1.
Tiananmen Square
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Tiananmen Square is a city square in the centre of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen located to its north, separating it from the Forbidden City. The square contains the Monument to the Peoples Heroes, the Great Hall of the People, the National Museum of China, and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the Peoples Republic of China in the square on October 1,1949, Tiananmen Square is within the top ten largest city squares in the world. It has great significance as it was the site of several important events in Chinese history. Outside China, the square is best known for the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the Tiananmen, a gate in the wall of the Imperial City, was built in 1415 during the Ming dynasty. In the 17th century, fighting between Li Zichengs rebel forces and the forces of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty caused heavy damage to, or even destroyed, Tiananmen Square was designed and built in 1651, and has since been enlarged by four times its original size in the 1950s. Near the centre of the square stood the Great Ming Gate, the gate to the Imperial City, renamed Great Qing Gate during the Qing dynasty. This gate had a status as the Gate of the Nation. It normally remained closed, except when the Emperor passed through, commoner traffic was diverted to side gates at the western and eastern ends of the square, respectively. Because of this diversion in traffic, a marketplace, called Chess Grid Streets, was developed in the big. In 1860, during the Second Opium War, when British and French troops invaded Beijing, they pitched camp near the gate and briefly considered burning down the gate and they decided ultimately to spare the Forbidden City and instead burn down the Old Summer Palace. When the forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance besieged Beijing during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, they damaged the office complexes. After the Boxer Rebellion ended, the became a space for the foreign powers to assemble their military forces. In 1954, the Gate of China was demolished, allowing for the enlargement of the square, in November 1958, a major expansion of Tiananmen Square started, which was completed after only 11 months, in August 1959. This followed the vision of Mao Zedong to make the square the largest and most spectacular in the world, in that process, a large number of residential buildings and other structures have been demolished. On its southern edge, the Monument to the Peoples Heroes has been erected, the year after Maos death in 1976, a mausoleum was built near the site of the former Gate of China, on the main north-south axis of the square. In connection with this project, the square was further increased in size to become fully rectangular, the urban context of the square was altered in the 1990s with the construction of National Grand Theatre in its vicinity and the expansion of the National Museum. Used as a meeting place since its creation, its flatness is contrasted by the 38-metre high Monument to the Peoples Heroes
2.
Liang Sicheng
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Liang Sicheng was a Chinese architect and scholar, often known as the father of modern Chinese architecture. His father, Liang Qichao, was one of the most prominent Chinese scholars of the early 20th century and his wife was the architect and poet Lin Huiyin. His younger brother, Liang Siyong, was one of Chinas first archaeologists, Liang authored the first modern history on Chinese architecture, and he was the founder of the Architecture Department of Northeastern University in 1928 and Tsinghua University in 1946. He was the Chinese representative of the Design Board which designed the United Nations headquarters in New York City. He is recognized as the “Father of Modern Chinese Architecture”. ”Liang Sicheng was born on 20 April 1901 in Tokyo, Japan, foreign powers soon divided China into spheres of influence, while the weak and corrupt Qing Dynasty could do little to stop them. In 1898 the Guangxu Emperor, led by his circle of advisers, attempted to introduce reforms to stem the decay. Liang Qichao, a well-educated and energetic man, was a leader of this movement, however, in the face of opposition from conservatives in the Qing court, the movement failed. The Empress Dowager Cixi, the adoptive mother and the power behind the throne, imprisoned the emperor. Liang Qichao took refuge in Japan, where his eldest son was born, after the Qing Dynasty was overthrown in 1911, Liang Qichao, Liang Sichengs father, returned to China from his exile in Japan. He briefly served in the government of the newly established Republic, Liang Qichao quit his government post and initiated a social and literary movement to introduce modern, Western thought to Chinese society. Liang Sicheng was educated by his father in this progressive environment, in 1915, Liang entered Tsinghua College, a preparatory school in Beijing. In 1924, he and Lin went to University of Pennsylvania funded by Boxer Rebellion Indemnity Scholarship to study architecture under Paul Cret, three years later, Liang received his masters degree in architecture. He greatly benefited from his education in America, which prepared him for his future career as a scholar. In 1928, Liang married Lin Huiyin, who was a renowned scholar in modern China. She was recognized as an artist, architect and poet, admired by and friend with famous scholars of her time, such as poet Xu Zhimo, philosopher Jin Yuelin. When the couple went back in 1928, they were invited by the Northeastern University in Shenyang, at that time Shenyang was under the control of Japanese troops, which was a big challenge to perform any professional practice. They went anyway, established the second School of Architecture in China and their effort was interrupted by Japan’s occupation in the following year, but after 18 years, in 1946, the Liangs were again able to practice their professorship in Tsinghua University in Beijing. This time a systematic and all-around curriculum was discreetly put forward, consisted of courses of fine arts, theory, history, science
3.
Lin Huiyin
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Lin Huiyin was a noted 20th-century Chinese architect and writer. Liang and Lin began restoration work on heritage sites of China in the post-imperial Republican Era of China. The American artist Maya Lin is her niece, Lin was born in Hangzhou though her family was from Minhou, Fujian. She was the daughter of Lin Changmin and He Xueyuan, in a time when women had limited access to formal education, Lin was able to receive a formal education due to being part of a wealthy family. Because of her familys affluence she was able to travel extensively with her father and she obtained her degrees both in England and the United States. Lin first studied in London where she attended St Marys College and it was there she became acquainted with the well known Chinese poet Xu Zhimo. Their relationship was a part of Lin Huiyins life and is referred to in romantic anecdotes. However, Lins works are highly regarded, Lin wrote free verse, novels and prose. Lins poems appeared in such as the Beijing Morning Post, Crescent Monthly, Poetry and the Dipper. In 1924, Lin and Liang Sicheng both enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, where she worked as a part-time assistant in the architectural department. Although they both wanted to attend the School of Architecture, Lin was not admitted because she was a woman and she therefore enrolled in the School of Fine Arts. Later, she enrolled in stage design programs in Yale University as a graduate student, during her studies she pursued her passion for architecture by taking architectural classes. It was here that Lin along with Liang Sicheng, her husband whom she had known since childhood. In the wake of the September 18th Incident, Lin left for Beijing, upon her return, she helped to establish the Architectural Department in Northeastern University in Shenyang, where she then taught architecture briefly. Meanwhile, in 1928, she designed a station in Jilin. This was one of the few buildings Lin designed, throughout the 1930s, Lin and her husband lived in Beiping, as Beijing was then called, near both of their families. Close friends at the time were the Americans Wilma and John K, in 1937, she discovered the main hall of Foguang Temple near Doucun, Shanxi. The hall was the only remaining Tang dynasty timber structure known at the time and it was in Lizhuang where the bedridden Lin Huiyin, suffering from tuberculosis, was told of her younger brothers martyrdom while serving as a combat aviator in the air force in defense of Chengdu
4.
Cenotaph
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A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek, κενοτάφιον kenotaphion Cenotaphs were common in the ancient world with many built in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and across Northern Europe. The Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence, Italy, contains a number of cenotaphs including one for Dante Alighieri, a cenotaph is the focal point of the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria, South Africa. It is situated below the main point of interest, a marble Historical Frieze in the Hall of Heroes. The Hall of Heroes itself has a dome from the summit of one can view the interior of the monument. At noon on 16 December each year the sun shines through another opening in the dome onto the middle of the cenotaph, the ray of sunshine symbolises Gods blessing on the lives and endeavours of the Voortrekkers. 16 December is the date in 1838 that the Battle of Blood River was fought, durban, South Africa, has a striking and unusual cenotaph made of granite and lavishly decorated with brightly coloured ceramics. Port Elizabeth, South Africa, has a cenotaph, on either side of the central sarcophagus are statues by Technical College Art School principal, James Gardner, who served in the trenches during the war. One depicts St George and the Dragon, the other depicts the sanctity of family life, surrounding the sarcophagus are a number of bas-relief panels depicting scenes and people during the First World War. It was unveiled by Mrs W F Savage and dedicated by Canon Mayo on 10 November 1929, a surrounding memorial wall commemorates the men and women killed during World War II. In Livingstone there is a cenotaph at the Eastern Cataract of The Victoria Falls with the names of the men of Northern Rhodesia who died during the Great War 1914–18 and it was unveiled by HRH Prince Arthur of Connaught on 1 August 1923. There is also a cenotaph in Lusaka at Embassy Park, opposite the Cabinet Office along Independence Avenue, the cenotaph was commemorated in 1977. A monument which has come to be known to as the Cenotaph was erected in Plaza San Martín, in downtown Buenos Aires, to commemorate the Argentinian soldiers who died during the Falklands War, in 1982. The monument consists of a series of plaques of marble with the names of the fallen, surrounding a flame. Another cenotaph, which is a replica of the Argentine Military Cemetery in Darwin on the Falkland Islands, exists in Campo de Mayo, a limestone replica of the Cenotaph at Whitehall in London was erected outside the Cabinet Building in Hamilton, Bermuda in 1920. In the United States, a cenotaph in Yale Universitys Hewitt Quad honours men of Yale who died in battle, the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Memorial in Dallas is often described as a cenotaph. It has an Egyptian Revival cenotaph base, surmounted by a fasces bound together with ribbons bearing the names of the dead and it was designed by French émigré architect Maximilian Godefroy in 1815, and construction was completed in 1827
5.
Marble
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Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Geologists use the marble to refer to metamorphosed limestone, however. Marble is commonly used for sculpture and as a building material and this stem is also the basis for the English word marmoreal, meaning marble-like. In Hungarian it is called márvány, Marble is a rock resulting from metamorphism of sedimentary carbonate rocks, most commonly limestone or dolomite rock. Metamorphism causes variable recrystallization of the carbonate mineral grains. The resulting marble rock is composed of an interlocking mosaic of carbonate crystals. Primary sedimentary textures and structures of the carbonate rock have typically been modified or destroyed. Pure white marble is the result of metamorphism of a very pure limestone or dolomite protolith, green coloration is often due to serpentine resulting from originally magnesium-rich limestone or dolostone with silica impurities. These various impurities have been mobilized and recrystallized by the intense pressure, examples of historically notable marble varieties and locations, White marble has been prized for its use in sculptures since classical times. This preference has to do with its softness, which made it easier to carve, relative isotropy and homogeneity, construction marble is a stone which is composed of calcite, dolomite or serpentine which is capable of taking a polish. More generally in construction, specifically the dimension stone trade, the marble is used for any crystalline calcitic rock useful as building stone. For example, Tennessee marble is really a dense granular fossiliferous gray to pink to maroon Ordovician limestone that geologists call the Holston Formation. Ashgabat, the city of Turkmenistan, was recorded in the 2013 Guinness Book of Records as having the worlds highest concentration of white marble buildings. According to the United States Geological Survey, U. S. domestic marble production in 2006 was 46,400 tons valued at about $18.1 million, compared to 72,300 tons valued at $18.9 million in 2005. Crushed marble production in 2006 was 11.8 million tons valued at $116 million, of which 6.5 million tons was finely ground calcium carbonate and the rest was construction aggregate. For comparison,2005 crushed marble production was 7.76 million tons valued at $58.7 million, of which 4.8 million tons was finely ground calcium carbonate, U. S. dimension marble demand is about 1.3 million tons. The DSAN World Demand for Marble Index has shown a growth of 12% annually for the 2000–2006 period, the largest dimension marble application is tile. In 1998, marble production was dominated by 4 countries that accounted for almost half of production of marble
6.
Granite
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Granite is a common type of felsic intrusive igneous rock that is granular and phaneritic in texture. Granites can be white, pink, or gray in color. The word granite comes from the Latin granum, a grain, in reference to the structure of such a holocrystalline rock. By definition, granite is a rock with at least 20% quartz. The term granitic means granite-like and is applied to granite and a group of igneous rocks with similar textures and slight variations in composition. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a texture is known as a granite porphyry. Granitoid is a general, descriptive field term for lighter-colored, coarse-grained igneous rocks, petrographic examination is required for identification of specific types of granitoids. The extrusive igneous rock equivalent of granite is rhyolite, Granite is nearly always massive, hard and tough, and therefore it has gained widespread use throughout human history, and more recently as a construction stone. The average density of granite is between 2.65 and 2.75 g/cm3, its compressive strength usually lies above 200 MPa, and its viscosity near STP is 3–6 •1019 Pa·s. The melting temperature of dry granite at ambient pressure is 1215–1260 °C, it is reduced in the presence of water. Granite has poor primary permeability, but strong secondary permeability, true granite according to modern petrologic convention contains both plagioclase and alkali feldspars. When a granitoid is devoid or nearly devoid of plagioclase, the rock is referred to as alkali feldspar granite, when a granitoid contains less than 10% orthoclase, it is called tonalite, pyroxene and amphibole are common in tonalite. A granite containing both muscovite and biotite micas is called a binary or two-mica granite, two-mica granites are typically high in potassium and low in plagioclase, and are usually S-type granites or A-type granites. A worldwide average of the composition of granite, by weight percent, based on 2485 analyses. Much of it was intruded during the Precambrian age, it is the most abundant basement rock that underlies the relatively thin veneer of the continents. Outcrops of granite tend to form tors and rounded massifs, granites sometimes occur in circular depressions surrounded by a range of hills, formed by the metamorphic aureole or hornfels. Granite often occurs as small, less than 100 km² stock masses
7.
Obelisk
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An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. These were originally called tekhenu by their builders, the Ancient Egyptians, the Greeks who saw them used the Greek obeliskos to describe them, and this word passed into Latin and ultimately English. Ancient obelisks are monolithic, that is, they consist of a single stone, though this technological capacity exists today, most modern obelisks are made of several stones, some, like the Washington Monument, are buildings. The term stele is used for other monumental, upright. Obelisks were prominent in the architecture of the ancient Egyptians, who placed them in pairs at the entrance of temples. The word obelisk as used in English today is of Greek rather than Egyptian origin because Herodotus, a number of ancient Egyptian obelisks are known to have survived, plus the Unfinished Obelisk found partly hewn from its quarry at Aswan. These obelisks are now dispersed around the world, and fewer than half of them remain in Egypt, the earliest temple obelisk still in its original position is the 68-foot 120-metric-ton red granite Obelisk of Senusret I of the XIIth Dynasty at Al-Matariyyah in modern Heliopolis. The obelisk symbolized the sun god Ra, and during the religious reformation of Akhenaten was said to be a petrified ray of the Aten. It was also thought that the god existed within the structure, Benben was the mound that arose from the primordial waters Nu upon which the creator god Atum settled in the creation story of the Heliopolitan creation myth form of Ancient Egyptian religion. The Benben stone is the top stone of the Egyptian pyramid and it is also related to the Obelisk. The pyramid and obelisk might have inspired by previously overlooked astronomical phenomena connected with sunrise and sunset. The Ancient Romans were strongly influenced by the form, to the extent that there are now more than twice as many obelisks standing in Rome as remain in Egypt. All fell after the Roman period except for the Vatican obelisk and were re-erected in different locations. The largest standing and tallest Egyptian obelisk is the Lateran Obelisk in the square at the west side of the Lateran Basilica in Rome at 105.6 feet tall, not all the Egyptian obelisks in the Roman Empire were set up at Rome. Herod the Great imitated his Roman patrons and set up a red granite Egyptian obelisk in the hippodrome of his new city Caesarea in northern Judea and this one is about 40 feet tall and weighs about 100 metric tons. It was discovered by archaeologists and has been re-erected at its former site and this one stood 95 feet tall and weighing 380 metric tons. Its lower half reputedly also once stood in Istanbul but is now lost, the Istanbul obelisk is 65 feet tall. Rome is the capital of the world
8.
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
9.
Zhou Enlai
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Zhou Enlai was the first Premier of the Peoples Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976. Zhou served under Chairman Mao Zedong and was instrumental in the Communist Partys rise to power, and later in consolidating its control, forming foreign policy, a skilled and able diplomat, Zhou served as the Chinese foreign minister from 1949 to 1958. He helped devise policies regarding the disputes with the U. S. Taiwan. Zhou survived the purges of other top officials during the Cultural Revolution, while Mao dedicated most of his later years to political struggle and ideological work, Zhou was the main driving force behind the affairs of state during much of the Cultural Revolution. His attempts at mitigating the Red Guards damage and his efforts to protect others from their wrath made him popular in the Cultural Revolutions later stages. As Mao Zedongs health began to decline in 1971 and 1972, Zhous health was also failing, however, and he died eight months before Mao on 8 January 1976. The massive public outpouring of grief in Beijing turned to anger towards the Gang of Four, although succeeded by Hua Guofeng, it was Deng Xiaoping, Zhous ally, who was able to outmaneuver the Gang of Four politically and eventually take Maos place as paramount leader by 1978. Zhou Enlai was born in Huaian, Jiangsu province on 5 March 1898, the Zhou family was originally from Shaoxing in Zhejiang province. During the late Qing dynasty, Shaoxing was famous as the home of such as Zhous. To move up the ladder in civil service, the men in these often had to be transferred. Even after the move, however, the continued to view Shaoxing as its ancestral home. Zhous grandfather, Zhou Panlong, and his granduncle, Zhou Junang, were the first members of the family to move to Huaian, Panlong apparently passed the provincial examinations, and Zhou Enlai later claimed that Panlong served as magistrate governing Huaian county. Zhous father, Zhou Yineng, was the second of Zhou Panlongs four sons, Zhous birth mother, surnamed Wan, was the daughter of a prominent Jiangsu official. Like many others, the fortunes of Zhous large family of scholar-officials were decimated by a great economic recession that China suffered in the late 19th century. Zhou Yineng had a reputation for honesty, gentleness, intelligence and concern for others and he was unsuccessful in his personal life, and drifted across China doing various occupations, working in Beijing, Shandong, Anhui, Shenyang, Inner Mongolia and Sichuan. Zhou Enlai later remembered his father as being away from home. Soon after birth, Zhou Enlai was adopted by his fathers youngest brother, Zhou Yigan, apparently the adoption was arranged because the family feared Yigan would die without an heir. Zhou Yigan died soon after the adoption, and Zhou Enlai was raised by Yigans widow, madame Chen was also from a scholarly family and received a traditional literary education
10.
Hu Yaobang
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Hu Yaobang was a high-ranking official of the Peoples Republic of China. He was the leader of the Communist Party of China from 1981 to 1987, first as Chairman from 1981 to 1982, Hu joined the Chinese Communist Party in the 1930s, and rose to prominence as a comrade of Deng Xiaoping. During the Cultural Revolution, Hu was purged, recalled, and purged again, after Deng rose to power, following the death of Mao Zedong, Deng promoted Hu to a series of high political positions. Throughout the 1980s Hu pursued a series of economic and political reforms under the direction of Deng, Hus political and economic reforms made him the enemy of several powerful Party elders, who opposed free market reforms and attempts to make Chinas government more transparent. Hu was forced to resign as Party general secretary in 1987, Hus position as Party general secretary was taken by Zhao Ziyang, who continued many of Hus economic and political reforms. A day after Hus death, in 1989, a small-scale demonstration commemorated him, a week later, the day before Hus funeral, some 100,000 students marched on Tiananmen Square, leading to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Hu Yaobangs ancestors were Hakkas from Jiangxi, during the Ming dynasty they migrated into Hunan, where Hu was born. Hu Yaobang was born into a peasant family, and received little formal education. As a child he never attended school, and he himself to read. Hu participated in his first rebellion when he was twelve, left his family to join the Chinese Communist Party when he was only fourteen, during the factional struggles that polarized the CCP during the 1930s, Hu supported Mao Zedong and opposed the 28 Bolsheviks. Hu was one of the youngest veterans of the Long March, once Mao was removed from power, shortly before the beginning of the Fourth Encirclement Campaign, Maos supporters were persecuted, and Hu Yaobang was sentenced to death. Just before the beginning of the Long March, he and others were on their way to be beheaded, however, a powerful local communist commander named Tan Yubao intervened at the last minute, saving Hus life. Because of Hus support of Mao, he was deemed unreliable, Hu Yaobang was seriously wounded in the battle of Mount Lu, near Zunyi, close to the area where Mao Zedong rose back to power via the Zunyi Conference. After Hu was wounded the communist field medic teams chose not to help Hu, Hu was rescued by a childhood friend of his, a Chinese Red Army commander, who happened to pass by. Hu called out his friends nickname to ask for help, in 1936, Hu joined an expeditionary force led by Zhang Guotao. Zhang Guotaos forces were defeated by the local Nationalist warlords. Hu Yaobang, along with Qin Jiwei, became two of the thousands of prisoners-of-war captured by Ma cliques forces, Hu was one of only 1,500 prisoners-of-war whom Ma Bufang decided to use as forced labor rather than execute. Ma Bufang sent several Muslim cavalry divisions under General Ma Biao to fight against the Japanese, since the marching route had to pass the border of the communist base in Shaanxi, Hu Yaobang and Qin Jiwei decided to return to the Communists, and secretly organized an escape
11.
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
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The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, commonly known in China as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led demonstrations in Beijing in 1989. More broadly, it refers to the national movement inspired by the Beijing protests during that period. The protests were suppressed after the government declared martial law. The number of deaths has been estimated at anywhere between the hundreds to the thousands. The reforms of the 1980s had led a nascent market economy which benefited some groups but seriously disaffected others, common grievances at the time included inflation, limited preparedness of graduates for the new economy, and restrictions on political participation. The students called for democracy, greater accountability, freedom of the press, at the height of the protests, about a million people assembled in the Square. As the protests developed, the authorities veered back and forth between conciliatory and hardline tactics, exposing deep divisions within the party leadership, by May, a student-led hunger strike galvanized support for the demonstrators around the country and the protests spread to some 400 cities. Ultimately, Chinas paramount leader Deng Xiaoping and other party elders believed the protests to be a political threat, Party authorities declared martial law on May 20, and mobilized as many as 300,000 troops to Beijing. The Chinese government was condemned internationally for the use of force. Western countries imposed sanctions and arms embargoes. The Chinese government initially condemned the protests as a counter-revolutionary riot, the police and internal security forces were strengthened. Officials deemed sympathetic to the protests were demoted or purged, more broadly, the suppression temporarily halted the policies of liberalization in the 1980s. Considered a watershed event, the protests also set the limits on political expression in China well into the 21st century. Its memory is associated with questioning the legitimacy of Communist Party rule. In the Chinese language, the incident is most commonly known as the June Fourth Incident, June Fourth refers to the day on which the Peoples Liberation Army cleared Tiananmen Square of protesters, although actual operations began on the evening of June 3. Some use the June Fourth designation solely to refer to the carried out by the Army. Names such as June Fourth Movement and 89 Democracy Movement are used to describe the event in its entirety, outside mainland China, and among circles critical of the crackdown within mainland China, it is commonly referred to in Chinese as June Fourth Massacre and June Fourth Crackdown. The government of the Peoples Republic of China have used numerous names for the event since 1989, in English, the terms Tiananmen Square Massacre, Tiananmen Square Protests or Tiananmen Square Crackdown are often used to describe the series of events
12.
Shandong
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Shandong is a coastal province of the Peoples Republic of China, and is part of the East China region. Shandongs Mount Tai is the most revered mountain of Taoism and one of the sites with the longest history of continuous religious worship. The Buddhist temples in the mountains to the south of the capital of Jinan were once among the foremost Buddhist sites in China. The city of Qufu is the birthplace of Confucius, and was established as the center of Confucianism. Individually, the two Chinese characters in the name Shandong mean mountain and east, Shandong could hence be translated literally as east of the mountains and refers to the provinces location to the east of the Taihang Mountains. A common nickname for Shandong is Qílǔ, after the States of Qi and Lu that existed in the area during the Spring and Autumn period. Whereas the State of Qi was a power of its era. Lu, however, became renowned for being the home of Confucius, the cultural dominance of the State of Lu heritage is reflected in the official abbreviation for Shandong which is 鲁. English speakers in the 19th century called the province Shan-tung, the province is on the eastern edge of the North China Plain and in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, and extends out to sea as the Shandong Peninsula. The earliest dynasties exerted varying degrees of control over western Shandong, over subsequent centuries, the Dongyi were eventually sinicized. During the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, at this time, Shandong was home to two major states, the state of Qi at Linzi and the state of Lu at Qufu. Lu is noted for being the home of Confucius, the state was, however, comparatively small, and eventually succumbed to the larger state of Chu from the south. The state of Qi was, on the hand, was a major power throughout the period. Cities it ruled included Linzi, Jimo and Ju, the Qin dynasty conquered Qi and founded the first centralized Chinese state in 221 BCE. The Han dynasty that followed created a number of commanderies supervised by two regions in what is now modern Shandong, Qingzhou in the north and Yanzhou in the south, during the division of the Three Kingdoms, Shandong belonged to the Cao Wei, which ruled over northern China. After the Three Kingdoms period, a period of unity under the Western Jin dynasty gave way to invasions by nomadic peoples from the north. Northern China, including Shandong, was overrun, Shandong stayed with the Northern Dynasties for the rest of this period. The Sui dynasty reestablished unity in 589, and the Tang dynasty presided over the golden age of China
