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This Happened

This Happened - February 8: Nasdaq Opens

On this day in 1971, NASDAQ, the world's first electronic stock market was created in New York City.

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What is NASDAQ? 

The NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange. The NASDAQ is operated and owned by the Nasdaq, Inc. and it is home to many technology-based companies and startups.

How did the NASDAQ differ from traditional stock markets?

The NASDAQ was the first market to use electronic trading systems, as opposed to the traditional open outcry system used by other stock markets. This allowed for faster and more efficient trading.

How has the NASDAQ evolved over the years?

Over the years, NASDAQ became more robust by adding automated trading systems, and in 1998, became the first stock market in the United States to trade online, using the slogan "the stock market for the next hundred years".

What is the current role of the NASDAQ in the global financial market?

The NASDAQ is currently one of the world's largest stock markets, with a wide range of companies listed on it, including technology giants like Apple and Microsoft. It plays a significant role in the global financial market.


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Society

A Refuge From China's Rat Race: The Young People Flocking To Buddhist Monasteries

Unemployment, stress in the workplace, economic difficulties: more and more young Chinese graduates are flocking to monasteries to find "another school of life."

Photograph of a girl praying at a temple during Chinese Lunar New Year. She is burning incense.

Feb 20, 2015 - Huaibei, China - Chinese worshippers pray at a temple during the Lunar New Yeat

CPRESSPHOTO/ZUMA
Frédéric Schaeffer

JIAXING — It's already dawn at Xianghai Temple when Lin, 26, goes to the Hall of 10,000 Buddhas for the 5:30 a.m. prayer.

Still half-asleep, the young woman joins the monks in chanting mantras and reciting sacred texts for an hour. Kneeling, she bows three times to Vairocana, also known as the Great Sun Buddha, who dominates the 42-meter-high hall representing the cosmos.

Before grabbing a vegetarian breakfast in the adjacent refectory, monks and devotees chant around the hall to the sound of drums and gongs.

"I resigned last October from the e-commerce company where I had been working for the past two years in Nanjing, and joined the temple in January, where I am now a volunteer in residence," explains the young woman, soberly dressed in black pants and a cream linen jacket.

Located in the city of Jiaxing, over a hundred kilometers from Shanghai, in eastern China, the Xianghai temple is home to some 20 permanent volunteers.

Unlike Lin, most of them only stay for a couple days or a few weeks. But for Lin, who spends most of her free time studying Buddhist texts in the temple library, the change in her life has been radical. "I used to do the same job every day, sometimes until very late at night, writing all kinds of reports for my boss. I was exhausted physically and mentally. I felt my life had no meaning," she says.

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