Drucker pushed for social progress

Editor,

Thank you for the wonderful tribute to my fellow countryman and mentor Peter Drucker in the November 14 China Daily. You did a remarkable job of capturing the life and essence of this great man. As you pointed out he was known as the father of modern business management.

I also agree with your column last month that Drucker was a very practical result-oriented person. He was a non-profit management guru. This side of Peter Drucker is known primarily by those around the world that are leaders in non-profit social organizations. In the last 25 years of his life it is estimated that Peter Drucker gave half his time and talent free to the non-profit sector. In 1990 his book "Managing the Non-Profit Organization" was published and quickly became a standard for social service organizations.

Drucker's work with non-profit organizations includes consulting with small and large organizations around the world, in fields ranging from arts to healthcare, from refugee services to religious organizations to youth organizations.

Since 1990 Drucker has served as honorary chairman of The Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Non-profit Management. The foundation in New York City has been guided by Drucker and has grants, seminars, consulting, self-assessment tools, leadership training, books, tapes, and videos. All these resources are designed to help the foundation fulfil its mission: "To help the social sector achieve excellence in performance and build responsible citizenship." We are using Drucker Foundation material as we work on leadership development here at the Nolita Branch of the Beijing YMCA.

Ray Jacoby, Beijing

Marriage customs dying hard

Editor,

I read Raymond Zhou's article on the cost of marriage on January 7 in China Daily and it made an interesting read. I am an Indian girl working in China and at present am staying in Shijiazhuang, Hebei. I have been here in China for almost one year now and have observed the Chinese culture and traditions very closely. I have many Chinese friends and have been invited to their homes and this has given me an opportunity to understand how a normal Chinese family lives.

Well your article did grab my attention greatly since it did remind me of some of the customs followed in India. I do agree with you that whatever mentioned on the Internet may be an exaggerated statement but there lies some element of truth in it.

Please note had this been "The Times of India" rather than "China Daily" this whole article would have been the same except that instead of a boy bearing all the money, in India it is the girl's family that has to suffer.

This practice is fading away since many girls are more educated with their own careers. But it does exist in many parts of India and a similar situation is faced by a girl's family. From the day a girl is born in an Indian family the parents start saving money for her wedding.

Both China and India have a very long history of culture and traditions with some good and some bad practices co-existing. Marriage is a union of two individuals and it brings happiness and bliss to both the people involved, so why should only one person bear the burden of financing the marriage?

On a lighter note: When I told my local friends that in India the girl's family has to bear the expenses, they told me in that case, a lot of Chinese guys would like to marry Indian girls, and I am sure if I share Chinese wedding practices with my Indian friends, many Indian girls would like to marry Chinese guys.

Meena Barot, Shijiazhuang

(China Daily 01/17/2006 page4)