Live edge

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Origins

Live edge is a mix of "Western" and rustic furniture styles. Originally it was categorized as rustic, but the two styles have many differences.

Practitioners electric reclining chairs

George Nakashima, winner of the Institute of Architects' Gold Craftsmanship Medal, is known for leaving the natural edge of the wood as part of the finished piece including in his series for Knoll in 1946. His style is considered an extension of the Arts and Crafts movement and employs craftsmanship that Nakashima said was "not only a creative force, but a moral idea." Mixing Japanese, American and International Modern style he designed furniture lines for Knoll and Widdicomb-Mueller "using timber organically and deliberately chose boards with knots, burrs and figured grain." lawn chair webbing

Live Edge Design started to redefine the pratice of retaining the natural edge in furniture design in the early 21st Century, giving it a West Coast, reclaimed wood twist. This look was quickly adopted by luxurious west coast resorts and fine coastal residences. Large slabs of reclaimed maple with beautiful grain detail and the inclusion of other natural elements are all indications of Live Edge Design's craftmanship. upholstered swivel chair

In 2005, the manager of the 10th Fine Furnishings Show in Providence, Rhode Island said she had "seen a fair amount of live-edge work, pieces that use the natural, wavy edge of the board, along with pieces made from sticks or twigs".

Chris Krauss, of East Wilton and MaineWoodNet and once part of the SugarWood Gallery cooperative, planned to share display space for her Native Woods' live-edge furniture line with Aardvark Outfitters in 2008.

Wes Herman, owner of nine Woods Coffee stores in Whatcom County, uses his Birch Bay store to showcase his live-edge tables handmade from fallen, dried trees gathered over the years. "The live edge is the actual natural edge where the bark has been removed," he said. Adding "We design them and they are locally made from native Whatcom County wood."

Andy and Aaron Sanchez, Native New Mexican artist redefine rustic and western art by preserving the natural beauty of the wood

Groovystuff, a Dallas-based manufacturer of residential furnishings audited by the Forest Stewardship Council, crafts furniture from reclaimed teak wood and teak the root bulbs. The company introduced a line of "made in America" wrought iron frames from Charleston Forge combined with the live edge teakwood tops in 2007.

Lou Quallenberg Studios, located in the Texas Hill Country, uses live edge design for its mesquite furnishings and incorporates natural cracks, crevices, and insect holes, sometimes decorating them with inlaid with gem-quality turquoise or bits of gold.

References

^ a b George Nakashima Design dictionary

^ George Nakashim profile R Gallery

^ George Nakashima; Unfinished natural edges and butterfly joints over the voids characterise the work of George Nakashima Woodworkers Institute

^ Channing GrayHaute and cool; Fine Furnishings show branches out in 10th year with a bigger spread of classic and cutting-edge pieces October 16, 2005 Providence Journal

^ Betty Jespersen co-op business sold 06/21/2008 Kennebec Journal Morning Sentinel

^ a b c Tara Nelson The Woods Coffee opens store at Birch Bay Square May 7, 2009 The Northern Light (Blaine and Birch Bay Washington)

^ May, 2009 Western Art Collector

^ Groovystuff Completes Forest Stewardship Council Audit September 13, 2007 Furniture World Magazine

^ Cowboys&Indians Magazine October 2009

External links

Live edge website Practitioner Practioner Practitioner Pracitioner

Categories: Furniture | Woodworking

John Harrison

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Early life

John Harrison was born in Foulby, near Wakefield in West Yorkshire, the first of five children in his family. His father worked as a carpenter at the nearby Nostell Priory estate. The house where he was born bears a blue plaque.

Around 1700, the family moved to the North Lincolnshire village of Barrow upon Humber. Following his father's trade as a carpenter, Harrison built and repaired clocks in his spare time. Legend has it that at the age of six while in bed with smallpox he was given a watch to amuse himself, spending hours listening to it and studying its moving parts. tourmaline beads

He also had a fascination for music, eventually becoming choirmaster for Barrow parish church. agate beads

Career loose gemstone

Woodcut of cross section of English longcase (grandfather) clock movement from the mid-1800's

Harrison built his first longcase clock in 1713, at the age of 20. The mechanism was made entirely of wood, which was a natural choice of material for a joiner. Three of Harrison's early wooden clocks have survived; the first (1713) is at the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers' Collection in Guildhall; the second (1715), is in the Science Museum and the third (1717) is at Nostell Priory in Yorkshire, the face bearing the inscription "John Harrison Barrow". The Nostell example, in the billiards room of this fine stately home, has a Victorian outer case, which has been thoughtfully provided with small glass windows on each side of the movement so that the wooden workings may be inspected. In the early 1720s Harrison was commissioned to make a new turret clock at Brocklesby Park, North Lincolnshire. The clock still operates and like his previous clocks has a wooden movement, oak and lignum vitae. Unlike his early clocks it incorporates some original features to improve timekeeping, for example the grasshopper escapement. Between 1725 and 1728 John and his brother James, also a skilled joiner, made at least three precision pendulum-clocks, again with oak and lignum vitae movements and longcase. The grid-iron pendulum was developed during this phase. These precision pendulum-clocks were the most accurate clocks in the world and significantly are the direct link to the sea clocks. No.1 was in the collections of the Time Museum, USA, until that museum closed in 2000 and its collection dispersed at auction in 2004. No. 2 is in the collections of Leeds Museums and Galleries, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom. It is not on display but it is planned to put it on permanent display in the new Leeds City Museum some time in 2011. No. 3 is in the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers' collection.

He was a man of many skills and used these to systematically improve the performance of pendulum clocks. He invented the gridiron pendulum, consisting of alternating brass and iron rods assembled so that the different expansions and contractions cancel each other out. Another example of his inventive genius was the grasshopper escapement a control device for the step-by-step release of a clock's driving power. Being almost frictionless, it required no lubrication.

Longitude

Overview of the problem

A longitude describes the location of a place on Earth east or west of a north-south line called the Prime Meridian. Longitude is given as an angular measurement ranging from 0 at the Prime Meridian to +180 eastward and 180 westward. Many solutions were proposed for how to determine longitude at the end of an exploratory sea voyage and hence the longitude of the place that was visited (in case one would want to revisit or place it on a map). The practical methods relied on a comparison of local time with the time at a given place (such as Greenwich or Paris). Many of these methods relied on astronomical observations relying on the predictable, "clockwork" nature of motions of heavenly bodies.

Grasshopper escapement

Harrison instead set out to solve the problem in probably the most direct way: by producing a reliable clock. The theory was simple and had been first proposed by Frisius. The difficulty, however, was in producing a clock which could maintain accurate time on a lengthy, rough sea voyage with widely-varying conditions of temperature, pressure and humidity. Frisius had realized that to determine longitude, a clock would have to be f great exactness. Many leading scientists including Newton and Huygens doubted that such a clock could ever be built and had more optimism for astronomical observations (such as the Method of Lunar Distances). Huygens ran trials using both a pendulum and a spiral balance spring clock as methods of determining longitude. Although both types showed some favourable results, they were both prone to fickleness. Newton observed that good watch may serve to keep a reckoning at sea for some days and to know the time of a celestial observation; and for this end a good Jewel may suffice till a better sought of watch can be found out. But when longitude at sea is lost, it cannot be found again by any watch. However, if such a clock were built and set at noon in London at the start of a voyage, it would subsequently always tell you how far from noon it was in London at that second, regardless of where you had traveled. By referring to the clock when it is noon locally (i.e. the Sun is at its highest in the sky where you are) you can read, almost directly from the clock face, how far around the world you are from London. For instance, if the clock shows that it is midnight in London when it is noon locally, then you are half way round the world, (e.g. 180 degrees of longitude) from London.

After steadfastly pursuing various methods during thirty years of experimentation, Harrison finally designed and built the world's first successful marine chronometers, the highly accurate maritime time-keeping instruments that, for the first time, allowed a navigator to accurately assess his ship's position in longitude. This is so because the earth is constantly rotating, and therefore knowing the time whilst making an altitude measurement to a known heavenly body such as the sun, provided critical data for a ship's position east-west necessary capability for re-approaching land after voyages over medium and long distances. On such voyages, cumulative errors in dead reckoning frequently led to shipwrecks and lost lives. Avoiding maritime tragedies became imperative in Harrison's lifetime because this was an era when trade and navigation were on an explosive increase around the globe due to the maturing of other technologies, and also due to geo-political circumstances.

Knowing such measurements without an accurate time could only show position in latitude which was a trivial problem in comparison. Such a maritime clock had to be not only highly accurate over long time intervals, but relatively impervious to corrosion in salt air, able to tolerate wide variations in temperature and humidity and in general durable whilst able to function at the odd angles and pitch and yaw typical of decks under strong waves and storm tossed conditions.

Yet the timekeeping device with such accuracy would eventually also allow the determination of longitude accurately, making the device a fundamental key to the modern age. Nonetheless, for many years even towards the end of the 18th century, chronometers were expensive rarities, as their adoption and use proceeded slowly due to the precision manufacturing necessary and hence high expense, but by the early 19th century, navigation at sea without one was considered unwise to unthinkable. Using a chronometer to aid navigation simply saved lives and shipshe insurance industry, exercise of self-interest, and common sense did the rest in making the device a universal tool of maritime trade.

The first three marine timekeepers

The English clockmaker Henry Sully had already invented a marine clock to determine longitude accurately, a sophisticated pendulum clock. He presented a first Montre de la Mer in 1716 to the French Acadmie des Sciences. and in 1726 published Une Horloge invente et execute par M. Sulli.

In 1730 Harrison created a description and drawings for a proposed marine clock to compete for the Longitude Prize and went to London seeking financial assistance. He presented his ideas to Edmond Halley, the Astronomer Royal. Halley referred him to George Graham, the country's foremost clockmaker. He must have been impressed by Harrison, for Graham personally loaned Harrison money to build a model of his marine clock.

It took Harrison five years to build Harrison Number One or H1. He demonstrated it to members of the Royal Society who spoke on his behalf to the Board of Longitude. The clock was the first proposal that the Board considered to be worthy of a sea trial. In 1736, Harrison sailed to Lisbon on HMS Centurion and returned on HMS Orford. On their return, both the captain and the sailing master of the Orford praised the design. The master noted that his own calculations had placed the ship sixty miles east of its true landfall which had been correctly predicted by Harrison using H1.

This was not the transatlantic voyage demanded by the Board of Longitude, but the Board was impressed enough to grant Harrison 500 for further development. Harrison moved on to develop H2, a more compact and rugged version. In 1741, after three years of building and two of on-land testing, H2 was ready, but by then Britain was at war with Spain in the War of Austrian Succession and the mechanism was deemed too important to risk falling into Spanish hands. He was granted another 500 by the Board while waiting for the war to end, which he used to work on H3. By 1755 he had become convinced that large machines were not suitable for a marine timekeeper. H3 had proved a very valuable experiment, teaching Harrison greatly about the overall design and making of balance springs and it left the world two enduring legacies the bimetallic strip and the caged roller bearing.

The longitude watches

Based on a watch made to his designs by John Jefferys, he proposed to build two new timekeepers, a larger and a smaller watch. It was the larger H4 that was to be his masterpiece an instrument of beauty, having the shape of a large pocketwatch but the size of a soup plate.

H4 is a 5" diameter pair case Verge fuse with a Tompion regulator and sweep (centre) second hand, with an old-style movement in which the Third Wheel is against the bottom (back) plate. The Contrate Wheel is equipped with an elaborate bridge similar to the balance cocks of the period.

H4 took six years to construct and Harrison, by then 68 years old, sent it on its transatlantic trial in the care of his son, William, in 1761. When HMS Deptford reached Jamaica, the watch was 5 seconds slow, corresponding to an error in longitude of 1.25 minutes, or approximately one nautical mile. When the ship returned, Harrison waited for the 20,000 prize but the Board believed the accuracy was just luck and demanded another trial. The Harrisons were outraged and demanded their prize, a matter that eventually worked its way to Parliament, which offered 5,000 for the design. The Harrisons refused but were eventually obliged to make another trip to the Caribbean city of Bridgetown on the island of Barbados to settle the matter.

At the time of the trial, another method for measuring longitude was ready for testing: the Method of Lunar Distances. The moon moves fast enough, some twelve degrees a day, to easily measure the movement from day to day. By comparing the angle between the moon and the sun for the day one left for Britain, the "proper position" (how it would appear in Greenwich, England at that specific time) of the moon could be calculated. By comparing this with the angle of the moon over the horizon, the longitude could be calculated.

Harrison's Chronometer H5, not currently in working condition.

On Harrison's second H4 trial, the Reverend Nevil Maskelyne was asked to accompany HMS Tartar and test the Lunar Distances system. Once again H4 proved almost astonishingly accurate, keeping time to within 39 seconds, corresponding to an error in the longitude of Bridgetown of less than 10 miles (16 km). Maskelyne's measures were also fairly good, at 30 miles (48 km), but required considerable work and calculation in order to use. At a meeting of the Board in 1765 the results were presented, and once again they could not believe it was not just luck. Once again the matter reached Parliament, which offered 10,000 in advance and the other half once he turned over the design to other watchmakers to duplicate. In the meantime H4 would have to be turned over to the Astronomer Royal for long-term on-land testing.

Unfortunately, Nevil Maskelyne had been appointed Astronomer Royal on his return from Barbados, and was therefore also placed on the Board of Longitude. He returned a report of the H4 that was negative, claiming that the "drift rate" of the clock, the amount of time it gained or lost per day, was actually an inaccuracy, and refused to allow it to be factored out when measuring longitude. Consequently, the H4 failed the needs of the Board despite the fact that it actually succeeded in two previous trials.

Harrison began working on his H5 while the H4 testing was conducted, with H4 being effectively held hostage by the Board. After three years he had had enough; Harrison felt "extremely ill used by the gentlemen who I might have expected better treatment from" and decided to enlist the aid of King George III. He obtained an audience by the King, who was extremely annoyed with the Board. King George tested H5 himself at the palace and after ten weeks of daily observations between May and July in 1772, found it to be accurate to within one third of one second per day. King George then advised Harrison to petition Parliament for the full prize after threatening to appear in person to dress them down. In 1773, when he was 80 years old, Harrison received a monetary award in the amount of 8,750 from Parliament for his achievements, but he never received the official award (which was never awarded to anyone). He was to survive for just three more years.

In total, Harrison received 23,065 for his work on chronometers. He received 4,315 in increments from the Board of Longitude for his work, 10,000 as an interim payment for H4 in 1765 and 8,750 from Parliament in 1773. This gave him a reasonable income for most of his life (equivalent to roughly 45,000 per year in 2007, though all his costs, such as materials and subcontracting work to other horologists, had to come out of this). He became the equivalent of a multi-millionaire (in today's terms) in the final decade of his life.

Official portrait of Captain James Cook

James Cook used K1, a copy of H4, on his second and third voyages, having used the lunar distance method on his first voyage. K1 was made by Larcum Kendall, who had been apprenticed to John Jefferys. Cook's log is full of praise for the watch and the charts of the southern Pacific Ocean he made with its use were remarkably accurate. K2 was on HMS Bounty, was recovered from Pitcairn Island, and then passed through several hands before reaching the National Maritime Museum in London.

Initially, the cost of these chronometers was quite high (roughly 30% of a ship's cost). However, over time, the costs dropped to between 25 and 100 (half a year's to two years' salary for a skilled worker) in the early 19th century. Many historians point to relatively low production volumes over time as evidence that the chronometers were not widely used. However, Landes points out that the chronometers lasted for decades and did not need to be replaced frequently indeed the number of makers of marine chronometers reduced over time due to the ease in supplying the demand even as the merchant marine expanded. As well, many merchant mariners would make do with a deck chronometer at half the price. These were not as accurate as the boxed marine chronometer but were adequate for many. While the Lunar Distances method would complement and rival the marine chronometer initially, the chronometer would overtake it in the 19th century.

Memorials

Harrison died on his eighty-third birthday and is buried in the graveyard of St John's Church, Hampstead along with his second wife Elizabeth and their son William. His tomb was restored in 1879 by the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers even though Harrison had never been a member of the Company.

Harrison burial place in graveyard of St John's Church

Blue plaque

Memorial

Harrison's last home was in Red Lion Square in London, now a short walk from the Holborn Underground station. There is a plaque dedicated to Harrison on the wall of Summit House in the south side of the square. A memorial tablet to Harrison was unveiled in Westminster Abbey on 24 March 2006 finally recognising him as a worthy companion to his friend George Graham and Thomas Tompion, "The Father of English Watchmaking", who are both buried in the Abbey. The memorial shows a meridian line (line of constant longitude) in two metals to highlight Harrison's most widespread invention, the bimetallic strip thermometer. The strip is engraved with its own longitude of 0 degrees, 7 minutes and 35 seconds West.

The Corpus Clock in Cambridge, unveiled in 2008, is an homage to Harrison's work. Harrison's grasshopper escapement sculpted to resemble an actual grasshopper is the clock's defining feature.

Subsequent history

After World War I, Harrison's timepieces were rediscovered at the Royal Greenwich Observatory by retired naval officer Lieutenant Commander Rupert T. Gould. They were in a highly decrepit state, and Gould then spent many years documenting, repairing and restoring them without being compensated for his efforts. It was Gould, not Harrison, who gave them the designations H1 through H5. Although Gould made some repairs to these machines that would not pass today's standards of good museum conservation practice, Harrison scholars mostly give Gould credit for having ensured the survival of the historical artifacts as working mechanisms to the present time. Gould is the author of the book The Marine Chronometer, covering the history of chronometers from the Middle Ages through to the 1920s. It includes detailed descriptions of Harrison's work and the subsequent evolution of the chronometer. It still remains the authoritative work on the marine chronometer.

Today the restored H1, H2, H3 and H4 can be seen on display in the National Maritime Museum at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. H1, 2 and 3 are still running; H4 is kept in a stopped state because, unlike the first three, it requires oil for lubrication, and degrades when run. H5 is owned by the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers of London and is on display at the Clockmakers' Museum in the Guildhall, London, as part of the Company's collection.

In the final years of his life, John Harrison wrote about his research into musical tuning and manufacturing methods for bells. His tuning system, (a meantone system derived from pi), is described in his book Concerning Such Mechanism ........ (CSM). This system challenges the traditional view that "harmonics" occur at integer frequency ratios, and in consequence all music using this tuning produces low frequency beating. In 2002, Harrison's last manuscript, A true and ("short, but" - crossed out) full Account of the Foundation of Musick, or, as principally therein, of the Existence of the Natural Notes of Melody was rediscovered in the US Library of Congress. His theories on the mathematics of bell manufacturing (using "Radical Numbers") are yet to be clearly understood.

In television & drama

In 1995, following a major Symposium on the Longitude Problem organized by the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC) at Harvard University, Dava Sobel wrote a book chronicling the history of John Harrison's invention entitled Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time. Although many horological historians feel that Sobel overdramatised the struggle between Harrison and Maskelyne[citation needed], her book became the first ever popular bestseller with a theme focused on horology.

An illustrated volume co-written with William J. H. Andrewes was printed in 1998: The Illustrated Longitude.

Sobel's book was dramatised for UK television by Charles Sturridge in a Granada Productions film for Channel 4 in 1999 under the title Longitude and was broadcast in the US later that same year by co-producer A&E. The production starred Michael Gambon as Harrison and Jeremy Irons as Gould.

Harrison's marine time-keepers were an essential part of the plot in the 1996 Christmas special of long-running British sitcom Only Fools And Horses entitled "Time On Our Hands". Del Boy happens to be the owner of a certain marine time-keeper that was lost for centuries, which eventually fetches them 6.2 million at auction at Sotheby's. Harrison's notes and drawings suggest that H6 was built but it has never been found. It looked like an overgrown pocket watch and Harrison scholars still dream of finding it in an attic.

See also

Marine chronometer

History of longitude

Longitude prize

Lunar distance (navigation)

Horology

Notes

^ UK CPI inflation numbers based on data available from Measuring Worth: UK CPI.

^ Allan, G. (November 2003). "Inflation: The value of the pound". House of Commons library. http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2003/rp03-082.pdf. 

^ Sobel, Dava (1995). Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time. New York: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-025879-5. 

^ Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry

^ A Chronology of Clocks

^ A Chronology of Clocks

^ "Harrison's Marine timekeeper (H1)". National Maritime Museum. http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/explore/object.cfm?ID=ZAA0034. Retrieved 2008-02-25. 

^ "Harrison's Marine timekeeper (H2)". National Maritime Museum. http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/explore/object.cfm?ID=ZAA0035. Retrieved 2008-02-25. 

^ "Harrison's Marine timekeeper (H3)". National Maritime Museum. http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/explore/object.cfm?ID=ZAA0036. Retrieved 2008-02-25. 

^ "Harrison's Marine timekeeper (H4)". National Maritime Museum. http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/explore/object.cfm?ID=ZAA0037. Retrieved 2008-02-25. 

^ a b Gould, Rupert T. (1923). The Marine Chronometer. Its History and Development. London: J. D. Potter. pp. 56. ISBN 0-907462-05-7. 

^ Varzeliotis, A.N. Thomas (1998). Time Under Sail: The Very Human Story of the Marine Chronometer. Alcyone Books. ISBN 0-921081-10-3. 

^ Captain James Cook, Richard Hough, Holder and Stroughton 1994.pp 192-193 ISBN 0-340-58598-6

^ a b Landes, David S. (1983). Revolution in Time. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-76800-0. 

^ Mercer, Vaudrey (1972). John Arnold & Son, Chronometer Makers, 1762-1843. The Antiquarian Horological Society. 

^ King, Dean (2000). A Sea of Words. New York: Henry Holt and Co.. ISBN 978-0805066159. This book has a table showing that at the peak just prior to the War of 1812, Britain's Royal Navy had almost 1000 ships. By 1840, this number had reduced to only 200. Even though the navy only officially equipped their vessels with chronometers after 1825, this shows that the number of chronometers required by the navy was shrinking in the early 19th century.

^ Mortzen, Willem F.J. (1993). The Astronomical Clocks of Andeas Hohnu: A Checklist. Making Instruments Count, Variorum. pp. 459. ISBN 0-86078-394-4. Mortzen identifies a recession starting around 1857 that depressed shipping and the need for chronometers.

^ Betts, Jonathan (2006). Time restored: The Harrison Timekeepers and R.T. Gould, the man who knew (almost) everything. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 464. ISBN 978-0-19-856802-5. 

References

Sobel, Dava (1995). Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time. New York: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-025879-5. 

Sobel, Dava & Andrewes, Willam J.H. (1998). The Illustrated Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time. New York: Walker Publishing Co.. ISBN 0-8027-1344-0. 

North, Thomas (1882). The Church Bells of the County and City of Lincoln. Leicester: Samuel Clark. pp. 6061. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: John Harrison

John Harrison and the Longitude Problem, at the National Maritime Museum site

PBS Nova Online: Lost at Sea, the Search for Longitude

John 'Longitude' Harrison and musical tuning

Excerpt from: Time Restored: The Story of the Harrison Timekeepers and R.T. Gould, he Man who Knew (almost) Everything

UK Telegraph: 'Clock from 1776 just goes on and on'

Andrew Johnson, Longitude pioneer was not a 'lone genius', The Independent, 31 May 2009

Excellent accounting of John Harrison and his H1,H2,H3 Achievements

Harrison's precision pendulum-clock No. 2, 1727, on the BBC's "A History of the World" website

Awards and achievements

Preceded by

James Bradley

Copley Medal

1749

Succeeded by

George Edwards

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Persondata

NAME

Harrison, John

ALTERNATIVE NAMES

SHORT DESCRIPTION

English clockmaker, horologist and inventor of the marine chronometer

DATE OF BIRTH

24 March, 1693

PLACE OF BIRTH

Foulby, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom

DATE OF DEATH

24 March, 1776

PLACE OF DEATH

Categories: 1693 births | 1776 deaths | People from Foulby | English designers | Clockmakers | English inventors | Watchmakers (people) | Recipients of the Copley Medal | Scientific instrument makersHidden categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from September 2008

Ur

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History

Early history

Ur was inhabited in the earliest stage of village settlement in the southern part of Mesopotamia, the Ubaid period. However, it later appears to have been abandoned for a time. Scholars believe that, as the climate changed from relatively damp to drought in the early 3rd millennium BC, the small farming villages of the Ubaid culture consolidated into larger settlements, arising from the need for large-scale, centralized irrigation works to survive the dry spells. Ur became one such center, and by around 2600 BC, in the Sumerian Early Dynastic Period III, the city was again thriving. Ur by this time was considered sacred to the god called Nanna (Sumerian) or Sin (Akkadian). buy wheatgrass

Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium BC aspartame side effects

The location of Ur was favourable for trade, by both sea and land routes, into Arabia. Many elaborate tombs, including that of Queen Puabi, were constructed. In this cemetery were also found artifacts bearing the names of kings Meskalamdug and Akalamdug. side effects aspartame

Eventually, the kings of Ur became the effective rulers of Sumer, in the first dynasty of Ur established by the king Mesannepada (or Mesanepada, Mes-Anni-Padda), who is on the king list and is named as a son of Meskalamdug on one artifact.

Middle Bronze Age

Empire of the Third Dynasty of Ur

The first dynasty was ended by an attack of Sargon of Akkad around 2340 BC. Not much is known about the following second dynasty, when the city was in eclipse.

The third dynasty was established when the king Ur-Nammu (or Urnammu) came to power, ruling between ca. 2047 BC and 2030 BC. During his rule, temples, including the ziggurat, were built, and agriculture was improved through irrigation. His code of laws, the Code of Ur-Nammu (a fragment was identified in Istanbul in 1952) is one of the oldest such documents known, preceding the code of Hammurabi by 300 years. He and his successor Shulgi were both deified during their reigns, and after his death he continued as a hero-figure: one of the surviving works of Sumerian literature describes the death of Ur-Nammu and his journey to the underworld.

The Ur empire continued through the reigns of three more kings, Amar-Sin, Shu-Sin, and Ibbi-Sin. It fell around 1940 BC to the Elamites in the 24th regnal year of Ibbi-Sin, an event commemorated by the Lament for Ur.

According to one estimate, Ur was the largest city in the world from c. 2030 to 1980 BC. Its population was approximately 65,000.

Iron Age

In the sixth century BC there was new construction in Ur under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. The last Babylonian king, Nabonidus, improved the ziggurat. However the city started to decline from around 550 BC and was no longer inhabited after about 500 BC, perhaps owing to drought, changing river patterns, and the silting of the outlet to the Persian Gulf.

Biblical Ur

Main article: Ur Kasdim

Ur is considered by many to be the city of Ur Kasdim mentioned in the Book of Genesis ( Biblical Hebrew ) as the birthplace of the patriarch Abram (Abraham; Arabic:Ibrahim).

Ur is mentioned four times in the Tanakh or Old Testament, with the distinction "of the Kasdim/Kasdin"raditionally rendered in English as "Ur of the Chaldees". The Chaldeans were already settled in the vicinity by around 850 BC. The name is found in Genesis 11:28, Genesis 11:31, and Genesis 15:7. In Nehemiah 9:7, a single passage mentioning Ur is a paraphrase of Genesis. (Nehemiah 9:7)

The Book of Jubilees states that Ur was founded in 1688 Anno Mundi (year of the world) by 'Ur son of Kesed, presumably the offspring of Arphaxad, adding that in this same year wars began on Earth.

"And 'Ur, the son of Kesed, built the city of 'Ara of the Chaldees, and called its name after his own name and the name of his father." (i.e., Ur Kesdim) (Jubilees 11:3)

Islamic Ur

The prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) was thrown into the fire here. This fire of Nimrod was turned into water and it is still there to be seen today.[where?] While the Qur'an does not mention the king's name, Muslim commentators have assigned Nimrod as the king based on Jewish sources.[citation needed]

Archaeology

Archeological excavations at Tell el-Mukayyar, Iraq

In the 1625, the site was visited by Pietro della Valle, who recorded the presence of ancient bricks stamped with strange symbols, cemented together with bitumen, as well as inscribed pieces of black marble that appeared to be seals.

The site was first excavated in 1853 and 1854 by John George Taylor, British vice-counsel at Basra from 1851-1859. He worked on behalf of the British Museum. Taylor found clay cylinders in the four corners of the top stage of the ziggurat which bore an inscription of Nabonidus (Nabuna`id), the last king of Babylon (539 BC), closing with a prayer for his son Belshar-uzur (Bel-arra-Uzur), the Belshazzar of the Book of Daniel. Evidence was found of prior restorations of the ziggurat by Ishme-Dagan of Isin and Shu-Sin of Ur, and by Kurigalzu, a Kassite king of Babylon in the fourteenth century BCE. Nebuchadnezzar also claims to have rebuilt the temple. Taylor further excavated an interesting Babylonian building, not far from the temple, part of an ancient Babylonian necropolis. All about the city he found abundant remains of burials of later periods. Apparently, in later times, owing to its sanctity, Ur became a favorite place of sepulchres, so that even after it had ceased to be inhabited, it continued to be used as a necropolis.

After Taylor's time the site was visited by numerous travelers, almost all of whom have found ancient Babylonian remains, inscribed stones and the like, lying upon the surface. The site was considered rich in remains, and relatively easy to explore. After some soundings were made in 1918 by Reginald Campbell Thompson, H. R. Hill worked the site for one season for the British Museum in 1919, laying the groundwork for more extensive efforts to follow.

Excavations from 1922 to 1934 were funded by the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania and led by the archaeologist Sir Charles Leonard Woolley. A total of about 1,850 burials were uncovered, including 16 that were described as "royal tombs" containing many valuable artifacts, including the Standard of Ur. Most of the royal tombs were dated to about 2600 BC. The finds included the unlooted tomb of a queen thought to be Queen Puabihe name is known from a cylinder seal found in the tomb, although there were two other different and unnamed seals found in the tomb. Many other people had been buried with her, in a form of human sacrifice. Near the ziggurat were uncovered the temple E-nun-mah and buildings E-dub-lal-mah (built for a king), E-gi-par (residence of the high priestess) and E-hur-sag (a temple building). Outside the temple area, many houses used in everyday life were found. Excavations were also made below the royal tombs layer: a 3.5-metre (11 ft)-thick layer of alluvial clay covered the remains of earlier habitation, including pottery from the Ubaid period, the first stage of settlement in southern Mesopotamia. Woolley later wrote many articles and books about the discoveries.

Most of the treasures excavated at Ur are in the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

In 2009, an agreement was reached for a joint University of Pennsylvania and Iraqi team to resume archaeological work at the site of Ur.

Archaeological remains

This section does not cite any references or sources.

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File:UR 17 01 2004 003.jpg

The Great Ziggurat of Ur

File:UR 17 01 2004 004.jpg

The Royal Tombs of Ur

The image above is proposed for deletion. See files for deletion to help reach a consensus on what to do.

Though some of the areas that were cleared during modern excavations have sanded over again, the Great Ziggurat is fully cleared and stands as the best-preserved and only major structure on the site. The top is covered with debris and is at times a confusing mix of loose stones, broken pottery and partial reconstruction.

The famous Royal tombs, also called the Neo-Sumerian Mausolea, located about 250 metres (820 ft) south-east of the Great Ziggurat in the corner of the wall that surrounds the city, are nearly totally cleared. Parts of the tomb area appear to be in need of structural consolidation or stabilization.

There are cuneiform (Sumerian writing) on many walls, some entirely covered in script stamped into the mud-bricks. The text is sometimes difficult to read, but it covers most surfaces.

Modern graffiti has also found its way to the graves, usually in the form of names made with coloured pens (sometimes they are carved). The Great Ziggurat itself has far more graffiti, mostly lightly carved into the bricks.

The graves are completely empty. A small number of the tombs are accessible. Most of them have been cordoned off.

The whole site is covered with pottery debris, to the extent that it is virtually impossible to set foot anywhere without stepping on some. Some have colours and paintings on them. Some of the "mountains" of broken pottery are debris that has been removed from excavations.

Pottery debris and human remains form many of the walls of the royal tombs area. It can only be speculated whether this is of ancient making or modern restoration, but it is a fact that they are, literally, filled up with pottery debris.

In May 2009, the US Army returned the Ur site to the Iraqi authorities, who hope to develop it as a tourist destination.

See also

Biblical archaeology

Cities of the ancient Near East

Great Ziggurat of Ur

History of Iraq

History of Sumer

Lyres of Ur

Royal Game of Ur

Short chronology timeline

Standard of Ur

Imports to Ur

Notes

^ S. M. Kramer, The Sumerians, Their History, Culture, and Character, University of Chicago Press, 1963, pages 28 and 298

^ The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature

^ Tell el-Mukayyar in Arabic Tell means "mound" or "hill" and Mukayyar means "built of bitumen". Mukayyar is variously transcribed as Mugheir, Mughair, Moghair, Muqayyar etc.

^ Reallexikon der Assyriologie, 1997, ISBN 9783110148091, p.360

^ Iroku, Osita; "A Day in the Life of God"; 2008; published by the Enlil Institute

^ a b Queen Puabi is also written Pu-Abi and formerly transcribed as Shub-ab.

^ The Ancient Near East: C.3000-330 B.C. By Amlie Kuhrt, Routledge, 1995, ISBN 0415167620

^ Ur III Period (2112-2004 BC) by Douglas Frayne, University of Toronto Press, 1997, ISBN 0802041981

^ The ruling family of Ur III Umma. A Prosopographical Analysis of an Elite Family in Southern Iraq 4000 Years ago, J.L. Dahl, UCLA dissertation, 2003

^ Largest Cities Through History

^ Lore of Light Vol 1 - Haji Amina Adil(KS)

^ J. E. Taylor, Notes on the Ruins of Muqeyer, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 15, pp. 260-276, 1855

^ JE Taylor, Notes on Abu Shahrein and Tel-el-Lahm, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 15 , pp. 404-415, 1855. In the relevant publications he is erroneously listed as J. E. Taylor.

^ E. Sollberger, Mr. Taylor in Chaldaea, Anatolian Studies, vol. 22, pp. 129-139 , 1972

^ H. R. Hall, The Excavations of 1919 at Ur, el-'Obeid, and Eridu, and the History of Early Babylonia ,Man, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 25, pp. 1-7, 1925

^ H. R. Hall, Ur and Eridu: The British Museum Excavations of 1919, Journal of Egyyptian Archaeology, vol. 9, no. 3/4, pp. 177-195, 1923

^ Leonard Woolley, Ur: The First Phases, Penguin, 1946

^ Leonard Woolley, Excavations at Ur: A Record of Twelve Years' Work, Apollo, 1965, ISBN: 0815201109

^ Leonard Woolley and P. R. S. Moorey, Ur of the Chaldees: A Revised and Updated Edition of Sir Leonard Woolley's Excavations at Ur, Cornell University Press, 1982, ISBN 0801415187

^ Beck, Roger B.; Linda Black, Larry S. Krieger, Phillip C. Naylor, Dahia Ibo Shabaka, (1999). World History: Patterns of Interaction. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell. ISBN 0-395-87274-X. 

^ Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty - Free Media in Unfree Societies U.S. Archaeologists To Excavate In Iraq

^ "US returns Ur, birthplace of Abraham, to Iraq". AFP. 2009-05-14. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/05/14/2569969.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-12. 

References

P. R. S. Morrey, Where Did They Bury the Kings of the IIIrd Dynasty of Ur?, Iraq, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 1-18, 1984

J. Oates, Ur and Eridu: The Prehistory, Iraq, vol. 22, pp. 32-50, 1960

C.J. Gadd, History and monuments of Ur, Chatto & Windus, 1929 (Dutton 1980 reprint: ISBN 0405085451)

Leonard Woolley, Ur Excavations V: The Ziggurat and Its Surroundings, Oxford University Press, 1927

Leonard Woolley, Ur excavations IV: The Early Periods, Oxford University Press, 1927

Leonard Woolley, Ur Excavations V: The Ziggurat and Its Surroundings, Oxford University Press, 1927

Leonard Woolley and M. E. L. Mallowan, Ur Excavations VII: The Old Babylonian Period, Oxford University Press, 1927

Leonard Woolley, Ur Excavations VIII: The Kassite Period, Oxford University Press, 1927

Leonard Woolley and M. E. L. Mallowan, Ur Excavations IX: The Neo-Babylonian and Persian Periods, Oxford University Press, 1927

Materials from the British Museum

Travel info from Dancon/Irak

External links

Explore some of the Royal Tombs Mesopotamia website from the British Museum

Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur

Jewish Encyclopedia: Ur

Woolley Ur Revisited, Richard L. Zettler, BAR 10:05, September/October 1984.

Ur Excavations of the University of Pennsylvania Museum

Categories: Sumerian cities | History of Iraq | Archaeological sites in Iraq | Ancient cities | Dhi Qar Governorate | Fertile Crescent | Former settlements in IraqHidden categories: WikiProject Ancient Near East articles | Articles containing non-English language text | Articles containing Hebrew language text | Vague or ambiguous geographic scope | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from February 2010 | Articles needing additional references from August 2008 | All articles needing additional references | Articles that include images for deletion | Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the 1911 Encyclopdia Britannica

Kettle Foods

China Suppliers


www.kettlefoods.com/

Kettle Foods is an international manufacturer of potato chips and other snack foods based in Salem, Oregon, United States, with a European and Middle East headquarters in Norwich, United Kingdom. As of 2006 they were the largest natural potato chip brand in the U.S. The company, founded in 1978 by Cameron Healy, has since 2006 been owned by the British private equity firm Lion Capital LLP.

Contents meatball soup

1 History tom yum soup

2 Outside of the US and UK beef barley soup

3 Products

3.1 Potato chip flavor examples

4 Labor relations controversy

5 References

6 External links

//

History

The company was founded by Cameron Healy in 1978 as the N.S. Khalsa Company; it produced its first potato chips in 1982. In 1988, following a motorcycle trip taken by the company's founder and his son, Kettle Foods established a UK branch in a convert shoe factory in Norwich; the branch moved five years later to a newly-built factory on the outskirts of Norwich, its current UK home.

In 2003, the company installed the largest solar array in the Pacific Northwest to use more green energy at their Salem plant. In September 2007, the company opened its second US production facility in Beloit, Wisconsin, lured there by $500,000 in state economic development money. Kettle built the first manufacturing plant to be awarded gold certification in the LEED program from the United States Green Building Council.

The company was sold to a private equity group, Lion Capital LLP, for between $280 million to $320 million. Lion put Kettle Foods up for sale in December 2009, with an asking price of around USD $700 million. The company was sold in February 2010 for $615 million to Diamond Foods, who owns brands such as Pop Secret.

Outside of the US and UK

The Kettle Foods UK office also supports a network of independent distributors through which Kettle Foods' products are made available in the Middle East and in European countries outside of the UK, including.Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and Sweden.

Products

Kettle features all-natural products, with its best-known brand being their batch-cooked potato chips. Their potato chips are fried using expeller-pressed high monounsaturated safflower and/or sunflower oil. The company has occasionally held contests to introduce new flavors. The 2006 contest winners were Tuscan Three Cheese and Buffalo Bleu; past contest winners include Cheddar Beer and Spicy Thai.

Potato chip flavor examples

The following is a list of potato chip flavors sold by the company as of 2009. The list is illustrative of the types of flavors sold by the company and is not meant to be exhaustive or up-to-date.

United States

Backyard Barbeque

Buffalo Bleu

Cheddar Beer

Classic Barbeque (Krinkle Cut)

Death Valley Chipotle

Dill and Sour Cream (Krinkle Cut)

Honey Dijon

Island Jerk (Krinkle Cut)

Jalapeo

Lightly Salted

Lightly Salted (Krinkle Cut)

New York Cheddar with Herbs

Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper (Krinkle Cut)

Sea Salt and Vinegar

Sour cream, onion, and chive

Spicy Thai

Sweet Onion

Tuscan Three Cheese

Unsalted

Yogurt and Green Onion

United Kingdom

Honey Barbecue

Lightly Salted

Mature Cheddar and Red Onion

No Added Salt

Red Thai Curry

Sea Salt with Crushed Black Peppercorns

Sea Salt and Balsamic Vinegar

Sour Cream and Chive

Sweet Chilli

Rest of Europe and the Middle East

Honey Barbecue

Mature Cheddar and Red Onion

Red Paprika

Sea Salt

Sea Salt and Balsamic Vinegar

Sea Salt and Crushed Black Pepper

Sea Salt, Rosemary & Garlic

Sour Cream and Chive

Labor relations controversy

In October 2007, campaigns were launched on Facebook calling for a boycott of Kettle Foods products following allegations that the company was attempting to dissuade workers at its Norwich factory from joining trade union Unite. The company denies the claim but acknowledged that it has taken advice from Omega Training, a UK subsidiary of U.S. company The Burke Group, specialists in union avoidance.

References

^ Kish, Matthew. Kettle Foods sold to British group Portland Business Journal, August 9, 2006.

^ "KettleFoods.com :: Our History". http://www.kettlefoods.com/about-us/history/. Retrieved 12 December 2009. 

^ Our story so far, from the company's UK website

^ Kettle Foods from the Energy Trust website

^ Kettle foods from the state of Oregon website

^ a b "Kettle Foods Opens Green Plant In Beloit". WISC-TV. September 20, 2007. http://www.channel3000.com/news/14153930/detail.html. Retrieved 2009-12-12. 

^ a b "Kettle Foods for sale". Portland Business Journal. December 10, 2009. http://portland.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2009/12/07/daily38.html?ana=tt3245. Retrieved 12 December 2009. 

^ Bloomberg News (February 26, 2010). "Kettle Foods of Salem sold for $615M". OregonLive.com. http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2010/02/kettle_foods_of_salem_sold_for.html. Retrieved 27 February 2010. 

^ Just for retailers from the company's European website

^ And the winner is... from the company's website

^ Potato Chips from the company's USA website

^ Ten irresistible seasonings from the company's UK website

^ Eight great tasting seasonings from the company's European website

^ Consumers start online campaign to boycott Kettle Chips, an October 9, 2007 article from The Guardian

^ Internet campaign to boycott foods, an 11 October 2007 article from Norwich Evening News

^ The Burke Group

External links

Official website

Kettle Foods Ltd, official European website

Kettle Foods Ltd, official UK website

v  d  e

Oregon-based companies

NYSE listed

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NASDAQ listed

Columbia Sportswear FEI FLIR Lattice Mentor Graphics Merix McCormick & Schmick's Planar Systems RadiSys Rentrak Schnitzer Steel West Coast Bank

Private companies

Banfield Franz Bakery Harry & David InFocus JELD-WEN Kettle Foods Les Schwab Parr Lumber Reser's Fine Foods Shari's

Other

Bi-Mart Evergreen International Aviation Tillamook Creamery

Categories: Brand name snack foods | Brand name potato-based snack foods | Food production companies of the United States | Companies based in Salem, Oregon | Beloit, Wisconsin | Norwich | Companies established in 1978 | Private equity portfolio companies

Aristoff

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Aristoff is a brand of cigar. The leaves (wrapper, binder, and filler) are exclusively grown and cured in Nigaragua. The cigars are all hand-rolled in Chinandega, Nicaragua and at the company's Honduras-based satellite factory. The corporate headquarters of this firm, however, lie in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with their principal market being the American Eastern Seaboard. A relatively new company, the brande was launched amid great fanfare in 2002. The company was marketed heavily on the internet and through a viral marketing scheme. The great expectations fell flat, however, when the first few series of cigars did not meet with popular approval. Sales of the product fell 78% after the first year. Due to this plunge in revenue, the IPO in the company was called off in April 2003.

The company's new series of cigars have been more accepted among the cigar market. Sales have increased steadily since hitting a trough in 2004. shower folding seat

This brand was originally created by Guy Benhamou, the CEO of OroAmerica Coulter in Burbank, CA. and Ted Coulter, General Manager of LA Estillos in the Dominican Republic in 1996. Oroamerica at the time was the largest producer of Karat Gold Jewelry in the US. OroAmerica had jewelry operations in San Pedro de Marcoris Dominican Republic at the time, and began to diversify into premium Cigars in the mid 90. Benhamou and Coulter began developing this brand in 1996 and formed the company Cigar America which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Oroamerica. After investing a ton of money into this product, they got out of the business in 2000, sold the brand and inventory to JR Cigars, which continued to manufacture this brand in Honduras. These cigars were well made out of very good quality tobacco but there was too much competition during the boom in the late 90's. handicap grab bars

The original blend of the Aristoff used 100% Dominican grown tobacco for the binder and filler. For the wrapper Aristoff used tobacco from several different sources including Brazil, United States (Conn Shade) and Cameroon. toilet safety rails

Aristoff had state-of-the-art retail store on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, Ca. but because of a trademark infringement, were not allowed to use the name "Aristoff" for the store name. Cigar America also developed a medium priced brand called "Fuego Del Rey" which was produced in Jember Indonesia. The flavored version of this Cigar was rated by the Robb Report as the best-flavored Cigar in the US market.

See also

List of cigar brands

Greycliff

References

Weathering the Storm - Once Thought to be on the Road to Extinction, Boutique Cigars are Making a Comeback by Andy Marinkovich

Fader and Aristoff Cigars Team up as NFL Team Sponsor from smokeshopmag.com

Categories: Cigar brands

Kimball Camp YMCA Nature Center

China Suppliers


History

Founded in 1938, Kimball Camp YMCA is a unique legacy of a number of factors. Historical documents confirm that the Hillsdale County YMCA offered organized camping programs to area youth as early as 1913 with "competition" from the Knights of Pythias who began their camping programs in 1929. The "feud" was friendly, with each group reaching out to a different segment of the local population.

In 1933, the Knights of Pythias rented their campsite to the Hillsdale County YMCA who moved their Dining Hall from a previous site on Hemlock Lake, thus providing the first "permanent" structure to the property. Finally, in 1938, the Hillsdale County YMCA, with the financial support of Mr. and Mrs. Ora C. Kimball purchased the 25 acre site on Long Lake for $5,000.00. capture card dvr

Camping in the 1930s was primitive, and most of the campers stayed in tents, makeshift buildings or even chicken coops that Mr. Kimball received as donations from area farmers. Small buildings were moved to camp and then converted into cabins, with the largest capable of sleeping a maximum of ten campers. At this time, the most unusual aspect of Kimball Camp's history unfolded. In the 1940s the Hillsdale County YMCA went out of business. The coummnity rallied around the camp and, in so doing, allowed Kimball Camp YMCA to continue its mission of service, despite the lack of a traditional YMCA organizational structure. hdmi switching

By 1950, camp usage had progressed to the point where all campers were housed in suitable cabins. Now, recognizing the need for an improved Lodge and Dining Hall facility, Mr. and Mrs. Kimball again aided the camp by paying for the new structure. The Kiwanis Club of Hillsdale funded a beautiful field stone fireplace, constructed by Austin Barber, a talented stone mason, and twelve dining room tables. These tables were built by Kiwanis in their spare time, with the help of Russell Huffman, a high school shop teacher. satellite multiswitch

The 1950s were the "Golden Years" of Kimball Camp YMCA, with increases in camper attendance and the development of new facilities. Then, in a single night it all fell apart...

Palm Sunday tornado outbreak

On Palm Sunday, April 11, 1965, around 7:00 p.m., approximately six tornadoes passed through Hillsdale County within the space of thirty minutes. Some tornadoes followed each other over the same paths. O. C. Kimball Camp was in the direct path of what was arguably the most powerful one. The camp was completely demolished except for the Infirmary, the kitchen stove and rowboats from the waterfront. The Director cabin was badly damaged but still stood. Wallis Hyde, the Camp Director, and his wife barely escaped with their lives as they were in the cabin when the storm struck. Giant trees were left a tangled mass and, ultimately, few trees on the entire 25 acre site survived the damage.

Rebuilding The Dream

Community support is a wonderful thing in a time of disaster. On Monday morning, April 12, the chairman of the Camp Committee received a phone call from Mr. Eugene Proctor who in effect said, on think that Kimball Camp is finished. You are going to rebuild and wel see that you get the help that you need!

Within the week after the tornado, Mr. Farris Kneen, a local industrialist, sent a check for $1000 to the YMCA office. He said, imball Camp means so much to the youth of our county. It must be rebuilt, and I want this to help you get started. These two men will never know what their expressions of faith meant to the YMCA Board at this time. It was their faith that crystallized the decision to rebuild. Mr. Harmon Davies, Associate State Secretary, brought counsel and encouragement from the state level and made some special monies available for use in the emergency.

The Board realized they needed a Director for any fund drive, and Mr. George Wheeler, immediate past county YMCA secretary, was the unanimous choice. Characteristically, Wheeler jumped at the chance and came back for a three-month period to organize and direct the drive. The Board also directed the Camp Committee, chaired by Vernon Stevens, to start planning for the new construction.

Working with James McCall and Harold Foulke, the committee drew up a list of desired buildings and engaged the services of the architectural firm of J. Lauran Kretchmar of Flint, Michigan, who drafted the plans. Armed with these plans and an estimate of costs, George Wheeler cut loose and the drive was underway. When the drive was over, a total of $190,000 had been raised.

Even though Kimball Camp was without a trace of facilities, the summer camping program went on as planned. The camp committee worked out a rental agreement with nearby Camp Selah, an Independent Christian Camp, for the use of its facilities. Consequently, a program directed by Wallis Hyde was conducted at Camp Selah during the summers 1965, 1966, and 1967.

Walter Martinen was awarded the contract for the new construction and on Sunday, April 3, 1966, ground was broken for the lodge. Construction was completed by midsummer 1967, and the first use made of the new facilities was by the county Intermediate School for a short day camp program for mentally disable children. David Steel, County Intermediate Superintendent, was the Director. The new facilities were formally dedicated September 17, 1967. The new facilities included the lodge, six cabins and one activity cabin.

At the time of the dedication, two cabins and one activity cabin had not been built, due to the rising costs. However, through the generosity of friends and the help of the Hillsdale High School house-building class, it was later possible to complete the second cabin cluster. This made eight cabins available, each capable of housing fourteen campers and their counselor. Also during the summer of 1975, YMCA board members and many volunteers rebuilt the old staff building which had been destroyed in the 1965 tornado. This building is self-contained and can house up to 24 people. It has been renamed hunderbird Ridge.

The new buildings increased the range of usefulness of the camp and many new programs were developed, including trip-camps, football camps, band camps and outdoor education. As these new programs developed use of the camp by both local and out-of-county groups increased.

Recent history

The 1980s were dedicated to improving the programs offered at Kimball Camp YMCA. The largest area of growth was in the Environmental Education program. It was at this time that a partnership began between Coldwater Community Schools and the Kimball Camp YMCA Nature Center. The original curriculum, based on "Sunship Earth", was designed to bring area students to camp to learn about the natural world by studying it first-hand. This joint effort was what would ultimately create the modern day Outdoor Environmental Education programs which are still offered at Kimball Camp and make up the majority of its programming year.

In 1982, the first step was taken in a new direction for Kimball Camp with the construction of the Mid-Ropes Course. This obstacle course consisted of fifteen obstacles, each situated only a few feet off the ground. Designed to provide a safe, fun personal challenge to the participants, it soon became a popular activity, especially during the Summer Camp program. This exciting, new attraction at Kimball Camp laid the cornerstone for a whole new area of experiential programming, and gave future Directors the motivation to pursue the idea of ropes courses to new levels.

As the 1980s came to a close, another feature was added to the camp. Mount Kimball, the original climbing wall at Kimball Camp YMCA was constructed. A single wall, 20 feet (6.1 m) tall was built. Climbers wore mountain climbing gear and were attached to the top of the wall by a belay system. This activity proved so popular, that in 1989 a second egative climb was added to increase the level of difficulty in the climbs. It was an instant hit!

The 1990s saw even more changes. In 1992, Kimball Camp completed construction on its first High Ropes Course. This course consisted of eleven obstacles built an average of 15 feet (4.6 m) off the ground. Participants were required to wear full mountain climbing gear. The program was based on a hallenge By Choice ideal wherein participants could ush themselves as far as they wanted to, a practice still enforced to this day. At the same time, construction began on a Low Ropes Course, a series of obstacles which enhance teamwork and promote communication among its participants. School systems, seeing the value of the Ropes Courses, began to come to Kimball Camp for Spring Outdoor Education, so that their students would be better equipped to leave elementary school and enter junior high. These programs continue to this day.

Project 2000

In 1998, a piece of history ended, and a new chapter began in the life and mission of Kimball Camp YMCA. Under the leadership of Harold Campbell, the Executive Director, a new series of expansions began. The ageing Mid-Ropes Course was removed, and plans were underway to build even better Ropes Courses. With strong support from Herb James, a local businessman and former Board Member, the new building phase, called roject 2000", was able to begin on the 60th anniversary of O. C. Kimball Camp YMCA Nature Center service to the community. The plan consisted of five phases, each designed to expand the existing programming, and to offer new avenues of outreach and in-reach.

The first phase, the construction of a new 40-foot (12 m) climbing tower called Goliath, was achieved in February 1998. Though still in the construction phase, Goliath was opened as soon as the first climb was completed and quickly became the centerpiece of attention and activity for all of the Kimball Camp programs. Goliath has officially opened 11 different climbs and even includes ouldering. Due to its ability to rearrange the rock hold patterns, Goliath will remain a challenge to our program participants for years to come.

In August 1998, the new team-building phase of the project began. In late August, a new 40-foot (12 m) High Ropes / Personal Challenge Course was completed. Designed to replace the existing course which had begun to deteriorate, these new elements allowed Kimball Camp to provide more of an outreach to the At-Risk / Juvenile Court groups that had, until recently, only done the Low Ropes Course. In addition, to the new High Ropes Course, Kimball Camp expanded it already numerous Low Ropes activities and added a new on-site Team-Building Kit. This kit allowed Kimball Camp, for the first time in its history, to take its programming into local area schools and provide a memorable experience for those who might never be able to attend the camp.

September 1998 brought the most exciting phase of the development to an end. Kimball Camp YMCA Nature Center was able to purchase two fields, formerly owned by the Reppert family. These two fields now provide a direct connection between Kimball Camp and Kimball Pointe, effectively linking all areas of Kimball Camp together and providing a total of 103 acres (0.4 km2) on which to offer its programs. While the future of the new fields remains undecided at the time of this writing, the excitement of having areas to expand the staff and camper housing and to improve the overall capacity of the camp to alleviate the ver-crowding of multiple programs is a blessing from God.

External links

Kimball Camp YMCA

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Camping Facilities in the state of Michigan

Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp (Twin Lake) | Camp Manitou-Lin (Middleville) | Camp Maplehurst (Kewadin) | Camp Quest (Bloomfield Hills) | Camp Roger (Rockford) | Camp Tavor (Three Rivers) | Camp Walden (Cheboygan) | Camp Westminster (Roscommon) | Cedar Lodge (Lawrence) | Circle A Ranch (Rockford) | Kimball Camp YMCA Nature Center (Reading) | Miracle Camp and Retreat Center (Lawton) | Owasippe Scout Reservation (Twin Lake) | Tamarack Camps (Ortonville) | YMCA Camp Eberhart (Three Rivers) | YMCA Camp Hayo-Went-Ha for Boys (Central Lake Township) | YMCA Camp Hayo-Went-Ha for Girls (Traverse City)

Camp Kimball rocks!1 loved going there for camp!!

Categories: Camping in the United States | Nature centers in MichiganHidden categories: Articles lacking sources from August 2008 | All articles lacking sources

China

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Etymology

Main article: Names of China

The traditional (top) and simplified (bottom) characters for "China" in Chinese. The first character means "middle" or "center", and the second character means "country". refurbished g4

English names thermal paper fax machines

The word China is thought to have been derived from Cin, a Persian name for China popularized in Europe by Marco Polo. In early usage, "china" as a term for porcelain was spelled differently than the name of the country, the two words being derived from separate Persian words. Both these words are derived from the Sanskrit word Cna (), used as a name for China as early as AD 150. The origin of this word is the subject of a wide variety of conflicting scholarly theories. The traditional theory, proposed in the 17th century by Martin Martini, is that the word is derived from "Qin" ()(778 BC 207 BC), the westernmost of the Chinese kingdoms during the Zhou dynasty, or from the succeeding Qin dynasty (221 206 BC). In the Hindu scriptures Mahbhrata (5th century BC ) and Law of Manu (2nd century BC), the word Cna is used to refer to a country of "yellow-colored" barbarians located in the Tibeto-Burman borderlands east of India. sharp fax copier

Chinese names

The official name of China changed with each dynasty. The common name is Zhnggu ( in traditional Chinese or in simplified Chinese). This translates traditionally as "Middle Kingdom," or as "central country."

The name Zhnggu first appeared in the Classic of History (6th century BC), and was used to refer to the late Zhou Dynasty, as they believed that they were the "center of civilization,"[nb 1] while peoples in the four cardinals were called Eastern Yi, Southern Man, Western Rong and Northern Di respectively. Some texts imply that "Zhnggu" was originally meant to refer to the capital of the sovereign, to differ from the capital of his vassals.[nb 2] The use of "Zhnggu" implied a claim of political legitimacy, and "Zhnggu" was often used by states who saw themselves as the sole legitimate successor to previous Chinese dynasties; for example, in the era of the Southern Song Dynasty, both the Jin Dynasty and the Southern Song state claimed to be "Zhnggu."[nb 3]

Zhnggu came to official use as an abbreviation for the Republic of China (Zhonghua Minguo) after the government's establishment in 1912. Since the People's Republic of China, established in 1949, now controls the great majority of the area encompassed within the traditional concept of "China", the People's Republic is the political unit most commonly identified with the abbreviated name Zhnggu, with the Republic of China nowadays known commonly as "Taiwan".[nb 4]

History

Main articles: History of China and Timeline of Chinese history

History of China

ANCIENT

3 Sovereigns and 5 Emperors

Xia Dynasty 21001600 BCE

Shang Dynasty 16001046 BCE

Zhou Dynasty 1045256 BCE

 Western Zhou

 Eastern Zhou

   Spring and Autumn Period

   Warring States Period

IMPERIAL

Qin Dynasty 221 BCE206 BCE

Han Dynasty 206 BCE220 CE

  Western Han

  Xin Dynasty

  Eastern Han

Three Kingdoms 220280

  Wei, Shu & Wu

Jin Dynasty 265420

  Western Jin

16 Kingdoms

304439

  Eastern Jin

Southern & Northern Dynasties

420589

Sui Dynasty 581618

Tang Dynasty 618907

  ( Second Zhou 690705 )

5 Dynasties &

10 Kingdoms

907960

Liao Dynasty

9071125

Song Dynasty

9601279

  Northern Song

W. Xia

  Southern Song

Jin

Yuan Dynasty 12711368

Ming Dynasty 13681644

Qing Dynasty 16441911

MODERN

Republic of China 19121949

People's Republic

of China

1949resent

Republic

of China

(Taiwan)

1945resent

Related articles 

Chinese historiography

Timeline of Chinese history

Dynasties in Chinese history

Linguistic history

Art history

Economic history

Education history

Science and technology history

Legal history

Media history

Military history

Naval history

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Ancient China was one of the earliest centers of human civilization. Chinese civilization was also one of the few to invent writing, the others being Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley civilization, the Maya and other Mesoamerican civilizations, the Minoan civilization of ancient Greece, and Ancient Egypt.

Prehistory

Archaeological evidence suggests that the earliest hominids in China date from 250,000 to 2.24 million years ago. A cave in Zhoukoudian (near present-day Beijing) has fossils dated at somewhere between 300,000 to 780,000 years. The fossils are of Peking Man, an example of Homo erectus who used fire.

The earliest evidence of a fully modern human in China comes from Liujiang County, Guangxi, where a cranium has been found and dated at approximately 67,000 years old. Although much controversy persists over the dating of the Liujiang remains, a partial skeleton from Minatogawa in Okinawa, Japan has been dated to 16,600 to 18,250 years old, so modern humans probably reached China before that time.[citation needed]

Dynastic rule

Main articles: Dynasties in Chinese history and Chinese sovereign

Chinese tradition names the first dynasty Xia, but it was considered mythical until scientific excavations found early bronze-age sites at Erlitou in Henan Province in 1959. Archaeologists have since uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs in locations cited as Xia's in ancient historical texts, but it is impossible to verify that these remains are of the Xia without written records from the period.

Some of the thousands of life-size Terracotta Warriors of the Qin Dynasty, ca. 210 BC.

The second dynasty, the loosely feudal Shang, settled along the Yellow River in eastern China from the 18th to the 12th century BC. They were invaded from the west by the Zhou, who ruled from the 12th to the 5th century BC, until their centralized authority was slowly eroded by feudal warlords. Many strong, independent states eventually emerged out of the weakened Zhou state, and continually waged war with each other in the Spring and Autumn period, only occasionally deferring to the Zhou king.

The first unified Chinese state was established by Qin Shi Huang 221 BC, who proclaimed himself as the "First Emperor" and created many reforms in the Empire, notably the forced standardization of the Chinese language and measurements. This state did not last long, as its harsh legalist policies soon led to widespread rebellion.

The subsequent Han Dynasty ruled China between 206 BC and 220 AD, and created a lasting Han cultural identity among its populace that would last to the present day. The Han Dynasty expanded the empire's territory considerably with military campaigns reaching Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia and Central Asia, and also helped establish the Silk Road in Central Asia.

After Han's collapse, another period of disunion followed, including the highly chivalric period of the Three Kingdoms. Independent Chinese states of this period also opened diplomatic relations with Japan, introducing the Chinese writing system there. In 580 AD, China was reunited under the Sui. However, the Sui Dynasty was short-lived after a failure in the Goguryeo-Sui Wars (598614) weakened it.

A 10th11th century Longquan stoneware vase from Zhejiang province, during the Song Dynasty.

Leshan Giant Buddha, 71 m (233 ft) tall, completed in the early 9th century during the Tang Dynasty

Under the succeeding Tang and Song dynasties, Chinese technology and culture reached its zenith. The Tang Empire was at its height of power until the middle of the 8th century, when the An Shi Rebellion destroyed the prosperity of the empire. The Song dynasty was the first government in world history to issue paper money and the first Chinese polity to establish a permanent standing navy. Between the 10th and 11th centuries, the population of China doubled in size. This growth came about through expanded rice cultivation in central and southern China, and the production of abundant food surpluses.

Within its borders, the Northern Song Dynasty had a population of some 100 million people. The Song Dynasty was a culturally rich period in for philosophy and the arts. Landscape art and portrait painting were brought to new levels of maturity and complexity after the Tang Dynasty, and social elites gathered to view art, share their own, and make trades of precious artworks. Philosophers such as Cheng Yi and Chu Hsi reinvigorated Confucianism with new commentary, infused Buddhist ideals, and emphasized a new organization of classic texts that brought about the core doctrine of Neo-Confucianism.

In 1271, the Mongol leader and fifth Khagan of the Mongol Empire Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty, with the last remnant of the Song Dynasty falling to the Yuan in 1279. Before the Mongol invasion, Chinese dynasties reportedly had approximately 120 million inhabitants; after the conquest was completed in 1279, the 1300 census reported roughly 60 million people.

"The reception of the Diplomatique (Macartney) and his suite, at the Court of Pekin". Drawn and engraved by James Gillray, published in September 1792.

A peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the Mongols in 1368 and founded the Ming Dynasty. Ming Dynasty thinkers such as Wang Yangming would further critique and expand Neo-Confucianism with ideas of individualism and innate morality that would have tremendous impact on later Japanese thought. Chosun Korea also became a nominal vassal state of Ming China and adopted much of its Neo-Confucian bureaucratic structure.

Under the Ming Dynasty, China had another golden age, with one of the strongest navies in the world, a rich and prosperous economy and a flourishing of the arts and culture. It was during this period that Zheng He led explorations throughout the world, possibly reaching America. During the early Ming Dynasty China's capital was moved from Nanjing to Beijing. The Ming fell to Manchu invaders in 1644, who then established the Qing Dynasty. When Beijing was captured by Li Zicheng's peasant rebels in 1644, the last Ming Emperor Chongzhen committed suicide. The Manchu then allied with Ming Dynasty general Wu Sangui and defeated Li Zicheng, and subsequently seized control of Beijing, which became the new capital of the Qing dynasty.

The Qing Dynasty, which lasted until 1912, was the last dynasty in China. In the 19th century the Qing Dynasty adopted a defensive posture towards European imperialism, even though it engaged in imperialistic expansion into Central Asia. At this time China awoke to the significance of the rest of the world, the West in particular. As China opened up to foreign trade and missionary activity, opium produced by British India was forced onto Qing China. Two Opium Wars with Britain weakened the Emperor's control. European imperialism proved to be disastrous for China:

The Arrow War (18561860) [2nd Opium War] saw another disastrous defeat for China. The subsequent passing of the humiliating Treaty of Tianjin in 1856 and the Beijing Conventions of 1860 opened up more of the country to foreign penetrations and more ports for their vessels. Hong Kong was ceded over to the British. Thus, the "unequal treaties system" was established. Heavy indemnities had to be paid by China, and more territory and control were taken over by the foreigners.

A corner tower of the Forbidden City at night; the palace was the residence for the imperial family from the reign of the Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty in the 15th century until the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912.

The weakening of the Qing state, and the apparent humiliation of the unequal treaties in the eyes of the Chinese people had several consequences. One consequence was the Taiping Civil War, which lasted from 1851 to 1862. It was led by Hong Xiuquan, who was partly influenced by an idiosyncratic interpretation of Christianity. Hong believed himself to be the son of God and the younger brother of Jesus. Although the Qing forces were eventually victorious, the civil war was one of the bloodiest in human history, costing at least 20 million lives (more than the total number of fatalities in the First World War), with some estimates of up to two hundred million. Other costly rebellions followed the Taiping Rebellion, such as the Punti-Hakka Clan Wars (185567), Nien Rebellion (18511868), Muslim Rebellion (186277), Panthay Rebellion (18561873) and the Miao Rebellion (185473).

These rebellions resulted in an estimated loss of several million lives each and led to disastrous results for the economy and the countryside. The flow of British opium hastened the empire's decline. In the 19th century, the age of colonialism was at its height and the great Chinese Diaspora began. About 35 million overseas Chinese live in Southeast Asia today. The famine in 187679 claimed between 9 and 13 million lives in northern China. From 108 BC to 1911 AD, China experienced 1,828 famines, or one per year, somewhere in the empire.

While China was wracked by continuous war, Meiji Japan succeeded in rapidly modernizing its military and set its sights on Korea and Manchuria. Influenced by Japan, Korea declared independence from Qing China's suzerainty in 1894, leading to the First Sino-Japanese War, which resulted in the Qing Dynasty's cession of both Korea and Taiwan to Japan.

Following this series of defeats, a reform plan for the empire to become a modern Meiji-style constitutional monarchy was drafted by the Emperor Guangxu in 1898, but was opposed and stopped by the Empress Dowager Cixi, who placed Emperor Guangxu under house arrest in a coup d'tat. Further destruction followed the ill-fated 1900 Boxer Rebellion against westerners in Beijing.

By the early 20th century, mass civil disorder had begun, and calls for reform and revolution were heard across the country. The 38-year-old Emperor Guangxu died under house arrest on 14 November 1908, suspiciously just a day before Cixi's own death. With the throne empty, he was succeeded by Cixi's handpicked heir, his two year old nephew Puyi, who became the Xuantong Emperor. Guangxu's consort, who became the Empress Dowager Longyu. In another coup de'tat, Yuan ShiKai overthrew the last Qing emperor, and forced empress Dowager Longyu to sign the abdication decree as regent in 1912, ending two thousand years of imperial rule in China. She died, childless, in 1913.

Republic of China (191249)

Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek at the founding of the Whampoa Military Academy. Flags of the Republic of China and the Nationalist Party shown.

Map of Republic of China printed by Rand McNally & Co. in the year 1914.

Main article: History of the Republic of China

On 1 January 1912, the Republic of China was established, heralding the end of the Qing Dynasty. Sun Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (the KMT or Nationalist Party) was proclaimed provisional president of the republic. However, the presidency was later given to Yuan Shikai, a former Qing general, who had ensured the defection of the entire Beiyang Army from the Qing Empire to the revolution. In 1915, Yuan proclaimed himself Emperor of China but was forced to abdicate and return the state to a republic when he realized it was an unpopular move, not only with the population but also with his own Beiyang Army and its commanders.

After Yuan Shikai's death in 1916, China was politically fragmented, with an internationally recognized but virtually powerless national government seated in Peking (Beijing). Warlords in various regions exercised actual control over their respective territories. In the late 1920s, the Kuomintang, under Chiang Kai-shek, was able to reunify the country under its own control, moving the nation's capital to Nanking (Nanjing) and implementing "political tutelage", an intermediate stage of political development outlined in Sun Yat-sen's program for transforming China into a modern, democratic state. Effectively, political tutelage meant one-party rule by the Kuomintang.

The Sino-Japanese War of 19371945 (part of World War II) forced an uneasy alliance between the Nationalists and the Communists as well as causing around 20 million Chinese civilian deaths. With the surrender of Japan in 1945, China emerged victorious but financially drained. The continued distrust between the Nationalists and the Communists led to the resumption of the Chinese Civil War. In 1947, constitutional rule was established, but because of the ongoing Civil War many provisions of the ROC constitution were never implemented in mainland China.

Territories currently administered by two states that formally use the name China:

the PRC (in purple) and the ROC (in orange).

Post Civil War (1949resent)

Main articles: History of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China on Taiwan

See also: History of Hong Kong, History of Macau, and History of Taiwan

After its victory in the Chinese Civil War, the Communist Party of China (CCP) led by Mao Zedong gained control of most of Mainland China. On 1 October 1949, they established the People's Republic of China as a Socialist State headed by a "Democratic Dictatorship" with the CCP as the only legal political party, thus, laying claim as the successor state of the ROC. The central government of the Chinese Nationalist Party led by Chiang Kai-shek retreated to the island of Taiwan that it had occupied at the end of World War II, and moved the ROC government there. Major armed hostilities ceased in 1950 but no peace treaty has been signed. An estimated 36 million died during the Great Chinese Famine of 195861.

Beginning in the late 1970s, the Republic of China began the implementation of full, multi-party, representative democracy in the territories still under its control (Taiwan, and a number of smaller islands including Quemoy and Matsu). Today, the ROC has active political participation by all sectors of society. The main cleavage in ROC politics is the issue of eventual political unification with the Chinese mainland vs. formal independence of Taiwan.

After the Chinese Civil War, mainland China underwent a series of disruptive socioeconomic movements starting in the late 1950s with the Great Leap Forward and continuing in the 1960s with the Cultural Revolution that left much of its education system and economy in shambles. With the death of its first generation Communist Party leaders such as Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, the PRC began implementing a series of political and economic reforms advocated by Deng Xiaoping that eventually formed the foundation for mainland China's rapid economic development starting in the 1990s.

Post-1978 reforms in mainland China have led to some relaxation of control over many areas of society. However, the PRC government still has almost absolute control over politics, and it continually seeks to eradicate what it perceives as threats to the social, political and economic stability of the country. Examples include the fight against terrorism, jailing of political opponents and journalists, custody regulation of the press, regulation of religion, and suppression of independence/secessionist movements. In 1989, the student protests at Tiananmen Square were violently put to an end by the Chinese military after 15 days of martial law. In 1997, Hong Kong was ceded to the PRC by the United Kingdom, and in 1999, Macau was handed over by Portugal.

Since 1949, mainland China is administered by the People's Republic of China one-party state under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Partyhile the island of Taiwan and surrounding islands are administered by the Republic of China democratic multi-party state. After the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, both states claimed to be the sole legitimate ruler of all of China. After the Kuomintang retreat to Taiwan in 1949, the Republic of China had maintained official diplomatic relations with most states around the world, but by the 1970s, a shift had occurred in international diplomatic circles and the People's Republic of China gained the upper hand in international diplomatic relations and recognition count.

In 1971, under resolution 2758, the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek to the United Nations were expelled from the intergovernmental organization. With the expulsion of the representatives, and effectively the Republic of China, the representatives of the People's Republic of China were invited to assume China's seat on the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly and other United Nations councils and agencies. Later attempts by the Republic of China to rejoin the UN have either been blocked by the People's Republic of China, which has veto power on the UN Security Council, or rejected by the United Nations Secretariat or a United Nations General Assembly committee responsible for the General Assembly's agenda.

Since the relocation of its capital to Taiwan, the Republic of China has not formally renounced its claim to authority over all of China, nor has it changed its official maps, which include the mainland and Mongolia. Following the introduction of full democracy, and the electoral victory of the DPP's Chen Shui-bian in the presidential elections, the ROC had adopted a policy of separating the state's identity from "China", while moving towards identifying the state as "Taiwan".

However, the ROC has not made any formal moves to change the name, flag, or national anthem of the state to reflect a Taiwanese identity due to the lack of consensus within Taiwan, pressure from the United States and the fear of invasion or military action from the People's Republic of China against the island. The Republic of China during the DPP years did not actively pursue its claims on mainland China or Mongolia. However, after having been elected as president, KMT's Ma Ying-jeou asserted that, constitutionally, mainland China is part of the Republic of China. The People's Republic of China claims to have succeeded the Republic of China as the sole legitimate governing authority of all of China, which, from the official viewpoint of the People's Republic of China, includes the island of Taiwan.

Over the last 50 years, both the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China have used diplomatic and economic means to compete for recognition in the international arena. Because most international, intergovernmental organizations observe the One-China policy of the People's Republic of China, the PRC has been able to pressure organizations, such as the World Health Organization and the International Olympic Committee, to refuse to officially recognize the Republic of China. Due to the One-China policy, states around the world are pressured to refuse, or to cut off diplomatic relations with the Republic of China. As a result, 23 U.N. member states currently maintain official diplomatic relations with the Republic of China, while the vast majority of U.N. member states maintain official diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.

Territory and environment

Historical political divisions

Main article: History of the political divisions of China

Territories occupied by different dynasties as well as modern political states throughout the history of China.

Top-level political divisions of China have altered as administrations changed. Top levels included circuits and provinces. Below that, there have been prefectures, subprefectures, departments, commanderies, districts, and counties. Recent divisions also include prefecture-level cities, county-level cities, towns and townships.

Most Chinese dynasties were based in the historical heartlands of China, known as China proper. Various dynasties also expanded into peripheral territories like Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Xinjiang, and Tibet. The Manchu-established Qing Dynasty and its successors, the ROC and the PRC, incorporated these territories into the Chinese empire.

Geography and climate

Main article: Geography of China

See also: Environment of China

Composite satellite photo.

Terrace rice fields in Yunnan.

Snowy mountains in Diqing.

China ranges from mostly plateaus and mountains in the west to lower lands in the east. Principal rivers flow from west to east, including the Yangtze (central), the Huang He (Yellow river, north-central), and the Amur (northeast), and sometimes toward the south (including the Pearl River, Mekong River, and Brahmaputra), with most Chinese rivers emptying into the Pacific Ocean.

In the east, along the shores of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea there are extensive and densely populated alluvial plains. On the edges of the Inner Mongolian plateau in the north, grasslands can be seen. Southern China is dominated by hills and low mountain ranges. In the central-east are the deltas of China's two major rivers, the Huang He and Yangtze River. Most of China's arable lands lie along these rivers, and they were the centers of China's major ancient civilizations. Other major rivers include the Pearl River, Mekong, Brahmaputra and Amur. Yunnan Province is considered a part of the Greater Mekong Subregion, which also includes Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

Main geographic features and regions of China.

In the west, the north has a great alluvial plain, and the south has a vast calcareous tableland traversed by hill ranges of moderate elevation, and the Himalayas, containing Earth's highest point, Mount Everest. The northwest also has high plateaus with more arid desert landscapes such as the Takla-Makan and the Gobi Desert, which has been expanding. During many dynasties, the southwestern border of China has been the high mountains and deep valleys of Yunnan, which separate modern China from Burma, Laos and Vietnam.

The Paleozoic formations of China, excepting only the upper part of the Carboniferous system, are marine, while the Mesozoic and Tertiary deposits are estuarine and freshwater, or else of terrestrial origin. Groups of volcanic cones occur in the Great Plain of north China. In the Liaodong and Shandong Peninsulas, there are basaltic plateaus.

The climate of China varies greatly. The northern zone (containing Beijing) has summer daytime temperatures of more than 30 degrees Celsius and winters of Arctic severity. The central zone (containing Shanghai) has a temperate continental climate with very hot summers and cold winters. The southern zone (containing Guangzhou) has a subtropical climate with very hot summers and mild winters.

Due to a prolonged drought and poor agricultural practices, dust storms have become usual in the spring in China. Dust has blown to southern Mainland China and Taiwan, and has reached the West Coast of the United States. Water, erosion, and pollution control have become important issues in China's relations with other countries.

Economy

Main article: Economic history of China

See also: Economy of the People's Republic of China, Economy of the Republic of China, Economy of the Han Dynasty, Economy of the Song Dynasty, and Economy of the Ming Dynasty

Culture

Main article: Culture of China

See also: Chinese law, Chinese philosophy, and Confucianism

Wang Yangming, a highly influential Neo-Confucian.

A Chinese Opera (Beijing Opera) performance in Beijing, one of the many aspects of traditional Chinese culture

Confucianism was the official philosophy throughout most of Imperial China's history, and mastery of Confucian texts was the primary criterion for entry into the imperial bureaucracy. China's traditional values were derived from various versions of Confucianism. A number of more authoritarian strains of thought have also been influential, such as Legalism.

There was often conflict between the philosophies, e.g. the Song Dynasty Neo-Confucians believed Legalism departed from the original spirit of Confucianism. Examinations and a culture of merit remain greatly valued in China today. In recent years, a number of New Confucians (not to be confused with Neo-Confucianism) have advocated that democratic ideals and human rights are quite compatible with traditional Confucian "Asian values".

With the rise of European economic and military power beginning in the mid-19th century, non-Chinese systems of social and political organization gained adherents in China. Some of these would-be reformers totally rejected China's cultural legacy, while others sought to combine the strengths of Chinese and European cultures. In essence, the history of 20th-century China is one of experimentation with new systems of social, political, and economic organization that would allow for the reintegration of the nation in the wake of dynastic collapse.

Arts, scholarship, and literature

Main articles: Chinese art and History of Chinese art

See also: Chinese art, Chinese literature, Chinese painting, Chinese paper art, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese poetry, Cinema of China, and Music of China

Chinese calligraphy by Mi Fu, Song Dynasty, ca. 1100 CE

A bamboo book copy of Sun Tzu's The Art of War, a 20th century reprint of a Qianlong imperial edition.

Chinese characters have had many variants and styles throughout Chinese history. Tens of thousands of ancient written documents are still extant, from oracle bones to Qing edicts. This literary emphasis affected the general perception of cultural refinement in China, e.g. the view that calligraphy was a higher art form than painting or drama. Manuscripts of the Classics and religious texts (mainly Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist) were handwritten by ink brush.

Calligraphy later became commercialized, and works by famous artists became prized possessions. Chinese literature has a long past; the earliest classic work in Chinese, the I Ching or "Book of Changes" dates to around 1000 BC. A flourishing of philosophy during the Warring States Period produced such noteworthy works as Confucius's Analects and Laozi's Tao Te Ching. (See also: the Chinese classics.) Dynastic histories were often written, beginning with Sima Qian's seminal Records of the Historian, which was written from 109 BC to 91 BC.

The Tang Dynasty witnessed a poetic flowering, while the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature were written during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Printmaking in the form of movable type was developed during the Song Dynasty. Academies of scholars sponsored by the empire were formed to comment on the classics in both printed and handwritten form. Royalty frequently participated in these discussions as well.

The Song Dynasty was also a period of great scientific literature, and saw the creation of works such as Su Song's Xin Yixiang Fayao and Shen Kuo's Dream Pool Essays. There were also enormous works of historiography and large encyclopedias, such as Sima Guang's Zizhi Tongjian of 1084 AD or the Four Great Books of Song fully compiled and edited by the 11th century.

For centuries, religious and social advancement in China could be achieved through high performance on the imperial examinations. This led to the creation of a meritocracy, although success was available only to males who could afford test preparation. Imperial examinations required applicants to write essays and demonstrate mastery of the Confucian classics. Those who passed the highest level of the exam became elite scholar-officials known as jinshi, a highly esteemed socio-economic position.

Chinese philosophers, writers and poets were highly respected and played key roles in preserving and promoting the culture of the empire. Some classical scholars, however, were noted for their daring depictions of the lives of the common people, often to the displeasure of authorities.The Chinese invented numerous musical instruments, such as the zheng (zither with movable bridges), qin (bridgeless zither), sheng (free reed mouth organ), and xiao (vertical flute) and adopted and developed others such the erhu (alto fiddle or bowed lute) and pipa (pear-shaped plucked lute), many of which later spread throughout East Asia and Southeast Asia, particularly to Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.

Demography

Main articles: Demographics of the People's Republic of China, Ethnic groups in Chinese history, and Ethnic minorities in China

Ethnolinguistic map of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China

Hundreds of ethnic groups have existed in China throughout its history. The largest ethnic group in China by far is the Han. This group, however, is internally diverse and can be further divided into smaller ethnic groups that share similar traits.

Over the last three millennia, many previously distinct ethnic groups in China have been Sinicized into a Han identity, which over time dramatically expanded the size of the Han population. However, these assimilations were usually incomplete, and vestiges of indigenous language and culture still often remain in various regions of China. Because of this, many within the Han identity have maintained distinct linguistic and cultural traditions while still identifying as Han.

Several ethnicities have also dramatically shaped Han culture, e.g. the Manchurian clothing called the qipao became the new "Chinese" fashion after the 17th century, replacing earlier Han styles of clothing such as the Hanfu. The modern term Chinese nation (Zhonghua Minzu) is now used to describe a notion of a Chinese nationality that transcends ethnic divisions.

Languages

Main article: Languages of China

Most languages in China belong to the Sino-Tibetan language family, spoken by 29 ethnicities. There are also several major linguistic groups within the Chinese language itself. The most spoken varieties are Mandarin (spoken by over 70% of the population), Wu, Yue (Cantonese), Min, Xiang, Gan, and Hakka. Non-Sinitic languages spoken widely by ethnic minorities include Zhuang (Thai), Mongolian, Tibetan, Uyghur (Turkic), Hmong and Korean.

Classical Chinese was the written standard in China for thousands of years, and allowed for written communication between speakers of various unintelligible languages and dialects in China. Vernacular Chinese or baihua is the written standard based on the Mandarin dialect first popularized in Ming dynasty novels, and was adopted (with significant modifications) during the early 20th century as the national vernacular. Classical Chinese is still part of the high school curriculum and is thus intelligible to some degree to many Chinese.

Religion

Main article: Religion in China

Shang Dynasty bronze script character for tian (), "Sky" or "Heaven."

The "official" orthodox faith system held by most dynasties of China since at least the Shang Dynasty (1766 BC) until the overthrow of the last dynasty (1911 AD) centered on the worship of Shangdi ("Supreme God") or "Heaven" as an omnipotent force. This faith system pre-dated the development of Confucianism and Taoism and the introduction of Buddhism and Christianity.

It has features of monotheism in that Heaven is seen as an omnipotent entity, endowed with personality but no corporeal form. From the writings of Confucius, we find that Confucius himself believed that Heaven cannot be deceived, Heaven guides people's lives and maintains a personal relationship with them, and that Heaven gives tasks for people to fulfill to teach them righteousness (yi, ). However, this faith system was not truly monotheistic since other lesser gods and spirits, which varied with locality, were also worshiped along with Shangdi. Still, variants such as Mohism approached high monotheism, teaching that the function of lesser gods and ancestral spirits is merely to carry out the will of Shangdi, which included observing "universal love" (jian'ai, ) and shunning fatalism.

Worship of Shangdi and Heaven in ancient China includes the erection of shrines, the last and greatest being the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, and the offering of prayers. The ruler of China in every Chinese dynasty would perform annual sacrificial rituals to Heaven, usually by slaughtering a bull as sacrifice. Although its popularity gradually diminished after the advent of Taoism and Buddhism, among other religions, its concepts remained in use throughout the pre-modern period and have been incorporated in later religions in China, including terminology used in Chinese Christianity.

Taoism is an indigenous religion of China and its beginnings are traditionally traced to the composition of Lao Zi's Tao Te Ching (The Book of Tao and Its Virtues) or to seminal works by Zhang Daoling. The philosophy of Taoism is centered on "the way"; an understanding of which can be likened to recognizing the true nature of the universe. Taoism in its unorganized form is also considered a folk religion of China. More secular derivatives of Taoist ideas include Feng Shui, Sun Tzu's Art of War, and acupuncture.

A Chinese Tang Dynasty (618907) sculpture of the Buddha seated in meditation.

Buddhism in China was first introduced from India and Central Asia during the Han dynasty and became very popular among Chinese of all walks of life, embraced particularly by commoners, and sponsored by emperors in certain dynasties. Mahayana (Dacheng, ) is the predominant form of Buddhism practiced in China, where it was largely Sinicized and later exported to Korea, Japan and Vietnam. Some subsets of Mahayana popular in China include Pure Land (Amidism) and Zen. Buddhism is the largest organized faith in China and the country has the most Buddhist adherents in the world. Many Chinese, however, identify themselves as both Taoist and Buddhist at the same time.

Ancestor worship is a major religious theme shared among all Chinese religions. Traditional Chinese culture, Taoism, Confucianism, and Chinese Buddhism all value filial piety, or a love and respect for one's parents and ancestors, as one of the most important virtues. Chinese people generally offer prayers and food for their ancestors, light incense and candles, and burn offerings of Joss paper. These activities are typically conducted at the site of ancestral graves or tombs, at an ancestral temple, or at a household shrine.

Christianity in China has developed since at least the 7th century AD with the introduction of the Assyrian Church of the East. Christianity began to make significant inroads in China after the 16th century through Jesuit and later Protestant missionaries. The Taiping Rebellion was influenced to some degree by Christian teachings, and the Boxer Rebellion was in part a reaction against Christianity in China.

The Huaisheng Mosque is one of the oldest Mosques in the world, built by Muhammad's uncle, Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas

Islam in China dates to a mission in 651, eighteen years after Muhammad's death. Muslims came to China for trade, dominating the import/export industry during the Song Dynasty. They became influential in government circles, including Zheng He, Lan Yu and Yeheidie'erding, was one of the people who helped to construct the Yuan Dynasty's capital, Khanbaliq. Nanjing became an important center of Islamic study. The Qing Dynasty waged war and genocide against Muslims in the Dungan revolt and Panthay rebellion.

Judaism in China dates to as early as the 7th or 8th century CE. In the first half of the 20th century, many Jews arrived in Shanghai and Hong Kong during those cities' periods of economic expansion, seeking refuge from the Holocaust. Shanghai was notable for its volume of Jewish refugees, as it was the only port in the world to accept them without an entry visa.

Sports and recreation

Dragon boat racing, a popular traditional Chinese sport.

For sports in the People's Republic of China, see Sport in the People's Republic of China, Sports in Hong Kong, and Sports in Macau.

For sports in the Republic of China, see Sports in Taiwan.

Many historians believe that association football originated in China, where a form of the sport may have appeared around 1000 AD. Other popular sports include martial arts, table tennis, badminton, and more recently, golf. Basketball is now popular among young people in urban centers.

There are also many traditional sports. Chinese dragon boat racing occurs during the Duan Wu festival. In Inner Mongolia, Mongolian-style wrestling and horse racing are popular. In Tibet, archery and equestrian sports are part of traditional festivals.

Physical fitness is highly regarded. It is common for the elderly to practice Tai Chi Chuan and qigong in parks. Board games such as International Chess, Go (Weiqi), and Xiangqi (Chinese chess) are also common and have organized formal competitions. The capital city of the People's Republic of China, Beijing, hosted the 2008 Olympic Games, a major international sporting event.

Science and technology

Remains of an ancient Chinese handheld crossbow, 2nd century BC

Further information: History of science and technology in China, List of Chinese inventions, and List of Chinese discoveries

Among the technological accomplishments of ancient China were paper (not papyrus) and papermaking, woodblock printing and movable type printing, the early lodestone and needle compass, gunpowder, toilet paper, early seismological detectors, matches, pound locks, the double-action piston pump, blast furnace and cast iron, the iron plough, the multi-tube seed drill, the suspension bridge, natural gas as fuel, the differential gear for the South Pointing Chariot, the hydraulic-powered armillary sphere, the hydraulic-powered trip hammer, the mechanical chain drive, the mechanical belt drive, the raised-relief map, the propeller, the crossbow, the cannon, the rocket, the multistage rocket, etc.

Chinese astronomers were among the first to record observations of a supernova. The work of the astronomer Shen Kuo (103195) alone was most impressive, as he theorized that the sun and moon were spherical, corrected the position of the polestar with his improved sighting tube, discovered the concept of true north, wrote of planetary motions such as retrogradation, and compared the orbital paths of the planets to points on the shape of a rotating willow leaf. With evidence for them, he also postulated geological theories for the processes of land formation in geomorphology and climate change in paleoclimatology.

Other important astronomers included Gan De, Shi Shen, Zhang Heng, Yi Xing, Zhang Sixun, Su Song and Guo Shoujing. Chinese mathematics evolved independently of Greek mathematics and is therefore of great interest in the history of mathematics. The Chinese were also keen on documenting all of their technological achievements, such as in the Tiangong Kaiwu encyclopedia written by Song Yingxing (15871666).

China's science and technology had fallen behind that of Europe by the 17th century. Political, social and cultural reasons have been given for this, although recent historians focus more on economic causes, such as the high level equilibrium trap. Since the PRC's market reforms, China has become better connected to the global economy and is placing greater emphasis on science and technology.

See also

China portal

Index of China-related articles

Outline of China

References

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^ Found in Book 2 of Kautilya's Arthashastra. (Denis Crispin Twitchett, Michael Loewe, John King Fairbank, The Ch'in and Han Empires 221 B.C.-A.D. 220, p. 20.)

^ Wade, Geoff, "The Polity of Yelang and the Origin of the Name 'China'", Sino-Platonic Papers, No. 188, May 2009, pp. 6ff.

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^ Wade, p. 20.

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^ List of Chinese fossil hominids at ChinesePrehistory.org

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^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7937351.stm

^ "The Liujiang skeleton". http://www-personal.une.edu.au/%7Epbrown3/Liujiang.html. 

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^ Jenks, R.D. Insurgency and Social Disorder in Guizhou: The Miao ebellion, 18541873. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. 1994.

^ Cf. William J. Peterson, The Cambridge History of China Volume 9 (Cambridge University Press, 2002)

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^ People have walked across the Anlan Bridge for 1,700 years.

Notes

^ :oughly translated as "The Heavens awarded the lands and peoples of Zhnggu to our ancestors".

^ Roughly translated as "Zhnggu, the capital."

^ See Quansongwen (8,345 chapters), 2005. Historic texts written in the period of Southern Song refer to the Jin Dynasty as "barbarians", while Jin texts portray the Song as "Manzi."[clarification needed] Official historic texts such as Songshi, which is written after the period, are more neutral.

^ The official name of the Republic of China in traditional Chinese is "", "" in simplified Chinese. The official name of the PRC in simplified Chinese is "", "" in traditional Chinese. Zhnggu are the first and last characters of both of these official names. Although in both of these contexts, the name does not contain the exact phrasing of "Zhnggu," it is expressed in the similar phrase "Zhonghua," while the PRC's official abbreviation is "."

External links

China.org.cn China news, weather, business, travel, language courses, archives

China entry at The World Factbook

China from UCB Libraries GovPubs

China at the Open Directory Project

Wikimedia Atlas of China

China travel guide from Wikitravel

China information from the U.S. Department of State

U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of China Economic Area

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