Introduction The United Kingdom.doc

Introduction: The United Kingdom I. A complicated country with a complicated name: ???The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ????????????????????????????England???? Scotland??????Wales ? II. The effects of its imperial past * The days of empire ended after World War II 1.??The effects were mainly encountered in the close relationships which exist with the 50 or more colonies of that empire, and which maintain links through Commonwealth of Nations. But more important international relation is its membership in the European Union since 1973. 2.??The makeup of the British population --- immigration from India, Pakistan, or Caribbean (西印度群岛与中南美洲海域) countries in the 1950s and1960s. 1/20 are non-European ethnicity. ? III. Racial, gender, class, regional and economic differences in the society 1.?a multi-racial society: most are Christians and because of immigration, many are Muslims; 2.?gender difference: male and female live different lives 3.?class difference: the class structure of UK society is relatively obvious (A white-collar worker’s lives are very different from a blue-collar worker’s.) 4.?economic and regional difference within each of the 4 countries: ?-- difference between highland and lowland Scots ?-- difference between north and south England (South is on average more wealthy?than the north) ? IV. A significant role of London 1.????? capital city 2.????? in the south; largest city in the country; 1/7 of the nation’s population 3.????? culture center 4.????? business center 5.????? financial center, one of the 3 major international financial centers in the world (another two are New York and Hong Kong ) 6.????? long-standing historical role in the UK Chapter 1? Great Britain England I. A cultural and economic dominance of England 1.????? London dominant in the UK in government, finance and culture 2.????? England’s dominance in size --- largest of the 4 nations with largest population is reflected in a cultural and economic dominance --