1.
Boating Lake Park
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The Boating Lake Park is a large public park in Cwmbran, Torfaen in Wales. As its name suggests, the features a boating lake. There are in two lakes, the larger being home to various wetland birds and the smaller being the actual boating one. The park is bordered by the Afon Llwyd on one side, the park is quite expansive and includes a large adventure playground, a skate park and various sports pitches. The northern end of the park is in the Cwmbran suburb of Southville, improvements have also been made to the paths around the lake which include small areas of wooden decking and the new path which runs along the river. Work began on the improvements in January and were completed in June 2009, details at local website Review of park and local area
2.
Cwmbran
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Cwmbran is a new town in Wales. Today forming part of the county borough of Torfaen and county borough of Monmouth, Cwmbran was established in 1949 to provide new employment opportunities in the south eastern portion of the South Wales Coalfield. Cwmbran is twinned with Bruchsal in Germany and Carbonne in France, comprising the villages of Old Cwmbran, Pontnewydd, Upper Cwmbran, Croesyceiliog, Llantarnam and Llanyrafon, its population had grown to 48,535 by 2011. This makes it the sixth largest urban area in Wales, around 1179, Hywel, Lord of Caerleon gave a gift of money and land to found the Cistercian Abbey at Llantarnam. After the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII the Abbey was closed and was bought by a succession of wealthy landowners, by the 18th century the Abbey had passed into the ownership of the Blewitt family, who were to become key figures in the early industrialisation of Cwmbran. Brick making, lime kilns, iron ore mining, quarrying, in 1833 the Ordnance Survey map of Monmouthshire shows Cwmbran as a farm situated in the area now known as Upper Cwmbran, in the valley named Cwm Brân. Cwmbran now covers approximately 3,000 acres and has a population of around 50,000, the Cistercian Way also passes through Llantarnam, Old Cwmbran, Greenmeadow and Thornhill, Cwmbran before reaching the ancient chapel of Llanderfel on Mynydd Maen, and then onwards to Twmbarlwm. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Cwmbran was the site of industrial development. This industry drove the creation of the Monmouthshire Canal, the Newport and Pontypool Railway, very little of this industrial heritage remains today, though many of todays light industrial or retail estates were created on the sites. Following the passing of the 1946 New Towns Act, ministries, for Wales, the Ministry of Housing and Local Government proposed Church Village and Cwmbran. The Church Village proposal was vetoed by the Ministry of Power as new housing there would have interfered with plans for the expansion of coalmining in the area, however, the name of the town derives from the Welsh Cwm Brân, meaning valley of the river Brân. This was the name of a village located in the valley, Brân means crow, which could be allusion to the dark waters of the river, or may have been the personal name of someone associated with the area. Sitting as it does at the corner of the South Wales Coalfield, it has an aspect to its western and northern edges. The Afon Llwyd forms the river valley, although the most significant water course is probably the remains of the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal. To the east of Cwmbran the land is hilly, forming part of the Usk valley. The longest established employer in Cwmbran is biscuit maker Burtons Foods, as of 2005, the Cwmbran plant produces over 400 million Wagon Wheels a year. Contour Aerospace opened a new factory in Cwmbran in 2000, built in the late 1950s the New Town Centre hosts a main bus station, supermarkets, small commercial units and a cinema. Over a period of 30 years the centre was extended and refurbished several times
3.
Wales
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Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and it had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2. Wales has over 1,680 miles of coastline and is mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon. The country lies within the temperate zone and has a changeable. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudds death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of Englands conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism, Welsh national feeling grew over the century, Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, two-thirds of the population live in south Wales, mainly in and around Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and in the nearby valleys. Now that the countrys traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, Wales economy depends on the sector, light and service industries. Wales 2010 gross value added was £45.5 billion, over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the land of song, Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc when referring to the Celtic Britons in particular, the modern names for some Continental European lands and peoples have a similar etymology. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era of the Welsh people in modern Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland. It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the Hen Ogledd were one people, in particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage, culture, and language to the Welsh. The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century and it is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of names, Cambrian, Cambric and Cambria, survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales, Welsh
4.
Changfeng Park
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Changfeng Park is a landscaped park in the west of Shanghai, China. The size of the park is 364,000 square meters and it includes a large lake in the centre of the park. There are various facilities including a Sea Life aquarium and boating on the lake, the park is located in the Putuo District. To the east is East China Normal University, global Harbor, a large shopping mall, is northeast of the park. The park features a lake, Yin Chu Lake. The first phase of constructing the park started on 4 April 1957, the park was opened on Chinese National Day in 1959. Initially the park was called Huxi Park and then Biluohu Park when it was opened on 1 July 1958. On 29 September 1959, the deputy secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, Wei Wenbo, Changfeng Ocean World, also known as Sea Life Shanghai is the main attraction within Changfeng Park. It opened in 1999 with an area of 10,000 square meters and it showcases more than 10,000 marine creatures of over 300 different varieties. It is Chinas first marine aquarium, and Shanghais first large-scale world-class aquarium, there are more than 1,500 species of marine life on display, and it is one of Shanghais youth science education bases. The main building is located 13 metres below Yin Chu Lake, the aquarium was purchased by Merlin Entertainments in 2012. Changfeng Ocean World controversially includes a beluga whale and sea lion performance hall, visitors can, in cooperation with the staff, wear diving suits dance in the water with the whales or sea lions. It is believed that for this reason, Changfeng Ocean World is not linked to from the main Sea Life website, the park can be reached by taking Shanghai Metro Line 3 or Line 4 to the Jinshajiang Road Station to the northeast of the park. Shanghai Metro Line 2 runs south of the park, zhongshan Park, to the southeast Changfeng Ocean World official website
5.
Shanghai
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Shanghai is the most populous city proper in the world, with a population of more than 24 million as of 2014. As one of the four direct-controlled municipalities of the Peoples Republic of China, it is a financial centre and transport hub. Located in the Yangtze River Delta in East China, Shanghai sits on the edge of the mouth of the Yangtze in the middle portion of the eastern Chinese coast. The municipality borders the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the north, south and west, as a major administrative, shipping and trading city, Shanghai grew in importance in the 19th century due to trade and recognition of its favourable port location and economic potential. The city was one of five treaty ports forced open to foreign trade following the British victory over China in the First Opium War, the subsequent 1842 Treaty of Nanking and 1844 Treaty of Whampoa allowed the establishment of the Shanghai International Settlement and the French Concession. The city then flourished as a center of commerce between China and other parts of the world, and became the financial hub of the Asia-Pacific region in the 1930s. However, with the Communist Party takeover of the mainland in 1949, trade was limited to other socialist countries, and the citys global influence declined. In the 1990s, the reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping resulted in an intense re-development of the city, aiding the return of finance. The two Chinese characters in the name are 上 and 海, together meaning Upon-the-Sea. The earliest occurrence of this dates from the 11th-century Song Dynasty, at which time there was already a river confluence. There are disputes as to exactly how the name should be understood, Shanghai is officially abbreviated 沪 in Chinese, a contraction of 沪渎, a 4th- or 5th-century Jin name for the mouth of Suzhou Creek when it was the main conduit into the ocean. This character appears on all motor vehicle license plates issued in the municipality today, another alternative name for Shanghai is Shēn or Shēnchéng, from Lord Chunshen, a third-century BC nobleman and prime minister of the state of Chu, whose fief included modern Shanghai. Sports teams and newspapers in Shanghai often use Shen in their names, such as Shanghai Shenhua F. C. Huating was another early name for Shanghai. In AD751, during the dynasty, Huating County was established at modern-day Songjiang. Today, Huating appears as the name of a hotel in the city. The city also has various nicknames in English, including Pearl of the Orient, during the Spring and Autumn period, the Shanghai area belonged to the Kingdom of Wu, which was conquered by the Kingdom of Yue, which in turn was conquered by the Kingdom of Chu. During the Warring States period, Shanghai was part of the fief of Lord Chunshen of Chu and he ordered the excavation of the Huangpu River. Its former or poetic name, the Chunshen River, gave Shanghai its nickname of Shen, two important events helped promote Shanghais development in the Ming dynasty
6.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
7.
Lake
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A lake is an area of variable size filled with water, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land, apart from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, and therefore are distinct from lagoons, Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams, which are usually flowing. Most lakes are fed and drained by rivers and streams, natural lakes are generally found in mountainous areas, rift zones, and areas with ongoing glaciation. Other lakes are found in endorheic basins or along the courses of mature rivers, in some parts of the world there are many lakes because of chaotic drainage patterns left over from the last Ice Age. All lakes are temporary over geologic time scales, as they will fill in with sediments or spill out of the basin containing them. The word lake comes from Middle English lake, from Old English lacu, from Proto-Germanic *lakō, cognates include Dutch laak, Middle Low German lāke as in, de, Moorlake, de, Wolfslake, de, Butterlake, German Lache, and Icelandic lækur. Also related are the English words leak and leach, none of these definitions completely excludes ponds and all are difficult to measure. For this reason, simple size-based definitions are used to separate ponds. One definition of lake is a body of water of 2 hectares or more in area, however, others have defined lakes as waterbodies of 5 hectares and above, or 8 hectares and above. Charles Elton, one of the founders of ecology, regarded lakes as waterbodies of 40 hectares or more. The term lake is used to describe a feature such as Lake Eyre. In common usage, many bear names ending with the word pond. One textbook illustrates this point with the following, In Newfoundland, for example, almost every lake is called a pond, whereas in Wisconsin, the majority of lakes on Earth are fresh water, and most lie in the Northern Hemisphere at higher latitudes. Canada, with a drainage system has an estimated 31,752 lakes larger than 3 square kilometres and an unknown total number of lakes. Finland has 187,888 lakes 500 square metres or larger, most lakes have at least one natural outflow in the form of a river or stream, which maintain a lakes average level by allowing the drainage of excess water. Some lakes do not have an outflow and lose water solely by evaporation or underground seepage or both. Many lakes are artificial and are constructed for power generation, aesthetic purposes, recreational purposes, industrial use. Globally, lakes are greatly outnumbered by ponds, of an estimated 304 million standing water bodies worldwide, 91% are 1 hectare or less in area
8.
Boating
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It is a popular activity, and there are millions of boaters worldwide. Recreational boats fall into broad categories, and additional subcategories. Broad categories include dinghies, paddlesports boats, runabouts, daysailers, cruisers, in addition to those standards all boats employ the same basic principles of hydrodynamics. Boating activities are as varied as the boats and boaters who participate, broad categories include the following, Paddlesports include ears, swiftwater, and oceangoing types, usually covered-cockpit kayaks. Canoes are popular on lakes and rivers due to their carrying capacity and they are also easy to portage, or carry overland around obstructions like rapids, or just down to the water from a car or cabin. Kayaks can be found on inland waters, whitewater rivers. Known for their maneuverability and seaworthiness, kayaks take many shapes depending on their desired use, rowing craft are also popular for fishing, as a tender to a larger vessel, or as a competitive sport. Rowing shells are long and narrow, and are intended to convert as much of the rowers muscle power as possible into speed. The ratio of length of waterline to beam has much importance in marine mechanics, row boats or dinghies are oar powered, and generally restricted to protected waters. Rowboats are generally heavy craft compared to other has Sailing can be competitive, as in collegiate dinghy racing. Small sailboats are commonly made from fiberglass, and will have wood, aluminum, or carbon-fiber spars, and generally a sloop rig. Racing dinghies and skiffs tend to be lighter, have more sail area, daysailers tend to be wider across the beam and have greater accommodation space at the expense of speed. Freshwater fishing boats account for approximately 1/3 of all registered boats in the U. S. watersport Boats or skiboats are high-powered Go-Fast boats is designed for activities where a participant is towed behind the boat such as waterskiing and parasailing. Variations on the ubiqutous waterski include wakeboards, water-skiing, kneeboarding, inflatable towables, to some degree, the nature of these boating activities influences boat design. Waterski boats are intended to hold a course at an accurate speed with a flat wake for slalom skiing runs. Wakeboard boats run at speeds, and have various methods including ballast and negative lift foils to force the stern in the water, thereby creating a large. Saltwater fishing boats vary widely in length and are once again specialized for various species of fish, flats boats, for example, are used in protected, shallow waters, and have shallow draft. Sportfishing boats range from 25 to 80 feet or more, fishing boats in colder climates may have more space dedicated to cuddy cabins and wheelhouses, while boats in warmer climates are likely to be entirely open
9.
Park
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A park is an area of natural, semi-natural, or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of areas, rocks, soil, and trees. In North America, many parks have fields for playing such as soccer, baseball and football. Many parks have trails for walking, biking and other activities, some parks are built adjacent to bodies of water or watercourses and may comprise a beach or boat dock area. Often, the smallest parks are in areas, where a park may take up only a city block or less. Urban parks often have benches for sitting and may contain picnic tables, the largest parks can be vast natural areas of hundreds of thousands of square kilometres, with abundant wildlife and natural features such as mountains and rivers. In many large parks, camping in tents is allowed with a permit, many natural parks are protected by law, and users may have to follow restrictions. Large national and sub-national parks are typically overseen by a ranger or a park warden. Large parks may have areas for canoeing and hiking in the months and, in some northern hemisphere countries. The first parks were English deer parks, land set aside for hunting by royalty and they had walls or thick hedges around them to keep game animals in and people out. It was strictly forbidden for commoners to hunt animals in these deer parks and these game preserves evolved into landscaped parks set around mansions and country houses from the sixteenth century onwards. These may have served as hunting grounds but they also proclaimed the owners wealth, an aesthetic of landscape design began in these stately home parks where the natural landscape was enhanced by landscape architects such as Capability Brown. As cities became crowded, the hunting grounds became places for the public. With the Industrial revolution parks took on a new meaning as areas set aside to preserve a sense of nature in the cities, sporting activity came to be a major use for these urban parks. Areas of outstanding natural beauty were also set aside as national parks to prevent their being spoiled by uncontrolled development, in some parks or time periods with high pollen counts, parks tend to be avoided. Park design is influenced by the purpose and audience, as well as by the available land features. A park intended to provide recreation for children may include a playground, a park primarily intended for adults may feature walking paths and decorative landscaping. Specific features, such as riding trails, may be included to support specific activities, the design of a park may determine who is willing to use it
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