To understand the most important characteristics of a society, one must study its major cities.

1.06-2.21

This prompt points to a general perception that major cities are truly the epitome of a society's characteristics, endeavors, and aspirations. Indeed, like an international tourist, one needs to look no further than the major cities to grasp a superficial understanding of the society as a whole. However, as I will elaborate, they are not adequate to emblematize the society if we contextualize the discussion in the current, heavily globalized world. Moreover, the relationship between major cities and their societies will be further complicated by considerations of cultural diversity and perservation.

We cannot be negligent of how much major cities can tell about their societies. Because of established material prosperity, they become the predominant space which houses the country's intellectual, commercial, cultural and social activities. For example, universities and research institutions often congregate in major cities because their physical proximity allows academic collaborations as well as the share of resources to produce fruitful scientific achievements; profit-driven businesses are likely to gather in major cities for larger markets; cultural prosperities such as art workshops, museums, and galleries usually cluster in major cities not only to preserve the nation's cultural and historical heritages, but also to cater to the diverse range of aesthetic tastes; social movements, whether grassroots organizations promoting social equality or political coalitions aiming for a change of policies, often take place in major cities for wider influence. From these perspectives, the study of major cities can offer a sneak peek into where the country stands in many aspects of its history and contemporary development.

However, no single country is exempt from the effects of the notorious globalization, and major cities are the first ones within a society to take the blows. In other words, globalization is acutely visible in major cities. On the one hand, globalization allows a free flow of merchandise, technology, and capital, which drastically impacts regional economies, policy-making and urban planning, so much that major cities end up appearing similar across different countries. For example, foreign direct investment has resulted in booming erections of new infrastructures in and on the outskirts of major cities, making skyscrapers the hallmark of major cities around the world. On the other hand, globalization also mobilizes international labor and intellect into major cities by creating more career opportunities, which has not only made job markets extremely competitive, but also transformed major cities into multicultural, multi-religious and multilingual global cities. As a result, we come into a crude stereotype about life in major cities: in the concrete jungles with constant traffic, people with diverse cultural backgrounds work through sleepless nights in the hope of upward mobility. Hence, globalization offers an adequate explanation for such similarities of outlook and cultural life in major cities across the world. As globalization continues to strike every corner of the world, it becomes more and more difficult for major cities to uniquely exemplify their country's original characteristics.

Regardless of the homogenizing effect of globalization on major cities, one nevertheless needs to study less developed or rural areas of a country to understand its important charateristics. It will be reductionist and appealing to cultural hegemony to argue that the study of major cities is sufficient to capture the country's characteristics, since a diverse range of minority cultures speaks volumes about  the country's history, traditions, and values, and how it has developed throughout the years. In addition, many isolated minority imperialism, where dominant cultures seek to encroach and eradicate them; this means that we cannot study major cities in the hope of finding traces of minority cultures. In a nutshell, we should incorporate the study of areas besides major cities to better and more fully appreciate a country's cultural diversity and heritage, which are integral to its important characteristics. For example, Mosuo people, one of the world's last few matrilineal societies residing in southwest China, practice a non-monogamous marriage system. A careful study of Mosuo culture will contribute to our understanding of China's diverse marriage systems, agricultural life, and social values that we will not be able to grasp from studying only major cities. In this way, minority cultures' significance in shedding light on a society's traits is prominent, particularly when globalization has watered down major cities' exemplarity of the society's characteristics.

If we were to embark on an endeavor to explore and understand a society, we could start from gathering knowledge about its major cities, which not only gives us insights about the country's history and development but also how effectively it is dealing with the influence of globalization, but then we need to research the society's cultural diversity by reading widely about the localized knowledge of its cultural heritages.

可以先寫開頭結尾 理清大綱

大城市可以了解 因為是中心

但是全球化 外界進入 使得各處大城市相似 缺少個性

小地方更擁有文化特色 

不僅要了解大城市 還要研究小地方才能知曉重要的社會特質