Facts About Asia
Asian Factoids: Spring, 1997
Author:
EAA Editorial Office
Abstract
Keywords: Asia General, Demography, International Relations, World History
How to Cite:
Editorial Office, E.
(1997) “Asian Factoids: Spring, 1997”,
Education About Asia. 2(1).
doi: https://doi.org/10.65959/eaa.60
Taiwanese Students, Examination Success, and Religion
In Taipei’s Dragon Mountain Buddhist Temple, students seeking examination success can buy, for the equivalent of $23.00, a computer label with name, address, and prayer that is attached to a brilliance lamp’s glass door. The lamp, which is an offering to the god of scholarship, contains tiny electric bulbs that revolve continuously on several cone shaped stands. While there are brilliance lamps dedicated to other deities such as the god of riches and the empress of heaven, a recent observation indicated 30,000 lamps purchased for the god of scholarship compared to 6,400 for the god of riches and none for the empress of heaven.
Source: Kangmin Zeng in Comparative Education Review, Vol. 40, No. 3, August 1996
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The Dalai Lama on Various Issues
On Birth Control—“It has to be publicized and promoted.”
On Attachment to the Letter of Tibetan Scriptures—“You’d have to be crazy to maintain them with all your might in a world swept away by the movement of time.”
On A Woman Being One of the Next Dalai Lamas—“In theory there is nothing against it.”
Source: Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Fall 1995
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Indonesia and South Korea: Religious factoids
- An estimated 88% of Indonesians are Muslims.
Source: Curriculum Development in East Asia
- Over 20% of South Koreans are Christians, by far the highest proportion of Christians in East Asia.
Source: Byung-Nak Song, The Rise of the Korean Economy
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Ownership of the Motels Educators Most Commonly frequent
- Indian Americans today own 46% of all economy lodgings in the U. S.
Source: Far Eastern Economic Review, September 26, 1996
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Japanese Management’s World Influence
Proportion of Foreign Manufacturing Affiliates to whom Japanese Parent Companies Transferred Management Practices
Common Dining Room 69%
Open-concept Offices 65%
Uniforms 41%
Morning Meetings 35%
Bonus System 25%
Just-In-Time Inventory 14%
Enterprise-Based Trade Union 12%
Lifelong Employment 11%
Seniority-Based Wage System 2%
Source: United Nations World Investment Report, 1995
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Asia’s Biggest Cities
Rank of Asian Cities Among the World’s 25 Most Populous Cities (Populations in Millions)
Tokyo (1) 26.8
Bombay (5) 15.1
Shanghai (6) 15.1
Beijing (8) 15.1
Calcutta (9) 11.7
Seoul (10) 11.6
Jakarta (11) 11.5
Tianjin (13) 10.7
Osaka (17) 10.6
New Delhi (18) 9.9
Karachi (21) 9.9
Dhaka (23) 7.8
Source: World Resources, 1996-97
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Asians Studying in the U. S. and Americans Studying in Asia
- 260,000 Asians are currently studying in the United States
- 20,000 Americans are studying in Asia
Source: Kenji Sumida, East-West Center President
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Japanese Women and Management Positions
Women constitute 49% of Japan’s workforce but only 8% are managers, up from 6% a decade ago.
Source: Professor Jean Renshaw from an article in Japan Now, January 1, 1997
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Alcohol Dependency Cases per 100,000 People
India Men: 656 Women: 66
China Men: 885 Women: 71
Rest of Asia Men: 1,869 Women: 152
World Average Men: 2,058 Women: 276
Source: Far Eastern Economic Review, January 23, 1997
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Asia Awakens While the U. S. Government Sleeps
- By the end of the current fiscal year, federal support for the Committee on Scholarly Communication with China will have declined by 65% since fiscal 1988.
- Fulbright grants for American faculty members studying in Asia were reduced by 20% from fiscal 1995 to fiscal 1996.
- Federal support for the Asia Foundation in San Francisco, a private, non-profit institution devoted to training leaders in Asian nations, was cut by 66% in fiscal 1996.
Source: Mary Brown Bullock in The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 27,1996