text:
Jiang Zemin

Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as president of China from 1993 to 2003. Jiang was the third paramount leader of China from 1989 to 2002. He was the core leader of the third generation of Chinese leadership, one of four core leaders alongside Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Xi Jinping.

Born in Yangzhou, Jiangsu, Jiang joined the CCP while he was in college. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, he received training at the Stalin Automobile Works in Moscow in the 1950s, later returning to Shanghai in 1962 to serve in various institutes, later being sent between 1970 and 1972 to Romania as part of an expert team to establish machinery manufacturing plants in the country. After 1979, he was appointed as the vice chair of two commissions by vice premier Gu Mu to oversee the newly established special economic zones (SEZs). He became the vice minister of the newly established Ministry of Electronics Industry and a member of the CCP Central Committee in 1982.

Jiang was appointed as the mayor of Shanghai in 1985, later being promoted to its Communist Party secretary, as well as a member of the CCP Politburo, in 1987. Jiang came to power unexpectedly as a compromise candidate following the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, when he replaced Zhao Ziyang as CCP general secretary after Zhao was ousted for his support for the student movement. As the involvement of the "Eight Elders" in Chinese politics steadily declined, Jiang consolidated his hold on power to become the "paramount leader" in the country during the 1990s. Urged by Deng Xiaoping's southern tour in 1992, Jiang officially introduced the term "socialist market economy" in his speech during the 14th CCP National Congress held later that year, which accelerated "opening up and reform".

Under Jiang's leadership, China experienced substantial economic growth with the continuation of market reforms. The returning of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom in 1997 and of Macau from Portugal in 1999, and entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001, were landmark moments of his era. China also witnessed improved relations with the outside world, while the Communist Party maintained its tight control over the state. Jiang faced criticism over human rights abuses, including the crackdown on the Falun Gong movement. His contributions to party doctrine, known as the "Three Represents", were written into the CCP constitution in 2002. Jiang gradually vacated his official leadership titles from 2002 to 2005, being succeeded in these roles by Hu Jintao, although he and his political faction continued to influence affairs until much later. In 2022, Jiang died at the age of 96 in Shanghai; he was accorded a state funeral.

Early life
Jiang Zemin was born in the city of Yangzhou, Jiangsu, on 17 August 1926. His ancestral home was the Jiangcun Village in Jingde County, Anhui. This was also the hometown of a number of prominent figures in Chinese academic and intellectual establishments. Jiang grew up during the years of Japanese occupation. His uncle and foster father, Jiang Shangqing, died fighting the Japanese and was considered in Jiang Zemin's time to be a national hero. After Shangqing's death, Zemin became his male heir.

Jiang attended the Department of Electrical Engineering at the National Central University in Japanese-occupied Nanjing before transferring to National Chiao Tung University (now Shanghai Jiao Tong University). He graduated there in 1947 with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. Jiang joined the Chinese Communist Party when he was in college. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Jiang received his training at the Stalin Automobile Works in Moscow in the 1950s. He also worked for Changchun's First Automobile Works. As Jiang became increasingly involved in the Communist Party, his main work shifted from the technical side of engineering to administrative and political tasks.

Early career
In 1962, he returned to Shanghai and became the deputy director of the Shanghai Electric Research Institute. In 1966, he was appointed as the director and deputy party secretary of a thermal engineering research institute in Wuhan, which was established by the First Ministry of Machine Building. When the Cultural Revolution began in the same year, he did not suffer greatly during the turmoil, but was pulled down from his position as director of the institute and was sent to a May Seventh Cadre School. In 1970, after leaving the cadre school, he became the deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Bureau of the ministry and was sent to the Socialist Republic of Romania, where he served as head of the expert team to establish fifteen machinery manufacturing plants in the country. After the completion of his mission in 1972, he returned to China.

In 1979, following a thawing of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, Deng Xiaoping decided to encourage special economic zones (SEZs) as part of his Four Modernizations. China's State Council established two ministerial commissions to increase trade and foreign investment. The commissions were headed by vice premier Gu Mu, who appointed Jiang as vice chairman of both commissions, a position equivalent to vice minister. Jiang's role was to ensure these SEZs increased economic prosperity without becoming "conduits" for foreign ideology. In 1980, Jiang headed a delegation which toured other SEZs in twelve countries; upon his return, he issued a radical report which recommended allowing local authorities to issue tax breaks and land leases, and increasing the power of foreign joint ventures. The report initially "caused consternation" among party leaders, but his pragmatic and empirical presentation appealed to Deng Xiaoping. His proposals were approved at the National People's Congress, cementing Jiang as an "early implementer" of Deng Xiaoping Theory.

In March 1982, he was pushed out as vice chairman of two commissions. After pressure from premier Gu and Shanghai mayor Wang Daohan, "ardent reformist" Zhao Ziyang appointed Jiang as the first vice minister and party secretary of the newly established Ministry of Electronics Industry.

At the 12th Party Congress held in September 1982, Jiang became a member of the Central Committee of the CCP, which determines policy and elects the members of the Politburo.

Career in Shanghai
In 1985, a political reshuffle has happened in Shanghai. Party Secretary Chen Guodong and Mayor Wang Daohan were both removed due to age issue. Instead, Rui Xingwen became the new Party Secretary of Shanghai, and Jiang became new mayor of Shanghai. Jiang received mixed reviews as mayor. Many of his critics dismissed him as a "flower pot", a Chinese term for someone who only seems useful, but actually gets nothing done. Many credited Shanghai's growth during the period to Zhu Rongji. Jiang was an ardent believer, during this period, in Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms. In an attempt to curb student discontent in 1986, Jiang recited the Gettysburg Address in English in front of a group of student protesters.

At the 13th National Congress of the CCP held in October 1987, Jiang was promoted from mayor to Shanghai party secretary, the most powerful position in the city, reporting directly to the central government. He also joined the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, in accordance with customs for party secretaries of major cities.

Tiananmen Square protests
In April 1989, former general secretary Hu Yaobang died; he had previously been forced to resign in January 1987 and accused of supporting "bourgeois liberalization". His death catalyzed the Tiananmen Square protests, leading to an ideological crisis between "liberals" (who supported Deng's aggressive reforms) and "conservatives" (who favored slower change). After the Shanghai-based World Economic Herald tried to publish a eulogy rehabilitating Hu and praising his reformist stance, Jiang took control of the newspaper's editorial board. As the protests continued to grow, the Party imposed martial law and deploy troops in Beijing in May. In Shanghai, 100,000 protestors marched in the streets, and 450 students went on a hunger strike. After the third day, Jiang personally met with them to assure them that the Party shared their goals, and to promise future dialogue. He simultaneously sent a telegram to the Central Committee firmly supporting their martial law declaration.

His careful public appeals were well received by both pro-democracy students and socialist party elders. On 20 May 1989, paramount leader Deng Xiaoping decided to appoint Jiang as the new general secretary, replacing Zhao Ziyang, who had supported the protestors. Jiang was selected as a compromise candidate over Tianjin's Li Ruihuan, premier Li Peng, elders Li Xiannian, Chen Yun, and the retired elders to become the new general secretary. Before that, he had been considered to be an unlikely candidate.

Rise to power
Jiang was appointed as general secretary at the fourth plenum of the Thirteenth Central Committee on 24 June 1989 with a fairly small power base inside the party, and thus, very little actual power. His most reliable allies were the powerful party elders Chen Yun and Li Xiannian. He was believed to be simply a transitional figure until a more stable successor government to Deng could be put in place. Other prominent Party and military figures like President Yang Shangkun and his brother Yang Baibing were believed to be planning a coup.

At the first meeting of the new CCP Politburo Standing Committee, after the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, Jiang criticized the previous period as "hard on the economy, soft on politics" and advocated increasing political thought work. Anne-Marie Brady wrote that "Jiang Zemin was a long time political cadre with a nose for ideological work and its importance. This meeting marked the beginning of a new era in propaganda and political thought work in China." Soon after, the Central Propaganda Department was given more resources and power, "including the power to go in to the propaganda-related work units and cleanse the ranks of those who had been supportive of the democracy movement."

The Politburo also issued a list of "seven things" regarding "matters of universal concern to the masses", with party corruption as the top priority. Jiang was also appointed as the chairman of the Central Military Commission on 9 November 1989, succeeding Deng, and president of the PRC on 27 March 1993; this marked the start of the arrangement in which the paramount leader of China simultaneously serves as Party leader, president and chair of the CMC.

Leadership
In the first few years, Jiang depended on the support of Deng Xiaoping to remain in power, which forced Jiang into an "ultranationalist stance" towards Taiwan and the US. Jiang had supported Deng's calls against "bourgeois liberalization", but while Jiang was seen as a "thoughtful reformer", he "[skewed] to the more conservative views of the elders and his Politburo colleagues". Deng was far more supportive of reforms, saying that "deviating to the Left is an even greater danger" than deviating to the right.

Deng grew critical of Jiang's leadership in 1992. During Deng's southern tour, he subtly suggested that the pace of reform was not fast enough. Jiang grew ever more cautious, and rallied behind Deng's reforms completely. Jiang coined the new "socialist market economy" to move China's centrally-planned socialist economy into essentially a government-regulated market economy. It was a huge step to take in the realization of Deng's "socialism with Chinese characteristics". At the same time, Jiang elevated many of his supporters from Shanghai to high government positions, after regaining Deng's confidence. He abolished the outdated Central Advisory Commission in 1992, an advisory body composed of revolutionary party elders.

Economic development
In the early 1990s, post-Tiananmen economic reforms by Vice Premier and later Premier Zhu Rongji with Jiang's support had stabilized and the country was on a consistent growth trajectory. At the same time, China faced myriad economic and social problems. At Deng's state funeral in 1997, Jiang delivered the elder statesman's eulogy. Jiang had inherited a China rampant with political corruption, and regional economies growing too rapidly for the stability of the entire country. Deng's policy that "some areas can get rich before others" led to an opening wealth gap between coastal regions and the interior provinces.

Jiang and Zhu initiated major reforms to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) during their tenure. Per the concept of "grasping the large, letting go of the small", a number of heavy industries were deregulated and many small- and medium-sized SOEs were closed down or privatized, initially removing as many as 40 million jobs from SOEs. Jiang also oversaw the breaking of the "iron rice bowl", allowing China to join the World Trade Organization in 2001. As a result of the reforms, unemployment rates skyrocketed, rising as high as 40% in some urban areas, and stock markets fluctuated greatly. The scale of rural migration into urban areas was unprecedented anywhere, and little was being done to address an ever-increasing urban-rural wealth gap. Official reports put the figure on the percentage of China's GDP being moved and abused by corrupt officials at 10%.

Jiang's biggest aim in the economy was stability, and he believed that a stable government with highly centralized power would be a prerequisite, choosing to postpone political reform, which in many facets of governance exacerbated the ongoing problems. After the coastal regions and SEZs were sufficiently developed, Jiang worked to reduce geographic disparities by encouraging richer cities to "provide financial, technological, and managerial assistance to the poorer, western ones." Jiang put forward the plan for China's western development. Construction various infrastructure projects such as the Qinghai–Tibet railway and the Three Gorges Dam began under Jiang's leadership.

Jiang launched the Going Global policy in 1999, a national strategy which sought to develop national champion firms, increase foreign demand for Chinese goods and services, and secure energy and resources. This policy greatly expanded Chinese investment and influence in the global South, particularly in Africa and Asia.

Foreign policy
Under Jiang's leadership, China continued its style of developmental diplomacy which had been adopted under Deng Xiaoping. China's international behavior was generally both pragmatic and predictable. During Jiang's presidency, serious flare-ups between China and the United States occurred. Nonetheless, Jiang's foreign policy was for the most part passive and non-confrontational. Foreign policy under Jiang inherited from that of Deng Xiaoping, that is, taoguang yanghui, or "hide one's talent and bide one's time", which emphasized the use of cooperative rhetoric and the avoidance of controversy.

In July 1993, the United States Navy stopped a Chinese container ship, the Yinhe, based on the incorrect suspicion that it was carrying chemical weapon precursors bound for Iran. Although China denied the allegation, the United States cut off the Yinhe 's GPS, causing it to lose direction and anchor on the high seas for twenty-four days until it acceded to an inspection. There were no chemical precursors on the ship. Although China sought a formal apology, the United States refused to apologize and refused to pay compensation. Despite the humiliation of the Yinhe incident, Jiang took a stance of goodwill towards the United States and adopted the "sixteen-characters formula" for working with the United States: "enhancing confidence, reducing troubles, expanding cooperation, and avoiding confrontation."

Jiang oversaw a series of missile tests in the waters surrounding Taiwan in 1996 in protest to the Republic of China government under President Lee Teng-hui, who had been seen as moving its foreign policy away from the One-China policy. The United States sent two carrier groups to the vicinity of Taiwan, and the PRC de-escalated. As a result of the United States response, Jiang ordered the People's Liberation Army to begin a ten-year modernization program.

Jiang went on a state visit to the United States in 1997, drawing various crowds in protest from the Tibet Independence Movement to supporters of the Chinese democracy movement. He made a speech at Harvard University, part of it in English, but could not escape questions on democracy and freedom. In the official summit meeting with president Bill Clinton, the tone was relaxed as they sought common ground while largely ignoring areas of disagreement. Clinton would visit China in June 1998, and vowed that China and the United States were partners in the world, and not adversaries.

After the United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999, Jiang seemed to have put up a harsh stance for show at home, but in reality only performed symbolic gestures of protest, and no solid action. Jiang deemed the United States-China bilateral relation too important to be harmed in the emotion of the moment and sought to soothe the Chinese public's outrage.

The Hainan island incident was another tense event in the China-United States relations which occurred during Jiang's presidency. On April 1, 2001, a United States US EP-3 surveillance aircraft collided mid-air with a Chinese Shenyang J-8 jet fighter over the South China Sea. China sought a formal apology, and accepted United States Secretary of State Colin Powell's expression of "very sorry" as sufficient. The incident nonetheless created negative feelings towards the United States by the Chinese public and increased public feelings of Chinese nationalism.

A personal friend of former Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien, Jiang strengthened China's economic stature abroad, attempting to establish cordial relations with countries whose trade is largely confined to the American economic sphere.

Media depiction
The People's Daily and CCTV-1's 7 pm Xinwen Lianbo each had Jiang-related events as the front-page or top stories, a fact that remained until Hu Jintao's media administrative changes in 2006. Jiang appeared casual in front of Western media, and gave an unprecedented interview with Mike Wallace of CBS in 2000 at Beidaihe. He would often use foreign languages in front of the camera; once, he gave a 40-minute speech entirely in Russian. In an encounter with Hong Kong reporter Sharon Cheung in 2000 regarding the central government's apparent "imperial order" of supporting Tung Chee-hwa to seek a second term as Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Jiang scolded the Hong Kong journalists as "too simple, sometimes naive" in English.

Three Represents
On 25 February 2000, Jiang introduced the theory of Three Represents, which was later enshrined in both Party and State constitutions as an "important thought", following in the footsteps of Marxism–Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory. Officially termed as the latest development of socialism with Chinese characters under Jiang's tenure, the Three Represents justified the incorporation of the new capitalist business class into the party, and changed the founding ideology of the CCP from protecting the interests of the peasantry and workers to that of the "overwhelming majority of the people", a euphemism aimed at placating the growing entrepreneurial class. Conservative critics within the party, such as hardline leftist Deng Liqun, denounced this as betrayal of "true" communist ideology.

Before he transferred power to a younger generation of leaders, Jiang had his theory of Three Represents written into the Party's constitution, alongside Marxism–Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, and Deng Xiaoping Theory at the 16th CCP Congress in 2002.

Crackdown on Falun Gong
In June 1999, Jiang established an extralegal department, the 610 Office, to crack down on Falun Gong. Cook and Lemish state this was because Jiang was worried that the popular new religious movement was "quietly infiltrating the CCP and state apparatus." On 20 July, security forces arrested thousands of Falun Gong organizers they identified as leaders. The persecution that followed was characterized a nationwide campaign of propaganda, as well as the large-scale arbitrary imprisonment and coercive reeducation of Falun Gong organizers, sometimes resulting in death due to mistreatment in detention.

Retirement
In the run-up to the 16th National Congress of the CCP, Hu Jintao had "almost unanimous support" to become the new CCP general secretary. To maintain China's image as a stable and respected country, Jiang and Hu emphasized their unity, striving to make this transition the first "smooth and harmonious" one in the PRC's history. Jiang stepped down as general secretary and left the Politburo Standing Committee, but retained the chairmanship of the Central Military Commission, which controlled the army and the nation's foreign policy. Jiang would continue counselling Hu from "behind the curtain", and it was formally agreed that Jiang would be "consulted on all matters of state importance". Both men also reached a "tacit understanding" that Hu would not be considered a "core" leader like Jiang, Deng and Mao.

At the 16th Party Congress, the majority of new members for Standing Committee were considered part of Jiang's so-called "Shanghai clique", the most prominent being vice president Zeng Qinghong, who had served as Jiang's chief of staff for many years, and vice premier Huang Ju, a former party secretary of Shanghai.

After Hu succeeded Jiang as general secretary, the latter continued to "[dominate] public life" for several years. The South China Morning Post announced that "a new era has begun in China. But it is not that of Vice President Hu Jintao [...] Rather, it is a new era of President Jiang Zemin, who has just stepped down as the Party's general secretary." Early in the 2003 SARS crisis, Jiang remained conspicuously silent, and observers were divided over whether it signified his waning influence, or respect for Hu. It has been argued that the institutional arrangements created by the 16th Congress left Jiang in a position where he could not exercise much influence.

Although Jiang retained the chairmanship of the CMC, most members of the commission were professional military men. People's Liberation Army Daily, a publication thought to represent the views of the CMC majority, printed an article on 11 March 2003 which quotes two army delegates as saying, "Having one center is called 'loyalty', while having two centers will result in 'problems. This was interpreted as a criticism of Jiang's attempt to exercise dual leadership with Hu on the model of Deng Xiaoping.

On 19 September 2004, after the 4th Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee, Jiang, at the age of 78, relinquished his post as chairman of the party's Central Military Commission, his last post in the party. Six months later in March 2005, Jiang resigned his last significant post, chairman of the Central Military Commission of the state, which marked the end of Jiang's political career. This followed weeks of speculation that forces inside the party were pressing Jiang to step aside. Jiang's term was supposed to have lasted until 2007. Hu also succeeded Jiang as the CMC chairman, but, in an apparent political defeat for Jiang, General Xu Caihou, and not Zeng Qinghong was appointed to succeed Hu as vice chairman, as was initially speculated. This power transition formally marked the end of Jiang's era in China, which roughly lasted from 1989 to 2004.

In 2008, Jiang published an academic article on China's clean energy resources and another on China's information technology development.

Official appearances after retirement
Jiang continued to make official appearances after giving up his last title in 2005. In China's strictly defined protocol sequence, Jiang's name always appeared immediately after Hu Jintao's and in front of the remaining sitting members of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee. In 2007, Jiang was seen with Hu Jintao on stage at a ceremony celebrating the 80th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army, and toured the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution with Li Peng, Zhu Rongji, and other former senior officials. On 8 August 2008, Jiang appeared at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. He also stood beside Hu Jintao during the mass parade celebrating the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China in October 2009.

Beginning in July 2011, false reports of Jiang's death began circulating on the news media outside of mainland China and on the internet. While Jiang may indeed have been ill and receiving treatment, the rumors were denied by official sources. On 9 October 2011, Jiang made his first public appearance since his premature obituary in Beijing at a celebration to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution. Jiang reappeared at the 18th Party Congress in October 2012, and took part in the 65th Anniversary banquet of the founding of the People's Republic of China in October 2014. At the banquet he sat next to Xi Jinping, who had then succeeded Hu Jintao as CCP general secretary. In September 2015, Jiang attended the parade celebrating 70 years since end of World War II; there, Jiang again sat next to Xi Jinping and Hu Jintao. He appeared on 29 May 2017 at Shanghai Technology University.

After Xi Jinping assumed power in 2012, Jiang's position in the protocol sequence of leaders retreated; while he was often seated next to Xi Jinping at official events, his name was often reported after all standing members of the Communist Party's Politburo. Jiang reappeared at the 19th Party Congress on 18 October 2017. He appeared on 29 July 2019 at the funeral of former premier Li Peng. He also attended the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China mass parade in October 2019, marking his last public appearance prior to his death. He did not attend the 20th Party Congress in October 2022.

Family and personal life
Jiang married Wang Yeping, also a native of Yangzhou, in 1949. She was his cousin, as Jiang's adoptive mother was Wang's aunt. Wang graduated from Shanghai International Studies University. They had two sons together, Jiang Mianheng and Jiang Miankang. Jiang Mianheng went on to be an academic and businessman, working within the Chinese space program, and founded Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation.

It is believed that Jiang had a long-running friendship with the singer Song Zuying, Chen Zhili, and others. Following the rise of Xi Jinping, Song and other Jiang loyalists, including her brother Song Zuyu, fell under investigation for corruption.

Jiang had a passable command of several foreign languages, including English and Russian. Jiang remains the only paramount leader of China known to be able to speak in English. He enjoyed engaging foreign visitors in small talk on arts and literature in their native language, in addition to singing foreign songs in its original language. In 1987, he sang When We Were Young and danced with Dianne Feinstein, who was mayor of San Francisco at the time. Jiang also played the ukulele during his 1997 visit to Hawai'i.

Death

Jiang died on 30 November 2022, at the age of 96, in Shanghai. According to the Chinese state media Xinhua News Agency, he died at 12:13 pm from leukemia and multiple organ failures. On the day of Jiang's death, the government released a notice that the national flags would be flown half-staff in key locations of Beijing and diplomatic missions abroad. Foreigners were not invited to attend official mourning activities.

Legacy
The policies of his successors, Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, have widely been seen as efforts to address perceived imbalances and move away from a sole focus on economic growth toward a broader view of development which incorporates non-economic factors such as health and the environment.

Domestically, Jiang's legacy and reputation is mixed. While some people attributed the period of relative stability and growth in the 1990s to Jiang's term, others argue that Jiang did little to correct systemic imbalance and an accumulation of problems which resulted from years of breakneck-pace economic reforms, leaving the next administration facing innumerable challenges, some of which may have been too late to solve.

The fact that Jiang rose to power as the direct beneficiary of the political aftermath of Tiananmen has shaped the perception of his rule. Following the Tiananmen protests, Jiang threw his support behind elder Chen Yun's conservative economic policies, but subsequently changed his allegiance to Deng Xiaoping's reform-oriented agenda following the latter's "Southern Tour". This shift was not only seen as the exercise of a political opportunist, it also sowed confusion among party loyalists in regards to what direction the party was headed or what the party truly believed in. While continued economic reforms resulted in an explosion of wealth around the country, it also led to the formation of special interest groups in many sectors of the economy, and the exercise of state power without any meaningful oversight. This opened the way for the sub-optimal distribution of the fruits of growth, and an expanding culture of corruption among bureaucrats and party officials.

Historian and former Xinhua journalist Yang Jisheng wrote that Jiang might well have been given a positive historical assessment had it not been for his decision to 'overstay his welcome' by remaining in the Central Military Commission post after Hu had formally assumed the party leadership. Moreover, Jiang took credit for all the gains made during the 13 years "between 1989 and 2002", which not only evoked the memories of Jiang being a beneficiary of Tiananmen, but also neglected the economic foundations laid by Deng, whose authority was still paramount until the mid-1990s. Additionally, Jiang was also criticized for his insistence on writing the "Three Represents" into the party and state constitutions (see below), which Yang called Jiang's attempt at "self-deification", i.e., that he saw himself as a visionary along the same lines as Deng and Mao. Yang contended, "The 'Three Represents' is just common sense. It is not a proper theoretical framework. It's what any ruler would tell the people to justify the continued rule of the governing party."

Jiang did not specialize in economics, and in 1997 handed most of the economic governance of the country to premier Zhu Rongji and remained in office through the Asian financial crisis. Under their joint leadership, Mainland China sustained an average of 8% GDP growth annually, achieving the highest rate of per capita economic growth in major world economies, raising eyebrows around the world with its astonishing speed. This was mostly achieved by continuing the process of a transition to a market economy. Additionally, he helped increase China's international standing with China joining the World Trade Organization in 2001 and Beijing winning the bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Some have also associated Jiang with the widespread corruption and cronyism that had become a notable feature of the Communist power apparatus since Jiang's years in power. In the military, the two vice-chairmen who sat atop the Central Military Commission hierarchy – nominally as assistants to then chairman Hu Jintao – Vice Chairmen Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong, were said to have obstructed Hu Jintao's exercise of power in the military. Xu and Guo were characterized as "Jiang's proxies in the military". Eventually, both men were reported to have taken massive bribes, and both fell under the axe of the anti-corruption campaign under Xi Jinping.

At the same time, many biographers of Jiang have noted his government resembled an oligarchy as opposed to an autocratic dictatorship. Many of the policies of his era had been attributed to others in government, notably premier Zhu Rongji. Jiang was also characterized as a leader who was mindful to seek the opinion of his close advisers. Jiang is often credited with the improvement in foreign relations during his term, but at the same time many Chinese have criticized him for being too conciliatory towards the United States and Russia. The issue of Chinese unification between the mainland and Taiwan gained ground during Jiang's term.

Honors

 * BRA - Order of the Southern Cross - Grand Cross BAR.svg Grand Cross of the Order of the Southern Cross (23 November 1993)
 * BRU Royal Family Order of the Crown of Brunei.svg Royal Family Order of the Crown of Brunei (17 November 2000)
 * BRU Royal Family Order of the Crown of Brunei.svg Royal Family Order of the Crown of Brunei (17 November 2000)
 * BRU Royal Family Order of the Crown of Brunei.svg Royal Family Order of the Crown of Brunei (17 November 2000)

 * CGO Ordre du Merite Congolaise ribbon.svg Grand Cross of the Order of Merit (20 March 2000)
 * Ribbon jose marti.png Order of José Martí (21 November 1993)
 * Order of the Grand Star of Djibouti - ribbon bar.gif Order of the Great Star of Djibouti (18 August 1998)
 * Ordre de Tahiti Nui GC ribbon.svg Grand Cross of the Order of Tahiti Nui (3 April 2001)
 * GRE Order Redeemer 1Class.svg Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer (22 April 2000)
 * Decoration without ribbon - en.svg Athens Gold Medal (22 April 2000)
 * AltynKiran 1.png Order of the Golden Eagle (19 November 1999)
 * Mali Ordre national du Mali GC ribbon.svg Grand Cross of the National Order of Mali (17 May 1996)
 * Order of the Star of Bethlehem 2000 %28Palestine%29 - ribbon bar.png Medal 'Bethlehem 2000' (15 April 2000)
 * Medal Pushkin rib.png Medal of Pushkin (31 October 2007)
 * Ord.GoodHope-ribbon.gif Grand Cross of the Order of Good Hope (5 May 1999)
 * Order of the State of Republic of Turkey.png First Class of the Order of the State of Republic of Turkey (19 April 2000)
 * Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise 1st 2nd and 3rd Class of Ukraine.png First Class of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (2 December 1995)
 * VEN Order of the Liberator - Grand Cordon BAR.png Grand Cordon of the Order of the Liberator (17 April 2001)
 * Mali Ordre national du Mali GC ribbon.svg Grand Cross of the National Order of Mali (17 May 1996)
 * Order of the Star of Bethlehem 2000 %28Palestine%29 - ribbon bar.png Medal 'Bethlehem 2000' (15 April 2000)
 * Medal Pushkin rib.png Medal of Pushkin (31 October 2007)
 * Ord.GoodHope-ribbon.gif Grand Cross of the Order of Good Hope (5 May 1999)
 * Order of the State of Republic of Turkey.png First Class of the Order of the State of Republic of Turkey (19 April 2000)
 * Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise 1st 2nd and 3rd Class of Ukraine.png First Class of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (2 December 1995)
 * VEN Order of the Liberator - Grand Cordon BAR.png Grand Cordon of the Order of the Liberator (17 April 2001)
 * Order of the State of Republic of Turkey.png First Class of the Order of the State of Republic of Turkey (19 April 2000)
 * Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise 1st 2nd and 3rd Class of Ukraine.png First Class of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (2 December 1995)
 * VEN Order of the Liberator - Grand Cordon BAR.png Grand Cordon of the Order of the Liberator (17 April 2001)
 * Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise 1st 2nd and 3rd Class of Ukraine.png First Class of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (2 December 1995)
 * VEN Order of the Liberator - Grand Cordon BAR.png Grand Cordon of the Order of the Liberator (17 April 2001)
 * VEN Order of the Liberator - Grand Cordon BAR.png Grand Cordon of the Order of the Liberator (17 April 2001)

title: Jiang Zemin


text:
Basilicata

Basilicata, also known by its ancient name Lucania , is an administrative region in Southern Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south. It has two coastlines: a 30-km stretch on the Tyrrhenian Sea between Campania and Calabria, and a longer coastline along the Gulf of Taranto between Calabria and Apulia. The region can be thought of as the "instep" of the "boot" of Italy, with Calabria functioning as the "toe" and Apulia the "heel".

The region covers about 10,000 km2. In 2010, the population was slightly under 600,000. The regional capital is Potenza. The region comprises two provinces: Potenza and  Matera. Its inhabitants are generally known as Lucanians (lucani), and to a lesser extent as basilicatesi or by other very rare terms.

In ancient times part of its territory belonged to Magna Graecia, subject to coastal Greek colonies (including Sybaris). Later the region was conquered by the ancient Romans. It was then conquered by the Byzantines, and then by the Normans around the year 1000 with the Hauteville family. Their presence explains the persistence of the Gallo-Italic linguistic enclaves of Basilicata. The area was later dominated by the Aragonese and by the Spanish. Subsequently, it became part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, before annexation to the unified Kingdom of Italy (proclaimed in 1861) after the 1860 Expedition of the Thousand.

Etymology
The name probably derives from basilikos (βασιλικός), which refers to the basileus, the Byzantine emperors, who ruled the region for 200 years, from 536/552 to 571/590 and from 879 to 1059. Others argue that the name may refer to the Basilica of Acerenza, which held judicial power in the Middle Ages.

During the Greek and Roman eras, Basilicata was known as Lucania. This was possibly derived from leukos (Greek: λευκός), meaning "white", from lykos (Greek: λύκος), meaning "wolf", or from Latin lūcus, meaning "sacred wood". More probably, the name Lucania derived, like the forename (praenomen) Lucius, from the Latin word Lux (gen. lucis), meaning "light" (from PIE *leuk-, "brightness", also the root of the Latin verb lucere, "to shine"), which is a cognate of the name Lucas. Another proposed etymology is a derivation from the Etruscan word Lauchum (or Lauchme), meaning "king", which passed into Latin as Lucumo.

Geography
Basilicata covers an extensive part of the southern Apennine Mountains, between the Ofanto river in the north and the Pollino massif in the south. It is bordered on the east by a large part of the Bradano river depression, which is traversed by numerous streams and declines to the southeastern coastal plains on the Ionian Sea. The region also has a short coastline to the southwest on the Tyrrhenian Sea side of the peninsula.

Basilicata is the most mountainous region in the south of Italy, with 47% of its area of 9,992 km2 covered by mountains. Of the remaining area, 45% is hilly, and 8% is made up of plains. Notable mountains and ranges include the Pollino massif, the Dolomiti lucane, Monte Vulture, Monte Alpi, Monte Carmine, Monti Li Foj and Toppa Pizzuta. Geological features of the region include the volcanic formations of Monte Vulture, and the seismic faults in the Melfi and Potenza areas in the north, and around Pollino in the south. Much of the region was devastated in the 1857 Basilicata earthquake. More recently, the 1980 Irpinia earthquake destroyed many towns in the northwest of the region.

The mountainous terrain combined with weak rock and soil types makes landslides prevalent. The lithological structure of the substratum and its chaotic tectonic deformation predispose the slope to landslides, and this problem is compounded by the lack of forested land. In common with many another Mediterranean region, Basilicata was once rich in forests, but they were largely felled and made barren during the time of Roman rule.

The variable climate is influenced by three coastlines (Adriatic, Ionian and Tyrrhenian) and the complexity of the region's physical features. In general, the climate is continental in the mountains and Mediterranean along the coasts.

Prehistory
The first traces of human presence in Basilicata date to the late Paleolithic, with findings of Homo erectus. Late Cenozoic fossils, found at Venosa and other locations, include elephants, rhinoceros and species now extinct such as a saber-toothed cat of the genus Machairodus. Examples of rock art from the Mesolithic have been discovered near Filiano. From the fifth millennium, people stopped living in caves and built settlements of huts up to the rivers leading to the interior (Tolve, Tricarico, Aliano, Melfi, Metaponto). In this period, anatomically modern humans lived by cultivating cereals and animal husbandry (Bovinae and Caprinae). Chalcolithic sites include the grottoes of Latronico and the funerary findings of the Cervaro grotto near Lagonegro.

The first known stable market center of the Apennine culture on the sea, consisting of huts on the promontory of Capo la Timpa, near to Maratea, dates to the Bronze Age. The first indigenous Iron Age communities lived in large villages in plateaus located at the borders of the plains and the rivers, in places fitting their breeding and agricultural activities. Such settlements include that of Tursi, known at the time as Anglona, located between the fertile valleys of Agri and Sinni, of Siris and, on the coast of the Ionian Sea, of Incoronata-San Teodoro. The first presence of Greek colonists, coming from the Greek islands and Anatolia, date from the late eighth century BC.

There are virtually no traces of survival of the 11th–8th century BC archaeological sites of the settlements (aside from a necropolis at Castelluccio on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea): this was perhaps caused by the increasing presence of Greek colonies, which changed the balance of the trades.

Ancient history
In ancient historical times, the region was originally known as Lucania, named for the Lucani, an Oscan-speaking population from central Italy.

Starting from the late eighth century BC, the Greeks established a settlement first at Siris, founded by fugitives from Colophon. Then with the foundation of Metaponto from Achaean colonists, they started the conquest of the whole Ionian coast. There were also indigenous Oenotrian foundations on the coast, which exploited the nearby presence of Greek settlements, such as Velia and Pyxous, for their maritime trades. The region became one of the centers of Magna Graecia, with the foundation along its coasts of many Greek city-states (póleis).

The first contacts between the Lucanians and the Romans date from the latter half of the fourth century BC. After the conquest of Taranto in 272, Roman rule was extended to the whole region: the Appian Way reached Brindisi and the colonies of Potentia (modern Potenza) and Grumentum were founded.

Middle Ages
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, Basilicata fell to Germanic rule, which ended in the mid-6th century when the Byzantines reconquered it from the Ostrogoths between 536 and 552 during the apocalyptic Byzantine-Gothic war under the leadership of Byzantine generals Belisarius and Narses. The region, deeply Christianized since as early as the 5th century, became part of the Lombard Duchy of Benevento founded by the invading Lombards between 571 and 590.

In the following centuries, Saracen raids led part of the population to move from the plain and coastal settlements to more protected centers located on hills. The towns of Tricarico and Tursi were under Muslim rule for a short period: later the "Saracen" population would be expelled. The region was conquered once more for Byzantium from the Saracens and the Lombards in the late 9th century, with the campaigns of Nikephoros Phokas the Elder and his successors, and became part of the theme of Longobardia. In 968 the theme of Lucania was established, with the capital at Tursikon (Tursi).

In the 11th century, Basilicata, together with the rest of much of southern Italy, was conquered by the Normans. Melfi became the first capital of the County of Apulia (later County of Apulia and Calabria) in 1043, where Robert Guiscard was named "Duke" by Pope Nicholas II. Inherited by the Hohenstaufen, Frederick II reorganized the administrative structure of his predecessors and the Justiciarate of Basilicata, whose borders coincided almost entirely with the actual region, was created. In Melfi, the Emperor promulgated the Liber Augustalis (commonly known as Constitutions of Melfi), code of laws for the Kingdom of Sicily. The Swabians were ousted in the 13th century by the Capetian House of Anjou. Since then, Basilicata began to lose importance and was marked by an irreversible socio-political decline.

Modern and contemporary times
In 1485, Basilicata was the seat of plotters against King Ferdinand I of Naples, the so-called conspiracy of the Barons, which included the Sanseverino of Tricarico, the Caracciolo of Melfi, the Gesualdo of Caggiano, the Orsini Del Balzo of Altamura and Venosa and other anti-Aragonese families. Later, Charles V stripped most of the barons of their lands, replacing them with the Carafa, Revertera, Pignatelli and Colonna among others. After the formation of the Neapolitan Republic (1647), Basilicata also rebelled, but the revolt was suppressed. In 1663 a new province was created in Basilicata with its capital in Matera.

The region came under the dominion of the House of Bourbon in 1735. Basilicata autonomously declared its annexation to the Kingdom of Italy on August 18, 1860, with the Potenza insurrection. It was during this period that the state confiscated and sold off vast tracts of Basilicata's territory formerly owned by the Catholic Church. As the new owners were a handful of wealthy aristocratic families, the average citizen did not see any immediate economic and social improvements after unification, and poverty continued unabated.

This gave rise to the phenomenon of brigandage, which actually turned into a civil war in the form of a guerrilla fighting, whereby the Bourbon in exile and the Church encouraged the peasants to rise up against the Kingdom of Italy. This strong opposition movement continued for many years. The revolt in Basilicata was led by Carmine Crocco, who was the most important chief in the region and the most impressive band leader in southern Italy.

It was only really after World War II that things slowly began to improve thanks to land reform. In 1952, the inhabitants of the Sassi di Matera were rehoused by the state, but many of Basilicata's population had emigrated or were in the process of emigrating, which led to a demographic crisis from which it is still recovering.

Demographics
Although Basilicata has never had a large population, there have nevertheless been quite considerable fluctuations in the demographic pattern of the region. In 1881, there were 539,258 inhabitants but by 1911 the population had decreased by 11% to 485,911, mainly as a result of emigration overseas. There was a slow increase in the population until World War II, after which there was a resurgence of emigration to other countries in Europe, which continued until 1971 and the start of another period of steady increase until 1993 (611,000 inhabitants). However, in recent years the population has decreased as a result of a new wave of migration, both towards northern Italy and to other countries in Europe, and a reduction in the birth rate.

The population density is very low compared to that of Italy as a whole: 59.1 inhabitants per km2 compared to 200.4 nationwide in 2010. There is not a great difference between the population densities of the provinces of Matera and Potenza.

Religion, particularly Roman Catholicism still maintains a solid role in the culture and everyday lives of people in Basilicata. Italian National Statistical Institute (ISTAT) in 2018 found that 24.9% of the population went weekly to church, synagogue, mosque, temple or other place of worship, with the share of practicing believers higher in Basilicata (27.9%)

Administrative divisions
Basilicata is divided into two provinces:

Economy
Cultivation consists mainly of sowables (especially wheat), which represent 46% of the total land. Potatoes and maize are produced in the mountain areas. Olives and wine production is relatively small with about 31,000 ha under cultivation. The terrain is mountainous and hilly with poor transportation routes that hinders harvesting. Most oils are sold unbranded and only 3% is exported. The main olive cultivars are Ogliarola del Vulture, Ogliarola del Bradano, Majatica di Ferrandina and Farasana with only Ogliarola del Vulture having the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). Other varieties are the Arnasca, Ascolana, Augellina, Cellina, Frantoio, Leccino, Majatica, Nostrale, Ogliarola (Ogliarola Barese), Palmarola or Fasolina, Rapolese di Lavello, and Sargano (Sargano di Fermo and Sargano di San Benedetto).

Among industrial activities, the manufacturing sector contributes to the gross value added of the secondary sector with 64% of the total, while the building sector contributes 24%. Within the services sector, the main activities in terms of gross value added are business activities, distributive trade, education and public administration. In the last few years, new productive sectors have developed: manufacturing, automotive, and especially oil extraction. In 2009, Eni employed 230 people in this area (of whom over 50% were from Basilicata), and about 1,800 were employed in activities directly generated by Eni's operations, distributed in 80 companies of which over 50% were from Basilicata. The region produced about 100000 oilbbl/d, meeting 11 percent of Italy's domestic oil demand.

FIAT plant in Melfi has 7,200 employees and manufactured 229,848 Jeep Renegade, Jeep Compass and Fiat 500X in 2020.

The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was 12.6 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 0.7% of Italy's economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 22,200 euros or 74% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 95% of the EU average.

The unemployment rate stood at 8.6% in 2020, the lowest rate in South Italy.

Tourism
Difficult accessibility and lack of extended promotion make Basilicata one of the most remote and least visited regions of Italy. However, tourism is slowly growing since the early 2000s. Matera, once dubbed "national disgrace" by prime minister Alcide De Gasperi who urged to take strict development measures due to its extreme poverty, is now Basilicata's main attraction and has gained fame worldwide for its historical center, the Sassi, designated in 1993 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2019, Matera was designated as the European Capital of Culture.

Seaside tourism is mainly concentrated in Maratea, nicknamed "The Pearl of Tyrrhenian Sea", but also the Ionian coast (Policoro, Pisticci, Bernalda, Nova Siri) is fairly developed. Naturalistic attractions include Pollino, that hosts the largest national park in Italy, Dolomiti lucane and Vulture. The New York Times ranked Basilicata third in its list of "52 Places to Go in 2018", describing it as "Italy's best-kept secret".

Archeological sites
Basilicata has a variety of archeological sites containing traces of Prehistoric, Greek, Roman and Jewish heritage:
 * Civita, Tricarico
 * Grumentum
 * Heraclea
 * Metapontum
 * Jewish catacombs of Venosa
 * Notarchirico
 * Petre de la Mola
 * Serra di Vaglio
 * Venusia

Religious buildings
Basilicata hosts a series of religious structures. The Abbey of Santissima Trinità, Venosa, is one of the most representative, which includes marks of Roman, early Christian, Romanesque, Lombard and Norman origin. It was chosen by Robert Guiscard as the Hauteville family's burial (and he himself will be later buried there too). Other relevant religious buildings are:
 * Acerenza Cathedral
 * Irsina Cathedral
 * Matera Cathedral
 * Melfi Cathedral
 * Pierno Abbey, San Fele
 * Potenza Cathedral
 * Rapolla Cathedral
 * San Michele Abbey, Monticchio
 * San Pietro Caveoso Church, Matera
 * Sanctuary of Anglona, Tursi
 * Tricarico Cathedral
 * Venosa Cathedral

Castles
Of many castles that existed in the region, mostly isolated towers and ruins have survived. The Melfi castle is perhaps the most iconic, where important events from the Middle Age took place, such as the five councils between the Normans and the Catholic Church and the constitutions of Melfi promulgated by Frederick II. The Malconsiglio castle, Miglionico, hosted the conspiracy of the Barons against Ferrante of Aragon. Among the other best preserved castles of the region are:
 * Bernalda castle
 * Lagopesole castle
 * Laurenzana Castle
 * Muro Lucano castle
 * Tramontano Castle
 * Venosa castle

Other sights
Basilicata has many small and picturesque villages, nine of them have been selected by I Borghi più belli d'Italia (The most beautiful Villages of Italy), a non-profit private association of small Italian towns of strong historical and artistic interest, that was founded on the initiative of the Tourism Council of the National Association of Italian Municipalities.

However, they have to face depopulation problems, while others such as Craco and Campomaggiore saw their old sites abandoned due to natural disasters. Nonetheless, filmmakers, writers and musicians have contributed to give a boost to the rebirth of Craco, making it one of the most popular ghost towns in the world.

Other historical and distinctive villages are:
 * Accettura
 * Acerenza
 * Aliano
 * Castelmezzano
 * Guardia Perticara
 * Pietrapertosa
 * Rivello
 * Rotondella
 * Satriano di Lucania
 * Valsinni
 * Viggianello

Art
Cave paintings were found in the Tuppo dei Sassi site (or Ranaldi shelter, after its discoverer Francesco Ranaldi, archaeologist and museum director), a prehistoric site in the Filiano territory, considered the oldest artistic trace in Basilicata. During the Greek colonisation era, artists like the Pisticci Painter and the Amykos Painter operated in the area of Metaponto around the 5th century BC. Metaponto is one of the largest and earliest Greek centres of vase painting in Italy; the Lucanian vase painting began around 430 BC, with the works of the Pisticci Painter. In the Armento area the Kritonios Crown and the Armento Rider were found, now exposed in Munich and London respectively. The Jewish catacombs of Venosa are cited among the most significant signs of the Jewish presence in southern Italy. Around the 7th century, basilian monks settled in Basilicata, leaving a high concentration of rupestrian churches (155 ascertained today), in Matera, Pollino and the Agri and Sinni Valleys. Frescoes from the Angevin period can be found in the Abbey of the Santissima Trinità of Venosa, the Rupestrian churches of S. Mary of the Valley in Matera, S. Antuono in Oppido Lucano, S. Lucia in Rapolla and S. Margherita in Melfi.

The stone Nativity scene by Altobello Persio (1534) in the Matera Cathedral is an early example of Renaissance art in the region. Later Basilicata saw the imported and imitated art phenomenon with artists such as Giovanni Bellini and Cima da Conegliano, and Flemish painting by Dirck Hendricksz, Guglielmo Borremans, Aert Mijtens among the others. Local painters such as Giovanni De Gregorio, Andrea Miglionico and Carlo Sellitto had a Neapolitan school background. An alleged portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, dating back to the 1500s, was discovered in 2008, today exhibited in the Museo delle Antiche genti di Lucania, Vaglio.

Some artists from the 19th century include Vincenzo Marinelli, Giacomo Di Chirico and Michele Tedesco. Several contemporary artists gained fame outside Italy, among them are worth to mention Marino Di Teana, Eugenio Santoro and Joseph Stella, sometimes cited as the first futurist painter in America. During his exile under the fascist regime, Carlo Levi, a painting passionate, left many works, today exposed in Matera.

Music
Although Basilicata hosted classical composers such as Carlo Gesualdo and Egidio Romualdo Duni, the region is primarily identified in popular music, which reflects the humble living conditions of its inhabitants. The arpa viggianese (commonly known as arpicedda) is a typical harp from Viggiano of average size, with a thin and light structure that makes it easier to carry; it was the distinctive instrument of street musicians from the Val d'Agri area in the past centuries, who wandered around the world and many of whom were admitted to symphony orchestras. Today, Viggiano is remembered as the "City of Harp and Music". Other traditional instruments are cupa cupa, zampogna and ciaramella.

During the emigration wave of the late 19th century, some composers gained recognition in North America: Leonardo De Lorenzo, flautist of several American philharmonic orchestras and professor at the Eastman School of Music, regarded as one of the most eminent flute pedagogues of the 1900s; Carlo Curti, who helped to popularize the mandolin in the United States and Mexico, and founder of the Orquestra Típica Mexicana, considered the "predecessor of the Mariachi bands". Comedy duo Lyons and Yosco became popular for their million-selling ragtime piece "Spaghetti Rag".

Modern pop artists such as Mango and Arisa achieved great success in the Italian music scene. Since the mid-1990s, Basilicata hosts the Agglutination Metal Festival, one of the most long-lived heavy metal events in Europe.

Cinema
Since the post–World War II era, Basilicata has become a set for many national and international film productions. Matera is the most coveted film location, especially for biblical-themed movies, being often compared with the ancient Jerusalem. Other locations include the ghost town of Craco, Melfi and Maratea. The region hosted, among the others, the filming of The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964), Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979), I'm Not Scared (2003), The Passion of the Christ (2004), The Omen (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008), Wonder Woman (2017), No Time to Die (2021).

Some actors and film directors are from Basilicata, most notably Robert G. Vignola, a prominent figure of the silent era, Pasquale Festa Campanile, associated with the commedia all'italiana genre, Ruggero Deodato, known for his horror films such as the controversial Cannibal Holocaust. Tanio Boccia, Rocco Papaleo, Antonio Gerardi, Antonio Petrocelli, Alessandra Di Sanzo are other notable personalities in the Italian movie industry.

Cuisine
The local cuisine is mostly based on pork and sheep meat, legumes, cereals, vegetables and tubers. It is commonly referred to as "cucina povera" (peasant food), deeply anchored in peasant traditions. Bread crumb is considered a poor-man's cheese substitute, sprinkled over pasta dishes and used as a seasoning for meat and vegetables. Horseradish is often used as a spice and condiment, which is referred to as "poor man's truffle". The peperone crusco (PAT) is a specialty of the regional cuisine, sometimes labeled as "the red gold of Basilicata". It is the dried form of the peperone di Senise (PGI), one of the most popular Italian pepper varieties. Traditional recipes include pasta dishes like pasta con i peperoni cruschi and tumact me tulez, and main courses such as rafanata, acquasale. Pastizz and falagone are common street foods.

Basilicata is best known for the Lucanica di Picerno (PGI) pork sausage that derives from lucanica, an ancient recipe originated before the Roman empire. Pane di Matera (PGI) is a type of bread recognizable for its intense flavour and conical shape, as well as long preservation. Other principal products are cheeses like pecorino di Filiano (PDO), canestrato di Moliterno (PGI), padraccio (PAT) and treccia dura (PAT); vegetables like melanzana rossa di Rotonda (PDO); and legumes like fagiolo di Sarconi (PGI) and fagiolo bianco di Rotonda (PDO). The region is also known for its naturally sparkling mineral water that springs from the streams of Mount Vulture. Alcoholic beverages include Aglianico del Vulture, considered one of Italy's top red wines, and Amaro Lucano liqueur.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Basilicata


text:
Ferndale, Michigan

Ferndale is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit on the Woodward Corridor, Ferndale borders Detroit to the north, roughly 10 mi northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 19,190.

Ferndale is well-known for its downtown, as well as its position as the hub of the LGBTQ+ community in Metro Detroit, and a center of progressive politics.

History
Native Americans were original inhabitants of the area now known as the City of Ferndale. In the 1800s farmers began cultivating the land. After the invention of the automobile and the development of the automotive assembly line, the population of Ferndale increased rapidly.

Ferndale was incorporated into a village in 1918. It was then incorporated into a city on March 7, 1927, by vote of the citizens of the village. It became a bedroom community for Detroit workers, with most of its growth in housing from 1920 to 1951. Through the early 1950s there were trolley (interurban railroad) lines in the median strip of Woodward Avenue from downtown Detroit to Pontiac. These helped the northern suburbs of Detroit grow as bedroom communities as people could take the trolley to shop or work in Detroit.

In the 1970s, the Ferndale suburban community emerged as a place for families to raise children during the "Baby Boom" era, with its elementary schools, a downtown, city parks, active churches and civic groups. Ferndale High was completed in 1958.

Ferndale's downtown shopping area, 9 Mile Road, featured many busy, popular stores in the 1940s to 1960s, but later went into decline, and many business closed. In recent decades, the downtown area has revitalized. Ferndale's downtown is formed by two major thoroughfares, Nine Mile Road and Woodward Avenue. Circa 1997 the city made the downtown more pedestrian-friendly by narrowing West Nine Mile Road, the heart of the downtown, to one lane in each direction and adding on-street parking. The result has been a return of pedestrian traffic and an influx of new stores and restaurants. The city has continued to make itself more accessible to people by reducing traffic lanes on Hilton Road and Pinecrest Road, two major local north/south streets, and adding bicycle lanes.

Government
Ferndale utilizes the council-manager form of government, and is governed by a city council consisting of a mayor and four council members. The city council appoints a city manager, who manages the day-to-day operations of the city. The current mayor of Ferndale is Raylon Leaks-May. Current city council members are Greg Pawlica, Laura Mikulski, Rolanda Kelley and Donnie Johnson. The current city manager is Joseph Gacioch.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.88 sqmi, all land.

Ferndale is adjacent to the cities of Detroit to the south, Oak Park to the west, Hazel Park to the east, Pleasant Ridge to the north, Royal Oak Township to the southwest, and Royal Oak to the north.

Ferndale is bordered to the south by 8 Mile Road, to the north (west of Woodward Avenue) by Oakridge Street, and (east of Woodward Avenue) by 10 Mile Road and I-696. To the west it is bordered by Republic Street (south of Nine Mile Road), and Hyland Street (north of Nine Mile). To the east it is bordered by West End, Pilgrim Street, and Lennox Street.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 19,900 people, 9,559 households, and 4,349 families living in the city. The population density was 5128.9 PD/sqmi. There were 10,477 housing units at an average density of 2700.3 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 84.7% White, 9.6% African American, 0.5% Native American, 1.3% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.5% from other races, and 3.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race were 2.8% of the population.

There were 9,559 households, of which 20.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 30.3% were married couples living together, 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 54.5% were non-families. 39.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.08 and the average family size was 2.85.

The median age in the city was 35.6 years. 16.5% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.3% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 41.2% were from 25 to 44; 25.2% were from 45 to 64; and 8.9% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.9% male and 50.1% female.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 22,105 people, 9,872 households, and 5,103 families living in the city. The population density was 5,697.9 PD/sqmi. There were 10,243 housing units at an average density of 2,640.3 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 91.46% White, 3.42% black or African American, 0.55% Native American, 1.32% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.64% from other races, and 2.58% from two or more races. 1.81% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 9,872 households, out of which 23.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.8% were married couples living together, 11.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 48.3% were non-families. 35.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.97.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 20.4% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 41.2% from 25 to 44, 19.7% from 45 to 64, and 9.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $45,629, and the median income for a family was $51,687. Males had a median income of $40,392 versus $30,859 for females. The per capita income for the city was $23,133. About 7.2% of families and 8.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.0% of those under age 18 and 9.6% of those age 65 or over.

LGBT population
The 1980s and 1990s saw the growth of the LGBT population in Ferndale, coinciding with a migration from neighborhoods in Detroit to communities north along Woodward Avenue, including Royal Oak, Pleasant Ridge and others. In 1999 a proposed non-discrimination ordinance was introduced in Ferndale, but was defeated. The Motor City Pride festival moved to Ferndale from Royal Oak in 2001. In 2006 the city passed an anti-discrimination ordinance protecting LGBT people from discrimination in public accommodations, housing, and business, with 70% in favor and 30% in opposition. Affirmations, a 17000 sqft LGBT community center in Downtown Ferndale, opened its new, expanded building on Sunday June 3, 2007, the same year the city elected the first openly gay mayor in Michigan. In 2011, Motor City Pride moved to Detroit's Hart Plaza. Ferndale Pride was started that year.

Media
Church Militant have their headquarters in Ferndale.

Crime
The crime rate in Ferndale is relatively neutral. Crime is significantly lower than inner communities such as Detroit, Dearborn and Hamtramck, and its neighbors such as Hazel Park, Oak Park and Warren. However, other outer communities have a lower crime rate. Larceny theft was the most common crime in Ferndale, making up 51.7% of the crime rate. Six known homicides have been recorded in Ferndale since 2000; one being in 2001, one in 2005, one in 2007, one in 2008, one in 2009, and one in 2010.

Education
Ferndale has its own school district, Ferndale Public Schools, including elementary, middle, and high schools. Ferndale High School and University High School are both part of Ferndale Public Schools. A portion of Ferndale is instead zoned to Hazel Park Schools.

Notable people

 * James Blanchard, Governor of Michigan (1983–91) and U.S. Ambassador to Canada
 * Joseph Bruce (a.k.a. Violent J), member of Insane Clown Posse
 * Ron Carter, jazz musician
 * Dana Elcar, actor best known for film The Sting and role as Peter Thornton on TV series MacGyver
 * Elena Ford, heiress
 * Frank Hagel, painter and sculptor
 * Josh Malerman, novelist and singer-songwriter
 * Rashad Phillips, professional basketball player; played for Ferndale High School (1992–96)
 * Ken Rowe, MLB pitcher and coach; born in Ferndale
 * The Spinners, American R&B group, formed in Ferndale.
 * Bob Welch, MLB pitcher, 1990 Cy Young Award winner, two-time All-Star, three-time World Series champion; lived in Ferndale, attended school in Hazel Park

title: Ferndale, Michigan


text:
Lower Colorado River Authority

The  Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) is a nonprofit public utility created in November 1934 by the Texas Legislature. LCRA's mission is to enhance the lives of the Texans it serves through water stewardship, energy and community service. LCRA provides public power, manages the lower Colorado River, builds and operates transmission lines, owns public parks, and offers community services.

LCRA does not receive state appropriations or have the ability to levy taxes. Instead, LCRA is funded by revenue it generates, the vast majority of which comes from producing and transmitting electricity. A very small portion of LCRA's revenue comes from selling water.

Coal
The Fayette Power Project is a three-unit coal-fired power plant in Fayette County that provides 1,625 megawatts (MW). (Austin Energy co-owns two of the units and the power they produce.) Lake Fayette is the cooling pond for the project. LCRA uses coal from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming as fuel.

Natural gas
The Sim Gideon Power Plant is a three-unit natural gas-fired plant in Bastrop County that provides 608 megawatts. The Lost Pines 1 Power Project (owned and operated by GenTex Power Corporation, an LCRA affiliate) is a natural gas-fired combined-cycle plant adjacent to the Sim Gideon plant, and the two form the Lost Pines Power Park. The Lost Pines 1 Power Project can generate up to 511 megawatts. Lake Bastrop is the cooling pond for the Lost Pines Power Park.

LCRA broke ground on a new Thomas C. Ferguson Power Plant in April 2012, about 100 yards from the site of the original Ferguson plant on Lake LBJ. The plant began operating in 2014. The old plant was decommissioned. The Ferguson facility is a natural gas-fired, combined cycle plant in Horseshoe Bay capable of producing 540 megawatts. Ferguson is among the most environmentally responsible power plants in Texas, producing 30 to 40 percent fewer emissions per unit of power than the unit it replaced. It uses about 35 percent less fuel per megawatt-hour and about one-third of the water used at a typical steam plant per unit of power.

The Winchester Power Park in Fayette County provides about 176 megawatts for use primarily during peak-demand periods.

The LCRA buys natural gas on the open market and stores it at the Hilbig Gas Storage Facility, an underground reservoir near Rockne, Texas. The facility can hold up to 4 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

Hydroelectric

LCRA operates six hydroelectric dams along the Colorado River in Central Texas that provide a source of renewable energy and form six lakes collectively known as the Texas Highland Lakes:

 * Buchanan Dam (54.9 MW) - forms Lake Buchanan
 * Inks Dam (13.8 MW) - forms Inks Lake
 * Wirtz Dam (60 MW) - forms Lake LBJ, which also serves as a cooling pond for the Thomas C. Ferguson Power Plant
 * Max Starcke Dam (41.4 MW) - forms Lake Marble Falls
 * Mansfield Dam (108 MW) - forms Lake Travis
 * Tom Miller Dam (17 MW) - forms Lake Austin

In keeping with its state-approved Water Management Plan, LCRA generates electricity from the dams only as it releases water for other reasons, or when ordered to do so by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).

Wind
LCRA purchases 51 megawatts of wind power capacity from the Indian Mesa Wind Energy Center in West Texas and 200 megawatts from the Papalote Creek II Wind Farm near the Texas Gulf Coast.

Transmission
LCRA distributes electricity to its wholesale electric customers - mostly municipal utilities and electric cooperatives - and supports the statewide electric transmission network through more than 5,100 miles of transmission lines and more than 380 substations, which are owned by LCRA Transmission Services Corporation, a nonprofit corporation owned by LCRA.

Water
LCRA manages the Highland Lakes and the lower Colorado River, a 600 mi stretch of the Texas Colorado River, as a system to supply water for more than 1 million people as well as businesses, industries, the environment and agriculture in the lower Colorado River basin.

LCRA has the rights to more than 2.1 million acre-feet of water per year based mostly on surface water permits issued by the state of Texas.

Parks and community services
LCRA owns more than 40 public parks, recreation areas and river access sites along the Highland Lakes and lower Colorado River. LCRA's McKinney Roughs Nature Park and Matagorda Bay Nature Parks have natural science centers that offer outdoor educational and recreational programs for youths and adults.

LCRA offers a wide range of conservation programs for water users within its river basin. It also operates an environmental laboratory, monitors the water quality of the lower Colorado River, and regulates on-site sewage systems to limit pollution and help protect the health of those enjoying the Highland Lakes.

LCRA's community services programs include the Community Development Partnership Program, which has awarded almost $42 million in matching grants for 1,491 community development projects since 1995.

History
In November 1934, the Texas Legislature authorized the formation of the Lower Colorado River Authority to complete Buchanan Dam, where construction had been idled in 1932 following the financial collapse and bankruptcy of the Samuel Insull-controlled public utility holding company. LCRA began operations in February 1935.

LCRA completed Buchanan Dam and a companion project, Inks Dam, in 1938—the first of six dams that form the reservoirs known as the Highland Lakes. LCRA completed the chain of lakes and dams in 1951. LCRA manages the chain to protect basin residents from the worst effects of Hill Country floods and provide the lower Colorado River basin with a reliable water supply.

With the encouragement of congressman, Lyndon B. Johnson, LCRA used the hydroelectric power from its dams in 1936 to launch a public power program that served communities and electric cooperatives in Central and South Texas.

For nearly three decades, hydroelectric generation was LCRA's primary power source. Growing demand for electricity led LCRA to build natural gas and coal-fired power plants. LCRA added to its generation portfolio with the Sim Gideon Power Plant and original Thomas C. Ferguson Power Plant in the 1960s and 1970s, the Fayette Power Project in the 1970s and 1980s, the Lost Pines 1 Power Project in 2001 and the Winchester Power Project in 2010.

In 1995, LCRA became the first electric utility in Texas to provide wind-generated electricity to its customers from the Texas Wind Power Project, the first such project in the state. LCRA continues to evaluate additional renewable energy options that complement its existing generation portfolio.

LCRA's water and community services operations have grown through the years. LCRA began programs in the 1970s and 1980s to control water pollution and monitor water quality. It expanded its parks operations beginning in the 1990s to increase public access to the Highland Lakes and lower Colorado River. LCRA also worked with communities in its service area on projects designed to boost communities' economic development and improve their local quality of life.

title: Lower Colorado River Authority


text:
Esperanto orthography

Esperanto is written in a Latin-script alphabet of twenty-eight letters, with upper and lower case. This is supplemented by punctuation marks and by various logograms, such as the digits 0–9, currency signs such as $ € ¥ £ ₷, and mathematical symbols. The creator of Esperanto, L. L. Zamenhof, declared a principle of "one letter, one sound", though this is a general rather than strict guideline.

Twenty-two of the letters are identical in form to letters of the English alphabet (q, w, x, and y being omitted). The remaining six have diacritical marks: ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, ŝ, and ŭ – that is, c, g, h, j, and s circumflex, and u breve.

Standard alphabet
Standard Esperanto orthography uses the Latin script.

Sound values
The letters have approximately the sound values of the IPA, with the exception of c and the letters with diacritics: ĉ, ĝ , ĥ , ĵ , ŝ , ŭ. J transcribes two allophonic sounds, consonantal (the English y sound, as in you) and vocalic.

There is a nearly one-to-one correspondence of letter to sound. For those who consider to be a phoneme, Esperanto contains one consonantal digraph, $\langledz\rangle$. Beside the dual use of $⟨j⟩$, allophony is found in place assimilation of and, the latter of which for example is frequently pronounced  before g and k.

Phonemic change is perhaps limited to voicing assimilation, as in the sequence kz of ekzemplo, ('(an) example') which is frequently pronounced. In Zamenhof's writing, obstruents with different voicing do not meet in compound words, but rather are separated by an epenthetic vowel such as o, to avoid this effect.

Non-Esperantized names are given an Esperanto approximation of their original pronunciation, at least by speakers without command of the original language. Hard $⟨c⟩$ is read as k, $⟨qu⟩$ as kv, $⟨w⟩$ as v, $⟨x⟩$ as ks, and $⟨y⟩$ as j if a consonant, or as i if a vowel. The English digraph $⟨th⟩$ is read as t. When there is no close equivalent, the difficult sounds may be given the Esperanto values of the letters in the orthography or roman transcription, accommodating the constraints of Esperanto phonology. So, for example, Winchester (the English city) is pronounced (and may be spelled) Vinĉester, as Esperanto ŭ does not occur at the beginning of ordinary words. Changzhou generally becomes Ĉanĝo, as Esperanto has no ng or ou sound. There are no strict rules, however; speakers may try for greater fidelity, for example by pronouncing the g and u in Changzhou: Ĉangĝoŭ (despite there being no g sound in the Chinese pronunciation). The original stress may be kept, if it is known.

Origin
The script resembles Western Slavic Latin alphabets but uses circumflexes instead of carons for the letters ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, and ŝ. Also, the non-Slavic bases of the letters ĝ and ĵ, rather than Slavic dž and ž, help preserve the printed appearance of Latinate and Germanic vocabulary such as ĝenerala "general" (adjective) and ĵurnalo "journal". The letter v stands for either v or w of other languages. The letter ŭ of the diphthongs aŭ and eŭ resemble the Belarusian Łacinka alphabet.

Zamenhof took advantage of the fact that typewriters for the French language (which, in his lifetime, served as an international lingua franca for educated people) possess a dead key for the circumflex diacritic: thus, anyone who could avail himself of a French typewriter could type ĉ ĝ ĥ ĵ ŝ and their uppercase counterparts with no problem. French typewriters also include the letter $⟨ù⟩$, which Francophone Esperantists have long used as a substitute for Esperanto ŭ. With the advent of personal computers, French-language keyboards still possess a dead-key ^, but whether it can be used to type Esperanto consonants may depend on the underlying software. Zamenhof's choice of accented letters was familiar to the speakers of some Slavic languages, for instance, Czech and Slovak, where the sounds of Esperanto ĉ and ŝ are represented by the letters č and š, respectively; and Belarusian, because Esperanto ŭ bears the same relation to u as Belarusian Cyrillic ў bears to у.

Geographic names may diverge from English spelling, especially for the letters x, w, qu and gu, as in Vaŝintono "Washington, D.C.", Meksiko "Mexico City", and Gvatemalo "Guatemala". Other spelling differences appear when Esperanto words are based on the pronunciation rather than the spelling of English place names, such as Brajtono for Brighton.

Variations
Since all letters with diacritics are unique, they are often simplified in handwriting. The most common diacritic to be simplified is the circumflex, which often appears more like a macron or acute accent (e.g. ḡ or ǵ instead of ĝ).

Names of the letters of the alphabet
Zamenhof simply tacked an -o onto each consonant to create the name of the letter, with the vowels representing themselves: a, bo, co, ĉo, do, e, fo, etc. The diacritics are frequently mentioned overtly. For instance, ĉ may be called ĉo ĉapela or co ĉapela, from ĉapelo (a hat), and ŭ may be called ŭo luneta or u luneta, from luno (a moon) plus the diminutive -et-. This is the only system that is widely accepted and in practical use.

The letters of the ISO basic Latin alphabet not found in the Esperanto alphabet have distinct names, much as letters of the Greek alphabet do. $⟨q⟩$, $⟨x⟩$, $⟨y⟩$ are kuo, ikso, ipsilono; $⟨w⟩$ has been called duobla vo (double V), vavo (using Waringhien's name of va below), vuo (proposed by Sergio Pokrovskij), germana vo (German V), and ĝermana vo (Germanic V).

However, while this is fine for initialisms such as ktp [kotopo] for etc., it can be problematic when spelling out names. For example, several consonantal distinctions are difficult for many nationalities, who normally rely on the fact that Esperanto seldom uses these sounds to distinguish words (that is, they do not form many minimal pairs). Thus the pairs of letter names ĵo–ĝo, ĥo–ho (or ĥo–ko), co–ĉo (or co–so, co–to), lo–ro, and ŭo–vo (or vo–bo) are problematic. In addition, over a noisy telephone connection, it quickly becomes apparent that voicing distinctions can be difficult to make out: noise confounds the pairs po–bo, to–do, ĉo–ĝo, ko–go, fo–vo, so–zo, ŝo–ĵo, as well as the nasals mo–no.

There have been several proposals to resolve this problem. Gaston Waringhien proposed changing the vowel of voiced obstruents to a, so that at least voicing is not problematic. Also changed to a are h, n, r, distinguishing them from ĥ, m, l. The result is perhaps the most common alternative in use:

 * a, ba, co, ĉo, da, e, fo, ga, ĝa, ha, ĥo, i, jo, ĵa, ko, lo, mo, na, o, po, ra, so, ŝo, to, u, ŭo, va, za

However, this still requires overt mention of the diacritics, and even so does not reliably distinguish ba–va, co–so, ĉo–ŝo, or ĝa–ĵa.

The proposal closest to international norms (and thus the easiest to remember) that clarifies all the above distinctions is a modification of a proposal by Kálmán Kalocsay. As with Zamenhof, vowels stand for themselves, but it follows the international standard of placing vowel e after a consonant by default (be, ce, de, ge), but before sonorants (el, en) and voiceless fricatives (ef, es). The vowel a is used for $⟨h⟩$ and the voiceless plosives $⟨p⟩$, $⟨t⟩$, $⟨k⟩$, after the international names ha for $⟨h⟩$ and ka for $⟨k⟩$; the French name ĵi is used for $⟨ĵ⟩$, the Greek name ĥi (chi) for $⟨ĥ⟩$, and the English name ar for $⟨r⟩$. The letter $⟨v⟩$ has the i vowel of ĵi, distinguishing it from $⟨b⟩$, but the other voiced fricative, $⟨z⟩$, does not, to avoid the problem of it palatalizing and being confused with ĵi. The diphthong offglide $⟨ŭ⟩$ is named eŭ, the only real possibility given Esperanto phonotactics besides aŭ, which, as the word for "or", could cause confusion. The letter $⟨m⟩$ is called om to distinguish it from $⟨n⟩$; the vowel o alliterates well in the alphabetical sequence el, om, en, o, pa. There are other patterns to the vowels in the ABC rhyme: The lines start with a i a i and finish with a a e e. The letters with diacritics are placed at the end of the rhyme, taking the place of w, x, y in other Latin alphabets, so as not to disrupt the pattern of letters many people learned as children. All this makes the system more easily memorized than competing proposals. The modified Kalocsay abecedary is:

 * a, be, ce, de, e, ef, ge, ha,
 * i, je, ka, el, om, en, o, pa,
 * ar, es, ta, u, vi, ĉa, ĝe,
 * ĥi kaj ĵi, eŝ, eŭ kaj ze,
 * plus ku', ikso, ipsilono,
 * jen la abece-kolono.

(kaj means "and". The last line reads: here is the ABC column)

Where letters are still confused, such as es vs eŝ or a vs ha, mention can be made of the diacritic (eŝ ĉapela), or to the manner of articulation of the sound (ha brueta "breathy aitch"). Quite commonly, however, people will use the aitch as in house strategy used in English.

Spelling alphabets
Another strategy is to use a spelling alphabet (literuma alfabeto), which substitutes ordinary words for letters. The following words are sometimes seen:

From a German–Esperanto dictionary by Erich-Dieter Krause:

 * Asfalto, Barbaro, Centimetro, Ĉefo, Doktoro, Elemento, Fabriko, Gumo, Ĝirafo, Hotelo, Ĥaoso, Insekto, Jubileo, Ĵurnalo, Kilogramo, Legendo, Maŝino, Naturo, Oktobro, Papero, Kuo, Rekordo, Salato, Ŝilingo, Triumfo, Universo, Universo-hoketo, Vulkano, Ĝermana vo, Ikso, Ipsilono, Zinko

A proposal by Simon Edward Adrian Payne in Monato:
 * akvo, baldaŭ, cedro, ĉirkaŭ, dolĉa, eĥo, fajfi, golfo, ĝis, hejme, ĥoro, iĝi, jaĥto, ĵuri, korpo, lingvo, morgaŭ, nokto, ofte, pelvo, kuo, riĉa, sankta, ŝaŭmi, tempo, uzi, ŭa-ŭa, vespo, vavo, ikso, ipsilono, zorgi

A proposal by Gerrit François Makkink, in which most words are tetrasyllabic so that the syllable beginning with the letter in question receives secondary stress (though only in Varsovio do both stressed syllables begin with the letter):
 * Akademio, bondeziro, centjariĝo, Ĉe-metodo, delegito, Esperanto, Fundamento, gramatiko, ĝisrevido, harmonio, ĥorkantado, internacia, jubileo, ĵurnalisto, kalendaro, Ludoviko, modernigo, necesejo, okupita, propagando, kuo, redaktoro, sekretario, ŝatokupo, telefono, universala, u-supersigno, Varsovio, vuo, ikso, ipsilono, Zamenhofo

The International League of Esperantist Radio Amateurs (ILERA) uses the following adaptation of the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet (ICAO and NATO "phonetic" alphabet):
 * alfa, bravo, carli, delta, eko, fokstrot, golf, hotel, india, juliet, kilo, lima, majk, november, oskar, papa, kebek, romeo, siera, tango, uniform, viktor, ŭiski ~ viski, eksrej, janki, zulu

ILERA also modifies the numerals ses '6' and sep '7' to sis and sepen to make them more distinct, and uses the nominal form nulo for zero.

ASCII transliteration
There are two common conventions for inputting and typesetting Esperanto in the ISO basic Latin alphabet when proper orthography is inconvenient. Zamenhof had suggested replacing the circumflex letters with digraphs in h, the so-called "h-system", thus: ch, gh, hh, jh, sh for ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, ŝ and u for ŭ, with an apostrophe or hyphen to disambiguate actual sequences of these letters (e.g. ses-hora). With the advent of computer word-processing, the so-called "x-system", with digraphs in x for all diacritics, has become equally popular: cx, gx, hx, jx, sx, ux. The words ŝanĝi "to change" and ĵaŭde "on Thursday" are written shanghi, jhaude and sxangxi, jxauxde, respectively, in the two systems. The h-system has a more conventional appearance, but because the letter x does not occur in Esperanto, it is fairly straightforward to automatically convert text written in the x-system into standard orthography; it also produces better results with alphabetic sorting.

Punctuation
As with most languages, punctuation is not completely standardized, but in Esperanto there is the additional complication of multiple competing national traditions.

Commas are frequently used to introduce subordinate clauses (that is, before ke "that" or the ki- correlatives):
 * Mi ne scias, kiel fari tion. (I don't know how to do that.)

The comma is also used for the decimal point, while thousands are separated by non-breaking spaces: 12 345  678,9, or sometimes by apostrophes: Li enspezis $3'300'000.

The question mark (?) and the exclamation mark (!) are used at the end of a clause and may be internal to a sentence. Question words generally come at the beginning of a question, obviating the need for Spanish-style inverted question marks.

Periods may be used to indicate initialisms: k.t.p. or ktp for kaj tiel plu (et cetera), but not abbreviations that retain the grammatical suffixes. Instead, a hyphen optionally replaces the missing letters: D-ro or Dro for Doktoro (Dr). With ordinal numerals, the adjectival a and accusative n may be superscripted: 13a or 13a (13th). The abbreviation k is used without a period for kaj (and); the ampersand (&) is not found. Roman numerals are also avoided.

The hyphen is also occasionally used to clarify compounds, and to join grammatical suffixes to proper names that haven't been Esperantized or don't have a nominal -o suffix, such as the accusative on Kalocsay-n or Kálmán-on. The proximate particle ĉi used with correlatives, such as ĉi tiu 'this one' and ĉi tie 'here', may be poetically used with nouns and verbs as well (ĉi jaro 'this year', esti ĉi 'to be here'), but if these phrases are then changed to adjectives or adverbs, a hyphen is used: ĉi-jare 'this year', ĉi-landa birdo 'a bird of this land'.

Quotation marks show the greatest variety of any punctuation. The use of Esperanto quotation marks was never stated in Zamenhof's work; it was assumed that a printer would use whatever was available, usually the national standard of the printer's country. Em dashes (—...), guillemets («...» or reversed »...«), double quote marks (“...” and German-style „...“) and more are all found. Since the age of word-processing, however, the standard English quotation marks are the most widespread. Quotations may be introduced with either a comma or a colon.

Time and date format is not standardized among Esperantists, but internationally unambiguous formats such as 1970-01-01 (ISO) or 1-jan-1970 are preferred when the date is not spelled out in full ("la 1-a de januaro 1970").

Capitalization
Capitalization is used for the first word of a sentence and for proper names when used as nouns. Names of months, days of the week, ethnicities, languages, and the adjectival forms of proper names are not typically capitalized (anglo "an Englishman", angla "English", usona "US American"), though national norms may override such generalizations. Titles are more variable: both the Romance style of capitalizing only the first word of the title and the English style of capitalizing all lexical words are found.

All capitals or small capitals are used for acronyms and initialisms of proper names, like TEJO, but not common expressions like ktp (etc.). Small capitals are also a common convention for family names, to avoid the confusion of varying national naming conventions: Kálmán, Leslie  Kwok Wing.

Camel case, with or without a hyphen, may occur when a prefix is added to a proper noun: la geZamenhofoj (the Zamenhofs), pra-Esperanto (Proto-Esperanto). It is also used for Russian-style syllabic acronyms, such as the name ReVo for Reta Vortaro ("Internet Dictionary"), which is homonymous with revo (dream). Occasionally mixed capitalization will be used for orthographic puns, such as espERAnto, which stands for the esperanta radikala asocio (Radical Esperanto Association).

Zamenhof contrasted informal ci with formal, and capitalized, Vi as the second-person singular pronouns. However, lower-case vi is now used as the second-person pronoun regardless of number.

Spesmilo symbol

Unique to the Esperanto script is the spesmilo (1000 specie) sign, $⟨₷⟩$, an Sm monogram for an obsolete international unit of auxiliary Esperanto currency used by a few British and Swiss banks before World War I. It is often transcribed as Sm, usually italic.

Braille, fingerspelling, and Morse code
Esperanto versions of braille and Morse code include the six diacritic letters.

An Esperanto braille magazine, Aŭroro, has been published since 1920.

In Morse code, a dot is added to C and J to derive Ĉ and Ĵ, a dash–dot is added to G and S to derive Ĝ and Ŝ, a dash is added to U to derive Ǔ, and the four dots of H are changed to four dashes for Ĥ. However, users often substitute these novel letters with digraphs ch, gh, jh, sh etc.

There is a proposed manual alphabet as part of the Signuno project. Signuno, as a signed variant of Esperanto, is itself a manual logographic Esperanto orthography. The majority of letters of the manual alphabet resemble those of the American manual alphabet, but also of the French manual alphabet and others. The diacritic letters Ĉ, Ĝ, Ĥ, Ĵ, Ŝ, Ŭ have their own signs, and J and Z are distinct from other alphabets, as none of the Signuno letters involve motion. Digits are formed by extending the fingers from the index to the pinkie for 1 to 4, from the pinkie to the thumb (keeping the middle finger down) for 6 to 9, and from the thumb to index for 11 and 12; the last two are used for months and hours. Zero is represented by the fist, 5 by the whole hand extended, and 10 as the letter X.

Other scripts
The Shavian alphabet, which was designed for English, was modified for use with Esperanto by John Wesley Starling. Though not widely used, at least one booklet has been published with sample Shavian texts. Not all letters are equivalent to their English values, and special forms of the letters $⟨n⟩$ and $⟨s⟩$ have been added for the accusative case ending and verbal inflections; the grammatical endings and the words la 'the', aŭ 'or' and kaj 'and' are written as ligatures.

The vowels necessarily differ from English. Esperanto a e i o u take the letters for English, with more regard to graphic symmetry than phonetic faithfulness in the cases of o and u. C takes the letter for, the Castilian value of c before e and i, and ĥ that for , the inverse of the letter for. The most divergent letters are those for m and n, which are in English, but which are graphically better suited to be distinct letters than English Shavian.

The US television series Resident Alien uses an invented script that does not distinguish u and v, and ignores diacritics, to transcribe Esperanto as the alien language. It is written right to left.

The Cyrillic script has also been adapted to write Esperanto.

The 2017 Japanese-language visual novel The Expression Amrilato and its 2021 sequel Distant Memoraĵo feature a language named Juliamo that is actually Esperanto in a modified Latin alphabet.

Computer input
The Esperanto alphabet is part of the Latin-3 and Unicode character sets, and is included in WGL4. The code points and HTML entities for the Esperanto characters with diacritics and the spesmilo sign are:

title: Esperanto orthography