Happiness is owning a house

Exercises

1. Living in a house

• The village Ban Hoydea is situated in Laos. Find Laos on a map. Find facts about the country and make a list with at least five important keywords about Laos. For more information about Laos see: http://www.laos-travel.net/
• How many people live in average in every house in Ban Hoydea (there are 175 persons for 23 houses)?
• Calculate how many persons live in every household in average among the students in your class.
• Describe the house you live in (size, dimensions, appearance, number of residents, areas around it and so on) and mail your description to the Black Box website at http://www.blackboxes.org
• What do you prefer: To live in a city or in the countryside? Why? Write a contribution about this to the Black Box website at http://www.blackboxes.org.

2. Population

Read the article A New Bourgeois Dream - by Terry McCarthy from Time Asia/ Young China Web.

• Find the city Shanghai, on a map (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/maps) and describe the area.
• Find facts about China and Shanghai such as how many people live in Shanghai; which province Shanghai is situated in; and which trades and professions are prevalent in the area.  Look at http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ch.html - you can also find useful facts elsewhere on the internet or in books about China.
• Calculate in your currency how much money Huang and Xue earn altogether every month (they earn 1400 US dollars). Also calculate how much money they can pay maximum for an apartment (calculate 50.000 US dollars).
• Find an ad for a two-room-apartment of approximately 70 m² in size in a larger city or town in your country. Look at the price and compare with prices for housing in Shanghai.

3. Moving

Read the article Moving Out, Moving Up - written by Wendy Kan from Time Asia/ Young China Web.

• Find the city of Shenzhen in China on a map. (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/maps)
• Find the numbers of citizens in the 4 largest cities in Asia.
• Discuss why young people move from rural to urban areas.
• Which consequences does this have for the rural areas?
• What do you prefer? Living in the countryside or in the city? Why? Write and post your answer to the discussion forum on www.blackboxes.org.