits, treat with consideration to attract talents from many the other countries and tax law is not the exception. Therefore, Mr Rouse should choose or ask more benefits instead of only high salary such as house accommodation benefit, home leave passage, relocation passage, transportation benefit, etc†¦. to earn many concessionaries to minimize his statutory income as well as to reduce tax payable. Question 2: a>The relevant dates in shareholder’s continuity test are different for unabsorbed capital allowances and trade losses and donation.Unabsorbed capital allowances can be carried against future profits provided the shareholdings are substantially the same (50% or more) in the 2 relevant dates: The last day of the YA (31 Dec) it arose And The first day of the YA (1 Jan) it is utilized Trade losses and donations can be carried against future profits provided the shareholdings are substantially the same (50% or more) in the 2 relevant dates: The last day of the year it arose (31 Dec of the calendar year) And The first day of the YA it is utilized (1 Jan of YA) b> YA 2008: – Adjusted tax loss (trade loss) YA 2009: – Adjusted profit $40,000 $422,000The shareholders of Feathers Pte Ltd based on % are as follows: 31/12/2007 Ee Mei Sarah 60% 40% 30/9/2008 40% 60% 31/12/2008 40% 60% 1/1/2009 10% 90% Assumption: on 1 Jan 2009, Donald still holds 5000 shares (total shares are 50,000 shares) Therefore, Queens’s shareholders and their shareholdings are as follows: Number of share 31/12/2007 Donald Ee Mei Ee Mei 25,000 20,000 60% x 5,000 = 3000 Sarah 40% x 5,000 = 2000 Total number of 50,000 shares 30/9/2008 5,000 10,000 40% x 35,000 = 14,000 60% x 35,000 = 21,000 50,000 s at 31/12/2008 5,000 10,000 40% x 35,000 = 14,000 60% x 35,000 = 21,000 50,000 1/1/2009 5,000 40,000 10% x 5,000 = 500 90% x 5,000 = 4,500 50,000 Two relevant dates in shareholder’s continuity test for trade loss are 31 Dec 2007 and 1 Jan 2009. Queens’s shareholders and their shareholdings in % as follows: 31/12/2007 Donald Ee Mei 50% {(20,000 + 3,000)/ 50,000} x 100% = 46% Sarah (2000/ 50,000) x 100% = 4% 100% 1/1/2009 10% {(40,000 + 500)/ 50,000} x 100% = 81% (4,500/ 50,000) x 100% = 9% 100%Previous year’s trade loss (adjusted tax loss) in YA 2008 can be carried against YA 2009 current year’s profit because the shareholdings are substantially the same (50% or more) in the two relevant dates of 31/12/2007 and 1/1/2009. YA 2009: $ Adjusted profit Less: trade loss brought forward 422,000 (40,000) Assessable income/ chargeable income 382,000 > Conditions to qualify for the tax exemption for new start-up company: A â€Å"qualifying company† means a company incorporated in Singapore which for each of the first three years of assessment is resident in Singapore for that YA, and has its total share capital beneficially held directly by no more than 20 shareholders: ? ? All of whom are individuals throughout the basis period for that YA or At least one of whom is an individual shareholder holding at least 10% of the total number of issued ordinary shares of the company throughout the basis period for that YA.In the case of a company limited by guarantee: ? ? all of its members must be individuals throughout the basis period for that YA or at least one of its member is an individual throughout the basis period for that YA, and the contribution of that individual under the Memorandum of Association of the company to the assets of the company in the event of its being wound up, amounts to at least 10% of total contributions of the members of the company throughout the basis period for that YA.Question 3: a>The Singapore tax system is considered as a territorial system because income accruing in or derived from Singapore (Singapore sourced) or overseas income received or deemed received in Singapore is assessable to tax. In other words, income that is sourced outside Singapore is not chargeable to Singapore income tax if this overseas income is not received or deemed received in Singapore.One exception to this rule is dividend gain in Singapore. Under the new one-tier corporate tax system since 1 January 2003, tax will only be imposed at the corporate level and all dividends distributed by a Singapore tax resident company will be tax exempt for its shareholders. b> Assumption: basic period is 1/1/200x to 31/12/200x Ms Dinh Tam’s 2-year contract will be from 1/4/2006 to 31/3/2008.Year assessment of Physical presence in Residence Singapore/ period of employment YA 2007 1/4/2006- 31/12/2006 Resident Exercise of employment in Singapore is more than 183 days in the basic period YA 2008 1/1/2007- 31/12/2007 Resident Exercise of employment in Singapore is more than 183 days in the basic period YA 2009 1/1/2008- 31/3/2008 Non-resident Both periods of employment and physical presence are less than 183 days. Remarks c> Mr Tan KL, a Singapore resident, purchased a house in China. He rents it out and the rent is credited into his bank account in Hong Kong by the property agent.It means he receives a rental income in China and this income may be subject to tax in China remitted to Singapore is exempt from Singapore tax. In addition, according to Singapore tax law, all foreign sourced income remitted by INDIVIDUAL RESIDENT in Singapore on or after 1 January 2004 will be exempt from tax. d> Determine whether the following receipts would be considered as income for tax purposes: i>This income will be exempt from tax if Ah Kow is Singapore resident because this income may be taxed in Macau remitted to Singapore is exempt from Singapore tax.In addition, according to Singapore tax law, all foreign sourced income remitted by INDIVIDUAL RESIDENT in Singapore on or after 1 January 2004 will be exempt from tax. ii>   Profits made by a share broker from sale of shares is taxable income because shares are considered as his inventory to make profit therefore it is called revenue receipt for this share broker and that is subject to Singapore tax. iii> Samantha Lee, a teacher made a profit from the sale of her piano is exempt from tax if this piano is her fixed asset and Samantha Lee doesn’t repeat piano buy and sale transaction many times.It means this profit is capital receipt, not revenue receipt and so that it is not taxable. iv> Money received from an unlawful business in Singapore is taxable income because it is revenue receipt and income derived in Singapore so that it is subject t o tax in Singapore. v> Money received from sale of computer by a private school is exempt from tax because computer is considered as fixed asset of this private school. It means this income is capital receipt that is not taxable income.

Sovereign Default risk in the Euro zone A further look at a possible Dissertation

Sovereign Default risk in the Euro zone A further look at a possible exit - Dissertation Example The resulting models which were arrived at using the forward stepwise procedure passed various goodness-of-fit tests as well as other tests of the significance of coefficients. This indicates that both CDS spread and Debt/GDP ratio improved the model’s predictive power in the case of the Euro zone while CDS spread was the only significant factor for Cyprus. Tests of the model using in-sample and out-of-sample data shows that it is capable of predicting default and non-default with a high degree of accuracy. 1.0 Introduction Sovereign default has been present in world economies throughout history. One of the countries that have defaulted in the past is Argentina. Very often, it is the same set of countries that are habitually in this state of economic crisis. The 2008 financial crisis has been described as one of the worst to be felt in this modern age since the Great Depression of 1933 (Your reference here). Its effects are still underway and countries around the world are try ing their utmost to maintain financial stability. One of the newest currency unions and the most powerful in the world; the Euro-Zone, therefore makes an interesting study. One of the single most important events that preceded the spiralling downturn in the 2008 financial crisis is the Lehman Brothers failure on September 15, 2008. Prior to the 2008 financial crisis, the sovereign Credit Default Swap (CDS) market was not as significant as corporate CDS markets. This was due to the relatively stable outlook of developed nations within the Euro Block and the perceived minimal default risk associated with these countries. As a result of the Lehman Collapse, and other proceeding financial institutional failures, large losses worldwide were incurred, which had spill over effects eventually affecting entire economies. This resulted in negative implications for investor confidence and a reduction of credit in the market. The bailouts for these banks by the individual governments could only be made possible by incurring massive amounts of debt (Dieckmann and Plank 2011). This led Governments to increased risk of sovereign default and a global reassessment of credit risk. In turn, CDS in the sovereign market became highly liquid as the uncertainty of these nations became an issue, implying an increase in sovereign credit risk. Since 2012 the Euro zone has been characterized by deepening crises in several countries, some of which have suffered what is described as selective default. These crises have been characterised by increases in CDS spread, increased Debt/GDP ratio and high bond yields. This has led to credit rating agencies such as Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s giving ratings to some of these countries that indicate to investors the risks associated with government bonds. In addition to Cyprus and Greece, some of the countries that have received speculative ratings include Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Estonia, Portugal and Spain (Blo omberg 2013). Concerns have been raised that the ratings given by credit rating agencies are unreliable as the default ratings for Greece in 2012 and Cyprus in 2013 came after the event. The aim of this study is to evaluate the risk of sovereign default in the Euro zone and also to develop an econometric model that is capable of predicting default before the event takes place. This would be very beneficial to

What have you learned about Asian culture (you may wish to distinguish Essay

What have you learned about Asian culture (you may wish to distinguish between various countries and cultures) in this course - Essay Example The discussion will be based on the analysis of a number of films being produced in the region. The films chosen for the analysis are: Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa, Hanabi by Takeshi Kitano, Apur Sansar by Satyajit Ray, Salaam Bombay! by Mira Nair, Red Sorghum by Zhang Yimou, and Chungking Express by Wong Kar-Wai. The paper will examine how the variations of Asian culture are presented in these films. Before going into any further discussion on the nuances of Asian culture, it is important to understand what culture means. A general definition of culture argues that the concept of culture can be best described as â€Å"a shared, learned, symbolic system of values, beliefs and attitudes that shapes and influences perception and behaviour. It is an abstract ‘mental blueprint’ or ‘mental code’.† Concepts and ideas of culture can be studied by means of exploring behaviour, customs, material culture (artefacts, tools, and technology), language, etc. of a particular community or region. So to say, culture is a learning process through which a community or society can be studied both at individual and collective levels. This process of learning one’s culture can be labelled as enculturation. One of the characteristic features of culture studies is that there is nothing like a ‘culture of one’, it is a collective possession shared by a ll the members of a society. Commonness in behaviour, customs and other traditional practices can be achieved by mutual construction of a culture by means of a constant process of social interaction. Besides, culture, language and thought are based on symbols and symbolic meanings. Apart from this symbolic nature, the definition of culture features arbitrariness and habitualness as culture is internalized and created by humans. Coming to the more specific discussion of the Asian culture, it is characterized by the concept of cultural variation. Some of the most important ingredients of Asian culture are: Asian art,