title: Osteogenesis imperfecta

text: Most people with OI receive it from a parent, but in many cases, it is a brand new ("de novo" or "sporadic") mutation in a family. Among a study of patients with survivable types of OI, OI type III is most often "de novo" (85%), followed by type IV (50%) and type I (34%).


title: Osteogenesis imperfecta

text: Some populations can have a higher incidence of OI than would be otherwise expected if they have a larger than average number of carriers of the recessive forms of the disease.


title: Osteogenesis imperfecta

text: The condition, or types of it, has had various other names over the years and in different nations; "osteogenesis imperfecta" has, however, been the most widely accepted name for the condition since the late 20th century. Among some of the most common alternatives are "fragilitas ossium"; "Ekman–Lobstein syndrome", and "Vrolik syndrome", both eponyms; and, the colloquialism, "brittle bone disease".


title: Osteogenesis imperfecta

text: OI has been identified in an ancient Egyptian infant mummified in around 1000 BC, originally dismissed by archaeologists as containing the remains of a monkey. The Norse king Ivar the Boneless, who lived , is speculated to have had OI as well.


title: Osteogenesis imperfecta

text: Nicolas de Malebranche is oft credited as being the first person to describe the physical characteristics of OI in his 1688 book , in which he describes a man who has had his "bones broken in the places a murderer's would be" all his life. His confident description of the pathology of the disorder, however, which creates what he termed «» ("monstrous children"), is scientifically void—he wrote that it was due to the mother's antepartum viewership of a public execution by breaking wheel.


title: Osteogenesis imperfecta

text: The earliest modern scientific studies of OI began in 1788 by Olof Jakob Ekman, who described the condition, which he termed "osteomalacia congenital", in his doctoral thesis and mentioned cases of it going back to 1678, all in the same family, through three generations. Ekman's description of the condition mentioned dwarfism, bone fragility, and bowing of the long bones. In 1831, Edmund Axmann gave a detailed description of it in himself and his two brothers, being the first to mention blue sclerae as a characteristic sign of OI. Jean Lobstein first described the mild form of the condition, today known as type I, in 1833, calling it "osteopsathyrosis idiopathica".


title: Osteogenesis imperfecta

text: It was not until 1912 that hearing loss was positively recognized as a symptom of OI, first mentioned in a brief paper by the English physician Charles Allen Adair-Dighton.


title: Osteogenesis imperfecta

text: Willem Vrolik, a Dutch anatomist who was also curator of the "Museum Vrolikianum", which made him privy to many specimens of bodies having birth defects, coined the term "osteogenesis imperfecta" in his bilingual Latin and Dutch language book on teratology, "Illustrations of Human and Mammalian Embryogenesis", first published in 1849.


title: Osteogenesis imperfecta

text: Included is a description of the remains of an infant who had what is now known as perinatally fatal OI type II (as verified in a 1998 re-examination of the remains by Baljet "et al."). The remains were first given to Vrolik's father, who could not make sense of them. Vrolik described poorly mineralized bones, bowed long bones, and fractures in various states of healing. Vrolik correctly determined that what he termed OI in the infant was not caused by secondary rickets, but a congenital abnomality causing primary osteopenia; he theorized this was due to a lack of "intrinsic generative energy".


title: Osteogenesis imperfecta

text: Classification of OI has also evolved as scientific understanding of it has improved. Before the advent of modern genetic testing, OI was classified in two broad groups: "osteogenesis imperfecta congenita", and "osteogenesis imperfecta tarda", a division first proposed by the German physician E. Looser in 1906. "Congenita" was used to describe the modern clinical types II, III, and some cases of IV, where upon birth the condition was obvious, either due to bowing of the limbs or due to fractures sustained "in utero". "Tarda" was used to classify the modern OI type I and some cases of type IV, where the inherent fragility of the bones did not become clear until long after birth. The idea that these "late" and "prenatal" forms were manifestations of the same disorder was first proposed in 1897 by Martin Benno Schmidt; by the 1950s this fact was well accepted.


title: Osteogenesis imperfecta

text: The modern system of four types (I, II, III, IV), meanwhile, were introduced in a paper by David Sillence, Alison Senn, and David Danks in the "Journal of Medical Genetics" in 1979, and have since become standard terms among doctors, patients, and researchers. The modern genetic types, (those with numbers greater than IV,) have come into use as more and more recessively inherited forms of OI have been discovered since the discovery of the first one by Roy Morello "et al." in 2006. In 2010, the International Nomenclature Group for Constitutional Disorders of the Skeleton (INCDS) "freed" the Sillence types from molecular reference, acquiescing to their new clinical-first role in the wake of what was to them a "surprising" increase in the number of genetic causes of OI.


title: Osteogenesis imperfecta

text: Writing for the "Annual Review of Genetics" in 2012, Drs. Peter Byers and Shawna M. Pyott lamented how the expansion of the number of types to include genetic types has created a system that "grew like Topsy". They suggest that it may indeed be impossible to create a system which is useful for clinicians and which accurately describes the genetic cause of a person's OI, with attempts always prioritizing one use at the expense of the other.


title: Osteogenesis imperfecta

text: Much medical research has been done into the causes of osteogenesis imperfecta, benefiting not only those with OI but medicine more broadly; in the ten years between 2006 and 2016, the many discoveries of non-collagen related recessive gene mutations, which still led in those who have them to the clinical signs of OI, led to numerous breakthroughs in medical understanding of the process of healthy bone development.


title: Osteogenesis imperfecta

text: In dogs, OI is an autosomal recessive condition, meaning that dogs with two copies of the allele will be affected. Many breed organizations and veterinarians offer OI tests to tell if a dog is a carrier of OI. Dogs who are heterozygous for OI should only be bred to non-carriers. Homozygous carriers should never be bred, unless it is to a non-carrier.


title: Osteogenesis imperfecta

text: Naturally occurring mutations causing OI have been found in Golden Retrievers, Dachshunds, and Beagles. OI has also been identified in zebrafish and mice.


title: Osteogenesis imperfecta

text: Although dogs, mice, fish, and humans are not genetically identical, some of these animal models have been officially recognized to represent the varying types of OI in humans. For example, homozygous "oim"/"oim" mice experience spontaneous bone fractures, small body size, and kyphosis, making them a model of OI type III. Meanwhile, heterozygous "oim" mice appear normal but have bones which are quite a bit weaker than wild mice, making them a model for OI type I. As in human OI, the location on the gene which is mutated affects the severity of resulting disease—the G859C "Col1a1" mouse is a model for OI type II as affected mice all die in the perinatal period.


title: Seven seals

text: The Seven Seals of God from the Bible's Book of Revelation are the seven symbolic seals (, "sphragida") that secure the book or scroll that John of Patmos saw in an apocalyptic vision. The opening of the seals of the document occurs in Rev Ch 5–8 and marks the Second Coming of the Christ and the beginning of The Apocalypse/Revelation. Upon the Lamb of God/Lion of Judah opening a seal on the cover of the book/scroll, a judgment is released or an apocalyptic event occurs. The opening of the first four Seals releases the Four Horsemen, each with his own specific mission. The opening of the fifth Seal releases the cries of martyrs for the ""Word/Wrath of God"". The sixth Seal prompts plagues, storms and other cataclysmic events. The seventh Seal cues seven angelic trumpeters who in turn cue the seven bowl judgments and more cataclysmic events.


title: Seven seals

text: Certain words and phrases used in The Revelation had a clearer meaning to ancient readers familiar with objects of their time. For example, important documents were sent written on a papyrus scroll sealed with several wax seals. Wax seals were typically placed across the opening of a scroll, so that only the proper person, in the presence of witnesses, could open the document. This type of "seal" is frequently used in a figurative sense, in the book of "Revelation", and only "the Lamb" is worthy to break off these seals.


title: Seven seals

text: From the Reformation to the middle of the 19th century, the "seals in Revelation" have been interpreted through various methods, such as the historicist view that most Protestants adopted and the views of preterism and futurism that post-Reformation Catholic circles promoted. Idealism was also a fairly major view that became realized since the time of Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (AD 345–430).


title: Seven seals

text: The preterist usually views that John was given an accurate vision of a course of events that would occur over the next several centuries to fulfill the prophetic seals.


title: Seven seals

text: Robert Witham, an 18th-century Catholic commentator, offers a preterist view for the period that spans the length of the opening of the seals; it being the period from Christ to the establishment of the Church under Constantine in 325.


title: Seven seals

text: Johann Jakob Wettstein (18th century) places the date of the "Apocalypse" as written before A. D. 70. He assumed that the first part of the Book was in respect to Judea and the Jews, and the second part about the Roman Empire. The “Sealed Book” is the book of divorcement sent to the Jewish nation from God.


title: Seven seals

text: Isaac Williams (19th century) associated the first six Seals with the "discourse on the Mount of Olives" and stated that, “The seventh Seal contains the Seven Trumpets within it… the judgments and sufferings of the Church.”


title: Seven seals

text: Traditionally, the "historicist" view of the "Seven Seals" in "The Apocalypse" spanned the time period from John of Patmos to Early Christendom. Scholars such as Campegius Vitringa, Alexander Keith, and Christopher Wordsworth did not limit the timeframe to the 4th century. Some have even viewed the opening of the "Seals" right into the early modern period. However, "Contemporary-historicists" view all of Revelation as it relates to John's own time (with the allowance of making some guesses as to the future).


title: Seven seals

text: According to E.B. Elliott, the first seal, as revealed to John by the angel, was to signify what was to happen soon after John seeing the visions in Patmos. The general subject of the first six seals is the decline and fall, after a previous prosperous era, of the Empire of Pagan Rome.


title: Seven seals

text: "Moderate futurists" typically interpret the opening of the seals as representing forces in history, however long they last, by which God carries out His redemptive and judicial purposes leading up to “the end”.


title: Seven seals

text: The "idealist" view does not take the book of "Revelation" literally. The interpretation of "Revelation’s" symbolism and imagery is defined by the struggles between good and evil.


title: Seven seals

text: The returned Christ opening the ""7 Seals"" has its consequences. The first 4 Seals result in the Four Horsemen.


title: Seven seals

text: Johann Jakob Wettstein (18th century) identified the first Horseman as Artabanus, king of the Parthians who slaughtered the Jews in Babylon. However, Ernest Renan, a 19th-century "modern rationalist preterist," interpreted the "First Horseman" to be symbolic of the Roman Empire, with Nero as the Antichrist. This rider who "went forth conquering" was Rome's march toward Jerusalem in the year 67, to suppress "The Great Jewish Revolt".


title: Seven seals

text: In the "historicist" views of Nicholas de Lyra (14th century), Robert Fleming (17th century), Charles Daubuz (c. 1720), Thomas Scott (18th century), and Cuninghame, they agreed that the "First Seal" opened there upon the death of Christ. (Note:This theory is discredited do to fact in Revelation 4:1 “After this I looked and saw a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had previously heard speak to me like a trumpet was saying, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after these things.”” According to Rev. 4:1 the seals will be opened at a future date and at the time of this vision Jesus death and resurrection had already occurred approximately 20 years earlier.)


title: Seven seals

text: Puritan Joseph Mede (1627) associated the opening of the "First Seal" to year 73, during the reign of Vespasian, just after "The Great Jewish Revolt".


title: Seven seals

text: Campegius Vitringa (c. 1700), Alexander Keith (1832), and Edward Bishop Elliott (1837) considered this period to have started with the death of Domitian and Nerva’s rise to power in the year 96. This began Rome’s "Golden age" where the spread of the Gospel and Christianity flourished. To 17th-century Dutch Protestant theologian, Vitringa, it lasted up until Decius (249). However, a more common "historicist" view is that the "Golden age" ended with Commodus making peace with the Germans in year 180.


title: Seven seals

text: This rider is a symbol of the progress of the gospel of the conquering Christ mentioned in Rev. 5:5; 19:11–16.


title: Seven seals

text: The period involved is from 4000 B. C. to 3000 B. C. "It extends from after the fall of Adam, which according to the Ussher chronology was 4004 B.C., to shortly after the translation of Enoch and his city in 3017 B.C." The white horse is an emblem of victory. The bow is an emblem of war, and the crown is the emblem of a conqueror. Enoch is understood to be a kind of general, who led God's saints to war and "went forth conquering and to conquer." Of these wars, the revelations recite:"And so great was the faith of Enoch that he led the people of God, and their enemies came to battle against them; and he spake the word of the Lord, and the earth trembled, and the mountains fled, even according to his command; and the rivers of water were turned out of their course; and the roar of the lions was heard out of the wilderness; and all nations feared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the power of the language which God had given him. There also came up a land out of the depth of the sea, and so great was the fear of the enemies of the people of God, that they fled and stood afar off and went upon the land which came up out of the depth of the sea. And the giants of the land, also, stood afar off; and there went forth a curse upon all people that fought against God; And from that time forth there were wars and bloodshed among them; but the Lord came and dwelt with his people, and they dwelt in righteousness. The fear of the Lord was upon all nations, so great was the glory of the Lord, which was upon his people."


title: Seven seals

text: Precious little is known about Enoch and his city, but a few verses later, it stated that "the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them" and later Zion was "taken up to heaven". Some believe it was literally lifted up to the sky, which creates interesting parallels to the Vimana or "flying cities" which are found in Hindu texts.


title: Seven seals

text: Ernest Renan (19th century) interpreted the "Second Horseman" to be symbolic of The Great Jewish Revolt and the insurrection of Vindex. During "The Great Revolt", civil war broke out amongst the Jews. The civil war not only dissipated their stand against Rome, but also divided the Jewish people into factions that eventually dis-unified Jerusalem. Hugo Grotius (17th century), interprets “the earth”, in verse 4, as the "land of Judea". Johann Jakob Wettstein (18th century), identified the "Red horse" as representing the assassins and robbers of Judea in the days of Antonius Felix and Porcius Festus. Volkmar, a "modern rationalist preterist", broadened the scope of the "Second Horseman" to include major battles that occurred after the year 66: the Jewish–Roman wars, Roman–Parthian Wars, and Byzantine–Arab Wars.


title: Seven seals

text: The common "historicist" view of the "Second Seal" is associated with the Roman period fraught with civil war between 32 would-be emperors that came and went during that time. It was the beginning of the end for the Roman Empire. The Puritan Joseph Mede (1627) captured this timeframe from years 98 to 275. Christopher Wordsworth, in his "Lectures on the Apocalypse" (1849), declared a 240-year timespan, from years 64 to 304. During this period, Wordsworth indicated "Ten persecutions": First, Nero; Second, Domitian; Third, Trajan; Fourth, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus; Fifth, Septimius Severus, Sixth, Maximinus; Seventh, Decius; Eighth, Valerian; Ninth, Aurelian; Tenth, Diocletian. The common "historicist" view of the "Second Seal" ends with Diocletian in 305.


title: Seven seals

text: Other 19th-century views were that of Edward Bishop Elliott who suggested that the "Second Seal" opened during the military despotism under Commodus, in the year 185. While the Church of Scotland minister, Alexander Keith applied the "Second Seal" directly to the spread of Mohammedanism, starting in the year 622.


title: Seven seals

text: The Antichrist will unleash World War III, and crush any who claim to be Christians. He allies with the Arab world in an effort to conquer the entire world. (Ezek. 38; Dan. 11) Only Jerusalem will stand in his way to world supremacy.


title: Seven seals

text: Seal judgments two through four represent the disintegration of both human civilization and creation resulting from their rejection of the Lamb of God. The rider on the red horse represents the slaughter and war that the kingdoms of men perpetrate against each other because they reject the Christ.


title: Seven seals

text: The era, from 3000 B. C. to 2000 B. C. Who rode the red horse? Perhaps it was the devil himself, or perhaps a man of blood or a person representing many warriors, of whom we have no record. During this time, the wickedness and abominations of Noah's day were so great, that God found all men, save eight, worthy of death by drowning.


title: Seven seals

text: "And God saw that the wickedness of men had become great in the earth; and every man was lifted up in the imagination of the thoughts of his heart, being only evil continually. ... The earth was corrupt before God, and it was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth."


title: Seven seals

text: In our day, "peace has been taken from the earth” and the devil has "power over his own dominion", with the result that soon the vineyard shall be cleansed by fire. Need we suppose it was different in Noah's day, when the devil raging in the hearts of men, caused the Lord in his anger to cleanse the vineyard with water? And so he did in 2348 B.C.


title: Seven seals

text: And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.


title: Seven seals

text: Hugo Grotius (17th century) and Johann Jakob Wettstein (18th century) viewed this rider as corresponding to the famine that occurred during the reign of Claudius, the Roman Emperor from years 41 to 54. Volkmar, a "modern rationalist preterist", pinpoints the start of the famine at year 44, which kept repeating right into the First Jewish–Roman War of 66. Ernest Renan (19th century) viewed year 68 as the most significant year of the famine. The famine was so severe that “mothers ate their children to survive”, while Jewish revolt leader, John of Gischala, and his men consumed the oil and wine that were luxury items from the Jerusalem temple.


title: Seven seals

text: The common "historicist" view of the "Third Seal" is associated with the 3rd century. This was a period of financial oppression imposed on Roman citizenry, created by heavy taxation from the emperors. Taxes could be paid in grain, oil, and wine. Joseph Mede (1627) indicated that the "Third Seal" had opened from the rule of Septimius Severus (193) to Alexander Severus (235). The English clergyman, Edward Bishop Elliott (1837), also highlighted the significant period of taxation that was imposed under Caracalla’s edict in the year 212.


title: Seven seals

text: Alexander Keith (1832) took the opening of the "Third Seal" directly to the Byzantine Papacy in year 606, following Pope Boniface III as an "Easterner on the papal throne" in 607.


title: Seven seals

text: Inflation and famine will plague the earth during World War III. Though many will starve, the wealthy will enjoy the luxuries of oil and wine.


title: Seven seals

text: This rider bespeaks the economic hardship and poverty that follow the unleashing of wars on humankind, while the rich get richer.


title: Seven seals

text: As famine follows the sword, so the pangs of hunger gnawed in the bellies of the Lord's people during the third seal. From 2000 B. C. to 1000 B. C., as never in any other age of the earth's history. In the beginning years of this seal, the famine in Ur of the Chaldees was so severe that Abraham's brother, Haran, starved to death, while Abraham was commanded by God to take his family to Canaan. Of his struggle to gain sufficient food to keep alive, Abraham said:


title: Seven seals

text: "Now I, Abraham, built an altar in the land of Jershon, and made an offering unto the Lord, and prayed that the famine might be turned away from my father’s house, that they might not perish." Later he even had to leave Canaan in search of food. "And I, Abraham, journeyed, going on still towards the south; and there was a continuation of a famine in the land; and I, Abraham, concluded to go down into Egypt, to sojourn there, for the famine became very grievous."


title: Seven seals

text: Later, Joseph's interpretation of Farao's dream, and subsequent construction of granaries, saved the Egyptians and the House of Jacob (Israel) from starving to death. And again, when the people of Israel had escaped bondage in Egypt, God provided them with manna from heaven for 40 years, lest they starve to death in the wilderness.


title: Seven seals

text: This rider speaks the widespread death of Jews in their fight against Rome, which happens to be over a million Jewish deaths. Volkmar, a "modern rationalist preterist", points to pestilence striking in year 66.


title: Seven seals

text: This rider signifies twenty years of fighting, famine and disease that plagued the reigns of Emperors Decius, Gallus, Aemilianus, Valerian, and Gallienus (248–268).


title: Seven seals

text: Spells death for one-fourth of the earth's inhabitants. The war started by the Antichrist, will reach the finale with the seven bowls of judgments.


title: Seven seals

text: During the 4th seal, from 1000 B. C. to the coming of our Lord, death rode roughshod through the nations of men, and hell was at his heels. ... In 1095 B. C. Saul, the warrior-king assumed the reins of power in Israel; it was in 1063 that David, a man of blood, slew Goliath and soon thereafter that he was recognized as king over all Israel. At Solomon's death in 975 B.C. the kingdom was divided with Israel and Judah for hundreds of years thereafter engaging in wars with each other and their neighboring kingdoms. ... The Assyrian empire held imperial sway over much of the "civilized" world ... taking the tribes and hosts of Israel into captivity some 760 years before Christ and again 40 or so years later.


title: Seven seals

text: Then there was the Babylonian empire from 605 to 538 B. C.; the Medo-Persian empire from 538 to 333 B. C. (Alexander the Great conquered Persia in 332); and in 60 B. C., Julius Caesar formed the first Triumvirate, with Imperial Rome rising to dominate the kingdoms of the world.


title: Seven seals

text: This is the cry for vindication by the Christian martyrs who were persecuted by the Jews after Christ's death and leading up to the fall of Jerusalem in the year 70. Both Ernest Renan and Volkmar, "modern rationalist preterists", marked the year 64 as a significant year for Christian martyrdom. The name “Jerusalem” became synonymous with the persecution of the righteous. But God avenged the deaths of the righteous by allowing the Romans to conquer the “holy city” as retaliation for the Jews handing Jesus over to Pilate.


title: Seven seals

text: This seal occurred during the rule of martyred Christians who were persecuted by Emperor Diocletian (284–303). This was the tenth period of the persecution of Christianity and the most severe, because of being on a “worldwide” scale. Then with Constantine's rise to power, Christianity became legalized (313) and the church was thereby vindicated.


title: Seven seals

text: This judgment encompasses Christians who will be martyred for their faith in Christ during the Great Tribulation by not bowing down to the Antichrist and by not submitting to the global economic system that forces all people on the earth to receive the mark of the beast. Their deaths place them in good company of the righteous throughout the ages.


title: Seven seals

text: The fifth seal is a reminder that, though the Christ inaugurated the "Kingdom of God" through the preaching of the gospels, God's people suffer during the tribulation that starts from the first coming of Christ to the second coming of Christ. This is known as the end-time tribulation that stretches across world history. Thus the “kingdom of God” is in history, but “not yet” triumphant.


title: Seven seals

text: Those martyrs, their blood, which was spilled by them who hate the Word of God, will forever condemn Satan and his servants before the Lord.


title: Seven seals

text: Hugo Grotius (17th century) viewed the "sixth seal" as it relates to the events during the Siege of Jerusalem by Titus in year 70. Volkmar, a "modern rationalist preterist", marked the beginning of the sixth seal to year 68, with Galba assuming emperorship. Preterists typically view the symbolic language as having been adapted from the Hebrew Bible, to allude to the environmental disturbances that fell upon Jerusalem before its fall. The mention of hiding in caves alludes to the many Jews who hid in the caves and underground when the Romans finally invaded.


title: Seven seals

text: According to Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (c. 1704), this was "Divine vengeance" that first fell upon the Jews for having the Messiah crucified, then subsequently upon the persecuting Roman Empire. First, however, vengeance was deferred until a number elect, from the Jewish people, was accomplished. Bossuet viewed the "great Catastrophe of the Apocalypse" as the conquest of Pagan Rome by Alaric I.


title: Seven seals

text: Political upheaval and collapse of the Roman Empire brought about invasions of northern hordes of Goths and Vandals between 375 and 418.


title: Seven seals

text: The sixth seal will be the literal cosmic disturbances caused by nuclear war or a global earthquake that causes volcanic debris to pollute the atmosphere, which turns the moon blood red and the sun dark. In addition, there will be massive meteor showers (“the stars… fell”). Thus follows the first half of the Tribulation where God's wrath consumes the earth.


title: Seven seals

text: This is the end of the age when Christ returns, bringing cosmic upheaval on those who oppose God, the ones who persecuted His "Church". The unrighteous are damned and the righteous enjoy the presence of God.


title: Seven seals

text: We are now living during the final years of the sixth seal, that thousand-year period which began in 1000 A.D. and will continue through the Saturday night of time and until just before the Sabbatical era when Christ shall reign personally on earth, when all of the blessings of the Great Millennium shall be poured out upon this planet. This, accordingly, is the era when the signs of the times shall be shown forth, and they are in fact everywhere to be seen.


title: Seven seals

text: The “silence” is the preparation for the judgment about to fall upon Jerusalem in the year 70. Johann Jakob Wettstein (18th century) went on to say that the “silence” conceded to the entreaties of King Agrippa I. This judgement was the divine response to the cry for vindication from the martyred Christians, such as: Stephen, James the brother of John, and James the brother of Jesus. The preparation of the altar is the preparation for the destruction of apostate Jerusalem as if it were a whole burnt offering. This is in accordance with how scriptures of the Hebrew Bible declare an apostate city should be destroyed. The priest would burn the city's booty in the middle of the city square with fire from God's altar. (Deut. 13:16, Judges 20:40) As Ernest Renan (19th century) noted about the “silence”, it indicates that the first act of the mystery has ended, and another is about to begin.


title: Seven seals

text: The “silence” spans a 70-year period from Emperor Constantine’s defeat of Licinius (A.D. 324) to Alaric’s invasion of the Roman Empire (395). The prayers are those of the Christians martyred by Rome. The seven trumpets represent the seven judgments that God had in store for the Roman Empire.


title: Seven seals

text: The “silence” is the hush of expectancy for the verdict about to be pronounced on the guilty. The prayers are from the Christians who will be martyred by the Antichrist in the Great Tribulation, the last three and a half years of the “end-time” tribulation. Both the trumpet and bowl judgments will be unleashed on the wicked during the second half of the tribulation, each judgment intensifying to the next.


title: Seven seals

text: This silence quiets heaven so that it can focus on what is about to be revealed. It is the lull before the storm. The ensuing judgments vindicate Christian martyrs throughout the centuries. The trumpet judgments repeat themselves, again and again, throughout history, just as the seal judgments do, until the second coming of Christ.


title: Seven seals

text: A period of 1000 years known as "The Millennial Kingdom", starting sometime around the year 2000 and lasting until year 3000 or thereabouts. During this time, earth shall see the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and he will reign the nations with peace for a thousand years. People will still be allowed to form churches and worship however they want, as long as they do not cause trouble. And even animals will seemingly become vegetarians and not hurt each other during the millennium.


title: Seven seals

text: "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, The lion shall eat straw like the ox, And dust "shall be" the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” Says the LORD."


title: Seven seals

text: The scriptures also prophesy of earth's final destiny, after the Millennial Kingdom, but these events are beyond the scope of the 7 seals John saw in the Revelation.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: A food pyramid is a representation of the optimal number of servings to be eaten each day from each of the basic food groups. The first pyramid was published in Sweden in 1974. The 1992 pyramid introduced by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) was called the "Food Guide Pyramid" or "Eating Right Pyramid". It was updated in 2005 to "MyPyramid", and then it was replaced by "MyPlate" in 2011.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: Amid high food prices in 1972, Sweden's National Board of Health and Welfare developed the idea of "basic foods" that were both cheap and nutritious, and "supplemental foods" that added nutrition missing from the basic foods. Anna-Britt Agnsäter, chief of the "test kitchen" for Kooperativa Förbundet (a cooperative Swedish retail chain), held a lecture the next year on how to illustrate these food groups. Attendee Fjalar Clemes suggested a triangle displaying basic foods at the base. Agnsäter developed the idea into the first food pyramid, which was introduced to the public in 1974 in KF's "" magazine. The pyramid was divided into basic foods at the base, including milk, cheese, margarine, bread, cereals and potato; a large section of supplemental vegetables and fruit; and an apex of supplemental meat, fish and egg. The pyramid competed with the National Board's "dietary circle", which KF saw as problematic for resembling a cake divided into seven slices, and for not indicating how much of each food should be eaten. While the Board distanced itself from the pyramid, KF continued to promote it.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: Food pyramids were developed in other Scandinavian countries, as well as West Germany, Japan and Sri Lanka. The United States later developed its first food pyramid in 1992.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: The World Health Organization, in conjunction with the Food and Agriculture Organization, published guidelines that can be effectively represented in a food pyramid relating to objectives in order to prevent obesity, improper nutrition, chronic diseases and dental caries based on meta-analysis though they represent it as a table rather than as a "pyramid". The structure is similar in some respects to the USDA food pyramid, but there are clear distinctions between types of fats, and a more dramatic distinction where carbohydrates are categorized on the basis of free sugars versus sugars in their natural form. Some food substances are singled out due to the impact on the target issues that the "pyramid" is meant to address. In a later revision, however, some recommendations are omitted as they automatically follow other recommendations while other sub-categories are added. The reports quoted here explain that where there is no stated lower limit in the table below, there is "no" requirement for that nutrient in the diet.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: All percentages are "percentages of calories", not of weight or volume. To understand why, consider the determination of an amount of "10% free sugar" to include in a day's worth of calories. For the same amount of calories, free sugars take up less volume and weight, being refined and extracted "from the competing carbohydrates in their natural form". In a similar manner, all the items are in competition for various categories of calories.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: The representation as a pyramid is not precise, and involves variations due to the alternative percentages of different elements, but the main sections can be represented.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: The USDA food pyramid was created in 1992 and divided into six horizontal sections containing depictions of foods from each section's food group. It was updated in 2005 with colorful vertical wedges replacing the horizontal sections and renamed MyPyramid. MyPyramid was often displayed with the food images absent, creating a more abstract design.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: In an effort to restructure food nutrition guidelines, the USDA rolled out its new MyPlate program in June 2011. My Plate is divided into four slightly different sized quadrants, with fruits and vegetables taking up half the space, and grains and protein making up the other half. The vegetables and grains portions are the largest of the four.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: A vegetable is a part of a plant consumed by humans that is generally savory but is not sweet. A vegetable is not considered a grain, fruit, nut, spice, or herb. For example, the stem, root, flower, etc., may be eaten as vegetables. Vegetables contain many vitamins and minerals; however, different vegetables contain different balances of micronutrients, so it is important to eat a wide variety of types. For example, orange and dark green vegetables typically contain vitamin A, dark green vegetables contain vitamin C, and vegetables like broccoli and related plants contain iron and calcium. Vegetables are very low in fats and calories, but ingredients added in preparation can often add these.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: These foods provide complex carbohydrates, which are a good source of energy and provide much nutrition when unrefined. Examples include corn, wheat, pasta, and rice.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: In terms of food (rather than botany), fruits are the sweet-tasting seed-bearing parts of plants, or occasionally sweet parts of plants which do not bear seeds.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: These include apples, oranges, grapes, bananas, etc. Fruits are low in calories and fat and are a source of natural sugars, fiber and vitamins. Processing fruit when canning or making into juices may add sugars and remove nutrients. The fruit food group is sometimes combined with the vegetable food group. Note that a massive number of different plant species produce seed pods which are considered fruits in botany, and there are a number of botanical fruits which are conventionally not considered fruits in cuisine because they lack the characteristic sweet taste, e.g., tomatoes or avocados.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: Dairy products are produced from the milk of mammals, usually but not exclusively cattle. They include milk, yogurt and cheese. Milk and its derivative products are a rich source of dietary calcium and also provide protein, phosphorus, vitamin A, and vitamin D. However, many dairy products are high in saturated fat and cholesterol compared to vegetables, fruits and whole grains, which is why skimmed products are available as an alternative.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: Historically, adults were recommended to consume three cups of dairy products per day. More recently, evidence is mounting that dairy products have greater levels of negative effects on health than previously thought and confer fewer benefits. For example, recent research has shown that dairy products are not related to stronger bones or less fractures; on the contrary, another study showed that milk (and yogurt) consumption results in higher bone mineral density in the hip. Overall, the majority of research suggests that dairy has some beneficial effects on bone health, in part because of milk's other nutrients.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: Meat is the tissue—usually muscle—of an animal consumed by humans. Since most parts of many animals are edible, there is a vast variety of meats. Meat is a major source of protein, as well as iron, zinc, and vitamin B12. Meats, poultry, and fish include beef, chicken, pork, salmon, tuna, shrimp, and eggs.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: The meat group is one of the major compacted food groups in the food guide pyramid. Since many of the same nutrients found in meat can also be found in foods like eggs, dry beans, and nuts, such foods are typically placed in the same category as meats, as meat alternatives. These include tofu, products that resemble meat or fish but are made with soy, eggs, and cheeses. For those who do not consume meat or animal products ("see Vegetarianism, veganism and Taboo food and drink"), meat analogs, tofu, beans, lentils, chickpeas, nuts and other high-protein vegetables are also included in this group. The food guide pyramid suggests that adults eat 2–3 servings per day. One serving of meat is , about the size of a deck of cards.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: A food pyramid's tip is the smallest part, so the fats and sweets in the top of the Food Pyramid should comprise the smallest percentage of the diet. The foods at the top of the food pyramid should be eaten sparingly because they provide calories, but not much in the way of nutrition. These foods include salad dressings, oils, cream, butter, margarine, sugars, soft drinks, candies, and sweet desserts. On the 1992–2005 pyramid, the fat circle and sugar triangle are scattered throughout the pyramid to represent the naturally-occurring fats and sugars in various foods. The idea of this is to reduce the temptation to eat so much junk food and excessive fats and sugars, as there is already enough fat and sugar in the rest of the diet. For example, the triangles in the Fruit Group represent the fact that sugar is inevitable in that group.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: Certain dietary choices that have been linked to heart disease, such as an serving of hamburger daily, were technically permitted under the pyramid. The pyramid also lacked differentiation within the protein-rich group ("Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans, Eggs, and Nuts").


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: In April 1991, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) halted publication of its Eating Right Pyramid, due to objections raised by meat and dairy lobbying groups concerning the guide’s display of their products. Despite the USDA’s explanations that the guide required further research and testing, it was not until one year later—after its content was supported by additional research—that the Eating Right Pyramid was officially released. This time, even the guide’s graphic design was altered to appease industry concerns. This incident was only one of many in which the food industry attempted to alter federal dietary recommendations in their own economic self-interest.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: Some of the recommended quantities for the different types of food in the old pyramid have also come under criticism for lack of clarity. For instance, the pyramid recommends two to three servings from the protein-rich group, but this is intended to be a maximum. The pyramid recommends two to four fruit servings, but this is intended to be the minimum.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: The fats group as a whole have been put at the tip of the pyramid, under the direction to eat as little as possible, which some people have considered problematic. The guide instructs people to limit fat intake as much as possible, which can cause health problems because fat is essential to overall health. Research suggests that unsaturated fats aid in weight loss, reduce heart disease risk, lower blood sugar, and even lower cholesterol. Also, they are very long sustaining, and help keep blood sugar at a steady level. On top of that, these fats help brain function as well.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: Several books have claimed that food and agricultural associations exert undue political power on the USDA. Food industries, such as milk companies, have been accused of influencing the United States Department of Agriculture into making the colored spots on the newly created food pyramid larger for their particular product. The milk section has been claimed to be the easiest to see out of the six sections of the pyramid, making individuals believe that more milk should be consumed on a daily basis compared to the others. Furthermore, the inclusion of milk as a group unto itself implies that is an essential part of a healthy diet, despite the many people who are lactose intolerant or choose to abstain from dairy, and a number of cultures that have historically consumed little if any dairy products. Joel Fuhrman says in his book "Eat to Live" that U.S. taxpayers must contribute 20 billion on price supports to artificially reduce the price of cattle feed to benefit the dairy, beef and veal industries, and then pay the medical bills for an overweight population. He asks if the USDA is under the influence of the food industry, because a food pyramid based on science would have vegetables at its foundation.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: These controversies prompted the creation of pyramids for specific audiences, including a Vegetarian Diet Pyramids.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: The successor to the Food Pyramid called MyPlate has also received numerous criticisms such as, "The federal government continues to be very bad at telling people what and how to eat", but unlike the Food Pyramid—which was very well known—the MyPlate program has yet to become publicly well known, with as "...3 out of 4 Americans [having] no idea what the government's MyPlate dietary guide [even] is..."


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: The Harvard School of Public Health proposes a healthy eating pyramid with an emphasis on vegetables, healthy proteins, and healthy fats as an alternative to the Food Guide Pyramid.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: The University of Michigan Integrative Medicine’s Healing Foods Pyramid emphasizes plant-based choices, variety and balance. It includes sections for seasonings and water as well as healthy fats.


title: Food pyramid (nutrition)

text: MyPlate is the current nutrition guide published by the United States Department of Agriculture, depicting a place setting with a plate and glass divided into five food groups. It replaced the USDA's MyPyramid guide on June 2, 2011, concluding 19 years of USDA food pyramid diagrams.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common traits, identified as "families" of martial arts. Examples of such traits include "Shaolinquan" () physical exercises involving All Other Animals () mimicry or training methods inspired by Old Chinese philosophies, religions and legends. Styles that focus on qi manipulation are called "internal" (; ), while others that concentrate on improving muscle and cardiovascular fitness are called "external" (; ). Geographical association, as in "northern" (; ) and "southern" (; ), is another popular classification method.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: "Kung fu" and "wushu" are loanwords from Cantonese and Mandarin respectively that, in English, are used to refer to Chinese martial arts. However, the Chinese terms "kung fu" and "wushu" (; ) have distinct meanings. The Chinese equivalent of the term "Chinese martial arts" would be "Zhongguo wushu" () (Mandarin).


title: Chinese martial arts

text: In Chinese, the term "kung fu" refers to any skill that is acquired through learning or practice. It is a compound word composed of the words 功 (gōng) meaning "work", "achievement", or "merit", and 夫 (fū) which is a particle or nominal suffix with diverse meanings.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: "Wushu" literally means "martial art". It is formed from the two Chinese characters : (), meaning "martial" or "military" and or 术 (), which translates into "art", "discipline", "skill" or "method". The term "wushu" has also become the name for the modern sport of "wushu", an exhibition and full-contact sport of bare-handed and weapon forms (), adapted and judged to a set of aesthetic criteria for points developed since 1949 in the People's Republic of China.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: "Quánfǎ" () is another Chinese term for Chinese martial arts. It means "fist method" or "the law of the fist" ("quán" means "boxing" or "fist", and "fǎ" means "law", "way" or "method"), although as a compound term it usually translates as "boxing" or "fighting technique." The name of the Japanese martial art kempō is represented by the same hanzi characters.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: The genesis of Chinese martial arts has been attributed to the need for self-defense, hunting techniques and military training in ancient China. Hand-to-hand combat and weapons practice were important in training ancient Chinese soldiers.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Detailed knowledge about the state and development of Chinese martial arts became available from the Nanjing decade (1928–1937), as the Central Guoshu Institute established by the Kuomintang regime made an effort to compile an encyclopedic survey of martial arts schools.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Since the 1950s, the People's Republic of China has organized Chinese martial arts as an exhibition and full-contact sport under the heading of "“wushu”".


title: Chinese martial arts

text: According to legend, Chinese martial arts originated during the semi-mythical Xia Dynasty (夏朝) more than 4,000 years ago. It is said the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) (legendary date of ascension 2698 BCE) introduced the earliest fighting systems to China. The Yellow Emperor is described as a famous general who, before becoming China's leader, wrote lengthy treatises on medicine, astrology and the martial arts. One of his main opponents was Chi You (蚩尤) who was credited as the creator of jiao di, a forerunner to the modern art of Chinese wrestling.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: The earliest references to Chinese martial arts are found in the "Spring and Autumn Annals" (5th century BCE), where a hand-to-hand combat theory, one that integrates notions of "hard" and "soft" techniques, is mentioned. A combat wrestling system called "juélì" or "jiǎolì" () is mentioned in the "Classic of Rites". This combat system included techniques such as strikes, throws, joint manipulation, and pressure point attacks.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Jiao Di became a sport during the Qin Dynasty (221–207 BCE). The "Han History Bibliographies" record that, by the Former Han (206 BCE – 8 CE), there was a distinction between no-holds-barred weaponless fighting, which it calls "shǒubó" (), for which training manuals had already been written, and sportive wrestling, then known as juélì ().


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Wrestling is also documented in the Shǐ Jì, "Records of the Grand Historian", written by Sima Qian (ca. 100 BCE).


title: Chinese martial arts

text: In the Tang Dynasty, descriptions of sword dances were immortalized in poems by Li Bai. In the Song and Yuan dynasties, xiangpu contests were sponsored by the imperial courts. The modern concepts of wushu were fully developed by the Ming and Qing dynasties.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: The ideas associated with Chinese martial arts changed with the evolution of Chinese society and over time acquired some philosophical bases: Passages in the "Zhuangzi" (), a Taoist text, pertain to the psychology and practice of martial arts. Zhuang Zi, its eponymous author, is believed to have lived in the 4th century BCE. The "Tao Te Ching", often credited to Lao Zi, is another Taoist text that contains principles applicable to martial arts. According to one of the classic texts of Confucianism, "Zhou Li" (), Archery and charioteering were part of the "six arts" (, including rites, music, calligraphy and mathematics) of the Zhou Dynasty (1122–256 BCE). "The Art of War" (), written during the 6th century BCE by Sun Tzu (), deals directly with military warfare but contains ideas that are used in the Chinese martial arts.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Taoist practitioners have been practicing Tao Yin (physical exercises similar to Qigong that was one of the progenitors to T'ai chi ch'uan) from as early as 500 BCE. In 39–92 CE, "Six Chapters of Hand Fighting", were included in the "Han Shu" (history of the Former Han Dynasty) written by Pan Ku. Also, the noted physician, Hua Tuo, composed the "Five Animals Play"—tiger, deer, monkey, bear, and bird, around 208 CE. Taoist philosophy and their approach to health and exercise have influenced the Chinese martial arts to a certain extent. Direct reference to Taoist concepts can be found in such styles as the "Eight Immortals," which uses fighting techniques attributed to the characteristics of each immortal.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: In 495 CE, a Shaolin temple was built in the Song mountain, Henan province. The first monk who preached Buddhism there was the Indian monk named Buddhabhadra (), simply called Batuo () by the Chinese. There are historical records that Batuo's first Chinese disciples, Huiguang () and Sengchou (), both had exceptional martial skills. For example, Sengchou's skill with the tin staff is even documented in the Chinese Buddhist canon. After Buddhabadra, another Indian monk, named Bodhidharma (), also known as Damo () by the Chinese, came to Shaolin in 527 CE. His Chinese disciple, Huike (), was also a highly trained martial arts expert. There are implications that these first three Chinese Shaolin monks, Huiguang, Sengchou, and Huike, may have been military men before entering the monastic life.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: The Shaolin style of kung fu is regarded as one of the first institutionalized Chinese martial arts. The oldest evidence of Shaolin participation in combat is a stele from 728 CE that attests to two occasions: a defense of the Shaolin Monastery from bandits around 610 CE, and their subsequent role in the defeat of Wang Shichong at the Battle of Hulao in 621 CE. From the 8th to the 15th centuries, there are no extant documents that provide evidence of Shaolin participation in combat.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Between the 16th and 17th centuries, at least forty sources exist to provide evidence both that monks of Shaolin practiced martial arts, and that martial practice became an integral element of Shaolin monastic life. The earliest appearance of the frequently cited legend concerning Bodhidharma's supposed foundation of Shaolin Kung Fu dates to this period. The origin of this legend has been traced to the Ming period's "Yijin Jing" or "Muscle Change Classic", a text written in 1624 attributed to Bodhidharma.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: References of martial arts practice in Shaolin appear in various literary genres of the late Ming: the epitaphs of Shaolin warrior monks, martial-arts manuals, military encyclopedias, historical writings, travelogues, fiction, and poetry. However, these sources do not point out any specific style that originated in Shaolin. These sources, in contrast to those from the Tang period, refer to Shaolin methods of armed combat. These include a skill for which Shaolin monks became famous: the staff ("gùn", Cantonese "gwan"). The Ming General Qi Jiguang included a description of Shaolin Quan Fa (; Japanese: Shorin Kempo) and staff techniques in his book, "Ji Xiao Xin Shu" (), which can translate as "New Book Recording Effective Techniques". When this book spread across East Asia, it had a great influence on the development of martial arts in regions such as Okinawa and Korea.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Most fighting styles that are being practiced as traditional Chinese martial arts today reached their popularity within the 20th century. Some of these include Baguazhang, Drunken Boxing, Eagle Claw, Five Animals, Xingyi, Hung Gar, Monkey, Bak Mei Pai, Northern Praying Mantis, Southern Praying Mantis, Fujian White Crane, Jow Ga, Wing Chun and Taijiquan. The increase in the popularity of those styles is a result of the dramatic changes occurring within the Chinese society.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: In 1900–01, the Righteous and Harmonious Fists rose against foreign occupiers and Christian missionaries in China. This uprising is known in the West as the Boxer Rebellion due to the martial arts and calisthenics practiced by the rebels. Empress Dowager Cixi gained control of the rebellion and tried to use it against the foreign powers. The failure of the rebellion led ten years later to the fall of the Qing Dynasty and the creation of the Chinese Republic.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: The present view of Chinese martial arts is strongly influenced by the events of the Republican Period (1912–1949). In the transition period between the fall of the Qing Dynasty as well as the turmoil of the Japanese invasion and the Chinese Civil War, Chinese martial arts became more accessible to the general public as many martial artists were encouraged to openly teach their art. At that time, some considered martial arts as a means to promote national pride and build a strong nation. As a result, many training manuals (拳譜) were published, a training academy was created, two national examinations were organized and demonstration teams traveled overseas. Numerous martial arts associations were formed throughout China and in various overseas Chinese communities. The Central Guoshu Academy (Zhongyang Guoshuguan, 中央國術館) established by the National Government in 1928 and the Jing Wu Athletic Association (精武體育會) founded by Huo Yuanjia in 1910 are examples of organizations that promoted a systematic approach for training in Chinese martial arts. A series of provincial and national competitions were organized by the Republican government starting in 1932 to promote Chinese martial arts. In 1936, at the 11th Olympic Games in Berlin, a group of Chinese martial artists demonstrated their art to an international audience for the first time.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: The term "kuoshu" (or "guoshu", meaning "national art"), rather than the colloquial term gongfu was introduced by the Kuomintang in an effort to more closely associate Chinese martial arts with national pride rather than individual accomplishment.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Chinese martial arts experienced rapid international dissemination with the end of the Chinese Civil War and the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949. Many well known martial artists chose to escape from the PRC's rule and migrate to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and other parts of the world. Those masters started to teach within the overseas Chinese communities but eventually they expanded their teachings to include people from other ethnic groups.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Within China, the practice of traditional martial arts was discouraged during the turbulent years of the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1969–1976). Like many other aspects of traditional Chinese life, martial arts were subjected to a radical transformation by the People's Republic of China to align them with Maoist revolutionary doctrine. The PRC promoted the committee-regulated sport of Wushu as a replacement for independent schools of martial arts. This new competition sport was disassociated from what was seen as the potentially subversive self-defense aspects and family lineages of Chinese martial arts.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: In 1958, the government established the All-China Wushu Association as an umbrella organization to regulate martial arts training. The Chinese State Commission for Physical Culture and Sports took the lead in creating standardized forms for most of the major arts. During this period, a national Wushu system that included standard forms, teaching curriculum, and instructor grading was established. Wushu was introduced at both the high school and university level. The suppression of traditional teaching was relaxed during the Era of Reconstruction (1976–1989), as Communist ideology became more accommodating to alternative viewpoints. In 1979, the State Commission for Physical Culture and Sports created a special task force to reevaluate the teaching and practice of Wushu.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: In 1986, the Chinese National Research Institute of Wushu was established as the central authority for the research and administration of Wushu activities in the People's Republic of China.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Changing government policies and attitudes towards sports, in general, led to the closing of the State Sports Commission (the central sports authority) in 1998. This closure is viewed as an attempt to partially de-politicize organized sports and move Chinese sport policies towards a more market-driven approach. As a result of these changing sociological factors within China, both traditional styles and modern Wushu approaches are being promoted by the Chinese government.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Wuxia or "martial arts fiction" is a popular genre that emerged in the early 20th century and peaked in popularity during the 1960s to 1980s. Wuxia films were produced from the 1920s. The Kuomintang suppressed wuxia, accusing it of promoting superstition and violent anarchy. Because of this, wuxia came to flourish in British Hong Kong, and the genre of kung fu movie in Hong Kong action cinema became wildly popular, coming to international attention from the 1970s. The genre underwent a drastic decline in the late 1990s as the Hong Kong film industry was crushed by economic depression.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: In the wake of Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000), there has been somewhat of a revival of Chinese-produced wuxia films aimed at an international audience, including Zhang Yimou's "Hero" (2002), "House of Flying Daggers" (2004) and "Curse of the Golden Flower" (2006), as well as Su Chao-pin and John Woo's "Reign of Assassins" (2010).


title: Chinese martial arts

text: China has a long history of martial arts traditions that includes hundreds of different styles. Over the past two thousand years, many distinctive styles have been developed, each with its own set of techniques and ideas. There are also common themes to the different styles, which are often classified by "families" (; ), "sects" (; ) or "schools" (; ). There are styles that mimic movements from animals and others that gather inspiration from various Chinese philosophies, myths and legends. Some styles put most of their focus into the harnessing of qi, while others concentrate on competition.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Chinese martial arts can be split into various categories to differentiate them: For example, "external" () and "internal" (). Chinese martial arts can also be categorized by location, as in "northern" () and "southern" () as well, referring to what part of China the styles originated from, separated by the Yangtze River (長江); Chinese martial arts may even be classified according to their province or city. The main perceived difference between northern and southern styles is that the northern styles tend to emphasize fast and powerful kicks, high jumps and generally fluid and rapid movement, while the southern styles focus more on strong arm and hand techniques, and stable, immovable stances and fast footwork. Examples of the northern styles include changquan and xingyiquan. Examples of the southern styles include Bak Mei, Wuzuquan, Choy Li Fut, and Wing Chun. Chinese martial arts can also be divided according to religion, imitative-styles (), and family styles such as Hung Gar (). There are distinctive differences in the training between different groups of the Chinese martial arts regardless of the type of classification. However, few experienced martial artists make a clear distinction between internal and external styles, or subscribe to the idea of northern systems being predominantly kick-based and southern systems relying more heavily on upper-body techniques. Most styles contain both hard and soft elements, regardless of their internal nomenclature. Analyzing the difference in accordance with yin and yang principles, philosophers would assert that the absence of either one would render the practitioner's skills unbalanced or deficient, as yin and yang alone are each only half of a whole. If such differences did once exist, they have since been blurred.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Chinese martial arts training consists of the following components: basics, forms, applications and weapons; different styles place varying emphasis on each component. In addition, philosophy, ethics and even medical practice are highly regarded by most Chinese martial arts. A complete training system should also provide insight into Chinese attitudes and culture.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: The "Basics" () are a vital part of any martial training, as a student cannot progress to the more advanced stages without them. Basics are usually made up of rudimentary techniques, conditioning exercises, including stances. Basic training may involve simple movements that are performed repeatedly; other examples of basic training are stretching, meditation, striking, throwing, or jumping. Without strong and flexible muscles, management of Qi or breath, and proper body mechanics, it is impossible for a student to progress in the Chinese martial arts. A common saying concerning basic training in Chinese martial arts is as follows:


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Stances (steps or 步法) are structural postures employed in Chinese martial arts training. They represent the foundation and the form of a fighter's base. Each style has different names and variations for each stance. Stances may be differentiated by foot position, weight distribution, body alignment, etc. Stance training can be practiced statically, the goal of which is to maintain the structure of the stance through a set time period, or dynamically, in which case a series of movements is performed repeatedly. The Horse stance (; ) and the bow stance are examples of stances found in many styles of Chinese martial arts.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: In many Chinese martial arts, meditation is considered to be an important component of basic training. Meditation can be used to develop focus, mental clarity and can act as a basis for qigong training.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: The concept of "qi" or "ch'i" () is encountered in a number of Chinese martial arts. "Qi" is variously defined as an inner energy or "life force" that is said to animate living beings; as a term for proper skeletal alignment and efficient use of musculature (sometimes also known as "fa jin" or "jin"); or as a shorthand for concepts that the martial arts student might not yet be ready to understand in full. These meanings are not necessarily mutually exclusive. The existence of "qi" as a measurable form of energy as discussed in traditional Chinese medicine has no basis in the scientific understanding of physics, medicine, biology or human physiology.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: There are many ideas regarding the control of one's qi energy to such an extent that it can be used for healing oneself or others. Some styles believe in focusing "qi" into a single point when attacking and aim at specific areas of the human body. Such techniques are known as dim mak and have principles that are similar to acupressure.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Most Chinese styles also make use of training in the broad arsenal of Chinese weapons for conditioning the body as well as coordination and strategy drills. Weapons training (; ) is generally carried out after the student becomes proficient with the basic forms and applications training. The basic theory for weapons training is to consider the weapon as an extension of the body. It has the same requirements for footwork and body coordination as the basics. The process of weapon training proceeds with forms, forms with partners and then applications. Most systems have training methods for each of the Eighteen Arms of Wushu(; ) in addition to specialized instruments specific to the system.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: "Application" refers to the practical use of combative techniques. Chinese martial arts techniques are ideally based on efficiency and effectiveness. Application includes non-compliant drills, such as Pushing Hands in many internal martial arts, and sparring, which occurs within a variety of contact levels and rule sets.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: When and how applications are taught varies from style to style. Today, many styles begin to teach new students by focusing on exercises in which each student knows a prescribed range of combat and technique to drill on. These drills are often semi-compliant, meaning one student does not offer active resistance to a technique, in order to allow its demonstrative, clean execution. In more resisting drills, fewer rules apply, and students practice how to react and respond. 'Sparring' refers to a more advanced format, which simulates a combat situation while including rules that reduce the chance of serious injury.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Competitive sparring disciplines include Chinese kickboxing Sǎnshǒu () and Chinese folk wrestling Shuāijiāo (), which were traditionally contested on a raised platform arena, or Lèitái (). Lèitái were used in public challenge matches first appeared in the Song Dynasty. The objective for those contests was to knock the opponent from a raised platform by any means necessary.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: San Shou represents the modern development of Lei Tai contests, but with rules in place to reduce the chance of serious injury. Many Chinese martial art schools teach or work within the rule sets of Sanshou, working to incorporate the movements, characteristics, and theory of their style. Chinese martial artists also compete in non-Chinese or mixed Combat sport, including boxing, kickboxing and Mixed martial arts.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: "Forms" or "taolu" () in Chinese are series of predetermined movements combined so they can be practiced as a continuous set of movements. Forms were originally intended to preserve the lineage of a particular style branch, and were often taught to advanced students selected for that purpose. Forms contained both literal, representative and exercise-oriented forms of applicable techniques that students could extract, test, and train in through sparring sessions.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Today, many consider "taolu" to be one of the most important practices in Chinese martial arts. Traditionally, they played a smaller role in training for combat application and took a back seat to sparring, drilling, and conditioning. Forms gradually build up a practitioner's flexibility, internal and external strength, speed and stamina, and they teach balance and coordination. Many styles contain forms that use weapons of various lengths and types, using one or two hands. Some styles focus on a certain type of weapon. Forms are meant to be both practical, usable, and applicable as well as to promote fluid motion, meditation, flexibility, balance, and coordination. Students are encouraged to visualize an attacker while training the form.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: There are two general types of "taolu" in Chinese martial arts. Most common are "solo forms" performed by a single student. There are also "sparring" forms — choreographed fighting sets performed by two or more people. Sparring forms were designed both to acquaint beginning fighters with basic measures and concepts of combat and to serve as performance pieces for the school. Weapons-based sparring forms are especially useful for teaching students the extension, range, and technique required to manage a weapon.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: The term "taolu (套路)" is a shortened version of "Tao Lu Yun Dong (套路運動)", an expression introduced only recently with the popularity of modern wushu. This expression refers to "exercise sets" and used in the context of athletics or sport.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: In contrast, in traditional Chinese martial arts alternative terminologies for the training (練) of 'sets or forms "are:"


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Traditional "sparring" sets, called "dui da" (對打) or "dui lian" (對練), were an essential part of Chinese martial arts for centuries. "Dui lian" means, to train by a pair of combatants opposing each other—the character "lian" (練), refers to practice; to train; to perfect one's skill; to drill. As well, often one of these terms are also included in the name of fighting sets (雙演; "shuang yan"), "paired practice" (掙勝; "zheng sheng"), "to struggle with strength for victory" (敵; "di"), match – the character suggests to strike an enemy; and "to break" (破; "po").


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Generally, there are 21, 18, 12, 9 or 5 drills or 'exchanges/groupings' of attacks and counterattacks, in each "dui lian" set. These drills were considered only generic patterns and never meant to be considered inflexible 'tricks'. Students practiced smaller parts/exchanges, individually with opponents switching sides in a continuous flow. "Dui lian" were not only sophisticated and effective methods of passing on the fighting knowledge of the older generation, but they were also essential and effective training methods. The relationship between single sets and contact sets is complicated, in that some skills cannot be developed with solo 'sets', and, conversely, with "dui lian". Unfortunately, it appears that most traditional combat oriented "dui lian" and their training methodology have disappeared, especially those concerning weapons. There are several reasons for this. In modern Chinese martial arts, most of the "dui lian" are recent inventions designed for light props resembling weapons, with safety and drama in mind. The role of this kind of training has degenerated to the point of being useless in a practical sense, and, at best, is just performance.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: By the early Song period, sets were not so much "individual isolated technique strung together" but rather were composed of techniques and counter technique groupings. It is quite clear that "sets" and "fighting (two-person) sets" have been instrumental in traditional Chinese martial arts for many hundreds of years—even before the Song Dynasty. There are images of two-person weapon training in Chinese stone painting going back at least to the Eastern Han Dynasty.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: According to what has been passed on by the older generations, the approximate ratio of contact sets to single sets was approximately 1:3. In other words, about 30% of the 'sets' practiced at Shaolin were contact sets, "dui lian", and two-person drill training. This ratio is, in part, evidenced by the Qing Dynasty mural at Shaolin.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: For most of its history, Shaolin martial arts was mostly weapon-focused: staves were used to defend the monastery, not bare hands. Even the more recent military exploits of Shaolin during the Ming and Qing Dynasties involved weapons. According to some traditions, monks first studied basics for one year and were then taught staff fighting so that they could protect the monastery. Although wrestling has been as sport in China for centuries, weapons have been an essential part of Chinese wushu since ancient times. If one wants to talk about recent or 'modern' developments in Chinese martial arts (including Shaolin for that matter), it is the over-emphasis on bare hand fighting. During the Northern Song Dynasty (976- 997 A.D) when platform fighting is known as "Da Laitai" (Title Fights Challenge on Platform) first appeared, these fights were with only swords and staves. Although later, when bare hand fights appeared as well, it was the weapons events that became the most famous. These open-ring competitions had regulations and were organized by government organizations; the public also organized some. The government competitions, held in the capital and prefectures, resulted in appointments for winners, to military posts.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Even though forms in Chinese martial arts are intended to depict realistic martial techniques, the movements are not always identical to how techniques would be applied in combat. Many forms have been elaborated upon, on the one hand, to provide better combat preparedness, and on the other hand to look more aesthetically pleasing. One manifestation of this tendency toward elaboration beyond combat application is the use of lower stances and higher, stretching kicks. These two maneuvers are unrealistic in combat and are used in forms for exercise purposes. Many modern schools have replaced practical defense or offense movements with acrobatic feats that are more spectacular to watch, thereby gaining favor during exhibitions and competitions. This has led to criticisms by traditionalists of the endorsement of the more acrobatic, show-oriented Wushu competition. Historically forms were often performed for entertainment purposes long before the advent of modern Wushu as practitioners have looked for supplementary income by performing on the streets or in theaters. Documentation in ancient literature during the Tang Dynasty (618–907) and the Northern Song Dynasty (960–1279) suggests some sets, (including two + person sets: "dui da" also called "dui lian") became very elaborate and 'flowery', many mainly concerned with aesthetics. During this time, some martial arts systems devolved to the point that they became popular forms of martial art storytelling entertainment shows. This created an entire category of martial arts known as "Hua Fa Wuyi". During the Northern Song period, it was noted by historians this type of training had a negative influence on training in the military.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Many traditional Chinese martial artists, as well as practitioners of modern sport combat, have become critical of the perception that forms work is more relevant to the art than sparring and drill application, while most continue to see traditional forms practice within the traditional context—as vital to both proper combat execution, the Shaolin aesthetic as an art form, as well as upholding the meditative function of the physical art form.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Another reason why techniques often appear different in forms when contrasted with sparring application is thought by some to come from the concealment of the actual functions of the techniques from outsiders.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Forms practice is mostly known for teaching combat techniques yet when practicing forms, the practitioner focuses on posture, breathing, and performing the techniques of both right and left sides of the body.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: The word "wu" (; ') means "martial". Its Chinese character is made of two parts; the first meaning "walk" or "stop" (; ') and the second meaning "lance" (; '). This implies that "wu 武" is a defensive use of combat. The term "wushu 武術" meaning "martial arts" goes back as far as the Liang Dynasty (502–557) in an anthology compiled by Xiao Tong (), (Prince Zhaoming; d. 531), called "Selected Literature" (; '). The term is found in the second verse of a poem by Yan Yanzhi titled: 皇太子釋奠會作詩 "Huang Taizi Shidian Hui Zuoshi".


title: Chinese martial arts

text: The earliest term for 'martial arts' can be found in the Han History (206BC-23AD) was "military fighting techniques" (; '). During the Song period (c.960) the name changed to "martial arts" (; '). In 1928 the name was changed to "national arts" (; "") when the National Martial Arts Academy was established in Nanjing. The term reverted to "wǔshù" under the People's Republic of China during the early 1950s.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: As forms have grown in complexity and quantity over the years, and many forms alone could be practiced for a lifetime, modern styles of Chinese martial arts have developed that concentrate solely on forms, and do not practice application at all. These styles are primarily aimed at exhibition and competition, and often include more acrobatic jumps and movements added for enhanced visual effect compared to the traditional styles. Those who generally prefer to practice traditional styles, focused less on exhibition, are often referred to as traditionalists. Some traditionalists consider the competition forms of today's Chinese martial arts as too commercialized and losing much of their original values.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Traditional Chinese schools of martial arts, such as the famed Shaolin monks, often dealt with the study of martial arts not just as a means of self-defense or mental training, but as a system of ethics. "Wude" () can be translated as "martial morality" and is constructed from the words "wu" (), which means martial, and "de" (), which means morality. "Wude" deals with two aspects; "Virtue of deed" and "Virtue of mind". Virtue of deed concerns social relations; morality of mind is meant to cultivate the inner harmony between the emotional mind (; ) and the wisdom mind (; ). The ultimate goal is reaching "no extremity" (; ) – closely related to the Taoist concept of wu wei – where both wisdom and emotions are in harmony with each other.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: References to the concepts and use of Chinese martial arts can be found in popular culture. Historically, the influence of Chinese martial arts can be found in books and in the performance arts specific to Asia. Recently, those influences have extended to the movies and television that targets a much wider audience. As a result, Chinese martial arts have spread beyond its ethnic roots and have a global appeal.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Martial arts play a prominent role in the literature genre known as wuxia (). This type of fiction is based on Chinese concepts of chivalry, a separate martial arts society (; ) and a central theme involving martial arts. Wuxia stories can be traced as far back as 2nd and 3rd century BCE, becoming popular by the Tang Dynasty and evolving into novel form by the Ming Dynasty. This genre is still extremely popular in much of Asia and provides a major influence for the public perception of the martial arts.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: and especially Chinese opera, of which Beijing opera is one of the best-known examples. This popular form of drama dates back to the Tang Dynasty and continues to be an example of Chinese culture. Some martial arts movements can be found in Chinese opera and some martial artists can be found as performers in Chinese operas.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: In modern times, Chinese martial arts have spawned the genre of cinema known as the Kung fu film. The films of Bruce Lee were instrumental in the initial burst of Chinese martial arts' popularity in the West in the 1970s. Bruce Lee was the iconic international superstar that popularized Chinese martial arts in the West with his own variation of Chinese martial arts called "Jeet Kune Do". It is a hybrid style of martial art that Bruce Lee practiced and mastered. "Jeet Kune Do" is his very own unique style of martial art that uses little to minimum movement but maximizes the effect to his opponents. The influence of Chinese martial art have been widely recognized and have a global appeal in Western cinemas starting off with Bruce Lee.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Martial artists and actors such as Jet Li and Jackie Chan have continued the appeal of movies of this genre. Jackie Chan successfully brought in a sense of humour in his fighting style in his movies. Martial arts films from China are often referred to as "kung fu movies" (), or "wire-fu" if extensive wire work is performed for special effects, and are still best known as part of the tradition of kung fu theater. (see also: wuxia, Hong Kong action cinema). The talent of these individuals have broadened Hong Kong's cinematography production and rose to popularity overseas, influencing Western cinemas.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: In the west, kung fu has become a regular action staple, and makes appearances in many films that would not generally be considered "Martial Arts" films. These films include but are not limited to "The Matrix" franchise, "Kill Bill", and "The Transporter".


title: Chinese martial arts

text: Martial arts themes can also be found on television networks. A U.S. network TV western series of the early 1970s called "Kung Fu" also served to popularize the Chinese martial arts on television. With 60 episodes over a three-year span, it was one of the first North American TV shows that tried to convey the philosophy and practice in Chinese martial arts. The use of Chinese martial arts techniques can now be found in most TV action series, although the philosophy of Chinese martial arts is seldom portrayed in depth.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: "The Kung Fu Diaries: The Life and Times of a Dragon Master (1920-2001)" is a work of fiction, combining aspects of biography, historical fiction, and guide to instruction purportedly from a collection of diaries or papers left by a Kung-Fu Dragon Master.


title: Chinese martial arts

text: In the 1970s, Bruce Lee was beginning to gain popularity in Hollywood for his martial arts movies. The fact that he was a non-white male who portrayed self-reliance and righteous self-discipline resonated with black audiences and made him an important figure in this community. Around 1973, Kung Fu movies became a hit in America across all backgrounds; however, black audiences maintained the films’ popularity well after the general public lost interest. Black youth in New York City were still going from every borough to Times Square every night to watch the latest movies. Amongst these individuals were those coming from the Bronx where, during this time, hip-hop was beginning to take form. One of the pioneers responsible for the development of the foundational aspects of hip-hop was DJ Kool Herc, who began creating this new form of music by taking rhythmic breakdowns of songs and looping them. From the new music came a new form of dance known as b-boying or breakdancing, a style of street dance consisting of improvised acrobatic moves. The pioneers of this dance credit kung fu as one of its influences. Moves such as the crouching low leg sweep and “up rocking” (standing combat moves) are influenced by choreographed kung-fu fights. The dancers’ ability to improvise these moves led way to battles, which were dance competitions between two dancers or crews judged on their creativity, skills, and musicality. In a documentary, Crazy Legs, a member of breakdancing group Rock Steady Crew, described the breakdancing battle being like an old kung fu movie, “where the one kung fu master says something along the lines of ‘hun your kung fu is good, but mine is better,’ then a fight erupts.”


title: Hua Mulan

text: Hua Mulan () is a legendary folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century CE) of Chinese history.


title: Hua Mulan

text: According to legend, Mulan took her aged father's place in the conscription for the army by disguising herself as a man. In the story, after prolonged and distinguished military service against nomadic hordes beyond the northern frontier, Mulan is honored by the emperor but declines a position of high office. She retires to her hometown, where she is reunited with her family and reveals her gender, much to the astonishment of her comrades. Scholars generally consider Mulan to be a fictional character. Hua Mulan is depicted in the Wu Shuang Pu (, "Table of Peerless Heroes") by Jin Guliang.


title: Hua Mulan

text: The first written record of Mulan is the Ballad of Mulan, a folk song believed to have been composed during the Northern Wei dynasty (386–535 CE) and compiled in an anthology of books and songs during the Southern Chen dynasty (557–589 CE). The historical setting of the "Ballad of Mulan" is usually the Northern Wei's military campaigns against the nomadic Rouran. A later adaptation has Mulan active around the founding of the Tang dynasty ( 620 CE).


title: Hua Mulan

text: The story of Mulan was taken up in a number of later works, including the 16th-century historical fiction "", and many screen and stage adaptations. The Hua Mulan crater on Venus is named after her.


title: Hua Mulan

text: The "" was first transcribed in the "Musical Records of Old and New", a compilation of books and songs by the monk Zhijiang in the Southern Chen dynasty in the 6th century. The earliest extant text of the poem comes from an 11th- or 12th-century anthology known as the "Music Bureau Collection", whose author, Guo Maoqian, explicitly mentions the "Musical Records of Old and New" as his source for the poem. As a ballad, the lines do not necessarily have equal numbers of syllables. The poem consists of 31 couplets and is mostly composed of five-character phrases, with a few extending to seven or nine.


title: Hua Mulan

text: An adaptation by playwright Xu Wei (d. 1593) dramatized the tale as "The Female Mulan" or, more fully, "The Heroine Mulan Goes to War in Her Father's Place", in two acts. Later, the character of Mulan was incorporated into the "Romance of Sui and Tang", a novel written by Chu Renhuo ().


title: Hua Mulan

text: The heroine of the poem is given different family names in different versions of her story. The "Musical Records of Old and New" states Mulan's given name is not known and therefore implies Mulan is her surname. As the "Ballad of Mulan" is set in the Northern Wei dynasty when northern China was ruled by ethnic Xianbei, a proto-Mongolic people, there is some evidence that Mulan was not ethnic Han Chinese but Xianbei, who had exclusively compound surnames. Mulan may have been the sinified version of the Xianbei word "umran" which means prosperous.


title: Hua Mulan

text: According to later books such as "Female Mulan", her family name is Zhu (), while the "Romance of Sui and Tang" says it is Wei (). The family name "Hua" (), which was introduced by Xu Wei, has become the most popular in recent years, in part because of its more poetic meaning and association with the given name "Mulan" (), which literally means "magnolia."


title: Hua Mulan

text: Mulan's name is included in Yan Xiyuan's "One Hundred Beauties", which is a compilation of various women in Chinese folklore. There is still a debate whether Mulan is a historical person or just a legend, as her name does not appear in "Exemplary Women" which is a compilation of biographies of women during the Northern Wei dynasty.


title: Hua Mulan

text: Though "The Ballad of Mulan" itself does not expressly indicate the historical setting, the story is commonly attributed to the Northern Wei dynasty due to geographic and cultural references in the ballad. The Northern Wei dynasty was founded by the Tuoba clan of ethnic Xianbei who united northern China in the 4th century (Conquest dynasty). The Tuoba Xianbei rulers were themselves nomads from the northern steppes and became sinified as they ruled and settled in northern China. The Tuoba Xianbei took on the Chinese dynasty name "Wei", changed their own surname from "Tuoba" to "Yuan", and moved the capital from Pingcheng, modern-day Datong, Shanxi Province in the northern periphery of Imperial China, to Luoyang, south of the Yellow River, in the Central Plain, the traditional heartland of China. The emperors of the Northern Wei were known both by the sacred Chinese title, "Son of Heaven", and by "Khagan", the title of the leader of nomadic kingdoms. "The Ballad of Mulan" refers to the sovereign by both titles. The Northern Wei also adopted the governing institutions of Imperial China, and the office of "shangshulang" () the Khagan offered Mulan is a ministerial position within the "shangshusheng" (), the highest organ of executive power under the emperor. This offering indicates Mulan was trained in the martial arts and literary arts as she was capable of serving as a civilian official charged with issuing and interpreting written government orders.


title: Hua Mulan

text: The Xianbei in China also retained certain nomadic traditions, and Xianbei women were typically skilled horseback riders. Another popular Northern Wei folk poem called "Li Bo's Younger Sister" praises Yong Rong, Li Bo's younger sister, for her riding and archery skills. "The Ballad of Mulan" may have reflected the gender roles and status of women in nomadic societies.


title: Hua Mulan

text: The Northern Wei was engaged in protracted military conflict with the nomadic Rouran, who frequently raided the northern Chinese frontier to loot and pillage. Northern Wei emperors considered the Rouran to be uncivilized "barbarians" and called them "Ruanruan" or wriggling worms. According to the "Book of Wei", the dynasty's official history, Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei launched a military expedition in 429 against the Rouran by advancing on the Black Mountain and then extending northward to the Yanran Mountain. Both locations are cited in "The Ballad". The Black Mountain corresponds to Shahu Mountain (), located southeast of modern-day Hohhot in Inner Mongolia. Yan Mountain, the shorthand for Yanran Mountain (), is now known as the Khangai Mountains of central Mongolia. The Northern Wei sought to protect the frontier by establishing a string of frontier garrison commands across what is today Inner Mongolia.


title: Hua Mulan

text: Mulan sighs at her loom. The Khagan is mobilizing the military, and her father is named in each of the conscription notices from the emperor. Her father is old and her younger brother is just a child, so she decides to take her father's place. She buys a fine horse from the eastern market, saddle and stirrup from the western market, bridle and reins from the southern market and a long whip from the northern market.


title: Hua Mulan

text: She bids farewell to her parents in the morning and leaves for the Black Mountain, encamping by the Yellow River in the evening, where she cannot hear the calls of her parents due to the rushing waters; only the sounds of the barbarians' cavalry in the Yan Mountains. She advances ten thousand "li" to battle as if flying past the mountains. The sound of the sentry gong cuts through the cold night air, and the moonlight reflects off her metal armor. A hundred battles take place, and generals die.


title: Hua Mulan

text: After the ten-year campaign, the stout veterans return to meet the Son of Heaven(the emperor/Khagan), enthroned in the splendid palace, who confers promotions in rank and prizes of hundreds of thousands. He asks Mulan what she would like. Mulan turns down the high-ranking position of "shangshulang" in the central government, and asks only for a speedy steed to take her home.


title: Hua Mulan

text: Her parents, upon hearing her return, welcome her outside their hometown. Her elder sister puts on her fine dress. Her younger brother sharpens the knife for the swine and sheep. Mulan returns to her room, changes from her tabard into her old clothes. She combs her hair by the window and, before the mirror, fastens golden yellow flowers. Her comrades are shocked to see her. For 12 years of their enlistment together, they did not realize that she was a woman.


title: Hua Mulan

text: In response, Mulan offers a metaphor: "The male hare has heavy front paws. The female hare tends to squint. But when they are running side-by-side close to the ground, who can tell me which is male or female?"


title: First Battle of Bull Run

text: The First Battle of Bull Run (the name used by Union forces), also known as the Battle of First Manassas (the name used by Confederate forces), was the first major battle of the American Civil War. The battle was fought on July 21, 1861, in Prince William County, Virginia, just north of the city of Manassas and about thirty miles west-southwest of Washington, D.C. The Union's forces were slow in positioning themselves, allowing Confederate reinforcements time to arrive by rail. Each side had about 18,000 poorly trained and poorly led troops. It was a Confederate victory, followed by a disorganized retreat of the Union forces.


title: First Battle of Bull Run

text: Just months after the start of the war at Fort Sumter, the Northern public clamored for a march against the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, which was expected to bring an early end to the Confederacy. Yielding to political pressure, Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell led his unseasoned Union Army across Bull Run against the equally inexperienced Confederate Army of Brig. Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard camped near Manassas Junction. McDowell's ambitious plan for a surprise flank attack on the Confederate left was poorly executed; nevertheless, the Confederates, who had been planning to attack the Union left flank, found themselves at an initial disadvantage.


title: First Battle of Bull Run

text: Confederate reinforcements under Brig. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston arrived from the Shenandoah Valley by railroad, and the course of the battle quickly changed. A brigade of Virginians under a relatively unknown brigadier general from the Virginia Military Institute, Thomas J. Jackson, stood its ground, which resulted in Jackson receiving his famous nickname, "Stonewall". The Confederates launched a strong counterattack, and as the Union troops began withdrawing under fire, many panicked and the retreat turned into a rout. McDowell's men frantically ran without order in the direction of Washington, D.C.


title: First Battle of Bull Run

text: Both armies were sobered by the fierce fighting and the many casualties and realized that the war was going to be much longer and bloodier than either had anticipated. The First Battle of Bull Run highlighted many of the problems and deficiencies that were typical of the first year of the war. Units were committed piecemeal, attacks were frontal, infantry failed to protect exposed artillery, tactical intelligence was minimal, and neither commander was able to employ his whole force effectively. McDowell, with 35,000 men, could commit only about 18,000, and the combined Confederate forces, with about 32,000 men, also committed 18,000.


title: First Battle of Bull Run

text: On December 20, 1860, South Carolina was the first of seven Southern States to declare secession of the state from the Union of the United States. By February 1, 1861, six other Southern States passed ordinances of secession. The Constitution of the Confederate States of America was adopted in Montgomery, Alabama on February 8, 1861. On March 1, 1861, Confederate States Army forces assumed control of the military situation at Charleston, South Carolina from state forces. On April 12, 1861, open warfare between the Confederate States and the United States began when Confederate forces barraged Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, which had continued to be held by a United States Army garrison. On April 15, 1861 (two days after the Federal Army forces surrendered at Fort Sumter, one day after the formal surrender), President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring an insurrection against the laws of the United States had taken place.