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Espanola, Ontario

Espanola (2021 population census 5,185) is a town in Northern Ontario, Canada, in the Sudbury District. It is situated on the Spanish River, approximately 70 km west of downtown Sudbury, and just south of the junction of Highway 6 and Highway 17. The town is where the first experimental rules for the sport of ringette were created in 1963 by Mirl Arthur "Red" McCarthy using a group of local high school girls. Today, Espanola is considered "The Home of Ringette" while North Bay, Ontario, is considered the "Birthplace of Ringette" though the title of "birthplace of ringette" is often shared by both. While also being the home of Domtar paper distribution.

Origin
The name "Espanola" has been attributed to a story which dates back to the mid-18th century. The story goes that a First Nations Ojibwa tribe met a man who had travelled far from Spain. The Spanish man, named Frise Espagnol, married a local Anishinaabe (First Nations) of a family living near the mouth of the river and he taught her and their children to speak Spanish. Later, when the French voyageurs and coureurs des bois came upon the settlement and heard fragments of Spanish spoken by the local natives, they remarked "Espagnole", which had been later anglicized to "Espanola", and the river was named the Spanish River.

Company town

The town of Espanola was sited next to a waterfall on the Spanish River, which was sometimes called Webbwood Falls. Before the existence of the town, a hydropower dam was constructed at the falls to power the pulp and paper mill of the Spanish River Pulp and Paper Company, a subsidiary of the Mead Corporation. A company town, Espanola, was also established for the mill's workers and their families. The town expanded quickly and was soon a bustling centre with a hotel, school and theatre.

On January 21, 1910, a Canadian Pacific Railway passenger train derailed off a trestle 10 km east of Espanola. Forty-three people died from the railcar's 27 ft plunge into the icy water of the Spanish River. It was one of the CPR's worst railway accidents.

In 1927, Abitibi Power and Paper Company acquired the Spanish River Pulp and Paper Mills from Mead, in a transaction that was subsequently seen to be highly overvalued and having a conflict of interest that was ultimately detrimental to Abitibi's shareholders. Changing economic conditions brought on by the Great Depression forced the closure of the Spanish River facility in 1929.

Espanola became a ghost town until the Second World War, when the mill site became a camp for German prisoners of war. During the final years of the Hepburn government, it sought to stimulate employment in Northern Ontario in order to stabilize its political position. In that regard, it encouraged negotiations between Abitibi and Kalamazoo Vegetable Parchment Company of Parchment, Michigan which resulted in the sale of Abitibi's Spanish River facility (at that time its largest non-economic asset) in 1943. It subsequently resumed operation as the KVP Company, producing specialty kraft paper.

In 1948, KVP was sued for nuisance in allowing noxious effluent to be discharged into the Spanish River, and an injunction was issued barring it from making any further discharge. The order was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada without success. In 1950, the injunction was dissolved by an Act of the provincial legislature, which provided for any subsequent disputes with KVP to be taken to arbitration, which, together with other legislative changes, effectively curtailed chances for any further injunctions to be issued. The 1950 Act was not repealed until 2006.

The 1950 Act effectively gave KVP a limited licence to pollute, and serious cleanup efforts did not happen until the 1980s.

In 1966 KVP was bought by Brown Forest Industries, a division of Charles Bluhdorn's industrial conglomerate Gulf and Western Industries. The Brown Forest Industries operation was later sold to E.B. Eddy, who operated the mill until June 1998. As of 2023, the plant was owned by Domtar, and at the time was the town's largest employer. In September 2023, Domtar announced that it intended to shut down the mill.

Espanola got some negative press in the early 1980s when the mill accidentally discharged toxic effluent into the Spanish River, killing fish by the thousands. The spill acted like a flush, and when the fish came back a few years later, they were reportedly untainted and thriving, although the toxic smell still remained. Now the mill is said to be one of the most stringent "zero-emissions" pulp bleaching processes in the world, and the area below the Spanish River Dam is a designated fish sanctuary.

The owners of Domtar (most people in espanola call it "the mill") stopped making money and in 2023 Domtar closed down a lot of people lost their jobs.

Recent history
Espanola was officially incorporated as a town on March 1, 1958.

The 1969 CBC Television series Adventures in Rainbow Country was filmed near Espanola, near the small First Nations community of Birch Island and at Whitefish Falls. The series starred Lois Maxwell, the actress who played "Miss Moneypenny" in Bond films such as Dr. No and Goldfinger. Canadian-born, she was a long-time resident of the town.

In 2001, a group of volunteers staged a fundraiser for the local hospital by attempting to set a world record for the world's longest ice hockey game. They were successful, playing for over three days straight. The record was broken in April 2004 in nearby Sudbury, where the teams played for six hours longer. Currently, the record holders are team Hope and team Cure from Sherwood Park near Edmonton, Alberta, who played for 250 hours (10 days).

Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Espanola had a population of $5,185$ living in $2,304$ of its $2,450$ total private dwellings, a change of NaN% from its 2016 population of $5,048$. With a land area of 81 km2, it had a population density of in 2021.

Ethnically, Espanola is 87% European, 11.5% Indigenous, and 1.5% Visible Minority (mostly Chinese and South Asian).

Road
is routed through Espanola, with its junction with just to the north, across the Spanish River in Baldwin township near McKerrow. It also connects Espanola with communities to the south along the way to Manitoulin Island, reaching its land terminus at South Baymouth before continuing on the other side of Lake Huron starting at Tobermory and passing through a number of Southern Ontario communities before reaching its ultimate southern terminus of Port Dover.

Rail

Historically, Espanola was a station stop along the Algoma Eastern Railway (AER) and featured a distinctive station and water tower (built in 1911) which were similar to other AER stations such as the one in McKerrow. It marked the first major stop after the AER line turned south toward Manitoulin Island and its ultimate terminus at Little Current. After the financially troubled AER was acquired by the CPR, the portion of the line continuing south from the junction at McKerrow was maintained as the CPR Little Current Subdivision and saw regular passenger traffic, especially due to the difficulties in crossing the Spanish River before a modern highway bridge was constructed in the 1960s. In 1943, the Espanola station was served by a single southbound and single northbound passenger train per day, with a travel time of just over two hours to Sudbury. The approximately 50-year-old water tower was demolished in 1960 as a part of the CPR's final switch from steam to diesel trains. In 1963, passenger service along the spur line was discontinued, though passengers were still able to board CP's iconic Budd cars at the Webbwood and McKerrow stations until service along the Sault Ste. Marie line was also discontinued in 1976, cutting off Espanola's access to passenger rail for the first time in its history. The historic Algoma Eastern Railway station was demolished shortly after in the mid-1980s.

Bus
In 2018, Ontario Northland announced a major service expansion west of Sudbury, which included Espanola. Passengers may board buses headed to Sault Ste. Marie, or Sudbury.

Walking and cycling
A segment of the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail runs through Espanola. It approaches the town from the direction of the rural area of Lee Valley to the west. In downtown Espanola, the trail forks, with one section going to the north, where it bypasses McKerrow to the south on the way to Nairn and Sudbury, and the other going south toward Manitoulin, where it eventually connects to the Bruce Trail via ferry to the Bruce Peninsula. Both directions partially follow a paved shoulder along, as well as on-street and off-street sections around the town.

Public services
Espanola's three primary schools, A.B. Ellis Public School, Sacred Heart School (Roman Catholic), and École St. Joseph (French Roman Catholic), and two secondary schools, Espanola High School and École secondaire catholique Franco-Ouest, service the local students, as well as those from surrounding communities such as Massey, Webbwood, McKerrow, Nairn Centre, Willisville, Whitefish Falls, Walford and Birch Island.

In 1999 a modern recreation complex was constructed, replacing the aging arena and community swimming pool. In addition, Espanola has a public library.

Ringette
The town is where the first experimental rules for the Canadian sport of Ringette were drafted in 1963 at the Espanola Arena by Mirl Arthur "Red" McCarthy using a group of local high school girls who had played ice hockey during gym classes at the Espanola High School.

Ice hockey
Espanola has had four Junior A hockey teams throughout the town's history. The first was the Espanola Screaming Eagles which were founded in 1962 in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey Association and won the league title the same year. The team moved to the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League in 1972 when the NOJHA disbanded and stayed there until 2003 when the team relocated to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan where they are now known as the Soo Eagles in the same league.

The town's second team was the Espanola Kings which were founded in 2007 in the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League. However, the team only lasted two season before folding after the 2008-2009 season.

The third team was the Espanola Rivermen which were founded in 2013 in the NOJHL. However, the team lasted one season in the league before relocating to the newly formed Canadian International Hockey League. The team folded in 2015 after the league disbanded after one season.

The fourth team is the Espanola Express which were founded in 2015 in the NOJHL. The team is still active in the league today.

Radio

 * FM 94.1 - CKNR, variety
 * FM 94.9 - CBON-7, Première Chaîne
 * FM 99.3 - CJJM, variety

Other radio station signals are received out of Manitoulin Island, Elliot Lake and Sudbury.

Television
Former television stations which operated in the Espanola and area prior to the analog shutdown in 2012 which can only be received via cable or satellite:

 * Channel 4: CBLFT-TV-7, SRC
 * Channel 49: CICO-TV-71, TVOntario (Lee Valley)

One of the last operating analog television signals which can reach the Espanola area is CICI-TV (CTV) channel 5 out of Sudbury.

Print
Espanola is home to the Mid-North Monitor, a weekly community newspaper.

In popular culture
Espanola is a pivotal location in The Marrow Thieves, a young adult novel written by Charlie Dimaline.

Notable people

 * NHLers/AHLers Art Gauthier, Leo Lamoureux and Al Secord.
 * Mirl Arthur "Red" McCarthy became the co-founder of the sport of ringette in 1963 while he was the area's recreation director.
 * Former Canadian steeplechase record-holder Greg Duhaime was born here.
 * Jim Gordon, a longtime mayor of Sudbury, lived in Espanola for a number of years in the 1960s and served on the town council before moving to Sudbury.
 * Lois Maxwell, played Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond films and starred in Adventures in Rainbow Country, filmed, partly, in Espanola.

Economic history

 * (Section 14: Business History)

title: Espanola, Ontario


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Egyptian Mau

The Egyptian Mau is a small to medium-sized short-haired cat breed. They are one of the few naturally spotted breeds of domesticated cat. The spots of the Mau occur on only the tips of the hairs of its coat. It is considered a rare breed.

Origins

Historical evidence points to the Mau being an Egyptian breed. The feline genome data published in the Pentascope document shows the Egyptian Mau to be very closely related to the Maine Coon, Korat, and American Turkish Angoras (indistinguishable from native Turkish Angoras). The phylogenetic tree published in PlosOne demonstrates that the Egyptian Mau belongs to the group of Western-derived breeds. The East Mediterranean/Anatolian group is omitted because breeds that supposedly originate in that geographic area do not do so.

In 1953 in Italy, Princess Natalie Trubetskoy saw a cat belonging to the Egyptian ambassador to Italy and after asking about the cat she persuaded him to help her obtain a cat from Cairo. She obtained a female named Baba who was later bred with the ambassador's cat. A male bronze tabby was born and he was bred with his mother to produce a female named Lisa. These progenitors were first shown in 1955 at the Rome Cat Show. English fanciers attempted to reproduce this novel breed by using Abyssinians, Siamese, and tabby cats which became the Ocicat. Princess Natalie travelled with her three Maus to the United States in 1956 and in the following year Baba became a champion. The American Maus are purpotedly from Baba although other reports claim they're descended from a pair named Gepa and Ludol, brought into the country in 1953.

Breed recognition
The breed first received championship in 1968 with the Cat Fanciers Federation followed later on with recognition from the Cat Fanciers' Association in 1977 and The International Cat Association in 1979. By the 1990s there were breeders in North America, Europe, and Japan. The Egyptian Mau did not reach British shores until 1998 when the first Maus were imported by Melissa Bateson, 8 years after it received full recognition from the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF).

Popularity
Egyptian Maus are a relatively rare breed worldwide. Fewer than 200 kittens are registered with the GCCF each year. In 2022, only 39 Mau kittens were registered at the GCCF, ranking the cat breed at position 27 out of 40 breeds in popularity. In 2018, the Egyptian Mau ranked at position 27 out of 45 cat breeds registered with the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA).

Characteristics

The breed conformation is described as "a balance between the compactness of a Burmese and the slim elegance of a Siamese. Its medium-length body is muscular, with the hind legs longer than the front, giving the Mau the appearance of standing on tiptoes when upright."

The Egyptian Mau is the fastest of the domestic cats, with its longer hind legs, and unique flap of skin extending from the flank to the back knee, which assists in running by allowing the legs to stretch back farther, providing for greater agility and length of stride. Maus have been clocked running more than 30 mph.

The typical gestation period for a regular house cat is 64-67 days, but the Egyptian Mau has a longer gestation period, at 73 days.

Appearance
The Egyptian Mau is a muscular cat with notable features being their spotted coat and a tabby marking on their forehead that is said to resemble a scarab design. The head is gently rounded and of medium size. The ears are medium to moderately large, broad at the base with a bit of pointing at the tip. The hair on the ears is short and may have tufting. The eyes are round and large. The eyes are light green although kittens may have amber eyes. The body is of medium length with prominent shoulder blades. There is a loose flap of skin extending from the flank to the knee of the hind legs. The tail is of medium length and thick at the base.

Coat
The Egyptian Mau has a medium length coat with two or more bands of ticking.

Coat colours
Maus come in six colours. From most to least common, these colours are silver, bronze, smoke, black, caramel and blue/pewter.

Coat patterns
The Egyptian Mau's coat contains dark patterns of varying size and shape, located all over the body and limbs. They also may have a stripe running down the lower spine and tail.

Health
The Egyptian Mau has a higher prevalence of urate urolithiasis (bladder stones) than mixed-breeds. A review of over 5,000 cases of urate uroliths had almost half the population of Egyptian Maus as having had the condition with an odds ratio of 44.41. A Canadian study of over 10,000 examinations of uroliths in cats found that 14 out of 17 Egyptian Maus surveyed had urate urolithiasis.

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

title: Egyptian Mau


text:
Talk:Egyptian Mau

Spots
"The spots on an Egyptian Mau are not just on the coat; a shaved Mau has spots on its skin." This is true of all cats, not just the Mau. Take a look at the virtually hairless Sphynx -- it comes in all colors and patterns because color and pattern are more than fur deep. Reference: http://cfa.org/breeds/profiles/sphynx.html and http://cfa.org/breeds/standards/sphynx.html. Jenanne 17:29, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

New page - I'll work on it some more soon.

Brian Rock 03:01, 4 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Re: possible copyright infringement - The page on the web that you cite is my own personal web page - I wrote that web page. It exists on two web sites, a Compuserve website and a Road Runner web site.

Brian Rock 18:12, 4 Dec 2003 (UTC)

The Compuserve site now has a redirect link to the Road Runner site, which I also author.

Brian Rock 21:22, 4 Dec 2003 (UTC)

says on it "NOTE: a modified version of this page is pending in Wikipedia. There is a misunderstanding over possible copyright violation. There is none - the author of this page and the author of the Wikipedia article are the same person. Nice that they're watching out for copyright violations, though." which is proof enough for me. :) Angela. 03:26, 5 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Thank you! Brian Rock 03:33, 5 Dec 2003 (UTC)

I forgot to add, I'm uncertain what the latest Mau registry number are. 3000 is approximate. Brian Rock 03:42, 5 Dec 2003 (UTC)

I'm hoping to improve the picture - this one is of Shainefer's Albion Argent, who is a very nice cat, but not so true to breed (too long) and this is definitely not a flattering picture of him. Two things in its favor - it does show his spotted coat and it does show that some cats will tolerate leashes. Brian Rock 00:23, 21 Jul 2004 (UTC)

"They are one of the few naturally spotted breeds of domesticated cat." - How do you get an unnatural spotted cat breed? 80.47.150.113 (talk) 17:48, 3 September 2020 (UTC)

Name
About the name origin, I have to wonder if the etymology of both the Egyptian and Chinese words for cat is onomatopoeic. In Italian though the words for dog and cat are cane and gatto, parents affectionately call them bau-bau and mau-mau when speaking to their toddlers. I've always assumed it was like meow-meow. Halconen (talk) 03:04, 16 April 2012 (UTC)

'Cat' in Egypt is 'qitat', similar to most but not all Arabic dialects (c.f. Palestinian 'bsayni' or just 'bisse'). The English word 'cat' is believed to be derived from Maghrebi Arabic dialects (i.e. 'qut' or 'qatat'). Other related words such as 'female cat', 'kitten', or 'wild cat' bear no relation to the word 'mau'. The onomatopoeic word for 'meow' in Arabic is 'mawa`'. In Coptic the word for cat is pronounced something like 'te-ah-shav'. The word for cat in Ancient Egyptian during the Middle Kingdom appears to have been 'mw', which does indeed seem onomatopoeic (in hieroglyphics the vowels are not given, so the actual pronunciation could have been anything; 'meew', 'maw', 'muwa', etc.). Of course, if the word 'mau' was inspired by the Ancient Egyptian 'mw', this could only have occurred after the discovery of the rosetta stone before which transcription of hieroglyphics was not possible. It thus seems most probable that the name 'mau' was coined relatively recently by the original American (or possibly European) developers and marketers of the breed, inspired by the advances in Egyptology and in allusion to its purported origins, as opposed to the word somehow surviving in Egypt thousands of years despite language evolution and replacement. How many English speakers still use the original Brythonic words to describe their cats (despite those languages having died out much more recently)? 86.83.56.115 Leo(talk) 02:18, 25 September 2017 (UTC)

Price fluctuations in sales of cats
Short of having a reliable pedigree (for the sake of reference), it is probably difficult describing the relative value of one cat over another. But I may as well ask the question anyway - what prices have the Egyptian Mau line commanded since the cat was first documented? Are prices higher for the Egyptian Mau outside the United States than within it?

Since owners are usually interested in improving their cat's line, is it true that the value of a particular line increases with time, as the cat's lineage is improved?

Why are we talking about other cat breeds?
I fail to see any reason for talking about the Ocicat and Bengal in the initial introduction to the Egyptian Mau. This is not an article on spotted cat breeds in general, but on the Egyptian Mau itself. The topics concerning other spotted domesticated cats should be delegated to a later subsection in the article, if not another article in general. Please rework this!--Satcat27 (talk) 05:35, 18 July 2008 (UTC)

Mau's Sensitivity to Anesthesia: Rumor?
I took my 8mo Mau into the vet today to get neutered and I put down in the comment section that his breed is sensitive to anesthesia; something that you commonly find when researching Maus. My vet gave me a phone call and said that he went through all his known medical journals and online vet resources and the general consensus in the medical community is that this sensitivity is just a rumor. Does anybody have any citations that can substantiate Mau's sensitivity to anesthesia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by SiegeX (talk • contribs) 18:08, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

EMRO Does Not Work With Egyptian Maus
An Egyptian Mau is a cat that has registration papers from a cat registry that certifies it as such. They have documented parentage, a record of which can be obtained through certified pedigrees. EMRO does not work with Egyptian Mau cats. EMRO works with Egyptian and KSA street cats. Under many importation policies, some these cats would be considered "Native Maus." However, many more would not qualify as they are in colors and hairlengths not allowed within the Egyptian Mau breed. It is misleading and borderline fradulent to call these cats Egyptian Maus. I will wait for someone to rework this, but if nobody steps up, I will do it myself. Satcat27 (talk) 17:14, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Since nobody has stepped up to clarify the relationship between EMRO and the Egyptian Mau breed, I will rework this segment to accurately reflect the following details:

1) The only cats that can be called Egyptian Mau have registration papers from a reputable cat registry that verify it as such.

2) EMRO's cats are unregistered domestic felines, or street cats. These cats are of unknown parentage.

3) A small percentage of EMRO's cats may qualify for registration based on the Egyptian Mau import policy of various registration organizations. However, until the owners of these cats have completed all steps of the verification process, the cats in question cannot be called Egyptian Mau. Even when these are verified to meet the importation requirements, the cats and their offspring will require multiple generations of breeding back to the current Egyptian Mau gene pool before any offspring may be registered, shown, and sold as pedigreed Egyptian Mau cats.

Satcat27 (talk) 14:58, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

Not the fastest breed of domestic cat
The book, "Do cats always land on their feet?" by Marty Becker and Gina Spadafori is used to cite the claim that "Maus have been clocked running at more than 30mph" but it actually states the following:- "The average domestic cat can run at a speed of around 30mph. Egyptian Maus are reportedly the fastest breed of domestic cat, capable of reaching 36mph".

How can this be sufficient research to be able to make such a wild claim on the Wiki article? That an Egyptian Mau has been clocked at 30mph? This myth needs to be ended. I have been trying to find evidence for many years to support or dispute this but as of yet have drawn a blank. It's too difficult to find evidence to support or disprove such an absurb claim as it is simply not repeated anywhere else in the world. I shall make contact with the authors of this book and ask them to clarify their claim.

It now appears that the Wiki article has been changed to state that that the Mau in fact has longer hind legs:-

This has now been added to support the Egyptian Mau MYTH regarding their running speed:- "The Egyptian Mau is the fastest of the domestic cats, with its longer hind legs, and unique flap of skin extending from the flank to the back knee, providing for greater agility and length of stride. Maus have been clocked running over 30 mph".

Once again I would wholly dispute the 'clocked' top speed of 30mph and also that it's longer hind legs are in fact a reason for this. The Mau MAY or MAY not actually have longer hind legs. I would say that they are no longer in the back legs than any other typical cat breed. This is simply another unsubstatiated claim by the auther of this article to prop up a silly myth about the Mau being the fastest cat. The auther has referenced a 20 year old book which makes a throwaway comment without any evidence to support. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.118.224.149 (talk) 13:17, 24 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Additional, reliable references, either in support of the claim or specifically refuting it, to clear up this long-standing quibble, would be very welcome. However, WP:V applies: the book is a reliable source. Meanwhile, if the colloquialism "clocked" in the article text needs to be changed to match more closely the source wording, that would be completely acceptable. --Old Moonraker (talk) 13:30, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

Removing the term "clocked" would be a good start. Referencing a source which can provide evidence to support the claim would also be acceptable. This is impossible to do as this claim is not repeated anywhere else in the world, if so then please feel free to try and find it. Just because that comment comes out of a published book does not add any further credit. In fact I often wonder now whether the source referenced was actually written after the Wiki article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.118.224.149 (talk) 13:56, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

Here are Italian Greyhounds running at a peak speed of 30 mph out the gate. These are cat sized dogs (10-15 lbs). NO CAT can run this fast. If you threw any cat out there, he might be able to avoid them and get off the track, but there is no way a cat could run with them. I have cats and greyhounds, and my Italian Greyhound in his heyday could do 30 mph from a standing start over 100 yards. This is a sight to behold. My cats could never even think of doing anything like that. I suggest you remove that totally unfounded myth of 36 mph.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sid-ez2pi0E   Msjayhawk (talk) 03:31, 8 March 2013 (UTC)

And here are whippets actually running 36 mph. I assume you can see how funny it is that you say a little cat can do this... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IUxQw9YoLg Msjayhawk (talk) 03:40, 8 March 2013 (UTC)

Hmm, the book is a reliable source. And the scoffers have probably not ever seen an Egyptian Mau run. Although I am not an authoritative source, I have seen an Egyptian Mau run - several actually. They are freakishly fast. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.100.166.6 (talk) 00:44, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

Removing information from a documented source because one does not believe it appears to be 180 degrees from accepted Wikipedia policy. No?

Someone (Gina Spadafori & Marty Becker) wrote a book and in that book they stated "the Egyptian Mau is the fastest breed of cat having being clocked at 36mph". There is no evidence to support this anywhere in the world. I invite you to find it if so. No-one is asking for that source to be removed. We are stating that just because 1 person in the entire world put it in a book they wrote does not in fact make it true. I have 2 Egyptian Maus and I have videoed them running on treadmills. They cannot run at 36mph. You sir are a fool for believing this. Attempting to try and prove this by stating that they are "freakishly fast" is again no proof whatsoever.
 * The assertion can be used if it meets the WP:Reliability test using a WP:RS. WP: Truth does not require factual accuracy.  And we can't use WP:OR. And opposing reliably sourced viewpoints can be put in. 7&6=thirteen (☎) 19:18, 11 January 2016 (UTC)

Egyptain Mau cats are NOT the fastest breed and cannot run at 36mph
I have contacted Gina Spadafori, the author of the book "Do cats always land on their feet?" which makes the claim about this breed being the fastest.

I invited her to defend the claim she made that "Egyptian Maus are reportedly the fastest breed of domestic cat, capable of reaching 36mph". I also drew her attention to these articles here on this WIKI talk page.

Her response is as follows:- "I have no interest in debating the ref. That book is 20 years old and my notes are long gone."

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EMRO notability?
Is a now defunct rescue organisation of cats in the country of origin of the breed really noteworthy enough for a paragraph in this article? Most of the text is about how the cats are moggies and not Egyptian Maus. I can't think of any other cat articles where rescue organisations are mentioned. Traumnovelle (talk) 08:57, 9 January 2024 (UTC)

 * Probably not. Thanks for cleaning up the cat breed articles btw. Happy editing, SilverTiger12 (talk) 19:41, 9 January 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Egyptian Mau


text:
Talk:History of the PRC (1976-present)

Shall we include a separate section on Tibet's independence movement to fulfill all viewpoints? Colipon 03:04, 4 Dec 2003 (UTC)
 * Separate article: Tibet independence movement. --Jiang 03:46, 4 Dec 2003 (UTC)
 * Your wish is my command (just this once) - see International Tibet Independence Movement - Robin Patterson 01:08, 14 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Is the Hong Kong Basic Law still relevant to be part of this article? Colipon 22:03, 22 Feb 2004 (UTC)

title: Talk:History of the PRC (1976-present)


text:
Alfred Eisenstaedt

Alfred Eisenstaedt (December 6, 1898 – August 23, 1995) was a German-born American photographer and photojournalist. He began his career in Germany prior to World War II but achieved prominence as a staff photographer for Life magazine after moving to the U.S. Life featured more than 90 of his pictures on its covers, and more than 2,500 of his photo stories were published.

Among his most famous cover photographs was V-J Day in Times Square, taken during the V-J Day celebration in New York City, showing an American sailor kissing a nurse in a "dancelike dip" which "summed up the euphoria many Americans felt as the war came to a close", in the words of his obituary. He was "renowned for his ability to capture memorable images of important people in the news" and for his candid photographs taken with a small 35mm Leica camera, typically with natural lighting.

Early life
Eisenstaedt was born in Dirschau (Tczew) in West Prussia, Imperial Germany in 1898. His family was Jewish and moved to Berlin in 1906. Eisenstaedt was fascinated by photography from his youth and began taking pictures at age 11 when he was given his first camera, an Eastman Kodak Folding Camera with roll film. He later served in the German Army's artillery during World War I and was wounded in 1918. While working as a belt and button salesman in the 1920s in Weimar Germany, Eisenstaedt began taking photographs as a freelancer for the Pacific and Atlantic Photos' Berlin office in 1928. The office was taken over by the Associated Press in 1931.

Professional photographer
Eisenstaedt became a full-time photographer in 1929 when he was hired by the Associated Press office in Germany, and within a year he was described as a "photographer extraordinaire." He also worked for Illustrierte Zeitung, published by Ullstein Verlag, then the world's largest publishing house. Four years later he photographed the famous first meeting between Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Italy. Other notable early pictures by Eisenstaedt include his depiction of a waiter at the ice rink of the Grand Hotel in St. Moritz in 1932 and Joseph Goebbels at the League of Nations in Geneva in 1933. Although initially friendly, Goebbels scowled at Eisenstaedt when he took the photograph, after learning that Eisenstaedt was Jewish.

In 1935, Fascist Italy's impending invasion of Ethiopia led to a burst of international interest in Ethiopia. While working for Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung, Alfred took over 3,500 photographs in Ethiopia, before emigrating to the United States, where he joined Life magazine, but returned in the following year to Ethiopia to continue his photography.

Eisenstaedt's family was Jewish. Oppression in Hitler's Nazi Germany caused them to emigrate to the U.S. They arrived in 1935 and settled in New York, where he subsequently became a naturalized citizen, and joined fellow Associated Press émigrés Leon Daniel and Celia Kutschuk in their PIX Publishing photo agency founded that year. The following year, 1936, Time founder Henry Luce bought Life magazine, and Eisenstaedt, already noted for his photography in Europe, was asked to join the new magazine as one of its original staff of four photographers, including Margaret Bourke-White and Robert Capa. He remained a staff photographer from 1936 to 1972, achieving notability for his photojournalism of news events and celebrities.

Along with entertainers and celebrities, he photographed politicians, philosophers, artists, industrialists, and authors during his career with Life. By 1972, he had photographed nearly 2,500 stories and had more than 90 of his photos on the cover. With Life's circulation of two million readers, Eisenstaedt's reputation increased substantially. According to one historian, "his photographs have a power and a symbolic resonance that made him one of the best Life photographers." In subsequent years, he also worked for Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, Town & Country and others.

Style and technique
From his early years as professional photographer he became an enthusiast for small 35 mm film cameras, especially the Leica camera. Unlike most news photographers at the time who relied on much larger and less portable 4"×5" press cameras with flash attachments, Eisenstaedt preferred the smaller hand-held Leica, which gave him greater speed and more flexibility when shooting news events or capturing candids of people in action. His photos were also notable as a result of his typical use of natural light as opposed to relying on flash lighting. In 1944, Life described him as the "dean of today's miniature-camera experts."

At the time, this style of photojournalism, with a smaller camera with its ability to use available light, was then in its infancy. It also helped Eisenstaedt create a more relaxed atmosphere when photographing famous people where he was able to capture more natural poses and expressions: "They don't take me too seriously with my little camera," he stated. "I don't come as a photographer. I come as a friend." It was a style he learned from his 35 years in Europe, where he preferred making informal, unposed portraits, along with extended picture stories. As a result, Life began using more such photo stories, with the magazine becoming a recognized source of such photojournalism of the world's luminaries. Of Life's photographers, Eisenstaedt was most noted for his "human interest" photos and less the hard news images used by most news publications.

His success at establishing a relaxed setting for his subjects was not without difficulties, however, when he needed to capture the feeling he wanted. Anthony Eden, resistant to being photographed, called Eisenstaedt "the gentle executioner." Similarly, Winston Churchill told him where to place the camera to get a good picture, and during a photo shoot of Ernest Hemingway in his boat, Hemingway, in a rage, tore his own shirt to shreds and threatened to throw Eisenstaedt overboard.

Martha's Vineyard
Eisenstaedt, known as "Eisie" to his close friends, enjoyed his annual August vacations on the island of Martha's Vineyard for 50 years. During these summers, he would conduct photographic experiments, working with different lenses, filters, and prisms in natural light. Eisenstaedt was fond of Martha's Vineyard's photogenic lighthouses and was the focus of lighthouse fundraisers organized by Vineyard Environmental Research Institute (VERI).

Two years before his death, Eisenstaedt photographed President Bill Clinton with wife Hillary and daughter Chelsea. The session took place at the Granary Gallery in West Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard and was documented by a photograph published in People magazine on September 13, 1993.

Personal life
After first settling in New York City in 1935, Eisenstaedt lived in Jackson Heights, Queens (NYC) for the rest of his life. He met Kathy Kaye, a South African woman, and married her in 1949. The couple had no children and remained together until her death in 1972. Until shortly before Eisenstaedt's death, he would walk daily from his home to his Life office on the Avenue of the Americas and 51st Street.

He died in August 1995 at age 96 at his Martha's Vineyard vacation cottage named "Pilot House", in the company of his sister-in-law, Lucille Kaye, and a photographer friend, William E. Marks.

He was buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, Queens.

Notable Eisenstaedt photographs
Eisenstaedt's most famous photograph is of an American sailor grabbing and kissing a stranger—a young woman—on August 14, 1945, in Times Square. He took this photograph using a Leica IIIa. (The photograph is known under various names: V-J Day in Times Square, V-Day, and others. ) Because Eisenstaedt was photographing rapidly changing events during the V-J Day celebrations, he stated that he did not get a chance to obtain names and details, which has encouraged a number of mutually incompatible claims to the identities of the subjects. Their identities turned out to be George Mendonsa (1923–2019) and Greta Zimmer Friedman (1924–2016).
 * V-J day in Times Square

The portraits of Sophia Loren have been described by Marianne Fulton of The Digital Journalist as conveying mischievousness, dignity, and love on the part of both Eisenstaedt and Loren. This 1932 photograph depicts a waiter at the ice rink of the Grand Hotel. "I did one smashing picture", Eisenstaedt wrote, "of the skating headwaiter. To be sure the picture was sharp, I put a chair on the ice and asked the waiter to skate by it. I had a Miroflex camera and focused on the chair." Eisenstaedt took this photo in 1963 at the Tuileries Garden. He later recalled in his self-portrait, "It took a long time to get the angle I liked. There are some close-ups of the children that are good. But the best picture is the one I took at the climax of the action. It carries all the excitement of the children screaming, 'The dragon is slain!' ". The photo sold in Lot #91 at Sotheby's in 2006 for an artist-record price of $55,200.
 * Portraits of Sophia Loren
 * Ice Skating Waiter, St. Moritz
 * Children at a Puppet Theatre, Paris

Awards and recognition

 * 1989: National Medal of Arts. Awarded by President George H. W. Bush in a ceremony on the White House lawn.
 * 1999: The Digital Journalist chose Alfred Eisenstaedt as its 'Photojournalist of the Century'. Dirck Halstead wrote, "When it came to choosing the one photojournalist who had the most profound impact, and who leaves the greatest legacy, there was no question whom that person is – Alfred Eisenstaedt."
 * 2020: Eisenstaedt was posthumously inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum.

Exhibitions

 * Alfred Eisenstaedt: 'Eisie' at 88, International Center of Photography, New York City, 1986. A retrospective.

Alfred Eisenstaedt Awards for Magazine Photography
Since 1998, the Alfred Eisenstaedt Awards for Magazine Photography have been administered by Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

title: Alfred Eisenstaedt


text:
Nanchang

Nanchang is the capital of Jiangxi Province, China. Located in the north-central part of the province and in the hinterland of Poyang Lake Plain, it is bounded on the west by the Jiuling Mountains, and on the east by Poyang Lake. Because of its strategic location connecting the prosperous East and South China, it has become a major railway hub in Southern China in recent decades.

As the Nanchang Uprising in 1927 is distinctively recognized by the ruling Communist Party as "firing the first gunshot against the evil Nationalists", the current government has therefore named the city since 1949 "the City of Heroes", "the place where the People's Liberation Army was born", and the most widely known "place where the military banner of the People's Liberation Army was first raised". Nanchang is also a major city, appearing among the top 150 cities in the world by scientific research outputs, as tracked by the Nature Index and home to Nanchang University.

History

The territories encompassing modern-day Jiangxi Province—including Nanchang—was first incorporated into China during the Qin dynasty, when it was conquered from the Baiyue peoples and organized as Jiujiang Commandery. In 201 BC, during the Han dynasty, the city was given the Chinese name Nanchang and became the administrative seat of Yuzhang Commandery, and was governed by Guan Ying, one of Emperor Gaozu of Han's generals. The name Nanchang means "southern flourishing", derived from a motto of developing what is now southern China that is traditionally attributed to Emperor Gaozu himself.

In AD 589, during the Sui dynasty, this commandery was changed into a prefecture named Hongzhou, and after 763 it became the provincial center of Jiangxi, which was then beginning the rapid growth that by the 12th century made it the most populous province in China.

In 653 the Tengwang Pavilion was constructed, and in 675 Wang Bo wrote the classic "Tengwang Ge Xu", a poetic introductory masterpiece celebrating the building, making the building, the city, and the author himself known to literate Chinese-speaking population ever since. The Pavilion has been destroyed and rebuilt several times throughout history. Its present form was reconstructed in the 1980s after being destroyed in 1929 during the Chinese Civil War.

In 959, under the Southern Tang regime, Nanchang was made superior prefecture and the southern capital. After the conquest by the Song regime in 981 it was reverted to the name Hongzhou. In 1164 it was renamed Longxing prefecture, which name it retained until 1368. During the Yuan dynasty it was the capital of Jiangxi Province, an area that included Guangdong as well. At the end of the Yuan (Mongol) period (1279–1368), it became a battleground between Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), and the rival local warlord, Chen Youliang. At the beginning of the 16th century it was the power base from which Zhu Chenhao, the Prince of Ning, launched a rebellion against the emperor.

During the Yuan Dynasty, it might have been the centre of porcelain trade

During the reign of the Wanli Emperor of the Ming dynasty, it housed relatives of the emperor who had been exiled because they were potential claimants of the imperial throne, members of the imperial family constituting about one quarter of the city's population; as a result of this, Matteo Ricci came here when trying to gain entry to Beijing.

In the 1850s it suffered considerably as a result of the Taiping Rebellion (1850–64), and its importance as a commercial centre declined as the overland routes to Canton were replaced by coastal steamship services in the latter half of the 19th century. Nanchang has, however, remained the undisputed regional metropolis of Jiangxi.

On August 1, 1927, Nanchang was the site of one of a series of insurrections organized by the communists. The Nanchang Uprising, led by pro-communist Kuomintang officers under Soviet direction, succeeded in holding the city for only a few days, and provided a core of troops and a method of organization from which the People's Liberation Army (PLA) later developed.

In 1939, the Battle of Nanchang, a ferocious battle between the Chinese National Revolutionary Army and the Imperial Japan Army in the Second Sino-Japanese War took place.

By 1949 Nanchang was still essentially an old-style administrative and commercial city, with little industry apart from food processing; it had a population of about 275,000. Nanchang first acquired a rail connection in 1915, only connecting to the port city of Jiujiang by the Yangtze. Several other rail links have since been opened. After World War II a line was completed to Linchuan and Gongqi in the Ru River Valley to the south-southeast.

Since 1949 Nanchang has been extensively industrialized. It is now a large-scale producer of cotton textiles and cotton yarn. Paper making is also a major industry, as is food processing (especially rice milling). Heavy industry began to gain prominence in the mid-1950s. A large thermal-power plant was installed and uses coal brought by rail from Fengcheng to the south. A machinery industry also grew up, at first mainly concentrating on the production of agricultural equipment and diesel engines. Nanchang then became a minor centre of the automotive industry in China, producing trucks and tractors and also accessories such as tires. An iron-smelting plant helping to supply local industry was installed in the later 1950s. There is also a large chemical industry, producing agricultural chemicals and insecticides as well as pharmaceuticals.

Geography
Nanchang is located in inland southeastern China, 130 km south of the Yangtze River and is situated on the right bank of the Gan River just below its confluence with the Jin River and some 40 km southwest of its discharge into Poyang Lake.

Climate
Nanchang has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) with four distinct seasons. Winters are short and cool with occasional frosts; it begins somewhat sunny and dry but becomes progressively wetter and more overcast. Spring begins especially gloomy, and from April to June, each month has more than 220 mm of rainfall. Summer is long and humid, with amongst the highest temperatures of any Chinese provincial capital, and with the sun shining close to 60 percent of the time in July and August, is the sunniest time of year. Autumn is warm to mild with the lowest rainfall levels of the year. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from 5.9 °C in January to 29.6 °C in July, while the annual mean is 18.5 °C. Annual precipitation stands at around 1704 mm; with monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 27 percent in March to 56 percent in August, the city receives 1,809 hours of sunshine annually in average. Extremes since 1951 have ranged from −9.7 °C on 29 December 1991 to 40.6 °C on 23 July 1961.

As of the 2020 Chinese census, Nanchang had a population of 6,255,007, of which 5,382,162 lived in built-up (urbanized) area consisting of 6 urban districts plus Nanchang County largely being urbanized. 37 ethnic groups were counted amongst its prefecture divisions while 99.2% are Han chinese. The sex ratio in Nanchang is approximately 109 males to 100 females. The aged group (above 60) counts for 14.97% of the entire population.

Administration

 * Honggutan New District (红谷滩新区) is an economic management area and not a formal administrative division.

Economy

Nanchang is a regional hub for agricultural production in Jiangxi province with its grain yield being 16.146 million tons in 2000. Products such as rice and oranges are economic staples. The Ford Motor Company has a plant in Nanchang, assembling the Ford Transit van as part of the Jiangling Motor joint venture. Much of its industry revolves around aircraft manufacturing, automobile manufacturing, metallurgy, electro-mechanics, textile, chemical engineering, traditional Chinese medicine, pharmaceuticals and others. Nanchang has a rapid economic development and ranks 15th among the fastest growing 20 cities in the world. It is one of the cities with the most potential for development in China and the world in the future.

In 2017, the city's gross regional product (GDP) was 500.319 billion yuan(US$80.03 billion ), an increase of 9.0% over the previous year. The primary industry's added value was 19.213 billion yuan, an increase of 4.0%; the secondary industry's added value was 266.61 billion yuan, an increase of 8.4%; The added value of the three industries was 214.496 billion yuan, an increase of 10.2%. The per capita GDP of 81,598 yuan was converted to 12,285 US dollars according to the average annual exchange rate, and the total fiscal revenue for the year was 78.282 billion yuan, an increase of 14.3% over the previous year. The GDP of Nanchang in 2008 was 166 billion Yuan (US$24.3 billion ). The GDP per capita was 36,105 Yuan (US$5,285). The total value of imports and exports was 3.4 billion US dollars. The total financial revenue was 23 billion Yuan.

Industrial zones
National level development zones Nanchang National Export Expressing Zone is located in Nanchang Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone, it was approved by the State Council on May 8, 2006, and passed the national acceptance inspection on Sep 7th, 2007. It has a planning area of 1 km2 and now has built 0.31 km2. It enjoys simple and convenient customs clearances, and special preferential policies both for Nanchang National Export Expressing Zone and NCHDZ. Nanchang National High-tech Industrial Development Zone (NCHDZ for short hereafter) is the only national grade high-tech zoned in Jiangxi, it was established in Mar. 1991. The zone covers an area of 231 km2, in which 32 km2 have been completed. NCHDZ possesses unique nature condition and sound industry foundation of accepting electronics industry. NCHDZ has brought 25 percent industrial added value and 50 percent industrial benefit and tax to Nanchang city by using only 0.4 percent land area.
 * Nanchang Export Processing Zone
 * Nanchang National High-tech Industrial Development Zone
 * Nanchang Economic and Technological Development Zone

Provincial level development zones
 * Jiangxi Shanghai Economic and Technological Development Zone
 * Nanchang Yingxiong Economic and Technological Development Zone

Special economic district
 * Honggutan New District  GanJiang New District

Transportation

Nanchang has an advantageous geographic location and convenient transportation. It is praised as the “three rivers and five lakes, and the control of the finer and better lakes”. It relies on high-speed railways and aviation hubs to connect three important economic circles (Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Inter-provincial traffic corridors in Haixi District). Nanchang is one of the country's comprehensive transportation hubs and one of the most important integrated transportation hubs in Jiangxi.

Rail
The Nanchang is an important rail hub for southeastern China. The Beijing–Kowloon (Jingjiu) Railway, Shanghai–Kunming railway (formerly Zhejiang–Jiangxi or Zhegan Railway), Xiangtang–Putian railway and Nanchang–Jiujiang intercity railway converge in Nanchang. Nanchang's Bureau of Railways operates much of the railway network in Jiangxi and neighbouring Fujian province. The Nanchang railway station and the Nanchang West railway station are the primary passenger rail stations of the city. Nanchang is connected to Hangzhou, Changsha and Shanghai via CRH (China Railway High-speed) service.

Air
Nanchang Changbei International Airport (KHN) built in 1996 is the main international airport. It is situated in Lehua Town, 26 kilometres north of the CDB area. Changbei International Airport is the only one in Jiangxi Province which has an international air route. The airport is connected to major mainland cities such as Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Haikou, Shanghai and Beijing. There is a military/civilian airport near Liantang, Nanchang County.

Nanchang Changbei International Airport is the largest airport in Jiangxi Province. In 2014, Nanchang Changbei Airport opened up to 10 international destinations. The airport handled 7.25 million passengers in 2014, an increase of 6.3%. Among them, the Nanchang aviation port exceeded 280,000 passengers, an increase of nearly 40%, becoming the airport's traffic volume. The important force of growth, and will continue to maintain rapid development. On December 6, 2017, the annual passenger throughput of Nanchang Airport exceeded 10 million passengers, making it the nation's 31st “million-grade airport”. In 2017, passenger throughput reached 10.93 million, a year-on-year increase of 39.0%, a net increase of passenger throughput of 3.07 million passengers; flights took off and 89,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 35.2%; and cargo and mail throughput of 52,000 tons, an increase of 3.3%. In order to cooperate with the construction of the Beijing-Kowloon high-speed railway and Nanchang North Station airport complex transportation hub, large-scale expansion and upgrades are being carried out recently.

Road
The road transport infrastructure in Nanchang is extensive. A number of national highways cross through the city. They are the National roads No.105 from Beijing to Zhuhai, No.320 from Shanghai to Kunming, and No.316 from Fuzhou to Lanzhou. The major transport companies that operate in Nanchang are the Chang'an Transport Company Limited, the Nanchang Long-distance Bus Station, and the Xufang Bus Station. National Highway G70 crosses through Nanchang. Nanchang also built its round-city highway G70_01 opening in 2007.

The Nanchang Long-distance Bus Station serves long-distance routes to Nanjing, Shenzhen, Hefei and other cities outside Jiangxi Province. The Xufang Bus Station operates routes to cities, towns and counties within Jiangxi Province.

Metro
Nanchang Rail Transit is the first rail transportation system in Jiangxi Province, the world's leading MRT system, the second batch of rail transit cities in China. It will connect Nanchang's main downtown area and each satellite city, the Nanchang Metro has been in service since 26th Dec 2015. Nanchang is the 25th city in mainland China to put into operation. The planning of Nanchang rail transit project started in 1999 and was officially started in 2009. The first phase of the No. 1 and No. 2 lines was 50,996 kilometers (the first line is the underground line). Line 1 was officially opened and operated at the end of 2015, and Line 2 of the “First Section” began trial operation on August 19, 2017.

Water
Nanchang is situated on the Gan River, the Fu River, Elephant Lake, Qingshan Lake, and Aixi Lake. Hence the water routes for Nanchang are critically important for the economy, trade and shipping. Nanchang Port is the biggest port on the Gan River. Passengers can take Nanchang Port and travel by boat to the Jinggang Shan and Tengwang Pavilion. There are passenger ships that also visit Poyang Lake, Stone Bell Hill, Poyang Lake Bird Protection Area, Dagu Hill and other attractions.

Landmarks

 * Tengwang Pavilion, a towering pavilion dating to 653, on the east bank of the Gan River and is one of "the Four Great Towers of China"
 * Poyang Lake, the largest fresh water lake in China, it is also called "the Migrator Birds Paradise".
 * Star of Nanchang, which was the world's tallest Ferris wheel from 2006 to 2008, in Honggutan District
 * Qiushui Square, established on 28 January 2004 with the largest music fountain group with music in Asia.
 * Jiangxi Provincial Museum and Bada Shanren Exhibition Hall
 * People's Park, the largest park in downtown Nanchang
 * Bayi Square and Memorial, at the center of Nanchang, commemorates the founding of the People's Liberation Army during the Nanchang Uprising of 1 August (Ba Yi in Mandarin) in 1927, which led to the formation of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

Education
Colleges and universities (note that institutions without full-time bachelor programs are not listed):
 * Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics (江西财经大学)
 * Nanchang University (南昌大学)
 * Jiangxi Normal University (江西师范大学)
 * Nanchang Hangkong University (南昌航空大学)
 * Jiangxi Agricultural University (江西农业大学)
 * East China Jiaotong University (华东交通大学)
 * East China University of Technology, Nanchang Campus (东华理工大学)
 * Jiangxi Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine (江西中医学院)
 * Nanchang Institute of Technology (南昌工程学院)
 * Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University (江西科技师范学院)
 * Jiangxi Manufacturing and Vocational College (江西制造职业技术学院)
 * Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (江西中医药大学)

High schools:
 * Affiliated Middle School of Jiangxi Normal University (江西师范大学附属中学)
 * Nanchang No.2 Middle School (南昌市第二中学)
 * Nanchang No.1 Middle School (南昌市第一中学)
 * Nanchang No.3 Middle School (南昌市第三中学)
 * Nanchang No.10 Middle School (南昌市第十中学)

International schools:
 * Nanchang International School (南昌国际学校)

Sport
Nanchang is the site of Jiangxi International Women's Tennis Open.

Friendship cities

 * Skopje, North Macedonia
 * 🇯🇵 Takamatsu, Japan

title: Nanchang


text:
Łęczna

Łęczna is a town in eastern Poland with 19,780 inhabitants (2014), situated in Lublin Voivodeship. It is the seat of Łęczna County and the smaller administrative district of Gmina Łęczna. The town is located in northeastern corner of historic province of Lesser Poland. Łęczna tops among the hills of the Lublin Upland, at the confluence of two rivers—the Wieprz, and the Świnka. On December 31, 2010, the population of the town was 20,706. Łęczna does not have a rail station, the town has been placed on a national Route 82 from Lublin to Włodawa. And shall be considered as a start point to Kameralne Pojezierze, as the town has decided to rebrand the lakeland district, from Pojezierze Łęczyńsko-Włodawskie, or Pojezierze Łęczyńskie, to Kameralne Pojezierze.

Middle Ages
First documented mention of the village of Łęczna comes from the year 1252. At that time, the area east of Lublin (eastern borderlands of Lesser Poland) was sparsely populated, without any towns and with few villages, as the region was frequently raided by the Mongols, Tatars, Lithuanians, Yotvingians and East Slavs. This changed in the late 14th century, after the Union of Krewo (1385), when the Polish–Lithuanian Union was established between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1462, a local nobleman (see szlachta), Zbigniew z Łęcznej, sold the village to the Tęczyński family. Five years later, on January 7, 1467, Jan of Tęczyn, the castellan of Kraków, received the Magdeburg town rights for the town of Łęczna (named after the village), on the Wieprz river. King Casimir IV Jagiellon issued the document in Kozienice, and Łęczna was strategically located on a hill, 175 m above sea level. Its first residents came from other town and villages of the region. It was located within the Lublin Voivodeship in the Lesser Poland Province of the Kingdom of Poland.

Early modern era
Thanks to trade privileges granted by King Stephen Báthory in 1581, the town became one of the most important centres for trading horses and cattle in Poland. Merchants from both the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and abroad came here, and in the early 16th century, first Jewish settlers came to Łęczna. The town, located on a busy merchant route towards Volhynia and Lithuania, quickly developed, despite Tatar raids (late 15th and early 16th centuries), and several fires (1525, 1552, 1564, 1569). The Polish Golden Age and the first half of the 17th century were the period of prosperity of the town. Łęczna was in private hands, with a castle, a town hall, tenement houses, churches and a synagogue. This ended in the mid-17th century, when in the Swedish invasion of Poland and other wars, Łęczna was destroyed several times. In 1693 almost all residents died in an epidemic, and 1710, the population was decimated by the plague. In the mid-18th century, the town burned in two fires (1746, 1761), and in the 1760s, Łęczna belonged to Bishop of Płock, Hieronim Szeptycki. In 1778, the 4th Infantry Regiment of the Polish Crown Army was garrisoned in Łęczna.

Late modern era and recent times
After the Third Partition of Poland (1795), the town, with population of 1,500, became part of the Habsburg Empire, then it belonged to the Duchy of Warsaw (1809), and finally was part of the Congress Poland under Russian Empire (1815–1915). In the 19th and early 20th century, Łęczna was a small, unimportant town, located away from main roads and railways. Until 1866, it remained in private hands, and belonged to several families. Among its owners was Jan Gotlib Bloch. During the January Uprising, clashes between Polish insurgents and Russian troops took place on 30 October, 10 November and 25 December 1863 and 4 May 1864. In 1914, before the outbreak of World War I, Łęczna was the smallest of fourteen towns of Lublin Governorate. During the war, Łęczna lost 41% of its population, as a result of evacuation, forced by Russians. Again part of Poland, after the country regained independence in 1918, administratively it was part of the Lublin Voivodeship. By 1939, its population was 4,300. In the Invasion of Poland, Łęczna was briefly captured by the Red Army (late September 1939), and then handed over by them to Nazi Germany (see Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact).

In the 1960s, rich deposits of Bituminous coal were discovered here. Construction of first coal mine (Bogdanka Coal Mine) began in the nearby village of Bogdanka in 1975. In January 1999, for the first time in history, Łęczna became the seat of a county.

Jewish history
Łęczna had an evident Jewish community since the 15th century and until the Holocaust, after which no Jewish community existed in town. During the second half of the second millennia Łęczna became an important Jewish center in Central Europe, hosting the Council of Four Lands for several times. By 1803, 38% of the town population were Jews. This ratio of Jews had doubled itself by 1840 into 64%. The Jewish community continued to be prominent in town until World War II, when Nazi Germany occupied the town. In January 1940, a local Judenrat was established in order to organize the Jewish life in Łęczna under Nazi restrictions. During the Holocaust, around 2,500 Jews who lived in town were sent to Sobibor extermination camp and died. The Jewish community of Łęczna had ceased to exist.

Nowadays, a few Jewish establishments from the past still exist in town, among them the big synagogue, hosting the local museum, the small museum, hosting a local library and a Jewish cemetery.

Tourism
Łęczna is located in the picturesque region known as Łęczna-Włodawa Lakeland (Pojezierze Łęczyńsko-Włodawskie). There are 68 lakes in the region, whose total area is 2,726 hectares. Furthermore, there are forests rich in birds and animals, and Polesie National Park lies a few kilometers north of the town. The Regional Museum of Łęczna, opened in 1966, is located in a 17th-century synagogue. The town also has St. Mary Magdalene church, built in 1618–1631.

Economy
Since the 1970s the town has benefited from the proximity of profitable coal mining industry. The village of Bogdanka near Łęczna was the place of the first coal mine in the whole area of the Lublin Coal Basin (Lubelskie Zagłębie Węglowe). The town has other small industries, and is regarded as the center of the coal basin

Sports & athletes

 * Górnik Łęczna, football team playing in the I liga (as of 2023–24).
 * Michał Oleksiejczuk, mixed martial artist competing in the middleweight division of the UFC as of 2022.

title: Łęczna


text:
Lubartów

Lubartów is a town in eastern Poland, with 23,000 inhabitants (2004), situated in Lublin Voivodeship. It is the capital of Lubartów County and the Lubartów Commune. Historically it belongs to Lesser Poland.

Lubartów was established in 1543 by Piotr Firlej under a founding order issued by King Sigismund the Old.

The town is located 26 km north of Lublin, on the Wieprz river, on the border between two geographical regions of Poland - Lublin Upland, and South Podlasie Lowland. Near Lubartów, the Kozłowiec Landscape Park (Kozłowiecki Park Krajobrazowy) is located. The town is the 10th largest urban center of the voivodeship, and its area is 13.92 km2.

Name
The town's original Polish name was Lewartów (pronounced [lɛ'vartuf]) until 1744, when it was changed to Lubartów. Yiddish language, however, retains the original name Lewartów to this day (but pronounced ['lɛvatof]).

History
The history of Lubartów begins on May 29, 1543, when King Sigismund the Old allowed local nobleman Piotr Firlej to found a town called Lewartów (the original name comes from Lewart, the coat of arms of the Firlej family). Lubartów was a private town, administratively located in the Lublin Voivodeship in the Lesser Poland Province. The town became famous when it belonged to Mikołaj Firlej, the son of Piotr Firlej. In 1559, Wojciech Calissius founded a Protestant school in the town, which was one of centers of Calvinism in Lesser Poland in the late 16th century. Mikołaj Firlej invited a number of skilled artisans from France, Germany and Holland, as well as cattle breeders. Lewartów frequently changed owners. In the early 18th century it belonged to the Sanguszko family, who rebuilt the palace, built two Baroque churches and tenement houses. Upon request of Paweł Karol Sanguszko, on November 22, 1744, King Augustus III of Poland changed the name of the town to Lubartów (in honor of Lubart - Liubartas, the son of Lithuanian Prince Gediminas; Sanguszko believed that Liubartas was the founder of his family). King Augustus granted a new coat of arms to the town.

The town was annexed by Austria in the Third Partition of Poland in 1795. Following the Austro-Polish War of 1809 it was included in the short-lived Polish Duchy of Warsaw. The 19th century was not lucky for Lubartów, as the town, which from 1815 to 1915 belonged to Russian-controlled Congress Poland, burned several times (1831, 1838, 1846). Two battles between Polish insurgents and Russian troops were fought there during the Polish uprisings of 1830–1831 and 1863–1864. In 1866 it became the seat of a county, and slowly began modernization. By 1912 it had seven manufacturing enterprises, including mills and a brewery, in 1922, glassworks were opened.

Following the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland, which started World War II in September 1939, the town was occupied by Germany. In October 1939, the Germans executed nine Poles, accused of possession of weapons. On December 23, 1939, the German police carried out a massacre of 48 Poles in the town. Tadeusz Illukiewicz, starost of the Lubartów County, was imprisoned in the Lublin Castle in October 1939, and then murdered in Lublin in December 1939 in a massacre of 10 Poles perpetrated as part of the Intelligenzaktion. In June 1940, during the AB-Aktion, the Germans carried out mass arrests of around 500 Poles, who were then imprisoned in Lublin, and many of whom were soon deported to the Sachsenhausen and Auschwitz concentration camps. In 1941, the Jews were confined to a ghetto, and in 1942 they were deported to extermination camps and the ghetto was liquidated. The town was liberated by the Polish Home Army in July 1944.

An unusual accumulation of amber deposits has been discovered in areas near Lubartow. A company called Stellarium is already mining these deposits, hailed as "the new amber route. Data from Poland's National Geological Institute in 2019 estimated that amber deposits in the Lubartów area of the Lublin region may be up to 25 times larger than those in the northern Pomerania region, 1,500 tons vs. 59 tons. And the region's amber deposits are available not as deep as in the north of the country, making mining more economically viable.

Jews of Lubartów
From its foundation until World War II, the town also had a large Jewish community, numbering nearly half of the population in the 1930s. However nearly the entire community was destroyed during the Holocaust. Lubartów was a bilingual town for most of its history, Polish and Yiddish being both widely used. Polish was used among non-Jews as well as for most communication between Jewish and non-Jewish townspeople, while Yiddish was the everyday language of the town's Jewish inhabitants.

Points of interest
Among most interesting points of interest is the Sanguszko Palace (18th century). The original palace was built in the mid-16th century as a fortified residence by Piotr Firlej II. In 1693 architect Tylman van Gameren created a plan for rebuilding of the palace for Józef Karol Lubomirski, and in 1705, the complex was partially burned during the Great Northern War. The palace was rebuilt from the funds of Paweł Karol Sanguszko, and burned again in 1933. Rebuilt in 1950–1970, it now is home to starosta of Lubartów County. Another interesting object are: Baroque St. Anne Basilica (1733-1738), and the monastery of Order of Friars Minor Capuchin with the St. Lawrence Church (1737-1741). There is also a museum (Muzeum Ziemi Lubartowskiej), located in a historic manor house.

Transport
Lubartów is a road hub, where National road 19 (Rzeszów–Białystok) meets Voivodeship road 815. Furthermore, Lubartów is located along the rail line No. 30 (Łuków–Lublin).

Sports
The local football club is Lewart Lubartów, founded in 1923. It competes in the lower leagues.

Cuisine
Among the protected traditional local foods, as designated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland, are:
 * Buckwheat honey, typical to the Lublin Region including Lubartów. Rich in magnesium, iron, vitamin C and protein, it is used to treat a wide range of diseases.
 * Makowiec lubartowski, a local type of poppy seed roll.
 * Pasztecik z grzybami, a baked puff pastry stuffed with mushrooms, onions, olive oil and spices, sprinkled with cheese. It is a local dish of Lubartów and nearby Ostrów Lubelski.

Twin towns — Sister cities
Lubartów is twinned with:
 * 🇭🇺 Hajdudorog, Hungary
 * 🇱🇹 Raseiniai, Lithuania

Notable people

 * Jan Kochanowski (1530–1584), Polish Renaissance poet
 * Janusz Aleksander Sanguszko (1712–1775), Polish magnate, general and official
 * Maciej Topolski (1767–1812), Polish painter
 * Bolesław Prus (1847–1912), Polish novelist
 * Ewa Pisiewicz (born 1962), retired Polish Olympic sprinter
 * Rafał Patyra (born 1974), Polish sport journalist

title: Lubartów


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Kraśnik

Kraśnik is a town in southeastern Poland with 35,602 inhabitants (2012), situated in the Lublin Voivodeship, historic Lesser Poland. It is the seat of Kraśnik County. The town of Kraśnik as it is known today was created in 1975, after the merger of its two districts - Kraśnik Lubelski, and Kraśnik Fabryczny.

Location and districts
Kraśnik is located in Lesser Poland, among the hills of Lublin Upland, 49 kilometers south-west of Lublin. The town is divided into two major parts, which are a few kilometers apart: Kraśnik Fabryczny and Kraśnik Lubelski (or Kraśnik Stary, Old Kraśnik). The town has an area of 25.28 square kilometers, of which arable land makes up 45%, and forests 17%.

Kraśnik Lubelski
Kraśnik Lubelski is the original part of the town where all historic buildings are located. It is made of several districts, such as Old Town, Bojanówka, Koszary, Góry, Zarzecze, Kwiatkowice, and Osiedle Kolejowe. Kraśnik Lubelski has old churches and the oldest cemetery of the town, as well as a rail station, a bus station and main administrative offices of the county. It is also a major road junction, where future Expressway S19 (current National Road No. 19) meets National Road No. 74. Until 2010, the Road 74 went through the center of Kraśnik, but now there is a by-pass.

Kraśnik Fabryczny
Kraśnik Fabryczny was founded in the late 1930s, as a settlement for State Ammunition Factory No. 2 (Panstwowe Fabryka Amunicji nr. 2), one of the enterprises built as part of the Central Industrial Region. Previously, in the location of Kraśnik Fabryczny there was the village of Dąbrowa Bór, placed a few kilometers northwest of Kraśnik, in a forest between Kraśnik and Urzędów. The government of the Second Polish Republic planned a new settlement, built from scratch, for 6,000 people around the new Ammunition Factory No. 2, FLT-Kraśnik. After the war, the settlement of Dąbrowa Bór was expanded, and in 1954 its name was changed to Kraśnik Fabryczny. In the 1960s, a number of single-family houses was built, later on, several blocks of flats were constructed. On October 1, 1975, Kraśnik Fabryczny merged with Kraśnik Lubelski, and the villages of Budzyń and Piaski, creating the town of Kraśnik. Currently, Kraśnik Fabryczny has some 20,000 inhabitants.

History
The area of Kraśnik was first settled in the 13th century, and the town received its city charter in 1377, by King Louis I of Hungary. At that time it belonged to Sandomierz Voivodeship, one of two voivodeships of Lesser Poland (Lublin Voivodeship was created in 1474, out of parts of Sandomierz Voivodeship). Located on a busy merchant road from Silesia to Kyiv, Kraśnik in the 14th century belonged to the Gorajski family. In 1403, it had a parish church of Saint Paul, and in 1410, as a dowry of Anna of Goraj, it passed into the hands of the Tęczyński family. Later on, it belonged to other families, such as the Radziwiłłs, and in 1604, the town was purchased by hetman Jan Zamoyski. Until 1866, Kraśnik belonged to the Zamoyski family. The town frequently suffered from fires, it was also destroyed by the Swedes in 1657, during the Deluge. Since the 14th century, Kraśnik was surrounded by a rampart, and ca. 1465, stone-brick walls were built on initiative of Jan Tęczyński, with two gates - Lublin Gate and Sandomierz Gate. The walls were demolished in the second half of the 19th century. Kraśnik also had a defensive church, surrounded with a high wall, and a castle, built in the 14th century on a hill surrounded by swamps. By 1646, the castle was already neglected. In 1657, it was completely destroyed by the Swedes.

Until the Third Partition of Poland (1795), Kraśnik belonged to Lublin Voivodeship, then passed into Austrian hands. In 1807 it was included in the short-lived Polish Duchy of Warsaw, and from 1815 until 1915 the town was in the Russian Empire (Congress Poland). In August 1914, the town and surrounding area were a focal point of Battle of Kraśnik, an opening battle of the World War I struggle between Russia and Central Powers over control of Galicia. During the war, the town gained its first railway connection, as a line was built through it by the Russians in 1914 in order to deliver supplies to the front. Later on, the line was expanded, and now it joins Lublin with Stalowa Wola. In 1938 Kraśnik was selected as the location for an ammunition factory (see Central Industrial Region). The factory was not finished by the time World War II broke out in 1939, and during the German occupation it was used to manufacture parts for Heinkel planes and other purposes. After the war, in 1948, the factory was started up again, this time to produce ball bearings (the first factory to do that in Poland).

Jews in Kraśnik
As with much of the Lublin district, Kraśnik was a major center of Judaism, with 5,000 Jews (almost 50% of the population) prior to World War II. Historical accounts place Jews in the area in 1531, but the official right to settle there was granted to Jews in 1584. In 1654, Jewish residence was officially limited to the area near the synagogue, but in practice this was not rigidly enforced.Following the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in World War II, Kraśnik was taken over by the Soviets in 1939 and later by the Nazis during Operation Barbarossa. It was the site of the Budzyń concentration camp, where the prisoners worked for the Heinkel Flugzeugwerke factory on aircraft production. This camp, with around 3,000 Jews, became a subcamp of Majdanek. There was another labor camp in Kraśnik called the WIFO Labor Camp, or the Kraśnik Labor Camp (also called ZwangsArbeitslager Skret), located in the ghetto at Szkolna and Bóżnicza streets. It had a similar number of people in it (around 3,000), most of whom were murdered. From a population of more than 5,000 Kraśnik Jews, only an estimated 350 survived the Holocaust; most or all of these survivors left Poland.

Local attractions

 * Ruins of the 17th-century Zamoyski castle,
 * The 18th-century Baroque former Hospital Church of the Holy Spirit (1758–1761) and hospital,
 * The Lateran Canons, containing St Mary's Ascension church (ca 1469) with paintings by T. Dolabella, gravestones of the Teczynski family, and the monastery (15th-18th centuries),
 * An unusual double synagogue from the 17th century, partially renovated but now in disrepair
 * 2nd SOS Children's Village in Poland, established in 1991,
 * Tsubaki-Hoover Polska Limited Liability Company, a subsidiary of Tsubaki Nakashima, which manufactures ball and roller bearings

Sports
Kraśnik has a sports club Stal, which was founded in 1948.

Twin towns
Kraśnik is twinned with:
 * 🇭🇺 Hajdúböszörmény, Hungary
 * 🇧🇪 Ruiselede, Belgium
 * 🇱🇹 Šilalė, Lithuania
 * 🇺🇦 Korosten, Ukraine
 * 🇺🇦 Turiisk, Ukraine
 * 🇭🇷 Trogir, Croatia

Former twin towns:
 * 🇫🇷 Nogent-sur-Oise, France (In February 2020, the French commune suspended its partnership with Kraśnik as a reaction to the passing of an anti-LGBT resolution by the Kraśnik local authorities.)

LGBT-free zone (2019-2021)

In 2019, Kraśnik's city council has adopted an LGBT-free zone resolution, which led to the city's budget losing 10 million euros from EEA and Norway Grants, getting expelled from a European Union twin town cooperation program and losing twin town status with Nogent-sur-Oise. In 2021, an appeal to repeal the vote by the mayor was rejected by the town council. The resolution was finally overturned on April 29, 2021.

5G-free zone
On 24 September 2020, Kraśnik councilors voted to consider the ban on 5G mobile telephony in the city. Support was given to the petition of the "Poland Free from 5G Coalition Association" (pl: Stowarzyszenie Koalicja Polska Wolna od 5G), which also provides for an order to dismantle Wi-Fi networks in schools.

title: Kraśnik