A Teacher's Crime is a 2008 American-Canadian TV movie directed by Robert Malenfant.
Main characters are Ashley Jones as the teacher Carrie Ryans and Erik Knudsen as her student Jeremy Rander.

Storyline
The drama is about a female High school teacher and a male student in his senior year (an orphan). He pretends to be in need of attention and they become friends. She gets caught in the master plan of Jeremy and his uncle. Carrie and her father are accused of committing crimes that are actually done by Jeremy or his uncle. Knowing she inherited money from her deceased millionaire father, Jeremy and his uncle proceed to blackmail her for $500,000 by using incriminating photographs of her and Jeremy.

External links
www.imdb.com Entry "A Teacher's Crime"

2008 television films
2008 films
American crime thriller films
2000s crime thriller films
Canadian crime thriller films
English-language Canadian films
Canadian thriller television films
American thriller television films
2000s American films
2000s Canadian films
Canadian mystery television films

A Teacher's Crime


NBC Europe (formerly Super Channel, and later NBC Channel) was a satellite television network based in the United Kingdom that broadcast across Europe, and it was picked up by various European cable systems where available.

The network was based in the heart of London, 19-22 Rathbone Place in the same building as Music Box, would later become the home of CNN International until 2007. For a number of months, the transmission facilities were provided by Molinare at Fouberts Place, and returned briefly until the Marcucci family acquired Melrose House, 14 Lanark Square in Limeharbour where it set up as a state-of-the-art broadcasting centre.

History

1987–1993: Super Channel

Launched on 30 January 1987, replacing the 24-hour music channel Music Box, it was co-owned by all but one of the ITV companies at the time in the United Kingdom. Virgin Group had a majority stake in Music Box (60%) and would own 15% of the equity with the rest being split between ITV franchise holders including Granada, Yorkshire, LWT, Central, Anglia, Tyne Tees, Ulster, Grampian, Scottish, Border, HTV, TSW and TVS, while Thames and TV-am were the only two of the contractors not to participate. It competed with Sky Channel (forerunner of Sky One), which was the only other major pan-European satellite television network around at the time. Unlike Sky Channel, syndicated output was less American and more European.  Much of its programming was sourced from ITV or the BBC as part of "Best of British", and it also featured ITN-produced news bulletins. It also broadcast syndicated non-British European programmes, including the Dutch sitcom Zeg 'ns Aaa (with English subtitles).

Super Channel fared poorly, due to United Kingdom-based programming seen as unsuitable for European audiences, such as drama being seen as "too violent" or "too realistic", as well as a dispute with the British actors' union who demanded additional fees for viewing by audiences which meant that it could no longer offer the 'Best of British to a European audience'.

Within a year, the ITV companies sold the network to the Italian Marcucci family, owners of Videomusic, the first music channel in Italy, with a minority stake being held by Richard Branson's Virgin plc. The programming changed from British to pan-European, although it continued carrying ITN World News bulletins.

1993–1998: NBC steps in

On 2 October 1993, the station which was in severe financial difficulties was taken over by the American company General Electric, then-parent of the NBC television network, and became NBC Super Channel. From 9 September 1996, the channel was renamed NBC Europe, but was from then on almost always referred to as simply "NBC" on the air, although the network (along with its sister station CNBC Europe launched on 11 March earlier that year) was transmitted from the GE building in Hammersmith. The transmission suite used cutting edge Pro-Bel COMPASS and MAPP automation at the time, and Profile video servers for all commercials and promotions, within programmes continued to be played from tape automatically.

Most of NBC's prime time programming was produced in Europe, but after 10.00pm (CET) on weekday evenings as the channel aired The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Later to hence its slogan "Where the Stars Come Out at Night". Most news programmes were broadcast on NBC Europe including Dateline, Time and Again and NBC Nightly News, which was aired live. The Today Show was also initially shown live in the afternoons, but was later broadcast the following morning instead, by which time it was more than half a day old. This meant that all the NBC News portions had to be replaced with European updates produced by ITN in London, also supplied the network with the main newscasts before and after the GE takeover. European weather forecasts was produced by the BBC at first, but was later taken over by NBC in the United States occasionally.

NBC Europe carried virtually no prime time entertainment programmes shown in the United States, because they were usually owned and distributed by other studios under the fin-syn rules (which did not apply in Europe). NBC would have had to buy the rights for each country in order to show which would have been too expensive. Even for shows that NBC Studios owned itself, it was generally more financially viable to sell the rights by country either to broadcast or cable and satellite channels than to air them on NBC Europe. The most notable exceptions to this rule were brief runs of Profiler and The Pretender, as well as short-lived American sitcoms Union Square and Mr. Rhodes. That is widely considered to be one of the main reasons why NBC Europe was ultimately not a success.

1998–2005: As a German network

NBC Europe stopped broadcasting to most of Europe on 30 June 1998, when the Deutsche Fernsehnachrichten Agentur took it over and moved to Düsseldorf. Most of the satellite feeds became either National Geographic Channel or CNBC. NBC Europe continued to operate on Germany's cable television networks, fed by one digital satellite link from Eutelsat II-F1 (later Hot Bird 5). On 30 November, the first German programming started airing, assembled from content from GIGA and CNBC Europe, as well as other shows. In 2004, NBC Universal took over the DFA and consequently NBC Europe.

On 29 September 2005, NBC Europe was split into GIGA and later replaced by the new channel Das Vierte. The service continued broadcasting with its licence on cable, satellite, IPTV and digital cable. It broadcast a special version on cable television including CNBC Europe and GIGA (up until 31 March 2006). This was necessary to keep both the licence and the cable channel.

On 25 September 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired Das Vierte and closed the service from 31 December 2013. On 17 January 2014, the network was replaced by Disney Channel Germany switching from pay television to free-to-air.

Programming
Due to limitations on the amount of entertainment shows on the network, NBC Europe (including GIGA) aired a number of original programming in tandem with American content that had not been aired in Europe beforehand. These include:

 49win
 Agenda
 Best of the Ticket
 Blue Night
 Bonanza
 Business Insiders
 Business Tonight
 Business Weekly
 Chinese News Europe
 CNBC Business Weekly
 CNBC European Squawk Box
 CNBC U.S. Squawk Box
 Dateline
 Daybreak
 The Detectives
 Disaster Chronicles
 Eco Record
 Equal Time
 European Business Today
 Father Murphy
 Film Europe
 FT Business Today
 FT Business Tonight
 FT European Business Today
 GIGA green (later GIGA@ the gate)
 GIGA Games
 GIGA Heartbeat
 Holidays
 Hotline
 Inside Edition
 ITN Super Channel News
 ITN World News
 Kinowelt-De News
 Late Night with Conan O'Brien
 Later
 Mancuso, F.B.I.
 Max's European Home Video Show
 MediaTelevision
 The Mix
 Money Wheel
 European Money Wheel
 U.S. Money Wheel
 Mr. Rhodes
 MSNBC - The Site
 MSNBC Internight Live
 National Geographic
 NBC GIGA
 NBC GIGA Real
 NBC Music Legends
 NBC News Special Reports
 NBC News Today
 NBC Nightly News
 NBC Sports News
 NHL International Weekly
 On the Air
 Personal
 PGA Tour
 The Pretender
 Profiler
 Real Personal
 Riviera
 The Rolonda Watts Show
 Saturday Night Live
 The Selina Scott Show
 Super Channel Documentaries
 Super Channel Sports Specials
 SMS Challenge
 Super Shop
 Talkin' Blues
 Talkin' Jazz
 Time and Again
 The Today Show
 Today's Business
 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
 Travel Express
 U.S. Market Wrap Up
 Union Square
 Victory
 Videofashion
 West of Moscow
 Young Soul Rebels

See also
 List of European television stations
 Timeline of cable television in the United Kingdom
 Europa TV

References

External links
 Superchannel Launch - Complete and in full
 Uphill Struggle for Pan-Europe Stations : Televising to a Continent article from International Herald Tribune;  16 March 1994

History of television in the United Kingdom
Defunct television channels in the United Kingdom
Defunct television channels in Germany
Defunct television channels in the Netherlands
Television channels and stations established in 1987
Television channels and stations disestablished in 1998
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2005
2005 disestablishments in Germany
National Broadcasting Company
Satellite television
1980s in Europe
1980s in British television
1980s in Dutch television
1980s in German television
1990s in Europe
1990s in British television
1990s in Dutch television
1990s in German television
2000s in Europe
2000s in German television

NBC Europe


A parabola is a type of curve. Menaechmus (380–320 BC) discovered the parabola, and Apollonius of Perga (262 BC–c190 BC) first named it.

A parabola is a conic section. If a cone is cut by a plane which is parallel to one of the surfaces of the cone, the result is a parabola.

The point where the parabola reaches its maximum or minimum is called the "vertex." At this point the curvature of the parabola is greatest. This means the curve of the parabola is the tightest. The vertical line which passes through a parabola's vertex is called the "axis of symmetry". This is because the parabola looks the same on either side of that line.

Each parabola has a focal point. Any ray that enters the parabola and is parallel to the axis of symmetry will pass through this point after being reflected by the curve. Because of this fact, parabolas are important in devices such as satellite dishes, or magnifying mirrors. Parabolas are often used to approximate curves that are more difficult to model by themselves.

Every parabola uses the equation , where ,  and  are constants, and  is not equal to .

https://www.eagerclass.com/blog/parabola

Unlocking the Power of Parabolas: Real-Life Applications and Properties

Are you curious about the intriguing world of parabolas and their real-life significance? Look no further! In this blog post, we'll delve into the precise properties and practical applications of parabolas, from a mathematical perspective to how they impact our daily lives.

Understanding the Parabola

Before we dive into real-life applications, let's get our basics straight. A parabola is a U-shaped curve that can open upwards or downwards. It's defined by a quadratic equation in the form of y = ax^2 + bx + c, where 'a' is a non-zero constant.

Real-Life Applications of Parabolas

1. Projectile Motion:

One of the most prevalent real-world applications of parabolas is seen in projectile motion. Think of a basketball shot or a rocket launch. The path of the object follows a parabolic trajectory due to the influence of gravity. Understanding the parabola's properties helps engineers and physicists predict and optimize these motions.

2. Satellite Dishes:

Ever wondered why satellite dishes are shaped like paraboloids? It's because the parabolic shape allows the dish to reflect incoming electromagnetic waves towards the receiver at the focus. This maximizes signal reception and transmission efficiency.

3. Car Headlights:

The reflectors in car headlights are designed as parabolic mirrors. These mirrors focus light from the bulb into a parallel beam, illuminating the road efficiently and improving visibility.

4. Solar Cookers:

Parabolic mirrors are used in solar cookers to concentrate sunlight onto a cooking pot at the focus. This harnesses solar energy for cooking, making it an eco-friendly and energy-efficient solution.

5. Architecture and Design:

Architects often employ parabolic designs in structures like suspension bridges and arches. Parabolas distribute forces and stresses evenly, providing stability and strength in construction.

                                                KEY PROPERTIES OF PARABOLAS

1. Vertex:

The vertex is the lowest or highest point on the parabola, depending on its orientation. In real life, this can represent the peak height or lowest point of an object's trajectory, such as a thrown ball.

2. Axis of Symmetry:

The axis of symmetry is a vertical line passing through the vertex, dividing the parabola into two symmetric halves. In architecture, this principle is applied for balancing load distribution in structures like arches.

3. Focus and Directrix:

The focus is a point on the axis of symmetry where all parabolic reflectors converge incoming rays. The directrix is a line equidistant from the vertex, from which the reflected rays appear to originate. In satellite dishes and solar cookers, understanding the focus and directrix is crucial for optimal design.

Parabolas are not just mathematical abstractions; they play a crucial role in various aspects of our daily lives. Whether it's optimizing rocket trajectories, enhancing signal reception, or designing energy-efficient structures, understanding the properties of parabolas is invaluable. This post sheds light on their real-life applications and properties, and we hope it piques your interest in the fascinating world of mathematics and its practical significance.

For more engaging content and educational resources, visit our website at www.eagerclass.com Dive into the world of mathematics, science, and beyond with EagerClass!

https://www.eagerclass.com/blog/parabola

Conic sections

Parabola


Notter Point () is a rocky point 6 nautical miles (11 km) northeast of Cape Kjellman forming the north extremity of Belitsa Peninsula and marking the west limit of Bone Bay, Trinity Peninsula. The name, applied by Argentina in 1953, memorializes Tomas Notter, a commander of English origin in Admiral Brown's squadron in the struggle for Argentine independence. He died fighting against the Spanish commander Romarate on March 21, 1814 aboard his small vessel Santisima Trinidad, when his vessel grounded under enemy batteries. Beaver Rocks are a group of rocks lying 2 nautical miles (4 km) off Belitsa Peninsula at a point midway between Notter Point and Cape Kjellman.

See also
Otter Rock (Antarctica)

Headlands of Trinity Peninsula

Notter Point


An amsom is a partition of a village in India particularly in Kerala. It is an administrative unit under an officer known as  Adhikari. Often amsoms are understood as villages.

In India, states are divided into many districts. Districts are also divided into panchayat. In each panchayat there are many villages. Villages are divided into amsoms. Each village contains two to eight amsoms.

References

Villages in Kerala

Amsom


Levan Choladze (, born April 9, 1978) is a Georgian politician and diplomat. He formerly served as Chairman of Chamber of Control of Georgia (2007-2008), Secretary of the National Security Council of Georgia from October to December 2005, and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia (2006-2007)

Educational Background

2003 - Attended NATO Defense College, (Rome, Italy).
Summer 2003 - Studied at York St. John College of the University of Leeds, School of International Education (Great Britain).
2002  - Royal Netherlands Military Academy, Georgian-Netherlands International Security Course.
2000  - graduated from faculty of International Law and International Relations, Tbilisi State University, majoring in International Law and was conferred qualification of Lawyer.

Professional experience

2008-2011 - First Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Georgia.
2007-2008 - Chairman of the Chamber of Control of Georgia.
2005-2007 - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
October–December 2005  - National Security Advisor to the President of Georgia - Secretary of the National Security Council.
2004-2005 - First Deputy Secretary of the National Security Council.
June–October 2004 - Director of State and Public Security Department. NSC.
February–June 2004 - Head of Defense Minister's Office.
2003-2004 - Deputy Director of Defense Policy and International Relations Department. Ministry of Defense.
2002-2003 - Head of International Legal Division. Ministry of Defense.
1998–2002 - Different positions at the International Legal Division. Ministry of Defense.
1996–1998 - General Prosecutors Office of Georgia.

External links
 Ministry of Agriculture

1978 births
Diplomats from Tbilisi
Jurists from Georgia (country)
Politicians from Tbilisi
Living people
Government ministers of Georgia (country)

Levan Choladze


Proxima Centauri b is a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the Sun's closest stellar neighbor. The planet is in Proxima Centauri's habitable zone and is a terrestrial planet a bit bigger than Earth, so it could be an Earth-like planet with lakes, rivers an ocean and complex extraterrestrial life. The planet is 7.5 million kilometres on average from Proxima Centauri and is likely to either be tidally locked or have an orbital resonance similar to that of Mercury. The biggest potential strike against Proximal b's habitability is that its star is prone to flares.

Exoplanets
Terrestrial planets

Proxima Centauri b


Abu'l-Mawahib al-Shinnawi or Abu'l-Mawahib Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Abd al-Quddus al-Shinnawi (Arabic: أحمد بن علي بن احمد بن عبد القدوس ابن محمد الشناوي أبو المواهب ) also known as "al-Khami" or al-Hanna'i (Arabic: الحنائي ) is a master of Shattariyya Sufi order.

His life

He was born in a well-known Sufi family al-Shinnawi in 975 H.E./1568 A.D. in Mahallat Ruh, west of Cairo. His father Ali ibn Abd al-Quddus al-Shinnawi was a popular leader and Ahmadi shaykh (after Ahmad al-Badawi (d. 675 H.E./1276 A.D.)). He moved to Medina and settled there for religious studies. Later he became a prominent Sufi and the leading shaykh for Naqshabandiyya in Medina in his time. The order was ordered to Medina with Shattariyya by the Indian shaykh Sibghatallah ibn Ruhallah al-Sindi al-Barwaji.

He died in 1028 H.E/1619 A.D. His many students included Safi al-Din al-Qushashi who venerated his teacher as the saintly "Seal of the Time".

His works

Al-Baghdadi and Brockelmann listed 18 respectively 5 of al-Shinnawi's work.

 al-Irshad 'ila Sabil al-Rashad
 Ifadat al-Jud fi wahdat al-Wujud
 al-Iqlid al-Farid fi Tajrid al-Tawhid
 Bay'at al-Itlaq
 al-Ta'sil wa al-Tafdil
 Tajalliyah al-Basa'ir Hashiyat 'ala Kitab al-Jawahir li al-Gawth al-Hindi
 Khulasat al-Ikhtisas wa ma li'l-kul min al-Khawas
 Diwan Shi'r al-Shinnawi
 al-Sultat al-Ahmadiyyah fi Rawa'ih Mada'ih al-Dhat al-Muhammadiyah
 Si'at al-Itlaq
 Shifa' al-Ghiram fi Akhbar al-Kiram
 Sadihat al-Azal wa Sanihat al-Nazal
 al-Suhuf al-Namusiyyah wa al-sikhuf al-Nawusiyyah
 Dama'ir al-Sara'ir al-Ilahiyyah fi Bawahir 'Ayat Jawahir al-Ghawthiyah
 Fat'h al-Ilah fi ma Yuqal dubur kull al-Salat
 Fawatih al-Salawat al-Ahmadiyyah fi Lawa'ih Mada'ih al-Dhat al-Ahmadiyyah
 Manahij al-Ta'sil
 Mawjat al-Rahmah wa Mawthiqat al-'Ismah

References

Egyptian Sufi religious leaders
1568 births
1619 deaths
16th-century Muslim scholars of Islam
17th-century Muslim scholars of Islam

Abu'l-Mawahib al-Shinnawi


Hanshill, also known as Rough House, Camp Suhling, and Camp Merry Minglers, is a historic summer home and camp located near Madison Heights, Amherst County, Virginia.  The property was developed by the Suhling family.  Rough House dates to about 1880 and is a log cabin with a gable roof.  It was named Rough House as early as 1918, and a series of additions were added about 1935.  Associated with Rough House are a contributing corn crib (c. 1940) and Y.W.C.A. Spring Box (c. 1918).  Hanshill was built in 1925, and is a -story, frame dwelling on a concrete foundation in a Rustic Revival style.  It features a full-length, one-story, four-bay porch. Associated with Hanshill are servant's quarters (c. 1927), a garage / bunkhouse (c. 1927), and an outdoor tennis court (c. 1915).  From 1918 to 1922, the property hosted the first semi-permanent summer camp for white girls organized by the Young Women's Christian Association (Y.W.C.A.) of Lynchburg.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.

References

Houses in Amherst County, Virginia
Houses completed in 1925
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia
National Register of Historic Places in Amherst County, Virginia

Hanshill


Aleks Buda (7 September 1910 – 7 July 1993) was an Albanian historian. After completion of his education in Italy and Austria, he returned to Albania. Although his education was in literature, he made a career as a historian during the socialist period in Albania. He was a member and president of the Academy of Sciences of Albania.

Early life
Buda was born on 7 September 1910 in Elbasan, Ottoman Empire (modern day Albania). He went to elementary school at Lecce in Italy and completed secondary school in Salzburg, Austria, in 1930. After that he enrolled in the University of Vienna where he studied philosophy and literature, but he returned to Albania without graduating.

Professional career
Although his specialty was in literature, he made a career as a historian. He was also referred to as the founder of the Albanian post WWII historiography.
Buda belonged to a group of most notable Albanian politician historians during the socialist period in Albania. Buda was a member and a president of the Academy of Sciences of Albania. In some sources he was referred to as personal confidant of Enver Hoxha. Buda was the only historian to participate in the Albanian Orthography Congress held in Tirana in 20–25 November 1972.

He participated at the National Conference of Ethnographic Studies held in 1976 to commemorate 35th anniversary of the establishment of Party of Labour of Albania. Buda belonged to a group of historians and Marxist philosophers who attacked contemporary theories and trends outside Albania as capitalist and revisionist.

Contemporary historians point to Buda's work as a source for the Albanian position of the origin of Albanians. He was considered as the leading Albanian scholar of Illyrian history who belonged to group of historians who also pointed out that there is no trace of Illyrians between the 6th century (when they were mentioned in historical documents for the last time) and the 11th century (when Albanians were recorded in historical documents for the first time). Based on the hypothesis of Illyrian origin of Albanians, Buda emphasized that Albanians belong to the oldest inhabitants of Balkans and even Europe.

Buda belonged to a small group of intellectuals allowed by the Albanian communist regime to have access to foreign literature in order to use them to prepare new ideological and theoretical directives for the rest of their colleagues.

Bibliography
Buda's work include:
 , (coauthorship)

References

Sources

1910 births
1993 deaths
Albanian people of Jewish descent
Members of the Academy of Sciences of Albania
20th-century Albanian historians
People from Manastir vilayet
University of Vienna alumni
People from Elbasan

Aleks Buda


Brison D. Gooch (March 1, 1925 – November 25, 2014) was an American historian specializing in 19th century European history, especially Belgium and France. He was author of numerous monographs, and especially wrote undergraduate oriented textbooks.

Born in Bar Harbor, Maine, his father Austin McLellan Gooch  was a carpenter. His mother Clara Helen Dowling Gooch cared for their six children, including his brother Alden Gooch. He was educated at local public schools. Gooch served in the U.S. Army in Germany and Belgium from 1945 to 1947; he attended the Nuremberg trials in 1945–1946. He took a bachelor's degree in history and philosophy from Miami University (Ohio) in 1949 and a master's degree in history from the University of Wisconsin in 1950. He finished with a PhD in history from Wisconsin in 1955. He taught as instructor and assistant professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1954 to 1960. He taught as an associate and full professor at the University of Oklahoma 1960–1969. He was professor from 1973 to 1990 at the history department of Texas A&M University. He worked to reform the curriculum and expand graduate efforts as history department head at the University of Connecticut from 1969 to 1973 and at Texas A&M from 1973 to 1975. He held a visiting appointment at Yale University, and was a Fulbright scholar in Belgium.

Bibliography
 "A Century of Historiography on the Origins of the Crimean War' American Historical Review, 62#1 (1956): 33-58 online
 "The Crimean War in Selected Documents and Secondary Works since 1940." Victorian Studies 1.3 (1958): 271-279 online.
 The new Bonapartist general in the Crimean War: distrust and decision-making in the Angle-French alliance. (The Hague: Nijhoff, 1959). online
 "Belgium and the Prospective Sale of Cuba in 1837" The Hispanic American Historical Review v39 n3 (1959): 413-427 online.
 Belgium and the February Revolution (The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1963) online.
 Editor, Napoleon III, man of destiny : Enlightened statesman or proto-fascist? (Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 1964) online.
 New Bonapartist Generals : Distrust and Decision-making in the Anglo-French Alliance (Sordrecht: Springer, 1967).
 Editor, Interpreting European history. 1: From the Renaissance to Napoleon (Dorsey Press, 1967) online
 Editor, Interpreting European history. 2: from Metternich to Present (Dorsey Press 1967). online
 Editor, Interpreting western civilization. 1, From Antiquity to the Sun King (Dorsey Press, 1969).
 Editor, Interpreting western civilization. 2, From the Enlightenment to the Present (Dorsey Press, 1969).
 The reign of Napoleon III (Rand, McNally, 1969).
 Editor, The origins of the Crimean War (Heath 1969)
 Europe in the nineteenth century: a history (Macmillan, 1971).
 The nineteenth century, 1815-1914 (Forum Press, 1973).
 The world of Europe since 1815 with Amos E Simpson and Vaughan B Baker (Forum Press, 1973).
 "Recent Literature on Queen Victoria's Little Wars" Victorian Studies, 17#2 (1973): 217-224 online.
 "An 1853 Formula for Ottoman Victory" Austrian History Yearbook, v14 (1978): 79–88.
 Louis Napoleon and Strasbourg with Shirley Jean Black (Silverton, Colo.: Ferrell Publications, 2004).

References

1925 births
2014 deaths
Historians from Maine
Historians of Europe
20th-century American historians
American male non-fiction writers
People from Bar Harbor, Maine
University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni
MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences faculty
University of Oklahoma faculty
Texas A&M University faculty
University of Connecticut faculty
Miami University alumni
University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni
Historians from Texas
20th-century American male writers

Brison D. Gooch


Born in 1971 in Marseilles, a French national, Olivier Père graduated with a degree in Humanities from the University of Sorbonne (Paris IV).

He joined the French Cinémathèque in 1995, and soon became in charge of the programme, organizing numerous retrospectives and thematic seasons. Alongside his work there, in 1996 he began a long-standing collaboration with the Belfort "Entrevues" Film Festival, for whom he organized retrospectives. Since 1997 he has been writing for the cultural publication "Les Inrockuptibles" on film, television, and DVD.

Between 2004 and 2009, Olivier Père headed the Directors' Fortnight, independent section at the Cannes Film Festival, organized by SRF (Société des Réalisateurs de films).

From September 1, 2009 until 2012 Olivier Père was the artistic director of the Festival del film Locarno.

In 2012, he became Managing Director of Arte France Cinéma, a subsidiary of Arte France.

Bibliography
 Jacquest Demy tout entier, by Marie Colmant and Olivier Père, Anthologie, 12.2010
 Take 100 - The Future of film: 100 New Directors, Cameron Bailey and Piers Handling, Trevor Groth, Kim Dong-Ho, Li Cheuk-to, Frédéric Maire, Marco Müller, Olivier Père, Azize Tan, Christoph Terhechte, Sergio Wolf, Phaidon Press

References

External links
Pardolive.ch
Olivier Père's Official Blog
Interview with the Festival del film Locarno's Artistic Director by BFI

1971 births
Locarno Festival
Artistic directors
French journalists
University of Paris alumni
Mass media people from Marseille
Cannes Film Festival
Living people
French male non-fiction writers

Olivier Père


The National Golf Club of Kansas City is an exclusive golf club located in the Kansas City, Missouri, suburb of Parkville. The golf course was designed by champion golfer Tom Watson, a native of Kansas City, Missouri. For two years (2003–04) the club hosted the Senior PGA's Bayer Advantage golf tournament. It features two golf courses, the north side or "The National", and the south side or "The Deuce". Both are owned and operated by the National Golf Club of Kansas City.
Along with being a golf club, it is also a community with tennis courts, a pool, and multiple ponds.

Route 45, which passes the course is called the Tom Watson Parkway.

External links
National Golf Club of Kansas City

Sports in the Kansas City metropolitan area
Buildings and structures in Platte County, Missouri
Golf clubs and courses in Missouri

National Golf Club of Kansas City


The Han Chinese or Han people are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They are the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population.

The Han Chinese are the largest ethnic group of China (including Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau), numbering 1.4 billion, making up about 92% of the total population. They have had the most significant influence in shaping the development and growth of Chinese civilization. In Taiwan, they make up about 97% of the population. People of Han Chinese descent also make up around 75% of the total population of Singapore. The term "Han" not only refers to an ethnic group, but also signifies an identity belonging to a particular people with a distinctive cultural and historical background that has played a crucial role in shaping the development and growth of Chinese civilization.

Originating from Northern China, the Han Chinese trace their ancestry to the Huaxia, a confederation of agricultural tribes that lived along the Yellow River. They settled along the Central Plains around the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River in Northern China. These confederation of tribes were the ancestors of the modern Han Chinese people as well as the progenitors of Chinese civilization.

The term "Huaxia" was used by the ancient Chinese philisopher Confucius's contemporaries, during the Warring States era, to elucidate the shared ethnicity of all Chinese; Chinese people called themselves Hua Ren. Within the course of the Warring States period led to the emergence of the early discernible consciousness of the Zhou-era Chinese referring to themselves as being Huaxia (literally, "the beautiful grandeur"), which was distinctively used to adumbrate a "civilized" culture in contrast to what were perceived as "barbaric" towards the adjacent and adjoining vicinities bordering the Zhou Kingdoms that were inhabited by different non-Han Chinese peoples around them. In many overseas Chinese communities, the term Hua people () or Huazu () is used for people of Han Chinese ethnicity as distinct from Zhongguo Ren () which has connotations and implications limited to just being citizens and nationals of China, including people of non-Han Chinese ethnicity.

The Huaxia tribes in Northern China continuously expanded into Southern China over the past two millennia, via military conquests and colonisation. Huaxia culture spread southward from its heartland in the Yellow River Basin, absorbing various non-Han ethnic groups that became sinicised over the centuries at various points in Chinese history.

The name "Han people" first appeared during the era of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and inspired by the Han dynasty, which is considered to be one of the first golden ages in Chinese history. As a unified and cohesive empire, Han China emerged as the center of East Asian geopolitical influence at the time, projecting much of its hegemony onto its East Asian neighbours and was comparable with the contemporary Roman Empire in population size, geographical and cultural reach. The Han dynasty's prestige and prominence influenced many of the ancient Huaxia to identify themselves as "The People of Han." To this day, the Han Chinese have since taken their ethnic name from this dynasty and the Chinese script is referred to as "Han characters."

Names

The name Han was derived from the name of the eponymous dynasty, which succeeded the short-lived Qin dynasty and is historically considered to be the first golden age of China's Imperial era due to the power and influence it projected over much of East Asia. As a result of the dynasty's prominence in inter-ethnic and pre-modern international influence, Chinese people identified themselves as the "people of Han" (), a name that has been carried down to this day. Similarly, the Chinese language also came to be named the "Han language" () ever since. On Oxford Dictionaries, the Han are defined as "The dominant ethnic group in China". In the Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania, the Han are called the dominant population in "China, as well as in Taiwan and Singapore". According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the Han are "the Chinese peoples especially as distinguished from non-Chinese (such as Mongolian) elements in the population".

The Han dynasty's founding emperor, Liu Bang, was made king of the Hanzhong region after the fall of the Qin dynasty, a title that was later shortened to "the King of Han" () during the Chu–Han Contention. The name "Hanzhong", in turn, was derived from the Han River, which flows through the region's plains.

Prior to the Han dynasty, ancient Chinese scholars used the term Huaxia () in texts to describe China proper, while the Chinese populus were referred to as either the "various Hua" (, Zhūhuá) or the "various Xia" (, Zhūxià). This gave rise to a term commonly used nowadays by overseas Chinese as an ethnic identity for the Chinese diaspora – Huaren (, "ethnic Chinese people"), Huaqiao (, "the Chinese immigrant" meaning overseas Chinese) as well as a literary name for China – Zhonghua (, "Central China"). Zhonghua refers more to the culture of Chinese people, although it may also be seen as equivalent to Zhonghua minzu. Some overseas Chinese communities use Huaren or Huaqiao instead of Zhongguoren (), which to them, has connotations to being citizens of the People's Republic of China, due to their political views about the state.

Among some southern Han Chinese varieties such as Cantonese, Hakka and Minnan, a different term exists – Tang Chinese (, literally "the people of Tang"), derived from the later Tang dynasty, regarded as another zenith of Chinese civilization. The term is used in everyday conversation and is also an element in one of the words for Chinatown: "street of the Tang people" (). The phrase ,  is also used to describe the same area).

Subgroups

Across China's vast geographical expanse, the Han Chinese can be divided into various subgroups based on their respective cultural, ethnic, genetic, linguistic, and regional features. The historical migrations that have occurred throughout China's vast geographical expanse over the last three millennia has engendered the evolution, emergence, and encapsulation in the diverse multiplicity of assorted Han Chinese ethnic subsidiary groups found throughout the various regions of modern China today.

Distribution

China

The vast majority of Han Chinese – over 1.2 billion – live in areas under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China (PRC), where they constitute about 92% of its overall population. Han Chinese in China have been a culturally, economically and politically dominant majority vis-à-vis the non-Han minorities throughout most of China's recorded history. Han Chinese are almost the majority in every Chinese province, municipality and autonomous region except for the autonomous regions of Xinjiang (38% or 40% in 2010) and Tibet Autonomous Region (8% in 2014), where Uighurs and Tibetans are the majority, respectively.

Hong Kong and Macau

Han Chinese also constitute the majority in both of the special administrative regions of the PRC – about 92.2% and 88.4% of the population of Hong Kong and Macau, respectively. The Han Chinese in Hong Kong and Macau have been culturally, economically and politically dominant majority vis-à-vis the non-Han minorities.

Southeast Asia

Nearly 30 to 40 million people of Han Chinese descent live in Southeast Asia. According to a population genetic study, Singapore is "the country with the biggest proportion of Hans" in Southeast Asia. Singapore is the only country in the world where Overseas Chinese constitute a majority of the population and remain a cultural, economic and politically dominant majority vis-à-vis the non-Han minorities. Up until the past few decades, overseas Han communities originated predominantly from areas in Eastern and Southeastern China (especially the provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, Guangxi, Yunnan and Zhejiang in particular).

Taiwan

There are over 22 million people of Han Chinese ancestry in living in Taiwan. At first, these migrants chose to settle in locations that bore a resemblance to the areas they had left behind in mainland China, regardless of whether they arrived in the north or south of Taiwan. Hoklo immigrants from Quanzhou settled in coastal regions and those from Zhangzhou tended to gather on inland plains, while the Hakka inhabited hilly areas.

Clashes and tensions between the two groups over land, water, ethno-racial, and cultural differences led to the relocation of some communities and over time, varying degrees of intermarriage and assimilation took place. In Taiwan, Han Chinese (including both the earlier Han Taiwanese settlers and the recent Mainland Chinese that arrived in Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek in 1949) constitute over 95% of the population. They have also been a politically, culturally and economically dominant majority vis-à-vis the non-Han indigenous Taiwanese peoples.

Others

The total "overseas Chinese" population worldwide number some 60 million people. Han Chinese have settled in numerous countries across the globe, particularly within the Western World where nearly 4 million people of Han Chinese descent live in the United States (about 1.5% of the population), over 1 million in Australia (5.6%) and about 1.5 million in Canada (5.1%), nearly 231,000 in New Zealand (4.9%), and as many as 750,000 in Sub-Saharan Africa.

History

The Han Chinese have a rich history that spans thousands of years, with their historical roots dating back to the days of ancient China. Throughout Han history, China has been governed by dynasties, with periods during which it has seen cycles of expansion, contraction, unity, and fragmentation. Due to the overwhelming numerical and cultural dominance of Han culture in China, most of the written history of China can be read as "a history of the Han Chinese," hinted and tinged with only passing references to its ethnic non-Han minority counterparts.

Prehistory

The prehistory of the Han Chinese is closely intertwined with both archaeology, biology, historical textual records and mythology. The ethnic stock to which the Han Chinese originally trace their ancestry from were confederations of late Neolithic and early Bronze Age agricultural tribes known as the Huaxia that lived along the Guanzhong and Yellow River basins in Northern China. In addition, numerous ethnic groups were assimilated and absorbed by the Han Chinese at various points in China's history. Like many modern ethnic groups, the ethnogenesis of Han Chinese was a lengthy process that involved the expansion of the successive Chinese dynasties and their assimilation of various non-Han ethnic groups that became sinicised over the centuries.

Writers during the Western Zhou and Han dynasties derived ancestral lineages based on Shang dynasty-era legendary materials, while the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian places the reign of the Yellow Emperor, the legendary leader of Youxiong tribes (), at the beginning of Chinese history. The Yellow Emperor is traditionally credited to have united with the neighbouring Shennong tribes after defeating their leader, the Yan Emperor, at the Battle of Banquan. The newly merged Yanhuang tribes then combined forces to defeat their common enemy from the east, Chiyou of the Jiuli () tribes, at the Battle of Zhuolu and established their cultural dominance in the Central Plain region. To this day, modern Han Chinese refer themselves as "Descendants of Yan and Huang".

Although study of this period of history is complicated by the absence of contemporary records, the discovery of archaeological sites has enabled a succession of Neolithic cultures to be identified along the Yellow River. Along the central reaches of the Yellow River were the Jiahu culture ( to 6600 BCE), the Yangshao culture (c. 5000 to 3000 BCE) and the Longshan culture (c. 3000 to 2000 BCE). Along the lower reaches of the river were the Qingliangang culture (c. 5400 to 4000 BCE), the Dawenkou culture (c. 4300 to 2500 BCE) and the Yueshi culture (c. 1900 to 1500 BCE).

Early history

Early ancient Chinese history is largely legendary, consisting of mythical tales intertwined with sporadic annals written centuries to millennia later. Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian  recorded a period following the Battle of Zhuolu, during the reign of successive generations of confederate overlords () known as the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors (c. 2852–2070 BCE), who, allegedly, were elected to power among the tribes.  This is a period for which scant reliable archaeological evidence exists – these sovereigns are largely regarded as cultural heroes.

Xia dynasty

The first dynasty to be described in Chinese historical records is the Xia dynasty (c. 2070–1600 BCE), established by Yu the Great after Emperor Shun abdicated leadership to reward Yu's work in taming the Great Flood. Yu's son, Qi, managed to not only install himself as the next ruler, but also dictated his sons as heirs by default, making the Xia dynasty the first in recorded history where genealogical succession was the norm.  The civilizational prosperity of the Xia dynasty at this time is thought to have given rise to the name "Huaxia" (, "the magnificent Xia"), a term that was used ubiquitously throughout history to define the Chinese nation.

Conclusive archaeological evidence predating the 16th century BCE is, however, rarely available.  Recent efforts of the Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project drew the connection between the Erlitou culture and the Xia dynasty, but scholars could not reach a consensus regarding the reliability of such history.

Shang dynasty

The Xia dynasty was overthrown after the Battle of Mingtiao, around 1600 BCE, by Cheng Tang, who established the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BCE).  The earliest archaeological examples of Chinese writing date back to this period – from characters inscribed on oracle bones used for divination – but the well-developed characters hint at a much earlier origin of writing in China.

During the Shang dynasty, people of the Wu area in the Yangtze River Delta were considered a different tribe, and described as being scantily dressed, tattooed and speaking a distinct language. Later, Taibo, elder uncle of Ji Chang – on realising that his younger brother, Jili, was wiser and deserved to inherit the throne – fled to Wu and settled there. Three generations later, King Wu of the Zhou dynasty defeated King Zhou (the last Shang king), and enfeoffed the descendants of Taibo in Wu – mirroring the later history of Nanyue, where a Chinese king and his soldiers ruled a non-Han population and mixed with locals, who were sinicized over time.

Zhou dynasty

After the Battle of Muye, the Shang dynasty was overthrown by Zhou (led by Ji Fa), which had emerged as a western state along the Wei River in the 2nd millennium BCE.  The Zhou dynasty shared the language and culture of the Shang people, and extended their reach to encompass much of the area north of the Yangtze River.  Through conquest and colonization, much of this area came under the influence of sinicization and this culture extended south.  However, the power of the Zhou kings fragmented not long afterwards, and many autonomous vassal states emerged.  This dynasty is traditionally divided into two eras – the Western Zhou (1046–771 BCE) and the Eastern Zhou (770–256 BCE) – with the latter further divided into the Spring and Autumn (770–476 BCE) and the Warring States (476–221 BCE) periods.  It was a period of significant cultural and philosophical diversification (known as the Hundred Schools of Thought) and Confucianism, Taoism and Legalism are among the most important surviving philosophies from this era.

Imperial history

Qin dynasty

The chaotic Warring States period of the Eastern Zhou dynasty came to an end with the unification of China by the western state of Qin after its conquest of all other rival states under King Ying Zheng. King Zheng then gave himself a new title "First Emperor of Qin" (), setting the precedent for the next two millennia. To consolidate administrative control over the newly conquered parts of the country, the First Emperor decreed a nationwide standardization of currency, writing scripts and measurement units, to unify the country economically and culturally. He also ordered large-scale infrastructure projects such as the Great Wall, the Lingqu Canal and the Qin road system to militarily fortify the frontiers.  In effect, he established a centralized bureaucratic state to replace the old feudal confederation system of preceding dynasties, making Qin the first imperial dynasty in Chinese history.

This dynasty, sometimes phonetically spelt as the "Ch'in dynasty", has been proposed in the 17th century by Martino Martini and supported by later scholars such as Paul Pelliot and Berthold Laufer to be the etymological origin of the modern English word "China".

Han dynasty

The reign of the first imperial dynasty was to be short-lived. Due to the First Emperor's autocratic rule and his massive labor projects, which fomented rebellion among the populace, the Qin dynasty fell into chaos soon after his death. Under the corrupt rule of his son and successor Huhai, the Qin dynasty collapsed a mere three years later. The Han dynasty (206 BC–220 CE) then emerged from the ensuing civil wars and succeeded in establishing a much longer-lasting dynasty.  It continued many of the institutions created by the Qin dynasty, but adopted a more moderate rule. Under the Han dynasty, arts and culture flourished, while the Han Empire expanded militarily in all directions. Many Chinese scholars such as Ho Ping-ti believe that the concept (ethnogenesis) of Han ethnicity, though an ancient one, was formally entrenched in the Han dynasty. The Han dynasty is considered one of the golden ages of Chinese history, and to this day, the modern Han Chinese people have since taken their ethnic name from this dynasty and the Chinese script is referred to as "Han characters".

Three Kingdoms to Tang

The fall of the Han dynasty was followed by an age of fragmentation and several centuries of disunity amid warfare among rival kingdoms. During this time, areas of northern China were overrun by various non-Han nomadic peoples, which came to establish kingdoms of their own, the most successful of which was Northern Wei (established by the Xianbei). From this period, the native population of China proper was referred to as Hanren, or the "People of Han", to distinguish them from the nomads from the steppe. Warfare and invasion led to one of the first great migrations of Han populations in history, as they fled south to the Yangzi and beyond, shifting the Chinese demographic center and speeding up sinicization of the far south. At the same time most of the nomads in northern China came to be sinicized as they ruled over large Chinese populations and adopted elements of their culture and administration. Of note, the Xianbei rulers of Northern Wei ordered a policy of systematic sinicization, adopting Han surnames, institutions and culture, so the Xianbei became Han Chinese.

The Sui (581–618) and Tang (618–907) dynasties saw the continuation of the complete sinicization of the south coast of what is now China proper, including what are now the provinces of Fujian and Guangdong. The later part of the Tang era, as well as the Five Dynasties period that followed, saw continual warfare in north and central China; the relative stability of the south coast made it an attractive destination for refugees.

Song to Qing

The next few centuries saw successive invasions of Han and non-Han peoples from the north. In 1279, the Mongols conquered all of China, becoming the first non-Han ethnic group to do so, and established the Yuan dynasty. The Mongols divided society into four classes, with themselves occupying the top class and Han Chinese into the bottom two classes. Emigration, seen as disloyal to ancestors and ancestral land, was banned by the Song and Yuan dynasties.

In 1644, the Ming capital, Beijing, was captured by Li Zicheng's peasant rebels and the Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide. The Manchus of the Qing dynasty then allied with former Ming general Wu Sangui and seized control of Beijing. Remnant Ming forces led by Koxinga fled to Taiwan and established the Kingdom of Tungning, which eventually capitulated to Qing forces in 1683. Taiwan, previously inhabited mostly by non-Han aborigines, was sinicized during this period via large-scale migration accompanied by assimilation, despite efforts by the Manchus to prevent this, as they found it difficult to maintain control over the island. In 1681, the Kangxi Emperor ordered construction of the Willow Palisade to prevent Han Chinese migration to the three northeastern provinces, which nevertheless had harbored a significant Chinese population for centuries, especially in the southern Liaodong area. The Manchus designated Jilin and Heilongjiang as the Manchu homeland, to which the Manchus could hypothetically escape and regroup if the Qing dynasty fell. Because of increasing Russian territorial encroachment and annexation of neighboring territory, the Qing later reversed its policy and allowed the consolidation of a demographic Han majority in northeast China.

Culture and society

Chinese civilization is one of the world's oldest and most complex civilizations, whose culture dates back thousands of years. Overseas Han Chinese maintain cultural affinities to Chinese territories outside of their host locale through ancestor worship and clan associations, which often identify famous figures from Chinese history or myth as ancestors of current members. Such patriarchs include the Yellow Emperor and the Yan Emperor, who according to legend lived thousands of years ago and gave Han people the sobriquet "Descendants of Yan and Huang Emperor" (, ), a phrase which has reverberative connotations in a divisive political climate, as in that of major contentions between Mainland China and Taiwan.

The Han Chinese also share a distinct set of cultural practices, traditions, and beliefs that have evolved over centuries. Traditional Han customs, art, dietary habits, literature, religious beliefs, and value systems have not only deeply influenced Han culture itself, but also the cultures of its East Asian neighbors as well. Chinese art, Chinese architecture, Chinese cuisine, Chinese dance, Chinese fashion, Chinese festivals, Chinese holidays, Chinese language, Chinese literature, Chinese music, Chinese mythology, Chinese numerology, Chinese philosophy, and Chinese theatre all have undergone thousands of years of development and growth, while numerous Chinese sites, such as the Great Wall and the Terracotta Army, are World Heritage Sites. Since this program was launched in 2001, aspects of Chinese culture have been listed by UNESCO as Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Throughout the history of China, Chinese culture has been heavily influenced by Confucianism. Credited with shaping much of Chinese philosophical thought, Confucianism was the official state philosophical doctrine throughout most of Imperial China's history, institutionalizing values such as filial piety, which implied the performance of certain shared rituals. Thus, villagers lavished on funeral and wedding ceremonies that imitated the Confucian standards of the Emperors. Educational achievement and academic success gained through arduous study and mastery of classical Confucian texts was an imperative duty for defending and protecting one's family honor while also providing the primary qualifying basis criterion for entry into the imperial bureaucracy. But even among successful test takers and degree-holders who did not enter the bureaucracy or who left it opting out to pursue other careers experienced significant improvements with respect to their pedigree, social status, and societal influence, resulting in a considerable amelioration with regards to the esteem, honor, prestige, glory, and recognition that they brought and garnered to their families, social circles, and the localities that they hailed from. This elevation in their social standing, respectability, and pedigree was greatly augmented both within their own family circles, as well as among their neighbors and peers compared with the regular levels of recognition that they would have typically enjoyed had they only chosen to remain as mere commoners back in their ancestral regions. Yet even such a dynamic social phenomenon has greatly influenced Han society, leading to the homogenization of the Han populace. Additionally, it has played a crucial role in the formation of a socially cohesive and distinct shared Han culture as well as the overall growth and integration of Han society. This development has been facilitated by various extraneous factors, including periods of rapid urbanization and sprouts of geographically extensive yet interconnected commodity markets.

Language

Han Chinese speak various forms of the Chinese language that are descended from a common early language; one of the names of the language groups is Hanyu (), literally the "Han language". Similarly, Chinese characters, used to write the language, are called Hanzi () or "Han characters".

In the late imperial period, more than two-thirds of the Han Chinese population used a variant of Mandarin Chinese as their native tongue. However, there was a larger variety of languages in certain areas of Southeast China, like Shanghai, Guangzhou and Guangxi. Since the Qin dynasty, which standardized the various forms of writing that existed in China, a standard literary Chinese had emerged with vocabulary and grammar that was significantly different from the various forms of spoken Chinese. A simplified and elaborated version of this written standard was used in business contracts, notes for Chinese opera, ritual texts for Chinese folk religion and other daily documents for educated people.

During the early 20th century, written vernacular Chinese based on Mandarin dialects, which had been developing for several centuries, was standardized and adopted to replace literary Chinese. While written vernacular forms of other varieties of Chinese exist, such as written Cantonese, written Chinese based on Mandarin is widely understood by speakers of all varieties and has taken up the dominant position among written forms, formerly occupied by literary Chinese. Thus, although residents of different regions would not necessarily understand each other's speech, they generally share a common written language, Standard Written Chinese and Literary Chinese (these two writing styles can merge into a 半白半文 writing style).

From the 1950s, Simplified Chinese characters were adopted in mainland China and later in Singapore and Malaysia, while Chinese communities in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and overseas countries continue to use Traditional Chinese characters. Although significant differences exist between the two character sets, they are largely mutually intelligible.

Names

Through China, the notion of hundred surnames () is crucial identity point of the Han people.

Fashion

Han Chinese clothing has been shaped through its dynastic traditions as well as foreign influences. Han Chinese clothing showcases the traditional fashion sensibilities of Chinese clothing traditions and forms one of the major cultural facets of Chinese civilization. Hanfu () or traditional Han clothing comprises all traditional clothing classifications of the Han Chinese with a recorded history of more than three millennia until the end of the Ming Dynasty. During the Qing dynasty, Hanfu clothing was mostly replaced by the Manchu style until the dynasty's fall in 1911, yet Han women continued to wear clothing from Ming dynasty. Manchu and Han fashions of women's clothing coexisted during the Qing dynasty. Moreover, neither Taoist priests nor Buddhist monks were required to wear the queue by the Qing; they continued to wear their traditional hairstyles, completely shaved heads for Buddhist monks, and long hair in the traditional Chinese topknot for Taoist priests. During the Republic of China period, fashion styles and forms of traditional Qing costumes gradually changed, influenced by fashion sensibilities from the Western World resulting modern Han Chinese wearing Western style clothing as a part of everyday dress.

Han Chinese clothing has continued to play an influential role within the realm of traditional East Asian fashion as both the Japanese Kimono and the Korean Hanbok were influenced by Han Chinese clothing designs.

Family
Han Chinese families throughout China have had certain traditionally prescribed roles, such as the family head (, jiāzhǎng), who represents the family to the outside world and the family manager (, dāngjiā), who is in charge of the revenues. Because farmland was commonly bought, sold or mortgaged, families were run like enterprises, with set rules for the allocation (, fēnjiā) of pooled earnings and assets.

Han Chinese houses differ from place to place. In Beijing, the whole family traditionally lived together in a large rectangle-shaped house called a siheyuan. Such houses had four rooms at the front – guest room, kitchen, lavatory and servants' quarters. Across large double doors was a wing for the elderly in the family. This wing consisted of three rooms: a central room where the four tablets – heaven, earth, ancestor and teacher – were worshipped and two rooms attached to the left and right, which were bedrooms for the grandparents. The east wing of the house was inhabited by the eldest son and his family, while the west wing sheltered the second son and his family. Each wing had a veranda; some had a "sunroom" made with surrounding fabric and supported by a wooden or bamboo frame. Every wing was also built around a central courtyard that was used for study, exercise or nature viewing.

Food

There is no one specific uniform cuisine of the Han Chinese since the culinary traditions and food consumed varies from Sichuan's famously spicy food to Guangdong's dim sum and fresh seafood. Analyses throughout the reaches of Northern and Southern China have revealed their main staple to be rice (more likely to consumed by Southerners) as well as noodles and other wheat-based food items (which are more likely to be eaten by Northerners). During China's Neolithic period, southwestern rice growers transitioned to millet from the northwest, when they could not find a suitable northwestern ecology – which was typically dry and cold – to sustain the generous yields of their staple as well as it did in other areas, such as along the eastern Chinese coast.

Literature

The Han Chinese have a rich history of classical literature dating back three millennia. Important early Chinese literary works include classic texts such as Classic of Poetry, Analects of Confucius, I Ching, Tao Te Ching and the Art of War. Han literature itself has a rich tradition dating back thousands of years, from the earliest recorded dynastic court archives to the mature vernacular fiction novels that arose during the Ming dynasty which were employed as a source of cultural pleasure to entertain the masses of literate Chinese. Some of the most important Han Chinese poets in the pre-modern era were Li Bai, Du Fu and Su Dongpo. The most esteemed and noteworthy novels of great literary significance in Chinese literature, otherwise known as the Four Great Classical Novels are: Dream of the Red Chamber, Water Margin, Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Journey to the West. Contemporary Chinese literature continues to garner an international reputation with Liu Cixin's San Ti series receiving international literary acclaim.

Gao Xingjian became the first Chinese novelist to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2000. In 2012, the novelist and short story writer Mo Yan also received the Nobel Prize in Literature. In 2015, children's writer Cao Wenxuan was bestowed with the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the first Chinese recipient of the esteemed international children's book prize.

Science and technology

The Han Chinese have made significant contributions to various fields in the advancement and progress of human civilization throughout history, including business, governance, culture and society, and science and technology, both historically and in the modern era. They have also played a crucial role in shaping the political landscape of China and the wider encompassing region of East Asia at large. The invention of paper, printing, the compass and gunpowder are celebrated in Chinese society as the Four Great Inventions. Medieval Han Chinese astronomers were also among the first peoples to record observations of a cosmic supernova in 1054 AD. The work of medieval Chinese polymath Shen Kuo (1031–1095) of the Song dynasty theorized that the sun and moon were spherical and wrote of planetary motions such as retrogradation as well postulating theories for the processes of geological land formation.

Throughout much of history, successive Chinese dynasties have exerted enormous influence on its East Asian neighbors in the areas of culture and society, economy, governance, and science and technology. In modern times, Han Chinese form the largest ethnic group in China, while an overseas Han Chinese diaspora numbering in the tens of millions have settled in and contributed to the development and growth of their respective host countries throughout the world.

In the contemporary era, Han Chinese have continued to contribute to the growth and development of modern science and technology. Among such prominently illustrious names highly respected for their past contributory accomplishments include Nobel Prize laureates Tu Youyou, Steven Chu, Samuel C.C. Ting, Chen Ning Yang, Tsung-Dao Lee, Yuan T. Lee, Daniel C. Tsui, Roger Y. Tsien and Charles K. Kao (known as the "Godfather of Broadband" and "Father of Fiber Optics"); Fields Medalists Terence Tao and Shing-Tung Yau as well as Turing Award winner Andrew Yao. Tsien Hsue-shen was a prominent aerospace engineer who helped to establish NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The 1978 Wolf Prize in Physics inaugural recipient and physicist Chien-Shiung Wu, nicknamed the "First Lady of Physics" contributed to the development of the Manhattan Project and radically altered modern physical theory and changed the conventionally accepted view of the structure of the universe. The geometer Shiing-Shen Chern has been regarded as the "father of modern differential geometry" and has also been recognized as one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th-century. Chern was also one of the foremost leaders and leading figures within the field differential geometry throughout the course of the 20th century and was awarded the 1984 Wolf Prize in mathematics in recognition for his fundamental contributions to the growth and development of differential geometry and topology. The botanist Shang Fa Yang was well-noted for his research that unlocked the key to prolonging freshness in fruits and flowers and "for his remarkable contributions to the understanding of the mechanism of biosynthesis, mode of action and applications of the plant hormone, Ethylene." The agronomist Yuan Longping, regarded as the "Father of Hybrid Rice" was famous for developing the world's first set of hybrid rice varieties in the 1970s, which was then part of the Green Revolution that marked a major scientific breakthrough within the field of modern agricultural research. The physical chemist Ching W. Tang, was the inventor of the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) and hetero-junction organic photovoltaic cell (OPV) and is widely considered the "Father of Organic Electronics". Biochemist Chi-Huey Wong is well known for his pioneering research in glycoscience research and developing the first enzymatic method for the large-scale synthesis of oligosaccharides and the first programmable automated synthesis of oligosaccharides. The chemical biologist Chuan He is notable for his work in discovering and deciphering reversible RNA methylation in post-transcriptional gene expression regulation. Chuan is also noteworthy for having invented TAB-seq, a biochemical method that can map 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) at base-resolution genome-wide, as well as hmC-Seal, a method that covalently labels 5hmC for its detection and profiling.

Other prominent Han Chinese who have made notable contributions the development and growth of modern science and technology include the medical researcher, physician, and virologist David Ho, who was one of the first scientists to propose that AIDS was caused by a virus, thus subsequently developing combination antiretroviral therapy to combat it. In recognition of his medical contributions, Ho was named Time magazine Person of the Year in 1996. The physician and physiologist Thomas Ming Swi Chang is the inventor of the world's first artificial cell made from a permeable plastic sack that would effectively carry hemoglobin around the human circulatory system. Chang is also noteworthy for his development of charcoal-filled cells to treat drug poisoning in addition to the discovery of enzymes carried by artificial cells as a medical tool to correct the faults within some metabolic disorders.  Min Chueh Chang was the co-inventor of the combined oral contraceptive pill and is known for his pioneering work and significant contributions to the development of in vitro fertilization at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology. Biochemist Choh Hao Li discovered human growth hormone (and subsequently used it to treat a form of dwarfism caused by growth hormone deficiency), beta-endorphin (the most powerful of the body's natural painkillers), follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone (the key hormone used in fertility testing, an example is the ovulation home test). Joe Hin Tjio was a cytogeneticist renowned as the first person to recognize the normal number of human chromosomes, a breakthrough in karyotype genetics. The bio-engineer Yuan-Cheng Fung, was regarded as the "Father of modern biomechanics" for pioneering the application of quantitative and analytical engineering principles to the study of the human body and disease. China's system of "barefoot doctors" was among the most important inspirations for the World Health Organization conference in Alma Ata, Kazakhstan in 1978, and was hailed as a revolutionary breakthrough in international health ideology emphasizing primary health care and preventive medicine.

Religion

Confucianism, Daoism, and Chinese Buddhism, as well as other traditional Chinese philosophies, have influenced not only Han Chinese culture, but also the neighboring cultures in East Asia. Chinese spiritual culture has been long characterized by religious pluralism and Chinese folk religion has always maintained a profound influence within the confines of Chinese civilization both historically and in the modern era. Indigenous Confucianism and Taoism share aspects of being a philosophy or a religion and neither demand exclusive adherence, resulting in a culture of tolerance and syncretism, where multiple religions or belief systems are often practiced in conjunction with local customs and traditions. Han culture has for long been influenced by Mahayana Buddhism, while in recent centuries Christianity has also gained a foothold among the population.

Chinese folk religion is a set of worship traditions of the ethnic deities of the Han people. It involves the worship of various extraordinary figures in Chinese mythology and history, heroic personnel such as Guan Yu and Qu Yuan, mythological creatures such as the Chinese dragon or family, clan and national ancestors. These practices vary from region to region and do not characterize an organized religion, though many traditional Chinese holidays such as the Duanwu (or Dragon Boat) Festival, Qingming Festival, Zhongyuan Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival come from the most popular of these traditions.

Taoism, another indigenous Han philosophy and religion, is also widely practiced by the Han in both its folk forms and as an organized religion and has been a source of vestigial perennial influence on Chinese art, poetry, philosophy, music, medicine, astronomy, Neidan and alchemy, cuisine, Neijia and other martial arts and architecture. Taoism was the state religion of the early Han Dynasty and Tang Dynasty and also often enjoyed state patronage under subsequent emperors and dynasties.

Confucianism, although sometimes described as a religion, is a governing philosophy and moral code with some religious elements like ancestor worship. It continues to be deeply ingrained in modern Chinese culture and was the official state philosophy in ancient China during the Han dynasty and until the fall of imperial China in the 20th century (though it is worth noting that there is a movement in China today advocating that the culture be "re-Confucianized").

During the Han dynasty, Confucian ideals were the dominant ideology. Near the end of the dynasty, Buddhism entered China, later gaining popularity. Historically, Buddhism alternated between periods of state tolerance (and even patronage) and persecution. In its original form, certain ideas in Buddhism was not quite compatible with the Chinese cultural values, especially with the Confucian elite, as certain Buddhist values conflicted with Chinese sensibilities. However, through centuries of mutual tolerance, assimilation, adaptation and syncretism, Chinese Buddhism gained an respectable place in the culture. Chinese Buddhism was also influenced by Confucianism and Taoism and exerted influence in turn – such as in the form of Neo-Confucianism and Buddhist influences in Chinese folk religion, such as the cult of Guanyin, who is treated as a Bodhisattva, immortal, goddess or exemplar of Confucian virtue, depending on the tradition. The four largest schools of Han Buddhism (Chan, Jingtu, Tiantai and Huayan) were all developed in China and later spread throughout the Sinosphere.

Though Christian influence in China existed as early as the 7th century, Christianity did not gain a significant foothold in China until the establishment of contact with Europeans during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Christian beliefs often having conflicts with Chinese values and traditions which eventually resulted in the Chinese Rites controversy and a subsequent reduction in Christian influence. Christianity grew considerably following the First Opium War, after which foreign missionaries in China enjoyed the protection of the Western powers and engaged in widespread proselytising.

Historical southward migration

Modern Southern Han Chinese – such as the Hoklo, Cantonese, and Hakka – all claim Northern Han Chinese ancestry derived from their forebearers who migrated from Northern China's Yellow River Valley between the 4th to 12th centuries. Hoklo clans living in southeastern coastal China, such as in Chaozhou and Quanzhou–Zhangzhou, originated from northern China's Henan province during the Tang dynasty.

There were several periods of mass migration of Han people to Southeastern and Southern China throughout history.  The ancestors of the Cantonese are said to be Northern Han Chinese who moved to Guangdong, while the Yue descendants were the indigenous minorities who practised tattooing, as described in "The Real Yue People"  () essay by Qu Dajun, a Cantonese scholar who extolled his people's Chineseness.

Northern Vietnam, Guangdong and Yunnan all experienced a major surge in Han Chinese migrants during Wang Mang's reign. Hangzhou's coastal regions and the Yangtze valley were settled in the 4th century AD by Northern Han Chinese families descended from the Han nobility. Special "commanderies of immigrants" and "white registers" were created for the massive number of Han Chinese of northern origin who moved south during the Eastern Jin dynasty. The southern Chinese aristocracy was formed from the offspring of these migrants; Celestial Masters and the nobility of Northern China subdued the aristocracy of Southern China during the Eastern Jin and Western Jin, particularly in Jiangnan. With the depopulation of the north, due to this migration of Northern Han Chinese, the south became the most populous region of China.

The Han Chinese "Eight Great Surnames" were eight noble families who migrated from Northern China to Fujian in Southern China due to the uprising of the five barbarians when the Eastern Jin was founded, the Hu, He, Qiu, Dan, Zheng, Huang, Chen and Lin surnames.

The Ming dynasty pirate Zheng Zhilong and his son Koxinga's ancestors in the Zheng family originated in Northern China but due to the Uprising of the Five Barbarians and Disaster of Yongjia by the Five Barbarians, the Zheng family were among the Northern Han Chinese refugees who fled to Southern China and settled in Putian, Fujian. They later moved to Zhangzhou and moved on to Nan'an.

Different waves of migration of Han Chinese belonging to the aristocracy from Northern China to the south at different times – with some arriving in the 300s–400s and others in the 800s–900s – resulted in the formation of distinct lineages. During the 700s (Tang dynasty), Han migrants from northern China flooded into the south. Hong Kong history books record migrations of the Song and Tang dynasties to the south, which resulted in Hong Kongers that are descended from the incoming Han settlers that originated from northern China. Since it was during the Tang dynasty that Guangdong was subjected to settlement by many incoming Northern Han Chinese, many Cantonese, Hokkien and Teochew call themselves "Tang people." Several wars in northern China such as the Uprising of the Five Barbarians, An Lushan Rebellion, Huang Chao Rebellion, the wars of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms and Jin–Song Wars caused a mass migration of Han Chinese from Northern China to Southern China called 衣冠南渡 (yì guān nán dù). These mass migrations led to Southern China's population growth, economic, agricultural and cultural development as it stayed peaceful unlike the north.

The Mongol invasion during the thirteenth century caused a surging influx of Northern Han Chinese refugees to move south to settle and develop the Pearl River delta.

The first Ming dynasty emperor Zhu Yuanzhang resettled his home city Fengyang and capital Nanjing with people from Jiangnan.

Genetics

The Han Chinese show a close genetic relationship with other modern East Asian populations such as the Koreans and Yamato. A 2018 research paper found that while the Han Chinese are closely related to the Koreans and Yamato in terms of a correlative genetic relationship, they are also easily genetically distinguishable from them. And that the same Han Chinese subgroups are genetically closer to each other relative to their Korean and Yamato counterparts, but are still easily distinguishable from each other. Research published in 2020 found the Yamato Japanese population to be overlapped with that of the northern Han Chinese.

The genetic makeup of the modern Han Chinese is not purely uniform in terms of physical appearance and biological structure due to the vast geographical expanse of China and the migratory percolation's that have occurred throughout it over the last three millennia. Of which has also engendered the emergence and evolution of the diverse multiplicity of assorted Han subgroups found throughout the various regions of modern China today. Comparisons between the Y chromosome single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of modern Northern Han Chinese and 3000 year old Hengbei ancient samples from China's Central Plains show that they are extremely similar to each other, which confirms the genetic continuity bequeathed by the ancient Chinese of Hengbei and the present-day Northern Han Chinese inheritors that currently inhabit it in the contemporary era. These findings demonstrate that the core fundamental structural basis that shaped the genetic makeup of the present-day Northern Han Chinese was already formed three thousand years ago. The reference population for the Chinese used in Geno 2.0 Next Generation is 81% Eastern Asia, 2% Finland and Northern Siberia, 8% Central Asia, and 7% Southeast Asia & Oceania.

Y-chromosome haplogroup O2-M122 is a common DNA marker found in the genetic substrate of the modern Han Chinese, as it appeared in China in prehistoric times. It is found in at least 29% of modern Han Chinese males in certain regions of modern China today. Other Y-DNA haplogroups that have been found with notable frequency in samples of Han Chinese include O-P203 (15/165 = 9.1%, 47/361 = 13.0%), C-M217 (10/168 = 6.0%, 27/361 = 7.5%, 187/1730 = 10.8%, 20/166 = 12.0%), N-M231 (6/166 = 3.6%, 18/361 = 5.0%, 117/1729 = 6.8%, 17/165 = 10.3%), O-M268(xM95, M176) (54/1147 = 4.7%, 8/168 = 4.8%, 23/361 = 6.4%, 12/166 = 7.2%), and Q-M242 (2/168 = 1.2%, 49/1729 = 2.8%, 12/361 = 3.3%, 48/1147 = 4.2%). However, the mtDNA of Han Chinese increases in diversity as one looks from northern to southern China, which suggests that the influx of male Han Chinese migrants intermarried with the local female non-Han aborigines after arriving in what is now modern-day Guangdong, Fujian, and other regions of southern China. Despite this, tests comparing the genetic profiles of northern Han, southern Han, and non-Han southern natives determined that haplogroups O1b-M110, O2a1-M88 and O3d-M7, which are prevalent in non-Han southern natives, were only observed in some southern Han Chinese (4% on average), but not in the northern Han genetic profile. Therefore, this proves that the male contribution of the southern non-Han natives in the southern Han genetic profile is limited, assuming that the frequency distribution of Y lineages in southern non-Han natives represents that prior to the expansion of Han culture which originated two thousand years ago from the north. In contrast, there is evidence that consistently shows the strong genetic similarities in the Y chromosome haplogroup distribution between the modern southern and northern Han Chinese population, and the result of principal core component analysis indicates that almost all modern Han Chinese populations form a tight cluster in their Y chromosome. However, other biological research findings have also demonstrated that the paternal lineages Y-DNA O-M119, O-P201, O-P203 and O-M95 are
found in both Southern Han Chinese and Southern non-Han minorities, but more commonly in the latter. In fact, these paternal markers are in turn less frequent in northern Han Chinese.  Another study puts the Han Chinese into two groups: Northern and southern Han Chinese, and it demonstrates that the core genetic characteristics of the present-day northern Han Chinese was already formed more than three-thousand years ago in the Central Plain area.

The estimated contribution of northern Han to the southern Han is substantial in the paternal ancestral lineages in addition to a geographic cline that exists for its corresponding maternal ancestry. As a result, the northern Han Chinese are the primary benefactors that contributed to the paternal gene pool of the modern southern Han Chinese as a result of the successive migratory waves that have occurred from the north to what is now modern Southern China. However, it is noteworthy that the southward expansion process that occurred two thousand years ago was largely dominated by males, as is shown by a greater contribution to the Y-chromosome than the mtDNA from northern to southern Han. These genetic findings and observations are in concurrence with historical records confirming the continuous and large migratory waves of northern Han Chinese inhabitants escaping dynastic changes, geopolitical upheavals, instability, warfare and famine into what is now today modern Southern China. Successive waves of Han migration and subsequent intermarriage and cross-cultural dialogue between the northern Han migrants and the non-Han aborigines gave rise to modern Chinese demographics with a dominant Han Chinese super-majority and minority non-Han Chinese indigenous peoples in the south over the past two thousand years.  Aside from these large migratory waves, other smaller southward migrations occurred during almost all periods over the past two millennia. A study by the Chinese Academy of Sciences into the gene frequency data of Han sub-populations and ethnic minorities in China, showed that Han sub-populations in different regions are also genetically quite close to the local ethnic non-Han minorities, meaning that in many cases, the blood of ethnic minorities had mixed into Han genetic substrate through varying degrees of intermarriage, while at the same time, the blood of the Han had also mixed into the genetic substrates of the local ethnic non-Han minorities.

A recent, and to date the most extensive, genome-wide association study of the Han population, shows that geographic-genetic stratification from north to south has occurred and centrally placed populations act as the conduit for outlying ones. Ultimately, with the exception in some ethnolinguistic branches of the Han Chinese, such as Pinghua and Tanka people, there is a "coherent genetic structure" found in the entirety of the modern Han Chinese populace.

Typical Y-DNA haplogroups of present-day Han Chinese include Haplogroup O-M122, C, Haplogroup N and Haplogroup Q-M120, and these haplogroups also have been found (alongside some members of Haplogroup N-M231, Haplogroup O-M95, and unresolved Haplogroup O-M175) among a selection of ancient human remains recovered from the Hengbei archeological site in Jiang County, Shanxi Province, China, an area that was part of the suburbs of the capital (near modern Luoyang) during the Zhou dynasty.

Notes

References

Further reading

 Joniak-Lüthi, Agnieszka (2015). The Han: China's Diverse Majority. Washington, DC: University of Washington Press.  (hardcover).  (paperback: 2017).

External links

Ethnic groups officially recognized by China

Han Chinese


A folding kayak is a direct descendant of the original Inuit kayak made of animal skins stretched over frames made from wood and bones.  A modern folder has a collapsible frame made of some combination of wood, aluminium and plastic, and a skin made of a tough fabric with a waterproof coating. Many have integral air chambers inside the hull, making them virtually unsinkable.

History

First models

The first workable folding kayak was built by Alfred Heurich in 1905, a German architectural student. Heurich paddled his creation on the Isar River near Munich and took out a patent on the design, called the Delphin (German: dolphin), the following year. The Delphin had a bamboo frame with a sailcloth hull stretched over it. It could be folded up and carried in three bags, each weighing less than .

The folding kayak was made commercially successful by Johannes Klepper, whose factory was at Rosenheim, Germany. Klepper kayaks were very popular for their compact size and ease of transport. Klepper's Faltboot was introduced in 1906, many years before hardshell boats were commercially produced. Oskar Speck undertook his seven-year journey from Germany to Australia in the 1930s using folding kayaks made and sponsored by another manufacturer, Pionier-Faltboot-Werft.

Second World War

During the Second World War the British and Commonwealth special forces employed kayaks in the Mediterranean, European, and South-east Asian theatres. The special forces of the day (COPPS, Royal Marines Boom Patrol Detachment, etc.) had developed for them about a dozen state of the art kayaks  which were given the codename Cockle. These Cockles ranged from the Mk 1 early frame-and fabric 'folbot' type to the four man boats made of aluminum alloy; most were 'collapsible' rather than being boats that could be completely disassembled, as with modern-day folding boats. The Mk 2 could be collapsed along its 15 ft length to just approximately 7 inches. This Mk 2 and its three-man Mk 2** were all of the same design and were designed by the same man—a Mr Fred Goatley. The Cockle Mk II was used by the RMBPD in Operation Frankton, the attack on Bordeaux in late 1942.
There is plenty of documentation showing delivery of British canoes Mk 3's and Mk 6's for British Military in Australia and beyond. For the British led Operation Jaywick the British Mark 1 type kayaks were used.

Walter Höhn (English; Hoehn) developed and built the first Swiss folding kayaks, which were tested in white water conditions, in 1924. Hoehn emigrated to Australia in 1928, bringing two examples of his boat designs with him:  A 1-man and a 2-man design. His boats were patented (Aust. Patent 117,779) and initially produced for sport use. During the Pacific war, Hoehn and Hedley's P.L. built a total of 1024 folding kayaks, called 'folboats', for the Australian military from the Hoehn design. Hoehn supplied the first 2 folboats for the highly secret 'Operation Jaywick' training at Camp-X near Sydney in 1942. Then Hoehn supplied his folboats for Cairns, Fraser Island and Mount Martha training camps. Hoehn's first military model designated 'Folboat Kayak Type' was succeeded by the 3-seater MKIII. The MKIII was successfully used in many raids during the Pacific War.

Hoehn's first army folboats were tested at the ZES commando base in Cairns, Queensland by commandos under the direction of Major Ivan Lyon for preparation of the Operation Jaywick raid. They included Capt. Sam Carey, Robert Page and Albert Sargent. They were also used for training and actual use in Operation Rimau. At least 34 raids, reconnaissance patrols and rescue missions in the Pacific Islands, notably RIMAU, COPPER, PYTHON, PLATYPUS and SUNCHARLIE used these folboats.

Cold War and modern use
The Klepper Aerius II model was introduced in 1951 and is still in production. In 1956, Dr. Hannes Lindemann crossed the Atlantic Ocean in an Aerius II, proof of the folding kayak's integrity and seaworthiness. Their light weight and non-metallic construction has made them the choice of many military special forces. Nautiraid of France produces a special model for military use, as do Klepper and Long Haul, who supply German and US Special Forces, respectively. The newest design innovation has come from Canada's TRAK Kayaks, who in 2007 have come out with a polyurethane skin over aluminum frame design with hydraulics in the cockpit to make the skin extremely taut and also to change the shape of the hull for varying paddling conditions. Armed Forces of Poland use Hermes Sport Company custom equipment.

There are about five major folding kayak manufacturers today, and a handful of small, one-off makers. In addition to Klepper the best-known modern brands have been Feathercraft and Folbot (both of which closed and ended production in 2016 due to slipping sales), also Triton Advanced, Long Haul Folding Kayaks, Nautiraid, Hermes Sport Company (successor to Wayland), Pakboats (who also produce folding canoes that are popular with fly-in wilderness fishing guides and researchers who use them for remote expeditions), Pouch and TRAK. Long Haul double kayak hulls are identical in form to Kleppers (as well as a good many older boats), so a Klepper Aerius II frame can be used with a Long Haul MK-II skin, and vice versa. Several Asian and Eastern European makers have been producing designs similar to those of the Folbot and Feathercraft. .

Design

Most folding kayaks have very similar construction, even though the materials may differ. Some boats use frames made of mountain ash, spruce and marine plywood, while others use aluminium tubing and various plastics, and a few newer boats such as Fujita and Firstlight use carbon fiber or glass-reinforced plastic tubing. Typically there are solid bow and stern pieces, and anywhere from three to seven ribs connected via some sort of flexible attachment to a number of longerons. Many boats follow the basic design pioneered by Klepper in having a folding set of floorboards and gunwales as well as additional longerons to add stiffness and shape.  Many folding kayaks also use air sponsons (up to four in the Klepper Quattro) to tighten the skin on the frame and to adjust the shape of the hull.

Most folding boats have two-part skins, with different materials used for the deck and the hull. Decks can be made of a breathable cotton/hemp blend, as Klepper has done since their early days, or of coated synthetics, as Feathercraft, Folbot, Long Haul Folding Kayaks, Nautiraid, Hermes Sport Company, Pouch and TRAK do. Each approach has its own particular benefits and drawbacks; all work well in practice, and some companies, such as Long Haul Folding Kayaks, offer both materials. Hulls are generally made of a heavily coated synthetic fiber. In the early days, rubber coated cotton canvas was used, while the modern boats use a synthetic elastomer —Hypalon, polyurethane or PVC—over a synthetic (typically Dacron) cloth.  The tension on the hull is what gives certain folding kayaks performance advantages over others. One manufacturer (TRAK) incorporates several hydraulic jacks into the frame that allow the user to change the hull's shape.

Assembly time and mechanisms or designs vary by manufacturer and model. Assembly times can be as little as 8–10 minutes or can reach upwards of 40–45 minutes, depending on the design of the kayak and the skill of the assembler. Commando teams can assemble a large Klepper or Long Haul double kayak in around 8 minutes or less. Disassembly is typically half the assembly time.

The Oru Kayak company uses the principles of origami to construct kayaks ranging in length from  to  using a single sheet of corrugated plastic as both the ribs and skin. The Oru kayak folds into itself to form a carrying case when not in use.

The stability and design robustness of several folding kayak models makes them ideal for upwind and downwind sailing.  Dr. Hannes Lindemann's Atlantic crossing was in most part achieved by sailing.

Performance
Folders are known for their durability, stability, and longevity: The Klepper Aerius I (a single-seater) was used successfully in the early days of white-water kayaking before the era of modern polyethylene boats, owing to its durability and excellent manoeuvrability. Some well-maintained Kleppers have been in use for more than 50 years.

Although a few hardshell kayakers are critical of folding boats, and do not regard them as in the same category as hardshell boats, folding kayaks exhibit many of the same paddling characteristics as the original skin-and-frame vessels of the circumpolar north. Other than contemporary versions of Inuit, Aleut, and Yup'ik kayaks and baidarkas, they are the closest relatives to the skin-and-frame boats of the past. The performance of these folding kayaks depend largely on the design of the kayak. The speed may be comparable to sea kayaks made from composite materials such as fibreglass or carbon/kevlar. In general, most folding kayaks trade off some performance in speed for the ease of travelling with a kayak. This is because the sponsons found in most modern folding kayaks make the kayaks wider; this increases drag and slows the kayak down.

Though they do tend to be somewhat less efficient in flat water than hardshell kayaks of similar dimensions, folding kayaks and other skin-on-frame boats have characteristics that can aid paddling efficiency in rough water conditions. In a hardshell kayak, waves and chop on the water can slow down the momentum of the craft and push the kayak back. The flexibility of the frame and the "give" of the skin in a folding kayak help the boat absorb the energy of waves and current, allowing the boat to move more easily through confused waves that buffet hardshells and to ride up over waves rather than smashing into their face. Folding kayaks (and canoes) provide a closer feeling of contact with the water and waves than hardshell boats.

Two substantial advantages of folding kayaks are lightness and portability.  Most models typically weigh 1/3 to 1/2 less than composite (fiberglass or rotomold) or polyurethane kayaks of similar dimensions.  Most models can be packed down small enough when dismantled to be stored in a closet or carried in the boot of a car and can be checked as baggage on most airlines.  Even having to pay excess baggage charges for some flights is still more economical than the cost of renting boats at a paddler's destination.  For example, the 12' Pakboat Puffin solo folding kayak weighs only 24 pounds with the optional deck.  It can be packed in a bag that meets airline dimensions and weight for "standard" baggage with enough room to spare for all the safety gear and clothing needed for paddling.

Notable owners

Roger Courtney founder of the Special Boat Service had his own folding kayak called 'Buttercup'. "It was a two seater sports model he had purchased from Selfridges department store in London for £22". It was 17 feet long and included a mast and sails. Over six months he navigated it from the Lake Victoria along the River Nile to the Mediteranian Sea.  For their honeymoon in 1938 Courtney and his wife  paddled Buttercup down the River Danube. His experience and his demonstration of his skills in Buttercup were instrumental in the development of modern canoe warfare and the British military units that would go on to form the SBS.

The folding kayak that used to belong to pope John Paul II has been on display at the Archdiocesan Museum in Kraków, Poland since 2003. When already a cardinal, the future pope shared the ownership of "The Pebble" with a student friend of his, who later donated it to the museum.

In 1956 the German doctor Hannes Lindemann crossed the Atlantic using an Klepper Aerius II folding kayak, today the kayak is exhibited in the Deutsches Museum.

See also

 Baidarka
 Folding boat
 Oskar Speck
 Sea kayak
 Sea sock
 Taimen (kayak)

Notes
Footnotes

Citations

References

External links

 The smallest liner of the world Pouch RZ85
 Ebook: "Alone At Sea" by Hannes Lindemann
 Folding Kayak Builders Manual from Yostwerks, details on building a folding kayak.
 FoldingKayaks.org (from which some of the text above was adapted, with permission)

Kayaks
Folding boats

ru:Байдарка

Folding kayak