text:
Talk:Vickers machine gun

Untitled
ondenser (just a jerry-can affiar with a bit of water in the bottom). Without this the steam coming off the barrel would give away the guns position. GDL 26-1-2005

Reliability
I have read from a reliable source that in a test a Vickers was fired continously for several hours. GDL
 * During WW1, some guns fired continuous barrages for days, stopping only for barrel changes. Andy Dingley (talk) 00:03, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

 * I hear thanks to ARRSE that according to "Grand Old Lady of No Man's Land, The: Vickers Machine Gun " by Dolf Goldsmith that in the 60s they fired one for seven days and nights. Anyone seen this book it might be useful reference. GraemeLeggett (talk) 22:03, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

 * I have seen that too. Unsure whether it was a Hogg reference, but I seem to remember it was a Vickers co. reliability test and it was much earler than the 60s, straining my rapidly failing memory, I believe it was mentioned as being "inter war" Irondome (talk) 23:18, 8 February 2013 (UTC)

 * Here's GraemeLegget's source. Apparently, after seven days and seven nights of continuous full auto (pausing only to change the barrel every hour or so), the gun that had fired just under 5 million rounds (500 rounds per minute times 10,080 minutes per week) was inspected and gauged, and found to require no service.  Attributed to  71.41.210.146 (talk) 07:36, 4 October 2015 (UTC)

 * IIRC, the test was carried out in Yorkshire in the 1960s at the end of the gun's service with the British Army. The reason was that the .303 SAA round was obsolete and no longer required, so there were several million rounds in store surplus to requirements, and it was decided to do a final test of the Vickers to see how it would perform.

 * This talk section seems to confirm that the reliabilitiy claim in the article is based on hearsay, and it appears that an out of print source that has not been digitalized was chosen as the citation in order to make it difficult to question that claim, considering the episode has been described in other sources also. It seems the article needs to be changed to remove this cliam, as the events are more plausibly described as 12 hours of massed fire from one company of machine guns rather than 12 hours continuous fire from all the company's guns leading to no failure of other vital parts due to barrel changes. More than likely, furthermore, the guns were fired in a talking fashion, as per the doctrine for barrage fired machine guns, effectively distributing load evenly over time on all of the guns rather than adding up to a fantastical feat of reliability.31.208.76.24 (talk) 07:26, 9 May 2021 (UTC)

9 yards

I've removed this for the moment, since its origins seems dubious. At 9 yards for 250 rounds you get one round every one and a bit inches which seems a lot for a round only 1/3 inch across.GraemeLeggett

I added the 'whole 9 yards' text before I registered. I heard it on a BBC television programme (I think it was War Walks - but it may have been another of his) presented by the historian Professor Richard Holmes. Actually if you look at a Vickers belt there is a lot of fabric between the individual rounds and your calculation (one and a bit inches) sounds about right.

Were the Maxim and Vickers belts the same? I noticed eyelets between the rounds in both.68.231.184.217 (talk) 17:52, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

And Re: ''have read from a reliable source that in a test a Vickers was fired continously for several hours. GDL''

From: Weapons & War Machines - Ian V. Hogg & John Batchelor - Pheobus - 1976 ISBN 0-7026-0008-3 Page 62

"''The Vickers gun accompanied the BEF to France in 1914, and in the years that followed proved itself to be the most reliable weapon on the battlefield, some of its feats of endurance entering military mythology. Perhaps the most incredible was the action by the 100th Company of the Machine Gun Corps at High Wood on August 24, 1916. This company had ten Vickers guns, and it was ordered to give sustained covering fire for 12 hours onto a selected area 2000 yards away in order to prevent German troops forming up there for a counter-attack while a British attack was in progress. Two whole companies of infantrymen were allocated as carriers of ammunition, rations and water for the machine-gunners. Two men worked a belt-filling machine non-stop for 12 hours keeping up a supply of 250-round belts. One hundred new barrels were used up, and every drop of water in the neighbourhood, including the men’s drinking water and contents of the latrine buckets, went up in steam to keep the guns cool. And in that 12-hour period the ten guns fired a million rounds between them. One team fired 120,000 from one gun to win a five- franc prize offered to the highest-scoring gun. And at the end of that 12 hours every gun was working perfectly and not one gun had broken down during the whole period. It was this absolute foolproof reliability which endeared the Vickers to every British soldier who ever fired one. It never broke down; it just kept on firing and came back for more. And that was why the Mark 1 Vickers gun was to remain the standard medium machine-gun from 1912 to 1968.''"

If you want more information on weapons then anything by Ian V. Hogg is usually reliable, e.g.

The Encyclopedia of Infantry Weapons of World War II - A&AP - 1977 - ISBN 0-85368-281-X

Military Small Arms of the 20th Century (with John Weeks) - A&AP - 1977 - ISBN 0-85368-301-8

This last one is (or was) a thick book (i.e., expensive! - £9.99 when I bought mine in 1978) but might be available from libraries if you don't want to buy it.

Ian Dunster 19:08, 5 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * Sustained fire and continous operation during a 12 hour period does not mean continous firing, as is pointed out by your source itself in that field maintenance was ongoing throughout the action. A machine gun company, furthermore, in barrage fire would perform talking fire, where one gun takes over as the previous ends its volley - necessary both to distribute the physical load on the guns throughout the entire company's guns and also in order to observe effect and adjust fire. This is a tremendously unencyclopedic addition to the article and an abusive use of the original source which is anecdotal to begin with. If this claim were true as stated, the alloy used in the firing pins would be the historically significant component, not the (false) claim of early machine guns firing for some period without failure. 31.208.76.24 (talk) 07:59, 9 May 2021 (UTC)

 * "The whole nine yards" - approx length of a Vickers 250-round belt: (around 8:00 mark) here:  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.149.173.74 (talk) 15:15, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

 * The round isn't "only 1/3 inch across". The bullet might be said to be, but it's a bottle case. Also it's a canvas belt, and they leave more space between rounds. One reason for moving to steel link belts was to shorten the belt relative to the round diameter. Andy Dingley (talk) 14:48, 7 January 2017 (UTC)
 * That said though, isn't "the whole nine yards" something from baseball? Andy Dingley (talk) 21:27, 7 January 2017 (UTC)

 * The original and full wording of the phrase is "Give him (or them) the whole nine yards".

 * The British Army went over to disintegrating link belts because of the change to rimless ammunition with the adoption of the NATO 7.62mm round.

 * revisiting the phrase origins, the OED identifies first use of phrase as in Indiana in 1855, with more examples from region in 1907, 1908. GraemeLeggett (talk) 10:01, 29 October 2017 (UTC)

Aircraft armament & heavy v medium
The History section of the article, last sentence, states: "As the machine gun armament of fighters moved from the fuselage to the wings before WW 1,..." I think that should read " after WW 1". All the well known fighters of WW 1.i.e. Camel, SE 5, Spad, Fokker, etc, had fuselage mounted guns.

The section 'Use as a support weapon' above, begins: "As a first point the Vickers is a heavy machine gun". No, it was not - it was a medium machine gun. Indeed, the quote from "Weapons and War Machines", above, includes the sentence: " The Mark 1 Vickers was to remain the standard medium machine-gun from 1912 to 1968". Example weapons of the different 'weights' are: Bren (light), Vickers Mk 1 (medium) and Browning M2 (heavy).

84.130.116.15 21:27, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

 * That's correct that the British Army called it a medium MG, but hardly anyone else uses that term. It is in everything but name in the same class as other heavy machineguns such as the US M-1917 series or the Soviet M1910 Maxim. The US M2 and Soviet DShK are in a class by themselves. DMorpheus 18:23, 7 August 2006 (UTC)
 * From what period did the British Army call the Vickers a medium MG? Was that from the mid-war period onward? During WW2 for certain, yes. During WW1? Can someone please provide evidence of that? Pretty sure all mounted and crew-served MGs during WW1 were called 'Heavy machine-guns' in British English of the time. There were essentially 'heavy' and 'light' machine-guns during WW1 (the latter being assigned to infantry platoons and carried forward by the gunner when advancing, then operated by him alone if necessary).
 * Is this retro-classification? It seems that would be a bit like calling the De Havilland Mosquito "a meteorological research aircraft". 2A00:23C7:3119:AD01:F99E:36C5:E280:CAD5 (talk) 19:55, 6 November 2022 (UTC)

In research for wiki article on Willy Coppens, I found reference to his use of an 11 mm Vickers to shoot down German observation balloons during WWI. Don't know if this is a useful addition to this article, but thought I would mention it. ````George J. Dorner, (gjdorner when logged in) 27 June 2008```` —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.103.186.114 (talk) 04:21, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Tea
Should the article say something about the popular myth that the Vickers' water-cooling jacket was used to make tea? Quite apart from a situation requiring heavy enough fire to boil the water not being the most suitable time to stop for a tea break, I understand that the water would've been too contaminated with oil, rust, asbestos etc for even the most hardened tea-drinker to stomach. Chris 00:10, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Yes, and copper, too, from the barrel plating..a daily dose of carcinogens from the barrel packing and heavy metals...68.231.184.217 (talk) 12:08, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

 * is it that popular a myth?GraemeLeggett 08:41, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

 * I'm not sure, but it seems to've been persistent enough to have been refuted on occasion. If it's not that popular, maybe it should be.  :) Chris 11:49, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

 * You wouldn't use the water from the cooling jacket - you'd use the condensed water from the condenser can. Providing that can was kept clean then there'd be no problem making tea from it. On the Western Front there'd be plenty of times when the gun would be fired constantly enough for the making of tea. You'd just need to wait until the condenser can had enough boiling water in it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.40.250.154 (talk) 20:18, 15 December 2009 (UTC)

Cryptonomicon reference
Neal Stephenson gives a very colorful description of Vickers in Cryptonomicon. It's quoted here:. sendmoreinfo (talk) 21:05, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
 * IIRC the early Maxim guns had a facility for varying the rate-of-fire that Vickers subsequently removed in their modified design. They also replaced brass or steel with light alloy in some parts to save weight.

Maybe the Very Early Maxims had a "rate of fire control"; but not the '04 or '08 models. The Vickers was designed in 1912, so, no "unnecesaary parts". Toggle link was reversed. Receiver was not as tall. "The Devil's Paintbrush".Tintinteslacoil (talk) 00:35, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

 * The Rolls-Royce Merlin and Allison V-1710 were roughly contemporaneous in design and neither was designed as a 'replacement' for the other. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.112.68.219 (talk) 19:29, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

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republic of china
in the section that lists the armies that had this gun the flag of the peoples republic of china is shown but it is identified as china. given the time when these guns were made it is more logical that they were bought by Chang Kai Shek and later captured by by communist forces when the peoples republic of china was established. please explain this issue — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.245.243.173 (talk) 23:06, 4 January 2017 (UTC)

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Rate of fire
Infobox says 450-500rpm, text says up to 600. My understanding is that the latter is correct and it was about 600 with the booster and 450 without, the latter seemingly being more commonplace in WWII. But "my understanding" and "seemingly" is a bit WP:OR if I don't come out with some citations which I don't have handy, so I'm just throwing this out there. --Vometia (talk) 11:19, 22 August 2020 (UTC)

Recent edit
Hi, per this edit, you add that the Polish aircraft Vickers used a pan magazine. This is curious as it would require a total redisign of the feed mechanism unlikely for a small batch and would suggest it is more likely the Vickers K machine gun? Could you please confirm. Cinderella157 (talk) 08:34, 19 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Vickers Class F was indeed a redesign of the Vickers E machine gun (the commercial version of the air-cooled Vickers Mk. III machine gun), developed specifically for Poland in early 1920s, see, , , . Its manual, available at https://www.forgottenweapons.com/vickers-class-f-manual, states that "Vickers Automatic R. C. Gun, Class F, is... supplied from a drum-shaped magazine attached to the top of the gun" but "by the interchange of a few parts, the gun may readily be converted to a belt-fed weapon". However, nowhere else in the manual it is mentioned what "few parts" should be changed and how, and unfortunately not a single photo or a drawing of a Class F (the front low receiver is clearly different from the Class E, cf. its closeup photo) converted back to belt feeding has been published (unlike later Class J). I presume no country was interested in converting a turret gun back to belt-feeding back then. P.S. I believe this early attempt in modularity is absolutely worth an article of its own, which is why I added a red link, but I don't have time for it myself sadly. =/ Ain92 (talk) 10:40, 19 April 2022 (UTC)

 * , thank you for your reply. Yes, there probably needs to be more on these subsequent developments.  I will put it on the to-do list but when it might be done, I cannot say.  Could you tell me a bit more about the Russian language source you have linked.  The google translator did not translate the web site title and I do not know whether it might be considered a WP:RS.  It would simplify things if it is. regards, Cinderella157 (talk) 01:13, 20 April 2022 (UTC)
 * This website ("Уголок неба") founded by Dmitry A. Volkov in 1998 aggregates different printed sources, mostly large handbooks and encyclopedias, and is about as reliable as the sources it uses (they are listed in the end of each article). I believe yes, it can be used as RS (at least in this case), and I used it a lot when I was writing quite a few articles in ru-wiki a decade ago. Ain92 (talk) 07:36, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

Orphaned references in Vickers machine gun
I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of Vickers machine gun's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.

Reference named "Gazette": From Pattern 1914 Enfield:  From Chauchat:  From 1st Anti-Aircraft Division (United Kingdom): Pile's despatch.

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title: Talk:Vickers machine gun


text:
Byzantine art

Byzantine art comprises the body of artistic products of the Eastern Roman Empire, as well as the nations and states that inherited culturally from the empire. Though the empire itself emerged from the decline of western Rome and lasted until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the start date of the Byzantine period is rather clearer in art history than in political history, if still imprecise. Many Eastern Orthodox states in Eastern Europe, as well as to some degree the Islamic states of the eastern Mediterranean, preserved many aspects of the empire's culture and art for centuries afterward.

A number of contemporary states with the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire were culturally influenced by it without actually being part of it (the "Byzantine commonwealth"). These included Kievan Rus', as well as some non-Orthodox states like the Republic of Venice, which separated from the Byzantine Empire in the 10th century, and the Kingdom of Sicily, which had close ties to the Byzantine Empire and had also been a Byzantine territory until the 10th century with a large Greek-speaking population persisting into the 12th century. Other states having a Byzantine artistic tradition, had oscillated throughout the Middle Ages between being part of the Byzantine Empire and having periods of independence, such as Serbia and Bulgaria. After the fall of the Byzantine capital of Constantinople in 1453, art produced by Eastern Orthodox Christians living in the Ottoman Empire was often called "post-Byzantine." Certain artistic traditions that originated in the Byzantine Empire, particularly in regard to icon painting and church architecture, are maintained in Greece, Cyprus, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia and other Eastern Orthodox countries to the present day.

Introduction

Byzantine art originated and evolved from the Christianized Greek culture of the Eastern Roman Empire; content from both Christianity and classical Greek mythology were artistically expressed through Hellenistic modes of style and iconography. The art of Byzantium never lost sight of its classical heritage; the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, was adorned with a large number of classical sculptures, although they eventually became an object of some puzzlement for its inhabitants (however, Byzantine beholders showed no signs of puzzlement towards other forms of classical media such as wall paintings ). The basis of Byzantine art is a fundamental artistic attitude held by the Byzantine Greeks who, like their ancient Greek predecessors, "were never satisfied with a play of forms alone, but stimulated by an innate rationalism, endowed forms with life by associating them with a meaningful content." Although the art produced in the Byzantine Empire was marked by periodic revivals of a classical aesthetic, it was above all marked by the development of a new aesthetic defined by its salient "abstract", or anti-naturalistic character. If classical art was marked by the attempt to create representations that mimicked reality as closely as possible, Byzantine art seems to have abandoned this attempt in favor of a more symbolic approach.

The nature and causes of this transformation, which largely took place during late antiquity, have been a subject of scholarly debate for centuries. Giorgio Vasari attributed it to a decline in artistic skills and standards, which had in turn been revived by his contemporaries in the Italian Renaissance. Although this point of view has been occasionally revived, most notably by Bernard Berenson, modern scholars tend to take a more positive view of the Byzantine aesthetic. Alois Riegl and Josef Strzygowski, writing in the early 20th century, were above all responsible for the revaluation of late antique art. Riegl saw it as a natural development of pre-existing tendencies in Roman art, whereas Strzygowski viewed it as a product of "oriental" influences. Notable recent contributions to the debate include those of Ernst Kitzinger, who traced a "dialectic" between "abstract" and "Hellenistic" tendencies in late antiquity, and John Onians, who saw an "increase in visual response" in late antiquity, through which a viewer "could look at something which was in twentieth-century terms purely abstract and find it representational."

In any case, the debate is purely modern: it is clear that most Byzantine viewers did not consider their art to be abstract or unnaturalistic. As Cyril Mango has observed, "our own appreciation of Byzantine art stems largely from the fact that this art is not naturalistic; yet the Byzantines themselves, judging by their extant statements, regarded it as being highly naturalistic and as being directly in the tradition of Phidias, Apelles, and Zeuxis."

The subject matter of monumental Byzantine art was primarily religious and imperial: the two themes are often combined, as in the portraits of later Byzantine emperors that decorated the interior of the sixth-century church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. These preoccupations are partly a result of the pious and autocratic nature of Byzantine society, and partly a result of its economic structure: the wealth of the empire was concentrated in the hands of the church and the imperial office, which had the greatest opportunity to undertake monumental artistic commissions.

Religious art was not, however, limited to the monumental decoration of church interiors. One of the most important genres of Byzantine art was the icon, an image of Christ, the Virgin, or a saint, used as an object of veneration in Orthodox churches and private homes alike. Icons were more religious than aesthetic in nature: especially after the end of iconoclasm, they were understood to manifest the unique "presence" of the figure depicted by means of a "likeness" to that figure maintained through carefully maintained canons of representation.

Byzantine illuminated manuscripts were another major genre of Byzantine art. The most commonly illustrated texts were religious, both scripture itself (particularly the Psalms) and devotional or theological texts (such as the Ladder of Divine Ascent of John Climacus or the homilies of Gregory of Nazianzus). Secular texts were also illuminated: important examples include the Alexander Romance and the history of John Skylitzes.

The Byzantines inherited the Early Christian distrust of monumental sculpture in religious art, and produced only reliefs, of which very few survivals are anything like life-size, in sharp contrast to the medieval art of the West, where monumental sculpture revived from Carolingian art onwards. Small ivories were also mostly in relief.

The so-called "minor arts" were very important in Byzantine art and luxury items, including ivories carved in relief as formal presentation Consular diptychs or caskets such as the Veroli casket, hardstone carvings, enamels, glass, jewelry, metalwork, and figured silks were produced in large quantities throughout the Byzantine era, many continuing and adapting late Roman artistic practice though Byzantine silk production only began after they imported silkworms from China in the late sixth century. Many of these were religious in nature, although a large number of objects with secular or non-representational decoration were produced: for example, ivories representing themes from classical mythology. Byzantine ceramics were relatively crude, as pottery was never used at the tables of the rich, who ate off Byzantine silver.

Periods

Byzantine art and architecture is divided into four periods by convention: the Early period, commencing with the Edict of Milan (when Christian worship was legitimized) and the transfer of the imperial seat to Constantinople, extends to AD 842, with the conclusion of Iconoclasm; the Middle, or high period, begins with the restoration of the icons in 843 and culminates in the Fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders in 1204; the Late period includes the eclectic osmosis between Western European and traditional Byzantine elements in art and architecture, and ends with the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. The term post-Byzantine is then used for later years, whereas "Neo-Byzantine" is used for art and architecture from the 19th century onwards, when the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire prompted a renewed appreciation of Byzantium by artists and historians alike.

Early Byzantine art
Two events were of fundamental importance to the development of a unique, Byzantine art. First, the Edict of Milan, issued by the emperors Constantine I and Licinius in 313, allowed for public Christian worship, and led to the development of a monumental, Christian art. Second, the dedication of Constantinople in 330 created a great new artistic centre for the eastern half of the Empire, and a specifically Christian one. Other artistic traditions flourished in rival cities such as Alexandria, Antioch, and Rome, but it was not until all of these cities had fallen - the first two to the Arabs and Rome to the Goths - that Constantinople established its supremacy.

Constantine devoted great effort to the decoration of Constantinople, adorning its public spaces with ancient statuary, and building a forum dominated by a porphyry column that carried a statue of himself. Major Constantinopolitan churches built under Constantine and his son, Constantius II, included the original foundations of Hagia Sophia and the Church of the Holy Apostles.

The next major building campaign in Constantinople was sponsored by Theodosius I. The most important surviving monument of this period is the obelisk and base erected by Theodosius in the Hippodrome which, with the large silver dish called the Missorium of Theodosius I, represents the classic examples of what is sometimes called the "Theodosian Renaissance". The earliest surviving church in Constantinople is the Basilica of St. John at the Stoudios Monastery, built in the fifth century.

Due to subsequent rebuilding and destruction, relatively few Constantinopolitan monuments of this early period survive. However, the development of monumental early Byzantine art can still be traced through surviving structures in other cities. For example, important early churches are found in Rome (including Santa Sabina and Santa Maria Maggiore), and in Thessaloniki (the Rotunda and the Acheiropoietos Basilica).

A number of important illuminated manuscripts, both sacred and secular, survive from this early period. Classical authors, including Virgil (represented by the Vergilius Vaticanus and the Vergilius Romanus) and Homer (represented by the Ambrosian Iliad), were illustrated with narrative paintings. Illuminated biblical manuscripts of this period survive only in fragments: for example, the Quedlinburg Itala fragment is a small portion of what must have been a lavishly illustrated copy of 1 Kings.

Early Byzantine art was also marked by the cultivation of ivory carving. Ivory diptychs, often elaborately decorated, were issued as gifts by newly appointed consuls. Silver plates were another important form of luxury art: among the most lavish from this period is the Missorium of Theodosius I. Sarcophagi continued to be produced in great numbers.

Age of Justinian

Significant changes in Byzantine art coincided with the reign of Justinian I (527–565). Justinian devoted much of his reign to reconquering Italy, North Africa and Spain. He also laid the foundations of the imperial absolutism of the Byzantine state, codifying its laws and imposing his religious views on all his subjects by law.

A significant component of Justinian's project of imperial renovation was a massive building program, which was described in a book, the Buildings, written by Justinian's court historian, Procopius. Justinian renovated, rebuilt, or founded anew countless churches within Constantinople, including Hagia Sophia, which had been destroyed during the Nika riots, the Church of the Holy Apostles, and the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus. Justinian also built a number of churches and fortifications outside of the imperial capital, including Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai in Egypt, Basilica of Saint Sofia in Sofia and the Basilica of St. John in Ephesus. Several major churches of this period were built in the provinces by local bishops in imitation of the new Constantinopolitan foundations. The Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, was built by Bishop Maximianus. The decoration of San Vitale includes important mosaics of Justinian and his empress, Theodora, although neither ever visited the church. Also of note is the Euphrasian Basilica in Poreč.

Recent archeological discoveries in the 19th and 20th centuries unearthed a large group of Early Byzantine mosaics in the Middle East. The eastern provinces of the Eastern Roman Empire inherited a strong artistic tradition from Late Antiquity. Christian mosaic art flourished in this area from the 4th century onwards. The tradition of making mosaics was carried on in the Umayyad era until the end of the 8th century. The most important surviving examples are the Madaba Map, the mosaics of Mount Nebo, Saint Catherine's Monastery and the Church of St Stephen in ancient Kastron Mefaa (now Umm ar-Rasas).

The first fully preserved illuminated biblical manuscripts date to the first half of the sixth century, most notably the Vienna Genesis, the Rossano Gospels, and the Sinope Gospels. The Vienna Dioscurides is a lavishly illustrated botanical treatise, presented as a gift to the Byzantine aristocrat Julia Anicia.

Important ivory sculptures of this period include the Barberini ivory, which probably depicts Justinian himself, and the Archangel ivory in the British Museum. Byzantine silver plate continued to be decorated with scenes drawn from classical mythology; for example, a plate in the Cabinet des Médailles, Paris, depicts Hercules wrestling the Nemean lion.

Seventh-century crisis
The Age of Justinian was followed by a political decline, since most of Justinian's conquests were lost and the Empire faced acute crisis with the invasions of the Avars, Slavs, Persians and Arabs in the 7th century. Constantinople was also wracked by religious and political conflict.

The most significant surviving monumental projects of this period were undertaken outside of the imperial capital. The church of Hagios Demetrios in Thessaloniki was rebuilt after a fire in the mid-seventh century. The new sections include mosaics executed in a remarkably abstract style. The church of the Koimesis in Nicaea (present-day Iznik), destroyed in the early 20th century but documented through photographs, demonstrates the simultaneous survival of a more classical style of church decoration. The churches of Rome, still a Byzantine territory in this period, also include important surviving decorative programs, especially Santa Maria Antiqua, Sant'Agnese fuori le mura, and the Chapel of San Venanzio in San Giovanni in Laterano. Byzantine mosaicists probably also contributed to the decoration of the early Umayyad monuments, including the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and the Great Mosque of Damascus.

Important works of luxury art from this period include the silver David Plates, produced during the reign of Emperor Heraclius, and depicting scenes from the life of the Hebrew king David. The most notable surviving manuscripts are Syriac gospel books, such as the so-called Syriac Bible of Paris. However, the London Canon Tables bear witness to the continuing production of lavish gospel books in Greek.

The period between Justinian and iconoclasm saw major changes in the social and religious roles of images within Byzantium. The veneration of acheiropoieta, or holy images "not made by human hands," became a significant phenomenon, and in some instances these images were credited with saving cities from military assault. By the end of the seventh century, certain images of saints had come to be viewed as "windows" through which one could communicate with the figure depicted. Proskynesis before images is also attested in texts from the late seventh century. These developments mark the beginnings of a theology of icons.

At the same time, the debate over the proper role of art in the decoration of churches intensified. Three canons of the Quinisext Council of 692 addressed controversies in this area: prohibition of the representation of the cross on church pavements (Canon 73), prohibition of the representation of Christ as a lamb (Canon 82), and a general injunction against "pictures, whether they are in paintings or in what way so ever, which attract the eye and corrupt the mind, and incite it to the enkindling of base pleasures" (Canon 100).

Crisis of iconoclasm

Intense debate over the role of art in worship led eventually to the period of "Byzantine iconoclasm." Sporadic outbreaks of iconoclasm on the part of local bishops are attested in Asia Minor during the 720s. In 726, an underwater earthquake between the islands of Thera and Therasia was interpreted by Emperor Leo III as a sign of God's anger, and may have led Leo to remove a famous icon of Christ from the Chalke Gate outside the imperial palace. However, iconoclasm probably did not become imperial policy until the reign of Leo's son, Constantine V. The Council of Hieria, convened under Constantine in 754, proscribed the manufacture of icons of Christ. This inaugurated the Iconoclastic period, which lasted, with interruptions, until 843.

While iconoclasm severely restricted the role of religious art, and led to the removal of some earlier apse mosaics and (possibly) the sporadic destruction of portable icons, it never constituted a total ban on the production of figural art. Ample literary sources indicate that secular art (i.e. hunting scenes and depictions of the games in the hippodrome) continued to be produced, and the few monuments that can be securely dated to the period (most notably the manuscript of Ptolemy's "Handy Tables" today held by the Vatican ) demonstrate that metropolitan artists maintained a high quality of production.

Major churches dating to this period include Hagia Eirene in Constantinople, which was rebuilt in the 760s following its destruction by the 740 earthquake. The interior of Hagia Eirene, which is dominated by a large mosaic cross in the apse, is one of the best-preserved examples of iconoclastic church decoration. The church of Hagia Sophia in Thessaloniki was also rebuilt in the late 8th century.

Certain churches built outside of the empire during this period, but decorated in a figural, "Byzantine," style, may also bear witness to the continuing activities of Byzantine artists. Particularly important in this regard are the original mosaics of the Palatine Chapel in Aachen (since either destroyed or heavily restored) and the frescoes in the Church of Maria foris portas in Castelseprio.

Macedonian art

The rulings of the Council of Hieria were reversed by a new church council in 843, celebrated to this day in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the "Triumph of Orthodoxy." In 867, the installation of a new apse mosaic in Hagia Sophia depicting the Virgin and Child was celebrated by the Patriarch Photios in a famous homily as a victory over the evils of iconoclasm. Later in the same year, the Emperor Basil I, called "the Macedonian," acceded to the throne; as a result the following period of Byzantine art has sometimes been called the "Macedonian Renaissance", although the term is doubly problematic (it was neither "Macedonian", nor, strictly speaking, a "Renaissance").

In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Empire's military situation improved, and patronage of art and architecture increased. New churches were commissioned, and the standard architectural form (the "cross-in-square") and decorative scheme of the Middle Byzantine church were standardised. Major surviving examples include Hosios Loukas in Boeotia, the Daphni Monastery near Athens and Nea Moni on Chios.

There was a revival of interest in the depiction of subjects from classical Greek mythology (as on the Veroli Casket) and in the use of a "classical" Hellenistic styles to depict religious, and particularly Old Testament, subjects (of which the Paris Psalter and the Joshua Roll are important examples).

The Macedonian period also saw a revival of the late antique technique of ivory carving. Many ornate ivory triptychs and diptychs survive, such as the Harbaville Triptych and a triptych at Luton Hoo, dating from the reign of Nicephorus Phocas.

Komnenian age

The Macedonian emperors were followed by the Komnenian dynasty, beginning with the reign of Alexios I Komnenos in 1081. Byzantium had recently suffered a period of severe dislocation following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 and the subsequent loss of Asia Minor to the Turks. However, the Komnenoi brought stability to the empire (1081–1185) and during the course of the twelfth century their energetic campaigning did much to restore the fortunes of the empire. The Komnenoi were great patrons of the arts, and with their support Byzantine artists continued to move in the direction of greater humanism and emotion, of which the Theotokos of Vladimir, the cycle of mosaics at Daphni, and the murals at Nerezi yield important examples. Ivory sculpture and other expensive mediums of art gradually gave way to frescoes and icons, which for the first time gained widespread popularity across the Empire. Apart from painted icons, there were other varieties - notably the mosaic and ceramic ones.

Some of the finest Byzantine work of this period may be found outside the Empire: in the mosaics of Gelati, Kiev, Torcello, Venice, Monreale, Cefalù and Palermo. For instance, Venice's Basilica of St Mark, begun in 1063, was based on the great Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, now destroyed, and is thus an echo of the age of Justinian. The acquisitive habits of the Venetians mean that the basilica is also a great museum of Byzantine artworks of all kinds (e.g., Pala d'Oro).

Palaeologan age

Centuries of continuous Roman political tradition and Hellenistic civilization underwent a crisis in 1204 with the sacking of Constantinople by the Venetian and French knights of the Fourth Crusade, a disaster from which the Empire recovered in 1261 albeit in a severely weakened state. The destruction by sack or subsequent neglect of the city's secular architecture in particular has left us with an imperfect understanding of Byzantine art.

Although the Byzantines regained the city in 1261, the Empire was thereafter a small and weak state confined to the Greek peninsula and the islands of the Aegean. During their half-century of exile, however, the last great flowing of Anatolian Hellenism began. As Nicaea emerged as the center of opposition under the Laskaris emperors, it spawned a renaissance, attracting scholars, poets, and artists from across the Byzantine world. A glittering court emerged as the dispossessed intelligentsia found in the Hellenic side of their traditions a pride and identity unsullied by association with the hated "latin" enemy. With the recapture of the capital under the new Palaeologan Dynasty, Byzantine artists developed a new interest in landscapes and pastoral scenes, and the traditional mosaic-work (of which the Chora Church in Constantinople is the finest extant example) gradually gave way to detailed cycles of narrative frescoes (as evidenced in a large group of Mystras churches). The icons, which became a favoured medium for artistic expression, were characterized by a less austere attitude, new appreciation for purely decorative qualities of painting and meticulous attention to details, earning the popular name of the Paleologan Mannerism for the period in general.

Venice came to control Byzantine Crete by 1212, and Byzantine artistic traditions continued long after the Ottoman conquest of the last Byzantine successor state in 1461. The Cretan school, as it is today known, gradually introduced Western elements into its style, and exported large numbers of icons to the West. The tradition's most famous artist was El Greco.

Legacy

The Byzantine Empire emerged from the Eastern Roman Empire in the 4th century AD, and its unique culture heavily influenced Western Europe during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Byzantine art was an essential part of this culture and had certain defining characteristics, such as intricate patterns, rich colors, and religious themes depicting important figures in Christianity.

The fall of Constantinople in 1453 was a significant event in the history of the Byzantine Empire, and it had a profound impact on the art world. Many Byzantine artists and intellectuals migrated to Italy, where they played a vital role in shaping the Italian Renaissance. The migration was partly due to the long-standing cultural and commercial ties between the Byzantine Empire and Italian city-states, such as Venice and Florence, as well as the decline of the Byzantine Empire in the preceding centuries.

The influence of Byzantine art on Italian art was significant, with Byzantine artists bringing their techniques and knowledge to Italy, such as the use of gold leaf and mosaics. They also played a significant role in developing perspective, which became a key element of Renaissance art.

The splendour of Byzantine art was always in the mind of early medieval Western artists and patrons, and many of the most important movements in the period were conscious attempts to produce art fit to stand next to both classical Roman and contemporary Byzantine art. This was especially the case for the imperial Carolingian art and Ottonian art. Luxury products from the Empire were highly valued, and reached for example the royal Anglo-Saxon Sutton Hoo burial in Suffolk of the 620s, which contains several pieces of silver. Byzantine silks were especially valued and large quantities were distributed as diplomatic gifts from Constantinople. There are records of Byzantine artists working in the West, especially during the period of iconoclasm, and some works, like the frescos at Castelseprio and miniatures in the Vienna Coronation Gospels, seem to have been produced by such figures.

In particular, teams of mosaic artists were dispatched as diplomatic gestures by emperors to Italy, where they often trained locals to continue their work in a style heavily influenced by Byzantium. Venice and Norman Sicily were particular centres of Byzantine influence. The earliest surviving panel paintings in the West were in a style heavily influenced by contemporary Byzantine icons, until a distinctive Western style began to develop in Italy in the Trecento; the traditional and still influential narrative of Vasari and others has the story of Western painting begin as a breakaway by Cimabue and then Giotto from the shackles of the Byzantine tradition. In general, Byzantine artistic influence on Europe was in steep decline by the 14th century if not earlier, despite the continued importance of migrated Byzantine scholars in the Renaissance in other areas.

Islamic art began with artists and craftsmen mostly trained in Byzantine styles, and though figurative content was greatly reduced, Byzantine decorative styles remained a great influence on Islamic art, and Byzantine artists continued to be imported for important works for some time, especially for mosaics.

The Byzantine era properly defined came to an end with the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, but by this time the Byzantine cultural heritage had been widely diffused, carried by the spread of Orthodox Christianity, to Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania and, most importantly, to Russia, which became the centre of the Orthodox world following the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans. Even under Ottoman rule, Byzantine traditions in icon-painting and other small-scale arts survived, especially in the Venetian-ruled Crete and Rhodes, where a "post-Byzantine" style under increasing Western influence survived for a further two centuries, producing artists including El Greco whose training was in the Cretan School which was the most vigorous post-Byzantine school, exporting great numbers of icons to Europe. The willingness of the Cretan School to accept Western influence was atypical; in most of the post-Byzantine world "as an instrument of ethnic cohesiveness, art became assertively conservative during the Turcocratia" (period of Ottoman rule).

Russian icon painting began by entirely adopting and imitating Byzantine art, as did the art of other Orthodox nations, and has remained extremely conservative in iconography, although its painting style has developed distinct characteristics, including influences from post-Renaissance Western art. All the Eastern Orthodox churches have remained highly protective of their traditions in terms of the form and content of images and, for example, modern Orthodox depictions of the Nativity of Christ vary little in content from those developed in the 6th century.

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

title: Byzantine art


text:
Adirondack High Peaks

The Adirondack High Peaks are a set of 46 mountain peaks in the Adirondack Mountains of New York state. They have been popular hiking destinations since the late 1920s, when the list of peaks was published in Russell Carson's book Peaks and Peoples of the Adirondacks. Those who have climbed all 46 High Peaks are eligible to join the Adirondack Forty-Sixers club.

Origin
The list of peaks was originally compiled by the mountaineers Herbert Clark, Bob Marshall, and George Marshall, with input from Russell Carson. The Marshall brothers wished to climb every notable peak in the Adirondacks, which they accomplished with Clark between 1918 and 1925. The criteria used were that all peaks should be at least 4000 ft in elevation and either have 300 ft of prominence or 0.75 mi of distance from another peak. Several exceptions to these rules were made to include or exclude peaks based on their preferences; Gray Peak, Wright Peak, Armstrong Mountain, Upper Wolfjaw Mountain, and South Dix were included but did not meet either the prominence or distance rule, while Little Marcy, Yard Mountain, and two then-unnamed peaks were excluded. Later surveys revealed that Blake Peak, Cliff Mountain, Couchsachraga Peak, and Nye Mountain are under 4,000 feet in elevation, but no mountains have been removed or added to the list due to tradition.

Location
All but three of the peaks are located in central and northern Essex County, primarily south of Lake Placid and Keene Valley. The others are just to the west in Franklin County. All of the summits are on land owned by New York State as part of its Forest Preserve. Forty-two are in a vast tract of nearly 300,000 acre known as the High Peaks Wilderness Area, subdivided into central (26 peaks) and outer (16 peaks) zones. Nine of the peaks in the outer zone are in an area formerly known as the Dix Mountain Wilderness Area, which was added to the High Peaks Wilderness in 2018. Giant Mountain and Rocky Peak Ridge are in the adjacent Giant Mountain Wilderness Area. Whiteface Mountain and Esther Mountain are set slightly to the north, in Wilmington.

Mountain ranges
There are many Mountain ranges within the High Peaks. The Dix Range includes five out of the forty-six High Peaks: Macomb, Grace Peak, South Dix, Hough, and Dix Mountain. The Great Range includes seven out of the forty-six High Peaks: Lower Wolfjaw, Upper Wolfjaw, Armstrong, Gothics, Saddleback, Basin, and Haystack. The Seward Range includes four out of the forty-six High Peaks: Seward, Donaldson, Emmons, and Seymour Mountain. The MacIntyre Range includes four out of the forty-six High Peaks: Mount Marshall, Wright, Algonquin and Iroquois. The Santanoni Range includes three out of the forty-six High Peaks: Santanoni, Panther, and Couchsachraga.

Ecosystems
The region contains many alpine lakes and meadows, wetlands, streams, and forests. Atop the highest peaks, above the tree line, lies a small alpine ecosystem, a remnant of a larger lowland tundra that retreated uphill following the most recent period of glaciation. The amount of this ecosystem is constantly changing due to variation in the climate from year to year, and has been estimated by different methods to only cover between 65-85 acre. The alpine ecosystem is considered extremely fragile to damage from hikers, and the Adirondack Mountain Club launched an education campaign to avoid further damage in the 1970s, since which some peaks have seen documented recovery.

The Eastern High Peaks Wilderness area is the most regulated area. Fires are not permitted; dogs must be leashed; overnight groups are limited to eight people and day groups to 15; and bear-resistant food canisters are required from April through November. Camping is prohibited above any elevation greater than 4,000 feet on any of the Adirondack High Peaks.

Reaching the summits
Of the two highest peaks, Algonquin Peak is regarded as a more challenging hike than Mount Marcy. Twenty of the peaks have no official trail to the top, although rough informal routes, commonly referred to as "herd paths," have developed over the years. No true bushwhacking is required on any of the peaks, although some trails are still quite primitive.

The summit of Whiteface Mountain can alternatively be reached by motor vehicle on the Whiteface Mountain Veterans' Memorial Highway.

The High Peaks

Although a survey in the mid-20th century placed MacNaughton Mountain at 4,000 ft, a more recent survey listed the mountain at 3,983 ft.

title: Adirondack High Peaks


text:
Emperor Xuanwu of Northern Wei

Emperor Xuanwu of Northern Wei (May or June 483 – February 12, 515 ) was an emperor of the Xianbei-led Chinese Northern Wei dynasty (499-515). He was born Tuoba Ke, but later changed his surname so that he became Yuan Ke. During Emperor Xuanwu's reign, Northern Wei appeared, outwardly, to be at its prime, but there was much political infighting and corruption, particularly by Emperor Xuanwu's uncle Gao Zhao.

Emperor Xuanwu was an avid Buddhist and often personally lectured on the Buddhist sutras. During his reign, Buddhism effectively became the state religion.

Background
Tuoba Ke was born in 483, as the second son of Emperor Xiaowen. His mother was Xiaowen's concubine Consort, Gao Zhaorong. (As he was born in the same year as his older brother Tuoba Xun, he was probably born just briefly after Tuoba Xun, whose mother was Consort Lin.) Little is known about his childhood, including whether he was raised by his mother Lady Gao or not. In 496, Xiaowen changed the name of the imperial clan from Tuoba to Yuan, and thereafter he would be known as Yuan Ke.

In fall 496, Yuan Xun, who was then crown prince, but who could not endure the hot weather of the capital Luoyang after Xiaowen moved the capital there from Pingcheng (平城, in modern Datong, Shanxi) in 494, plotted to flee back to Pingcheng with his followers, but his plot was discovered. Xiaowen deposed him, and on 23 February 497 created Yuan Ke crown prince to replace Yuan Xun. (The creation was in Luoyang, but it is unclear whether prior to his creation, Yuan Xun was at Luoyang or Pingcheng.) Later that year, Gao, who was in Pingcheng, travelled south to rejoin her son in Luoyang, but she died on the way. Historians generally believe that she was murdered by Xiaowen's wife, Empress Feng Run, who wanted to raise Yuan Ke herself. Whether she was actually able to do so is unclear, but after she was discovered to have carried on an affair with her attendant Gao Pusa (高菩薩) in 499, she was put under house arrest, and Xiaowen ordered Yuan Ke to have no more contact with her.

Later in 499, Xiaowen, while on a campaign against rival Southern Qi, grew ill and died. Xiaowen's brother Yuan Xie the Prince of Pengcheng was put into command of the withdrawing army on an emergency basis, and Yuan Xie kept Xiaowen's death a secret while summoning Yuan Ke to join the army. Yuan Ke's attendants largely suspected Yuan Xie of wanting to take the throne himself, but Yuan Xie, once he met Yuan Ke, showed great deference to Yuan Ke, convincing Yuan Ke of his loyalty. Yuan Ke, at age 16, then took the throne as Xuanwu at Luyang (魯陽, in modern Pingdingshan, Henan), before the army could return to Luoyang.

Early reign
Xuanwu initially wanted to make Yuan Xie, who was popular and well-regarded, prime minister, but Yuan Xie refused, and was made a provincial governor instead. The governmental affairs were largely in the hands of six officials: Xiaowen's brothers Yuan Xi (元禧) the Prince of Xianyang and Yuan Xiang (元詳) the Prince of Beihai, Xiaowen's cousin Yuan Cheng (元澄) the Prince of Rencheng, Xiaowen's distant uncle Yuan Jia (元嘉) the Prince of Guangyang, and the officials Wang Su (王肅) and Song Bian (宋弁), although Yuan Cheng was soon stripped of his post because he falsely arrested Wang on suspicion of treason. By 500, Xuanwu recalled Yuan Xie to be prime minister.

Xuanwu, once he returned to Luoyang, posthumously honored his mother Gao as an empress, and he created his maternal uncles Gao Zhao and Gao Xian (高顯), as well as his cousin Gao Meng (高猛), none of whom he had previously met, dukes. Gao Zhao, in particular, became increasingly powerful during Xuanwu's reign.

In 500, with Southern Qi in disarray because of the tyrannical rule of its emperor Xiao Baojuan, Northern Wei annexed the important city of Shouyang (壽陽, in modern Lu'an, Anhui) when the Southern Qi general Pei Shuye (裴叔業) surrendered the city to Northern Wei in fear of adverse actions by Xiao Baojuan. However, Northern Wei did not take further actions when Southern Qi was subsequently thrown into civil war during the rebellions of the generals Cui Huijing (崔慧景) and Xiao Yan.

In 501, the general Yu Lie (于烈) and Yuan Xiang warned Xuanwu that Yuan Xi was growing corrupt and Yuan Xie was growing too popular, and suggested that they be relieved of their posts. Xuanwu did so, and formally personally took over governmental matters, but at his age, he could not actually properly handle governmental affairs himself, so his trusted attendants and Gao Zhao began to become more powerful and corrupt. Traditional historians generally regard this as the starting point of Northern Wei's decline. Late in 501, Yuan Xi, displeased that his power wa being stripped and fearful that he would be killed, plotted a rebellion to secede with the provinces south of the Yellow River. His plot was discovered, however, and he was executed. From this point on, Xuanwu grew increasingly suspicious of members of the imperial clan.

On 5 October 501, Xuanwu created Yu Lie's niece, Consort Yu, empress.

Later that year, with Xiao Yan's forces crushing Xiao Baojuan's, Xuanwu's general Yuan Ying (元英) suggested that a major attack be launched against Southern Qi to take advantage of Southern Qi's civil war. However, Xuanwu only authorized small scale attacks, which were generally fruitless. Xiao Yan soon defeated Xiao Baojuan and by 502 had overthrown Southern Qi and established Liang Dynasty as its Emperor Wu. The Liang general Chen Bozhi (陳伯之) subsequently tried to surrender Jiang Province (江州, modern Jiangxi and Fujian) to Northern Wei, but Liang forces defeated both Chen and the Northern Wei forces sent to reinforce him, and Chen fled to Northern Wei. For the next few years, however, there would continually be war between the two rivals, particularly with Northern Wei creating Southern Qi's prince Xiao Baoyin, who fled Southern Qi as Xiao Yan was beginning to kill members of the Southern Qi imperial clan, as the Prince of Qi and announcing that it would help him reestablish Southern Qi.

In 504, Xuan Xiang, who had taken over Yuan Xi's posts, was accused by Gao Zhao of corruption. He was demoted to commoner rank, and died soon thereafter. At Gao's suggestion and despite Yuan Xie's opposition, Xuanwu subsequently put the imperial princes under heavy guard, effectively putting them under house arrest.

Meanwhile, the wars with Liang continued, and while both sides had gains and losses, Northern Wei made a substantial gain in 505 when the Liang general Xiaohou Daoqian (夏侯道遷) surrendered Nanzheng (南鄭, in modern Hanzhong, Shaanxi), as well as the surrounding region, to Northern Wei, which further annexed the semi-independent state Chouchi in spring 506. In winter 505, Liang launched a major counterattack on the eastern part of the border, commanded by Emperor Wu's brother Xiao Hong (蕭宏) the Prince of Linchuan, but with Xiao Hong being an incompetent general, who mishandled a night terror situation in summer 506, while his army was at Luokou (洛口, in modern Bengbu, Anhui), the Liang forces collapsed by themselves without engaging Northern Wei forces. Yuan Ying and Xiao Baoyin followed up by attacking the Liang fortress Zhongli (鍾離, in modern Chuzhou, Anhui), but were dealt a crushing defeat by the Liang general Wei Rui (韋叡) in spring 507. The two states largely stopped their military activities against each other after that point.

In winter 507, Empress Yu died suddenly, and in early 508, her young son Yuan Chang (元昌), Xuanwu's only son by that point, died suddenly as well. Because Gao Zhao was exceeding powerful by that point, and his niece Consort Gao was Xuanwu's favorite concubine, it was largely suspected that Gao Zhao and Gao murdered them, but there was no conclusive proof. In 508, Xuanwu created Gao as Empress to replace Yu, despite opposition by Yuan Xie, and from this point on Gao Zhao became resentful of Yuan Xie.

Late reign
In fall 508, Xuanwu's younger brother Yuan Yu (元愉) the Prince of Jingzhao, who had just been demoted by Xuanwu for corruption, became angry at both his demotion and that his favorite consort Lady Li had been severely battered by Empress Yu briefly before Empress Yu's death (because Yuan Yu's wife was Empress Yu's sister but was unfavored by him), declared a rebellion at his provincial post of Xindu (信都, in modern Hengshui, Hebei) and proclaimed himself emperor. Gao Zhao used this opportunity to falsely accuse Yuan Xie of acting in concert with both Yuan Yu (because Yuan Yu had forced Yuan Xie's uncle Pan Senggu (潘僧固) into joining his rebellion) and Liang Dynasty. Xuanwu believed Gao, and forced Yuan Xie to commit suicide. The populace and the officials greatly mourned Yuan Xie's death, and grew increasingly resentful of Gao. Soon, Yuan Yu's rebellion was defeated, and while Xuanwu contemplated not putting Yuan Yu to death, Yuan Yu was killed on Gao's orders.

In 510, Xuanwu's concubine Consort Hu gave birth to a son, Yuan Xu. Because Xuanwu had lost multiple sons in childhood by that point, he carefully selected several experienced mothers to serve as Yuan Xu's wet nurses, and disallowed both Gao and Hu from seeing him. In winter 512, Xuanwu created Yuan Xu crown prince, and, abolishing the Northern Wei custom that the crown prince's mother must be forced to commit suicide, he did not force Hu to commit suicide.

During these years, Northern Wei and Liang continued to have relatively minor border battles, with each side having gains and losses. In 514, however, Xuanwu commissioned Gao Zhao to launch a major attack against Liang's Yi Province (modern Sichuan and Chongqing). Soon thereafter, however, in spring 515, he died suddenly, and Yuan Xu succeeded him (as Emperor Xiaoming). Yuan Cheng, Xuanwu's brother Yuan Yong the Prince of Gaoyang, and Yu Lie's son Yu Zhong seized power and, after recalling Gao, put him to death, and Gao was removed. Xiaoming's mother Hu became empress dowager and regent.

Burial
Xuanwu was buried north of Luoyang. His tomb is now open to the public as part of the Luoyang Ancient Tombs Museum.

Family
Consorts and Issue:
 * Empress Shun, of the Yu clan of Henan (順皇后 河南于氏; 488–507)
 * Yuan Chang (元昌; 506–508), first son
 * Empress, of the Gao clan of Goguryeo (皇后 高句麗高氏; d. 518), first cousin, personal name Ying (英)
 * Unnamed son
 * Princess Jiande (建德公主)
 * Married Xiao Lie of Lanling (蘭陵 蕭烈; d. 530), a son of Xiao Baoyin
 * Empress Ling, of the Hu clan of Anding (靈皇后 安定胡氏; d. 528)
 * Yuan Xu, Emperor Xiaoming (孝明皇帝 元詡; 510–528), second son

title: Emperor Xuanwu of Northern Wei


text:
Asian brown flycatcher

The Asian brown flycatcher (Muscicapa dauurica) is a small passerine bird in the flycatcher family Muscicapidae. The word Muscicapa comes from the Latin musca, a fly and capere, to catch. The specific dauurica refers to Dauria, an area of south-eastern Siberia named after a local nomadic tribe.

This is an insectivorous species which breeds in Japan, eastern Siberia and the Himalayas. It is migratory and winters in tropical southern Asia from southern India and Sri Lanka east to Indonesia.

The correct specific epithet for this species is disputed.

Description
This species is 13 cm long, including the cocked tail. It is similar in shape to the larger spotted flycatcher, but is relatively longer-tailed. The dark bill is relatively large and broad-based. The adult has grey-brown upperparts, which become greyer as the plumage ages, and whitish underparts with brown-tinged flanks. Young birds have scaly brown upperparts, head and breast.

Geographical variation
Although usually treated as monotypic if the brown-streaked flycatcher is not included, Rasmussen and Anderton, in Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide argue that populations in the Indian subcontinent and the Andaman Islands should be regarded as a separate subspecies, poonensis, from the nominate race which occupies most of the species' range. They describe poonensis as paler and browner above, with a deeper bill, and mostly pale lower mandible, a more mottled throat, breast and flanks (in fresh plumage), less contrastingly white "spectacles" and throat, and perhaps a more rounded wing.

Behaviour
Asian brown flycatcher is a common bird found in open woodland and cultivated areas. It nests in a hole in a tree, laying four eggs which are incubated by the female.

The male Asian brown flycatcher sings a simple melodic song during courtship.

This bird is parasitised by the chewing louse Philopterus davuricae.

Vagrancy
The Asian brown flycatcher is an extremely rare vagrant to Western Europe. Records have come from Britain, Denmark, and Sweden, and in addition, there are unproven claims from Ireland, Faeroe, and Norway.

Britain
On 3 October 2007 a first winter brown flycatcher was discovered at Flamborough Head, East Riding of Yorkshire which attracted hundreds of birdwatchers during its stay which lasted until dusk of the following day. This looks set to become the first accepted record. A previous record, on Fair Isle, on 1–2 July 1992 was regarded by the BOURC as not definitely of wild origin. A bird had also been claimed on Holy Island, Northumberland on 9 September 1956, but the identification was not accepted beyond doubt.

title: Asian brown flycatcher


text:
Brown flycatcher

Brown flycatcher may refer to:

 * Southern shrikebill, a species of flycatcher found in New Caledonia and Vanuatu
 * Asian brown flycatcher, a species of flycatcher found in southern and eastern Asia, and Indonesia

title: Brown flycatcher


text:
Hans Werner Henze

Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large oeuvre is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as traditional schools of German composition. In particular, his stage works reflect "his consistent cultivation of music for the theatre throughout his life".

Henze was also known for his political convictions. He left Germany for Italy in 1953 because of a perceived intolerance towards his leftist politics and homosexuality. Late in life he lived in the village of Marino in the central Italian region of Lazio, and in his final years still travelled extensively, in particular to Britain and Germany, as part of his work. An avowed Marxist and member of the Italian Communist Party, Henze produced compositions honoring Ho Chi Minh and Che Guevara. At the 1968 Hamburg premiere of his requiem for Che Guevara, titled Das Floß der Medusa (The Raft of Medusa), the placing of a red flag on the stage sparked a riot and the arrest of several people, including the librettist. Henze spent a year from 1969 to 1970 teaching in Cuba.

Early years
Henze was born in Gütersloh, Westphalia, the eldest of six children of a teacher, and showed an early interest in art and music. That and his political views led to conflict with his conservative father. Henze's father, Franz, had served in the First World War and was wounded at Verdun. He worked as a teacher in a school at Bielefeld, formed on progressive lines, but it was closed in 1933 by government order because its progressive style was out of step with official views. Franz Henze then moved to Dünne, a small village near Bünde, where he fell under the spell of Nazi propaganda. Books by Jewish and Christian authors were replaced in the Henze household by literature reflecting Nazi views; the whole family was expected to fall into line with Franz's new thinking. The older boys, including Hans, were enrolled in the Hitler Youth.

Although the Henze household was filled with talk of current affairs, Hans was also able to hear broadcasts of classical music (especially Mozart) and eventually his father realized that his son had a vocation as a musician. Henze began studies at the state music school of Braunschweig in 1942, where he studied piano, percussion, and theory. Franz Henze rejoined the army in 1943 and he was sent to the Eastern front, where he died. Henze had to break off his studies after being conscripted into the army in 1944, towards the end of the Second World War. He was trained as a radio operator. He was soon captured by the British and held in a prisoner-of-war camp for the remainder of the war. In 1945 he became an accompanist in the Bielefeld City Theatre, and continued his studies under Wolfgang Fortner at Heidelberg University in 1946.

Henze had some successful performances at Darmstadt, including an immediate success in 1946 with a neo-baroque work for piano, flute and strings, that brought him to the attention of Schott's, the music publishers. He also took part in the famous Darmstadt New Music Summer School, a key vehicle for the propagation of avant-garde techniques. At the 1947 summer school, Henze turned to serial technique.

In his early years he worked with twelve-tone technique, for example in his First Symphony and First Violin Concerto of 1947. Sadler's Wells Ballet visited Hamburg in 1948; this inspired Henze to write a choreographic poem, Ballett-Variationen, which he completed in 1949. The first ballet he saw was Frederick Ashton's Scènes de Ballet. He wrote a letter of appreciation to Ashton, introducing himself as a 22-year-old composer. The next time he wrote to Ashton he enclosed the score of his Ballett-Variationen, which he hoped Ashton might find of interest. This work was first performed in Düsseldorf in September 1949 and staged for the first time in Wuppertal in 1958. In 1948 he became musical assistant at the Deutscher Theater in Konstanz, where his first opera , based on the work of Cervantes, was created.

In 1950 he became ballet conductor at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden in Wiesbaden, where he composed two operas for radio, his First Piano Concerto, as well as his first stage work of real note, the jazz-influenced opera Boulevard Solitude, a modern recasting of the traditional Manon Lescaut story. His ballet Ondine was composed for the English Royal Ballet and choreographed by Ashton, for production in 1958.

Move to Italy
Henze left Germany in 1953, in reaction to homophobia and the country's general political climate. His publisher, Schott's, had also offered Henze an advance on royalties, on condition that he leave his conducting posts to focus on composition. This financial incentive allowed Henze to move to Italy, where he remained for most of his life. He settled on the island of Ischia in the Gulf of Naples. Also residents on the island were the composer William Walton and his wife Susana, who took a great interest in the young German composer. Henze's Quattro poemi for orchestra in 1955 made clear that he had moved far from the principles of the Darmstadt avant-garde. In January 1956 he left Ischia and moved to the mainland to live in Naples. Initially he suffered further disappointment, with controversial premieres of the opera König Hirsch, based on a text by Carlo Gozzi, and the ballet Maratona di danza, with a libretto by Luchino Visconti. However, he then began a long-lasting and fruitful creative partnership with the poet Ingeborg Bachmann. Working with her as librettist, he composed the operas Der Prinz von Homburg (1958) based on a text by Heinrich von Kleist and Der junge Lord (1964) after Wilhelm Hauff, as well as Serenades and Arias (1957) and his Choral Fantasy (1964).

He composed his Five Neapolitan Songs for Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau soon after his arrival in Naples. A later sojourn in Greece provided the opportunity to complete his Hölderlin-based work Kammermusik 1958, dedicated to Benjamin Britten and premiered by the tenor Peter Pears, the guitarist Julian Bream and an eight-member chamber ensemble.

Henze moved in 1961 to a secluded villa, 'La Leprara', on the hills of Marino, overlooking the River Tiber south of Rome. This time also signalled a strong leaning towards music involving the voice.

From 1962 until 1967, Henze taught masterclasses in composition at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and in 1967 he became a visiting professor at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. One of his greatest successes was the premiere of the opera Die Bassariden at the Salzburg Festival.

In the following period, he greatly strengthened his political involvement which also influenced his musical work. For example, the première of his oratorio Das Floß der Medusa in Hamburg failed when his West Berlin collaborators refused to perform under a portrait of Che Guevara and a revolutionary flag had been placed upon the stage. His politics also influenced his Sixth Symphony (1969), Second Violin Concerto (1971), Voices (1973), and his piece for spoken word and chamber orchestra, El Cimarrón, based on a book by Cuban author Miguel Barnet about escaped black slaves during Cuba's colonial period.

An established composer
His political critique reached its high point in 1976 with the premiere of his opera We Come to the River.

In the same year Henze founded the Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte in Montepulciano for the promotion of new music, where his children's opera Pollicino premiered in 1980. From 1980 until 1991 he led a class in composition in the Cologne Music School. In 1981 he founded the Mürztal Workshops in the Austrian region of Styria, the same region where he set up the Deutschlandsberg Youth Music Festival in 1984. In 1988 he founded the Munich Biennale, an "international festival for new music theatre", of which he was the artistic director.

His own operas became more conventional once more, for example The English Cat (1983), and Das verratene Meer (1990), based on Yukio Mishima's novel Gogo no Eiko, known in English as The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea.

His later works, while less controversial, continued his political and social engagement. His Requiem (1990–93) comprised nine 'sacred concertos' for piano, trumpet and chamber orchestra, and was written in memory of Michael Vyner, the artistic director of the London Sinfonietta. The choral Ninth Symphony (1997), which is dedicated to the "heroes and martyrs of German anti-fascism," is set to a libretto by Hans-Ulrich Treichel, based on motifs from the novel The Seventh Cross by Anna Seghers. It is a rejection of Nazism, which Henze himself had experienced in his youth. His last success was the 2003 premiere of the opera L'Upupa und der Triumph der Sohnesliebe (English: The Hoopoe and the Triumph of Filial Love) at the Salzburg Festival, with a text he wrote himself, based on a Syrian fairy tale. Other late compositions include Sebastian im Traum (2004) for large orchestra and the opera Phaedra (2007).

Henze lived with his partner Fausto Moroni from the early sixties, and Moroni planned and planted the hillside garden around La Leprara. Moroni cared for the composer when he suffered a nervous breakdown during which he barely spoke and had to be encouraged to eat. In 2007, shortly after Henze's sudden recovery, Moroni died after a lengthy battle with cancer. Elogium Musicum (2008), for large orchestra and chorus singing Henze's own Latin text, is a memorial to his partner of more than forty years.

In 1995 Henze received the Westphalian Music Prize, which has carried his name since 2001. Invited by Walter Fink, he was the tenth composer featured in the annual Komponistenporträt of the Rheingau Musik Festival in 2000, but owing to illness he did not attend. The music included his Requiem. On 7 November 2004, Henze received an honorary doctorate in Musicology from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München (University for Music and Performing Arts, Munich). In 1975 he became an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, London. The English version of his autobiography, Bohemian Fifths, was published in 1998.

Shortly before Henze's death Donald Macleod interviewed him for the BBC Radio 3 series Composer of the Week (broadcast ca 2010, including recordings of Henze's works). In 2023 extracts from these interviews were rebroadcast in a special series celebrating the eightieth anniversary of the programme.

Henze died in Dresden on 27 October 2012 at the age of 86.

Works
Henze's music has incorporated neoclassicism, jazz, the twelve-tone technique, serialism, and some rock or popular music. Although he did study atonalism early in his career, after his move to Italy in 1953 Henze's music became considerably more Neapolitan in style. His opera König Hirsch ("The Stag King") contains lush, rich textures. This trend is carried further in the opulent ballet music that he wrote for English choreographer Frederick Ashton's Ondine, completed in 1957. While Mendelssohn and Weber were important influences, the music for Ondine contains some jazz and there is much in it redolent of Stravinsky—not only Stravinsky the neo-classical composer, but also the composer of The Rite of Spring. His Maratona di danza, on the other hand, required much tighter integration of jazz elements, complete with an on-stage band, which was very different from the more romantic Ondine. Henze received much of the impetus for his ballet music from his earlier job as ballet adviser at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden.

The textures for the cantata Kammermusik (1958, rev. 1963) are far harsher; Henze returned to atonalism in Antifone, and later the other styles mentioned above again became important in his music.

Awards

 * Ernst von Siemens Music Prize (1990)
 * Praemium Imperiale (2000)
 * Deutscher Tanzpreis (2001)
 * Knight Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2008)

title: Hans Werner Henze


text:
Ricky J

Ricky J is a DJ and rapper from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, who is known for the single "No Means No", which was very popular in Canada, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Canada single sales chart. Ricky J had been active since the late 1990s and opened for TLC on their FanMail Tour in 1999. His debut album, Lose Control, was released in 2001 on Warner Bros. Records. He later left Warner Bros. to sign with an independent label, Evolution Records, in 2002. Through Evolution, he released his second album, "WHITEBOYS". In 2010, he released the single "Whatta Night", and was featured on the 2011 album 4Play in the track "Good Life".

title: Ricky J


text:
Allegheny Portage Railroad

The Allegheny Portage Railroad was the first railroad constructed through the Allegheny Mountains in central Pennsylvania. It operated from 1834 to 1854 as the first transportation infrastructure through the gaps of the Allegheny that connected the midwest to the eastern seaboard across the barrier range of the Allegheny Front. Approximately 36 mi long overall, both ends connected to the Pennsylvania Canal, and the system was primarily used as a portage railway, hauling river boats and barges over the divide between the Ohio and the Susquehanna Rivers. Today, the remains of the railroad are preserved within the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site operated by the National Park Service.

The railroad was authorized as part of the Main Line of Public Works legislation in 1824. It had five inclines on either side of the drainage divide running athwart the ridge line from Blair Gap through along the kinked saddle at the summit into Cresson, Pennsylvania. The endpoints connected to the Canal at Johnstown on the west through the relative flats to Hollidaysburg on the east. The Railroad utilized cleverly designed wheeled barges to ride a narrow-gauge rail track with steam-powered stationary engines lifting the vehicles. The roadbed of the railroad did not incline monotonically upwards, but rose in relatively long, saw-toothed stretches of slightly-sloped flat terrain suitable to animal powered towing, alternating with steep cable railway inclined planes using static steam engine powered windlasses, similar to mechanisms of modern ski lifts.

Except for peak moments of severe storms, it was an all-weather, all-seasons operation. Along with the rest of the Main Works, it cut transport time from Philadelphia to the Ohio River from weeks to just 3–5 days. Considered a technological marvel in its day, it played a critical role in opening the interior of the United States beyond the Appalachian Mountains to settlement and commerce. It included the first railroad tunnel in the United States, the Staple Bend Tunnel, and its inauguration was marked with great fanfare.

History
Construction of the Old Portage Railroad from Hollidaysburg to Johnstown, thirty six miles long, began in 1831 and took three years to complete. It included a tunnel 900 ft long as well as a viaduct over the Little Conemaugh River upstream from Johnstown. The vertical ascent from Johnstown was 1172 ft. The vertical ascent from Hollidaysburg was 1399 ft. The project was financed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a means to compete with the Erie Canal in New York and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in Maryland. The work was done largely through private contractors. The railroad utilized eleven grade lines and ten cable inclined planes, five on either side of the summit of the Allegheny Ridge, to carry loaded canal boats on flatbed railroad cars. Trains of two-three cars were pulled on grade lines by mules. On inclined planes, stationary steam engines pulled up and lowered down cars by hemp ropes switching to wire ropes in 1842.

The entire Main Line system connecting Philadelphia and Pittsburgh via the Philadelphia-Columbia railroad, the Columbia-Hollidaysburg canal, the Portage railroad linking Hollidaysburg to Johnstown, and a canal from Johnstown to Pittsburgh, was 400 mi long. A typical ride took 4 days instead of the former 23-day horse-wagon journey. The Old Portage Railroad was in operation for twenty years being considered "the wonder of America." Charles Dickens wrote a contemporary account of travel on the railroad in Chapter 10 of his American Notes. Quoted at length in the Pennsylvania guide, Dickens "described travel on the Portage in 1842," describing aspects of the Portage Railroad's immediate social and geographic context, as well as mechanical strategies used by the Railroad for coping with the steep grades encountered on the route : ". . . Occasionally the rails were laid upon the extreme verge of a giddy precipice; and looking from the carriage window, the traveler gazes sheer down, without a stone or scrap of fence between, into the mountain depths below . . . It was very pretty travelling thus at a rapid pace along the heights of the mountains in a keen wind, to look down into a valley full of light and softness; catching glimpses, through the treetops, of scattered cabins; . .. men in their shirt sleeves, looking on at their unfinished houses, planning out tomorrow's work; and we riding onward, high above them, like a whirlwind. It was amusing, too, when we had dined, and rattled down a steep pass, having no other moving power than the weight of the carriages themselves, to see the engine, released long after us, come buzzing down alone, like a great insect, its back of green and gold so shining in the sun. . . It stopped short of us. . . when we reached the canal, and, before we left the wharf, went panting up this hill again, with the passengers who had waited our arrival for the means of traversing the road by which we had come."

In the 1850s, the Main Line of Public Works and its portage railroad was rendered obsolete by the advance of railway technology and railroad engineering. Early in 1846 the Legislature chartered the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to cross the entire state in response to plans by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to reach the Ohio Valley through Virginia. In December 1852 trains started to run between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh shortening the travel time from 4 days to 13 hours.

Construction on the New Portage Railroad, a 40-mile realignment to cross the Allegheny Ridge bypassing inclines, started in 1851 and cost $2.14 million. The PRR raised sufficient investment and had enough quick success that they bought the existing Portage railroad and other parts of the Main Line of Public Works from the state on July 31, 1857. The PRR abandoned most of the line and used the rest as local branches; "anything of value was either sold or stripped from the Allegheny Portage Railroad."

Nearly half a century later, the graded roadbeds of the descending section east of the Gallitzin Tunnel were re-railed with standard gauge freight tracks. The line reopened as a freight bypass line in 1904.

Pennsylvania Railroad successor Conrail abandoned this line to Hollidaysburg and most of the branch trackage along the Juniata River in 1981 and removed the rails.

The Allegheny Portage Railroad was designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1987.

National Historic Site
The National Historic Site was established on 1296 acre in 1964 and is about 12 mi west of Altoona, in Blair and Cambria counties.

The park service operates a visitor center with interpretive exhibits near the old line. Nearby is the Samuel Lemon House, a tavern located alongside the railroad near Cresson that was a popular stop for railroad passengers; it has been converted into a historical museum by the National Park Service. The NPS also maintains a length of reconstructed track, an engine house with exhibits, a picnic area, and hiking trails.

A skew arch bridge, a masterwork of cut stone construction, is another feature of the site near the Lemon House. The bridge is 60.4 ft long on the south elevation, 54.9 ft long on the north elevation, and 22.2 ft high. It was the only bridge on the line that was built to carry a road.

The Staple Bend Tunnel is preserved in a separate unit of the historic site, 5 mi east of Johnstown.

title: Allegheny Portage Railroad


text:
Cheng (surname)

Cheng can be a transcription of one of several Chinese surnames. Since the syllable Cheng represents different sounds in Hanyu pinyin and the Wade–Giles systems of Chinese romanization, some ambiguity will exist as to which sound is represented by the letters "Cheng" if the romanisation and tone is not known. Also within each system of romanisation, each syllable can represent one of several different characters, as with any Chinese syllable.

In the pinyin system of romanization (usually used in China), the most common surnames romanized as Cheng are 程 and 成. In 2019 程 was the 44th most common surname in Mainland China.

In names romanized in Wade–Giles (usually used in Taiwan), Cheng is most commonly a transcription of 鄭/郑 (pinyin Zhèng). Cheng can also be the Cantonese version of Zheng (鄭) and Jing (井), non-standard romanization of Cen (岑), and Teochew or Hokkien pronunciation of Zhong (鍾) and Zhuang (莊).

Further confusion arises because Wade–Giles often appears without the required apostrophes (which indicates aspiration), and thus some Wade–Giles names which are properly romanized Ch'eng (such as 程 pinyin Chéng) will appear as Cheng.

Origins
There are a number of accounts of the origin of the same 成 (Chéng) surname. It was the name of fiefdom Cheng (郕) in Henan belong to Shu Wu, a son of King Wen of Zhou. His descendants adopted the name Cheng, simplifying it to 成 by dropping the radical. Similarly descendants of Ji Zai, who was granted another fief of the same name in Shandong by King Wu of Zhou, also simplified the name and adopted it as their surname. The name may also be derived from a fief of the name Cheng 成 in the state of Lu. Descendants of a Cheng Hu (成虎), son of the ruler of Chu Ruo'ao, also adopted Cheng as their surname. Others are descendants of Tu Ge invaders and other tribes in China.

The Chéng (程) surname may have come from a fief named Cheng in Henan, as well as another in Shaanxi.

See article on Zheng for the origins of the surname Zheng (鄭).

Notable people surnamed 程

 * Amy Cheng, Singaporean actress
 * Cheng Bing, official of Eastern Wu in the Three Kingdoms period
 * Cheng Hong, spouse of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, an English professor at the Capital University of Economics and Business
 * Cheng Lei, Chinese-born Australian television news anchor and business reporter
 * Cheng Pu, general serving under the warlord Sun Quan in the late Eastern Han dynasty
 * Cheng Qian, a Chinese military general in the late 1910s
 * Cheng Wei-hao, Taiwanese film director and screenwriter
 * Cheng Yu, official serving under the warlord Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han dynasty
 * Brian Ching, an American-born Chinese football player
 * Ch'eng Mao-yün, composer
 * Ching Cheong (Cheng Xiang), Chinese journalist with the Singapore newspaper The Straits Times, imprisoned in China for five years on charges of espionage
 * François Cheng, French writer, poet and calligrapher
 * Henry Thia, Singaporean actor and comedian
 * Shawn Thia, Singaporean actor
 * Jiaxin Cheng (born 1974), Chinese-born cellist, wife of Julian Lloyd Webber
 * Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs Malacañang correspondent
 * Woeser (Han name Cheng Wensa [程文萨]), Tibetan poet and essayist
 * John S. Chen [程守宗], CEO of Blackberry
 * Chung Ling Soo, [程連蘇] stage name of the American magician William Ellsworth Robinson
 * Cheng Xiao, singer, dancer, member of the South Korean group Cosmic Girls
 * Andrew Cherng, Chinese-born American restaurateur and founder of Panda Express
 * Sheue-yann Cheng, American molecular geneticist
 * Yingda Cheng (程颖达, born 1983), Chinese-American mathematician

Notable people surnamed 成

 * Cheng Dechen, general of the Chu state in the Spring and Autumn period
 * Cheng Yi, Chinese actor and singer

Forename
Additionally, depending on the character, Cheng can be a forename. Cheng usually is only seen to be applied to the last name due to the meaning and nature of the chosen 'Cheng', if it was '成' where it means 'to become' then it is suited best as a last name as it symbolises a foreseeing connotation and would make more sense at the end of a name, but also in Chinese name layout, the last name is usually said first. whereas if it were '澄' meaning 'clarity', then it would be more likely seen as a first name, this usually appears in the middle of the name in Chinese format.

Others

 * Hummer Cheng, founder of the famous unlicensed game company Hummer Team.
 * Leslie Cheng, American mathematician
 * Maggie Cheng, American fictional character
 * Olivia Cheng, Canadian actress

title: Cheng (surname)


text:
Robert Reed (author)

Robert David Reed (born October 9, 1956 in Omaha, Nebraska) is a Hugo Award-winning American science fiction author. He has a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the Nebraska Wesleyan University. Reed is an "extraordinarily prolific" genre short-fiction writer with "Alone" being his 200th professional sale. His work regularly appears in Asimov's, Fantasy & Science Fiction, and Sci Fiction. He has also published eleven novels. , Reed lived in Lincoln, Nebraska with his wife and daughter.

Awards

 * "Mudpuppies" (1986) (First Writers of the Future Grand Prize winner)
 * la Voie terrestre (1994), the French translation of Down the Bright Way (1991) (Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire for foreign novel)
 * "Decency" (1996) (Asimov's Science Fiction reader poll, short story)
 * "Marrow" (1997) (Science Fiction Age reader poll, novella)
 * "She Sees My Monsters Now" (2002) (Asimov's Science Fiction reader poll, short story)
 * "A Billion Eves" (2006): Hugo Award for Best Novella, 2007

He was nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in Science Fiction in 1987.

Marrow Series

 * 1) Marrow (2000)
 * 2) The Well of Stars (2004)
 * 3) The Greatship (2013) (collection)
 * 4) The Memory of Sky (2014)
 * 5) The Dragons of Marrow (2018)
 * 6) Hammerwing (2023)

Novels

 * The Leeshore (1987)
 * The Hormone Jungle (1987)
 * Black milk (1989)
 * Down the Bright Way (1991). Review by Jo Walton.
 * The Remarkables (1992)
 * Beyond the Veil of Stars (1994)
 * An Exaltation of Larks (1995)
 * Beneath the Gated Sky (1997)
 * Sister Alice (2003)

Collections

 * The Dragons of Springplace (1999)
 * Chrysalide (2002) (French-language translations)
 * The Cuckoo's Boys (2005)

Chapbooks

 * Mere (2004) (Set in the world of the Great Ship/Marrow)
 * Flavors of My Genius (2006)

Nonfiction

 * "Read This" in The New York Review of Science Fiction, July 1992.
 * "Improbable Journeys" (2004), the afterword to Mere, which detailed the development of the stories set in the Marrow universe.
 * "Afterword" to The Cuckoo's Boys, a short fiction collection.

title: Robert Reed (author)


text:
Jack Watson (presidential adviser)

Jack Hearn Watson Jr. (born October 24, 1938) is an American corporate strategist and political aide who served as White House Chief of Staff to President Jimmy Carter from 1980 to 1981.

Personal life
Watson is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Vanderbilt University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a Pathfinder and Reconnaissance Team Leader, 1st Force Reconnaissance Company, and left the Marine Corps with the rank of captain. He met his first wife at Vanderbilt, married in 1972 and had two children, Lincoln and Melissa. They divorced and he married Teena Watson in 1977.

Career
He served as head of the Carter-Mondale Policy Planning Group in 1976, and later was Director of the Transition Team during the transition of government from President Ford to President Carter. In the Carter administration from 1977 to 1981, he served as Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs, Secretary to the Cabinet, and White House Chief of Staff. He chaired the President's Interagency Coordinating Council created by Executive Order in 1978 to coordinate implementation of the President's domestic policy.

Watson had earlier been a protege of Charles Kirbo and a highly successful trial lawyer at King & Spalding in Atlanta. He had served as a close aide to Carter during his gubernatorial campaigns and was particularly close to Carter’s mother, “Miss Lillian.” Charismatic, classy and inspirational, Watson characteristically told transition staff at its first meeting in Washington, D.C. following the 1976 election that when working with Executive Branch employees they should view them, not suspiciously, but “as all Carter people.”

Post–Carter Administration
From January 1998 to June 2000, he served as Chief Legal Strategist of Monsanto Company.

title: Jack Watson (presidential adviser)