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Chinese astronomy

Astronomy in China has a long history stretching from the Shang dynasty, being refined over a period of more than 3,000 years. The ancient Chinese people have identified stars from 1300 BCE, as Chinese star names later categorized in the twenty-eight mansions have been found on oracle bones unearthed at Anyang, dating back to the mid-Shang dynasty. The core of the "mansion" (宿 xiù) system also took shape around this period, by the time of King Wu Ding (1250–1192 BCE).

Detailed records of astronomical observations began during the Warring States period (fourth century BCE). They flourished during the Han period (202 BCE – 220 CE) and subsequent dynasties with the publication of star catalogues. Chinese astronomy was equatorial, centered on close observation of circumpolar stars, and was based on different principles from those in traditional Western astronomy, where heliacal risings and settings of zodiac constellations formed the basic ecliptic framework. Joseph Needham has described the ancient Chinese as the most persistent and accurate observers of celestial phenomena anywhere in the world before the Islamic astronomers.

Some elements of Indian astronomy reached China with the expansion of Buddhism after the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE), but most incorporation of Indian astronomical thought occurred during the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE), when numerous Indian astronomers took up residence in the Chinese capital Chang'an, and Chinese scholars, such as the Tantric Buddhist monk and mathematician Yi Xing, mastered the Indian system. Islamic astronomers collaborated closely with their Chinese colleagues during the Yuan dynasty, and, after a period of relative decline during the Ming dynasty, astronomy was revitalized under the stimulus of Western cosmology and technology after the Jesuits established their missions. The telescope was introduced from Europe in the seventeenth century. In 1669, the Peking observatory was completely redesigned and refitted under the direction of Ferdinand Verbiest. Today, China continues to be active in the field of astronomy, with many observatories and its own space program.

Purpose of astronomical observations in the past

One of the main functions of astronomy was for the purpose of timekeeping. The Chinese used a lunisolar calendar, but as the cycles of the Sun and the Moon are different, leap months had to be inserted regularly.

The Chinese calendar was considered to be a symbol of a dynasty. As dynasties would rise and fall, astronomers and astrologers of each period would often prepare a new calendar, making observations for that purpose.

Astrological divination was also an important part of astronomy. Astronomers took note of "guest stars", usually supernovas or comets, which appear among the fixed stars. The supernova which created the Crab Nebula, now known as SN 1054, is an example of an astronomical event observed by Ancient Chinese astronomers. Ancient astronomical records of phenomena like comets and supernovae are sometimes used in modern astronomical studies.

Cosmology
The Chinese developed multiple cosmological models before Western influences changed the field:
 * Gai Tian ("canopy heaven") – The sky is a hemisphere, the Earth is a disc at the bottom, surrounded by water, which rotates around the North Pole once a day. The Sun traces a circle in the hemisphere, the size of which varies with the seasons. As described in the Zhoubi Suanjing.
 * Hun Tian ("the entire sky") – Similar to Gai Tian, but the sky is a full sphere. The seasons are explained by the North Pole shifting rather than remaining directly overhead.
 * Shuen Ye, Xuan Ye, or Suan Ye  – The heavens are infinite in extent, the celestial bodies are floating about on their own  at rare intervals, and "the speed of the luminaries depends on their individual natures, which shows they are not attached to anything." Very few pieces of information are known about this school of thought.

Constellations
The divisions of the sky began with the Northern Dipper and the 28 mansions. In 1977, a lacquer box was excavated from the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, in Suixian, Hubei Province. Names of the 28 lunar mansions were found on the cover of the box, proving that the use of this classification system was made before 433 BCE.

As lunar mansions have such an ancient origin, the meanings of most of their names have become obscure. Contributing to later confusion, the name of each lunar mansion consists of only one Chinese word, the meaning of which could vary at different times in history. The meanings of the names are still under discussion.

Besides the 28 lunar mansions, most constellations are based on the works of Shi Shen-fu and Gan De, who were astrologists during the period of the Warring States (481–221 BCE) in China. In his Shiji, the Western Han era historian Sima Qian (145–86 BCE) provided a star catalogue that includes 90 constellations. The Eastern Han era polymath scientist and inventor Zhang Heng (78–139 CE) published a star catalogue in 120 CE that features 124 recorded constellations.

In the late period of the Ming dynasty, the agricultural scientist and mathematician Xu Guangqi (1562–1633 CE) introduced 23 additional constellations near to the Celestial South Pole, which are based on star catalogues from the Western world introduced by his colleague, the Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci.

Star catalogues
In the fourth century BCE, the two Chinese astronomers responsible for the earliest information going into the star catalogues were Shi Shen and Gan De of the Warring States period.

These books appeared to have lasted until the sixth century, but were lost after that. A number of books share similar names, often quoted and named after them. These texts should not be confused with the original catalogues written by them. Notable works that helped preserve the contents include:

Wu Xian (巫咸) has been one of the astronomers under debate. He is often represented as one of the "Three Schools Astronomical tradition", along with Gan and Shi. The Chinese classic text Star Manual of Master Wu Xian (巫咸星經) and its authorship is still in dispute, because it mentioned names of twelve countries that did not exist in the Shang dynasty, the era in which it was supposed to have been written. Moreover, it was customary in the past for the Chinese to forge works of notable scholars, as this could lead to a possible explanation for the inconsistencies found. Wu Xian is generally mentioned as the astronomer who lived many years before Gan and Shi.

The Han dynasty astronomer and inventor Zhang Heng (78–139 CE) not only catalogued some 2500 different stars, but also recognized more than 100 different constellations. Zhang Heng also published his work Ling Xian, a summary of different astronomical theories in China at the time. In the subsequent period of the Three Kingdoms (220–280 CE), Chen Zhuo (陳卓) combined the work of his predecessors, forming another star catalogue. This time, 283 constellations and 1464 stars were listed. The astronomer Guo Shoujin of the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368 CE) created a new catalogue, which was believed to contain thousands of stars. Unfortunately, many of the documents of that period were destroyed, including that of Shoujin. Imperial Astronomical Instruments (儀象考成) was published in 1757 and contains 3083 stars exactly.

Star maps

The Chinese drew many maps of stars in the past centuries. It is debatable as to which counts as the oldest star maps, since pottery and old artifacts can also be considered star maps. One of the oldest existent star maps in printed form is from Su Song's (1020–1101 CE) celestial atlas of 1092 CE, which was included in the horological treatise on his clocktower. The most famous one is perhaps the Dunhuang map found in Dunhuang, Gansu. Uncovered by the British archaeologist Marc Aurel Stein in 1907, the star map was brought to the British Museum in London. The map was drawn on paper and represents the complete sky, with more than 1,350 stars. Although ancient Babylonians and Greeks also observed the sky and catalogued stars, no such complete record of the stars may exist or survive. Hence, this is the oldest chart of the skies at present.

According to recent studies, the map may date the manuscript to as early as the seventh century CE (Tang dynasty). Scholars believe the star map dates from 705 to 710 CE, which is the reign of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang. There are some texts (Monthly Ordinances, 月令) describing the movement of the sun along the sky each month, which was not based on the observation at that time.

Solar and lunar eclipses
Chinese astronomers recorded 1,600 observations of solar and lunar eclipses from 750 BCE. The ancient Chinese astronomer Shi Shen (fl. fourth century BCE) was aware of the relation of the Moon in a solar eclipse, as he provided instructions in his writing to predict them by using the relative positions of the Moon and the Sun. The radiating-influence theory, where the Moon's light was nothing but a reflection of the Sun's, was supported by the mathematician and music theorist Jing Fang (78–37 BCE), yet opposed by the Chinese philosopher Wang Chong (27–97 CE), who made clear in his writing that this theory was nothing new. Jing Fang wrote:

"The moon and the planets are Yin; they have shape but no light. This they receive only when the sun illuminates them. The former masters regarded the sun as round like a crossbow bullet, and they thought the moon had the nature of a mirror. Some of them recognized the moon as a ball too. Those parts of the moon which the sun illuminates look bright, those parts which it does not, remain dark."

The ancient Greeks had known this as well, since Parmenides and Aristotle supported the theory of the Moon shining because of reflected light. The Chinese astronomer and inventor Zhang Heng (78–139 CE) wrote of both solar eclipse and lunar eclipse in the publication of Ling Xian (靈憲), 120 CE:

The sun is like fire and the moon like water. The fire gives out light and the water reflects it. Thus, the moon's brightness is produced from the radiance of the sun, and the moon's darkness (pho) is due to (the light of) the sun being obstructed (pi). The side which faces the sun is fully lit, and the side which is away from it is dark. The planets (as well as the moon) have the nature of water and reflect light. The light pouring forth from the sun (tang jih chih chhung kuang) does not always reach the moon, owing to the obstruction (pi) of the earth itself—this is called 'an-hsü', a lunar eclipse. When (a similar effect) happens with a planet (we call it) an occultation (hsing wei); when the moon passes across (kuo) (the sun's path) then there is a solar eclipse (shih).

The later Song dynasty scientist Shen Kuo (1031–1095 CE) used the models of lunar eclipse and solar eclipse in order to prove that the celestial bodies were round, not flat. This was an extension of the reasoning of Jing Fang and other theorists as early as the Han dynasty. In his Dream Pool Essays of 1088 CE, Shen related a conversation he had with the director of the Astronomical Observatory, who had asked Shen if the shapes of the Sun and the Moon were round like balls or flat like fans. Shen Kuo explained his reasoning for the former:

If they were like balls they would surely obstruct each other when they met. I replied that these celestial bodies were certainly like balls. How do we know this? By the waxing and waning of the moon. The moon itself gives forth no light, but is like a ball of silver; the light is the light of the sun (reflected). When the brightness is first seen, the sun (-light passes almost) alongside, so the side only is illuminated and looks like a crescent. When the sun gradually gets further away, the light shines slanting, and the moon is full, round like a bullet. If half of a sphere is covered with (white) powder and looked at from the side, the covered part will look like a crescent; if looked at from the front, it will appear round. Thus we know that the celestial bodies are spherical.

When he asked Shen Kuo why eclipses occurred only on an occasional basis while in conjunction and opposition once a month, Shen Kuo wrote:

I answered that the ecliptic and the moon's path are like two rings, lying one over the other, but distant by a small amount. (If this obliquity did not exist), the sun would be eclipsed whenever the two bodies were in conjunction, and the moon would be eclipsed whenever they were exactly in opposition. But (in fact) though they may occupy the same degree, the two paths are not (always) near (each other), and so naturally, the bodies do not (intrude) upon one another.

Armillary sphere (渾儀)
The earliest development of the armillary sphere in China goes back to the 1st century BCE, as they were equipped with a primitive single-ring armillary instrument. This would have allowed them to measure the north polar distance (去極度, the Chinese form of declination) and measurement that gave the position in a hsiu (入宿度, the Chinese form of right ascension).

During the Western Han dynasty (202 BCE–9 CE), additional developments made by the astronomers Luoxia Hong (落下閎), Xianyu Wangren (鮮于妄人), and Geng Shouchang (耿壽昌) advanced the use of the armillary in its early stage of evolution. In 52 BCE, it was the astronomer Geng Shou-chang who introduced the fixed equatorial ring to the armillary sphere. In the subsequent Eastern Han dynasty (23–220 CE) period, the astronomers Fu An and Jia Kui added the elliptical ring by 84 CE. With the famous statesman, astronomer, and inventor Zhang Heng (78–139 CE), the sphere was totally completed in 125 CE, with horizon and meridian rings. It is of great importance to note that the world's first hydraulic (i.e., water-powered) armillary sphere was created by Zhang Heng, who operated his by use of an inflow clepsydra clock (see Zhang's article for more detail).

Abridged armilla (簡儀)
Designed by famous astronomer Guo Shoujing in 1276 CE, it solved most problems found in armillary spheres at that time.

The primary structure of abridged armilla contains two large rings that are perpendicular to each other, of which one is parallel with the equatorial plane and is accordingly called "equatorial ring", and the other is a double ring that is perpendicular to the center of the equatorial ring, revolving around a metallic shaft, and is called "right ascension double ring".

The double ring holds within itself a sighting tube with crosshairs. When observing, astronomers would aim at the star with the sighting tube, whereupon the star's position could be deciphered by observing the dials of the equatorial ring and the right ascension double ring.

A foreign missionary melted the instrument in 1715 CE. The surviving one was built in 1437 CE and was taken to what is now Germany. It was then stored in a French Embassy in 1900, during the Eight-Nation Alliance. Under the pressure of international public discontent, Germany returned the instrument to China. In 1933, it was placed in Purple Mountain Observatory, which prevented it from being destroyed in the Japanese invasion of China. In the 1980s, it had become seriously eroded and rusted down and was nearly destroyed. In order to restore the device, the Nanjing government spent 11 months to repair it.

Celestial globe (渾象) before the Qing dynasty
Besides star maps, the Chinese also made celestial globes, which show stars' positions like a star map and can present the sky at a specific time. Because of its Chinese name, it is often confused with the armillary sphere, which is just one word different in Chinese (渾象 vs. 渾儀).

According to records, the first celestial globe was made by Geng Shou-chang (耿壽昌) between 70 BCE and 50 BCE. In the Ming dynasty, the celestial globe at that time was a huge globe, showing the 28 mansions, celestial equator, and ecliptic. None of them have survived.

Celestial globe (天體儀) in the Qing dynasty
Celestial globes were named 天體儀 ("Miriam celestial bodies") in the Qing dynasty. The one in Beijing Ancient Observatory was made by Belgian missionary Ferdinand Verbiest (南懷仁) in 1673 CE. Unlike other Chinese celestial globes, it employs 360 degrees rather than the 365.24 degrees (which is a standard in ancient China). It is also the first Chinese globe that shows constellations near to the Celestial South Pole.

The water-powered armillary sphere and celestial globe tower (水運儀象台)
The inventor of the hydraulic-powered armillary sphere was Zhang Heng (78–139 CE) of the Han dynasty. Zhang was well-known for his brilliant applications of mechanical gears, as this was one of his most impressive inventions (alongside his seismograph to detect the cardinal direction of earthquakes that struck hundreds of miles away).

Started by Su Song (蘇頌) and his colleagues in 1086 CE and finished in 1092 CE, his large astronomical clock tower featured an armillary sphere (渾儀), a celestial globe (渾象), and a mechanical chronograph. It was operated by an escapement mechanism and the earliest known chain drive. However, 35 years later, the invading Jurchen army dismantled the tower in 1127 CE upon taking the capital of Kaifeng. The armillary sphere part was brought to Beijing, yet the tower was never successfully reinstated, not even by Su Song's son.

Fortunately, two versions of Su Song's treatise, written on his clock tower, have survived the ages, so that studying his astronomical clock tower is made possible through medieval texts.

True north and planetary motion
The polymath Chinese scientist Shen Kuo (1031–1095 CE) was not only the first in history to describe the magnetic-needle compass, but also made a more accurate measurement of the distance between the pole star and true north that could be used for navigation. Shen achieved this by making nightly astronomical observations, along with his colleague Wei Pu, using Shen's improved design of a wider sighting tube that could be fixed to observe the pole star indefinitely. Along with the pole star, Shen Kuo and Wei Pu also established a project of nightly astronomical observation over a period of five successive years, an intensive work that would even rival the later work of Tycho Brahe in Europe. Shen Kuo and Wei Pu charted the exact coordinates of the planets on a star map for this project and created theories of planetary motion, including retrograde motion.

Indian astronomy
Buddhism first reached China during the Eastern Han dynasty, and translation of Indian works on astronomy came to China by the Three Kingdoms era (220–265 CE). However, the most detailed incorporation of Indian astronomy occurred only during the Tang dynasty (618–907), when a number of Chinese scholars—such as Yi Xing—were versed in both types of astronomy. A system of Indian astronomy was recorded in China as Jiuzhi-li (718 CE), the author of which was an Indian by the name of Qutan Xida.

The astronomical table of sines by the Indian astronomer and mathematician Aryabhata was translated into the Chinese astronomical and mathematical book Treatise on Astrology of the Kaiyuan Era (Kaiyuan Zhanjing), compiled in 718 CE, during the Tang dynasty. The Kaiyuan Zhanjing was compiled by Gautama Siddha, an astronomer and astrologer born in Chang'an, and whose family was originally from India. He was also notable for his translation of the Navagraha calendar into Chinese.

The Chinese translations of the following works are mentioned in the Sui Shu, or Official History of the Sui dynasty (seventh century): Although these translations are lost, they were also mentioned in other sources.
 * Po-lo-men Thien Wen Ching (Brahminical Astronomical Classic) in 21 books.
 * Po-lo-men Chieh-Chhieh Hsien-jen Thien Wen Shuo (Astronomical Theories of Brahman;a Chieh-Chhieh Hsienjen) in 30 books.
 * Po-lo-men Thien Ching (Brahminical Heavenly Theory) in one book.
 * Mo-teng-Chia Ching Huang-thu (Map of Heaven and Earth in the Matangi Sutra) in one book.
 * Po-lo-men Suan Ching (Brahminical Arithmetical Classic) in three books.
 * Po-lo-men Suan Fa (Brahminical Arithmetical Rules) in one book.
 * Po-lo-men Ying Yang Suan Ching (Brahminical Method of Calculating Time)

Islamic astronomy in East Asia

Islamic influence on Chinese astronomy was first recorded during the Song dynasty, when a Hui Muslim astronomer named Ma Yize introduced the concept of 7 days in a week and made other contributions.

Islamic astronomers were brought to China in order to work on calendar-making and astronomy during the Mongol Empire and the succeeding Yuan dynasty. The Chinese scholar Yelü Chucai accompanied Genghis Khan to Persia in 1210 and studied their calendar for use in the Mongol Empire. Kublai Khan brought Iranians to Beijing to construct an observatory and an institution for astronomical studies.

Several Chinese astronomers worked at the Maragheh observatory, founded by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi in 1259 under the patronage of Hulagu Khan in Persia. One of these Chinese astronomers was Fu Mengchi, or Fu Mezhai.

In 1267, the Persian astronomer Jamal ad-Din, who previously worked at Maragha observatory, presented Kublai Khan with seven Persian astronomical instruments, including a terrestrial globe and an armillary sphere, as well as an astronomical almanac, which was later known in China as the Wannian Li ("Ten Thousand Year Calendar" or "Eternal Calendar"). He was known as "Zhama Luding" in China, where, in 1271, he was appointed by the Khan as the first director of the Islamic observatory in Beijing, known as the Islamic Astronomical Bureau, which operated alongside the Chinese Astronomical Bureau for four centuries. Islamic astronomy gained a good reputation in China for its theory of planetary latitudes, which did not exist in Chinese astronomy at the time, and for its accurate prediction of eclipses.

Some of the astronomical instruments constructed by the famous Chinese astronomer Guo Shoujing shortly afterwards resemble the style of instrumentation built at Maragheh. In particular, the "simplified instrument" (jianyi) and the large gnomon at the Gaocheng Astronomical Observatory show traces of Islamic influence. While formulating the Shoushili calendar in 1281, Shoujing's work in spherical trigonometry may have also been partially influenced by Islamic mathematics, which was largely accepted at Kublai's court. These possible influences include a pseudo-geometrical method for converting between equatorial and ecliptic coordinates, the systematic use of decimals in the underlying parameters, and the application of cubic interpolation in the calculation of the irregularity in the planetary motions.

Emperor Taizu (r. 1368–1398) of the Ming dynasty (1328–1398), in the first year of his reign (1368), conscripted Han and non-Han astrology specialists from the astronomical institutions in Beijing of the former Mongolian Yuan to Nanjing to become officials of the newly established national observatory.

That year, the Ming government summoned, for the first time, the astronomical officials to come south from the upper capital of Yuan. There were fourteen of them. In order to enhance accuracy in methods of observation and computation, Emperor Taizu reinforced the adoption of parallel calendar systems, the Han and the Hui. In the following years, the Ming Court appointed several Hui astrologers to hold high positions in the Imperial Observatory. They wrote many books on Islamic astronomy and also manufactured astronomical equipment based on the Islamic system.

The translation of two important works into Chinese was completed in 1383: Zij (1366) and al-Madkhal fi Sina'at Ahkam al-Nujum, Introduction to Astrology (1004).

In 1384, a Chinese astrolabe was made for observing stars based on the instructions for making multi-purposed Islamic equipment. In 1385, the apparatus was installed on a hill in northern Nanjing.

Around 1384, during the Ming dynasty, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the Chinese translation and compilation of Islamic astronomical tables, a task that was carried out by the scholars Mashayihei, a Muslim astronomer, and Wu Bozong, a Chinese scholar-official. These tables came to be known as the Huihui Lifa (Muslim System of Calendrical Astronomy), which was published in China a number of times until the early 18th century, though the Qing dynasty had officially abandoned the tradition of Chinese-Islamic astronomy in 1659. The Muslim astronomer Yang Guangxian was known for his attacks on the Jesuit's astronomical sciences.

Jesuit activity in China
Early-modern European science was introduced into China by Jesuit priest astronomers as part of their missionary efforts, in the late sixteenth century and early seventeenth century.

The telescope was introduced to China in the early seventeenth century. The telescope was first mentioned in Chinese writing by Manuel Dias the Younger (Yang Manuo), who wrote his Tian Wen Lüe in 1615. In 1626, Johann Adam Schall von Bell (Tang Ruowang) published the Chinese treatise on the telescope known as the Yuan Jing Shuo (The Far-Seeing Optic Glass). The Chongzhen Emperor (r1627–1644) of the Ming dynasty acquired the telescope of Johannes Terrentius (or Johann Schreck; Deng Yu-han) in 1634, ten years before the collapse of the Ming dynasty. However, the impact on Chinese astronomy was limited.

The Jesuit China missions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries brought Western astronomy, then undergoing its own revolution, to China and—via João Rodrigues's gifts to Jeong Duwon—to Joseon Korea. After the Galileo affair early in the seventeenth century, the Roman Catholic Jesuit order was required to adhere to geocentrism and ignore the heliocentric teachings of Copernicus and his followers, even though they were becoming standard in European astronomy. Thus, the Jesuits initially shared an Earth-centered and largely pre-Copernican astronomy with their Chinese hosts (i.e., the Ptolemaic-Aristotelian views from Hellenistic times). The Jesuits (such as Giacomo Rho) later introduced Tycho's geoheliocentric model as the standard cosmological model. The Chinese often were fundamentally opposed to this as well, since the Chinese had long believed (from the ancient doctrine of Xuan Ye) that the celestial bodies floated in a void of infinite space. This contradicted the Aristotelian view of solid concentric crystalline spheres, where there was not a void, but a mass of air between the heavenly bodies.

Of course, the views of Copernicus, Galileo, and Tycho Brahe would eventually triumph in European science, and these ideas slowly leaked into China despite Jesuit efforts to curb them in the beginning. In 1627, the Polish Jesuit Michael Boym (Bu Mige) introduced Johannes Kepler's Copernican Rudolphine Tables, with much enthusiasm, to the Ming court at Beijing. In Adam Schall von Bell's Chinese-written treatise of Western astronomy in 1640, the names of Copernicus (Ge-Bai-Ni), Galileo (Jia-li-lüe), and Tycho Brahe (Di-gu) were formally introduced to China. There were also Jesuits in China who were in favor of the Copernican theory, such as Nicholas Smogulecki and Wenceslaus Kirwitzer. However, Copernican views were not widespread or wholly accepted in China during this time.

Ferdinand Augustin Hallerstein (Liu Songling) created the first spherical astrolabe as the Head of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau from 1739 until 1774. The former Beijing Astronomical observatory, now a museum, still hosts the armillary sphere with rotating rings, which was made under Hallerstein's leadership, and is considered the most prominent astronomical instrument.

While in Edo Japan, the Dutch aided the Japanese with the first modern observatory of Japan in 1725, headed by Nakane Genkei, whose observatory of astronomers wholly accepted the Copernican view. In contrast, the Copernican view was not accepted in mainstream China until the early nineteenth century, with the Protestant missionaries such as Joseph Edkins, Alex Wylie, and John Fryer.

Astronomy during Ming China
The Ming dynasty in China lasted from 1368 until 1644 and experienced a decrease in astronomical expansion. The occupation of astronomer during these times relied less on discovery and more on the use of astronomy. Astronomers worked in the two Astronomical Bureaus, both of which underwent many changes throughout the years since their formation. The path into the occupation was hereditary; because of the rigidity and high level of intelligence needed for this occupation, children of astronomers were banned from pursuing other professions.

Astronomical Bureaus
When transitioning into the Ming dynasty, the two largest institutions of astronomy were the Traditional Chinese Astronomical Bureau (also named T’ai-shih-chien), which had been established in the third century BC, and the Muslim Astronomical Bureau (also named Hui-hui ssu-t’ien-chien), which had been previously established by the Mongols. Both sectors worked together, until the Muslim Bureau was absorbed in 1370 by the Traditional Chinese Bureau. When the merge occurred, the overall name of the new bureau became Ch’in-t’ien-chien. To accommodate the influx of new workers, the ranking system within the occupation also transitioned. There became one Director, supported by two Deputy Directors, followed by a Registrar with four seasonal Chiefs. Then came eight Chief Astronomers, five Chief Diviners, two Chiefs of the Clepsydras, and three Observers. Following that was two Calendar Officials, eight Observers of Sunrise, and six Professors of the Clepsydra.

Responsibilities of the Bureau
Some of the roles astronomers played in Ming China were to make calendars, report abnormalities to the emperor, and preside over ceremonies. As calendar makers and people who understand the heavens, the Bureau also decided what days were auspicious and good for different events such as military parades, marriage, construction, and more. The astronomers also used astronomy to predict invasions or dangerous moments within the empire. However, records indicate that the majority of work the Astronomical Bureaus did was simply recording the movements of the stars and planets.

In regards to the specific jobs each position does, the Chief Officials of the Five Agencies would fix the calendar and the time of the seasons, along with the Calendar Officials and Astronomers. However, the Chief Astronomer observes the positions of the sun, moon, and planets to make notes regarding what might be an abnormality. The Chief Diviner specializes in analyzing the astronomical abnormalities. The Chief Clepsydra Officer looks after the CLepsydra, along with the Clepsydra professor, who then tell the Sunrise Announcer when sunrise and sunset would occur.

Colleagues
The Astronomical Bureaus worked closely with The Ministry of Rites. The bureau submitted monthly ordinances, planetary and celestial locations, and seasonal accounts within the calendar to the Ministry. The Ministry also helped train children of astronomers for their future jobs and helped select outsiders in certain cases, but not specifying from where they draw these candidates. The Bureaus were also in close contact with the Emperor, and he often read the reports sent by the Bureau to the Ministry.

Training
Because becoming an astronomer was a hereditary profession, and those that are employed by the Bureau are not transferable to other occupations, students were trained very young by the Ministry of Rites. However, when there was a shortage of workers in the Bureau, the Ministry of Rites would scout suitable students and train them on a trial basis. Calendrical recordings greatly attracted Confucian scholars, which widened interest into this subject, and thus, into astronomy and divination. Confucian students' deep need for knowledge and practicality made these tasks appeal to academics. Astronomy was attractive because it blended the physical world with larger implications. However, astronomy was considered part of the "small dao", a title used to attempt to discourage Confucian scholars from studying subjects that, while interesting at first, could eventually bog them down.

Payment
Within the Bureau, payment was decided upon by rank. As established in the year 1392, the top rank of Director was paid sixteen piculs of rice per month. The Deputy Directors and Chiefs of the Five Agencies were allotted ten piculs per month, the Astronomers received seven piculs, while both the Registrars and Chief Diviners had six-and-a-half piculs. The Chiefs of the Clepsydras received six piculs, and the Calendar Officers and Observers both had five-and-a-half piculs. The lowest payment level went to the Observers of the Sunrise and the Professors of the Clepsydras, at five piculs per month.

Memorial
The memorial was used by astronomers as a record keeper of anomalies, as the heavens are demonstrative of the effect of the ruler's actions. Originally, authors signed each contribution individually but that was eventually replaced by the official seal of the astronomical bureau.

Imperial Observatory
The imperial observatory was a platform where the observations were made. It was first located just south of Nanjing, but later moved to Jiming Mountain city. However, in 1402 there was another platform created in the capital of Beijing.

Armillary Sphere (Ming China)
The armillary sphere has three sets of rings that represent the celestial sphere. The first group contains fixed meridian, horizon, and equatorial rings. The second group contains ecliptic, solstitial, and equinoctial rings that turn as a unit. The inner group contains one meridian ring that moves around the celestial pole. These allow the astronomer to set a celestial object within their sights and judge distance.

The Simplified Instrument
The simplified instrument serves a very similar purpose to the armillary sphere but has fewer parts. With only two sets of coordinates, this instrument has a larger range and vision than the armillary spheres.

Yuan Gnomon
The Yuan Gnomon is a shadow casting instrument used to measure the position of the sun. However, it does not appear to be very accurate. A crucial aspect of this mechanism was that it was oriented along the north–south meridian line, which allowed it to show the local noon. While not included in the 1392 list of official instruments, in 1437 Huangfu Zhonghe included it, likely due less to its practicality and more to the ingenuity behind it.

Clepsydra
The clepsydra, or water clock, was the most prevalent of time-keeping devices for astronomers. The clepsydra was also used as the official state time-keeping device. The Astronomical Bureau used a three-chamber-intake clepsydra, although there is no record of a water clock at Nanjing. It was not until the Bureau moved to Beijing that an official water hall was observed.

Outside Perspective
Because of the ideological importance of astronomy regarding politics, and the lack of precision by the instruments, many people believed the observations were false. Other recorded corruption, such as accepting bribery, stealing, and not being punctual, were also experienced. This led to a strict policy of punishment if the astronomers were found to be corrupt. Punishments included such actions as dismissal, deprivation of salary, or even beatings.

Famous Chinese astronomers

 * Gan De (4th century BCE)
 * Shi Shen (4th century BCE)
 * Zhang Heng (78 – 139 CE)
 * Yu Xi (307 – 345 CE)
 * Shen Kuo (1031 – 1095 CE)
 * Su Song (1020 – 1101 CE)
 * Guo Shoujing (1231 – 1316 CE)
 * Xu Guangqi (1562 – 1633 CE)
 * Wang Xishan 王錫闡 (1628 – 1682)

Observatory

 * Beijing Ancient Observatory
 * Astro Observatory

title: Chinese astronomy


text: File:Icp-the riddlebox-cover-200.jpg

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

title: File:Icp-the riddlebox-cover-200.jpg


text: Category:Art museums and galleries in Japan


text:
Killing of Manadel al-Jamadi

Manadel al-Jamadi (مناضل الجمادي) was an Iraqi national who was killed in United States custody during a CIA interrogation at Abu Ghraib prison on November 4, 2003. His name became known in 2004 when the Abu Ghraib scandal made headlines; his corpse packed in ice was the background for widely reprinted photographs of grinning U.S. Army specialists Sabrina Harman and Charles Graner each offering a "thumbs-up" gesture. Al-Jamadi had been a suspect in a bomb attack that killed 34 people, including one US soldier, and left more than 200 wounded in a Baghdad Red Cross facility.

Al-Jamadi died while he was suspended by his wrists, his hands cuffed behind his back, a position condemned by human rights groups as torture. A military autopsy declared al-Jamadi's death a homicide. No one has been charged with his death. In 2011, Attorney General Eric Holder said that he had opened a full criminal investigation into al-Jamadi's death. In August 2012, Holder announced that no criminal charges would be brought.

Circumstances of death
US Navy SEALs had apprehended al-Jamadi following the 27 October 2003 bombing of Red Cross offices in Baghdad that killed 34 people, including one US soldier, and left more than 200 wounded. At approximately 4 a.m. on 4 November 2003, al-Jamadi was led by American forces into the prison, naked from the waist down wearing only a purple shirt and jacket with a green sandbag over his head, while answering questions in both Arabic and English with his handlers.

A ghost prisoner (a detainee not logged in the records) said he was passive and nervous "like a scared child", and there was reportedly "no need to get physical with him", although an interrogator soon started shouting at him, demanding to know where weapons were hidden.

On 28 April 2004, photos taken by Jeremy Sivits and some other soldiers present in the prison were made public via CBS News.

The cause of his death was not generally known until 17 February 2005, when it was revealed that he had died after a fruitless half-hour interrogation, during which, contrary to official guidelines, he was suspended from a barred window by his wrists, which were bound behind his back. News reports called al-Jamadi's treatment Palestinian hanging torture. Associated Press correspondent Seth Hettena reported that 30 minutes after beginning his questioning of the prisoner, the CIA interrogator called for guards to reposition al-Jamadi, who he believed was "playing possum" as he slouched with his arms stretched behind him. But the guards found otherwise:

"'After we found out he was dead, they were nervous', Specialist Dennis Stevanus said of the CIA interrogator and translator. 'They didn't know what the hell to do.'"

According to Spc. Jason Kenner, an MP with the 372nd Military Police Company, al-Jamadi was brought to the prison by Navy SEALs in good health; Kenner says he saw that al-Jamadi looked extensively bruised when he was brought out of the showers, dead. According to Kenner a "battle" took place among CIA and US military interrogators over who should dispose of the body.

Captain Donald Reese, company commander of the 372nd Military Police Company, gave testimony about al-Jamadi's death, saying of the dead prisoner, "I was told that, when he was brought in, he was combative, that they took him up to the room and during the interrogation he passed[...]. [The body] was bleeding from the head, nose, mouth." Reese stated that the corpse was locked in a shower room overnight and the next day was fitted with an intravenous drip; he said that this was an attempt to hide what occurred from other inmates. Reese said the body was then autopsied, establishing the cause of death as a blood clot from trauma.

Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick wrote an account to his family in November 2003 that interrogators had "stressed him out so bad that the man died. [Prison personnel] put his body in a body bag and packed him in ice for approximately twenty-four hours in the shower. [...] The next day the medics came and put his body on a stretcher, placed a fake IV in his arm and took him away."

Al-Jamadi came to be known by some Abu Ghraib personnel as "The Iceman" and "Mr. Frosty." Others called him "Bernie," a reference to the movie Weekend at Bernie's in which a dead body is treated as if still alive.

Investigation
In August 2007, Thomas Pappas, the most senior officer present during the interrogation and time of death, was granted immunity in return for his testimony at the court martial of his subordinate Lieutenant Colonel Steven L. Jordan, who was acquitted. In 2011, John Durham, Republican-appointed U.S. Attorney from Connecticut tasked with probing the CIA – had begun calling witnesses before a secret federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, looking into, among other things, the death of al-Jamadi.

In other media
Anthony Diaz, Jeffery Frost, Sabrina Harman, and Javal Davis are interviewed in the 2008 film Standard Operating Procedure about al-Jamadi's presence and corpse at Abu Ghraib.

title: Killing of Manadel al-Jamadi


text:
United States Office of War Information

The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was a United States government agency created during World War II. The OWI operated from June 1942 until September 1945. Through radio broadcasts, newspapers, posters, photographs, films and other forms of media, the OWI was the connection between the battlefront and civilian communities. The office also established several overseas branches, which launched a large-scale information and propaganda campaign abroad. From 1942 to 1945, the OWI reviewed film scripts, flagging material which portrayed the United States in a negative light, including anti-war sentiment.

Origins
President Franklin D. Roosevelt promulgated the OWI on June 13, 1942, by Executive Order 9182. The Executive Order consolidated the functions of the Office of Facts and Figures (OFF, OWI's direct predecessor), the Office of Government Reports, and the Division of Information of the Office for Emergency Management. The Foreign Information Service, a division of the Office of the Coordinator of Information, became the core of the Overseas Branch of the OWI.

At the onset of World War II, the American public was in the dark regarding wartime information. One American observer noted: "It all seemed to boil down to three bitter complaints...first, that there was too much information; second, that there wasn't enough of it; and third, that in any event it was confusing and inconsistent". Further, the American public confessed a lack of understanding as to why the world was at war, and held great resentment against other Allied Nations. President Roosevelt established the OWI to both meet the demands for news and less confusion, as well as resolve American apathy towards the war.

The OWI's creation was not without controversy. The American public, and the United States Congress in particular, were wary of propaganda for several reasons. First, the press feared a centralized agency as the sole distributor of wartime information. Second, Congress feared an American propaganda machine that could resemble Joseph Goebbels' operation in Nazi Germany. Third, previous attempts at propaganda under the Committee on Public Information/Creel Committee during WWI were viewed as a failure. And fourth, the American public favored an isolationist or non-interventionist policy and were therefore hesitant to support a pro-war propaganda campaign targeting Americans.

But in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the need for coordinated and properly disseminated wartime information from the military/administration to the public outweighed the fears associated with American propaganda. President Roosevelt entrusted the OWI to journalist and CBS newsman Elmer Davis, with the mission to take "an active part in winning the war and in laying the foundations for a better postwar world".

President Roosevelt ordered Davis to "formulate and carry out, through the use of press, radio, motion picture, and other facilities, information programs designed to facilitate the development of an informed and intelligent understanding, at home and abroad, of the status and progress of the war effort and of the war policies, activities, and aims of the Government". The OWI's operations were thus divided between the Domestic and Overseas Branches.

Domestic operations
The OWI Domestic Radio Bureau produced series such as This is Our Enemy (spring 1942), which dealt with Germany, Japan, and Italy; Uncle Sam, which dealt with domestic themes; and Hasten the Day (August 1943), which focused on the Home Front, the NBC Blue Network's Chaplain Jim. The radio producer Norman Corwin produced several series for the OWI, including An American in England, An American in Russia, and Passport for Adams, which starred Robert Young, Ray Collins, Paul Stewart and Harry Davenport.

In 1942 the OWI established the Voice of America (VOA), which remains in service as the official government international broadcasting service of the United States. The VOA initially borrowed transmitters from the commercial networks. The programs OWI produced included those provided by the Labor Short Wave Bureau, whose material came from the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

In conjunction with the War Relocation Authority, the OWI produced a series of documentary films related to the internment of Japanese Americans. Japanese Relocation and several other films were designed by Milton S. Eisenhower to educate the general public on the internment, to counter the tide of anti-Japanese sentiment in the country, and to encourage Japanese-American internees to resettle outside camp or to enter military service. The OWI also worked with camp newspapers to disseminate information to internees.

During 1942 and 1943 the OWI boasted two photographic units whose photographers documented the country's mobilization during the early years of the war, concentrating on such topics as aircraft factories and women in the workforce. In addition, the OWI produced a series of 267 newsreels in 16 mm film, The United Newsreel which were shown overseas and to US audiences. These newsreels incorporated U.S. military footage. For examples see this Google list.

Bureau of Motion Pictures
The OWI Bureau of Motion Pictures (BMP) headed by Lowell Mellet worked with the Hollywood movie studios to produce films that advanced American war aims. According to Elmer Davis, "The easiest way to inject a propaganda idea into most people’s minds is to let it go through the medium of an entertainment picture when they do not realize that they are being propagandized." Successful films depicted the Allied armed forces as valiant "Freedom fighters", and advocated for civilian participation, such as conserving fuel or donating food to troops.

The BMP's first act was the creation and distribution of a "Manual for the Motion-Picture Industry" this provided guidance on how to promote Anti-Fascist democratic principles. The influence of this was limited and instead they began to request scripts to review and approve. By 1943 every major Hollywood studio (except Paramount Pictures) allowed the OWI to examine their film scripts. OWI evaluated whether each film would promote the honor of the Allies' mission. Unlike the office of the Production Code whose approval was required for major studio releases, the OWI's role was advisory, and they lacked the power to prevent films from release. However, the Office of Censorship could deny a film an export license.

The BMP created documentaries and training films for soldiers. The Why We Fight series directed by Frank Capra was shown to American soldiers to explain and justify America's involvement in the war. By July 1942 OWI administrators realized that the best way to reach American audiences was to present war films in conjunction with feature films and some documentaries such as Why We Fight received theatrical release.

Foreign operations
The Overseas Branch enjoyed greater success and less controversy than the Domestic Branch. Abroad, the OWI operated a Psychological Warfare Branch (PWB), which used propaganda to terrorize enemy forces in combat zones, in addition to informing civilian populations in Allied camps. Leaflet warfare gained popularity during World War II and was utilized in regions such as Northern Africa, Italy, Germany, the Philippines, and Japan. For example, in Japan, the OWI printed and dropped over 180 million leaflets, with about 98 million being dropped in the summer months of 1945. Leaflets dropped in Tunisia read: “You Are Surrounded” and “Drowning Is a Nasty Death”. Millions of leaflets dropped in Sicily read: “The time has come for you to decide whether Italians shall die for Mussolini and Hitler – or live for Italy and civilization”.

OWI also used newspapers and publicized magazines to further American war aims. Magazines distributed to foreign audiences, such as Victory, intended to convey to foreign Allied civilians that American civilians were contributing to the war. Victory showcased America's manufacturing power, and sought to foster an appreciation for the American lifestyle.

Aside from the aforementioned publication and production styles of propaganda, the OWI also utilized unconventional propaganda vehicles known as "specialty items." Specific examples of these items include packets of seeds, matchbooks, soap paper, and sewing kits. The packets of seeds had an American flag and a message printed on the outside that identified the donor. Each matchbook was inscribed with the “Four Freedoms” on the inside cover. Soap paper was etched with the message: "From your friends the United Nations. Dip in water – use like soap. WASH OFF THE NAZI DIRT." Sewing kit pincushions were shaped like a human rear end. On the reverse side lay a caricatured face of either Adolf Hitler or Japanese General Hideki Tojo.

The details of OWI's involvement can be divided into operations in the European and Pacific Theaters.

European Theater
One of the most astounding of all OWI operations occurred in Luxembourg. Known as Operation Annie, the United States 12th Army Group ran a secret radio station from 2:00–6:30 am every morning from a house in Luxembourg pretending to be loyal Rhinelanders under Nazi occupation. They spoke of Nazi commanders hiding their desperate position from the German public, which caused dissent among Nazi supporters. Further, they led Nazi forces into an Allied trap, and then staged an Allied attack on the Annie Radio office to maintain their cover.

On the Eastern front, the OWI struggled not to offend Polish and Soviet Allies. As the Soviets advanced from the East towards Germany, they swept through Poland without hesitation. However, Poles considered much of the land of the Eastern front as their own. The OWI struggled to present the news (including the pronunciation of town names or and discussion of county or national boundaries) without offending either party. Further, Poles and Soviets criticized the OWI for promoting the idealization of war, when their physical and human losses so heavily outweighed that of America's.

Pacific Theater
The OWI was one of the most prolific sources of propaganda in “Free China.” They operated a sophisticated propaganda machine that sought to demoralize the Japanese army and create a portrait of US war aims that would appeal to the Chinese audience. OWI employed many Chinese, second-generation Japanese (Nisei), Japanese POWs, Korean exiles, etc. to help gather and translate information, as well as transmit programs in multiple languages across the Pacific. OWI also created communication channels (logistical support) for intelligence and coded information.

However, the OWI encountered public relations difficulties in China and India. In China, the OWI unsuccessfully attempted to stay removed from the Nationalist versus Communist conflict. However, the Roosevelt administration and OWI officials took issue with many aspects of Chiang Kai-shek’s rule, and conversely, Chiang placed spies in the OWI. Also, the OWI struggled to paint a post-war image of China without offending Nationalist or Communist leaders. In India, the Americans and British agreed to win the war first, then deal with (de)colonization. The OWI feared that broadcasts advocating liberty from oppression would incite India rebellions and jeopardize cooperation with the British. But this approach angered Indians as well as the African-American lobby at home who recognized the hypocrisy in American policy.

Controversies at home
From 1942 to 1945, the OWI's Bureau of Motion Pictures reviewed 1,652 film scripts and revised or discarded any that portrayed the United States in a negative light, including material that made Americans seem "oblivious to the war or anti-war." Elmer Davis, the head of the OWI, said that "The easiest way to inject a propaganda idea into most people's minds is to let it go through the medium of an entertainment picture when they do not realize they're being propagandized".

The OWI suffered from conflicting aims and poor management. For instance, Elmer Davis, who wanted to “see that the American people are truthfully informed,” clashed with the military that routinely withheld information for “public safety”. Further, OWI employees grew ever more dissatisfied with “what they regarded as a turn away from the fundamental, complex issues of the war in favor of manipulation and stylized exhortation”. On April 14, 1943, several OWI writers resigned from office and released a scathing statement to the press explaining how they no longer felt they could give an objective picture of the war because “high-pressure promoters who prefer slick salesmanship to honest information” dictated OWI decision-making. President Roosevelt's “wait-and-see” attitude and wavering public support for OWI damaged public opinion of the agency.

Congressional opposition to the domestic operations of the OWI resulted in increasingly curtailed funds. Congress accused the OWI as President Roosevelt's campaign agency, and pounced on any miscommunications and scandals as reason for disbandment. In 1943, the OWI's appropriations were cut out of the following year's budget and only restored with strict restrictions on OWI's domestic capabilities. Many overseas branch offices were closed, as well as the Motion Picture Bureau. By 1944 the OWI operated mostly in the foreign field, contributing to undermining enemy morale. The agency was abolished in 1945, and many of its foreign functions were transferred to the Department of State.

Some of the writers, producers, and actors of OWI programs admired the Soviet Union and were either loosely affiliated with or were members of the Communist Party USA. The director of Pacific operations for the OWI, Owen Lattimore, who later accompanied U.S. Vice-President Henry Wallace on a mission to China and Mongolia in 1944, was later alleged to be a Soviet agent on the basis of testimony by a defector from the Soviet GRU, General Alexander Barmine.

In his final report, Elmer Davis noted that he had fired 35 employees, because of past Communist associations, though the FBI files showed no formal allegiance to the CPUSA. After the war, as a broadcast journalist, Davis staunchly defended Owen Lattimore and others from what he considered outrageous and false accusations of disloyalty from Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, Whittaker Chambers and others. Flora Wovschin, who worked for the OWI from September 1943 to February 1945, was later revealed in the Venona project intercepts to have been a Soviet spy.

Dissolution and legacy
The OWI was terminated, effective September 15, 1945, by Executive Order 9608 on August 31, 1945. President Truman cited the OWI for "outstanding contribution to victory", and saw no reason to continue funding the agency post-war. The international offices of the OWI were transferred to the State Department, and the United States Information Service and the Office of Strategic Services/Central Intelligence Agency assumed many of the information gathering, analyzing, and disseminating responsibilities.

Despite its troubled existence, the OWI is widely considered to be influential in the Allied victory and mobilizing American support for the war domestically.

People
Among the many people who worked for the OWI were Eitaro Ishigaki, Ayako Tanaka Ishigaki, Jay Bennett, Humphrey Cobb, Alan Cranston, Elmer Davis, Gardner Cowles Jr., Martin Ebon, Milton S. Eisenhower,  Ernestine Evans, John Fairbank, Lee Falk, Howard Fast, Ralph J. Gleason, Alexander Hammid, Leo Hershfield, Jane Jacobs, Lewis Wade Jones,  David Karr, Philip Keeney, Christina Krotkova,  Owen Lattimore, Murray Leinster, Paul Linebarger,  Irving Lerner, Edward P. Lilly (historian), Alan Lomax, Archibald MacLeish, Reuben H. Markham, Lowell Mellett, Edgar Ansel Mowrer, Charles Olson,  Gordon Parks, James Reston,  Peter C. Rhodes, Robert Riskin, Arthur Rothstein, Waldo Salt, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Wilbur Schramm, Robert Sherwood, Dody Weston Thompson (researcher-writer), William Stephenson, George E. Taylor, Chester S. Williams, Flora Wovschin, and Karl Yoneda.

Filmography

 * This is Our Enemy
 * Hasten the Day
 * An American in England
 * An American in Russia
 * Japanese Relocation (1942)
 * Chaplain Jim
 * Passport for Adams

Archives

 * Finding aid to Armitage Watkins papers on the Office of War Information at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
 * Finding aid to Armitage Watkins papers on the Office of War Information at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

title: United States Office of War Information


text: File:Sahara poster.JPG

title: File:Sahara poster.JPG


text:
User talk:ChrisW~enwiki

Copyright violations
Hi, I noticed that a number of the articles you've created have included text from other websites. This is not allowed on wikipedia, see the following: WP:COPYVIO. Content can be (and must be) taken from other sources, but it has to be rewritten in your own words. --Xyzzyplugh 14:30, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

I noticed that author of this article copied my photo of Pacific Star and did not ask for permission at all.Moreover, he signed photo as Nigel Kibel. Aljinovic 23:12, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

Cruise ships
That's not a progress log, that's a complete rewrite of the List of cruise ships. If I don't finish that before I go overseas, can I enlist your aid? -- saberwyn 04:37, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

I will do it..

Image tagging for Image:Psky-sitmar.jpg
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Germaine Greer
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Block
I've blocked this account indefinitely for this BLP vandalism and because it appears to be a semi-sleeper account. If the account holder has an explanation for the Greer edit and the editing pattern, he's welcome to e-mail me using the link on my user page, and I'll consider unblocking. SlimVirgin (talk) 08:19, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

Orphaned fair use image (Image:ClickMovieSDM.jpg)
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Your account will be renamed
Hello,

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Renamed
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title: User talk:ChrisW~enwiki


text:
Sahara (2005 film)

Sahara is a 2005 American action-adventure film directed by Breck Eisner based on the best-selling 1992 novel of the same name by Clive Cussler. It stars Matthew McConaughey, Steve Zahn and Penélope Cruz, and follows a treasure hunter who partners with a WHO doctor to find a lost American Civil War Ironclad warship in the Sahara Desert.

The film was shot in 2003 on-location in Morocco as well as in the United Kingdom. It became notable for its many production issues, including doubling its production budget from $80 million to $160 million and a series of lawsuits. Sahara grossed $119 million worldwide at the box-office, ultimately failing to recoup all of its costs, and is often listed among the biggest box-office failures of all-time.

Plot
In 1865, at the conclusion of the American Civil War, Richmond, Virginia is in ruins. The CSS Texas, captained by Mason Tombs, is loaded with the last of the Confederacy's gold to keep it from Union forces. It then disappears into the Atlantic.

In present day Mali, there is a civil war between dictator General Kazim and the Tuareg people. In Nigeria, WHO doctors Eva Rojas and Frank Hopper investigate a disease affecting people who have been in Mali. Zakara, a corrupt Tuareg, tries to murder Eva, but she is rescued by Dirk Pitt, from the National Underwater and Marine Agency, who was diving nearby.

Dirk gets a gold Confederate coin found in the Niger, a clue to the location of the long-lost Texas. He borrows his boss Sandecker's yacht to search for it. His partner Al Giordino and Rudi Gunn from NUMA accompany him. They first transport Eva and Hopper to Mali so they can continue investigating the disease, then continue up the Niger.

Businessman Yves Massarde and dictator General Kazim try to stop the doctors from discovering the source of the disease. Kazim sends men to attack the yacht. Dirk, Al, and Rudi survive, but the yacht is destroyed. Rudi leaves to get help while Dirk and Al go to rescue the doctors.

Kazim's men track down the doctors and kill Hopper. Dirk and Al rescue Eva. As they are leaving Mali, they are captured by the Tuareg insurgents. Convincing the group that they are hunted by Kazim, their leader, Modibo, shows Eva his people dying from the disease she is following. She finds out water contains toxins, and there is no treatment available. Al stumbles into a cave with a painting showing the ironclad Texas. Dirk believes that the Texas became stranded when the river dried up and the same river that carried the ship now runs underground.

Following the river bed to the border, they stumble upon Massarde's solar plant, the source of the contamination. The chemicals are seeping slowly towards the ocean, where they will expand rapidly upon entering salt water and kill ocean life worldwide. The US government won't intervene during a civil war in a sovereign country. Massarde and Zakara capture them, keep Eva, and send Dirk and Al in a truck to Kazim. They escape in the middle of the desert. Rebuilding a plane wreck into a land yacht, they leave the desert.

Dirk and Al return to the plant, with Modibo's help. To cover up the existence of the waste, Massarde plans to destroy it with explosives. Fearing the plant's destruction would guarantee worldwide water contamination, Al goes to remove the explosives while Dirk tries to rescue Eva. Dirk kills Zakara after a vicious fight, but Massarde escapes via helicopter. Al successfully neutralizes the explosive, angering Massarde as he makes his getaway.

The three leave the plant in a stolen Avions Voisin C-28 that was originally owned by Kazim, and Kazim pursues them in an attack helicopter, with his army following. A series of explosions along the dry river bed reveals the wreckage of the Texas. The trio hides in the ship, using its cannon to destroy Kazim and his helicopter, killing him. Modibo arrives with Tuareg reinforcements, forcing Kazim's army to surrender and end the civil war.

The plant is shut down, stopping the source of toxic waste, and the rest is dealt with. Sandecker agrees to work covertly for the US government in exchange for NUMA funding. The Texas gold, technically belonging to the Confederate States of America, is left with Modibo's people. It is implied that Massarde is poisoned by Carl, an undercover US agent, while Dirk and Eva start a relationship.

Cast

 * Matthew McConaughey as Dirk Pitt
 * Steve Zahn as Al Giordino
 * Penélope Cruz as Eva Rojas
 * Lambert Wilson as Yves Massarde
 * Lennie James as Brigadier General Zateb Kazim
 * William H. Macy as Admiral James Sandecker
 * Rainn Wilson as Commander Rudi Gunn
 * Delroy Lindo as Carl
 * Patrick Malahide as Ambassador Polidori
 * Glynn Turman as Frank Hopper
 * Dayna Cussler as Kitty Mannock (Deleted scenes)
 * Robert Cavanah as Captain Tombs
 * Paulin Fudouop as Modibo
 * Jude Akuwudike as Imam
 * Clint Dyer as Oshodi
 * Mark Aspinall as Lawyer
 * Rakie Ayola as Mrs. Nwokolo
 * Christopher Bello as Train Driver
 * Nicholas Beveney as Gunboat 1 Officer
 * Maurice Lee as Zakara

Production
Principal photography began in November 2003, with the film being shot primarily on-location in Morocco, with portions in England (Hampshire and Shepperton Studios) and in Spain. One 46-second action sequence cost $2 million to film but ended up not making the final cut. McConaughey was paid $8 million, Penélope Cruz was paid $1.6 million, and Rainn Wilson was paid $45,000. A total of 10 screenwriters were used to polish the script, with four eventually receiving credit, which added $3.8 million to the film's budget; David S. Ward made $500,000 for his uncredited work.

Costs and bribery allegations
Initially green-lit with a production budget of $80 million, costs rose to $100 million by the time shooting started and had ballooned to $160 million by the time production wrapped, with a further $61 million in distribution expenses. In 2014, the Los Angeles Times listed the film as one of the most expensive flops of all time.

The Los Angeles Times presented an extensive special report on April 15, 2007, dissecting the budget of Sahara as an example of how Hollywood movies can cost so much to produce and fail. Many of the often closely held documents had been leaked after a lawsuit involving the film. Among some of the items in the budget were bribes to the Moroccan government, some of which may have been legally questionable under American law.

Marketing
To promote the film, actor Matthew McConaughey drove his own Airstream trailer (painted with a large Sahara movie poster on each side) across America, stopping at military bases and many events such as the Daytona 500 (to Grand Marshal the race), premiering the movie to fans, signing autographs, and doing interviews at each stop. The trip's highlights were shown on an E! channel special to coincide with the film's release. McConaughey also kept a running blog of his trip on MTV's entertainment website.

According to McConaughey, this film was intended to be the first in a franchise based on Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels similarly to James Bond, but the poor box-office performance has stalled plans for a sequel.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 38% based on 178 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "A mindless adventure flick with a preposterous plot." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 41 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Box office
The film opened at number one in the US box office, taking $18 million on its first weekend and ultimately grossed $69 million. It earned a further $50 million overseas, for a worldwide total of $119 million. The box-office take of the film amounted to barely half of its overall expenses. The film lost approximately $105 million, according to a financial executive assigned to the movie; however, Hollywood accounting methods assign losses at $78.3 million, taking into account projected revenue. According to Hollywood accounting, the film had a projected revenue of $202.9 million against expenses of $281.2 million.

Legal action
For almost a decade, Cussler was involved in a lengthy legal action suit against the film's producer, Philip Anschutz, and his film entertainment company, Crusader Entertainment LLC (now part of the Anschutz Entertainment Group). It began in February 2005 when Cussler sued Anschutz and Crusader for $100 million for failing to consult him on the script. The author also claimed breach of contract because Crusader had failed to take up the option of a second book; Anschutz counter-sued for "alleged blackmail and sabotage attempts against the film prior to its 2005 release." Cussler claimed he had been assured "absolute control" over the book's film adaptation, but when this did not happen, he believed this contributed to its failure at the box office. He said in a statement, "They deceived me right from the beginning. They kept lying to me... and I just got fed up with it." However, Anschutz's company counter-sued, claiming it had been the behavior of Cussler that contributed to the film's problems. They claimed Cussler did have certain approval rights regarding the script and selection of actors and directors, but he had been an obstructive presence, rejecting many screenplay revisions and attacking the film in the media before it was even released. On May 15, 2007, a jury found in Anschutz's favor and awarded him $5 million in damages. On January 8, 2008, Judge John Shook decided that Crusader Entertainment was not required to pay Cussler $8.5 million for rights to the second book. On March 10, 2009, the same judge ordered Cussler to pay $13.9 million in legal fees to the production company.

A year later, in March 2010, the California Court of Appeals overturned Judge Shook's decision to award Anschutz and Crusader $5 million in damages and nearly $14 million in legal fees. Cussler then attempted to restart legal proceedings in July 2010 by filing a new lawsuit in the Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming the appeals court gave him back the right to recover the $8.5 million he believed Crusader owed him on a second book.

In response, the production company's lawyer said, "They're trying to pretend this wasn't already litigated. Cussler has never been able to accept the fact that he lost this case. He didn't accept the jury verdict, then for a year they tried to get the trial court judge to say the jury determined (Cussler was) entitled to $8.5 million and the court said absolutely not. They then sought an appeal and it didn't work. Then they appealed to the California Supreme Court and they didn't take the case. So, despite having had multiple courts say no, they are trying all over again."

There were no further developments in the case for almost three years until December 2012 when both parties were back in court to hear which side was responsible for paying the case's $20 million legal bill. However, the Second Appellate District for California's Appeals Court declared that "there was no prevailing party for purposes of attorney fees." It concluded that "after years of litigation both sides recovered nothing -- not one dime of damages and no declaratory relief."

title: Sahara (2005 film)


text:
Cruinniuc

Cruinniuc (Crunniuc, Cruinn, Crundchu, Crunnchu, Cronnchu) is a wealthy cattle-owner of Ulster in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. A widower, he is surprised when a beautiful woman turns up at his house, sleeps with him and takes care of his children, without revealing her name. She becomes pregnant by him.

Later, at a festival, he boasts that his wife could run faster than the king's chariot. The king hears his boast, and his heavily pregnant wife is forced to race against his chariot. She wins, and gives birth to twins on the finish line. She reveals her name is Macha, daughter of Sainrith mac Imbaith, and the capital of Ulster is thereafter called Emain Macha ("Macha's Twins"). She curses the men of Ulster to suffer her labour pains in the hour of their greatest need, which is why none of the Ulstermen but Cúchulainn is able to fight in the Táin Bó Cuailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley).

title: Cruinniuc


text:
User:Foobaz/Imdb

imdb: at the Internet Movie Database

title: User:Foobaz/Imdb