1.
Chinese characters
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Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and some other Asian languages. In Standard Chinese, and sometimes also in English, they are called hànzì. They have been adapted to write a number of languages including, Japanese, where they are known as kanji, Korean, where they are known as hanja. Collectively, they are known as CJK characters, in English, they are sometimes called Han characters. Chinese characters constitute the oldest continuously used system of writing in the world, Chinese characters number in the tens of thousands, though most of them are minor graphic variants encountered only in historical texts. Studies in China have shown that literacy in written Chinese requires a knowledge of between three and four thousand characters. In Japan,2,136 are taught through secondary school, the characters used in Japan are distinct from those used in China in many respects. There are various national standard lists of characters, forms, in South Korea, when Chinese characters are used they are of the traditional variant and are almost identical to those used in places like Taiwan and Hong Kong. In Old Chinese, most words were monosyllabic and there was a correspondence between characters and words. Rather, a character almost always corresponds to a syllable that is also a morpheme. However, there are a few exceptions to this correspondence, including bisyllabic morphemes. Modern Chinese has many homophones, thus the same syllable may be represented by many characters. A single character may also have a range of meanings, or sometimes quite distinct meanings, cognates in the several varieties of Chinese are generally written with the same character. They typically have similar meanings, but often quite different pronunciations and these foreign adaptations of Chinese pronunciation are known as Sino-Xenic pronunciations, and have been useful in the reconstruction of Middle Chinese. When the script was first used in the late 2nd millennium BC, words of Old Chinese were generally monosyllabic, increasing numbers of polysyllabic words have entered the language from the Western Zhou period to the present day. The process has accelerated over the centuries as phonetic change has increased the number of homophones and it has been estimated that over two thirds of the 3,000 most common words in modern Standard Chinese are polysyllables, the vast majority of those being disyllables. The most common process has been to form compounds of existing words, words have also been created by adding affixes, reduplication and borrowing from other languages. Polysyllabic words are written with one character per syllable
2.
Coming of age
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Coming of age is a young persons transition from being a child to being an adult. The certain age at which this takes place changes in society. It can be a simple legal convention or can be part of a ritual or spiritual event, in the past, and in some societies today, such a change is associated with the age of sexual maturity, especially menarche and spermarche. In others, it is associated with an age of religious responsibility, particularly in western societies, modern legal conventions which stipulate points in late adolescence or early adulthood are the focus of the transition. In either case, many cultures retain ceremonies to confirm the coming of age, Coming of age is often a topic of fiction, in the form of a coming-of-age story. In written literature, a novel which deals with the psychological and moral growth often associated with coming of age is called a bildungsroman. Similar stories that are told in film are called coming-of-age films, turning 15, the age of maturity, as the Bahai faith terms it, is a time when a child is considered spiritually mature. Declared Bahais that have reached the age of maturity are expected to begin observing certain Bahai laws, such as obligatory prayer, theravada boys, typically just under the age of 20 years, undergo a Shinbyu ceremony, where they are initiated into the Temple as Novice Monks. They will typically stay in the monastery for between 3 days and 3 years, most commonly for one 3-month rainy season retreat, held annually from late July to early October. After living the monastic life for some time, the boy, now considered to have come of age. Confucianism had a ceremony called Guan Li for young men, at around the age of 20, they would receive their style name. In many Western Christian churches, a young person celebrates his/her Coming of Age with the Sacrament of Confirmation and this is usually done by the Bishop laying his hands upon the foreheads of the young person, and marking them with the seal of the Holy Spirit. In some denominations during this sacrament the child adopts a name which is added onto their Christian name. In Christian denominations that practice Believers Baptism, the ritual can be carried out after the age of accountability has arrived. Some traditions withhold the rite of Holy Communion from those not yet at the age of accountability, mid-teens in the United States, early teens in Ireland and Britain, has in some areas been abandoned in favour of restoring the traditional order of the three sacraments of initiation. These individuals are seen, according to some Christians, as existing in a perpetual state of innocence. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sets the age for baptism at 8 years of age and calls this the age of accountability. All persons younger than 8 are considered innocent and incapable of sinning, the LDS Church considers mentally challenged individuals whose mental age is under 8 to be in a perpetual state of innocence, similar to other Christian churches
3.
Zhao Wei
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Zhao Wei, also known as Vicki Zhao, is a Chinese actress, film director, producer and pop singer. She is considered one of the most popular actresses in China and my Fair Princess enjoyed unprecedented success in East and Southeast countries, and Zhao is regarded by many as Mainland Chinas first national idol since the economic reform began in 1978. Over her 20 years acting career, Zhao has starred in many box-office smash-hits, including Shaolin Soccer, Red Cliff, Painted Skin, Painted Skin, The Resurrection, Dearest and Lost in Hong Kong. While focusing mostly on films, her works also include highly-popular TV series such as Romance in the Rain, Moment in Peking and she also began a singing career with her debut album Swallow, and has since released 7 albums. In 2006, she won the MTV Asia Award for Favorite Artist from Mainland China, Zhao received her Master Degree of Film Directing from Beijing Film Academy in 2012. Her directorial debut So Young was both a box office and critical success. It broke the box office record for movies directed by female Chinese directors in just a week, in 2016, Zhao was named as member of the main Jury at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival. Born and brought up in Wuhu, Anhui, Zhao is the child to Zhao Jiahai, an engineer, and Wei Qiying. After secondary school, Zhao entered Wuhu Normal School, an education institution training students to become pre-school teachers. Apart from school, she received training in piano, dance. In 1993, while Zhao was still in school, the movie A Soul Haunted by Painting, starring Gong Li, Zhao was cast for a cameo role, a young prostitute in the brothel where Gongs character works. This is her first acting experience though she appeared briefly at the beginning of the film and had no dialogues. Zhao had developed interests in acting after her first acting experience. In 1994, after graduating from the Wuhu Normal School, she gave up her job as an apprentice pre-school teacher and she was also selected by Xie to star his movie Penitentiary Angel. This was her first substantial role, though she did not find her own performance fulfilling, Zhao considered it a valuable experience and a good start of her career. The film landed her other roles in TV series including her first leading role in Sisters in Beijing. I was too young to understand the role, she said, in 1996, Zhao was admitted to the School of Performing Arts, Beijing Film Academy with the highest score national-wide. She graduated 4 years later with Bachelor Degree of Performing Arts from BFA as one of the most outstanding graduates - Zhao scored five As and nine A-s out of the 14 courses
4.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
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Avengers, Age of Ultron is a 2015 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to 2012s The Avengers and the film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film was written and directed by Joss Whedon and features an ensemble cast that includes Robert Downey Jr. Jackson, in Avengers, Age of Ultron, the Avengers fight Ultron, an artificial intelligence obsessed with causing human extinction. The sequel was announced in May 2012, after the release of The Avengers. Whedon, the director of the first film, was back on board in August. By April 2013, Whedon had completed a draft of the script, second unit filming began in February 2014 in South Africa with principal photography taking place between March and August 2014. The film was shot at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England, with additional footage filmed in Italy, South Korea, Bangladesh, New York City. While in post production, the film was converted to 3D, Avengers, Age of Ultron premiered in Los Angeles on April 13,2015, and was released on May 1,2015, in North America, in 3D and IMAX 3D. The film received reviews from critics and grossed over $1.4 billion worldwide, making it the seventh-highest-grossing film in history. A sequel, Avengers, Infinity War, is scheduled to be released on May 4,2018, Stark and Banner discover an artificial intelligence within the scepters gem, and secretly use it to complete Starks Ultron global defense program. The unexpectedly sentient Ultron, believing he must eradicate humanity to save Earth, J. A. R. V. I. S. and attacks the Avengers at their headquarters. Escaping with the scepter, Ultron uses the resources in Struckers Sokovia base to upgrade his rudimentary body and build an army of robot drones. Having killed Strucker, he recruits the Maximoffs, who hold Stark responsible for their parents deaths by his weapons, and go to the base of arms dealer Ulysses Klaue to obtain Wakandan vibranium. Thor departs to consult with Dr. Erik Selvig on the meaning of the future he saw in his hallucination, while Romanoff. However, Nick Fury arrives and encourages the team to form a plan to stop Ultron, in Seoul, Ultron forces the teams friend Dr. Helen Cho to use her synthetic-tissue technology, together with vibranium and the scepters gem, to perfect a new body for him. As Ultron uploads himself into the body, Wanda is able to read his mind, discovering his plan for human extinction, Rogers, Romanoff, and Barton find Ultron and retrieve the synthetic body, but Ultron captures Romanoff. The Avengers fight amongst themselves when Stark secretly uploads J. A. R. V. I. S, – who is still operational after hiding from Ultron inside the Internet – into the synthetic body. Thor returns to help activate the body, explaining that the gem on its brow – one of the six Infinity Stones, Banner rescues Romanoff, who awakens the Hulk for the battle
5.
Pinyin
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Pinyin, or Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. It is often used to teach Standard Chinese, which is written using Chinese characters. The system includes four diacritics denoting tones, Pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written with the Latin alphabet, and also in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters. The pinyin system was developed in the 1950s by many linguists, including Zhou Youguang and it was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times. The International Organization for Standardization adopted pinyin as a standard in 1982. The system was adopted as the standard in Taiwan in 2009. The word Hànyǔ means the language of the Han people. In 1605, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci published Xizi Qiji in Beijing and this was the first book to use the Roman alphabet to write the Chinese language. Twenty years later, another Jesuit in China, Nicolas Trigault, neither book had much immediate impact on the way in which Chinese thought about their writing system, and the romanizations they described were intended more for Westerners than for the Chinese. One of the earliest Chinese thinkers to relate Western alphabets to Chinese was late Ming to early Qing Dynasty scholar-official, the first late Qing reformer to propose that China adopt a system of spelling was Song Shu. A student of the great scholars Yu Yue and Zhang Taiyan, Song had been to Japan and observed the effect of the kana syllabaries. This galvanized him into activity on a number of fronts, one of the most important being reform of the script, while Song did not himself actually create a system for spelling Sinitic languages, his discussion proved fertile and led to a proliferation of schemes for phonetic scripts. The Wade–Giles system was produced by Thomas Wade in 1859, and it was popular and used in English-language publications outside China until 1979. This Sin Wenz or New Writing was much more sophisticated than earlier alphabets. In 1940, several members attended a Border Region Sin Wenz Society convention. Mao Zedong and Zhu De, head of the army, both contributed their calligraphy for the masthead of the Sin Wenz Societys new journal. Outside the CCP, other prominent supporters included Sun Yat-sens son, Sun Fo, Cai Yuanpei, the countrys most prestigious educator, Tao Xingzhi, an educational reformer. Over thirty journals soon appeared written in Sin Wenz, plus large numbers of translations, biographies, some contemporary Chinese literature, and a spectrum of textbooks
6.
My Fair Princess
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Season 1 was filmed in 1997, and Season 2 in 1998-1999. Both seasons were filmed in Beijing, Chengde and the Bashang Plateau on the mainland, written by creator Chiung Yao, the Cinderella-like story is set in 18th-century Qing dynasty during the Qianlong Emperors reign. Although some characters, the premise, and certain sections of the story are based on historical events and figures. A massive international hit in East Asia and Southeast Asia, the drama is considered the most commercially successful Chinese-language series in history, Hunan Broadcasting System, after achieving ratings as high as 65% of audience shares, permanently became Chinas second largest network. In 1985 to produce television dramas, in 1987, Taiwans government allowed visits to Mainland China for the first time since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. In 1989, Chiung Yao began filming for the first time in Mainland China in Changsha, Hunan, assisted by HBS, most actors, equipment and production crew came from Taiwan, while the Chinese stations produced chiefly cheap labor in exchange for broadcasting rights in the mainland. Being the first Taiwanese television production assisted by Mainland stations, the drama Wan-chun ran into problems with Taiwans government. However, as years go by, restrictions in Taiwan became less and Chiung Yao began to use more and more Mainland actors and crew members in her productions, by 1992, HBS was no longer just a collaborator in Chiung Yaos productions but a financial partner and a co-producer. In 1995, Ouyang became the head of HBS. As Chiung Yao had an agreement with Taiwans China Television to produce 2 dramas for CTV for 1998, the second drama of the year was thus left with a limited budget. In 1997, during a tour of Beijing, Chiung Yao passed Gongzhufen, nothing else was known about her. From this legend, Chiung Yao decided to write My Fair Princess as the drama series. The recommended actress left little impression, but an actress with big eyes caught Lees attention. Eventually Lee located that actress, Zhao Wei, who in 1997 was a 21-year-old freshman in the Performing Institute of Beijing Film Academy. Chiung Yao was also impressed by Zhaos acting and decided to cast her in the role of Xia Ziwei. Taiwanese actress Lee Ting-yi was originally chosen to portray the titular character Xiaoyanzi, however, about a week before filming was to begin, the producers learned that she could not participate due to schedule conflicts with a film of hers. Since there was time left, the company wanted to know whether Zhao, already provided with the script and asked to memorize Ziweis lines. As Lee Ching-ping remembered in 2007, I quite nervously called her and tried to soften my words, I was thinking, how do I make her receptive, I thought she was upset, so I asked her, whats wrong
7.
Furious 7
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Furious 7 is a 2015 American action film directed by James Wan and written by Chris Morgan. It is the installment in The Fast and the Furious franchise. The film stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Jordana Brewster, Djimon Hounsou, Kurt Russell and Jason Statham. With the previous three installments set between 2 Fast 2 Furious and The Fast and the Furious, Tokyo Drift, Furious 7 is the first installment in the franchise to take place after Tokyo Drift. The film also marks the film appearance of Walker, who died in a single-vehicle crash on November 30,2013. Following Walkers death, filming was delayed for script rewrites, and his brothers, Caleb, plans for a seventh installment were first announced in February 2012 when Johnson stated that production on the film would begin after the completion of Fast & Furious 6. In April 2013, Wan, predominantly known for films, was announced to direct the film in place of Justin Lin. Casting began in the month with the re-signing of Diesel and Walker. Principal photography began in Atlanta, Georgia, in September 2013, resumed in April 2014 and ended in July 2014, with filming locations including Los Angeles, Colorado, Abu Dhabi. Furious 7 premiered in Los Angeles on April 1,2015, and was first released in Australia on April 2,2015, the film was also released in 3D, IMAX 3D, and 4DX internationally. Upon release, the became a critical and commercial success, with praise being aimed at the films action sequences. The film grossed $397.6 million worldwide in its first five days of release, a sequel, The Fate of the Furious, is scheduled to be released on April 14,2017. Brian begins to accustom himself to life as a father, while Dom tries to help Letty Ortiz regain her memory, after revealing his identity, Shaw engages Hobbs in a fight, and escapes when he detonates a bomb that severely injures Hobbs. Dom later learns from his sister Mia that she is pregnant again, however, a bomb, disguised in a package sent from Tokyo, explodes and destroys the Toretto house just seconds after Han, a member of Doms team, is killed by Shaw in Tokyo. Dom later visits Hobbs in a hospital, where he learns that Shaw is a special forces assassin seeking to avenge his brother. Dom then travels to Tokyo to claim Hans body, and meets and races Sean Boswell, back at Hans funeral in Los Angeles, Dom notices a car observing them, and after a chase, confronts its driver, who is revealed to be Shaw. Both prepare to fight, but Shaw flees when a covert ops team arrives, the team then heads to Abu Dhabi, where a billionaire has acquired the flash drive containing the Gods Eye, and manages to steal it from the owner. With the Gods Eye near telecommunications repeaters, the tracks down Shaw
8.
The Hollywood Reporter
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Headquartered in Los Angeles, THR is part of the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group, a group of properties that includes Billboard and SpinMedia. It is owned by Eldridge Industries, a company owned by an executive of its previous owner. Under Janice Min, a faltering THR was relaunched in 2010 as a weekly print magazine with a revamped, continuously updated website, as well as mobile. THR was founded in 1930 by William R, billy Wilkerson as Hollywoods first daily entertainment trade newspaper. The first edition appeared on September 3,1930, and featured Wilkersons front-page Tradeviews column, the newspaper appeared Monday to Saturday for the first 10 years, except for a brief period, then Monday to Friday from 1940. Wilkerson ran the THR until his death in September 1962, although his final column appeared 18 months prior, from the late 1930s, Wilkerson used THR to push the view that the industry was a communist stronghold. In particular, he opposed the screenplay writers trade union, the Screen Writers Guild, in 1946 the Guild considered creating an American Authors Authority to hold copyright for writers, instead of ownership passing to the studios. Wilkerson devoted his Tradeviews column to the issue on July 29,1946 and he went to confession before publishing it, knowing the damage it would cause, but was apparently encouraged by the priest to go ahead with it. The column contained the first industry names, including Dalton Trumbo and Howard Koch, on became the Hollywood blacklist. Eight of the 11 people Wilkerson named were among the Hollywood Ten who were blacklisted after hearings in 1947 by the House Un-American Activities Committee. In 1997 THR reporter David Robb wrote a story about the newspapers involvement, for the blacklists 65th anniversary in 2012, the THR published a lengthy investigative piece about Wilkersons role, by reporters Gary Baum and Daniel Miller. The same edition carried an apology from Wilkersons son, W. R. Wilkerson III and he wrote that his father had been motivated by revenge for his thwarted ambition to own a studio. Wilkersons wife, Tichi Wilkerson Kassel, took over as publisher and she sold the paper on April 11,1988, to Affiliated Publications, parent company of Billboard Publications, for $26.7 million. Robert J. Dowling became THR president in 1988 and editor-in-chief, Dowling brought in Alex Ben Block as editor in 1990, and editorial quality of both news and specials steadily improved. Block and Teri Ritzer dampened much of the coverage and cronyism that had infected the paper under Wilkerson. After Block left, former editor at Variety, Anita Busch, was brought in as editor between 1999 and 2001. Busch was credited with making the paper competitive with Variety, tony Uphoff assumed the publisher position in November 2005. Uphoff was replaced in October 2006 by John Kilcullen, the publisher of Billboard, Kilcullen was a defendant in Billboards infamous dildo lawsuit, in which he was accused of race discrimination and sexual harassment
9.
Alec Su
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Alec Su You-peng is a Taiwanese actor, singer, television producer, and film director. Su became a teen idol in the 1980s as a member of the boyband Xiao Hu Dui. He was known as the Obedient Tiger until the band broke up in 1995, the 1998–1999 hit TV series My Fair Princess marked a turning point in Sus career. Since then he has had a career in acting, starring in highly popular dramas such as The Legendary Siblings, Romance in the Rain. Su has won awards from Hundred Flowers Awards and Macau International Movie Festival for the films The Message, in 2013 he produced the TV series Destiny by Love. In 2015 he directed the film The Left Ear, Alec Sus career started in 1988, at the age of 15, when he joined the Little Tigers trio. The band was the first idol singing group that debuted in the Taiwanese music industry, the groups popularity was unprecedented, the Little Tigers attracted fans from Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, and amongst Chinese communities around the world. The success of the band began the new generation of Taiwanese pop culture in the early 1990s, apart from being a popular singer, during this period Su was epitomized by the general public as a superior student. He attended Taiwans number one school, Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School and was accepted into the prestigious National Taiwan University. However, as Su became so well known at such a young age, at the age of 21, a year before his university graduation in Taiwan, Su decided to leave school and study abroad in England. In 1995, after the breakup of Little Tigers, Su embarked on an acting career and his role as the Wu Ah Ge, Yongqi in the Chinese TV series blockbuster My Fair Princess I and II won him fame as a television actor in 1997. He continued in 2000 with another hit TV series Romance in the Rain and his later TV series include Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre, Magic Touch of Fate, and Mischievous Princess. He collaborated with Korean actress Chae Rim in two 2003 productions, Love of the Aegean Sea and Warriors of the Yang Clan. In 2006, Su appeared in the 1930s drama Jiang Ji Jiu Ji co-starring with Li Qian, Cecilia Ye Tong, and Paul Chun, in 2008 he acted in the TV drama Re Ai, which aired in the spring of 2009. In late 2013, it was announced that Su would be appearing as a judge on the season of Chinas Got Talent alongside Liu Ye, Wang Wei-Chung. In recent years, Su has been concentrating on his film career, since the second half of 2008 he has participated in more than a half-dozen film projects. Su also appears in the piece, Fit Lover, which had a November 2008 release, as well as guest starring in a short Taiwan film. A Singing Fairy, shot in Guangxi Province, and a biography of Macau composer Xian Xinghai, titled The Star, the Four Cupids, a romantic comedy, premiered in April 2010
10.
Ruby Lin
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Ruby Lin Xinru is a Taiwanese actress, television producer and singer. American entertainment critic Derek Elley named Lin as Taiwans TV Drama Queen,3 years after Lin made her acting debut in a TV commercial, she rose to national and regional prominence overnight for her role as Xia Ziwei in the TV series My Fair Princess. My Fair Princess was highly popular in East and Southeast countries, since 2010, Lin has been producing TV dramas and TV films starring herself, both in mainland China and Taiwan. In 1999, she began a singing career with her debut album Heartbeat. According to Apple Daily, Lin was the third highest-earning Taiwanese drama actress in 2011, Lin was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan, the eldest of three children, having one brother a year younger and the other, six years younger. Her father was a businessman, and her mother a housewife and her English name is from her mothers love of the jewel. After her parents divorce, when Lin was seven years old, she lived with her mother and she graduated from Ri Xin Primary School and Zhong Dian High School. Lin originally planned on going to the United Kingdom to study high school graduation. However, she began her career at age seventeen as a part-time model. Her first TV commercial was for Jasmine Tea in 1994, Lins parents did not like the idea of their daughter being involved in the entertainment industry, but she decided to pursue an acting career. After appearing in commercials, her parents finally agreed to allow her to sign a contract with an entertainment-management company. Following high school graduation, Lin joined Jessie and Jones Entertainment Ltd on her 20th birthday, over the years, she has also helped her parents to reconcile. When Lin received her first experience in front of the camera in 1995, for a minor role, after filming her first TV commercial, Lin caught the attention of TV and film directors, and many companies began seeking her for roles. She received her first role in the film School Days, with Jimmy Lin, from 1995 to 1997, Lin had roles in several Taiwanese TV series, and began to attract attention and buzz from the media. In 1996, Lin went to China for the first time to film, she considered this a period of valuable experience and a time that she began to learn about acting. Originally picked for the role of Sai Ya, Lin was ultimately chosen by the company to play Zi Wei instead, the drama quickly became a phenomenal sensation, appealing to large audiences in mainland China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Southeast Asia. Lin rose to prominence and became a household name overnight, after My Fair Princess, Lin starred in a number of successful television series. In 2000 she starred in Hong Kong TVBs production of The Duke of Mount Deer with Dicky Cheung, Shu Qi, in this series, Lin played Princess Jian Ning – a sassy, funny girl
