Sunday, February 16, 2020

The impact of the boxer rebellion Research Paper

The impact of the boxer rebellion - Research Paper Example Their main intention was to end the honors given to foreigners by the Ch’ing Dynasty and was later joined by Empress Dowager and other local municipalities. It was unfortunate that the people whom the Boxers’ fought treated the Chinese citizens like the second class citizens in their own land. The Boxers opted to destroy the properties of the foreigners since apart from being the richest people in the town were given lots of freedom by the dynasty. The uprising became very prevalent and spread all over China and it prompted them to start confronting Christians and non-Chinese at around 1900. Anyone who tried to take relief to that country particularly the international reliefs was attacked by the Boxers in the pretense that foreigners wanted a return of the emperor (Thompson 2-6). This writing analyses some of the impacts of Boxer rebellion. Although the Boxer rebellion did not succeed in their mission, it should be noted that they did a lot to stir up China’s na tionwide pride. The Boxers could not fight all the foreign powers because they angered almost all the foreign powers that were more superior to the boxers such as the Allied Expedition. The boxers defeat was also contributed by the fact that they were disorganized and therefore could not fight for their country and defend it properly. The Boxers only believed in rituals and martial arts which could not help them fight against the superior weapons. Boxers also did not have popular backing from within China and this too made them fail at long last (Thompson 2-6). The Boxers had very serious impacts politically on China especially as far as violation of the national right is concerned. The internal administration and security as well as the national defense were greatly weakened and stunned particularly the demands and the actions of the Boxers. The rebellion which was ended by signing of treaty made most of the Chinese people to have problem with their government (Joseph 43-47). The Q ing Empire continued to rule China since the dynasty was not very much affected by the rebels and even the foreign troops. Even the internal administration did not have power to control the Boxers and therefore they used that as justification to return to power. It was also not possible to fight against the foreigners do to the existing Qing court and this prompted the need to have institutional reforms. The government found it very necessary to come up with reforms that could help it in fighting foreign countries and this led to the begging of reform institutions after a long time of promise by the empire. The government generally had very little control over the provinces and her people at large and this made it very much unlikely to come up with reforms (Joseph 43-47). Socially and economically, China was very much affected such as the evolution of anti-Machu feelings. There was public outcry from everywhere in China when the administration levied more taxes on her people as a wa y of paying for hefty security. There was also a lot of corruption within the governments amid high taxes and this made the public to think that China could only be salvaged via revolution but not reforms (Bickers 115-120). Public were also irritated by the fact that the government could not defend their land from the foreign forces and these series of blames led to the fall of Qing reign. The fall of the regime was stirred

Sunday, February 2, 2020

Is Drug Addiction a Disease of the Brain Research Paper

Is Drug Addiction a Disease of the Brain - Research Paper Example As for drugs like marijuana and heroin, their molecules have a similar structure to neurotransmitters, and thus they activate nerve cells in order to form even harmful synaptic connections as well as send abnormal messages. Cocaine and methamphetamine, on the other hand, would cause the overproduction of neutransmitters like dopamine, which eventually â€Å"shuts off† synaptic communication or the signaling between neurons and alters the brain’s reward system (â€Å"Drug Facts,† 2011). As the addiction continues, it is getting harder and harder to bring the dopamine level to normal in order to produce the same rewarding or satisfying feeling, thus more and more amount of drugs is needed to achieve this. Another effect of drug addiction on the brain is altering glutamate, which is actually associated with the brain’s reward system and cognitive function. Long term abuse, therefore, may impair the glutamate and consequently affect judgment, learning, memory, behavior control, and decision-making activities of the drug addict (â€Å"Drug Facts,† 2011). ... tion is not a brain disease because of two reasons: First, â€Å"the changes in the brain which [those who are on the opposite side of the issue] show us are not abnormal at all,† and second, â€Å"there is no evidence that the behavior of addicts is compulsive [or involuntary† (â€Å"Addiction is NOT,† 2012). For the first reason, those who believe that drug addiction is a disease often point out to brain images of neuroadaptations and a totally different prefrontal cortex that both result from a repetitive intake of drugs. According to authors of Clean Slate, this is not abnormal at all because any human being can alter the synaptic pathways of his brain simply through constant practice, and the authors point out Begley and Jeffrey Schwartz, who both authored The Mind and The Brain. Both authors pointed out in their book that the scanned images of both experienced and inexperienced taxi drivers in London are not the same in terms of the prefrontal cortex, but t his does not necessarily mean that drivers who do not know much of the city would have a mental disease. The point is that â€Å"these brain changes don’t need to be brought on by exposure to chemicals,† and since there is no physiologic malfunction and that there are no pathologically affected parts, then the author of Clean Slate contends that drug addiction is not a disease (â€Å"Addiction is NOT,† 2012). In fact, the aforementioned claim is rather supported by Satel and Lilienfeld (2007), who state, â€Å"In the days between binges, cocaine addicts make many [normal everyday] decisions that have nothing to do with drug-seeking.† However, although it makes perfect logical sense that drug addicts do not act like drug addicts all the time, it is basically the same thing with AIDS patients since these people can