1.
International Phonetic Alphabet
–
The International Phonetic Alphabet is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin alphabet. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association as a representation of the sounds of spoken language. The IPA is used by lexicographers, foreign students and teachers, linguists, speech-language pathologists, singers, actors, constructed language creators. The IPA is designed to represent only those qualities of speech that are part of language, phones, phonemes, intonation. IPA symbols are composed of one or more elements of two types, letters and diacritics. For example, the sound of the English letter ⟨t⟩ may be transcribed in IPA with a letter, or with a letter plus diacritics. Often, slashes are used to signal broad or phonemic transcription, thus, /t/ is less specific than, occasionally letters or diacritics are added, removed, or modified by the International Phonetic Association. As of the most recent change in 2005, there are 107 letters,52 diacritics and these are shown in the current IPA chart, posted below in this article and at the website of the IPA. In 1886, a group of French and British language teachers, led by the French linguist Paul Passy, for example, the sound was originally represented with the letter ⟨c⟩ in English, but with the digraph ⟨ch⟩ in French. However, in 1888, the alphabet was revised so as to be uniform across languages, the idea of making the IPA was first suggested by Otto Jespersen in a letter to Paul Passy. It was developed by Alexander John Ellis, Henry Sweet, Daniel Jones, since its creation, the IPA has undergone a number of revisions. After major revisions and expansions in 1900 and 1932, the IPA remained unchanged until the International Phonetic Association Kiel Convention in 1989, a minor revision took place in 1993 with the addition of four letters for mid central vowels and the removal of letters for voiceless implosives. The alphabet was last revised in May 2005 with the addition of a letter for a labiodental flap, apart from the addition and removal of symbols, changes to the IPA have consisted largely in renaming symbols and categories and in modifying typefaces. Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet for speech pathology were created in 1990, the general principle of the IPA is to provide one letter for each distinctive sound, although this practice is not followed if the sound itself is complex. There are no letters that have context-dependent sound values, as do hard, finally, the IPA does not usually have separate letters for two sounds if no known language makes a distinction between them, a property known as selectiveness. These are organized into a chart, the chart displayed here is the chart as posted at the website of the IPA. The letters chosen for the IPA are meant to harmonize with the Latin alphabet, for this reason, most letters are either Latin or Greek, or modifications thereof. Some letters are neither, for example, the letter denoting the glottal stop, ⟨ʔ⟩, has the form of a question mark
2.
X-SAMPA
–
The Extended Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet is a variant of SAMPA developed in 1995 by John C. Wells, professor of phonetics at the University of London and it is designed to unify the individual language SAMPA alphabets, and extend SAMPA to cover the entire range of characters in the International Phonetic Alphabet. The result is a SAMPA-inspired remapping of the IPA into 7-bit ASCII, SAMPA was devised as a hack to work around the inability of text encodings to represent IPA symbols. Later, as Unicode support for IPA symbols became more widespread, however, X-SAMPA is still useful as the basis for an input method for true IPA. The IPA symbols that are ordinary lower-case letters have the value in X-SAMPA as they do in the IPA. X-SAMPA uses backslashes as modifying suffixes to create new symbols, for example, O is a distinct sound from O\, to which it bears no relation. Such use of the character can be a problem, since many programs interpret it as an escape character for the character following it. For example, you use such X-SAMPA symbols in EMU. X-SAMPA diacritics follow the symbols they modify, except for ~ for nasalization, = for syllabicity, and for retroflexion and rhotacization, diacritics are joined to the character with the underscore character _. The underscore character is used to encode the IPA tiebar. The numbers _1 to _6 are reserved diacritics as shorthand for language-specific tone numbers, asterisks mark sounds that do not have X-SAMPA symbols. Daggers mark IPA symbols that have recently added to Unicode. Since April 2008, the latter is the case of the labiodental flap, a dedicated symbol for the labiodental flap does not yet exist in X-SAMPA. International Phonetic Alphabet International Phonetic Alphabet for English Kirshenbaum and WorldBet, list of phonetics topics SAMPA, a language-specific predecessor of X-SAMPA. SAMPA chart for English Computer-coding the IPA, A proposed extension of SAMPA Translate English texts into IPA phonetics with PhoTransEdit and this free software tool allows to export transcriptions to X-SAMPA. Online converter between IPA and X-Sampa Web-based translator for X-SAMPA documents, produces Unicode text, XML text, PostScript, PDF, or LaTeX TIPA. Z-SAMPA, an extension of X-SAMPA sometimes used for conlangs Web-based X-SAMPA to IPA Converter
3.
Kirshenbaum
–
Kirshenbaum, sometimes called ASCII-IPA or erkIPA, is a system used to represent the International Phonetic Alphabet in ASCII. This way it allows typewriting IPA-symbols by regular keyboard and it was developed for Usenet, notably the newsgroups sci. lang and alt. usage. english. It is named after Evan Kirshenbaum, who led the collaboration that created it, the system uses almost all lower-case letters to represent the directly corresponding IPA character, but unlike X-SAMPA, has the notable exception of the letter r. Examples where the two systems have a different mapping between characters and sounds are, This chart is based on information provided in the Kirshenbaum specification and it may also be helpful to compare it to the SAMPA chart or X-SAMPA chart. Stress is indicated by for primary stress, and, for secondary stress, the Kirshenbaum started developing in August 1992 through a usenet group, after being fed up with describing the sound of words by using other words. It should be usable for both phonemic and narrow phonetic transcription and it should be possible to represent all symbols and diacritics in the IPA. It should be possible to translate from the representation to a character set which includes IPA. The reverse would also be nice, the developers decided to use the existing IPA alphabet, mapping each segment to a single keyboard character, and adding extra ASCII characters optionally for IPA diacritics. An early, different set in ASCII was derived from the guide in Merriam-Websters New Collegiate Dictionary. Kirshenbaum specification Tutorial and guide with sound samples History
4.
Vowel
–
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, with two competing definitions. There is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis and this contrasts with consonants, such as the English sh, which have a constriction or closure at some point along the vocal tract. In the other, phonological definition, a vowel is defined as syllabic, a phonetically equivalent but non-syllabic sound is a semivowel. In oral languages, phonetic vowels normally form the peak of many to all syllables, whereas consonants form the onset and coda. Some languages allow other sounds to form the nucleus of a syllable, the word vowel comes from the Latin word vocalis, meaning vocal. In English, the vowel is commonly used to mean both vowel sounds and the written symbols that represent them. The phonetic definition of vowel does not always match the phonological definition, the approximants and illustrate this, both are produced without much of a constriction in the vocal tract, but they occur at the onset of syllables. A similar debate arises over whether a word like bird in a dialect has an r-colored vowel /ɝ/ or a syllabic consonant /ɹ̩/. The American linguist Kenneth Pike suggested the terms vocoid for a vowel and vowel for a phonological vowel, so using this terminology. Nonetheless, the phonetic and phonemic definitions would still conflict for the syllabic el in table, or the syllabic nasals in button, daniel Jones developed the cardinal vowel system to describe vowels in terms of the features of tongue height, tongue backness and roundedness. These three parameters are indicated in the schematic quadrilateral IPA vowel diagram on the right, there are additional features of vowel quality, such as the velum position, type of vocal fold vibration, and tongue root position. This conception of vowel articulation has been known to be inaccurate since 1928, Peter Ladefoged has said that early phoneticians. Thought they were describing the highest point of the tongue, and they were actually describing formant frequencies. The IPA Handbook concedes that the quadrilateral must be regarded as an abstraction. Vowel height is named for the position of the tongue relative to either the roof of the mouth or the aperture of the jaw. However, it refers to the first formant, abbreviated F1. Height is defined by the inverse of the F1 value, The higher the frequency of the first formant, however, if more precision is required, true-mid vowels may be written with a lowering diacritic. Although English contrasts six heights in its vowels, they are interdependent with differences in backness and it appears that some varieties of German have five contrasting vowel heights independently of length or other parameters
5.
Formant
–
A formant, as defined by James Jeans, is a harmonic of a note that is augmented by a resonance. The speech researcher Gunnar Fant defines formants as the peaks of the sound spectrum |P|. In speech science and phonetics, however, a formant is also used to mean an acoustic resonance of the human vocal tract. Thus, in phonetics, formant can mean either a resonance or the maximum that the resonance produces. A room can be said to have formants characteristic of that room, due to the way sound reflects from its walls. Room formants of this nature reinforce themselves by emphasizing specific frequencies and absorbing others, as exploited, for example, Formants are distinctive frequency components of the acoustic signal produced by speech or singing. The information that humans require to distinguish speech sounds can be represented purely quantitatively by specifying peaks in the amplitude/frequency spectrum. Most of these formants are produced by tube and chamber resonance, the formant with the lowest frequency is called F1, the second F2, and the third F3. Most often the two first formants, F1 and F2, are enough to disambiguate the vowel, an interactive demonstration of this can be found here. Nasal consonants usually have an additional formant around 2500 Hz, the liquid usually has an extra formant at 1500 Hz, whereas the English r sound is distinguished by a very low third formant. Plosives modify the placement of formants in the surrounding vowels, the time course of these changes in vowel formant frequencies are referred to as formant transitions. If the fundamental frequency of the vibration is higher than a resonance frequency of the system. This is most apparent in the example of opera singers. Spectrograms are used to visualise formants, the first two formants are important in determining the quality of vowels, and are frequently said to correspond to the open/close and front/back dimensions. As can be seen in Fig.1, vowels will almost always have four or more distinguishable formants, sometimes there are more than six. An example of how the vowels of a language or dialect may be plotted on a traditional auditory vowel chart, many writers have addressed the problem of finding an optimal alignment of the positions of vowels on formant plots with those on the conventional vowel quadrilateral. Two alternatives to the Mel scale are the Bark scale and the ERB-rate scale, a comparison of these three scales is shown by Hayward, p.141, and formant plots based on the Hertz scale and on the Bark scale are compared on p.153. Another strategy for improving formant plots that has widely adopted is to plot on the horizontal axis not the value of F2
6.
Retroflex consonant
–
A retroflex consonant is a coronal consonant where the tongue has a flat, concave, or even curled shape, and is articulated between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate. They are sometimes referred to as cerebral consonants, especially in Indology, other terms occasionally encountered are domal and cacuminal. The Latin-derived word retroflex means bent back, some consonants are pronounced with the tongue fully curled back so that articulation involves the underside of the tongue tip. These sounds are described as true retroflex consonants. Retroflex consonants, like other consonants, come in several varieties. The tongue may be flat or concave, or even with the tip curled back. The point of contact on the tongue may be with the tip, with the blade, the point of contact on the roof of the mouth may be with the alveolar ridge, the area behind the alveolar ridge, or the hard palate. Finally, both sibilant and nonsibilant consonants can have a retroflex articulation, the greatest variety of combinations occurs with sibilants, because for these, small changes in tongue shape and position cause significant changes in the resulting sound. Retroflex sounds in general have a duller, lower-pitched sound than other alveolar or postalveolar consonants, and especially the grooved alveolar sibilants. The farther back the point of contact with the roof of the mouth, the concave is the shape of the tongue. The main combinations normally observed are, Laminal post-alveolar, with a flat tongue and these occur, for example, in Polish cz, sz, ż, dż and Mandarin zh, ch, sh, r. Apical post-alveolar, with a somewhat concave tongue and these occur, for example, in Hindi and other Indo-Aryan languages. Subapical palatal, with a highly concave tongue and these occur particularly in the Dravidian languages. These are the dullest and lowest-pitched type, and when following a vowel often add strong r-coloring to the vowel and these are not a place of articulation, as the IPA chart implies, but a shape of the tongue analogous to laminal and apical. Apical alveolar, with a somewhat concave tongue and these occur, for example, in peninsular Spanish and Basque. These sounds dont quite fit on the front-to-back, laminal-to-subapical continuum, with a relatively dull, the subapical sounds are sometimes called true retroflex because of the curled-back shape of the tongue, while the other sounds sometimes go by other names. For example, Ladefoged and Maddieson prefer to call the laminal post-alveolar sounds flat post-alveolar, the retroflex approximant /ɻ/ is an allophone of the alveolar approximant /ɹ/ in many dialects of American English, particularly in the Midwestern United States. Polish and Russian possess retroflex sibilants, but no stops or liquids at this place of articulation, in African languages retroflex consonants are also very rare, reportedly occurring in a few Nilo-Saharan languages
7.
North American English
–
North American English is the most generalized variety of the English language as spoken in the United States and Canada. Canadian spellings are based on British usage as a result of Canadas longer-standing connections with the United Kingdom. Canadians are generally tolerant of both British and American spellings, with British spellings being favoured in formal settings and in Canadian print media. Spellings in American English have been influenced by lexicographers like Noah Webster. Some terms in North American English are used almost exclusively in Canada, similarly, the accents of Newfoundland have some similarities to the accents of Scotland and Ireland. Standard Canadian English Western American English North-Central American English Northern American English Midland American English Southern American English a, Canadian English,250 Years in the Making, in The Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd ed. p. xi. Organizing Our Marvellous Neighbours, How to Feel Good About Canadian English, labov, William, Ash, Sharon, Boberg, Charles, The Atlas of North American English, Berlin, Mouton-de Gruyter, ISBN 3-11-016746-8
8.
Mandarin Chinese
–
Mandarin is a group of related varieties of Chinese spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of Standard Mandarin or Standard Chinese, because most Mandarin dialects are found in the north, the group is sometimes referred to as the Northern dialects. Many local Mandarin varieties are not mutually intelligible, nevertheless, Mandarin is often placed first in any list of languages by number of native speakers. Most Mandarin varieties have four tones, the final stops of Middle Chinese have disappeared in most of these varieties, but some have merged them as a final glottal stop. Many Mandarin varieties, including the Beijing dialect, retain retroflex initial consonants, the capital has been within the Mandarin area for most of the last millennium, making these dialects very influential. Some form of Mandarin has served as a lingua franca since the 14th century. In the early 20th century, a form based on the Beijing dialect. Standard Chinese is the language of the Peoples Republic of China and Taiwan. It is also one of the most frequently used varieties of Chinese among Chinese diaspora communities internationally, the English word mandarin originally meant an official of the Ming and Qing empires. Since their native varieties were often mutually unintelligible, these officials communicated using a Koiné language based on various northern varieties, when Jesuit missionaries learned this standard language in the 16th century, they called it Mandarin, from its Chinese name Guānhuà, or language of the officials. In everyday English, Mandarin refers to Standard Chinese, which is called simply Chinese. Standard Chinese is based on the particular Mandarin dialect spoken in Beijing, with some lexical and it is the official spoken language of the Peoples Republic of China, the official language of the Republic of China, and one of the four official languages of the Republic of Singapore. It also functions as the language of instruction in Mainland China and it is one of the six official languages of the United Nations, under the name Chinese. Chinese speakers refer to the standard language as Pǔtōnghuà in Mainland China, Guóyǔ in Taiwan, or Huáyǔ in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines. Linguists use the term Mandarin to refer to the group of dialects spoken in northern and southwestern China. The alternative term Běifānghuà, or Northern dialects, is used less and less among Chinese linguists, by extension, the term Old Mandarin or Early Mandarin is used by linguists to refer to the northern dialects recorded in materials from the Yuan dynasty. Native speakers who are not academic linguists may not recognize that the variants they speak are classified in linguistics as members of Mandarin in a broader sense, the hundreds of modern local varieties of Chinese developed from regional variants of Old Chinese and Middle Chinese. Traditionally, seven groups of dialects have been recognized
9.
Jutlandic dialect
–
Jutlandic or Jutish is the western dialect of Danish, spoken on the peninsula of Jutland. Thus Jutlandic is by that definition actually two different dialects, general Jutlandic and Southern Jutlandic, however, the linguistic variation is considerably more complicated and well over 20 separate minor dialects can be easily found on Jutland. This map shows 9 larger dialectal regions which will be discussed in this article, there are major phonological differences between the dialects, but also very noteworthy morphological, syntactic, and semantic variations. The different subdialects of Jutlandic differ somewhat from other, and are generally grouped in three main dialects. Instead of the normal Danish stød, it has tonal accents like Swedish, many of the phonemes are also different, including velar fricatives much like in German. It also has the article before the noun, as opposed to the standard Danish postclitic article. Østjysk is the closest to the standard of the three dialects, but still differs widely in the pronunciation of vowels and the voiced stops word initially or intervocallically. Some dialects of Østjysk also still have three genders, like the majority of Swedish and Norwegian dialects, vestjysk is also well known for this enclictic article as well as a complete lack of gender distinction. Phonetically, it is known for having for the phoneme /v~ʋ/ in all positions and it also can exhibit the stød in slightly different environments from the standard. Standard Danish phonology contains nasal, aspirated voiceless and devoiced plosives, four voiceless fricatives, and are present, as well as approximated voiced fricatives, and. There are also three regular and a lateral approximate, and, below is a table depicting the consonant inventory of Danish. Phonemes that appear in standard Danish are in black and phonemes which are seen in the dialects of Jutland are in bold. This table only includes phonemes and some allophones, the major phonological process in jysk consonants is lenition. This is the weakening of originally voiceless consonants in either the coda of a syllable or word as well as intervocallically, the weakening causes voicing as well as the fall from a stop to a fricative and finally to a sonorant. The final step of lenition is then complete apocope and this phenomenon can be seen in all its stages in the jysk dialects, although it shows considerably more variability in the alveolars. The bilabials still have the approximant in one dialect, but no null phoneme, the stages of the lenition as well as which dialects they occur in can be seen in the table below. Multiple possibilities for the stage are shown separated by a semicolon. In Maps 4.0 and 4.2 the spread of the pronunciation of and are shown, the ÷ represents the null or zero morpheme in the maps, the -j and -r are and respectively and q is the devoiced velar stop while ch stands for the fricative
10.
Danish language
–
There are also minor Danish-speaking communities in Norway, Sweden, Spain, the United States, Canada, Brazil and Argentina. Due to immigration and language shift in urban areas, around 15–20% of the population of Greenland speak Danish as their home language. Along with the other North Germanic languages, Danish is a descendant of Old Norse, until the 16th century, Danish was a continuum of dialects spoken from Schleswig to Scania with no standard variety or spelling conventions. With the Protestant Reformation and the introduction of printing, a language was developed which was based on the educated Copenhagen dialect. It spread through use in the system and administration though German. Today, traditional Danish dialects have all but disappeared, though there are variants of the standard language. The main differences in language are between generations, with youth language being particularly innovative, Danish has a very large vowel inventory comprising 27 phonemically distinctive vowels, and its prosody is characterized by the distinctive phenomenon stød, a kind of laryngeal phonation type. The grammar is moderately inflective with strong and weak conjugations and inflections, nouns and demonstrative pronouns distinguish common and neutral gender. As in English, Danish only has remnants of a case system, particularly in the pronouns. Its syntax is V2, with the verb always occupying the second slot in the sentence. Danish is a Germanic language of the North Germanic branch, other names for this group are the Nordic or Scandinavian languages. Along with Swedish, Danish descends from the Eastern dialects of the Old Norse language, Scandinavian languages are often considered a dialect continuum, where there are no sharp dividing lines between the different vernacular languages. Like Norwegian and Swedish, Danish was significantly influenced by Low German in the Middle Ages, Danish itself can be divided into three main dialect areas, West Danish, Insular Danish, and East Danish. Danish is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Swedish, both Swedes and Danes also understand Norwegian better than they understand each others languages. By the 8th century, the common Germanic language of Scandinavia, Proto-Norse, had some changes. This language was called the Danish tongue, or Norse language. Norse was written in the alphabet, first with the elder futhark. From the 7th century the common Norse language began to undergo changes that did not spread to all of Scandinavia, most of the changes separating East Norse from West Norse started as innovations in Denmark, that spread through Scania into Sweden and by maritime contact to southern Norway
11.
Schwa
–
In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa is the mid central vowel sound in the middle of the vowel chart, denoted by the IPA symbol ə, or another vowel sound close to that position. An example in English is the sound of the a in the word about. Schwa in English is mainly found in unstressed positions, but in other languages it occurs more frequently as a stressed vowel. In relation to languages, the name schwa and the symbol ə may be used for some other unstressed and toneless neutral vowel. The word schwa is from the Hebrew word shva, designating the Hebrew niqqud vowel sign shva, in Modern Hebrew, the term was introduced into European linguistics by Jacob Grimm in the early 19th century, and so the spelling sch is German in origin. It was first used in English texts between 1890 and 1895, the symbol ⟨ə⟩ was used first by Johann Andreas Schmeller for the reduced vowel at the end of the German name Gabe. Alexander John Ellis, in his alphabet, used it for the similar English sound in. Sometimes the term schwa is used for any vowel. In English, schwa is the most common vowel sound and it is a reduced vowel in many unstressed syllables especially if syllabic consonants are not used. In most varieties of English, schwa occurs almost exclusively in unstressed syllables, in New Zealand English, the high front lax vowel has shifted open and back to sound like schwa, and both stressed and unstressed schwas exist. To a certain extent, that is true for South African English as well, in General American, schwa and ɜː are the two vowel sounds that can be r-colored, r-colored schwa is used in words with unstressed er syllables, such as dinner. See also stress and vowel reduction in English, quite a few languages have a sound similar to schwa. It is similar to a short French unaccented ⟨e⟩, which is rounded and less central and it is almost always unstressed, but Albanian, Bulgarian, Slovene and Afrikaans are some of the languages that allow stressed schwas. In most dialects of Russian an unstressed ⟨a⟩ or ⟨o⟩ reduces to a schwa, in dialects of Kashubian a schwa occurs in place of the Old Polish short consonants u, i, y. Many Caucasian languages and some Uralic languages also use phonemic schwa, in the Eastern dialects of Catalan, including the standard variety, based in the dialect spoken in and around Barcelona, an unstressed ⟨a⟩ or ⟨e⟩ is pronounced as a schwa. In the dialects of Catalan spoken in the Balearic Islands, a stressed schwa can occur, stressed schwa can occur in Romanian, as in mătură. In European and some African dialects of Portuguese, the schwa occurs in unstressed syllables that end in ⟨e⟩, such as noite, tarde, pêssego. However, that is rare in Brazilian Portuguese except in areas as Curitiba in Paraná
12.
International Phonetic Association Kiel Convention
–
The IPA Kiel Convention, held by the International Phonetic Association in 1989 in Kiel, Germany, adopted the first major revision of the International Phonetic Alphabet in over 50 years. The strong yet conservative changes to the alphabet first appeared in the 1993 alphabet and were slightly tweaked in the 1996 revision, suprasegmental is a term used for intonation, stress, and other prosodic aspects of speech that are hard to denote at the segmental level. The IPA tried to address how to best denote these issues at the Kiel Convention, the 1993 version, however, had a more expanded suprasegmental section. These guidelines were instituted quickly into language software, obsolete and nonstandard symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet Extensions to the IPA
13.
Rhoticity in English
–
The English dialects of Scotland, Ireland, and most of the United States and Canada preserve historical /r/, and are thus termed the rhotic varieties. In non-rhotic varieties, speakers no longer pronounce /r/ in postvocalic environments – that is, a non-rhotic speaker usually still pronounces the /r/ in the continuously spoken phrase butter and jam, since in this case the /r/ is followed by a vowel. Loss of postvocalic /r/ began sporadically in informal speech in the 15th century, in the mid-18th century it was still pronounced in most environments, but may occasionally have been deleted entirely, especially after low vowels. By the 1790s, postvocalic /r/-less pronunciation had become common in London and surrounding areas, by the early 19th century, the southern British standard was fully transformed into a non-rhotic variety, though some variation persisted as late as the 1870s. Other terms for rhotic dialects include /r/–pronouncing or r–ful, and for non-rhotic include /r/-deleting, r-dropping, r-vocalized, the earliest traces of a loss of /r/ in English appear in the early 15th century and occur before coronal consonants, especially /s/, giving modern ass, and bass. A second phase of /r/-loss began during the 15th century, and was characterized by sporadic and lexically variable deletion, such as monyng morning and cadenall cardinal. These /r/-less spellings appear throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, but are uncommon and are restricted to private documents, no English authorities describe loss of /r/ in the standard language prior to the mid-18th century, and many do not fully accept it until the 1790s. During the mid-17th century, a number of sources describe /r/ as being weakened, the English playwright Ben Jonsons English Grammar, published posthumously in 1640, records that /r/ was sounded firme in the beginning of words, and more liquid in the middle, and ends. By the 1770s, postvocalic /r/-less pronunciation was becoming common around London even in more formal, the English actor and linguist John Walker uses the spelling ar to indicate the long vowel of aunt in his 1775 rhyming dictionary. Americans returning to England after the end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783 reported surprise at the significant changes in fashionable pronunciation. By the early 19th century, the southern British standard was fully transformed into a non-rhotic variety, like regional dialects in England, the accents of other areas in America remained rhotic in a display of linguistic lag that preserved the original pronunciation of /r/. In most non-rhotic accents, if a word ending in r is followed closely by a word beginning with a vowel. This phenomenon is referred to as linking R, many non-rhotic speakers also insert an epenthetic /r/ between vowels when the first vowel is one that can occur before syllable-final r. The typical alternative used by RP speakers is to insert a glottal stop where an intrusive R would otherwise be placed, for non-rhotic speakers, what was historically a vowel plus /r/ is now usually realized as a long vowel. This is called compensatory lengthening, lengthening that occurs after the elision of a sound, so in RP and many other non-rhotic accents card, fern, born are pronounced, or similar. This length may be retained in phrases, so while car pronounced in isolation is, but a final schwa usually remains short, so water in isolation is. For some speakers, some long vowels alternate with an ending in schwa, so wear may be. Even General American speakers commonly drop the /r/ in non-final unstressed syllables when another syllable in the word also contains /r/
14.
Digraph (orthography)
–
Digraphs are often used for phonemes that cannot be represented using a single character, like the English sh in ship and fish. In other cases they may be relics from a period of the language when they had a different pronunciation, or represent a distinction which is made only in certain dialects. They may also be used for purely etymological reasons, like rh in English, digraphs are used in some Romanization schemes, like the zh often used to represent the Russian letter ж. As an alternative to digraphs, orthographies and Romanization schemes sometimes use letters with diacritics, like the Czech š, examples are found in Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, Albanian and Gajs Latin Alphabet. In Dutch, when the digraph ij is capitalized, both letters are capitalized, digraphs may develop into ligatures, but these are distinct concepts – a ligature involves a graphical combination of two characters, as when a and e are fused into æ. Digraphs may consist of two different characters or two instances of the same character, in the latter case, they are generally called double letters. Doubled vowel letters are used to indicate a long vowel sound. This is the case in Finnish and Estonian, for instance, where represents a longer version of the vowel denoted by ⟨u⟩, ⟨ää⟩ represents a longer version of the vowel denoted by ⟨ä⟩. Doubled consonant letters can also be used to indicate a long or geminated consonant sound, in Italian, for example, consonants written double are pronounced longer than single ones. In modern English, for example, the ⟨pp⟩ of tapping differentiates the first vowel sound from that of taping, in Spanish and Catalan, ⟨rr⟩ is used between vowels for the alveolar trill /r/, since an ⟨r⟩ alone between vowels represents an alveolar flap /ɾ/. In Spanish the digraph ⟨nn⟩ formerly indicated /ɲ/, it developed into the letter ñ, in Basque, double consonant letters generally mark palatalized versions of the single consonant letter, as in ⟨dd⟩, ⟨ll⟩, ⟨tt⟩. However, ⟨rr⟩ is a trill, contrasting with the flap, as in Spanish. In several European writing systems, including the English one, the doubling of the letter ⟨c⟩ or ⟨k⟩ is represented as the heterogeneous digraph ⟨ck⟩ instead of ⟨cc⟩ or ⟨kk⟩ respectively. In native German words, the doubling of ⟨z⟩, which corresponds to /ts/, is replaced by the digraph ⟨tz⟩, some languages have a unified orthography with digraphs that represent distinct pronunciations in different dialects. For example, in Breton there is a digraph ⟨zh⟩ that is pronounced in most dialects, similarly, the Saintongeais dialect of French has a digraph ⟨jh⟩ that is pronounced in words that correspond to in standard French. Similarly, Catalan has a digraph ⟨ix⟩ that is pronounced in Eastern Catalan, the pair of letters making up a phoneme are not always adjacent. This is the case with English silent e, for example, the sequence a. e has the sound /eɪ/ in English cake. Later still, the vowel /aː/ became /eɪ/, however, alphabets may also be designed with discontinuous digraphs
15.
Country music
–
Country music is a genre of United States popular music that originated in the southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from the genre of United States, such as folk music. Blues modes have been used throughout its recorded history. The term country music is used today to many styles and subgenres. In 2009 country music was the most listened to rush hour radio genre during the evening commute, immigrants to the Southern Appalachian Mountains of North America brought the music and instruments of Europe and Africa along with them for nearly 300 years. Country music was introduced to the world as a Southern phenomenon, Bristol, Tennessee, has been formally recognized by the U. S. Congress as the Birthplace of Country Music, based on the historic Bristol recording sessions of 1927. Since 2014, the city has been home to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, historians have also noted the influence of the less-known Johnson City sessions of 1928 and 1929, and the Knoxville sessions of 1929 and 1930. Prior to these, pioneer settlers, in the Great Smoky Mountains region, had developed a musical heritage. The first generation emerged in the early 1920s, with Atlantas music scene playing a role in launching countrys earliest recording artists. Okeh Records began issuing hillbilly music records by Fiddlin John Carson as early as 1923, followed by Columbia Records in 1924, many hillbilly musicians, such as Cliff Carlisle, recorded blues songs throughout the 1920s. The most important was the Grand Ole Opry, aired starting in 1925 by WSM in Nashville, during the 1930s and 1940s, cowboy songs, or Western music, which had been recorded since the 1920s, were popularized by films made in Hollywood. Bob Wills was another musician from the Lower Great Plains who had become very popular as the leader of a hot string band. His mix of country and jazz, which started out as dance hall music, Wills was one of the first country musicians known to have added an electric guitar to his band, in 1938. Country musicians began recording boogie in 1939, shortly after it had played at Carnegie Hall. Gospel music remained a component of country music. It became known as honky tonk, and had its roots in Western swing and the music of Mexico. By the early 1950s a blend of Western swing, country boogie, rockabilly was most popular with country fans in the 1950s, and 1956 could be called the year of rockabilly in country music. Beginning in the mid-1950s, and reaching its peak during the early 1960s, the late 1960s in American music produced a unique blend as a result of traditionalist backlash within separate genres
16.
Simplified Chinese characters
–
Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters for use in mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of the two character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language. The government of the Peoples Republic of China in mainland China has promoted them for use in printing since the 1950s and 1960s in an attempt to increase literacy and they are officially used in the Peoples Republic of China and Singapore. Traditional Chinese characters are used in Hong Kong, Macau. Overseas Chinese communities generally tend to use traditional characters, Simplified Chinese characters may be referred to by their official name above or colloquially. Strictly, the latter refers to simplifications of character structure or body, character forms that have existed for thousands of years alongside regular, Simplified character forms were created by decreasing the number of strokes and simplifying the forms of a sizable proportion of traditional Chinese characters. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms embodying graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms, some characters were simplified by applying regular rules, for example, by replacing all occurrences of a certain component with a simplified version of the component. Variant characters with the pronunciation and identical meaning were reduced to a single standardized character. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification, and are identical between the traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. Some simplified characters are very dissimilar to and unpredictably different from traditional characters and this often leads opponents not well-versed in the method of simplification to conclude that the overall process of character simplification is also arbitrary. In reality, the methods and rules of simplification are few, on the other hand, proponents of simplification often flaunt a few choice simplified characters as ingenious inventions, when in fact these have existed for hundreds of years as ancient variants. However, the Chinese government never officially dropped its goal of further simplification in the future, in August 2009, the PRC began collecting public comments for a modified list of simplified characters. The new Table of General Standard Chinese Characters consisting of 8,105 characters was promulgated by the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China on June 5,2013, cursive written text almost always includes character simplification. Simplified forms used in print have always existed, they date back to as early as the Qin dynasty, One of the earliest proponents of character simplification was Lubi Kui, who proposed in 1909 that simplified characters should be used in education. In the years following the May Fourth Movement in 1919, many anti-imperialist Chinese intellectuals sought ways to modernise China, Traditional culture and values such as Confucianism were challenged. Soon, people in the Movement started to cite the traditional Chinese writing system as an obstacle in modernising China and it was suggested that the Chinese writing system should be either simplified or completely abolished. Fu Sinian, a leader of the May Fourth Movement, called Chinese characters the writing of ox-demons, lu Xun, a renowned Chinese author in the 20th century, stated that, If Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die. Recent commentators have claimed that Chinese characters were blamed for the problems in China during that time
17.
Traditional Chinese characters
–
Traditional Chinese characters are Chinese characters in any character set that does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. They are most commonly the characters in the character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong. Currently, a number of overseas Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between both sets. In contrast, simplified Chinese characters are used in mainland China, Singapore, the debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters has been a long-running issue among Chinese communities. Although simplified characters are taught and endorsed by the government of Mainland China, Traditional characters are used informally in regions in China primarily in handwriting and also used for inscriptions and religious text. They are often retained in logos or graphics to evoke yesteryear, nonetheless, the vast majority of media and communications in China is dominated by simplified characters. Taiwan has never adopted Simplified Chinese characters since it is ruled by the Republic of China, the use of simplified characters in official documents is even prohibited by the government in Taiwan. Simplified characters are not well understood in general, although some stroke simplifications that have incorporated into Simplified Chinese are in common use in handwriting. For example, while the name of Taiwan is written as 臺灣, similarly, in Hong Kong and Macau, Traditional Chinese has been the legal written form since colonial times. In recent years, because of the influx of mainland Chinese tourists, today, even government websites use simplified Chinese, as they answer to the Beijing government. This has led to concerns by residents to protect their local heritage. In Southeast Asia, the Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative regarding simplification, while major public universities are teaching simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications like the Chinese Commercial News, World News, and United Daily News still use traditional characters, on the other hand, the Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified. Aside from local newspapers, magazines from Hong Kong, such as the Yazhou Zhoukan, are found in some bookstores. In case of film or television subtitles on DVD, the Chinese dub that is used in Philippines is the same as the one used in Taiwan and this is because the DVDs belongs to DVD Region Code 3. Hence, most of the subtitles are in Traditional Characters, overseas Chinese in the United States have long used traditional characters. A major influx of Chinese immigrants to the United States occurred during the half of the 19th century. Therefore, the majority of Chinese language signage in the United States, including street signs, Traditional Chinese characters are called several different names within the Chinese-speaking world
18.
Beijing
–
Beijing is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China and the worlds third most populous city proper. It is also one of the worlds most populous capital cities, the city, located in northern China, is governed as a direct-controlled municipality under the national government with 16 urban, suburban, and rural districts. Beijing is the second largest Chinese city by population after Shanghai and is the nations political, cultural. It is home to the headquarters of most of Chinas largest state-owned companies, and is a hub for the national highway, expressway, railway. The citys history dates back three millennia, as the last of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, Beijing has been the political centre of the country for much of the past eight centuries. Beijing was the largest city in the world by population for much of the second millennium A. D, the city is renowned for its opulent palaces, temples, parks, gardens, tombs, walls and gates. Its art treasures and universities have made it centre of culture, encyclopædia Britannica notes that few cities in the world have served for so long as the political headquarters and cultural centre of an area as immense as China. Siheyuans, the traditional housing style, and hutongs, the narrow alleys between siheyuans, are major tourist attractions and are common in urban Beijing. The city hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics and was chosen to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, many of Beijings 91 universities consistently rank among the best in China, of which Peking University and Tsinghua University are ranked in the top 60 universities in the world. Beijings Zhongguancun area is known as Chinas Silicon Valley and Chinas center of innovation. According to the 2016 InterNations Expat Insider Survey, Beijing ranked first in Asia in the subcategory Personal Finance Index, expats live primarily in urban districts such as Dongcheng and Chaoyang in the east, or in suburban districts such as Shunyi. Over the past 3,000 years, the city of Beijing has had other names. The name Beijing, which means Northern Capital, was applied to the city in 1403 during the Ming Dynasty to distinguish the city from Nanjing, the English spelling is based on the pinyin romanisation of the two characters as they are pronounced in Standard Mandarin. Those dialects preserve the Middle Chinese pronunciation of 京 as kjaeng, the single Chinese character abbreviation for Beijing is 京, which appears on automobile license plates in the city. The official Latin alphabet abbreviation for Beijing is BJ, the earliest traces of human habitation in the Beijing municipality were found in the caves of Dragon Bone Hill near the village of Zhoukoudian in Fangshan District, where Peking Man lived. Homo erectus fossils from the date to 230,000 to 250,000 years ago. Paleolithic Homo sapiens also lived more recently, about 27,000 years ago. Archaeologists have found neolithic settlements throughout the municipality, including in Wangfujing, the first walled city in Beijing was Ji, a city from the 11th to 7th century BC
19.
Tianjin
–
Tianjin, formerly known in English as Tientsin, is a metropolis in northern coastal Mainland China and one of the five national central cities of the country, with a total population of 15,469,500. It is governed as one of the four direct-controlled municipalities of the PRC and is thus under direct administration of the central government, Tianjin borders Hebei Province and Beijing Municipality, bounded to the east by the Bohai Gulf portion of the Yellow Sea. Part of the Bohai Economic Rim, it is the largest coastal city in northern China, in terms of urban population, Tianjin is the fourth largest in China, after Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou. In terms of area population, Tianjin ranks fifth in Mainland China. The walled city of Tianjin was built in 1404, as a treaty port since 1860, Tianjin has been a major seaport and gateway to Beijing. During the Boxer Rebellion the city was the seat of the Tianjin Provisional Government, under the Ta-tsing Empire, and the Republic of China, Tianjin became one of the largest cities in the region. At that time, numerous European-style buildings and mansions were constructed in concessions, after the founding of the Peoples Republic of China, Tianjin suffered a depression due to the policy of the central government and Tangshan earthquake, but recovered from 1990s. As of the end of 2010, around 285 Fortune 500 companies have set up base in Binhai, Tianjin is the pinyin romanization of the Chinese characters 天津, which mean Heavenly Ford or Ford of Heaven. The origin of the name is obscure, one folk etymology is that it was an homage to the patriotic Chu poet Qu Yuan, whose Li Sao includes the verse. departing from the Ford of Heaven at dawn. Another is that it honors a former name of the Girl, a third is that it derives from a place name noted in the River Record of the History of Jin. The most common are that it was bestowed by the Yongle Emperor of the Ming, before this time, it was open sea. The opening of the Grand Canal during the Sui dynasty prompted the development of Tianjin into a trading center, during the Qing dynasty Tianjin was promoted to a prefecture or Zhou in 1725 with Tianjin County established under the prefecture in 1731. Later it was to upgraded to a prefecture or Fu before becoming a relay station under the command of the Viceroy of Zhili. In 1856, Chinese soldiers boarded The Arrow, a Chinese-owned ship registered in Hong Kong flying the British flag and suspected of piracy, smuggling and they captured 12 men and imprisoned them. In response, the British and French sent gunboats under the command of Admiral Sir Michael Seymour to capture the Taku forts near Tianjin in May 1858. At the end of the first part of the Second Opium War in June of the year, the British and French prevailed, and the Treaties of Tianjin were signed. The treaties were ratified by the Emperor of China in 1860, and Tianjin was formally opened to Great Britain and France and these nations left many architectural reminders of their rule, notably churches and thousands of villas. Today those villas provide a flavour to Tianjin
20.
Tangshan
–
Tangshan is a largely industrial prefecture-level city in northeastern Hebei province, China. It has become known for the 1976 Tangshan earthquake which measured 7.8 on the Richter scale, the city has since been rebuilt and has become a tourist attraction. The city of Tangshan is approximately 149 kilometers,92 miles or 80 nautical miles east by south east of the capital city of Beijing. It takes roughly 2 hours by road to get from Tangshan to Beijing, tangshans prefecture population was 7,577,289 at the 2010 census, with 3,187,171 in the built-up area made of the 6 urban core districts. Tangshan is named after Dacheng Mountain in the middle of Tangshan city, in A. D.645, Li Shimin-emperor of Tang Dynasty and his army stationed at Dacheng Mountain on his way back from Korean Peninsula. Unfortunately, Caofei, his concubine, died here. In order to commemorate his Caofei, he named the mountain with the name of the state—Tang, later, the name of the mountain became the name of the city. Tangshan has a history, with ancient humans living in the area as early as 4,000 years ago. It fell within the territory of the Guzhu Kingdom at the time of the Shang Dynasty and later became a part of the State of Yan, during the Han Dynasty it became part of the ancient province of Youzhou. It was under the jurisdiction of Yongping Province and Zunhua State successively during the Qing dynasty, Tangshan was a village at the time of the Tang dynasty and developed further in agriculture, oil exploitation and ceramics during in the Ming Dynasty. During the Hundred Days Reform in the late Qing dynasty, the Kaiping Mining Administration was established in the year of the Guangxu Emperor. In 1878, Qiaotun town was established at Tangshan and renamed Tangshan Town in 1889, in 1938, Tangshan City was formally founded. The administrative system of Tangshan during the Republic of China Republican era continued to follow the Qing system, in 1929, Zhili Province changed its name to Hebei Province. After Japan surrendered in 1945, the Chinese Nationalist Party in Peking took over the control of Tangshan from Japan. In April 1946, it was decided at the 132nd Meeting of the CPC Hebei Provincial Committee to set up Tangshan City and on May 5 of the same year, the Tangshan Municipal government was founded. After the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China on October 1,1949, on April 28,1958, the State Council approved the establishment of Tangshan prefecture. On August 29,1958, it was decided at the Seventh Session of the first Peoples Congress of Hebei Province to move the Tangshan Commissioner Office from Changli County to Tangshan City. The CPC Central Committee decided to designate Tangshan city as one of the 45 cities open to the world on June 3,1959, on April 2,1960, the State Council officially approved the abolition of Tangshan prefecture
21.
Shenyang
–
Shenyangs city region includes the ten metropolitan districts of Shenyang proper, the county-level city of Xinmin, and two counties of Kangping and Faku. In the 17th century, Shenyang was conquered by the Manchu people, along with its nearby cities, Shenyang is an important industrial center in China, and serves as the transportation and commercial hub of Chinas northeast — particularly with Japan, Russia and Korea. A center of industry in China since the 1930s, and the spearhead of the Chinese central governments Northeast Area Revitalization Plan. The citys name, Shenyang, literally means the Yang side of the Shen River, referring to the fact that the Hun River, according to Chinese tradition, a rivers north bank and a mountains south slope are considered to be the sunny – or Yang – side. Archaeological findings show that humans resided in present-day Shenyang as early as 8,000 years ago, the remains of the Xinle culture, a late neolithic period society over 6, 800–7,200 years old, are located in a museum in the north part of Huanggu District. It is complemented by a village on site. A wood-sculptured bird unearthed there is the earliest cultural relic in Shenyang, the city now known as Shenyang was first established in about 300 BCE during the Warring States period by Yan general Qin Kai, who conquered the Liaodong region, and was then named Hou City. However, around 350 years later during the reign of Emperor Guangwu of Han and it came back to prominence during early Liao dynasty and was known as the Shen Prefecture through to the end of Jin dynasty, and became the Shenyang Circuit during the Yuan dynasty. During the Ming dynasty, it was designated as a town named Shenyang Central Guard. In 1625, the Manchu leader Nurhaci captured Shenyang and decided to relocate his entire administrative infrastructures to the city, the official name was changed to Shengjing, or Mukden, in 1634. The new name derives from the Manchu word, mukdembi, meaning to rise as reflected also by its Han Chinese name, under Nurhacis orders, the Imperial Palace was constructed in 1626, symbolizing the citys emerging status as the Jurchen political center. The palace featured more than 300 ostentatiously decorated rooms and 20 gardens as a symbol of power, however, Shenyang retained considerable importance as the secondary capital and the spiritual home of the Qing dynasty through the centuries. Treasures of the house were kept at its palaces. In 1657, Fengtian Prefecture was established in the Shenyang area, during the Russo-Japanese War, Mukden was the site of the Battle of Mukden from February 19 to March 10,1905. Involving more than 600,000 combat participants, it was the largest battle since the Battle of Leipzig in 1813, following the Japanese victory, Mukden became one of the chief bases of Japanese presence and economic expansion into southern Manchuria. It also became the government seat of Fengtian province in 1910, in 1914, the city changed back to its old name Shenyang, but continued to be known as Mukden in some English sources and in Japan through much of the first half of 20th century. The postmark of the Chinese postal administration kept the spelling MOUKDEN/奉天 for usage on international mails until the late 1920s, after that, a Chinese–Manchurian bilingual type SHENYANG /瀋陽 datestamp was used until 1933. In the early 20th century, Shenyang began expanding out of its old city walls, the Shenyang Railway Station on the South Manchurian Railway and the Shenyang North Railway Station on the Jingfeng Railway, both west of the old city, became the new commercial centers of Shenyang
22.
Changchun
–
Changchun is the capital and largest city of Jilin Province, and is located in the northeast of China. Lying in the center of the Songliao Plain, Changchun is administered as a sub-provincial city, according to the 2010 census of China, Changchun had a total population of 7,674,439 under its jurisdiction. The citys urbanized area, comprising 5 districts and 4 development areas, had a population of 3,815,270 in 2010 as the Shuangyang, the name of the city means long spring in Chinese. Between 1932 and 1945, Changchun was renamed Hsinking by the Japanese as it became the capital of the Japanese puppet state Manchukuo, after the foundation of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949, Changchun was established as the provincial capital of Jilin in 1954. Known locally as Chinas City of Automobiles, Changchun is an important industrial base with a focus on the automotive sector. Because of its key role in the automobile industry, Changchun was sometimes referred to as the Detroit of China. Apart from this aspect, Changchun is also one of four National Garden Cities awarded by the Ministry of Construction of P. R. China in 2001 due to its high urban greening rate, Changchun was initially established on imperial decree as a small trading post and frontier village during the reign of the Jiaqing Emperor in the Qing dynasty. Trading activities mainly involved furs and other products during this period. In 1800, the Jiaqing Emperor selected a small village on the east bank of the Yitong River, at the end of 18th century peasants from overpopulated provinces such as Shandong and Hebei began to settle in the region. In 1889, the village was promoted into a city known as Changchun Fu, in May 1898, Changchun got its first railway station, located in Kuancheng, part of the railway from Harbin to Lüshun, constructed by the Russian Empire. After Russias loss of the southernmost section of this branch as a result of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, an epidemic of pneumonic plague occurred in surrounding Manchuria from 1910 to 1911. It was the worst-ever recorded outbreak of plague which was spread through the Trans-Manchurian railway from the border trade port of Manzhouli. This turned out to be the beginning of the pneumonic plague pandemic of Manchuria and Mongolia which ultimately claimed 60,000 victims. The Treaty of Portsmouth formally ended the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05 and saw the transfer, the guiding ideology of the overall design was to build a high standard colonial city with sophisticated facilities, multiple functions and large scale. Accordingly, nearly 7 million Yen on average was allocated on a basis for urban planning. The two helped forming two intersections with the prototypes, which led to two circles of South and West. The two sub-civic centres served as axis on which eight radial roads were blazed that took the shape of a sectoral structure and this kind of radial circles and the design concept of urban roads were at that time quite advanced and scientific
23.
Jilin
–
Jilin is one of the three provinces of Northeast China. Jilin borders North Korea and Russia to the east, Heilongjiang to the north, Liaoning to the south, in ancient times, Jilin was inhabited the Xianbei, Sushen, the Mohe, Jurchens, and the Wùjí. The Korean kingdoms of Buyeo, Goguryeo and Balhae, ruled parts of this area, the region then fell successively under the domination of the Xiongnu, Xianbei state, Khitan Liao Dynasty, the Jurchen Jin Dynasty, and the Mongol Yuan Dynasty. During the Qing Dynasty, much of the area was under the control of the General of Jilin, after the Primorsky Krai area was ceded to Russia in 1860, the Qing government began to open the area up to Han Chinese migrants, most of whom came from Shandong. By the beginning of the 20th century, Han Chinese had become the dominant ethnic group of the region, in 1932, the area was incorporated into Manchukuo, a puppet state set up by Japan. Changchun, capital of Jilin today, was made the capital of Manchukuo, after the defeat of Japan in 1945, the Soviet Army captured Jilin after Operation August Storm. The region, with the rest of northeastern China, was ceded to the Communists by the Soviet Union, manchuria was the staging ground from which the communists eventually conquered the rest of China in the Chinese Civil War. In 1949, Jilin province was smaller, encompassing only the environs of Changchun and Jilin City, in the 1950s, Jilin was expanded to its present borders. During the Cultural Revolution, Jilin was expanded again to include a part of Inner Mongolia, giving it a border with the independent state of Mongolia, in recent times Jilin has, with the rest of heavy industry-based Northeast China, been facing economic difficulties with privatization. This prompted the government to undertake a campaign called Revitalize the Northeast. Jilin lies in the part of northeastern China, bordering Russia. Jilin has an area of 190,000 km2 and a population of 27.3 million and its capital is Changchun, which lies 113 km west of Jilin City. Jilin is rich in mineral deposits with 136 types of minerals. Jilin has an abundance of Traditional Chinese medicine resources, with approximately 27,000 kinds of plants and 9,000 kinds of medicinal herbs. Jilin is highest in altitude in the southeast and drops gently towards the northwest, the Changbai Mountains run through its southeastern regions and contains the highest peak of the province, Paektu Mountain at 2744 m. Other ranges include the Jilinhada Mountains, Zhang Guangcai Mountains, Jilin has a northerly continental monsoon climate, with long, cold winters and short, warm summers. Average January temperatures range from -20 to -14°C, rainfall averages at 350 to 1000 mm. Major cities in this province include Changchun, Jilin City, Baishan, Baicheng, Siping, Yanji, Songyuan, Tonghua and these administrative divisions are explained in greater detail at Administrative divisions of the Peoples Republic of China
24.
Harbin
–
Harbin is the capital and largest city of Heilongjiang province in the northeastern region of the Peoples Republic of China. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, Harbin has direct jurisdiction over nine metropolitan districts, Harbin is the eighth most populous Chinese city and the most populous city in Northeast China. According to the 2010 census, the area made of seven out of nine urban districts had 5,282,093 inhabitants. Harbin serves as a key political, economic, scientific, cultural, Harbin, which was originally a Manchu word meaning a place for drying fishing nets, grew from a small rural settlement on the Songhua River to become one of the largest cities in Northeast China. Founded in 1898 with the coming of the Chinese Eastern Railway, having the most bitterly cold winters among major Chinese cities, Harbin is heralded as the Ice City for its well-known winter tourism and recreations. Harbin is notable for its ice sculpture festival in the winter. Besides being well known for its historical Russian legacy, the city serves as an important gateway in Sino-Russian trade today, in the 1920s, the city was considered Chinas fashion capital since new designs from Paris and Moscow reached here first before arriving in Shanghai. The city has been voted China Top Tourist City by China National Tourism Administration in 2004, on 22 June 2010, Harbin was appointed a City of Music by the UN. Human settlement in the Harbin area dates from at least 2200 BC during the late Stone Age, Wanyan Aguda, the founder and first emperor of the Jin dynasty, was born in the Jurchen Wanyan tribes who resided near the Ashi River in this region. In AD1115 Aguda established Jins capital Shangjing Huining Prefecture in todays Acheng District of Harbin, after Agudas death, the new emperor Wanyan Sheng ordered the construction of a new city on a uniform plan. The planning and construction emulated major Chinese cities, in particular Bianjing, Huining Prefecture served as the first superior capital of the Jin empire until Wanyan Liang moved the capital to Yanjing in 1153. Liang even went so far as to destroy all palaces in his capital in 1157. Wanyan Liangs successor Wanyan Yong restored the city and established it as a capital in 1173. Ruins of the Shangjing Huining Prefecture were discovered and excavated about 2 km from present-day Achengs central urban area, the site of the old Jin capital ruins is a national historic reserve, and includes the Jin Dynasty History Museum. The museum, open to the public, was renovated in late 2005, mounted statues of Aguda and of his chief commander Wanyan Zonghan stand in the grounds of the museum. Many of the artifacts there are on display in nearby Harbin. After the Mongol conquest of the Jin Empire, Huining Prefecture was abandoned, in the 17th century, the Manchus used building materials from Huining Prefecture to construct their new stronghold in Alchuka. The region of Harbin remained largely rural until the 1800s, with ten villages
25.
Qiqihar
–
Qiqihar is one of the 13 Larger Municipalities in China, and the second largest city in the Heilongjiang province, China. The built-up area made up of Longsha, Tiefeng and Jianhua districts had 979,517 inhabitants and these are mainly Han Chinese, though the city is also home to thirty-four minorities including Manchu, Daur, and Mongolians. Close to Qiqihar are numerous wetlands and the Zhalong Nature Reserve, the Khitan people settled in the region under the Liao dynasty. The word Qiqi is a reference to a river, the word hari refers to defense. Qiqihar is one of the oldest cities in the northeast of China, the region was originally settled by nomadic Daur and Tungus herdsmen. Qiqihar is a Daur word, which border or natural pasture. The citys original name was Bukui, the Chinese transcription of a Daur word meaning auspicious, the citys oldest mosque, the Bukui Mosque, actually predates the foundation of the city itself by seven years. As the Czarist Russian eastward advance to the Pacific coast, Qiqihar became a major center in 1674. In 1691, a stronghold was constructed in Qiqihar because of the Qing governments campaigns against the Mongols, around 1700 it was a center for Russo-Chinese trade. A military depot with barracks and an arsenal was set up there, Heilongjiang Martial domiciled in Qiqihar City in 1699. It enlisted Han people to teach the local Solon people farming techniques, providing materials. In 1903, The completion of the Chinese Eastern Railway made Qiqihar a center for communications between China and Russia, a network of lines radiating from Qiqihar was extended into the northwestern part of Heilongjiang Province including Jiagedaqi and Manzhouli in the late 1920s. General Ma Zhanshan was ordered to act as Governor and Military Commander-in-chief of Heilongjiang Province on October 10,1931, General Ma declined a Japanese ultimatum to surrender Qiqihar on November 15. However, after the loss of Jiangqiao Campaign, the Japanese began their occupation of Qiqihar on November 19,1931, Qiqihar became a major military base for Guandong Army and its economic importance also grew rapidly. During the occupation, the Imperial Japanese Army established Unit 516 in Qiqihar for research into chemical warfare, a major mustard gas tank left over from the Second Sino-Japanese War buried underground was accidentally damaged in August 2003, causing 43 injuries and one death. After the defeat of Japan, the Democratic Regime Qiqihar Municipal Government was established, Japanese forces in Northeast China surrendered to the Soviet Union while Japanese forces in the rest of China surrendered to the United States. Qiqihar was controlled by the Communists on April 24,1946, along with important regional cities like Changchun, Jilin City. Qiqihar was established as the capital of Heilongjiang Province after the foundation of Peoples Republic of China in 1949, however, since Songjiang Province was merged into Heilongjiang Province, the provincial capital was transferred to Harbin in 1954
26.
Standard Chinese
–
Its pronunciation is based on the Beijing dialect, its vocabulary on the Mandarin dialects, and its grammar is based on written vernacular Chinese. Like other varieties of Chinese, Standard Chinese is a language with topic-prominent organization. It has more initial consonants but fewer vowels, final consonants, Standard Chinese is an analytic language, though with many compound words. There exist two standardised forms of the language, namely Putonghua in Mainland China and Guoyu in Taiwan, aside from a number of differences in pronunciation and vocabulary, Putonghua is written using simplified Chinese characters, while Guoyu is written using traditional Chinese characters. There are many characters that are identical between the two systems, in English, the governments of China and Hong Kong use Putonghua, Putonghua Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, and Mandarin, while those of Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia, use Mandarin. The name Putonghua also has a long, albeit unofficial, history and it was used as early as 1906 in writings by Zhu Wenxiong to differentiate a modern, standard Chinese from classical Chinese and other varieties of Chinese. For some linguists of the early 20th century, the Putonghua, or common tongue/speech, was different from the Guoyu. The former was a prestige variety, while the latter was the legal standard. Based on common understandings of the time, the two were, in fact, different, Guoyu was understood as formal vernacular Chinese, which is close to classical Chinese. By contrast, Putonghua was called the speech of the modern man. The use of the term Putonghua by left-leaning intellectuals such as Qu Qiubai, prior to this, the government used both terms interchangeably. In Taiwan, Guoyu continues to be the term for Standard Chinese. The term Putonghua, on the contrary, implies nothing more than the notion of a lingua franca, Huayu, or language of the Chinese nation, originally simply meant Chinese language, and was used in overseas communities to contrast Chinese with foreign languages. Over time, the desire to standardise the variety of Chinese spoken in these communities led to the adoption of the name Huayu to refer to Mandarin and it also incorporates the notion that Mandarin is usually not the national or common language of the areas in which overseas Chinese live. The term Mandarin is a translation of Guānhuà, which referred to the lingua franca of the late Chinese empire, in English, Mandarin may refer to the standard language, the dialect group as a whole, or to historic forms such as the late Imperial lingua franca. The name Modern Standard Mandarin is sometimes used by linguists who wish to distinguish the current state of the language from other northern. Chinese has long had considerable variation, hence prestige dialects have always existed. Confucius, for example, used yǎyán rather than colloquial regional dialects, rime books, which were written since the Northern and Southern dynasties, may also have reflected one or more systems of standard pronunciation during those times
27.
Shijiazhuang
–
Shijiazhuang, formerly romanized Shihkiachwang, is the capital and largest city of North Chinas Hebei Province. Administratively a prefecture-level city, it is about 263 kilometres southwest of Beijing, Shijiazhuangs total population ranked twelfth in mainland China. Shijiazhuang experienced dramatic growth after the founding of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949, the population of the metropolitan area has more than quadrupled in 30 years as a result of industrialization and infrastructural developments. From 2008 to 2011, Shijiazhuang implemented a plan which concluded with the reorganization of the city resulting in an increase of green areas and new buildings. A train station, airport and a system have been opened. The oldest name of the city was Shiyi, in pre-Han times, it was the site of the city of Shiyi in the state of Zhao, and from Han to Sui times it was the site of a county town with the same name. With the reorganization of government in the early period of the Tang dynasty. Shijiazhuang then became more than a local market town, subordinated to the flourishing city of Zhengding a few miles to the north. The growth of Shijiazhuang into one of Chinas major cities began in 1905, two years later the town became the junction for the new Shitai line, running from Shijiazhuang to Taiyuan, Shanxi. The city also became the centre of a road network. By 1935 it had far outstripped Zhengding as an economic centre, at the end of World War II the character of the city changed when it took on an administrative role as the preeminent city in western Hebei, and developed into an industrial city. Some industries, such as manufacturing, tobacco processing. On November 12,1947, the city was captured by Communist forces, in 1948, the city, formerly known as Shímén, was renamed Shijiazhuang. Today, the area is a memorial site, after 1949 the industrialisation of the city gathered momentum. Its population more than tripled in the decade 1948–58, in the 1950s, the city experienced a major expansion in the textile industry, with large-scale cotton spinning, weaving, printing, and dyeing works. In addition there are plants processing local farm produce, in the 1960s it was the site of a new chemical industry, with plants producing fertilizer and caustic soda. Shijiazhuang also became a base, with a tractor-accessory plant. In 1967, Tianjin was again carved out of Hebei, remaining a separate entity today, and thus the provincial capital was moved to Baoding
28.
Jinan
–
Jinan, formerly romanized as Tsinan, is the capital of Shandong province in Eastern China. The city has held sub-provincial administrative status since 1994, Jinan is often called the Spring City for its famous 72 artesian springs. Its population was 7,067,900 in 2014 with a population of 4,693,700. The modern-day name Jinan literally means south of the Ji and refers to the old Ji River that had flowed to the north of the city until the middle of the 19th century. The Ji River disappeared in 1852 when the Yellow River changed its course northwards, the current pronunciation of the character Ji with the third tone was established in the late 1970s. Prior to this, it was pronounced with the fourth tone, older texts spell the name as Tsinan or Chi-nan. During the times of the Zhou dynasty, the city of Lixia was the settlement in the area. The name Lixia refers to the location of Jinan at the foot of Mount Li, today, Lixia is the name of one of the citys districts. Marco Polo gives a description of Jinan under the name Chingli or Chinangli. 19th and early 20th century texts frequently give the name of the city as Tsinan Fu where the additional Fu comes from the dated Chinese term for a provincial capital. Jinan is also referred to by the nickname City of Springs, because of the artesian springs in the urban city centre. The area of present-day Jinan has been inhabited for more than 4000 years, the Neolithic Longshan Culture was first discovered at the Chéngzǐyá site to the east of Jinan in 1928. One of the features of the Longshan Culture are the intricate wheel-made pottery pieces it produced. Most renowned is the black pottery with wall thicknesses that can go below 1 millimeter. During the Spring and Autumn period and Warring States period, the area of Jinan was split between two states, the state of Lu in the west and the state of Qi in the east. In 685 BCE, the state of Qi started to build the Great Wall of Qi across Changqing county, portions of the wall still remain today and are accessible as open air museums. Biǎn Què, according to the legend the earliest Chinese physician, Zou Yan, a native of Zhangqiu City, developed the concepts of Yin-Yang and the Five Elements. Joseph Needham, a British sinologist, describes Zou as The real founder of all Chinese scientific thought, during the times of the Han dynasty, Jinan was the capital of the Kingdom of Jibei and evolved into the cultural and economic hub of the region
29.
Xi'an
–
Xian, formerly romanized as Sian, and also known as Changan before the Ming dynasty, is the capital of Shaanxi Province, Peoples Republic of China. It is a city located in the center of the Guanzhong Plain in Northwest China. Xian is the point of the Silk Road and home to the Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. Xian currently holds sub-provincial status, administering 9 districts and 4 counties, as of 2015 Xian has a population of 8,705,600 and the Xian-Xianyang metropolitan area has a population of 13,569,700. It is the most populous city in Northwest China, as well as one of the three most populous cities in Western China. According to a July 2012 report by the Economist Intelligence Unit, it was named as one of the 13 emerging megacities, or megalopolises. The report pinpoints and highlights the demographic and income trends that are shaping these cities development, the two Chinese characters 西安 in the name Xian mean Western Peace. It was renamed Changan during the Han dynasty, although it was referred to as Xijing during the Eastern Han dynasty after the capital was relocated to Luoyang in the east. It changed to Daxing in 581 AD during the Sui dynasty, during the Yuan dynasty, the city was first given the name Fengyuan, followed by Anxi then Jingzhao. It finally became Xian in 1369 at the time of the Ming dynasty and this name remained until 1928, then in 1930 it was renamed Xijing, or western capital. The citys name once again reverted to its Ming-era designation of Xian in 1943, Xian currently does not have a widely accepted one-character abbreviation as many other Chinese cities do, possibly due to fact that it was historically called Jing or Du, both meaning the capital. Several suggested abbreviations include Feng, Hao, or Tang, Xian has rich and culturally significant history. The Lantian Man was discovered in 1963 in Lantian County,50 km southeast of Xian, the site is now home to the Xian Banpo Museum, built in 1957 to preserve the archaeological collection. Xian became a cultural and political centre of China in the 11th century BC with the founding of the Zhou dynasty, the capital of Zhou was established in the twin settlements of Fengjing and Haojing, together known as Fenghao, located southwest of contemporary Xian. The settlement was known as Zhōngzhōu to indicate its role as the capital of the vassal states. In 770 BC, the capital was moved to Luoyang due to political unrest, following the Warring States period, China was unified under the Qin dynasty for the first time, with the capital located at Xianyang, just northwest of modern Xian. The first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang ordered the construction of the Terracotta Army and his mausoleum just to the east of Xian almost immediately after his ascension to the throne. In 202 BC, the founding emperor Liu Bang of the Han dynasty established his capital in Changan County, his first palace and this is traditionally regarded as the founding date of Changan, or Xian
30.
Chongqing
–
Chongqing, formerly transliterated as Chungking, is a major city in Southwest China and one of the Five national central cities in China. Administratively, it is one of Chinas four direct-controlled municipalities, the municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the sub-provincial city administration that was part of Sichuan Province. Chongqings population as of 2015 is just over 30 million with a population of 18.38 million. The official abbreviation of the city, Yu, was approved by the State Council on 18 April 1997 and this abbreviation is derived from the old name of a part of the Jialing River that runs through Chongqing and feeds into the Yangtze River. Chongqing was also a Sichuan province municipality during the Republic of China administration, Chongqing has a significant history and culture and serves as the economic centre of the upstream Yangtze basin. It is a manufacturing centre and transportation hub, a July 2012 report by the Economist Intelligence Unit described it as one of Chinas 13 emerging megacities. Tradition associates Chongqing with the State of Ba, the Ba people supposedly established Chongqing during the Spring and Autumn period after moving from their first capital Yicheng in Hubei under pressure from Chu. This new capital was first named Jiangzhou, in 316 BC, however, the state of Ba was conquered by the State of Qin. Jiangzhou subsequently remained under Qin Shi Huangs rule during the Qin Dynasty, the successor of the Qin State, and under the control of Han Dynasty emperors. Jiangzhou was subsequently renamed during the Southern and Northern Dynasties to Chu Prefecture, then in 581 AD to Yu Prefecture, the name Yu however survives to this day as an abbreviation for Chongqing, and the city centre where the old town stood is also called Yuzhong. It received its current name in 1189, after Prince Zhao Dun of the Southern Song Dynasty described his crowning as king, in his honour, Yu Prefecture was therefore renamed Chongqing subprefecture marking the occasion of his enthronement. In 1362, Ming Yuzhen, a peasant rebelling leader, established the Daxia Kingdom at Chongqing for a short time, in 1621, another short-lived kingdom of Daliang was established by She Chongming with Chongqing as its capital. The Manchus later conquered the province, and during the Qing Dynasty, immigration to Chongqing, in 1890, the British Consulate General was opened in Chongqing. The following year, the city became the first inland commerce port open to foreigners, the French, German, US and Japanese consulates were opened in Chongqing in 1896–1904. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, it was Generalissimo Chiang Kai-sheks provisional capital, the city was also visited by Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Supreme Commander of SEAC which was itself headquartered in Ceylon, modern day Sri Lanka. Chiang Kai Shek as Supreme Commander in China worked closely with Stilwell, the Japanese Air Force heavily bombed it. Due to its mountainous environment, many people were saved from the bombing, due to the bravery, contributions and sacrifices made by the local people during World War II, Chongqing became known as the City of Heroes. Many factories and universities were relocated from eastern China to Chongqing during the war, in late November 1949 the Nationalist KMT government fled the city
31.
Chengdu
–
Chengdu, formerly romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which has served as capital of Chinas Sichuan province. It is one of the three most populous cities in Western China, as of 2014 the administrative area houses 14,427,500 inhabitants, with an urban population of 10,152,632. At the time of the 2010 census, Chengdu was the 5th-most populous agglomeration in China, with 10,484,996 inhabitants in the area including Xinjin County. The surrounding Chengdu Plain is also known as the Country of Heaven and its prehistoric settlers included the Sanxingdui culture. It was the capital of Liu Beis Shu during the Three Kingdoms Era, after the fall of Nanjing to the Japanese in 1937, Chengdu briefly served as the capital of China. It is now one of the most important economic, financial, commercial, cultural, transportation, Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport is one of the 30 busiest airports in the world, and Chengdu Railway Station is one of the six biggest in China. Chengdu also hosts many international companies and more than 12 consulates, more than 260 Fortune 500 companies have established branches in Chengdu. In 2006, China Daily named it Chinas 4th-most-livable city, the name Chengdu is attested in sources going back to shortly after its founding. The present spelling is based on pinyin romanization, its Postal Map romanization was Chengtu and its former status as the seat of the Chengdu Prefecture prompted Marco Polos spellings Sindafu, Sin-din-fu, &c. and the Protestant missionaries romanization Ching-too Foo. Although the official name of the city has remained constant, the area has sometimes taken other names. The city logo adopted in 2011 is inspired by the Golden Sun Bird excavated from the Jinsha Ruins, archaeological discoveries at the Sanxingdui and Jinsha sites have established that the area surrounding Chengdu was inhabited over four thousand years ago. At the time of Chinas Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, in the early 4th century BC, the ninth king of Shus Kaiming dynasty relocated from nearby Pi County, giving his new capital the name Chengdu. Shu was conquered by Qin in 316 BC and the settlement refounded by the Qin general Zhang Yi, under the Han, the brocade produced at Chengdu became fashionable and was exported throughout China. A Brocade Official was established to oversee its quality and supply, after the fall of the Eastern Han, Liu Bei ruled Shu, the southwestern of the Three Kingdoms, from Chengdu. His minister Zhuge Liang called the area the Land of Abundance, under the Tang, Chengdu was considered the second most prosperous city in China after Yangzhou. Both Li Bai and Du Fu lived in the city, Li Bai praised it as lying above the empyrean. The citys present Caotang was constructed in 1078 in honor of an earlier, more humble structure of that name erected by Du Fu in 760, the Taoist Qingyang Gong was built in the 9th century. Chengdu was the capital of Wang Jians Former Shu from 907 to 925, the Later Shu was founded by Meng Zhixiang in 934, with its capital at Chengdu
32.
Hebei
–
Hebei is a province of China in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is 冀, named after Ji Province, a Han Dynasty province that included what is now southern Hebei, the name Hebei literally means north of the river, referring to its location entirely to the north of the Huang He 黄河. Hebei was formed in 1928 after the government dissolved the province of Chihli. Beijing and Tianjin Municipalities, which each other, were carved out of Hebei. The province borders Liaoning to the northeast, Inner Mongolia to the north, Shanxi to the west, Henan to the south, Bohai Bay of the Yellow Sea is to the east. A common alternate name for Hebei is Yānzhào, after the state of Yan, plains in Hebei were the home of Peking man, a group of Homo erectus that lived in the area around 200,000 to 700,000 years ago. Neolithic findings at the prehistoric Beifudi site date back to 7000 and 8000 BC, during the Spring and Autumn period, Hebei was under the rule of the states of Yan in the north and Jin in the south. Also during this period, a people known as Dí invaded the plains of northern China. During the Warring States period, Jin was partitioned, and much of its territory within Hebei went to Zhao, the Qin Dynasty unified China in 221 BC. The Han Dynasty ruled the area under two provinces, Youzhou Province in the north and Jizhou Province in the south, Hebei then came under the rule of the Kingdom of Wei, established by the descendants of Cao Cao. After the invasions of nomadic peoples at the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, the chaos of the Sixteen Kingdoms. Hebei, firmly in North China and right at the frontier, changed hands many times, being controlled at various points in history by the Later Zhao, Former Yan, Former Qin. The Northern Wei reunified northern China in 440, but split in half in 534, with Hebei coming under the eastern half, the Sui Dynasty again unified China in 589. During the Tang Dynasty, the area was formally designated Hebei for the first time, during the earlier part of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Hebei was fragmented among several regimes, though it was eventually unified by Li Cunxu, who established the Later Tang. During the Northern Song Dynasty, the sixteen ceded prefectures continued to be an area of hot contention between Song China and the Liao Dynasty. The Southern Song Dynasty that came after abandoned all of North China, including Hebei, the Mongol Yuan Dynasty divided China into provinces but did not establish Hebei as a province. Rather, the area was administrated by the Secretariat at capital Dadu. When the Manchu Qing Dynasty came to power in 1644, they abolished the southern counterpart, during the Qing Dynasty, the northern borders of Zhili extended deep into what is now Inner Mongolia, and overlapped in jurisdiction with the leagues of Inner Mongolia
33.
Baoding
–
Baoding is a city in Hebei province, China, approximately 150 kilometres southwest of the national capital, Beijing. Baoding is among 13 Chinese cities with a population of over 10 million, Baoding is a city with a history dating back to the Western Han Dynasty. It was destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century, but after the Mongols established the Yuan Dynasty and it acquired the name Baoding during the Yuan dynasty — the name is roughly interpreted as protecting the capital, referring to the citys proximity to Beijing. Baoding served for years as the capital of Zhili, and was a significant centre of culture in the Ming Dynasty. During the Boxer rebellion, Boxer rebels killed a Turk, two Swiss, and an Italian in Baoding, after Zhili province was abolished in 1928 Baoding became the capital of the newly formed Hebei province. During World War II, the city was the site of a headquarters for Japanese occupation forces, in 1970, however, the rapidly growing city of Shijiazhuang became the provincial capital instead. Baoding is located in the portion of Hebei province and lies on the North China Plain. Bordering prefecture-level cities in the province are Zhangjiakou to the north, Langfang and Cangzhou to the east, Baoding also borders Beijing to the northeast and Shanxi to the west. Elevations in Baodings administrative area decrease from northwest to southeast. 6% of the prefectures area, the highest peak is Mount Waitou, with an elevation of 2,286 metres. Moving southeast from this area, one encounters low-lying mountains and hills, further to the east lies generally flat terrain of 30 to 100 metres elevation. Here the primary rivers are the Juma, Yishui, Cao, Longquan, Tang, Baiyangdian Lake, the largest natural lake in northern China, can be found nearby. Spring can bear witness to sandstorms blowing in from the Mongolian steppe, accompanied by rapidly warming, autumn is similar to spring in temperature and lack of rainfall. The annual rainfall, about 60% of which falls in July and August alone, is highly variable, in the city itself, this amount has averaged to a meagre 513 millimetres per annum. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −3.2 °C in January to 26.8 °C in July, there are 2,500 to 2,900 hours of bright sunshine annually, and the frost-free period lasts 165−210 days. Children aged up to 14 numbered 1,915,800, citizens 15 to 64 numbered 8,370,600, the urban area of Baoding has a population of around 1,006,000. The overwhelming majority of the population is Han Chinese, the language of Baoding is Mandarin Chinese — specifically, the Baoding dialect of Ji-Lu Mandarin. Despite Baodings proximity to Beijing, the Chinese spoken in Baoding is not particularly close to the Beijing dialect — rather, Baoding is located in the centre of the Bohai Rim economic area which includes Beijing, Tianjin and Shijiazhuang. One of the largest employers in Baoding is China Lucky Film, and, Yingli group,2010 World Cup sponsor, has its headquarters in Baoding, who is the Global Top 10 solar panel manufacturer
34.
Chengde
–
Chengde, previously known as Jehol or Rehe, is a prefecture-level city in Hebei province, situated northeast of Beijing. It is best known as the site of the Mountain Resort, the urban center had a population of approximately 450,000 as of 2009. In 1703, Chengde was chosen by the Kangxi Emperor as the location for his summer residence, constructed throughout the eighteenth century, the Mountain Resort was used by both the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors. The site is currently an UNESCO World Heritage Site, since the seat of government followed the emperor, Chengde was a political center of the Chinese empire during these times. The city of Jehol reached its height under the Qianlong Emperor 1735-1796, the great Putuo Zongcheng Temple, loosely based on the Potala in Lhasa, was completed after just four years of work in 1771. It was heavily decorated with gold and the emperor worshipped in the Golden Pavilion, in the temple itself was a bronze-gilt statue of Tsongkhapa, the Reformer of the Gelugpa sect. Under the Republic of China, Chengde was the capital of Rehe province, from 1933 to 1945 the city was under Japanese control as a part of the Manchurian puppet state known as Manchukuo. After World War II the Kuomintang regained jurisdiction, in 1948, the Peoples Liberation Army took control of Chengde. It would remain a part of Rehe until 1955, when the province was abolished, the city is home to large populations of ethnic minorities, Mongol and Manchu in particular. The name for Chengde in Mongolian is ᠬᠠᠯᠠᠭᠤᠨ ᠭᠣᠣᠯ and in Manchu is Erdemu be aliha. Chengde comprises, Chengde is located in the portion of Hebei, with latitude 40° 12－42°37 N, and longitude 115° 54－119°15 E. It borders Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Beijing, and Tianjin, neighbouring prefecture-level provincial cities are Qinhuangdao and Tangshan on the Bohai Gulf, and land-locked Zhangjiakou. Due to its Liaoning border, it is considered a part of both the North and Northeast China regions. From north to south the prefecture stretches 269 kilometres, and from west to east 280 kilometres, for an area of 39,702.4 square kilometres. It is by area the largest prefecture in the province, though as most of its terrain is mountainous, spring warming is rapid, but dust storms can blow in from the Mongolian steppe, autumn cooling is similarly quick. Precipitation averages at 512 millimetres for the year, with more than two-thirds of it falling during the three summer months, with monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 50% in July to 69% in October, the city receives 2,746 hours of sunshine annually. The first ever match in China was organised in Chengde in January 2015 and was played between the Russian and Swedish top clubs Baykal-Energiya and Sandviken. Chengde city was one of the initiators when the China Bandy Federation was founded in December 2014, the city will host the 2018 Womens Bandy World Championship
35.
Inner Mongolia
–
Its capital is Hohhot, and other major cities include Baotou, Chifeng, and Ordos. It is the third largest subdivision of China, spanning approximately 1,200,000 km2 or 12% of Chinas total land area and it recorded a population of 24,706,321 in the 2010 census, accounting for 1. 84% of Mainland Chinas total population. Inner Mongolia is the countrys 23rd most populous province-level division, the majority of the population in the region is Han Chinese, with a sizeable titular Mongol minority. In Chinese, the region is known as Inner Mongolia, where the terms of Inner/Outer are derived from Manchu dorgi/tulergi. The term Inner 内 referred to the Nei Fan 内番, i. e. those descendants of Genghis Khan who granted the title khan in Ming and Qing Dynasties and lived in part of southern part of Mongolia. In recent years, some Mongols began to call Inner Mongolia Nan Menggu, literally South Mongolia, much of what is known about the history of Greater Mongolia, including Inner Mongolia, is known through Chinese chronicles and historians. Slab Grave cultural monuments are found in northern, central and eastern Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, north-western China, Mongolian scholars prove that this culture related to the Proto-Mongols. During the Zhou Dynasty, central and western Inner Mongolia were inhabited by peoples such as the Loufan, Linhu. During the Warring States period, King Wuling of the state of Zhao based in what is now Hebei, after destroying the Dí state of Zhongshan in what is now Hebei province, he defeated the Linhu and Loufan and created the commandery of Yunzhong near modern Hohhot. King Wuling of Zhao also built a long wall stretching through the Hetao region and he also maintained two commanderies in the region, Jiuyuan and Yunzhong, and moved 30,000 households there to solidify the region. After the Qin Dynasty collapsed in 206 BC, these efforts were abandoned, during the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu sent the general Wei Qing to reconquer the Hetao region from the Xiongnu in 127 BC. After the conquest, Emperor Wu continued the policy of building settlements in Hetao to defend against the Xiong-Nu, in that same year he established the commanderies of Shuofang and Wuyuan in Hetao. At the same time, what is now eastern Inner Mongolia was controlled by the Xianbei, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, Xiongnu who surrendered to the Han Dynasty began to be settled in Hetao, and intermingled with the Han immigrants in the area. Hetao was then taken over by the Khitan Empire, founded by the Khitans and they were followed by the Western Xia of the Tanguts, who took control of what is now the western part of Inner Mongolia. The Khitans were later replaced by the Jurchens, precursors to the modern Manchus, after Genghis Khan unified the Mongol tribes in 1206 and founded the Mongol Empire, the Tangut Western Xia empire was ultimately conquered in 1227, and the Jurchen Jin dynasty fell in 1234. In 1271, Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan established the Yuan dynasty, Kublai Khans summer capital Shangdu was located near present-day Dolonnor. During that time Ongud and Khunggirad peoples dominated the area of what is now Inner Mongolia, after the Yuan dynasty was overthrown by the Han-led Ming dynasty in 1368, the Ming captured parts of Inner Mongolia including Shangdu and Yingchang. The Ming rebuilt the Great Wall of China at its present location, the Ming established the Three Guards composed of the Mongols there
36.
Chifeng
–
Chifeng, also known as Ulanhad, is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Inner Mongolia, Peoples Republic of China. It borders Xilin Gol League to the north and west, Tongliao to the northeast, Chaoyang to the southeast, the city has a total administrative area of 90,275 square kilometres and has a population of 4,341,245 inhabitants. As of the 2010 census,1,094,970 of these residents reside within in the districts of Hongshan, Yuanbaoshan and Songshan. However, a part of Songshan is still rural and Yuanbaoshan is a de facto separate town 27 kilometers away from the core district of Chifeng. The city was the centre of the defunct Ju Ud League. According to archeology studies, human existence in the Chifeng area can be traced back almost ten years. The representative ruins and relics of Hongshan Culture, Grassland Bronze Culture, Qindan Nationality-Liao Culture, the ruins of an ancient village, named Xinglongwa, are regarded as “the first village of China” by historians. The biggest jade dragon unearthed in the area is known as “the first dragon of China”, the discovery of ruins and relics of ancient cultures have come from more than 6,800 sites. Named after Chifengs Hongshan District, Hongshan Culture was a Neolithic culture in northeastern China, whose sites have been mainly in Chifeng. Chifeng was the political, economic and cultural center of the Liao Dynasty, therefore, in Qing Dynasty, todays Chifeng region was under the administration of Ju Ud League, one of the six original Leagues in Inner Mongolia region. Mongolian Banners were organized into conventional assemblies at the league level, in republican era, Chifeng was under the administration of Rehe Province, along with parts of todays Liaoning and Hebei including Chaoyang and Chengde. After Mukden incident took place in 1931, Japanese puppet state Manchukuo was established in Hsinking, Chifeng was established the third largest city of Rehe Province after Chengde and Chaoyang, After the Operation August Storm, the Soviet-Mongolian Cavalry-Mechanized Group had entered Chifeng. In the 1970s, going by the name Juud League, Chifeng was under the administration of Liaoning province, after 1979, Chifeng was under Inner Mongolian rule, and Juud League was dissolved on October 10,1983. Chifeng is situated along the upper reaches of the Xiliao River, within its area are the southwesternmost extension of the Greater Khingan, the Inner Mongolia Plateau as well as the Xiliao River Plain, and finally the northernmost extent of the Yan Mountains. Bordering prefecture-level divisions are Tongliao to the northeast, Chaoyang to the southeast, Chengde to the south, from north to south Chifeng City stretches 457.5 km, while from east to west it stretches 375 km. Elevations decrease from a high of2,067 m in the west to less than 300 m in the east, Chifeng has a four-season, monsoon-influenced, continental steppe climate, with long, cold, windy, but dry winters, and hot, humid summers. Monthly mean temperatures range from −10.7 °C in January to 23.6 °C in July, nearly half of the years rainfall occurs in July and August, and even then dry and sunny weather dominates in the city. Chifeng has three districts, two counties and seven banners, In 2004, Chifeng had 4,435,737 inhabitants, as a result, the social economy got fast development
37.
Hailar District
–
Hailar District is an urban district that serves as the seat of the prefecture-level city Hulunbuir in northeastern Inner Mongolia, China. Hulunbuir, due to its size, is a city in administrative terms only, being mainly grassland. Hailar, therefore, is a de facto city, Hailar can also refer to the urban area around the Hailar district, with Hulunbuir being the wider geographical region that contains the urban area. Long known as the Pearl of the Grasslands, Hailar acts as a gateway between China and Russia, the district has an estimated population of 256,000, and serves as a regional centre for commerce, trade, and transportation. Hailar was founded as a Chinese fort in 1734, and during the administration of the Republic of China it was the city of Xingan Province. It is now a centre of production on the Chinese Eastern RR. Once known as Hulun, Hailar today is a small but thriving modern industrial city of around 300,000. When the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, Hailar was the scene of a struggle in the wider campaign to push Japanese forces out of Manchuria and northeast China. Hailar Dongshan Airport serves the city, with flights to Beijing and Shenyang amongst others, hailars railway station is the penultimate major station before Manzhouli, the port city that stands close to the Russian border. It is on the famous Manchuria branch of the Trans-Siberian express route, trains to Harbin take about 12 hours, and 27 to Beijing. Hailar has a frequent series of buses that cover the town, Hailar has a humid continental climate bordering on a subarctic climate. Winters are long, very dry and severe, due to the semi−permanent Siberian High, while summers are short, though very warm, and rather wet, due to the East Asian monsoon. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −25.1 °C in January to 20.0 °C in July, with monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 55% in December to 69% in February, sunshine is abundant year-round, and the annual total is 2,719 hours. Approximately 70% of the rainfall occurs during the three summer months. The Mohe-Huma-Hailar triangle between northern Heilongjiang and Northeastern Inner Mongolia, which almost equivalent to Chinas subarctic climate zone, hailars extreme temperatures ranges from -48.2 °C to 37.7 °C. Hailar is discernibly an ethnic minority town with a strong Han contingent, as such, signs are usually bi-lingual and Mongolian influence pervades in songs played on shop CD players, domes on buildings and the chitter chatter of some locals. As is the case with any Northern Chinese city, cultural facilities differ from those in the West, on the other hand, it does have many KTVs dotted about the town, including one luxurious one in the Yes-Se Nightclub, a new black building. Composer Vladimir Ussachevsky was born in Hailar, Unit 543 Unit 2646 Hailar at Encyclopædia Britannica Official website of Hailar District Government Post codes of Inner Mongolia
38.
Northeast China
–
Northeast China or Dongbei is a geographical region of China. It also historically corresponds with the term Manchuria in the English language, the heartland of the region is the Northeast China Plain. Due to the shrinking of its industrial sector and decline of its economic growth. The region is congruent with some definitions of Manchuria in historical foreign usage. Another term for the area is Guandong, meaning east of the Pass, Northeast China was the homeland of several ethnic groups, including the Manchus, Ulchs, Hezhen. Various ethnic groups and their kingdoms, including the Sushen, Xianbei. Many Korean kingdoms have risen to power in Manchuria, including Gojoseon, Buyeo, Goguryeo. Yan State once occupied the Liaodong Peninsula, Han Chinese dynasties in China loosely controlled the southern parts of the region, during the Song dynasty, the Khitan set up the Liao Dynasty in Northeast China. Later, the Jurchen overthrew the Liao and formed the Jin dynasty, in AD1234, the Jin dynasty fell to the Mongols, whose Yuan Dynasty was later replaced by the Ming Dynasty in 1368. In 1644, the Manchu conquered the entirety of China and established the Qing dynasty, Northeast China came under influence of the Russian Empire with the building of the Chinese Eastern Railway through Harbin to Vladivostok. The Empire of Japan replaced Russian influence in the region as a result of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904–1905, during the Warlord Era in China, Zhang Zuolin established himself in Northeast China, but was murdered by the Japanese for being too independent. The last Qing dynasty emperor, Puyi, was placed on the throne to lead a Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. After the atomic bombing of Japan in 1945, the Soviet Union invaded the region as part of its declaration of war against Japan, from 1945 to 1948, Northeast China was a base area for the Communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. Northeast China has a population of about 107,400,000 people. The overwhelming majority of the population in the Northeast is Han Chinese, people from the Northeast would first identify themselves as Northeasterners before affiliating to individual provinces and cities/towns. The Northeast was one of the earliest regions to industrialize in China during the era of Manchukuo, after the founding of the Peoples Republic of China, Northeast China continued to be a major industrial base of the country. The region is, on the whole, more urbanised than most parts of China. Major cities include Shenyang, Dalian, Harbin, Changchun and Anshan, other cities include the steel making centres of Fushun and Anshan in Liaoning, Jilin City in Jilin, and Qiqihar and Mudanjiang in Heilongjiang
.svg)
