Liu Xiaojiang

Liu Xiaojiang (; born December 1949) is a retired Chinese admiral who served as Political Commissar of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) from 2008 to 2014. He is the son-in-law of former CPC general secretary Hu Yaobang.
Early life.
Liu was born in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, of Ji'an, Jiangxi ancestry. He is the son of Liu Haibin (), a Red Army veteran, and the son-in-law of Hu Yaobang, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China. He is therefore considered a princeling general.
In 1968, at the height of the Cultural Revolution, Liu was forced to work on a rural commune in Xixiang County, Shaanxi, as an "educated youth". He remained there for two years before joining the military.
Liu entered the PLA Ground Force in 1970 as a soldier in the railroad corps, and was eventually made a platoon leader. At some point in the 1970s he became a political officer, and served as director of the Propaganda Department for a ground forces division.
Most likely due to the upheaval of the early Cultural Revolution, which brought higher education in China to a standstill, Liu did not begin his undergraduate education until age 23, two years after joining the PLA. From April 1972 to January 1975, Liu studied at the Chinese Department of Heilongjiang University.
Career.
From 1978 to 1980, Liu served in the PLA General Staff Department (GSD) as secretary of the Headquarters Office of the GSD Communications Department. From 1980 to 1983, Liu served as personal secretary to the powerful former PLA Navy commander and Central Military Commission (CMC) vice-chair Liu Huaqing.
In 1984, Liu Xiaojiang was assigned to the PLA General Political Department (GPD), serving as
deputy director of the Planning and Assignments Division () within the GPD's Cadre Department, a department responsible for a wide range of personnel matters. From December 1992 to August 1998, he served as deputy director of this division, and was later promoted to director of the GPD's Cultural Department.
In 1998, at age 49, Liu took his first navy billet, becoming deputy director of the PLA Navy's Political Department, a Grade 5 (corps leader) position. Soon afterwards, Liu was appointed head of a special investigative task force for the navy following the Yuanhua case, a major corruption scandal that implicated hundreds of Party personnel, including GPD Intelligence Chief General Ji Shengde. Two years later, he was appointed to the Navy Discipline Inspection Committee, the main body responsible for handling illegal activity or violations of Party discipline within the navy. Liu was also made a member of the Party-wide 16th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. In 2009, Liu published a lengthy article in the "PLA Daily", recounting his work on the Yuanhua affair and discussing steps the PLA should take to address the challenge of corruption.
Liu became political commissar of the PLA Navy after his predecessor, Hu Yanlin, retired in 2008. Liu was elected as a full member to the 17th CPC Central Committee in 2007 and the 18th CPC Central Committee in 2012. Liu retired from military service in December 2014, after reaching the maximum retirement age of 65. Miao Hua succeeded him as Navy commissar.
Personal.
Liu Xiaojiang is married to Li Manmei (also known as Li Heng), the daughter of former CPC general secretary Hu Yaobang, a political moderate whose death in 1989 was a major contributing event to the Tiananmen Square protests. In Li Manmei's 2005 memoir about her father, she recounts how Liu joined her three brothers in carrying wreathes for the December 1990 ceremony at which Hu's ashes were interred.


Lincoln Case

Lincoln Case was a fictional character portrayed by actor Glenn Corbett on the 1960s American prime-time drama Route 66. Linc was one of three main regular characters on the program. His tenure began midway through the show's third season, when he was written in as a replacement for the departed Buz Murdock (played by George Maharis). Linc appeared in the final 32 of the program's 116 episodes as a sidekick to the character of Tod Stiles (played by Martin Milner).
The character has a certain historical significance. Linc was an Army [his Class A Uniform w/Class A 5th Special Forces Unit Patch and 1st Cavalry Division Combat Unit Patch on the right sleeve] (Linc may have a Ranger tab - unknown - but he is not wearing the Ranger Regimental Unit Patch) Ranger returning from service in the Vietnam War, which in the early 1960s was just beginning to become a major concern of ordinary Americans. His appearance made Route 66 the first dramatic television series to feature a recurring character who was directly involved in Vietnam. Many scripts and storylines of the show featured Linc trying to come to terms with his wartime experiences and adjust to civilian life. (Corbett, who played Linc, was a Navy veteran who had served in Korea.)
Linc's mother was portrayed by Linda Watkins in two episodes of the series. His father, Thomas, although an important character in Linc's tenure on the series, is never seen by the viewer and is only briefly heard as a voice over the telephone.
Author David Morrell is on record as being a huge fan of the Route 66 series and credits it for his inspiration to become a writer.
Stirling Silliphant, the primary creator of the series and the writer of the episode in which Linc Case was introduced, later authored a series of novels featuring another Vietnam veteran character, adventurer John Locke.
Character history.
Linc Case was introduced in the episode "Fifty Miles From Home," first telecast on March 22, 1963. He is established as a native of the fictional town of Landor, Texas. He gives his age as 26 in an episode aired in early 1964; he is therefore most likely meant to be about 25 when we first meet him.
Linc arrives in Houston on his way home after finishing a tour of duty which included an escape from a Vietnam P.O.W. camp. He has been in the army for six years, and has been granted leave. While in Houston, Linc is physically harassed by a group of young collegians. His temper snaps, and he viciously attacks the youths, using advanced judo techniques mastered during his military career. Linc injures several of them, and maims for life a promising young basketball star.
An enraged Tod Stiles, a friend of some of the youths that Linc attacked, follows Linc back to his hometown, where a hero's welcome has been prepared for him. Tod and Linc fight to a draw when Linc holds himself back from using his judo on Tod. The two then come to a mutual respect for each other. Linc then pays a visit to his mother and relates some of his experiences in the war to her, including an incident in which a Vietnamese family sacrificed their own lives to hide him from the enemy. Linc tells his mother that he has no desire to attend the ceremonies for him, since the people of the town, in which Linc grew up a loner and outsider, cannot possibly understand or relate to his experiences. He also announces his attempt to search for meaning in his own life, and accordingly decides to join up with Tod and wander the country with him. Linc is still technically on leave from the army for his first several appearances, before finally making the decision to resign and become a civilian in the episode "Peace, Pity, Pardon".
A few episodes during Linc's tenure on the show brought him into contact with people and circumstances from his recent Vietnam past. In the segment "What a Shining Young Man Was Our Gallant Lieutenant," Linc planned to pay a visit to his former commanding officer Lieutenant School (played by Dick York) living near Tampa. However, Linc learned that head injuries combined with trauma experienced by the man during the war had caused a mental collapse, and he subsequently believed himself to be an eight-year-old boy. Linc determined to stay with the Lieutenant as his "playmate" out of his past loyalty to the man, before finally coming to a realization that there could be no real place for him in the Lieutenant's world of perpetual childhood.
In another episode, "Like This it Means Tiger, Like This - Bitter, Like This - Father" (the title refers to the Chinese word Fu whose different pronunciations confer different meanings upon it), Linc was working in Savannah, Georgia. He ran into Camden Wilcox (played by Larry Blyden), a former member of his Vietnam unit whose act of cowardice during a skirmish had caused the deaths of two members of Linc's patrol. Linc brutally beat Wilcox and announced his intention of persecuting the man until he admitted his culpability. Linc eventually made his peace with Cam, however, as well as with his own memories of the incident.
At the time of his introduction to the series, Linc was estranged from his father, Thomas Case, feeling that the older man never attempted to understand him or relate to him as an individual. Linc steadfastly refused to visit or even speak to his father throughout most of his time on the series. This finally came to an end in the late fourth-season episode "Kiss the Monster, Make Him Sleep," at the conclusion of which Linc finally gave into his mother's entreaties and called his father on the telephone, speaking to him for the first time since his departure from home. The elder Case broke down upon finally hearing his son's voice again.
In the two-part series finale of Route 66, "Where There's a Will, There's a Way," after attending a funeral in Tampa involving some complex characters, Tod got married and Linc announced his own intention to return home.
Personality traits.
With a slightly hard edge to his robustly handsome features and lightly colored eyes, Linc is a taciturn and introverted individual, in stark contrast to his expressively emotive predecessor Buz Murdock. Nonetheless, Linc beneath his often seemingly cold and indifferent exterior possesses a wealth of compassion and a droll, low-key sense of humor, as well as a strong sense of loyalty to those he considers his friends. However, he also harbors a fierce temper, which is quick to ignite. Linc's military service has taught him a number of conventional skills which prove handy in his ability to find many different kinds of work, as well as a few unconventional ones which he occasionally finds use for in his sometimes dangerous exploits with his friend Tod.


Matthew Crawley


3rd Liberty Loan Act

The Third Liberty Loan Act () was a liberty bond sold during World War I that helped cover the war expenses of the United States. In effect, the bonds were loans from citizens to the US Government which would be repaid with interest in the future. There were two previous loan acts, The Liberty Loan Act and The Second Liberty Loan Act, each providing additional money to the US Government to fund the war. The Third Liberty Loan Act was enacted on April 5, 1918. The third act specifically allowed the US government to issue $3 billion worth of war bonds at a rate of 4.5% interest for up to 10 years with an individual aggregate limit of $45,000. The bonds produced by the Third Liberty Loan Act were not redeemable until September 15, 1928.
The Third Liberty Loan Act was an amendment to the previous two Liberty Loan acts. The first Liberty Loan have been enacted on April 24, 1917, and issued $5 billion in bonds at a 3.5 percent interest rate. However, this loan was not sufficient to support the United States presence in the war. The second act was put into place on October 1, 1917, only a few months after the first. This time the loan allowed for an additional $3 billion in bonds at a 4 percent interest rate. The third loan was still insufficient and a fourth act was created on September 28, 1918, which allowed for an even higher amount - $6 billion at 4.25 percent interest rate.
These bonds were sold primarily by the boy and girl scouts. The most famous of bonds poster depicted a boy scout handing a sword to Lady Liberty that is suited for battle. The scouts ended up selling 2,328,308 liberty bonds between 1917 and 1918. This totaled $354,859,262 that the government owed to the people of the United States and $43,043,698 allocated to the Allied forces.
The expenses covered by these loans included weaponry, medical and surgical supplies, and vehicles.
Though the liberty loans were to be used only to fund the war they are still used to this day to fund matters of extreme cost. The most recent use was in 2001 to offset the cost of rebuilding the areas affected by the terrorist attacks.


Wim Kan

Willem Cornelis "Wim" Kan (15 January 1911 – 8 September 1983) was a Dutch cabaret artist. Together with Toon Hermans and Wim Sonneveld, he is considered to be one of the Great Three of Dutch cabaret.
In 1936, he established the ABC Cabaret, which soon became one of the most successful Dutch cabaret groups, in which several artists debuted who later became famous.
In 1940, the ABC Cabaret was touring the Dutch East Indies, and because of the German invasion could not return to the Netherlands. After the Japanese conquest of the Dutch East Indies, he was deported to camps at the Burma Railway. Because of his experiences at these camps he later agitated against Hirohito's visit to the Netherlands in 1971.
Wim Kan is possibly best known as the originator of the tradition of the so-called "Oudejaarsconferences". These are performances of political cabaret on (or around) New Year's Eve, discussing the events of the past year. Wim Kan made the first oudejaarsconference in 1954, which was broadcast on radio. His first televised oudejaarsconference was in 1973, scoring an audience measurement of 75% and record appreciations rating of 8.8 (out of 10). Although he actually made only 5 television conferences (1973, 1976, 1979, 1981, 1982), they made such an impact that many people remember it as a yearly tradition.


Chimurenga

Chimurenga is a word in the Shona language. The Ndebele equivalent, though not as widely used since the majority of Zimbabweans are Shona speaking, is Umvukela, roughly meaning "revolutionary struggle" or uprising. In specific historical terms, it also refers to the Ndebele and Shona insurrections against administration of the British South Africa Company during the late 1890s—the Second Matabele War, or First "Chimurenga"—and the war fought between African nationalist guerrillas and the predominantly white Rhodesian government during the 1960s and 1970s—the Rhodesian Bush War, or Second "Chimurenga"/"Imvukela".
The concept is also occasionally used in reference to the land reform programme undertaken by the Government of Zimbabwe since 2000, which some call a Third "Chimurenga". Proponents of land reform regard it as the final phase in what they hold to be the liberation of Zimbabwe through economic and agrarian reforms intended to empower indigenous people, despite the economic collapse that soon followed, which some have labeled the Third "Chimurenga" as being the catalyst.
In a modern context, the word may denote a struggle for human rights, political dignity and social justice. The expression is also used in context with modern Zimbabwean music, "Chimurenga" music.
Etymology.
The name Chimurenga is coined from the great ancestor of the now Shona, Venda and Kalanga people. The Nambiya people are also a part of this group. Their ancestor was known by the name Murenga Musorowenzou (Head of an Elephant), known by the Venda as "Thoho yaNdou" and "Sholo reZhou". The later two have named their cities after this man while the Shona honoured him by naming their wars of struggle after him.
First "Chimurenga" (1896-1900).
The First "Chimurenga" is now celebrated in Zimbabwe as the First War of Independence. It is also known in the English speaking world as the Second Matabele War. This conflict refers to the 1896–1897 Ndebele-Shona revolt against the British South Africa Company's administration of the territory.
Mlimo, the Matabele spiritual/religious leader, is credited with fomenting much of the anger that led to this confrontation. He convinced the Ndebele and Shona that the white settlers (almost 4,000 strong by then) were responsible for the drought, locust plagues and the cattle disease rinderpest ravaging the country at the time. Mlimo's call to battle was well timed. Only a few months earlier, the British South Africa Company's Administrator General for Matabeleland, Leander Starr Jameson, had sent most of his troops and armaments to fight the Transvaal Republic in the ill-fated Jameson Raid. This left the country's defences in disarray. The Ndebele began their revolt in March 1896.
In June 1896, Mashayamombe led the uprising of the Zezuru Shona people located to the South West of the capital Salisbury. Mashayamombe worked with the local spiritual leader Kaguvi, and during this period a white farmer, Norton and his wife were killed at Porta Farm in Norton.
The third phase of the First "Chimurenga" was joined by the Hwata Dynasty of Mazoe. They succeeded in driving away the white settlers from the Mashonaland on 20 June 1896. Three months later, the British South Africa Police regrouped and established control over the Hwata people after their Mambo (King) Hwata surrendered together with his spirit medium, Nehanda Nyakasikana.
Hwata and Nehanda Nyakasikana were sentenced to death and executed.
Mlimo was eventually assassinated in his temple in Matobo Hills by the American scout Frederick Russell Burnham. Upon learning of the death of Mlimo, Cecil Rhodes walked unarmed into the native's stronghold and persuaded the Impi to lay down their arms. The first "Chimurenga" thus ended on October 1897. Matabeleland and Mashonaland were unified under company rule and named Southern Rhodesia.
Second "Chimurenga" (1967–79).
The Second "Chimurenga", also known as the Rhodesian Bush War or the Zimbabwe Liberation War, refers to the guerrilla war of 1966–1979 which led to the end of white-minority rule in Rhodesia and to the "de jure" independence of Zimbabwe. The physical manifestation of the war was as a conflict between the predominantly white minority government, headed by Ian Smith, and the black nationalist movements of ZANU and ZAPU, respectively led by Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo.
In music.
"Chimurenga" also refers to a style of music first branded by Thomas Mapfumo, who mixed indigenous African rhythmic patterns and instruments such as mbira (thumb piano), drums, gourd rattles with Western styles (electric guitar) in songs that achieved wide popularity among the protest movement against white minority rule. Today the term "Chimurenga" music refers to popular Shona music from Zimbabwe.


Hobart Baumann Amstutz

Hobart Baumann Amstutz (18 September 1896 – 26 February 1980) was a bishop of the American Methodist Church and the United Methodist Church, elected in 1956.
Early years.
He was born in Henrietta, Ohio, United States. He graduated in 1915 from Oberlin High School, Oberlin, Ohio, and attended Baldwin-Wallace College for two years before being drafted into the army in World War I. After the war, he earned in 1921 his A.B. degree from Northwestern University and in 1923 his Bachelor of Divinity degree from Garrett Theological Seminary and M.A. from Northwestern University. In 1938, Baldwin-Wallace College awarded him an honorary D.D. Hobart had 2 brothers Clarence John "Stutz" Amstutz and Melvin Amstutz. Clarence had 3 children C. John Amstutz, Grethen (Amstutz) Timmons and Virginia (Amstutz) Wilhelm.
Missionary service.
Rev. Amstutz served as a missionary in South East Asia beginning in 1926. For many years, he was pastor of the Wesley Methodist Church in Singapore. In 1942, he was imprisoned by the Japanese, spending three and a half years in a prison camp. From 1956 to 1964, he served as elected Methodist Bishop for Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Burma) and also served as founding President of Trinity College in Singapore. Shortly after retirement, he was called to be Methodist Bishop of Pakistan from 1964 to 1968, where he succeeded in creating the Church of Pakistan, an amalgamation of four Protestant churches.
Death.
Bishop Amstutz died on 26 February 1980, aged 83, in Claremont, California. He was survived by his wife, Celeste; a son, Bruce, who was serving as a U.S. diplomat in Afghanistan; a daughter Beverly, and a brother, Clarence.


Jit (film)

Jit is a Zimbabwean film made in 1990, written and directed by Michael Raeburn. It is about a young man, nicknamed UK, who lives in Harare with his musician uncle, Oliver Mtukudzi, who plays himself. UK is knocked out when he falls out of a taxicab and then falls in love with the woman he gazes up at when he regains consciousness. He determines that he must marry her, but her father insists on a "bride price" in the form of an expensive stereo and cash. UK sets out to obtain these things, but has to appease his jukwa (ancestral spirit), who is visible only to him and wants him to give her beer and earn money to send to his parents in the countryside.
Much of the film is set in the beer garden at the Queens Hotel in Harare, which at the time was the epicenter of the style of popular Zimbabwean dance music called jit, also known as jit-jive, from which the movie takes its name. Certain aspects of the film satirize Shona beliefs, including the jukwa's incessant craving for beer. "Jit" was the first Zimbabwean feature film to attract international attention and be enthusiastically received by local audiences. Upon its release the film played to full houses for two months. According to Raeburn, the film "explores the conflict between rural and urban life and it celebrates determination."


Songjiang Province

Sungkiang or Songjiang () was a province (c.32,000 sq mi/82,880 km²) of the Republic of China. Mudanjiang was the capital. It was one of nine provinces created in Manchuria by the Chinese Nationalist government . It was bordered on the east by the USSR, and along part of the southern border ran the Nen (Nonni) and Songhua Rivers. In 1949 Hejiang was incorporated into Songjiang and in 1954, northern Songjiang was merged into Heilongjiang province and southern parts into Jilin province.


Bai Xiangguo

Bai Xiangguo (; June 1918 – 7 August 1991) was a Chinese military officer and politician. A career officer of the People's Liberation Army with the rank of colonel, he was sent to the Ministry of Foreign Trade to restore order after the chaos of the early Cultural Revolution, and served as Minister of Foreign Trade from July 1970 to October 1973. He visited dozens of countries in that capacity, and led the first official Chinese delegation to France in 1971 after the two countries established diplomatic relations, which was also the PRC's first minister-level delegation to visit Western Europe. He was dismissed in 1973 and returned to the military to serve as Deputy Director of the PLA General Logistics Department.
Wartime career.
Bai was born in June 1918 into a poor peasant family in Penglai, Shandong. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, he enlisted in the Eighth Route Army in 1937 and joined the Communist Party of China in February 1938. He soon transferred to the New Fourth Army and followed commander Li Xiannian to the Henan-Hubei border region to establish a Communist base area. From December 1942 he served in the tenth branch school of Counter-Japanese Military and Political University. In October 1944 he became deputy political commissar of a regiment. He fought in many battles in the Henan-Hubei region including Yujiadian, Zhutangdian, Xinjie, Dawushan, Pingba, and Lidian.
During the Chinese Civil War, Bai served in the Zhongyuan Military Region and fought in the famous Zhongyuan Breakout campaign in June 1946. In August 1947, his unit was reorganized into the 12th Column of the Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu Field Army and fought its way back to the Dabie Mountains region. After February 1948, he became a regimental political commissar and then director of the political department of the First Division of Hubei Military District. He participated in many battles during the People's Liberation Army's takeover of Hubei and Southwest China.
People's Republic of China.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Bai served in a series of military positions including Director of Organization of the Political Department of the Hubei Military District, Political Commissar of the 123rd Division of the 41st Army, and Deputy Director of the Political Department of the Guangzhou Military Region. He was awarded the rank of colonel in 1955.
When the Cultural Revolution began in 1966, China descended into chaos. In July 1970, Bai, until then a career military officer, was appointed as Minister of Foreign Trade to restore order to the ministry, which had been attacked by the Red Guards. During his three-year tenure, he visited dozens of countries including France, Romania, Peru, and Burma, and signed trade agreements with them. In October 1971, he led China's first official government delegation to France after the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations, It was also the PRC's first minister-level delegation to visit Western Europe. He was instrumental in building the new Canton Fair exhibition hall to host the enlarged trade fair in autumn 1972.
In October 1973, Bai was replaced by Li Qiang as Minister of Foreign Trade. In a meeting with an American delegation led by Henry Kissinger, Jiang Qing revealed that the reason for his dismissal was because the "handsome" Bai "failed to withstand the poisonous snake that took the form of a beautiful woman". He returned to the military and served as Deputy Director of the PLA General Logistics Department and Director of its Political Department.
Bai retired in November 1987. He died on 7 August 1991 in Beijing, at the age of 73.


Sun Yat-sen House (Nanjing)

Sun Yat-sen House () is located in the South Garden of Gulou Campus of Nanjing University in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. It's said that Sun Yat-sen, the first president (provisional president) of the Republic of China, lived there in 1910s.
The house has been called Zhongshan House (Sun Yat-sen House) for long, but it's unknown from when. It's included in the list of Nanjing Historic Preservations in 2006 and Nanjing Key Modern Historic Buildings in 2010. In the book "My Grandfather: Sun Yat-sen" published in 2001 written by Sun Huifang, a photo of the house is shown with the note "official mansion of Sun Yat-sen".
The place became part of campus of Nanjing University (Nanda) after 1952. "To prove it, original record or image material must be found, or it's only a legend." said Zhu Baoqin, a professor of history at Nanjing University. After research, Sun Huifang, the granddaughter of Sun Yat-sen, considered the house to be the house Sun Yat-sen lived when he was provisional president in the first year of Republic of China (1912). Sun Yat-sen once lived at Changjiang Road in Nanjing when he was provisional president.


Phillips Talbot

William Phillips Talbot (June 7, 1915 – October 1, 2010) was a United States Ambassador to Greece (1965–69) and, at his death, member of the American Academy of Diplomacy, the Council of American Ambassadors and the Council on Foreign Relations.
Early life.
Talbot was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and served in the United States Navy during World War II.
Career.
Journalism.
After graduating from the University of Illinois in 1936, Talbot started as a reporter for the "Chicago Daily News", where he remained from 1936 to 1938. In 1939, having been turned down for a foreign correspondent position, he left the "Chicago Daily News" to take a position with the Institute of Current World Affairs in India where he reported on the Indian independence movement. The Phillips Talbot Fellowship was named in his honor and is awarded yearly by the Institute to promising young journalists.
Politics.
Talbot was the United States Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian affairs from 1961-65 during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.
Talbot served as President of Asia Society from 1970-1982 and was awarded the Padma Shri in March 2002 for his efforts in fomenting peace between India and America during his tenure as President.