Joseph Morgan Kousser (born October 7, 1943, in Lewisburg, Tennessee) is an American historian. He is a professor of history and social sciences at the California Institute of Technology.

Early life
Kousser was born on October 7, 1943, in Lewisburg, Tennessee. He graduated from Princeton University with an A.B. in history in 1965 after completing a senior thesis titled "Tennessee Politics and the Negro, 1948-1964." He then received a Ph.D. in political science from Yale University in 1971 after completing a 492-page long doctoral dissertation titled "The Shaping of Southern Politics: Suffrage Restriction and the Establishment of the One-Party South, 1880-1910" under the supervision of C. Vann Woodward.

Career
Kousser joined the California Institute of Technology in 1971, where he is professor of history and social sciences. He was a visiting professor at Harvard University in 1981, and he was the Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford University from 1984 to 1985. One of Kousser's primary fields of expertise is the current and historical interaction of race and voting rights in the United States. He has served as an expert witness in over thirty-five federal or state voting rights cases, including Garza v. County of Los Angeles (1990), United States v. Memphis (1991), Shaw v. Hunt (1994), Cano v. Davis (2002) and Perry v. Perez (2012).

Kousser was the editor of the journal Historical Methods from 2000 to 2013. He is the author of The Shaping of Southern Politics: Suffrage Restriction and the Establishment of the One-Party South, 1880-1910 (1974), and Colorblind Injustice: Minority Voting Rights and the Undoing of the Second Reconstruction (1999).

Works
 Do the Facts of Voting Rights Support Chief Justice Roberts's Opinion in Shelby County? (October 1, 2014)  read online
 Colorblind Injustice: Minority Voting Rights and the Undoing of the Second Reconstruction (University of North Carolina Press, 1999). read online
 How to Determine Intent: Lessons from L.A. (1990) read online
 Dead End: The Development of Litigation on Racial Discrimination in Schools in 19th Century America (Fair Lawn, N.J.: Oxford University Press, 1986). (The Development of Nineteenth-century Litigation on Racial Discrimination in Schools : an Inaugural Lecture Delivered Before the University of Oxford on 28 February 1985) read online
 Region, Race, and Reconstruction: Essays in Honor of C. Vann Woodward (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982), co-edited with James M. McPherson. read online
 The Shaping of Southern Politics: Suffrage Restriction and the Establishment of the One-Party South, 1880-1910 (Yale University Press, 1974; Paperback, 1976). Amazon.com

See also
Voting rights in the United States
National Voting Rights Act of 1965
Disfranchisement
Disfranchisement after the American Civil War
Race in the United States

References

External links
J. Morgan Kousser at the California Institute of Technology

Living people
Historians of the United States
History of voting rights in the United States
21st-century American historians
21st-century American male writers
Princeton University alumni
Yale University alumni
Harvard University staff
California Institute of Technology faculty
1943 births
Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professors of American History
People from Lewisburg, Tennessee
American male non-fiction writers

J. Morgan Kousser


In cryptography, a block cipher is a symmetric key cipher which operates on a groups of bits of fixed length, called blocks, using an exact transformation. During encryption, a block cipher algorithm might take (for example) a 128-bit block of plaintext as input, and output a corresponding 128-bit block of ciphertext. The exact transformation is controlled using a second input — the secret key. Decryption is similar: the decryption algorithm takes, in this example, a 128-bit block of ciphertext together with the secret key, and output the original 128-bit block of plaintext.

One of the early block cipher designs was the Data Encryption Standard (DES), developed at IBM and published as a standard in 1977. A successor to DES, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES); also using block cipher, was adopted in 2001. RC5 is a simple symmetric-key made by Ronald Rivest in 1994. RC6 is another made from RC5. RC stands for "Rivest Cipher", or alternatively, "Ron's Code".

Cryptography

Block cipher


K265CA (100.9 FM) is a commercial FM translator radio station located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, broadcasting to the Albuquerque metropolitan area, owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications).  Its studios are located in Northeast Albuquerque and the transmitter tower is located atop Sandia Crest.

Programming on K265CA is rebroadcast from the second HD Radio subchannel of KZRR (94.1 FM).

History

The translator began broadcasting in 1986 and has always rebroadcast the programming from 104.1 FM. In February 2013, Clear Channel Communications applied to the FCC for an upgrade from 50 watts to the class maximum of 250 watts, while also changing the programming to rebroadcast an HD radio subchannel. The upgrade was made in June 2013, and on August 27, 2013, K265CA had broken off from rebroadcasting KTEG and began airing its own format from KTEG-HD2 playing Christmas music, which began promoting itself as "Santa 100.9" on September 4, being the first station in broadcast radio to flip to Christmas music for the holidays, and setting a record for the earliest any station in the United States has ever flipped to Christmas music before the holiday itself and possibly the longest any terrestrial radio station has ever run that format.

The Christmas music format had aired commercial free for four months, which also put it in direct competition with KMGA, an Adult Contemporary station which usually changes to the all Christmas music format at about mid-November.

On January 2, 2014, at Midnight, K265CA launched a Rhythmic Oldies format branded as "Hot 100.9" that features hip-hop, R&B and dance-pop from the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s.

In the Spring of 2014, the HD Radio feed switched from KTEG-HD2 to KZRR-HD2, with the programming remaining the same on K265CA.

On November 3, 2014, the rhythmic oldies format moved over to KLQT, re-branding as "Hot 95.1". "Hot" continued to simulcast on 100.9 for more than two months. On January 10, 2015, K265CA began stunting with a loop of Michael Jackson's "Beat It". On January 12, at Noon, K265CA launched an urban contemporary format, branded as "100.9 The Beat".

On December 14, 2018, the urban format and the "Beat" branding were dropped and the station began stunting with Christmas music again as "Santa 100.9". On December 26, at midnight, the station flipped to soft adult contemporary as "100.9 The Breeze."

On January 22, 2021, at midnight, after playing "Endless Love" by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie, K265CA began stunting with a repeated 3-hour loop of various television theme songs. At Noon, the station flipped back to urban, branded as "Power 100.9". The first song on "Power" was "Body" by Megan Thee Stallion. The format returned with a stint of 10,000 songs in a row commercial-free; the change came after the  "Breeze" format had a 0.7 share in the December 2020 Nielsen Audio ratings.

References

External links
Power 100.9 official website

265CA
IHeartMedia radio stations
Mainstream urban radio stations in the United States

K265CA


Bernardus Johannes Maria "Ben" Verwaayen, KBE (born 11 February 1952) is a Dutch businessman and a general partner of Keen Venture Partners.
He was Chief Executive Officer of telecommunications company Alcatel-Lucent from 2008 to 2013.

Early life
Verwaayen is the fifth of six children born to a family who owned a chemicals business in Driebergen. At school, he organised the first student parliament, and after graduating from Utrecht University with a degree in law and international relations in 1975, wanted to be a journalist or politician.

Career
On graduation, he decided to immediately undertake his National Service with the Royal Netherlands Army, where he founded the Algemene Vereniging Nederlandse Militairen (General Association of Dutch soldiers), a union that existed until 1996.

On leaving the army, to enable him to continue his work with the trade union, he joined a subsidiary of ITT Corporation because it gave him time to sit on a Dutch state committee to reform the army. His first promotion came after he went to the European Union Parliament in Brussels to protest about the company's alleged role in the overthrow of Salvador Allende's government in Chile; ITT responded by making him its Netherlands public relations chief.

In 1988, Verwaayen became a director of PTT Telecom, the state-owned Dutch telecoms group that was a forerunner of today's KPN; and then was appointed a board member of Lucent Technologies in 1997, moving to the United States. A committed Anglophile, he became CEO of BT in 2003. During his time there, he was also a board member for Dutch television production company Endemol, and chaired the Confederation of British Industry committee on climate change.  There was controversy over his management style at BT, with accusations that BT Global Services had to write down substantial losses and that Verwaayen was to blame.

After standing down from BT on 1 June 2008 when Ian Livingston took over, there was speculation that he would pursue a career in Dutch politics. On 2 September 2008 the Alcatel-Lucent board of directors appointed Verwaayen as the company's chief executive officer, succeeding Patricia Russo. In March 2009, he forwent a €520,000 cash bonus after a pay freeze had been imposed on staff and a loss-making 2008.  He was less restrained in later years; his salary increased by 30% between 2010 and 2012, even as losses continued at the company.

On 22 February 2013 the Alcatel-Lucent board of directors appointed Michel Combes as the company's CEO, succeeding Verwaayen, effective 1 April. He joined Akamai Technologies as a director in November 2013.

In 2016, Verwaayen founded Keen Venture Partners, a venture capital firm providing early growth capital for technology companies.  Since April 2020, he has been Chairman of Renewi plc.

Politics
During his military service, Verwaayen founded the Algemene Vereniging Nederlandse Militairen (General Association of Dutch soldiers), a union that existed until 1996.

Verwaayen has been a longtime member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy. He sat in its executive for ten years, and also contributed to its election programme for the 2006 Dutch elections. At various times, he was linked with a Cabinet position. The current Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, has named him as one of his closest advisors.

Honours
Verwaayen has received various honorary awards and has been made Officier in de Orde van Oranje Nassau (Netherlands), Honorary Knight of the Order of the British Empire KBE (United Kingdom), and a knight in the Legion of Honour (France).

Personal life
Married to Helena, the couple have two children. They currently reside in Paris, but had a family home in Haslemere, Surrey where Verwaayen hosted a party in summer 2008, attended by 1,300 guests including former Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin, UK government ministers Stephen Twigg and John Denham. Verwaayen, a tennis player himself, put on a celebrity tennis match between John Lloyd and Ilie Năstase, and is also a fan of Arsenal F.C.

See also

 Legion of Honour
 List of Legion of Honour recipients by name (V)
 List of foreign recipients of the Legion of Honour by country
 Legion of Honour Museum

References

External links

1952 births
Living people
Alcatel-Lucent
British Telecom people
Knights of the Legion of Honour
Dutch businesspeople
Dutch chief executives in the technology industry
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy politicians
Royal Netherlands Army personnel
Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau
People from Driebergen-Rijsenburg
Utrecht University alumni

Ben Verwaayen


Changsha (; ; ; Changshanese pronunciation: (), Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is the capital and the largest city of Hunan Province of China. Changsha is the 17th most populous city in China with a population of over 10 million, and the third-most populous city in Central China, located in the lower reaches of the Xiang River in northeastern Hunan. Changsha is also called Xingcheng (星城, 'Star City') and was once named Linxiang (临湘), Tanzhou (潭州), and Qingyang (青阳) in ancient times. It is also known as Shanshuizhoucheng (山水洲城), with the Xiang River flowing through it, containing Mount Yuelu and Orange Isle. The city forms a part of the Greater Changsha Metropolitan Region along with Zhuzhou and Xiangtan, also known as Changzhutan City Cluster. Greater Changsha was named as one of the 13 emerging mega-cities in China in 2012 by the Economist Intelligence Unit. It is also a National Comprehensive Transportation Hub, and one of the first National Famous Historical and Cultural Cities in China. Changshanese, a kind of Xiang Chinese, is spoken in the downtown, while Ningxiangnese and Liuyangnese are also spoken in the counties and cities under its jurisdiction. As of the 2020 Chinese census, the prefecture-level city of Changsha had a population of 10,047,914 inhabitants.

Changsha has a history of more than 2,400 years of urban construction, and the name "Changsha" first appeared in the Yi Zhou Shu written in the pre-Qin era. In the Qin dynasty, the Changsha Commandery was set up, and in the Western Han dynasty, the Changsha Kingdom was established. The Tongguan Kiln in Changsha during the Tang dynasty produced the world's earliest underglaze porcelain, which was exported to Western Asia, Africa and Europe. In the Period of Five Dynasties, Changsha was the capital of Southern Chu. In the Northern Song dynasty, the Yuelu Academy (later become Hunan University) was one of the four major private academies over the last 1000 years, with the famous couplet "惟楚有才, 于斯为盛" (Only Chu has talent, and it is flourishing in this area) coming down to modern times. In the late Qing dynasty, Changsha was one of the four major trade cities for rice and tea in China. In 1904, it was opened to foreign trade, and gradually became a revolutionary city. In Changsha, Tan Sitong established the School of Current Affairs, Huang Xing founded the China Arise Society with the slogan "Expel the Tatar barbarians and revive Zhonghua" (驱除鞑虏,复兴中华), and Mao Zedong also carried out his early political movements here. During the Republican Era, Changsha became one of the major home fronts in the Second Sino-Japanese War, but the subsequent Wenxi Fire in 1938 and the three Battles of Changsha from 1939 to 1942 (1939, 1941 and 1941–42) hit Changsha's economy and urban construction hard.

Changsha is now one of the core cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Belt and Road Initiative, a Beta- (global second-tier) city by the GaWC, a new Chinese first-tier city and also a pioneering area for China-Africa economic and trade cooperation. Known as the "Construction machinery capital of the world", Changsha has an industrial chain with construction machinery and new materials as the main industries, complemented by automobiles, electronic information, household appliances, and biomedicine. Since the 1990s, Changsha has begun to accelerate economic development, and then achieved the highest growth rate among China's major cities during the 2000s. The Xiangjiang New Area, the first state-level new area in Central China, was established in 2015. As of 2020, more than 164 Global 500 companies have established branches in Changsha. The city has the 28th largest skyline in the world. The HDI of Changsha reached 0.817 (very high) in 2016, which is roughly comparable to a moderately developed country.

Changsha hosts 57 institutions of higher education, ranking 9th nationwide among all cities in China. The city also houses four Double First-Class Universities: Hunan, National University of Defense Technology, Central South, and Hunan Normal, making Changsha the seat of several highly ranked educational institutions, and a major centre of research and innovation in the Asia-Pacific with a high level of scientific research, ranking 34th globally in 2022. Changsha is the birthplace of super hybrid rice, the Tianhe-1 supercomputer, China's first laser 3D printer, and China's first domestic medium-low speed maglev line. Changsha has been named the first "UNESCO City of Media Arts" in China. Changsha is home to Hunan Broadcasting System (HBS), the most influential provincial TV station in China.

Names
Chángshā is the pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of the Chinese name  or , meaning "long sandy place". The name's origin is unknown. It is attested as early as the 11th , when a vassal lord of the area sent King Cheng of Zhou a gift described as a "Changsha softshell turtle" (). In the 2nd century AD, historian Ying Shao wrote that the Qin use of the name "Changsha" for the area was a continuance of its old name. The name originally described the area. The Chu metropolis was known as Qingyang. The capital of the Kingdom of Changshawithin the present-day city of Changshawas known as Linxiang, meaning "[place] Overlooking the Xiang River".

History

Early history

Development started around  when Changsha developed with the proliferation of Longshan culture, although there is no firm evidence of such a link. Evidence exists that people lived and thrived in the area during the Bronze Age. Numerous examples of pottery and other objects have been discovered.

Later Chinese legends related that the Flame and Yellow Emperors visited the area. Sima Qian's history states that the Yellow Emperor granted his eldest son Shaohao the lands of Changsha and its neighbors. During the Spring and Autumn Period (8th5th centuryBC), the Yue culture spread into the area around Changsha. During the succeeding Warring States Period, Chu took control of Changsha. Its capital, Qingyang, became an important southern outpost of the kingdom. In 1951–57 archaeologists explored numerous large and medium-sized Chu tombs from the Warring States Era. More than 3,000 tombs have been discovered. Under the Qin dynasty , Changsha was a staging post for expeditions south into Guangdong that led to its conquest and the establishment of the Nanyue kingdom.

Under the Han   Linxiang was the capital of the kingdom of Changsha. At first this was a client state held by Liu Bang's Baiyue ally Wu Rui that served as a means of controlling the restive Chu people and as a buffer state against Nanyue. By  Linxiang had city walls to protect it against uprisings and invasions. The famous Mawangdui tombs were constructed between 186 and  Lady Xin Zhui was buried in the earliest tomb  and, during its excavation in the 1970s, was found to have been very well preserved. More importantly, the tombs included the earliest surviving copies of the Tao Te Ching and other important literary and historical documents.

When Wu Rui's descendant Wu Zhu  Wú Zhù) died childless in , the kingdom was granted to a cadet branch of the imperial family as their fief. The kingdom was abolished under Wang Mang's short-lived Xin dynasty and briefly revived by the Eastern Han. In  its prince was demoted and the area administered as  and Changsha Commandery.

Following the turmoil of the Three Kingdoms, Emperor Wu of Jin granted Changsha to the sixth son of him named Sima Yi. The local government had over 100 counties at the beginning of the dynasty. Over the course of the dynasty, the local government of Changsha lost control over a few counties, leaving them to local rule.

The Sui dynasty (6th century) renamed Xiangzhou to Changsha Tan Prefecture or Tanzhou. It was named after Zhaotan in the ninth year of Emperor Kaihuang (589 A.D.) of the Sui Dynasty, and the Tanzhou General Manager was established. During the reign of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, Tanzhou was abolished, and Changsha County, a first-level administrative unit, was established, but the jurisdiction area was reduced.  Changsha's 3-tier administration was simplified to a 2-tier state and county system, eliminating the middle canton region. Under the Tang, Changsha prospered as a center of trade between central China and Southeast Asia but suffered during the Anshi Rebellion, when it fell to the rebels.

In early 10th century, Changsha served as the capital of the state of Nanchu (南楚), or Southern Chu, established by Ma Yin (马殷) in 907, one of the ten southern war loads. Nanchu, lasted about 50 years, was the only independent state in the history that has ever been built in Hunan with Changsha as the capital, being eventually overthrown by Nantang (南唐) in 951.

Under the Song dynasty, the Yuelu Academy was founded in 976. It was destroyed by war in 1127 and rebuilt in 1165, during which year the celebrated philosopher Zhu Xi taught there. It was again destroyed by the Mongols during the establishment of the Yuan before being restored in the late 15th century under the Ming. Early 19th-century graduates of the academy formed what one historian called a "network of messianic alumni", including Zeng Guofan, architect of the Tongzhi Restoration, and Cai E, a major leader in the defense of the Republic of China. In 1903 the academy became Hunan High School. Modern-day Hunan University is also a descendant of the Yuelu Academy. Some of its buildings were remodeled from 1981 to 1986 according to their presumed original Song design.

During the Mongol conquest of the Southern Song, Tanzhou was fiercely defended by the local Song troops. After the city finally fell, the defenders committed mass suicide. Under the Ming (14th–17th centuries), Tanzhou was again renamed Changsha and made a superior prefecture.

Modern history

Under the Qing (17th–20th centuries), Changsha was the capital of Hunan and prospered as one of China's chief rice markets. During the Taiping Rebellion, the city was besieged by the rebels in 1852 or 1854 for three months but never fell. The rebels moved on to Wuhan, but Changsha then became the principal base for the government's suppression of the rebellion.

The 1903 Treaty of Shanghai between the Qing and Japanese empires opened the city to foreign trade effective 1904. Most favored nation clauses in other unequal treaties extended the Japanese gains to the Western powers as well. Consequently, international capital entered the town and factories, churches, and schools were built. A college was started by Yale alumni, which later became a medical centre named Xiangya and a secondary school named the Yali School.

Following the Xinhai Revolution, further development followed the opening of the railway to Hankou in Hubei province in 1918, which was later extended to Guangzhou in Guangdong Province in 1936. Although Changsha's population grew, the city remained primarily commercial in character. Before 1937, it had little industry apart from some small cotton-textile, glass, and nonferrous-metal plants and handicraft enterprises.

Mao Zedong, the founder of the People's Republic of China, began his political career in Changsha. He was a student at the Hunan Number 1 Teachers' Training School from 1913 to 1918. He later returned as a teacher and principal from 1920 to 1922. The school was destroyed during the Chinese Civil War but has since been restored. The former office of the Hunan Communist Party Central Committee where Mao Zedong once lived is now a museum that includes Mao's living quarters, photographs and other historical items from the 1920s.

Until May 1927, communist support remained strong in Changsha before the massacre carried out by the right-wing faction of the KMT troops. The faction owed its allegiance to Chiang Kai-shek during its offensive against the KMT's left-wing faction under Wang Jingwei, who was then allied closely with the Communists. The purge of communists and suspected communists was part of Chiang's plans for consolidating his hold over the KMT, weakening Wang's control, and thereby over the entire China. In a period of twenty days, Chiang's forces killed more than ten thousand people in Changsha and its outskirts.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45), Changsha's strategic location made it the focus of four campaigns by the Imperial Japanese Army to capture it from the Nationalist Army: these campaigns were the 1st Changsha, the 2nd Changsha, the 3rd Changsha, and the 4th Changsha. The city was able to repulse the first three attacks thanks to Xue Yue's leadership, but ultimately fell into Japanese hands in 1944 for a year until the Japanese were defeated in a counterattack and forced to surrender. Before these Japanese campaigns, the city was already virtually destroyed by the 1938 Changsha Fire, a deliberate fire ordered by Kuomintang commanders who mistakenly feared the city was about to fall to the Japanese; Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek had suggested that the city be burned so that the Japanese force would gain nothing after entering it.

Following the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, Changsha slowly recovered from its former damage. Since Deng Xiaoping's Reform and Opening Up Policy, Changsha has rapidly developed since the 1990s, becoming one of the important cities in the central and western regions. At the end of 2007, Changsha, Zhuzhou, and Xiangtan received approval from the State Council for the "Chang-Zhu-Tan (Greater Changsha) Resource-Saving and Environment-Friendly Society Comprehensive Reform Pilot Area", an important engine in the Rise of Central China plan. In 2015, Xiangjiang New Area was approved as a national new area.

Geography

Changsha is in northeast Hunan Province, the lower reaches of the Xiang River and the western part of the Changliu Basin. It lies between 111°53' to 114°15' east longitude and 27°51' to 28°41' north latitude. The city borders Yichun and Pingxiang of Jiangxi Province in the east, Zhuzhou and Xiangtan in the south, Loudi and Yiyang in the west, and Yueyang and Yiyang in the north. It is about 230 kilometres from east to west and about 88 kilometres from north to south. Changsha covers an area of , of which the urban area of , the urban built-up area is . Changsha's highest point is Mount Qixing () in Daweishan Town, . The lowest point is Zhanhu () in Qiaokou Town, .

The Xiang is the main river in the city, running  northward through the territory. 15 tributaries flow into the Xiang, of which the Liuyang, Laodao, Jinjiang and Wei are the four largest. The Xiang divides the city into two parts. The eastern part is mainly commercial and the west is mainly cultural and educational. On 10 October 2001, the seat of Changsha City was transferred from Fanzheng Street to Guanshaling. Since then, the economy of both sides of the Xiang River has achieved a balanced development.

Hydrology
Most of the rivers in Changsha belong to the Xiang River system. In addition to the Xiangjiang River, 15 tributaries flow into the Xiang, mainly including Liuyang River, Laodao River, Minjiang River, and Qinshui River. 302 tributaries are more than five kilometers long, including 289 in the Xiang River Basin. According to the tributary grading there are 24 primary tributaries, 128 secondary tributaries, 118 third tributaries, and 32 tributaries; and 13 are Zijiang water systems; a fairly complete water system is formed, and the river network is densely distributed. Hydrological characteristics of Changsha: the water system is complete, the river network dense; the water volume greater, the water energy resources abundant; the winter not frozen, and the sediment content small.

Geological characteristics
The geological features of Changsha City are: the formation is fully exposed, the granite body is widely distributed, and the geological structure is complex. The strata of each geological and historical period are exposed in Changsha City, and the oldest stratum was formed about one billion years ago. About 600 million years ago, Changsha was a sea, but the sea was not deep. Later, seawater gradually withdrew from the east and west, and most of Liuyang, Changsha, and Wangcheng rose out of the sea and became the northwestern edge of the ancient land of Jiangnan. About 140 million years ago, the sea leaching in the Changsha area ended and it became a land. Due to the influence of crustal movement and geological structure, a long-shaped mountain depression basin, the Chang (Sha) Ping (Jiang) Basin, was formed. Beginning of the new generation, the entire Changping Basin has risen to land. About 3.5 million years ago, the third ice age occurred on the earth, and Liuyang retained the remains of glacier landforms.

Climate

Changsha has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa), with annual average temperature being at , with a mean of  in January and  in July. Average annual precipitation is , with a 275-day frost-free period. With a monthly possible-sunshine percentage ranging from 20% in January to 53% in July, the city receives 1,533 hours of bright sunshine annually. The four seasons are distinct. The summers are long and very hot, with heavy rainfall, and autumn is comfortable and is the driest season. Winter is chilly and overcast with lighter rainfall more likely than downpours; cold snaps occur with temperatures occasionally dropping below freezing. Spring is especially rainy and humid with the sun shining less than 30% of the time. The minimum temperature ever recorded since 1951 at the current Wangchengpo Weather Observing Station was , recorded on 9 February 1972. The maximum was  on 13 August 1953 and 2 August 2003 [the unofficial record of  was set on 10 August 1934].

Administration
The municipality of Changsha exercises jurisdiction over six districts, one county and two county-level cities:

Government

The current CPC Party Secretary of Changsha is Wu Guiying and the current mayor is .

Economy

Changsha is one of China's 15 most "developed and economically advanced" cities. The city's GDP per capita exceeded $20,000 in nominal ($30,000 in PPP) in 2021, which is considered a high-income status by the World Bank and a primary developed city according to the international standard. The HDI of Changsha reached 0.817 (very high) in 2016, which is roughly comparable to a moderately developed country. Changsha is now one of the core cities in the South Central China region, the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Belt and Road Initiative, a Beta- (global second-tier) city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, a new Chinese first-tier city and also a pioneering area for China-Africa economic and trade cooperation. Known as the "Construction machinery capital of the world", Changsha has an industrial chain with construction machinery and new materials as the main industries, complemented by automobiles, electronic information, household appliances, and biomedicine.

Since the 1990s, Changsha has begun to accelerate economic development, and then achieved the highest growth rate among China's major cities during the 2000s. The Xiangjiang New Area, the first state-level new area in Central China, was established in 2015. Changsha also has a prominent media and publishing industry, and has been named the first "UNESCO City of Media Arts" in China. Changsha is home to Hunan Broadcasting System (HBS), the most influential provincial TV station in China.

In 2017, Changsha made its way into the 1-trillion-yuan GDP club, becoming the 13th city in China with a GDP of one trillion yuan (154 billion US dollars). Moreover, the financial news portal Yicai.com released its 2017 ranking of China's new first-tier cities, and Changsha was a newcomer. As of 2020, more than 164 Global 500 companies have established branches in Changsha. As a new first-tier city, Changsha is rated #10 in terms of its commercial worth.

As of 2021, Changsha's GDP exceeded RMB 1.327 trillion (US$208 billion in the nominal and US$318 billion in PPP), making it the 5th most wealthy city in the South-Central China region after Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Wuhan and the 2nd richest city in Central China region after Wuhan. Changsha's GDP (nominal) was US$208 billion in 2021, exceeding that of Ukraine and Hungary, with a GDP of US$200 billion and US$182 billion, the 22nd and 23rd largest economies in Europe respectively. Changsha has also led the development of the night economy and as of 2021, it ranked 2nd nationwide after Chongqing in terms of nighttime economic power according to the "China City Night Economy Impact Report 2021-2022".

According to the 2022 Hurun Global Rich List, Changsha ranks among the top 35 cities globally and 11th in Greater China (after Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Taipei, Foshan, Suzhou, and Ningbo) in terms of resident billionaires.

Changsha's nominal GDP is projected to be among the world's top 50 largest cities according to a study by Oxford Economics in 2035 and its nominal GDP per capita will reach US$41,000 in 2030.

Development Zones

The Changsha ETZ was founded in 1992. It is located in Xingsha in eastern Changsha. The total planned area is  and the current area is . Near the zone are National Highways 319 and 107 as well as the G4 Beijing–Hong Kong and Macau Expressway. The zone is also very close to Changsha's downtown area and the railway station, while the distance between the zone and the city's airport is a mere . The major industries in the zone include the high-tech industry, the biology project technology industry, and the new material industry.

The Liuyang ETZ is a national biological industry base created on 10 January 1998, located in Dongyang Town. Its pillar industry comprises biological pharmacy, Information technology and Health food. , It has more than 700 registered enterprises. The total industrial output value of the zone hits 85.6 billion yuan (US$13.7 billion) and its business income is 100.2 billion yuan (US$16.1 billion). Its builtup area covers .

Tourism

Places of interest

Tourism is a major industry in Changsha. Changsha has been consistently ranked as China's top tourist city. There are several sites in Changsha, notably the Yuelu Academy and the Changsha Meixihu International Culture and Arts Centre, a cultural complex designed by the British firm Zaha Hadid Architects overlooking the Meixi Lake at the Meixihu subdistrict of the city. Others include the Young Mao Zedong statue on Orange Isle, Meixi Lake Park, Changsha IFS Tower, Window of the World, Kaifu Temple and Changsha Ice World.

Mt.Yuelu
Yuelu Mountain is named after the "Nanyue Ji" written in the Liu and Song Dynasties in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, which states that "the surrounding area of Nanyue is eight hundred miles, with Huiyan as the head and Yuelu as the foot." Yuelu Mountain is located on the west bank of the Xiangjiang River in Yuelu District, Changsha City, Hunan Province; Orange Island is located in the middle of the Xiangjiang River, running through the center of the river from south to north, looking at Yuelu to the west and the ancient city to the east. There are 977 species of plants in 559 genera and 174 families in Yuelu Mountain Scenic Area. They are mainly typical subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests and subtropical warm coniferous forests. In some areas, large areas of native evergreen broad-leaved secondary forests are preserved. A large number of precious endangered tree species and ancient and famous trees.

Orange Island
Orange Island is located in the center of the Xiangjiang River in Yuelu District, Changsha City, Hunan Province. The original area is about 17 hectares, and the overall developed land area of the scenic spot reaches 91.64 hectares. It is the largest sandbar among the many alluvial sandbars in the lower reaches of the Xiangjiang River, and is known as "China's First Continent" . Orange Island has Mao Zedong Youth Art Sculpture, Wen Tiantai and other attractions. According to historical records, Orange Island was formed in the second year of Yongxing (305), the second year of Emperor Hui of Jin Dynasty. It was formed by the alluvial accumulation of rapids and sand and gravel.

Hua Ming Lou
Huaming Tower: Liu Shaoqi's former residence is a national high-end tourist attraction in China and a national key cultural relics protection unit.Huaming Tower, formerly known as Huamen Tower, is a beautiful town in the southeast of Ningxiang City, Changsha City, Hunan Province. It is the former residence of Comrade Liu Shaoqi, the revolutionary great man and former president of the country.

Hunan Museum
Hunan Museum, located at No. 50 Dongfeng Road, Kaifu District, Changsha City, Hunan Province, is one of the first batch of national first-level museums in China, one of the eight national key museums jointly built by the central and local governments, and the largest comprehensive history and art museum in Hunan Province. The Hunan Provincial Museum was founded in the 23rd year of Guangxu's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1897), and the current site is its new museum.

Demographics
As of the 2020 Chinese census, Changsha was home to 10,047,914 people, whom 7,355,198 lived in its built-up (or metro) area made of the 6 urban Districts plus Changsha County largely conurbated. The majority of people living in Changsha are Han Chinese. A sizeable population of ethnic minority groups also live in Changsha. The three largest are the Hui, Tujia, and Miao peoples. The 2000 census showed that 48,564 members of ethnic minorities live in Changsha, 0.7% of the population. The other minorities make up a significantly smaller part of the population. Twenty ethnic minorities have fewer than 1,000 members living in the city.

Culture

Media
Hunan Broadcasting System is China's largest television after China Central Television (CCTV). Its headquarters is in Changsha and produces some of the most popular programs in China, including Super Girl. These programs have also brought a new entertainment industry into the city, which includes singing bars, dance clubs, theater shows, as well as related businesses including hair salons, fashion stores, and shops for hot spicy snacks at night (especially during summer). While Changsha has developed into an entertainment hub, the city has also become increasingly westernized and has attracted a growing number of foreigners.

Cuisine
Various types of cuisine are found in Changsha, yet the hot and spicy Hunan cuisine typical of the region remains the most popular.  The snack chain Juewei Duck Neck, which now has over 10,000 outlets, originates from Changsha.

The city has its own siu yeh culture.

In May 2008, the BBC broadcast, as part of its Storyville documentary series, the four-part The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World, which explored the inner workings of the 5,000-seating-capacity West Lake Restaurant (Xihu Lou Jiujia) in Changsha.

During the Warring States period, Qu Yuan, a great patriotic poet, recorded many dishes in Hunan in his famous poem "The Soul"(). During the Western Han dynasty, there were 109 varieties of dishes in Hunan, and there were nine categories of cooking methods. After the Six Dynasties, Hunan's food culture was rich and active. The Ming and Qing dynasties are the golden age for the development of Hunan cuisine. The unique style of Hunan cuisine is basically a foregone conclusion. At the end of the Qing dynasty, there were two kinds of Hunan cuisine restaurants in Changsha. In the early years of the Republic of China, the famous Dai (Yang Ming) School, Sheng (Shan Zhai) School, Xiao (Lu Song) School, and Zuyu School appeared in various genres, which laid the historical status of Hunan cuisine. Since the founding of New China, especially since the reform and opening up, it has been better developed.

Sports
Changsha has one of China's largest multi-purpose sports stadiums—Helong Stadium, with 55,000 seats. The stadium was named after the Communist military leader He Long. It is the home ground of local football team Hunan Billows F.C., which plays in China League Two. The more modest 6,000-seat Hunan Provincial People's Stadium, also located in Changsha, is used by the team for their smaller games.

Historical culture

Changsha hosts the Hunan Provincial Museum. 180,000 historical significant artifacts ranging from the Zhou dynasty to the recent Qing dynasty are hosted in the  of space in the museum.

Mawangdui is a well-known tomb located  east of Changsha. It was discovered with numerous artifacts from the Han dynasty.  Numerous Silk Funeral banners surround the tomb, along with a wealth of classical texts. The tomb of Lady Dai lies in Mawangdui is well known due to its well-preserved state: scientists were able to detect blood, conduct an autopsy and determined that she died of heart disease due to a poor diet.

Changsha is a sister city with St. Paul, Minnesota.  St. Paul is developing a China garden at Phalen Park, based on the design of architects from Changsha. Current plans include a pavilion replicating one in Changsha, while in return St. Paul will send the city five statues of the Peanuts characters.  They will be placed in Phalen's sister park, Yanghu Wetlands.

Education and research

Research and Innovation
Changsha is the birthplace of super hybrid rice, Yinhe-1, the first China's supercomputer built in the 1980s, the Tianhe-1 supercomputer, China's first laser 3D printer, and China's first domestic medium-low speed maglev line. In November 2010, the National Supercomputing Changsha Center was established at Hunan University, becoming the first National Supercomputing Center in Central China and third National Supercomputing Center in China, after those in Tianjin and Shenzhen.

Changsha is a major city for research and innovation in Central China, as well as in the Asia-Pacific region. It ranked 34th globally, 17th in the Asia & Oceania region, 13th in China, 5th in South Central region after (Guangzhou, Wuhan, Hong Kong and Shenzhen), and 2nd in Central China region after (Wuhan) by scientific research outputs, as tracked by the Nature Index 2022 Science Cities.  Changsha also ranked 37th globally in the "Top 100 Science & Technology Cluster Cities" rankings based on "publishing and patent performance" released by the Global Innovation Index 2023.

As of 2020, Changsha ranked 8th in the top 10 China's innovation-oriented cities, and 6th (behind Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Chengdu and Beijing) in the Top 10 China's most attractive cities for talent, released by the 21st Century Business Herald report. Changsha has held the title "China's Leading Smart City" since 2021. As of 2021, Changsha had 97 independent scientific research institutions, 14 national engineering and technology research centers, 15 national key engineering and technology laboratories, and 12 national enterprise technology centers.

Colleges and universities

Changsha has long been the seat of several ancient schools and academies. The Yuelu Academy (later become Hunan University) was one of the four most prestigious academies in China over the last 1000 years. The city is also the site of the Hunan Medical University (later become Central South University), which was established in 1914.

As of 2022, Changsha hosts 57 institutions of higher education (excluding adult colleges), ranking 9th nationwide and 4th among all cities in the South Central China region after Guangzhou, Wuhan and Zhengzhou. Changsha ranked among the top 10 cities in the whole country and among the top three cities in South Central China region with strong education based on an evaluation to grade Chinese universities' discipline levels, including A+, A, and A− issued by the Ministry of Education as of 2020.

National key public universities

There are three Project 985 universities in Changsha: Central South University, Hunan University, and the National University of Defense Technology, the third highest among all cities in China after Beijing and Shanghai. Hunan Normal University is the key construction university of the national 211 Project. These four national key universities are the Double First-Class Universities. Changsha, the provincial capital of Hunan Province, is home to a significant number of top-tier educational institutions. Specifically, eight out of the twelve universities in Hunan Province, accounting for almost two-thirds of the total, were included in the 2022 U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking. This concentration of the highly ranked universities further solidifies Changsha's status as a prominent hub for higher education within the province. Hunan University and Central South University are included in the world's top 300 in several global universities rankings, including the Academic Ranking of World Universities, the U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking, the CWTS Leiden Ranking and the Center for World University Rankings,. These two universities are placed among the world's top 100 universities ranked by Nature Index. Hunan Normal University and the National University of Defense and Technology were ranked in the world's top 501-600 of the Academic Ranking of World Universities.
Central South University (Project 211, Project 985, Double First Class University)
Hunan University (Project 211, Project 985, Double First Class University)
Hunan Normal University (Project 211, Double First Class University)
National University of Defense Technology (Project 211, Project 985, Double First Class University)

Provincial key public universities

Changsha University of Science and Technology and Hunan Agricultural University were ranked in the world's top 701 and the top 801 respectively of the Academic Ranking of World Universities. Central South University of Forestry and Technology were ranked # 1429 in the 2022 Best Global Universities by the U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking. Hunan University of Chinese Medicine was ranked the best in Central China region and 26th nationwide among Chinese Medical Universities, and ranked #1854 globally in the 2023 Best Global Universities by the U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking. Hunan University of Technology and Business was ranked # 2341 in the world by the University Ranking by Academic Performance 2022-2023.

 Central South University of Forestry and Technology
 Changsha University of Science and Technology
 Hunan Agricultural University
 Hunan First Normal University
 Hunan University of Technology and Business
 Hunan University of Chinese Medicine
General undergraduate universities (public)

 Changsha University
 Hunan University of Finance and Economics
 Hunan Police Academy
 Hunan Women's University
 Changsha Normal University

General undergraduate universities (private)

 Changsha Medical University
 Hunan International Economics University
 Hunan Institute of Information Technology
Vocational and technical colleges/universities
Changsha Aeronautical Vocational and Technical College
 Changsha Social Work College
 Hunan Mass Media Vocational and Technical College

Note: Institutions without full-time bachelor programs are not listed.

International schools
 Changsha WES Academy

Notable high schools
Yali High School
The High School Affiliated to Hunan Normal University
Changjun High School
The First High School of Changsha

Notable primary schools
 Changsha Experimental Primary School
 Datong Primary School
 Qingshuitang Primary School
 Shazitang Primary School
 Yanshan Primary School
 Yucai Primary School
 Yuying Primary School

Transportation

Changsha is well connected by roads, river, rail, and air transportation modes, and is a regional hub for industrial, tourist, and service sectors.

The city's public transportation system consists of an extensive bus network with over 100 lines. Changsha Metro is planning a 6-line network. Metro Line 2 opened on 29 April 2014 and 20 stations for Line 2 opened on 28 June 2016. A further four lines are planned for construction by 2025. Line 3 will run southwest–northeast and will be  long, Line 4 northwest-southeast and  long. A maglev link running  between Changsha South station and Changsha airport opened in April 2016, with a construction cost of €400m. Connecting Changsha with Zhuzhou and Xiangtan, Changzhutan Intercity Rail opened on 26 December 2016.

The G4, G4E, G4W2, G5513 and G0401 of National Expressways, G107, G106 and G319 of National Highways, S20, S21, S40, S41, S50, S60 and S71 of Hunan provincial Expressways, connect the Changsha metro area nationally. There are three main bus terminals in Changsha: the South Station, East Station and West Station, dispatching long- and short-haul trips to cities within and outside the province of Hunan. Changsha is surrounded by major rivers, including the Xiang () and its tributaries such as the Liuyang, Jin, Wei, Longwanggang and Laodao. Ships mainly transport goods from Xianing port in North Changsha domestically and internationally.

Changsha Railway Station is in the city center and provides express and regular services to most Chinese cities via the Beijing–Guangzhou and Shimen–Changsha Railways. The Changsha South Railway Station is a new high-speed railway station in Yuhua district on the Beijing–Guangzhou High-Speed Railway (as part of the planned Beijing–Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong High-Speed Railway). The station, with eight platforms, opened on 26 December 2009. Since then passenger volume has increased greatly. The Hangzhou-Changsha-Huaihua sector of the Shanghai-Changsha-Kunming high-speed railway entered service in 2014.

Changsha Huanghua International Airport is a regional hub for China Southern Airlines. The airport has daily flights to major cities in China, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, as well as Hong Kong and Macau. Other major airlines also provide daily service between Changsha and other domestic and international destinations. The airport provides direct flights to 45 major international cities, including Taipei, Los Angeles, Singapore, Seoul, Pusan, Osaka, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, London (Heathrow Airport), Frankfurt and Sydney.  the airport handled 70,011 people daily. Due to the global effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, Changsha Huanghua International Airport was the 34th busiest airport in the world in 2020, making its debut in the world's top 50 busiest airports for the first time.

City honors and rankings

 37th globally in the "Top 100 Science & Technology Cluster Cities" rankings by "publishing and patent performance" released by the Global Innovation Index 2023
67th worldwide in the Global Cities Outlook rankings of the 2018 Global Cities Report released by AT Kearney
 68th worldwide in terms of "Urban Economic Competitiveness" in 2019 jointly released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and the United Nations Programme for Human Settlements (UN-Habitat)
 34th globally and 17th in the Asia & Oceania region in the "Top 200 cities" by scientific research outputs released by the Nature Index 2022 Science Cities Rankings.
 27th in the world by numbers of 150m+completed buildings as of 2021
Changsha IFS Tower T1 ranks as the 16th tallest completed building in the world as of 2020
The first Chinese city to be recognized as a "World Creative City in Media Arts" by UNESCO
Changsha was classified as a Beta- (global second tier) city together with Manchester (the U.K), Geneva (Switzerland) and Seattle (the U.S) by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.
China's Top 2nd Most Influential City of Nighttime Economy in 2022
Top 10 "China's Happiest Cities"
One of the China's new first-tier cities in 2017
The 10 fastest growing cities in the world Changsha's nominal GDP is projected to be among the world top 50 largest cities according to a study by Oxford Economics in 2035, and its nominal GDP per capita will reach US$41,000 in 2030.

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

By the end of June 2018, Changsha has established friendly city relationship with 49 foreign cities.

Changsha is twinned with:

 Brazzaville, Congo
 Gumi, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea
 Kagoshima, Kagoshima, Japan
 Mogilev, Mogilev Region, Belarus
 Mons, Hainaut, Belgium
 New Haven, Connecticut, United States
 Jersey City, New Jersey, United States
 Annapolis, Maryland, United States
 Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States
 Fribourg, Canton of Fribourg, Switzerland
 City of Auburn, New South Wales,  Australia
 Entebbe, Uganda

Consulates General/Consulates

Notable people

The following people are from the Greater Changsha Metropolitan Region:
 Mao Zedong – Founding father of the People's Republic of China
 Zeng Guofan – Most influential politician of China in 19th century
 Liu Shaoqi – President of the People's Republic of China (PRC), 1959–1968
 Zhu Rongji – Premier of the People's Republic of China, 1998–2003
 Hu Yaobang – General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (1982–1987)
 Yang Kaihui – Mao Zedong's second wife
 Huang Xing – Chinese revolutionary leader and the first army commander-in-chief of the Republic of China
 Tian Han – Author of the lyrics to "March of the Volunteers", China's national anthem
 Wang Tao – Economist
 Zhou Guangzhao – Theoretical physicist and recipient of the "Two Bombs, One Satellite" Meritorious Award
 Zhou Jianping – Aerospace engineer and chief designer of China Manned Space Program
 Qi Xueqi – General in the Kuomintang (KMT)
 Lei Feng – A People's Liberation Army's cultural icon
 Liang Heng – Writer and literary scholar
 Tan Dun – Contemporary composer (soundtracks for the films Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero)
 Huang Zuqia – Theoretical and nuclear physicist
 Tang Sulan – Writer and politician
 Zhang Ye – Singer
 Xiong Ni – Olympic male diver and gold medalist
 Leo Li – Actress and singer-songwriter
 Li Xiaopeng – Olympic male gymnast and gold medalist
 Liu Yun – Actress
 Liu Xuan – Olympic female gymnast and gold medalist
 Meng Jia – Singer and actress, former member of the Korean-Chinese girl group Miss A
 Lay (entertainer) – A member of South Korean-Chinese boy band under SM entertainment, Exo
 Qi Baishi – Painter
 Shen Wei – Dancer and the choreographer of modern dance for the 2008 Beijing Olympics
 He Jiong – One of the most famous TV show hosts in China
 Lexie Liu – Singer-songwriter and rapper
 Can Xue – Avant-garde fiction writer
 Xue Yiwei - Writer living in Montreal
Spanish vlogger Jabiertzo has been a resident of the city for over ten years in China and three years in the city and has a Spanish-language YouTube channel where he describes life in Changsha and nearby regions.

Astronomy
Changsha is represented by the star Zeta Corvi in a Chinese constellation.

See also
 Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Changsha)
 List of twin towns and sister cities in China

References

External links

 Changsha Interactive Map, Information on Locations
 Changsha Government official website
 Changsha National High-Tech Industrial Development Zone

Cities in Hunan
Provincial capitals in China
Populated places established in the 1st millennium BC
National Forest Cities in China

Changsha


Pesach "Peishachke" Burstein (April 15, 1896 – April 6, 1986) was a Polish-born American comedian, singer, coupletist, and director of Yiddish vaudeville/theater. He was honored with the Itzik Manger Prize in 1986. His wife Lillian Lux, and son Mike Burstyn are also actors.

Early years
Born in Pułtusk, then in Congress Poland, in the Russian Empire (today, in Poland), Burstein was called Pesach-ke due to his birth on Passover. In 1901 he moved with his family to Berdiansk (Ukraine), where his father ran a clothing store. He ran away from home as a teenager to join a traveling Yiddish theatrical troupe. He was arrested as a spy by Russians during World War I. He never again saw his parents, who were beaten and killed in a robbery in Minsk, as they were traveling back to Poland in 1921.

United States
Brought to the United States in 1923 by Boris Thomashefsky and signed to a 20-year recording contract by Columbia Records, he is well-remembered for singing "Odessa Mama" and the Yiddish version of "Sonny Boy".  There is a common myth that this recording was made same day, in the same studio and with the same orchestra that Jolson had just used, but the Burstein waxing was made some time after the million-selling Jolson recording.  In addition, Jolson was an exclusive Brunswick artist, whilst Burstein recorded for Columbia, on its Green Label ethnic series.  Jolson was accompanied by the Brunswick studio orchestra, under the direction of Gus Haenschen.  The (considerably smaller) studio orchestra accompanying Burstein was probably a sub-group of the National Theater pit orchestra, under the baton of Joseph Rumshinsky.   An impressive stage whistler and actor-director of the popular A Khasene in Shtetl (A Wedding in the Village) act with his entire family.

He married twice, secondly to Lillian Lux, 22 years his junior. In 1939, the couple was touring Poland.  Since there was unrest at the time, a member of the diplomatic corps suggested the Bursteins take the summer off from performances; they left for the United States just days before the German invasion. The troupe was sponsored by Boris Thomashefsky to play on the Lower East Side Yiddish theatres in the Yiddish Theater District on Manhattan's Second Avenue.

Pesach and Lillian Burstein had twins, Michael and Susan (b. 1945). Michael Burstein became an actor, known professionally as Mike Burstyn. When the twins turned 7, they began performing in The Komediant, A Khasene in Shtetl (A Wedding in the Village) and other Yiddish-language productions all over the world, although Susan did not remain in the acting business. The family also performed at resorts in the Catskills, in Sullivan County, New York, a resort circuit colloquially known as the "Borscht Belt". He toured extensively through Eastern Europe before World War II. Pesach Burstein opened his own theater ("The Hopkinson") in Brooklyn. His troupe (advertised as the Four Bursteins, the twins appearing under the stage names Motele and Zisele) won critical acclaim in Israel and on Broadway for performing Itzik Manger's Megille Lider, the longest running Yiddish production to date in Israel, released on Broadway as Megilla of Itzik Manger.

After the Holocaust, due to a drastic reduction in the size of the Yiddish audience, he was instrumental in finding out diasporic communities as far afield as South America, and Eastern Europe, as well as Israel. He initially settled in Israel but later left due to the state tax levied on Yiddish theater for promotion of the Hebrew language, and problems with authorities.

Later years
Pesach Burstein performed a small role in the Israel Becker-directed movie Shnei Kuni Leml, starring his son. On the 100th anniversary of his birth, director Arnon Goldfinger directed a documentary film about the lives and careers of the Burstein family – The Komediant (the title a reference both to Burstein's career in general and to the name of one of his shows).

Autobiography
His autobiography, What a Life!, was co-authored with his wife in Yiddish (Geshpilt a Lebn, 1980) and later translated into English.

Death
Pesach means Passover in Yiddish, and Pesach-ke Burstein was so named because he was born on the day of Passover in 1896; he died a few hours before Passover in 1986, a week and two days short of his 90th birthday. He was interred in the Yiddish Theater section (Block 67) of the Mount Hebron Cemetery.

References

External links

 The Komediant website

1896 births
1986 deaths
People from Pułtusk
American male musical theatre actors
American people of Polish-Jewish descent
Polish emigrants to the United States
Polish cabaret performers
American emigrants to Israel
Israeli Ashkenazi Jews
Israeli male film actors
Israeli male musical theatre actors
Jewish cabaret performers
Jewish American male actors
Jewish American comedians
Vaudeville performers
Yiddish-language singers of the United States
Yiddish theatre performers
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American singers
20th-century American comedians
20th-century American male singers
Burials at Mount Hebron Cemetery (New York City)
20th-century American Jews
American Ashkenazi Jews
Itzik Manger Prize recipients

Pesach Burstein


The House of Luxembourg (; ; ) or Luxembourg dynasty was a royal family of the Holy Roman Empire in the Late Middle Ages, whose members between 1308 and 1437 ruled as kings of Germany and Holy Roman emperors as well as kings of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia. Their rule was twice interrupted by the rival House of Wittelsbach. The family takes it name from its ancestral county of Luxembourg which they continued to hold.

History
As shown below, this royal Luxembourg dynasty were not male-line descendants of the original counts of Luxembourg. They descended instead from the House of Limburg-Arlon, who had been dukes of Lower Lorraine in the 11th century. In 1247 Henry, younger son of Duke Waleran III of Limburg inherited the County of Luxembourg, becoming Count Henry V of Luxembourg, upon the death of his mother Countess Ermesinde. Her father, Count Henry "the blind", was count of Namur through his father, and count of Luxembourg through his mother, who was also named Ermesinde. This elder Ermesinde was a member of the original House of Luxembourg, which was a branch of the House of Ardenne, and had ruled Luxembourg since the late 10th century.

There were two other houses descended from the women of the counts of Luxembourg as shown in the family tree in the House of Ardenne–Luxembourg: the Counts of Loon, the Counts of Grandpré, along with the Dukes of Limburg. All three families had a place in relation to the succession of the House of Ardennes. Indeed, the Count of Grandpré was the next heir of Conrad II of Luxembourg, who was the last representative of the Ardennes dynasty. But, Emperor Frederick II preferred that Luxembourg was held by a lord Germanic rather than French and attributed the county to Henry of Limburg-Arlon (see below), son of Conrad's aunt Ermesinde and Count Godfrey I of Namur. The Counts of Loon are also in position to claim the inheritance Luxembourg, albeit weaker position.

Henry V's grandson Henry VII, Count of Luxembourg upon the death of his father Henry VI at the 1288 Battle of Worringen, was elected Rex Romanorum in 1308. The election was necessary after the Habsburg king Albert I of Germany had been murdered, and Henry, backed and orchestrated by his brother Archbishop-Elector Baldwin of Trier, prevailed against Charles, Count of Valois.

Henry arranged the marriage of his son John with the Přemyslid heiress Elisabeth of Bohemia in 1310, through whom the House of Luxembourg acquired the Kingdom of Bohemia, enabling that family to compete more effectively for power with the Habsburg and Wittelsbach dynasties. One year after being crowned Holy Roman Emperor at Rome, Henry VII, still on campaign in Italy, died in 1313.

The prince-electors, perturbed by the rise of the Luxembourgs, disregarded the claims raised by Henry's heir King John, and the rule over the Empire was assumed by the Wittelsbach duke Louis of Bavaria. John instead concentrated on securing his rule in Bohemia and gradually vassalized the Piast dukes of adjacent Silesia from 1327 until 1335. His son Charles IV, in 1346 mounted the Imperial throne. His Golden Bull of 1356 served as a constitution of the Empire for centuries. Charles not only acquired the duchies of Brabant and Limburg in the west, but also the former March of Lusatia and even the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1373 under the Kingdom of Bohemia.

The family's decline began under Charles' son King Wenceslaus, deposed by the prince-electors in 1400 who chose the Wittelsbach Elector Palatine Rupert. In 1410 rule was assumed by Wenceslaus' brother Sigismund, who once again stabilized the rule of the Luxembourgs and even contributed to end the Western Schism in 1417; however, with his death in 1437, the senior branch of the dynasty became extinct. He was succeeded by his son-in-law, the Habsburg archduke Albert V of Austria. The Habsburgs finally prevailed as Luxembourg heirs, ruling the Empire until the extinction of their senior branch upon the death of Maria Theresa in 1780.

Notable members

 Baldwin (c. 1285–1354) – prince-archbishop of Trier and thereby archchancellor of Burgundy 1307–1354.
 Henry VII (1275–1313) – elected king of Germany in 1308 in succession to the assassinated Albert I, crowned emperor in 1312. He was succeeded by Louis IV from the House of Wittelsbach. Brother of Baldwin.
 John the Blind (1296–1346) – only son of Henry. He was enfeoffed with Bohemia by his father in 1310, married the Přemyslid heiress Elisabeth of Bohemia and deposed the Bohemian king Henry the Carinthian.
 Charles IV (1316–1378) — eldest son of John. He was elected king of Germany in opposition to Louis IV in 1346 and succeeded his father as king of Bohemia in the same year, crowned emperor in 1355.
 Wenceslaus (1361–1419) – eldest surviving son of Charles. As margrave of Brandenburg from  1373 to 1378, he was elected king of Germany in 1376 and succeeded his father as king of Bohemia in 1378. Declared deposed by the prince-electors in 1400, he was succeeded by Rupert of Wittelsbach.
 Sigismund (1368–1437) – younger son of Charles. Margrave of Brandenburg from 1378 to 1388, he was king of Hungary and Croatia from 1387 in right of his wife Mary, and was elected king of Germany in 1411, succeeding his brother as king of Bohemia in 1419, being crowned emperor in 1433 yet he left no male heirs.
 Elizabeth of Luxembourg, only child of Emperor Sigismund, married Archduke Albert V of Austria from the Albertinian line of the House of Habsburg in 1422, becoming queen of Hungary from 1437 as well as queen of Germany and  Bohemia from 1438 until Albert's death in 1439. She was the heiress who conveyed the major portion of the Luxembourg inheritance to the Habsburgs and, later, the Jagiellons through her daughter Elisabeth of Austria.
 John Henry, Margrave of Moravia – younger brother of Charles. He married Countess Margaret of Tyrol, daughter of Henry the Carinthian in 1330.
 Jobst of Moravia (1351–1411) – eldest son of John Henry. Margrave of Brandenburg 1388–1411, elected King of the Romans in 1410.
 John Sobieslaw of Moravia (1352–1380) – second son of John Henry, and junior margrave of Moravia.
 Prokop of Moravia (c. 1358–1405) – son of John Henry. Margrave of Moravia from 1375 until his death in 1405.
 George of Luxembourg (died 1457) – illegitimate son of Prokop. The last known member of the Luxembourg family.

Genealogy

House of Limburg–Arlon

Having succeeded to the county of Luxemburg, the younger branch of the House of Limburg-Arlon is the family that succeeded in getting one of its scions elected Holy Roman Emperor.  From there descended the Kings of Bohemia, several other Emperors and a King of Hungary as shown below.

Earlier Luxembourg counts

The royal House of Luxemburg are named after their ancestors in the Luxembourg branch of the earlier House of Ardenne (or Ardennes, French Maison d'Ardenne). This was an important noble family from Lotharingia, known from at least the tenth century. They had several important branches, descended from several brothers:
The House of Ardenne–Luxembourg, including the counts of Luxembourg, descended from Count Sigfried of Luxembourg
The House of Ardenne–Verdun, with several dukes of Lower Lotharingia, descended from Count Gozlin of Bidgau
The House of Ardenne–Bar, with several dukes of Upper Lotharingia, descended from Duke Frederick I of Upper Lorraine.

See also
Jacquetta of Luxembourg

References

Roman Catholic families
History of Central Europe
History of Luxembourg

House of Luxembourg


Dalia Mogahed (born 1975), is an American researcher and consultant of Egyptian origin. She is the director of research at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) in Washington, D.C.  She is also President and CEO of Mogahed Consulting, a Washington, D.C.-based executive coaching and consulting firm specializing in Muslim societies and the Middle East. Mogahed is former executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, a non-partisan research center that provided data and analysis to reflect the views of Muslims all over the world. She was selected as an advisor by U.S. President Barack Obama on the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

Early life and education
Mogahed was born in Cairo, Egypt, and immigrated to the United States at the age of four. She received her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering with a minor in Arabic from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Upon graduation, Mogahed joined the marketing department of Procter & Gamble. She subsequently received her MBA from the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh.

Career and influence
She is the director of research at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), a Washington, D.C. and Dearborn, Michigan-based Muslim research organization. Prior to ISPU, Dalia Mogahed chaired the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies from 2006 to 2012, which conducted research and gathered statistics on Muslims throughout the world. She was selected as an advisor by U.S. President Barack Obama on the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

Mogahed was invited to testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations about U.S. engagement with Muslim communities and was a significant contributor to the Homeland Security Advisory Council's Countering Violent Extremism Working Group. She worked with Madeleine Albright and Dennis Ross on the U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project to produce policy recommendations—many of which were adopted by the Obama administration.

She is a board member and a leader in the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on the Arab World. She is also a nonresident public policy analyst at Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut.

Prior to joining Gallup, Mogahed was the founder and director of a cross-cultural consulting practice in the United States, which offered workshops, training programs, and one-to-one coaching on diversity and cultural understanding. Mogahed's clients included school districts, colleges and universities, law enforcement agencies, community service organizations, and local and national media outlets.

Recognition and publications
Arabian Business magazine recognized Mogahed in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 as one of the most influential Arab women and The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre included Mogahed in its 2009 and 2010 lists of the 500 most influential Muslims. Ashoka: Innovators for the Public named her the Arab World's Social Innovator of the Year in 2010, and the University of Wisconsin Alumni Association recognized her with its "Forward Under 40" award for outstanding contributions by a graduate of the university.

She and John Esposito co-authored the book Who Speaks For Islam?: What a Billion Muslims Really Think, based on six years of research and more than 50,000 interviews representing Muslims in more than 35 predominantly Muslim countries. Accounting for more than 90% of the world's Muslim community, this poll is the largest, most comprehensive study of its kind. Mogahed later appeared as a commentator in the PBS documentary Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think (2010), which was based on the book.

Mogahed's analysis has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy magazine, the Harvard International Review, the Middle East Policy Journal, and other publications.

In 2019, Mogahed was recognized in a list of "200 people who best embody the spirit and work of Frederick Douglass, one of the most influential figures in history" by the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives and the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University in collaboration with The Guardian.

Controversy
In 2009, during a phone interview with a London-based TV show hosted by Ibtihal Bsis Ismail, a member of Hizb ut Tahrir, Mogahed responded to a question about the support for sharia among women in the Muslim world which she observed in her research by arguing that "the reason so many women support Sharia is because they have a very different understanding of sharia than the common perception in Western media. The majority of women around the world associate gender justice, or justice for women, with sharia compliance. The portrayal of Sharia has been oversimplified in many cases." Mogahed later stated that she would not have agreed to the interview had she known about the program's affiliation and that she believed Ismail had misled her team "to score propaganda points for an ideological movement".

Views
Mogahed rejects as unjustified calls for Muslims to condemn Islamic terrorism, arguing that there have been "many" such condemnations and that the demand "unfairly implies" that Muslims would support atrocities committed by other Muslims on account of their faith. Mogahed compares this with public attitudes to terrorist attacks committed by white Christians, noting that in these cases, "we don't suspect other people who share their faith and ethnicity of condoning them".

Freedom of speech
In 2020, in the context of violent demonstrations held in some Muslim countries against France for refusing to ban cartoons depicting the prophet of Islam, Mogahed asserted that such caricatures were "the equivalent of the N-word" or "blackface", and were likewise "racial slurs" targeting "a vulnerable [...] and demonized community". She added that it was "completely disingenuous" of France to project the idea that "it is all open and anyone can say anything they want" whereas, for example, Holocaust denial is criminalized and wearing a hijab (Muslim headscarf, which some Muslims may view as a form of "self-expression") is banned in French schools. According to Mogahed, the defense of free speech by the French government, in particular the right to draw cartoons and poke fun at religious dogma, amounts to the imposition of a "state religion" that she calls "French Republic nationalism".

References

Further reading

 LA Times: Muslim woman's appointment as Obama advisor draws cautious optimism
 The Huffington Post: Cairo's Reaction to Obama's Speech
 The Economist: The United States and Islam
 The Atlantic: Anatomy of a Smear by Jeffrey Goldberg

External links

 An Interview With Dalia Mogahed: "Corny as it may sound, I am proof of the American dream"
 Dalia Mogahed at ISPU

1974 births
Living people
American women chief executives
American Muslims
Egyptian emigrants to the United States
Obama administration personnel
Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business alumni
University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Engineering alumni
University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni
21st-century American women

Dalia Mogahed


Michael Lee Scott (born 1959) is a professor of computer science at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York.

Education and teaching

Scott received a PhD from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1985. He joined the faculty at Rochester the same year as an assistant professor of computer science. Scott was chair of the computer science department from 1996 until 1999, when he was succeeded by Mitsunori Ogihara.  He served again as interim chair from July to December 2007 and from July to December 2017.

In 2001, Scott received the University of Rochester's Robert and Pamela Goergen Award for Distinguished Achievement and Artistry in Undergraduate Teaching.

Scott published the text Programming Language Pragmatics in 2000. A second edition was published in 2005, a third in 2009, and a fourth in 2015.  Translations have been made to Greek and simplified Chinese.

Research

In 2006, Scott and John Mellor-Crummey were awarded the Edsger W. Dijkstra Prize in Distributed Computing for a paper they wrote in 1991, "Algorithms for Scalable Synchronization on Shared-Memory Multiprocessors."

In 2005, Scott, along with William Scherer III and Doug Lea developed a set of algorithms to handle lock-free concurrent exchanges and synchronous queues. These algorithms are included in the Java 6 concurrency library.

In 2006 he was inducted as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery.

Personal

Scott is a Unitarian Universalist. He served as secretary of the New York State Convention of Universalists from 1991 to 1999 and as President from 2001 to 2005. In June 2004, he spoke at the Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly in favor of electronic voting machines, so long as they retained a paper backup.

Bibliography

References

External links
  Michael Scott's personal webpage
  Programming Language Pragmatics
  Algorithms for scalable synchronization on shared-memory multiprocessors

1959 births
American computer scientists
Researchers in distributed computing
Fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery
Living people
University of Rochester faculty
University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni
Dijkstra Prize laureates

Michael L. Scott


The Herman Melville House is a historic home located at Lansingburgh in Troy, Rensselaer County, New York.  It was a home of author Herman Melville between 1838 and 1847.

History
The home was originally built about 1786 and substantially remodeled in the Late Victorian style about 1872. It is a -story, brick and timber frame dwelling with a gable roof. It has a 2-story rear wing.

Herman Melville and his family moved to Lansingburgh in 1838 after deaths in the family and financial concerns. Five years later, in 1843, Melville's brother Allan reflected on the house as "very pleasantly situated on the bank of the Hudson (where I am now writing). Economy was the object of this change of location, and the only one which influenced my mother to forsake the 'place of her heart,' her early companions and old friends." During the family's time here, they were nearly impoverished, and Melville's mother Maria Gansevoort Melville relied on financial support from family and frequently wrote letters complaining to her brothers and asking for help. In December 1839, for example, she wrote: "It cannot be possible that I am to be left by my two Brothers to struggle with absolute want... If I have nothing to expect from my brothers but tardy, uncertain remitances, extracted only by painful relations of want — the Family must be broken up and its members dispersed."

During his time here, Melville joined a local debating society, sent letters to the town newspaper, wrote a few love poems and, in 1839, published a two-part sketch titled "Fragments from a Writing-Desk" in the Democratic Press and Lansingburgh Advertiser. He also took a course in surveying at the Lansingburgh Academy in the unfulfilled hope of pursuing work with the Erie Canal. In the summer of 1839, he also took his first sea voyage: a four-month trip to Liverpool. Upon his return, he taught at schools in Greenbush and Brunswick. The next year, 1840, he and a friend visited family in Galena, Illinois, before returning to New York. It is believed that Melville wrote his first two novels while living in this home.

The Melville family's former home is today preserved and maintained by the Lansingburgh Historical Society. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

See also

 Arrowhead, the Herman Melville House in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where Melville lived from 1850 until 1863

References

External links
Lansingburgh Historical Society website

National Register of Historic Places in Troy, New York
Houses completed in 1786
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)
Herman Melville
Melville, Herman House
Houses in Troy, New York
Homes of American writers

Herman Melville House (Troy, New York)


John Marin (December 23, 1870 – October 2, 1953) was an early American modernist artist.  He is known for his abstract landscapes and watercolors.

Biography
Marin was born in Rutherford, New Jersey.  His mother died nine days after his birth, and he was raised by two aunts in Weehawken, New Jersey.  He attended the Stevens Institute of Technology for a year, and tried unsuccessfully to become an architect.

From 1899 to 1901, Marin attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. In Philadelphia he studied with Thomas Pollock Anshutz, Hugh Henry Breckenridge and William Merritt Chase. He also studied at the Art Students League of New York. In 1905, like many American artists Marin went to Europe, initially to Paris. He exhibited his work in the Salon, where he also got his first exposure to modern art.  He traveled through Europe for six years, and painted in the Netherlands, Belgium, England, and Italy. In Europe, he mastered a type of watercolor where he achieved an abstract ambience, almost a pure abstraction with color that ranges from transparency to translucency, accompanied by strong opacities, and linear elements, always with a sense of freedom, which became one of his trademarks.

In 1909, Marin held his first one-man exhibition at Alfred Stieglitz's 291 gallery in New York City. He had been introduced to Stieglitz by the photographer Edward Steichen, whom Marin in turn had met through the painter Arthur B. Carles. Marin's association with Stieglitz would last nearly forty years, and Stieglitz's philosophical and financial support would prove essential. From 1909 until his death in 1946, Stieglitz showed Marin's work almost every year in one of his galleries.  Marin also participated in the landmark 1913 Armory Show.

Marin spent his first summer in Maine in 1914 and almost immediately the rocky coast there became one of his favorite subjects. Over the rest of his life, Marin became intimately familiar with the many moods of the sea and sky in Maine. "In painting water make the hand move the way the water moves," Marin wrote in a 1933 letter to an admirer of his technique.

Marin had a retrospective show in 1936 at the Museum of Modern Art.  Late in life Marin achieved tremendous prestige as an American painter, an elder statesman of American art. In 1950, he was honored by the University of Maine and Yale University with honorary degrees of Doctor of Fine Arts.

Marin was a resident of Cliffside Park, New Jersey in his last years, and also maintained a summer home in Addison, Maine, where he died in 1953. He was interred at Fairview Cemetery (Fairview, New Jersey).

Works

John Marin was among the first American artists to make abstract paintings.  Marin is often credited with influencing the Abstract Expressionists. His treatment of paint—handling oils almost like watercolors—his forays into abstraction, and his use of evocative stretches of bare canvas caught the eye of younger painters.  His experience with architecture might have contributed to the role played by architectural themes in his paintings and watercolors.

The largest collection of Marin's paintings, watercolors, drawings, etchings, and photographs are at the Colby College Museum of Art, the John Marin Collection, given to the college by John Marin Jr. and Norma B. Marin. Marin's paintings are also represented in several important permanent collections and museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Brooklyn Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art and the Phillips Collection, both in Washington, D.C., the Fogg Art Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, New Hampshire, and many others. The White House acquired his 1952 painting The Circus No. 1 in 1962, <"Art in The White House A Nation's Pride", White House Historical Association, 2008.>, and it is now displayed in the Green Room. The artist's estate is represented by Schoelkopf Gallery, in New York City.

References

Further reading

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External links
"Deer Isle" Watercolor at The Art Institute of Chicago
Self portrait at The National Portrait Gallery
"Two Master Under Sail" watercolor by John Marin on artnet
Short Biography
Exhibition: "The Edge of Abstraction"
 John Marin discussed in Conversations from Penn State interview

1870 births
1953 deaths
19th-century American painters
19th-century American male artists
American male painters
20th-century American painters
Modern artists
American landscape painters
Art Students League of New York alumni
People from Cliffside Park, New Jersey
People from Rutherford, New Jersey
People from Weehawken, New Jersey
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni
Burials at Fairview Cemetery (Fairview, New Jersey)
Students of William Merritt Chase
20th-century American printmakers
People from Washington County, Maine
20th-century American male artists

John Marin


Royal Swedish Opera () is an opera and ballet company based in Stockholm, Sweden.

Location and environment
The building is located in the center of Sweden's capital Stockholm in the borough of Norrmalm, on the eastern side of Gustav Adolfs torg across from the former Arvfurstens Palats, now Ministry for Foreign Affairs. It lies on the north side of the Norrström river and is connected to the Royal Palace through the Norrbro bridge.

Further historically as well as architecturally important buildings in the close neighborhood are the Sager House, official residence of the Prime Minister of Sweden, and the Riksdag building.

History
The opera company was founded with the Royal Swedish Academy of Music by King Gustav III and its first performance, Thetis and Phelée with Carl Stenborg and Elisabeth Olin, was given on 18 January 1773; this was the first native speaking opera performed in Sweden.

But the first opera house was not opened until 1782 and served for a century before being replaced at the end of the 19th century. Both houses are officially called the "Royal Opera", however the terms "The Gustavian Opera" and "The Oscarian Opera", or the "Old" and "New" Opera are used when distinction is needed.

The Gustavian Opera
The original Stockholm Opera House, the work of architect Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz was commissioned by King Gustav III, a strong adherent of the ideal of an enlightened absolutism and as such was a great patron of the arts. The Swedish Opera company had first been located in Bollhuset, but there was a need to separate the Opera from the theatre and give them separate buildings. Construction began in 1775 and the theatre was inaugurated on 30 September 1782 with a performance of the German composer Johann Gottlieb Naumann's Cora och Alonzo.
It was also the place for public masquerade balls, events inspired from the famous opera-balls in Paris, which was open for everyone wearing a mask at a cheap cost and somewhat ill-reputed.

The building was very imposing with its centre Corinthian tetrastyle portico supporting four statues and topped by the royal crown. The four-tiered auditorium was oval in shape, had excellent acoustics and sight lines. The sumptuous foyer contained neoclassic medallions and pilasters.

It was in the foyer of the opera house where the king met his fate: during a masquerade on 16 March 1792, he was shot by Jacob Johan Anckarström, and died 13 days later. (In turn, this event inspired the operas Gustave III by Daniel Auber and Un ballo in maschera by Verdi.) Following the assassination, the opera house was closed until 1 November 1792, when it was opened again, which by some was considered shocking. The son of Gustav III, King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden, did not like the Opera, possibly because of the murder of his father, and disliked the fact that the scene of his father's murder was used as a place of amusement and leisure, and when a frivolous play was performed for his queen Frederica of Baden in 1806, he decided to close it down. It remained closed until 1809, and when the king was deposed, it took until May 1812, before it was organised enough to be fully opened again.

The Oscarian Opera, Operan

The old opera was demolished in 1892 to give way to the construction of a new Opera drawn by Axel Johan Anderberg, which was finished seven years later and inaugurated by King Oscar II with a production of a Swedish opera (that tradition having been quite firmly established during the 19th century), Franz Berwald's Estrella de Soria.

The new house had the letters Kungl. Teatern, literally "Royal Theatre" (which caused the later-founded Royal Dramatic Theatre to add the distinction "dramatic" to its name). The building is now simply called Operan ("The Opera"), written in golden letters above the middle arch on the front facade. It is a majestic neo-classical building with a magnificent gold foyer (Guldfoajén) and elegant marble grand staircase leading to a three-tiered auditorium somewhat smaller than the old theatre. It presently seats 1,200. Most productions are now sung in the original language (with Swedish subtitles), with only a few in Swedish.

The Royal Swedish Family of King Carl XVI Gustaf keeps the Royal Box reserved, located in the first tier in the auditorium above the orchestra pit.

Ensembles, artists and artistic leadership

Famous singers who have been part of the opera's ensemble have included Jussi Björling, Gösta Winbergh, Nicolai Gedda, Peter Mattei, Jenny Lind, Birgit Nilsson, Elisabeth Söderström, Fritz Arlberg, Anne Sofie von Otter, Katarina Dalayman and Nina Stemme.

The orchestra of the Royal Swedish Opera, the Royal Swedish Orchestra, Kungliga Hovkapellet, dates back to 1526. Royal housekeeping accounts from 1526 mention twelve musicians including wind players and a timpanist but no string players. Consequently, the Royal Swedish Orchestra is one of the oldest orchestras in Europe.

Armas Järnefelt was on the music staff from 1905, rising to become chief conductor between 1923–1933 and 1938–1946. The Royal Swedish Ballet, Kungliga Baletten, was founded by Gustav III of Sweden in 1773.

The current general manager of the Royal Swedish Opera is the Swedish mezzo-soprano Birgitta Svendén. She is currently contracted in the post through 2022. In November 2020, the company announced the appointment of Michael Cavanagh as its next artistic director, effective in the summer of 2021, with an initial contract of 5 years. The company's most recent chief conductor was Lawrence Renes, who held the post from 2012 through 2017. In January 2020, Royal Swedish Opera announced the appointment of Alan Gilbert as its next music director, effective in the spring of 2021. Gilbert had first guest-conducted with the company in 2012.

References
Notes

Sources
Beauvert, Thierry, Opera Houses of the World, The Vendome Press, New York, 1995.
Zeitz, Karyl Lynn, Opera: the Guide to Western Europe's Great Houses, Santa Fe, New Mexico: John Muir Publications, 1991.
Georg Nordensvan, "Svensk teater och svenska skådespelare". (Swedish)

External links

Buildings and structures in Stockholm
Opera houses in Sweden
Music in Stockholm
1773 establishments in Sweden
Swedish opera companies
Tourist attractions in Stockholm
Royal Swedish Ballet
Theatres completed in 1782
Music venues completed in 1782
Theatres completed in 1899
Music venues completed in 1899
Art Nouveau architecture in Stockholm
Art Nouveau theatres

Royal Swedish Opera