title: Xiamen

text: Sanyang Motor's subsidiary Xiamen Xiashing Motorcycle Company, Limited operates an ODM/Original equipment manufacturer motorcycle parts manufacturing plant in Xiamen. The products are manufactured to support French-based Peugeot Motocycles and Korean-based S&T.


title: Xiamen

text: The Gaoji Causeway, five main road bridges (the Jimei, Xiamen, Xiang'an, Xinglin, and Haicang Bridges), and two undersea tunnels (Xiang'an Tunnel and Haicang Tunnel) link Xiamen Island with the mainland.


title: Xiamen

text: The main forms of public transportation in Xiamen are buses, bus rapid transit (BRT), and the subway. Local people now can use Alipay, a mobile payment application by Alibaba, to pay for the city's bus, subway, and BRT.


title: Xiamen

text: Taxis can be easily hailed in most areas of the city. Bicycles are commonly used by residents, especially on Xiamen Island. Unlike many Chinese cities, motorcycles, mopeds, tricycles, and wooden handcarts are not permitted in Xiamen Island (Siming and Huli). The city has upheld a ban on these vehicles since the 1990s. Electric bikes are permitted with proper licensing and obedience of traffic laws. On the small island of Gulangyu off Xiamen Island, automobiles are also banned.


title: Xiamen

text: Xiamen is a railway hub city in southeast coast of China and has two stations, Xiamen Railway Station and Xiamen North Railway Station. Passengers can buy the tickets on www.12306.cn.


title: Xiamen

text: Xiamen is served by the Yingtan–Xiamen railway, Fuzhou–Xiamen railway, Longyan–Xiamen railway and the Xiamen–Shenzhen railway, which are connected to China's national railway network and make it possible for passengers to arrive in Shanghai in five hours, Shenzhen in three-hour, and Fuzhou in two hours. Currently, the Fuzhou–Xiamen high-speed railway between Fuzhou and Xiamen and an intercity rail transit connecting Xiamen, Zhangzhou and Quanzhou are under plan.


title: Xiamen

text: The Xiamen Railway Station on the island of Xiamen is connected to the mainland by a railway bridge. It is 10 km from Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport, 23 km from Xiamen North railway station and 7 km from Nanputuo Temple. First opened in 1957, it underwent major reconstruction and expansion in March 2014 and was put into service again on 4 February 2015.


title: Xiamen

text: The Xiamen North Railway Station is located in Jimei District. In operation since April 2010, the station is 13 kilometers from Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport and 23 km from Xiamen Railway Station. The station operates bullet trains only. At present, its trains run to Beijing, Shanghai, Fuzhou, Wuhan, Chongqing, Nanjing, Shenzhen and other cities.


title: Xiamen

text: The expressway networks of Xiamen and the mid-west area of Chinese mainland are connected seamlessly by Shenyang-Haikou Highway, Xiamen-Chengdu Highway, Xiamen-Shaxian Highway, and urban expressways.


title: Xiamen

text: Xiamen Bridge, the first road bridge in China that crossed the straits, opened to public in 1991. Eight years later, Haicang Bridge was opened to traffic, which made it Asia's first and world's second suspension bridge with floating rebar at the time. In 2008, Xiamen built Jimei Bridge and Xinglin Bridge. Meanwhile, 14 roads for entry and exit at the north gate of Xiamen were added to the map. Moreover, there is the Xiang'an Bridge, scheduled to be opened to traffic in 2023, under construction. At present, Xiamen is working on a road system containing two inner and outer ring roads as well as eight supplementary roads.


title: Xiamen

text: In addition to bridges, tunnels also help Xiamen connect the inside and outside parts of the island. Xiang'an Tunnel is China's first submarine tunnel with large cross-section and is also the sixth route to access Xiamen Island. It was opened to traffic on 26 April 2010, with a total length of 8.695 km, of which the tunnel part covering 6.05 km connecting Xiaman Island and Xiang'an district. Moreover, there is the Haicang Tunnel, was opened to traffic on 17 June 2021. It has a total length of 7.102 km, of which the tunnel part covering 6.28 km. It set three interchange to connect Haicang and Huli districts.


title: Xiamen

text: Xiamen subway initiated construction on 1 April 2014 and was put into experimental operation on 31 December 2017. According to Xiamen's rail traffic planning approved by the central government, the city has three metro lines by 25 June 2021 and will also accelerate the construction of Metro Line 4 and 6, with a total length of 233 kilometers. The city will witness the rapid development of its subway traffic network. The Metro Line 1, 2 and 3 has currently started operation.


title: Xiamen

text: Xiamen BRT was put into operation on 31 August 2008. Its BRT system features a dedicated bus-only closed road system with stations and ticketing system similar to light rail. Most of the 115-kilometer (71 mi) BRT network consists of bus lanes along expressways and elevated BRT viaducts on Xiamen Island. BRT routes have no traffic lights and travel speed is limited by design to 60 kilometers per hour (37 mph). Nine BRT routes are currently in service, including BRT-1 Route, BRT-2 Route, Huandao Avenue BRT Route, Chenggong Avenue BRT Route and Connecting BRT Route. The fare is 0.6 RMB per km for the air-conditioned busses. The BRT is supplemented by 20 shuttle bus services that connect nearby places to the BRT stations. The shuttle bus service has a flat rate of 0.5 RMB. Fare discount is available when pre-paid e-card is used.


title: Xiamen

text: As early as 2013, Haicang built a 13.4-kilometer-long green cycle-way outside Xiamen Island, making it the first district in the city to fulfill a public bicycle system. At the beginning of 2017, Xiamen built the country's first and the world's longest aerial cycle-way. The white hollow guardrails with 1.5 meters high on both sides won't make people "fear of height" or cause any impact on the vision.


title: Xiamen

text: The Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport (IATA: XMN; ICAO: ZSAM) in northeastern Xiamen Island is a main air hub in East China with flights to over 90 domestic and international destinations. Among airports in China, Xiamen ranked the top 14th in 2020. It handled 27.413363 million passengers in 2019, up 3.2% year-on-year. Total cargo and mail traffic reached 330,511.6 tons, and air traffic exceeded 192,929, year-on-year growth of -4.35% and -0.24%, respectively. The airport is the headquarters hub of XiamenAir, and hub of Shandong Airlines and China Eastern Airlines.


title: Xiamen

text: Xiamen has now launched 187 routes to 128 cities, and is developing into an international air transit hub covering Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania. It has direct flights to most cities in China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and major cities in East Asia like Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Seoul. Intercontinental flights to Amsterdam, Sydney, Melbourne, Vancouver, Seattle(stopover Shenzhen), Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris started from 2011. Xiamen also holds a strong network to Southeast Asian cities like Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Jakarta, Cebu, Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Phuket Island, Bali, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, and Sabah, to serve the large communities of southern Fujian's overseas diaspora and the increasing tourism flows.


title: Xiamen

text: There are also coach bus services connecting Xiamen with Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA). Australasia's mass-transit provider SkyBus is deepening its ties in Asia by partnering with Xiamen Airlines.


title: Xiamen

text: Xiamen began offering 144-hour visa-free transit services to foreign travelers from 53 countries on 1 January 2019.


title: Xiamen

text: Xiamen has passenger ferry services to cities along the coast of China as well as the neighbouring island of Kinmen (Quemoy) to the east, which is administered by the Republic of China on Taiwan. These ferries are all served from the Wutong Ferry Terminal to Shuitou Pier, Kinmen on the north-east side of the Xiamen Island (quite distant from downtown Xiamen), ferries to Kinmen take 60 minutes. There are facilities in both directions allowing for quick transfers between Xiamen Gaoqi Airport (for Mainland destinations) and Kinmen Airport (for Taiwanese destinations), which are very popular especially among large tour groups.


title: Xiamen

text: While the Heping Wharf Ferry Terminal on the south-west side of Xiamen Island offers short 5-minute boat rides to the island of Gulangyu, this ferry is only accessible by Xiamen residents. Tourists and non-locals must now take a longer 20-minute ferry ride from the main International Ferry Terminal, also called the Dongdu International Terminal, on the south-west side of Xiamen Island, as of 20 October 2014 with a fare increase from 8RMB to 35RMB. The purpose was to reduce the number of tourists accessing the island in an effort to conserve it. This terminal used to have ferries, taking 90 minutes, to Kinmen Island but were ceased in 2014.


title: Xiamen

text: The historic port of Xiamen in Yundang Bay on the southwest side of Xiamen Island has been converted into a lake by land reclamation projects.


title: Xiamen

text: The present-day Port of Xiamen lies on the northwestern shore of Xiamen Island, opposite its airport, and at eleven other sites around Xiamen Bay and along the Jiulong estuary, including the neighboring jurisdiction of Zhangzhou. The port facilities are interconnected by ship, road, and rail. The port has been one of the busiest in China since the early 1980s and is serviced by all of the 20 largest shipping lines in the world. In 2021, Xiamen ranked among the top 13 ports in the world for container freight.


title: Xiamen

text: The natural coastline in the port area is while the water is over in depth. There are 81 berths, including 16 deep-water berths, of which 6 operate containers of over 10,000 tonnes. Among other cargoes handled, Xiamen is the world's largest supply base for raw tungsten materials and sunglasses, exporting 120 million pairs each year.


title: Xiamen

text: Xiamen is also an important base in Fujian province for making medium-sized and large container vessels and yachts.


title: Xiamen

text: Xiamen and its surrounding countryside is known for its scenery and tree-lined beaches. Xiamen's Botanical Garden is a nature lover's paradise. The Buddhist Nanputuo Temple, dating back to the Tang dynasty, is a national treasure. Xiamen is also well known as a continuing frontline in the Chinese Civil War, with the nearby Kinmen Islands (Quemoy), Republic of China (Taiwan). Water Garden Expo Park has a total area of about , with a land area of consisting of five exhibition park islands, four ecological landscapes, islands, and two peninsulas, including the main pavilion, Chinese Education Park, Marine Culture Island, Spa Island, and other functional areas and related facilities.


title: Xiamen

text: Gulangyu, a former treaty port enclave, has views of the city and many Victorian-style buildings. The ticket price to the Gulangyu scenic spot is 50 yuan/person (including ferry costs and Haoyue Park ticket). There are small shops everywhere in Gulangyu where you can buy local products such as crafts, calligraphy, beads, carved lacquer, painted sculptures, ceramics and so on. It also leads the way in shopping streets full of restaurants and has numerous dishes apart from seafood.


title: Xiamen

text: Sunlight Rock (), nicknamed as Huang Rock, lies on the top of Longtou Mountain in south-central Gulangyu Island. Two rocks, leaning against each other, are the highest on the island which stand at 92.7 meters above sea level.


title: Xiamen

text: There is a saying that goes "if you haven't ascended Sunlight Rock, you haven't really been to Xiamen".


title: Xiamen

text: Kulangsu is an example of the cultural fusion that emerged from international exchanges, which remain legible in its urban fabric. Buildings here have a mixture of different architectural styles including Traditional Southern Fujian Style, Western Classical Revival Style and Veranda Colonial Style. An example of the fusion of various stylistic influences is a new architectural movement, the Amoy Deco Style, a synthesis of the Modernist style of the early 20th century and Art Deco.


title: Xiamen

text: Yundang Lake () is originally called Yundang Harbor, which was named after a bamboo's name that have grown in forests there.


title: Xiamen

text: The lake, standing at the center of the new and old urban areas of Xiamen, boasts night views, which has Bailuzhou in the center of the lake, the People's Hall at the back of the lake, a large number of high buildings and footpaths along the lake banks, and illuminated bridges.


title: Xiamen

text: The Hulishan Fortress () is a concrete defensive outpost on the south side of Xiamen, just across the water from the historically contentious Kinmen Islands.


title: Xiamen

text: The highlight for present-day visitors is the enormous cannon that still remains (there were originally two; one for east and west defense). Built by the German munitions company Krupp, the two 14 m (46 ft) cannons, when viewed in tandem with the dozens of other, smaller artillery.


title: Xiamen

text: Located at Huandao Rd, Zengcuoan () used to be a small fishing village near the sea. People who live by the water made their livings on the water. Gradually, many ancient houses with red bricks were established one after another and small alleys came into being.


title: Xiamen

text: Nowadays, Zengcuoan has become the gathering place of literature and art. With its unique geographical advantage and artistic characteristic, Zengcuoan attracts many innovative artists to live here. They operate shops here, which turns this small fishing village to be a cultural and recreational park.


title: Xiamen

text: Hidden in the downtown, with docks and low houses, Shapowei () entails the scene of the old Xiamen. The stone road baptized by the time and the rusty wharf both witness the growth of several generations of Xiamen people.


title: Xiamen

text: The flavor of old Xiamen has become the reason why young people with artistic talents like to go to Shapowei. In the past, there were many small and medium-sized wharfs, but now it is a destination for food and shopping.


title: Xiamen

text: Aotou Village (), located in the Xindian town in Xiang'an district, is near the sea and mountain. It is opposite to Kinmen Island and Xiamen Island across the sea. It is not only a famous hometown of overseas Chinese in South Fujian, but also a harbor and fishing village.


title: Xiamen

text: Just like the broad quadrangle courtyard in Beijing, and the Shikumen with Chinese and western features in Shanghai, the arcade building () is the symbol of Xiamen's traditional culture.


title: Xiamen

text: The popularity of arcade buildings is due to the boom of "going overseas" at the beginning of the 20th century. Many overseas Chinese who made a great fortune in foreign countries came back home with new business ideas as well as foreign architectural ideas.


title: Xiamen

text: Within the arcade building, the upstairs has rooms where people live while the downstairs has corridors which are used as shops.


title: Xiamen

text: The arcade buildings along Lujiang Ave, which are on the opposite of Gulangyu Island, enjoy a history of more than 100 years.


title: Xiamen

text: The Xiamen Horticulture Expo Garden () is located in Xinglin Bay in Jimei district, Xiamen, Fujian province.


title: Xiamen

text: The park covers a total area of about 10 square kilometers, with land and water landscapes accounting for half of the total area.


title: Xiamen

text: As the venue for the sixth China International Garden and Flower Exposition, the park enjoys a natural and environmentally-friendly layout. It consists of nine islands and various gardens with different styles.


title: Xiamen

text: It serves as a venue for horticultural exhibitions, tourism, recreational activities, and educational activities for the public.


title: Xiamen

text: Themed on aerospace, navigation, natural disasters and information communication, Chengyi Discovery Center () has seven exhibition areas, including dream seeking, space exploration, aeronautical laboratory, and navigation laboratory.


title: Xiamen

text: The center has five initiative key exhibition projects in China, including two special cinemas of X-Flight space exploration and pleasant trip, Tiangong-1, a huge slide, and light show. Besides, theme restaurants, coffee bar and shopping mall are available here. All these elements make the center China's first indoor large-scale science themed park.


title: Xiamen

text: Founded in 1983, Xiamen Museum () was located in Gulangyu Island, the most renowned scenic spot in the city, and was relocated to the Xiamen Culture and Arts Center in Siming district in 2007.


title: Xiamen

text: Covering 25,300 square meters, the new museum is six times larger than the original, and displays 30,000 pieces of cultural relics, mostly featuring porcelain, paintings, calligraphy works, jades, and stone carvings.


title: Xiamen

text: Tan Kah Kee Memorial () Museum is a museum to memorialize social and historic celebrities. Its building inherits unique southern Fujian features, which integrate with Jimei Aoyuan Park and Kah Kee Park, forming a tourist destination.


title: Xiamen

text: As holder of the cultural memorials of Tan Kah Kee (a well-known patriotic overseas Chinese leader), the museum is also an important patriotic education base in Xiamen.


title: Xiamen

text: Founded by Tan Kah Kee, an entrepreneur whose ancestral home is in Xiamen, the Overseas Chinese Museum () shows the history of Chinese people living outside their home country, integrating collections of cultural relics, exhibitions and academic research.


title: Xiamen

text: By March 2017, the museum was displaying more than 1,200 photos, 2,000 cultural relics and 1,000 specimens of rare birds, animals and marine creatures.


title: Xiamen

text: Gulangyu Island, listed as a world cultural heritage site in 2017, is also dubbed the Island of Pianos because more than 100 musical families once lived in the 1.87-square kilometer area.


title: Xiamen

text: The Piano Museum () exhibits more than 40 old pianos donated by the pianist Hu Youyi, including a gilded piano, a piano with four corners, the earliest one in the world, and a mechanical piano operated by pumping pedals.


title: Xiamen

text: Xiamen Olympic Museum () is the first Olympic-themed museum in China approved by the International Olympic Committee and Chinese Olympic Committee. It houses a collection of Olympic-related relics.


title: Xiamen

text: The Oriental Fish Bone Gallery () in Xiamen, Fujian province was founded by Chinese artist Lin Hanbing in April 2006 and is the first of its kind anywhere in the world.


title: Xiamen

text: Lin creates artworks by arranging raw materials, commonly food waste such as fish bones, fins, scales, eyes, shrimp antennae and crab shells, through 12 processing steps including separating bones and meat, washing, removing the fishy flavor, whitening, applying mildew proof, and dehydrating.


title: Xiamen

text: The raw materials, due to their various shapes and colors, are arranged by Lin into realistic paintings like flowers, birds and beasts, as well as abstract artworks imbued with a deeper meaning.


title: Xiamen

text: In recent years, Lin has changed his style from original landscape paintings to artwork that reflects environmental problems, including air, river, and sea pollution.


title: Xiamen

text: The museum () at No 122 Minzu Rd in Xiamen, Fujian province, is home to a variety of old gadgets that hold the memories of the coastal city. Chen Zhaowei, the 48-year-old native Xiamen curator, said the museum is inspired by and named for "The Analects of Confucius" and means 'incessant' in Chinese.


title: Xiamen

text: Xiamen is one of the origins of gongfu (kung fu) tea ceremony with a profound tea culture. The essence of Xiamen tea culture is tea ceremony, which involves five elements: tea leaves, water, tea set, fire and environment. Xiamen people mostly drink Oolong tea and especially love Anxi Tieguanyin, which is known as the highest grade of tea.


title: Xiamen

text: Jianggu () is a kind of storytelling in Minnan (southern Fujian province) dialect and can be seen in Minnan, Taiwan and Chinese inhabited areas in Southeast Asia.


title: Xiamen

text: The performer usually tells stories with vivid and funny slang, proverbs or doggerel, using a dramatic tone, strong facial expressions and body language to attract the audience. It is a popular traditional Chinese folk entertainment performance.


title: Xiamen

text: Mid-Autumn mooncake gambling (), betting on moon cakes, is a folk game played around the Mid-Autumn Festival. It originated in Xiamen and then traveled to the neighboring Zhangzhou, Quanzhou and Kinmen (Quemoy).


title: Xiamen

text: It is a game played with six dice. Just throw the dice into a bowl and the different pips you get stand for different ranks of awards you will win.


title: Xiamen

text: The gambling game has six ranks of awards, which were given the names of winners in ancient imperial examinations: "zhuangyuan", "bangyan", "tanhua", "jinshi", "juren" and "xiucai".


title: Xiamen

text: The celebration called ""Song Wang Chuan"" () is an very important and longstanding traditional festival held in coastal villages in Fujian province, Taiwan and oversea Minnan communities to avert calamities and pray for divine blessings.


title: Xiamen

text: Also known as ""Shao Wang Chuan"" () or ""Ji Wang Chuan"" (), this festival originated from a religious tradition that ancient voyagers released little boats or decorated ships to send off calamities or plague while invoking for the blessings of various Wang Ye like Zheng Chenggong, an admiral of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and the Taoist ritual "Hai Jiao". During the celebration, the local community would also incorporate a variety of folk performances into the traditional religious festival.


title: Xiamen

text: The custom was spread to Taiwan and oversea Minnan communities through boats traveling there, migration and religious exchange activities. It demonstrates the Minnan (southern Fujian) people's respect for the ocean, life, peace and justice, as well as their sympathy for vulnerable groups.


title: Xiamen

text: As with much of southern China, the staple foods of Xiamen have long been rice, seafood, pork, sweet potatoes, various pickled vegetables, and bok choy. Its traditional dishes form a branch of southern Fujianese cuisine, with Taiwanese influence. It is particularly well known within China for its street food and snacks. A local specialty is worm jelly "tǔsǔndòng"), a gelatin made from a kind of marine peanut worm.


title: Xiamen

text: Musicians who hail from Xiamen and Gulangyu Island include Huang Yujun, Yin Chengzong, Jing Yang, and Xu Feiping. It has a major symphony orchestra, the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra. Every May there's an international music festival, and piano competitions and music festivals are also frequently held. On Gulangyu, on Huangyan Road on the way to Sunlight Rock is the Gulangyu Concert Hall, where classical concerts are regularly held on weekends.


title: Xiamen

text: Nanyin (), dubbed "a living fossil of music", is one of the four oldest forms of Chinese music preserved in its original state. Also called "nanqu", "xianguan", "nanguan" or "nanyue", it developed from the imperial music of the Tang (618–907) and the Five Dynasties Period (906–960) and continues among people in Fujian's Quanzhou, Xiamen, Zhangzhou, as well as Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Southeast Asian regions.


title: Xiamen

text: Nanyin Opera consists of three parts: "zhitao", "dapu" and "sanqu". It can be performed in two forms: "tanchang" (singing while playing a musical instrument) and "qingchang" (singing without playing a musical instrument).


title: Xiamen

text: It also preserves the ancient tradition of lineups for performances in the Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220).


title: Xiamen

text: Various folk music instruments are used in nanyin, including "pipa", "dongxiao", "erxian", "sanxian", "pin"("qudi"), "nan'ai", "paiban", "xiangzhan", "sibao", "goujiao", "muyu" and "shuangling".


title: Xiamen

text: Gaojia Opera (; or Gejia Opera, Daban) is a traditional folk art in Minnan in southern Fujian province. It is also popular in Taiwan and the Chinese expatriate communities living in Southeast Asia.


title: Xiamen

text: It grew out of "Songjiang zhen", a folk cultural performance that emerged in the late Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and early Qing dynasty (1644–1911), developed into Hexing drama, an art form that combined literature and martial arts in the middle Qing dynasty, then absorbed the elements of various opera styles and turned in to Gaojia Opera in late Qing dynasty.


title: Xiamen

text: It can be classified into three categories: court drama ("daqi" drama), shengdan opera (also xiufang opera) and choudan (comic role) opera, according to the repertoire.


title: Xiamen

text: Its "qupai" (the names of the tunes) belongs to "nanyin", an ancient music style from East China's Fujian province. Performers sing in their native voice with a strong and high vocal tone. The role of the puppet clown, which is rare in other operas, requires good dancing skills and is very funny and interesting.


title: Xiamen

text: Gezai Opera () is the only traditional Chinese opera that became established in Minnan, in southern Fujian province, and arose from Taiwan.


title: Xiamen

text: It is based on Minnan "gezai" (ballads) and absorbs elements from Liyuan Opera, Beiguan Opera, Gaojia Opera, Peking Opera and Minju Opera.


title: Xiamen

text: The art form emerged in Taiwan at the beginning of last century, then spread to Minnan and then to Southeast Asia through Chinese people and foreign citizens of Chinese origin.


title: Xiamen

text: Gezai Opera uses a free metrical pattern, various tunes but few lyrics. There are more than 100 traditional tunes. "Zasui" tunes and seven-character tunes are the two main arias in Gezai Opera.


title: Xiamen

text: Performers in all roles sing in their real voices. Among them, "kudan" (woman's role) is the most distinctive style of singing. Shao Jianghai and other folk artists in Minnan created the "zasui" tune and promoted this traditional art.


title: Xiamen

text: Dazuigu () is a folk comic talk and singing art popular performed in the Minnan dialect in southern Fujian province, similar to cross-talk in North China. It adopts strictly rhyming dialogue with strong linguistic rhythms, and is popular in Minnan, Taiwan and Southeast Asia.


title: Xiamen

text: With the help of the Minnan dialect's unique rhyme structure, the art boasts a unique rhythmic style. It uses vivid and humorous slang and proverbs in the dialect, focuses on storyline and characters, and is full of jokes.


title: Xiamen

text: The chest-clapping dance () is a traditional folk dance in South Fujian which has been handed down since the Song dynasty. Shirtless and barefoot men squat and successively beat their chests, flanks, legs and palms with hands, shaking their heads happily. The rhythm and range of steps vary with the change of dancing environment and emotion. With a strong emotion, they will stamp feet repeatedly, clap chest, rib, and the whole body very red with hands; while in a comfortable mood, they will lift chests, turn over palms and twist waists as well as hips, soft and happy, which creates a kind of lively and humorous atmosphere.


title: Xiamen

text: The dance emphasizes the rhythm of clapping the body. On the one hand, it reflects the characteristics of the dance itself. On the other hand, it is used to coordinate group movements and create a dancing atmosphere, well preserving the rugged and simple dance style of ancient local residents.


title: Xiamen

text: In 2006, the chest-clapping dance was included in the first National Intangible Cultural Heritage List under the approval of the State Council.


title: Xiamen

text: Xiamen Wushipu oil painting village has been named as "the second of the world oil painting industry base" and the second batch of national cultural (art) industry base" by the China artist association and the culture property department of Culture Ministry.


title: Xiamen

text: Xiamen has strong industry advantage in hand-done oil painting, which has two main manufacturing bases here, Xiamen Wushipu Oil Painting Village and Xiamen Haicang Oil Painting Village. 80% market shares in European and American market is taken up by products exported from Xiamen. As the main manufacturing base of hand painted oil painting in China, Xiamen Wushipu Oil Painting Village has more than 5,000 artists. It has the ability to produce all kinds of oil paintings with different specifications and styles. With the support of Xiamen Municipal Government, it has formed a powerful industrial chain, provided related accessories such as frames, brushes and paint colors and formed stable target customers composed by hotels, villas, high-class departments, galleries and so on. As another mail manufacturing base of oil painting, Xiamen Haicang Oil Painting Village has more than 3,000 painters. The scale of Xiamen Haicang Oil Painting Village has developed rapidly in recent years, which is from originally 28 enterprises to more than 250 enterprises at the moment. The combination of manufacturing, sales and distribution makes it become industrial base of commercial oil painting.


title: Xiamen

text: Lacquer thread sculpture () is a traditional artware in East China which uses well-tempered lacquer threads to build decorative patterns.


title: Xiamen

text: The main material of lacquer thread sculpture is the mixture of lacquer, the special brick powder and boiled tung oil. After beating the mixture and twisting it into a string, the craftsmen coil, entangle, pile, carve and engrave on the sculpture which is then coated with primer.


title: Xiamen

text: The technique's development depended on flourishing folk religions and the Buddhist sculpture tradition. As a legacy of the color sculpture of the Tang dynasty (618–907), it was inspired by the thread sculpture technology of the Song and Yuan dynasties (960–1368), especially the process of leaching powder and clay thread sculpture.


title: Xiamen

text: The lacquer thread sculpture technique was formed in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties (1368–1911). It has four major steps: sculpture, foundation coating, lacquer thread decoration and gilding the surface. It focuses on the aesthetic characteristics of the lacquer thread itself, and demonstrates the evolution of the use of line in Chinese arts and crafts.


title: Xiamen

text: The bead embroidery () in Xiamen has small pearls, glass beads and jewels embroidered on the cloth, creating the shining glory, colorful decorations, clear layout and a strong sense of art with stereoscopic impression.


title: Xiamen

text: The craftsmanship has a history of nearly 100 years. In the 1970s and 1980s, the art reached its peak in popularity and many kinds of bead embroidery products were exported to over 50 countries and regions in Asia, Europe and America. In 2007, the art was included in the Fujian Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage List.


title: Xiamen

text: Like most of the temples in PRC, Nanputuo Temple () has endured its share of violence and destruction during the disastrous cultural revolution. The temple's original construction was built more than a millennium ago, then it was destroyed and later rebuilt during the Tang dynasty, the temple was rebuilt and expanded by general Shi Lang during early Qing dynasty. The temple was named after the Buddhist sacred site Mount Putuo of Zhejiang Province, which is considered the abode of Guanyin Bodhisattva. The first elected abbot of the temple, Master Hui Quan set up in 1925. During cultural revolution, the temple was severely damaged and converted into a factory. After the cultural revolution, the status of the temple was finally reinstated and renovated in the 1980s.


title: Xiamen

text: The temple consists of four separate halls of worship, monks quarters and some of the finest maintained grounds and landscapes you're likely to find in any Chinese temple. Stone carvings, lotus filled ponds and secluded caves are scattered around the grounds. If you're after a bit of good luck, try tossing a coin on the rock behind the main temple, which is said to bring good luck your way. Behind the smoky courtyards, libraries, monk's digs, temples


title: Xiamen

text: and statues of laughing Buddha Milefo is Wulao Feng, "the peak of five old men," which overlooks the South China Sea, offering a scenic view of Xiamen University campus and the sprawling urban metropolis of Xiamen.


title: Xiamen

text: Take a bus or cab to the temple which sits very close to Xiamen University on Siming Nanlu. The temple and the university gates are within 100 meters of each other.


title: Xiamen

text: Brahma Temple () is located at the southern foot of Dalun Mountain (), which was established in the first year of Kaihuang of the Sui dynasty (581). Its primitive name is Xingjiao Temple, which is one of the earliest Buddhist temples in Fujian Province. Both of Miaoshi Temple in Xiamen Island and Sunlight Rock Temple in Gulangyu Island are the branch temples.


title: Xiamen

text: Even though Brahma Temple has experienced many vicissitudes of life, it cultivated many eminent monks, attracted refined scholars, gathered unceasing burning incense and enjoyed a widespread reputation. The distinguished Master Hong Yi, Master Hong Choon and the Master Yin Shun who is the charismatic figure of Humanistic Buddhism in Taiwan has once stayed in the temple. There is a Brahman pagoda of the Song dynasty in the temple, which has been included in the first group of cultural relics in Fujian province.


title: Xiamen

text: Life Protection Emperor (), commonly referred to as "Baosheng Dadi" () or "Dadaogong" (), "Wuzhenren" () or "Huajiaogong" (), is the Medicinal Deity popularly worshiped by people across Southern Fujian and the Chaozhou-Jieyang-Shantou region (Teochew speaking region in Guangdong province). There are temples dedicated to the deity across the Southern China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Among them, the Qingjiao Tzu Chi Temple and Baijiao Tzu Chi Temple are recognized as the ancestral temples of Life Protection Emperor.


title: Xiamen

text: Wu Tao or Wu Ben () was born in the village of Bailiao near Xiamen in Fujian Province, during the Song dynasty in the year 979. He was a skilled doctor and Taoist practitioner who was credited with performing medical miracles, including applying eye drops to a dragon's eye and removing a foreign object from a tiger's throat. After his death in 1036, he began to be worshiped as a deity. His deified status was officially recognized by the Hongxi Emperor of the Ming dynasty who conferred on him the title of “Imperial Inspector at Heavenly Gate, Miracle Doctor of Compassion Relief, Great Taoist Immortal, and the Long-lived, Unbounded, Life Protection Emperor“.


title: Xiamen

text: Lord Chi (), or Chi Ran, is an imperial official of Nanjing origin. He is very upright in disciplining himself and fulfilling his official responsibilities. It is said that in the era of Emperor Wanli of the Ming dynasty, Chi was appointed by the imperial court to be magistrate of Zhangzhou, Fujian province. He met two envoys when he passed Small Yingling Mountain, which is in present Xiang'an district. After having a good conversation with them, he knew that they were under the celestial imperial order from the Jade Emperor (the Supreme Lord of Heaven) and were instructed to spread plague among the population in Zhangzhou. Chi tried to get the poison from them and swallowed the poison immediately to prevent the plague. When he arrived at Maxiang, he was badly poisoned and his face turned black, then he died under a big banyan tree. Jade Emperor was touched by Chi's bravery and selfless sacrifice, and his love for the people as his children, so Chi was deified and titled "the Celestial Imperial Inspector representing the Heaven" (), and was promoted as Wang Ye or Sacred Duke.


title: Xiamen

text: After Koxinga took over Taiwan, the belief in Lord Chi has been transmitted to Taiwan and Southeast Asia. It has a history of over 300 years and Lord Chi has become one of the divinities (Wang Ye) worshipped in Taiwan.


title: Xiamen

text: Belief in Fude Zhengshen () is the belief in the God of Earth. In Chinese folk religion, the Earth Deity is also regarded as God of Wealth and Prosperity, because people believe that "land can bestowed wealth" ().


title: Xiamen

text: Every year, the second day of the second month and the fifteenth day of eighth month on the Chinese lunar calendar are regarded the birthday of the Earth Deity. Every 16th day of the 12th month of the lunar calendar is the sacrifice day of the "year-end dinner". Folk activities include the ceremony to light the first incense to invite the ruler of heaven, holding the sacrifice ceremony, sending stoves, and offering incenses to Buddha. Among these activities, meeting the deities, dancing performances, and opera performed to show gratitude for gods are all cultural events.


title: Xiamen

text: Xiamen is served by Xiamen Media Group, which broadcasts news and entertainment such as movies and television series by AM/FM radio, close circuit television, and satellite television. Media in Xiamen were temporarily blocked by the Government in June 2007 when about 10,000 people participated in protests against the building of a paraxylene factory by Tenglong Aromatic PX (Xiamen) Co. Ltd., which is owned by Taiwanese businessman Chen Yu-hao. The incident, however, was solved smoothly later that year.


title: Xiamen

text: Xiamen functions as the headquarters of the 73rd Group Army of the People's Liberation Army, one of the three group armies under then Nanjing Military Region, now the Eastern Theater Command which is responsible for the defense of the eastern China, including any military action in the Taiwan Strait.


The 2022 United States Senate election in Washington was held on November 8, 2022, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of Washington. Incumbent Patty Murray of the Democratic Party was first elected in 1992, with 54% of the vote, filling the seat of retiring Brock Adams. Most recently, she won re-election to a fifth term in 2016 with 59% of the vote.


title: 2022 United States Senate election in Washington

text: Because Washington has a blanket primary system, parties did not nominate their own candidates to run in the general election. Instead, every candidate appeared on the same ballot, regardless of their party affiliation. The top two candidates in the August 2 nonpartisan blanket primary then advanced to the general election. Murray received 52.2% of the primary vote and advanced to face Tiffany Smiley, who received 33.7% of the vote, of the Republican Party.


text: Although Washington has been a reliably blue state for over 30 years, many polls showed that Murray only had a narrow lead over Smiley, and some polls had Smiley within the margin of error. A couple of late polls even had the two candidates tied; such polls caused most pundits to downgrade their forecast from "safe Democratic" to "likely Democratic", and Republicans believed that Smiley had a chance of pulling off an upset. Despite the predictions of a close race, Murray defeated Smiley and won re-election to a sixth term by nearly 15 points. Although this was a significantly larger margin of victory for Murray than what was expected, she won by a margin that was fairly consistent with Washington's partisan lean. Smiley conceded the following day.


text: Two debates had been scheduled, the first on October 23 at Gonzaga University. Murray's campaign objected to the second on October 25 at Seattle University. Both candidates participated in a town hall style forum on October 30 in the KIRO-TV studio in Seattle.


title: Maltese cross

text: The Maltese cross is a cross symbol, consisting of four "V" or arrowhead shaped concave quadrilaterals converging at a central vertex at right angles, two tips pointing outward symmetrically.


title: Maltese cross

text: It is a heraldic cross variant which developed from earlier forms of eight-pointed crosses in the 16th century. Although chiefly associated with the Knights Hospitaller (Order of St. John, now the Sovereign Military Order of Malta), and by extension with the island of Malta, it has come to be used by a wide array of entities since the early modern period,


title: Maltese cross

text: notably the Order of Saint Stephen, the city of Amalfi, the Polish Order of the White Eagle (1709), the Prussian order "Pour le Mérite" (1740), and the Bavarian Military Merit Order (1866).


title: Maltese cross

text: Unicode defines a character named "Maltese cross" in the Dingbats range at code point U+2720 (✠); however most computer fonts render the code point as a cross pattée.


title: Maltese cross

text: Occasional use of the modern form straight-edged "eight-pointed cross" by the order begins in the early 16th century.


title: Maltese cross

text: This early form is a cross moline (ancrée) or cross branchée ending in eight points, not yet featuring the sharp vertex of the modern design.


title: Maltese cross

text: The association of the eight-pointed cross with the southern Italy coastal town of Amalfi may go back to the 11th century, as the design is allegedly found on coins minted by the Duchy of Amalfi at that time.


title: Maltese cross

text: Eight-pointed crosses appear on coins minted by the Grand Masters of the order, first shown as a bolsini-type cross embroidered on the left arm of the robe of the kneeling Grand Master on the obverse of a coin minted under Foulques de Villaret (r. 1305–1319)


title: Maltese cross

text: In 1489, the statutes of the order require all knights of Malta to wear "the white cross with eight points".


title: Maltese cross

text: Emergence of the sharp vertex of the modern "four-arrowhead" design is gradual, and takes place during the 15th to 16th century. The "Rhodian cross" of the early 16th century had almost, but not quite, achieved the "sharp arrowhead appearance".


title: Maltese cross

text: The fully modern design is found on a copper coin dated 1567, minted by Grand Master Jean Parisot de Valette (r. 1557–1568).


title: Maltese cross

text: In 1577, Alonso Sanchez Coello painted Archduke Wenceslaus of Austria as Grand Prior of the Order of Malta wearing the emblem on his robes.


title: Maltese cross

text: The design appears again on coins minted in the late 17th to 18th centuries. It is shown on a copper coin dated 1693, minted under Grand Master Adrien de Wignacourt.


title: Maltese cross

text: From the end of the 17th century, it is also occasionally displayed as alternative heraldic emblem of the order.


title: Maltese cross

text: The Maltese cross as defined by the constitution of the Order of St. John remains the symbol of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, of the Order of Saint John and its allied orders, of the Venerable Order of Saint John, and of their various service organisations.


title: Maltese cross

text: The British colony of Queensland, Australia, adopted the Maltese cross as the state badge and on the flag in 1876 for reasons unknown, its use continuing through to statehood.


title: Maltese cross

text: such as representing the eight Langues of the Knights Hospitaller (Auvergne, Provence, France, Aragon, Castille and Portugal, Italy, Germany, and the British Isles).


title: Maltese cross

text: Websites operated by both the German Order of Saint John ("Johanniterorden") and the British Venerable Order of St John associate the eight points with the Eight Beatitudes.


title: Maltese cross

text: An undated leaflet published by The Venerable Order's main service organisation, St John Ambulance, has also applied secular meanings to the points as representing the traits of a good first aider.


title: Maltese cross

text: The Maltese cross is displayed as part of the Maltese civil ensign, the Maltese naval jack and presidential standard has a Maltese cross in each corner. The Maltese euro coins of 1- and 2-euro denomination carry the Maltese cross. It is also the trademark of Air Malta, Malta's national airline.


title: Maltese cross

text: The Maltese cross was depicted on the two-mils coin in of the Maltese lira in 1972, and on the reverse of one- and two-Euro coins introduced in January 2008.


title: Maltese cross

text: In 1967, laboratory tests, and flight tests at Fort Rucker and Fort Wolters, were conducted to determine the most highly visible and effective way to mark a helipad.


title: Maltese cross

text: Twenty-five emblem designs were tested, but the emblem depicting four blurred rotor blades, referred to as the "Maltese cross", was selected as the standard heliport marking pattern by the Army for military heliports, and by the FAA for civil heliports.


title: Maltese cross

text: However, in the late 1970s, the FAA administrator repealed this standard when it was charged that the Maltese cross was antisemitic. In the United States today, some helipads still remain bearing their original Maltese cross emblems.


title: Maltese cross

text: The eight-pointed cross is also used to identify the final approach fix in a nonprecision instrument approach (one that lacks precision vertical guidance), in contrast to the use of a lightning bolt-type icon, which identifies the final approach fix in a precision approach.


title: Maltese cross

text: The vessel classification society for the United States, the American Bureau of Shipping, will assign the Maltese cross symbol to vessels and offshore units for which the hull construction and/or the manufacture of its machinery and components and any associated required testing, as applicable, is carried out under ABS survey.


title: Maltese cross

text: Several orders that are descended from the original Order of St John set up first aid and ambulance services. These also incorporated the Maltese cross into their logos:


title: Maltese cross

text: On the National Rail network, tickets marked with a Maltese cross are valid for travel on London Underground, Docklands Light Railway and Thameslink between two London Terminals, allowing passengers to make journeys that cross London. Passengers can break their journey at any intermediate station but cannot then resume their journey by Tube, DLR or Thameslink using their cross-London ticket.


title: Maltese cross

text: Passengers holding tickets to a London fare zone marked with a Maltese cross can make one journey from the London Terminal at which they arrived to the zone in question.


title: Maltese cross

text: The "Maltese cross flower" ("Lychnis chalcedonica") is so named because its petals are similarly shaped, though its points are more rounded into "heart"-like shapes. The flower "Tripterocalyx crux-maltae" was also named for the Maltese cross.


title: Maltese cross

text: The Geneva drive, a device that translates a continuous rotation into an intermittent rotary motion, is also sometimes called a "Maltese cross mechanism" after the shape of its main gear.


title: Maltese cross

text: Eight-pointed crosses were adopted for use by the French cross of Saint Lazarus in the mid-16th century. The use of the green eight-pointed cross by the Order was retained right through to the 19th century and after the secular organization of the Order after 1910.


title: Maltese cross

text: and as part of the flag of Wallis and Futuna. It has been the official badge (combined with an ellipsoid in the center) of the Delta Phi fraternity since 1833.


title: Maltese cross

text: A variant of the Maltese cross, with three V-shaped arms instead of four, was used as the funnel symbol of the Hamburg Atlantic Line and their successors German Atlantic Line and Hanseatic Tours in 1958–1973 and 1991–1997.


title: Maltese cross

text: A seven-armed variant, known as the "Maltese asterisk", is used as the basis of Britain's Order of St Michael and St George.


title: Maltese cross

text: Other crosses with spreading limbs are often mistakenly called "Maltese", especially the cross pattée. The royal warrant which created the Victoria Cross prescribed a Maltese cross, but the medal has always in fact been a cross pattée. The official symbol of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity is the cross pattée, though the organization's founder thought it was a Maltese cross when the organization was formed in 1865. The Nestorian cross also is very similar to both of these.


title: Maltese cross

text: The Firefighter's Cross, is often confused with the Maltese cross (for example, the New York City Fire Department so calls it); although it may have eight or more points, it also has large curved arcs between the points. The Philadelphia Fire Department, among others, incorporates the Firefighter's Cross into its insignia, as does the International Association of Fire Fighters.


title: Maltese cross

text: The Maltese cross should not be mistaken for the George Cross, awarded to Malta by George VI of the United Kingdom in 1942, which is depicted, since 1964, on the national flag of Malta. The Maltese cross is depicted on the civil ensign of Malta, shown above.


title: Phasmatodea

text: The Phasmatodea (also known as Phasmida, Phasmatoptera or Spectra) are an order of insects whose members are variously known as stick insects, stick-bugs, walking sticks, stick animals, or bug sticks. They are also occasionally referred to as Devil's darning needles, although this name is shared by both dragonflies and crane flies. They can be generally referred to as phasmatodeans, phasmids, or ghost insects, with phasmids in the family Phylliidae called leaf insects, leaf-bugs, walking leaves, or bug leaves. The group's name is derived from the Ancient Greek "", meaning an apparition or phantom, referring to their resemblance to vegetation while in fact being animals. Their natural camouflage makes them difficult for predators to detect; still, many species have one of several secondary lines of defense in the form of startle displays, spines or toxic secretions. Stick insects from the genera "Phryganistria", "Ctenomorpha", and "Phobaeticus" include the world's longest insects.


title: Phasmatodea

text: Members of the order are found on all continents except Antarctica, but they are most abundant in the tropics and subtropics. They are herbivorous, with many species living unobtrusively in the tree canopy. They have an incomplete metamorphosis life cycle with three stages: egg, nymph and adult. Many phasmids are parthenogenic, and do not require fertilized eggs for female offspring to be produced. In hotter climates, they may breed all year round; in more temperate regions, the females lay eggs in the autumn before dying, and the new generation hatches in the spring. Some species have wings and can disperse by flying, while others are more restricted.


title: Phasmatodea

text: Phasmids can be relatively large, ranging from to over in length. Females of the genus "Phryganistria" are the world's longest insects, measuring up to in total length in the case of an undescribed species, including the outstretched legs. The heaviest species of phasmid is likely to be "Heteropteryx dilatata", the females of which may weigh as much as .


title: Phasmatodea

text: Some phasmids have cylindrical stick-like shapes, while others have flattened, leaflike shapes. Many species are wingless, or have reduced wings. The thorax is long in the winged species, since it houses the flight muscles, and is typically much shorter in the wingless forms. Where present, the first pair of wings is narrow and cornified (hardened), while the hind wings are broad, with straight veins along their length and multiple cross-veins. Their wing venation is unique among insects. The body is often further modified to resemble vegetation, with ridges resembling leaf veins, bark-like tubercles, and other forms of camouflage. A few species, such as "Carausius morosus", are even able to change their pigmentation to match their surroundings. The mouthparts project out from the head. Chewing mandibles are uniform across species. The legs are typically long and slender, and some species are capable of limb autotomy (appendage shedding). Phasmids have long, slender antennae, as long as or longer than the rest of the body in some species.


title: Phasmatodea

text: All phasmids possess compound eyes, but ocelli (light-sensitive organs) are only known from the five groups Lanceocercata, Necrosciinae, Pseudophasmatidae, Palophidae and Phylliidae. Of these only the first three groups have females with ocelli, which like the wings seems to have re-evolved from ancestors that had lost them. Phasmids have an impressive visual system that allows them to perceive significant detail even in dim conditions, which suits their typically nocturnal lifestyle. They are born equipped with tiny compound eyes with a limited number of facets. As phasmids grow through successive molts, the number of facets in each eye is increased along with the number of photoreceptor cells. The sensitivity of the adult eye is at least tenfold that of the nymph in its first instar (developmental stage). As the eye grows more complex, the mechanisms to adapt to dark/light changes are also enhanced: eyes in dark conditions evidence fewer screening pigments, which would block light, than during the daytime, and changes in the width of the retinal layer to adapt to changes in available light are significantly more pronounced in adults. The larger size of the adult insects' eyes makes them more prone to radiation damage. This explains why fully grown individuals are mostly nocturnal. Lessened sensitivity to light in the newly emerged insects helps them to escape from the leaf litter wherein they are hatched and move upward into the more brightly illuminated foliage. Young stick insects are diurnal (daytime) feeders and move around freely, expanding their foraging range.


title: Phasmatodea

text: Stick insects have two types of pads on their legs: sticky "toe pads" and non-stick "heel pads" a little further up their legs. The heel pads are covered in microscopic hairs which create strong friction at low pressure, enabling them to grip without having to be peeled energetically from the surface at each step. The sticky toe pads are used to provide additional grip when climbing but are not used on a level surface.


title: Phasmatodea

text: Phasmatodea can be found all over the world except for the Antarctic and Patagonia. They are most numerous in the tropics and subtropics. The greatest diversity is found in Southeast Asia and South America, followed by Australia, Central America, and the southern United States. Over 300 species are known from the island of Borneo, making it the richest place in the world for Phasmatodea.


title: Phasmatodea

text: Phasmatodea species exhibit mechanisms for defense from predators that prevent an attack from happening in the first place (primary defense), and defenses that are deployed after an attack has been initiated (secondary defense).


title: Phasmatodea

text: The defense mechanism most readily identifiable with Phasmatodea is camouflage, in the form of a plant mimicry. Most phasmids are known for effectively replicating the forms of sticks and leaves, and the bodies of some species (such as "Pseudodiacantha macklotti" and "Bactrododema centaurum") are covered in mossy or lichenous outgrowths that supplement their disguise. Remaining absolutely stationary enhances their inconspicuousness. Some species have the ability to change color as their surroundings shift ("Bostra scabrinota", "Timema californica"). In a further behavioral adaptation to supplement crypsis, a number of species perform a rocking motion where the body is swayed from side to side; this is thought to mimic the movement of leaves or twigs swaying in the breeze. Another method by which stick insects avoid predation and resemble twigs is by entering a cataleptic state, where the insect adopts a rigid, motionless posture that can be maintained for a long period. The nocturnal feeding habits of adults also help Phasmatodea to remain concealed from predators.


title: Phasmatodea

text: In a seemingly different method of defense, many species of Phasmatodea seek to startle the encroaching predator by flashing bright colors that are normally hidden, and making a loud noise. When disturbed on a branch or foliage, some species, while dropping to the undergrowth to escape, will open their wings momentarily during free fall to display bright colors that disappear when the insect lands. Others will maintain their display for up to 20 minutes, hoping to frighten the predator and convey the appearance of a larger size. Some, such as "Pterinoxylus spinulosus", accompany the visual display with the noise made by rubbing together parts of the wings.


title: Phasmatodea

text: Some species, such as the young nymphs of "Extatosoma tiaratum", have been observed to curl the abdomen upwards over the body and head to resemble ants or scorpions in an act of mimicry, another defense mechanism by which the insects avoid becoming prey. The eggs of some species such as "Diapheromera femorata" have fleshy projections resembling elaiosomes (fleshy structures sometimes attached to seeds) that attract ants. When the egg has been carried to the colony, the adult ant feeds the elaiosome to a larva while the phasmid egg is left to develop in the recesses of the nest in a protected environment.


title: Phasmatodea

text: When threatened, some phasmids that are equipped with femoral spines on the metathoracic legs ("Oncotophasma martini", "Eurycantha calcarata", "Eurycantha horrida", "Diapheromera veliei", "Diapheromera covilleae," "Heteropteryx dilatata") respond by curling the abdomen upward and repeatedly swinging the legs together, grasping at the threat. If the menace is caught, the spines can, in humans, draw blood and inflict considerable pain.


title: Phasmatodea

text: Some species are equipped with a pair of glands at the anterior (front) edge of the prothorax that enables the insect to release defensive secretions, including chemical compounds of varying effect: some produce distinct odors, and others can cause a stinging, burning sensation in the eyes and mouth of a predator. The spray often contains pungent-smelling volatile metabolites, previously thought to be concentrated in the insect from its plant food sources. However, it now seems more likely that the insect manufactures its own defensive chemicals. Additionally, the chemistry of the defense spray from at least one species, "Anisomorpha buprestoides", has been shown to vary based on the insect's life stage or the particular population it is part of. This chemical spray variation also corresponds with regionally specific color forms in populations in Florida, with the different variants having distinct behaviors. The spray from one species, "Megacrania nigrosulfurea", is used as a treatment for skin infections by a tribe in Papua New Guinea because of its antibacterial constituents. Some species employ a shorter-range defensive secretion, where individuals bleed reflexively through the joints of their legs and the seams of the exoskeleton when bothered, allowing the blood (hemolymph), which contains distasteful compounds, to discourage predators. Another ploy is to regurgitate their stomach contents when harassed, repelling potential predators.


title: Phasmatodea

text: The life cycle of the stick insect begins when the female deposits her eggs through one of these methods of oviposition: she will either flick her egg to the ground by a movement of the ovipositor or her entire abdomen, carefully place the eggs in the axils of the host plant, bury them in small pits in the soil, or stick the eggs to a substrate, usually a stem or leaf of the food plant. A single female lays from 100 to 1,200 eggs after mating, depending on the species.


title: Phasmatodea

text: Many species of phasmids are parthenogenic, meaning the females lay eggs without needing to mate with males to produce offspring. Eggs from virgin mothers are entirely female and hatch into nymphs that are exact copies of their mothers. Stick insect species that are the product of hybridisation are usually obligate parthenogens, but non-hybrids are facultative parthenogens, meaning they retain the ability to mate and their sexual behavior depends on the presence and abundance of males.


title: Phasmatodea

text: Phasmatodea eggs resemble seeds in shape and size and have hard shells. They have a lid-like structure called an operculum at the anterior pole, from which the nymph emerges during hatching. The eggs vary in the length of time before they hatch which varies from 13 to more than 70 days, with the average around 20 to 30 days. Some species, particularly those from temperate regions, undergo diapause, where development is delayed during the winter months. Diapause is initiated by the effect of short day lengths on the egg-laying adults or can be genetically determined. Diapause is broken by exposure to the cold of winter, causing the eggs to hatch during the following spring. Among species of economic importance such as "Diapheromera femorata", diapause results in the development of two-year cycles of outbreaks.


title: Phasmatodea

text: Many species' eggs bear a fatty, knoblike capitulum that caps the operculum. This structure attracts ants because of its resemblance to the elaiosome of some plant seeds that are sought-after food sources for ant larvae, and usually contribute to ensuring seed dispersal by ants, a form of ant-plant mutualism called myrmecochory. The ants take the egg into their nest underground and can remove the capitulum to feed to their larvae without harming the phasmid embryo. There, the egg hatches and the young nymph, which initially resembles an ant (another instance of mimicry among Phasmatodea), eventually emerges from the nest and climbs the nearest tree to safety in the foliage. The eggs of stick insects have a coating of calcium oxalate which makes them survive unscathed in the digestive tract of birds. It has been suggested that birds may have a role in the dispersal of parthenogenetic stick insect species, especially to islands.


title: Phasmatodea

text: The Phasmatodea life cycle is hemimetabolous, proceeding through a series of several nymphal instars. Once emerged, a nymph will eat its cast skin. Adulthood is reached for most species after several months and many molts. The lifespan of Phasmatodea varies by species, but ranges from a few months to up to three years.


title: Phasmatodea

text: Phasmids are herbivorous, feeding mostly on the leaves of trees and shrubs, and a conspicuous component of many neotropical (South American) systems. Phasmatodea has been postulated as dominant light-gap herbivores there. Their role in the forest ecosystem is considered important by many scientists, who stress the significance of light gaps in maintaining succession and resilience in climax forests. The presence of phasmids lowers the net production of early successional plants by consuming them and then enriches the soil by defecation. This enables the late succession plants to become established and encourages the recycling of the tropical forest.


title: Phasmatodea

text: Phasmatodea are recognized as injurious to forest and shade trees by defoliation. "Didymuria violescens", "Podacanthus wilkinsoni" and "Ctenomorphodes tessulatus" in Australia, "Diapheromera femorata" in North America and "Graeffea crouani" in coconut plantations in the South Pacific all occur in outbreaks of economic importance. Indeed, in the American South, as well as in Michigan and Wisconsin, the walking stick is a significant problem in parks and recreation sites, where it consumes the foliage of oaks and other hardwoods. Severe outbreaks of the walking stick, "Diapheromera femorata", have occurred in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma. The insects eat the entire leaf blade. In the event of heavy outbreaks, entire stands of trees can be completely denuded. Continuous defoliation over several years often results in the death of the tree. Because these species cannot fly, infestations are typically contained to a radius of a few hundred yards. Nevertheless, the damage incurred to parks in the region is often costly. Control efforts in the case of infestations have typically involved chemical pesticides; ground fires are effective at killing eggs but have obvious disadvantages. In New South Wales, research has investigated the feasibility of controlling stick insects using natural enemies such as parasitic wasps ("Myrmecomimesis" spp.).


title: Phasmatodea

text: The classification of the Phasmatodea is complex and the relationships between its members are poorly understood. Furthermore, there is much confusion over the ordinal name. Phasmida is preferred by many authors, though it is incorrectly formed; Phasmatodea is correctly formed, and is widely accepted. However, Brock and Marshall argue:


title: Phasmatodea

text: The order Phasmatodea is sometimes considered to be related to other orders, including the Blattodea, Mantodea, Notoptera and Dermaptera, but the affiliations are uncertain and the grouping (sometimes referred to as "Orthopteroidea") may be paraphyletic (not have a common ancestor) and hence invalid in the traditional circumscription (set of attributes that all members have). Phasmatodea, once considered a suborder of Orthoptera, is now treated as an order of its own. Anatomical features separate them as a monophyletic (descended from a common ancestor) group from the Orthoptera. One is the instance among all species of Phasmatodea of a pair of exocrine glands inside the prothorax used for defense. Another is the presence of a specially formed sclerite (hardened plate), called a vomer, which allows the male to clasp the female during mating.


title: Phasmatodea

text: The order is divided into two, or sometimes three, suborders. The most common division is into the suborder groups Anareolatae and Areolatae, which are distinguished according to whether the insect has sunken areola, or circular areas, on the underside of the apices of the middle and hind tibiae (Areolate) or not (Anareolate). However the phylogenetic (evolutionary) relationships between the different groups is poorly resolved. The monophyly of Anareolatae has been questioned and the morphology of the eggs may be a better basis for classification. An alternative is to divide the Phasmatodea into three suborders Agathemerodea (1 genus and 8 species), Timematodea (1 genus and 21 species) and Euphasmatodea. for the remaining taxa. This division is, however, not fully supported by the molecular studies, which recover Agathemerodea as nested within Verophasmatodea rather than being the sister group of the latter group. Over 3,000 species have been described, with many more yet to be described both in museum collections and in the wild.


title: Phasmatodea

text: While suggestions of have been made that various insects extending back to the Permian epoch represent stem-group phasmatodeans, the earliest unambigious members of the group are the Susumanioidea, which first appeared during the Middle Jurassic, and usually have two large pairs of wings. Modern phasmatodeans first appeared during the Early Cretaceous, with the cuirrently oldest known being "Araripephasma" from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian) Crato Formation of Brazil, around 113 million years old, which can be confidently assigned to the Euphasmatodea.


title: Phasmatodea

text: The earliest leaf insect (Phylliinae) fossil is "Eophyllium messelensis" from the 47-million-year-old Eocene of Messel, Germany. In size and cryptic (leaflike) body form, it closely resembles extant species, suggesting that the behavior of the group has changed little since that time. The Agathemerodea, previously placed at suborder level, is now considered "nomen dubium".


title: Phasmatodea

text: One Australian species, the Lord Howe Island stick insect, is now listed as critically endangered. It was believed extinct until its rediscovery on the rock known as Ball's Pyramid. An effort is underway in Australia to rear this species in captivity.


title: Phasmatodea

text: The best known of the stick insects is the Indian or laboratory stick insect ("Carausius morosus"). This insect grows to roughly 10 cm (4 in) and reproduces parthenogenically, and although males have been recorded, they are rare.


title: Phasmatodea

text: Fossils of the extinct genus and species "Eoprephasma hichensi" have been recovered from Ypresian age sediments in the U.S. state of Washington and British Columbia, Canada. The species is one of the youngest members of the stem phasmatodean group Susumanioidea.


title: Phasmatodea

text: In Europe there are 17 species of stick insects described, belonging to the genera "Bacillus" "Clonopsis", "Leptynia" and "Pijnackeria". There are also a few other species that live in Europe but are introduced, as for example with a couple of species of "Acanthoxyla", which are native to New Zealand but are present in southern England.


title: Phasmatodea

text: In the Iberian Peninsula there are currently described 13 species and several subspecies. Their life cycle is annual, living only during the hottest months (especially genera "Leptynia" and "Pijnackeria"), which usually means late spring to early autumn.


title: Phasmatodea

text: Stick insects, like praying mantises, show rocking behavior in which the insect makes rhythmic, repetitive, side-to-side movements. The common interpretation of this behavior's function is it enhances crypsis by mimicking vegetation moving in the wind. These movements may also be important in allowing the insects to discriminate objects from the background by relative motion. Rocking movements by these generally sedentary insects may replace flying or running as a source of relative motion to help them discern objects in the foreground.


title: Phasmatodea

text: Mating behavior in Phasmatodea is impressive because of the extraordinarily long duration of some pairings. A record among insects, the stick insect "Necroscia sparaxes", found in India, is sometimes coupled for 79 days at a time. It is not uncommon for this species to assume the mating posture for days or weeks on end, and among some species ("Diapheromera veliei" and "D. covilleae"), pairing can last three to 136 hours in captivity.


title: Phasmatodea

text: Overt displays of aggression between males over mates suggests that extended pairing may have evolved to guard females from sperm competition. Fighting between competing males has been observed in the species "D. veiliei" and "D. covilleae". During these encounters, the approach of a challenger causes the existing mate to manipulate the female's abdomen, which he has clasped by means of the clasping organ, or vomer, down upon itself to block the site of attachment. Occasionally, the consort will strike out at the competitor with the mid femora, which are equipped with an enlarged and hooked spine in both sexes that can draw the blood of the opponent when they are flexed against the body to puncture the integument. Usually, a strong hold on the female's abdomen and blows to the intruder are enough to deter the unwanted competition, but occasionally the competitor has been observed to employ a sneaky tactic to inseminate the female. While the first mate is engaged in feeding and is forced to vacate the dorsal position, the intruder can clasp the female's abdomen and insert his genitalia. If he is discovered, the males will enter into combat wherein they lean backward, both clasped to the female's abdomen, and freely suspended, engage in rapid, sweeping blows with their forelegs in a manner similar to boxing. Usually, when the intruder gains attachment to the female's abdomen, these conflicts result in the displacement of the original mate.


title: Phasmatodea

text: Lengthy pairings have also been described in terms of a defensive alliance. When cleaved together, the pair is more unwieldy for predators to handle. Also, the chemical defenses (secretions, reflex bleeding, regurgitation) of the individual stick insect are enhanced when two are paired. Females survive attacks by predators significantly better when pairing, largely because the dorsal position of the male functions well as a shield. This could indicate that manipulation by females is taking place: if females accept ejaculate at a slow rate, for instance, the males are forced to remain "in copulo" for longer and the female's chances of survival are enhanced. Also, evolution could have simply favored males that remained attached to their females longer, since females are often less abundant than males and represent a valuable prize, so for the lucky male, even the sacrifice of his own life to preserve his offspring with the female may be worthwhile. Sexual dimorphism in the species, where females are usually significantly larger than the males, may have evolved due to the fitness advantage accrued to males that can remain attached to the female, thereby blocking competitors, without severely impeding her movement.


title: Phasmatodea

text: Certain Phasmatodea, such as "Anisomorpha buprestoides", sometimes form aggregations. These insects have been observed to congregate during the day in a concealed location, going their separate ways at nightfall to forage, and returning to their refuge before dawn. Such behavior has been little studied, and how the insects find their way back is unknown.


title: Phasmatodea

text: Stick insects are often kept in captivity: almost 300 species have been reared in laboratories or as pets. The most commonly kept is the Indian (or laboratory) stick insect, "Carausius morosus", which eats vegetables such as lettuce. Droppings of the stick insect "Eurycnema versirubra" (Serville, 1838) [="Eurycnema versifasciata"] fed with specific plants are made into a medicinal tea by Malaysian Chinese to treat ailments.


title: Phasmatodea

text: The botanical illustrator Marianne North (1830–1890) painted leaf and stick insects that she saw on her travels in the 1870s.


title: Phasmatodea

text: Some indigenous people of the D'Entrecasteaux Islands have traditionally made fishhooks from the legs of certain phasmids.


title: Phasmatodea

text: Research has been conducted to analyze the stick insect method of walking and apply this to the engineering of six-legged walking robots. Instead of one centralized control system, it seems each leg of a phasmid operates independently.


title: Phasmatodea

text: In Australia and Hawaii many kinds of stick insects are kept as exotic pets including the strong, goliath, spiny and children's. The custom of keeping stick insects as pets was probably brought to Australia by either Chinese, Japanese or Vietnamese immigrants during World War II, the Korean War or the Vietnam War.


title: Phasmatodea

text: Stick insects have been kept as pets since the time of the Han dynasty. They were kept inside birdcages and people in the Far East believe they bring good luck and fortune, just like crickets.


title: 31 (film)

text: 31 is a 2016 American horror film written, directed, and produced by Rob Zombie, and starring an ensemble cast featuring Sheri Moon Zombie, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Meg Foster, Richard Brake, Jane Carr, Judy Geeson, E.G. Daily, and Malcolm McDowell.


title: 31 (film)

text: A period piece set in 1976, the film is about five carnies, who are kidnapped by a gang of clowns called "The Heads". The carnies are forced to play a survival game called "31", where they are chased by the clowns through a maze of rooms over 12 hours. The penalty for capture being torture and murder, while bets are placed on their progress.


title: 31 (film)

text: The film was crowdfunded online twice at fanbacked.com. At a test screening, Zombie compared "31" to his 2005 film "The Devil's Rejects".


title: 31 (film)

text: During Halloween 1976, a group of carnival workers, Charly, Venus, Panda, Levon and Roscoe, gleefully travel through the countryside. Later that night, the group is attacked by people disguised as scarecrows and taken to a strange, large building where three elderly people wearing aristocratic clothes, powdered wigs and make up – known as Sister Dragon, Sister Serpent and their leader, Father Napoleon-Horatio-Silas Murder – tell them that they are going to play the game "31" and that it will last for the next 12 hours. The group is placed in a series of maze-like set of rooms, where they must defend themselves against the "Heads", several murderous clowns who intend to torture and murder them, all the while the group are given odds for their survival and bets are placed on them.


title: 31 (film)

text: The protagonists come across five "Heads": Sick-Head, Psycho-Head, Schizo-Head, Death-Head and Sex-Head. The carnies eventually manage to kill their assailants, but not without sustaining their own casualties, with only Charly, Venus and Roscoe left alive. The remaining three try to find a way out, but only manage to get one of their number – Venus – trapped inside a boiler room, where she is brutally murdered by the final Head, Doom-Head, who was brought in by the aristocrats to join the game. Doom-Head taunts Charly and Roscoe, telling them that the doors have been opened to the outside world.


title: 31 (film)

text: The two manage to make it to one of the exits, however Roscoe urges Charly to go on without him, as the night's event has left him too severely wounded to progress. Roscoe is then stabbed to death by Doom-Head. Charly, who made it outside but found herself in the middle of nowhere, makes her way into an abandoned house where she is ambushed by Doom-Head. He almost defeats her, however Doom-Head is stopped by the aristocrats, who tell him that time has run out and Charly must go free. The aristocrats are concerned that Charly is the first person to win "31". This doesn't satisfy Doom-Head; later he catches up with Charly, who is covered in blood and headed down an isolated road. He alights from a van and takes out his daggers as he and Charly prepare for one last confrontation as the film ends, leaving their fates unknown.


title: 31 (film)

text: Plans to create "31" were first announced in May 2014 via a teaser poster that showed the words "a Rob Zombie film", a bloody clown face, and the number "31". Fans and media outlets speculated that the film would be a third film in the "House of 1000 Corpses" and "The Devil's Rejects" universe and would follow Sid Haig's character Captain Spaulding, that it could be a film centering upon serial killer John Wayne Gacy, or that it would be a third film in Zombie's rebooted "Halloween" film series.


title: 31 (film)

text: Zombie commented on the speculation, stating that it would not follow Captain Spaulding and would be an original story and was not based on any previous work. He also noted that "31" referred to October 31, Halloween. In July, Zombie announced the plot of "31", which follows a group of five people that are forced to participate in a gruesome game called "31".


title: 31 (film)

text: Zombie also stated that he would use crowdfunding to cover part of the movie's costs, because "as the years go on, the game changes all the time, and a movie that you could get made years ago, you cannot get made anymore, because the business changes, things change." He added that crowdfunding would allow him to make a movie that might not have been otherwise funded traditionally and that "if you wanna do stuff outside the system, you've gotta function outside the system". Zombie later held a second Fanbacked.com campaign in February 2015 to raise additional funds for the film, stating that it was due to multiple requests from fans that wanted to contribute funding.


title: 31 (film)

text: Zombie came up with the idea for "31" after reading a statistic that stated that Halloween is the "Number One day of the year when people go missing for some reason" and thought that it would make a good premise for a film. He also received inspiration for the film as he was walking around his frightfest Great American Nightmare and watched the employees work while dressed like chainsaw-carrying clowns. Zombie has stated that he wanted to have a "very nasty, gritty, guerilla-style approach to the filmmaking" for "31", as it "fits the story and the vibe of the movie". Zombie began scouting locations in the summer of 2014 and initial filming was slated to begin in February 2015, but did not commence until that March. Filming for "31" wrapped in April 2015.


title: 31 (film)

text: "31" premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2016. In March 2016, Saban Films announced that they had acquired distribution rights for "31" from Alchemy, who was dealing with financial woes and was selling off previous acquisitions, and that they would be giving it a limited theatrical release on September 16, 2016.


title: 31 (film)

text: On September 1, Fathom Events hosted a special premiere of "31" in cinemas across the United States. The event included a world premier of the “Gore Whore” music video, and other activities.


title: 31 (film)

text: "31" was submitted to the Motion Picture Association of America twice and both times received an NC-17 rating. The description as given by the MPAA notes "sadistic graphic violence, bizarre sexuality/nudity, pervasive disturbing images and some strong language." On January 5, 2016, the film was finally granted an "R" rating for "strong bloody horror violence, pervasive language, sexual content and drug use". Zombie later told a fan on Facebook that the "Zombie Cut" would eventually be released on DVD and would include the uncut version.


title: 31 (film)

text: The film holds an approval rating of 47% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 47 reviews and has an average rating of 5.43/10. The site's consensus reads, ""31" delivers all the high-energy gore Rob Zombie fans have come to expect, but a lack of fresh ideas and likable characters mean only the already converted need apply". On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score of 35 out of 100 based on 13 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews."


title: 31 (film)

text: Much of the negative reaction to the film centered around claims that the film was forced and unoriginal, with "Variety" writing that the "energetic exercise in forced badassery will be too silly and self-conscious to feel genuinely edgy, despite all the blood spilt and familiar taboos violated."


title: 31 (film)

text: The film received praise from Bloody Disgusting, which claimed ""31" is Rob Zombie's "The Running Man" and it works". Trent Wilkie of "Fangoria" gave the film a mixed review saying "It is violent and campy, with the requisite sex, blood, profanity and gore. But ultimately, it feels rushed and leaves one with the sense of an unfinished idea." However, Jerry Smith, also writing for "Fangoria", put it on his year's "Top Ten" list saying, ""31" is a mean-as-hell, take-no-prisoners exploitation film filled to the absolute brim with mean-as-all-hell clowns, carnies and, by far, one of the best horror performances of the year."


title: 31 (film)

text: Shock Till You Drop gave the film approval with a caveat saying "Rob Zombie's "31" succeeds as a throwback to the days of quickie exploitation movies. That's exactly what it is trying to be, and, what it is. So, if you want caviar, keep looking. But if you are in the mood for a candy-colored bacon cheeseburger of a flick with extra grease and BBQ sauce, "31" is for you". In a similar vein, Film School Rejects commented that ""31" is Zombie's mildly entertaining take on a stale and simple setup. You already know if it's for you".


title: 31 (film)

text: "31" was exclusively released on "Shudder" two weeks before being released on DVD. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 20, 2016. The home release contained a behind-the-scenes documentary (two-hour version on DVD/Blu, four-hour version on VOD) directed by Josh Hasty.


title: Radio City Music Hall

text: Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and theater at 1260 Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplace of the Nation", it is the headquarters for the Rockettes. Radio City Music Hall was designed by Edward Durell Stone and Donald Deskey in the Art Deco style.


title: Radio City Music Hall

text: Radio City Music Hall was built on a plot of land that was originally intended for a Metropolitan Opera House, although plans for the opera house were canceled in 1929. It opened on December 27, 1932, as part of the construction of Rockefeller Center. The 5,960-seat Music Hall was the larger of two venues built for Rockefeller Center's "Radio City" section, the other being Center Theatre; the "Radio City" name later came to apply only to the Music Hall. It was largely successful until the 1970s, when declining patronage nearly drove the theater to bankruptcy. Radio City Music Hall was designated a New York City Landmark in May 1978, and it was restored and allowed to remain open. The theater was extensively renovated in 1999.


title: Radio City Music Hall

text: Radio City's four-tiered auditorium was the world's largest when it opened. The theater also contains a variety of art. Although Radio City Music Hall was initially intended to host stage shows, within a year of its opening it was converted into a movie palace, hosting performances in a film-and-stage-spectacle format through the 1970s, and was the site of several movie premieres. It now primarily hosts concerts, including by leading pop and rock musicians, and live stage shows such as the "Radio City Christmas Spectacular". The Music Hall has also hosted televised events including the Grammy Awards, the Tony Awards, the Daytime Emmy Awards, the MTV Video Music Awards, the NFL Draft, as well as graduation ceremonies for NYU and Barnard College.


title: Radio City Music Hall

text: The construction of Rockefeller Center occurred between 1932 and 1940. on land that John D. Rockefeller Jr. leased from Columbia University. The Rockefeller Center site was originally supposed to be occupied by a new opera house for the Metropolitan Opera. By 1928, Benjamin Wistar Morris and designer Joseph Urban were hired to come up with blueprints for the house. However, the new building was too expensive for the opera to fund by itself, and it needed an endowment, and the project ultimately gained the support of John D. Rockefeller Jr. The planned opera house was canceled in December 1929 due to various issues, but Rockefeller made a deal with RCA to develop Rockefeller Center as a mass media complex with four theaters. This was later downsized to two theaters.


title: Radio City Music Hall

text: Samuel Roxy Rothafel, a successful theater operator who was renowned for his domination of the city's movie theater industry, joined the center's advisory board in 1930. He offered to build two theaters: a large vaudeville "International Music Hall" on the northernmost block, with more than 6,200 seats, and the smaller 3,500-seat "RKO Roxy" movie theater on the southernmost block. The idea for these theaters was inspired by Roxy's failed expansion of the 5,920-seat Roxy Theatre on 50th Street, one and a half blocks away. The Music Hall was to have a single admission price of $2 per person. Roxy also envisioned an elevated promenade between the two theaters, but this was never published in any of the official blueprints.


title: Radio City Music Hall

text: In September 1931, a group of NBC managers and architects toured Europe to find performers and look at theater designs. However, the group did not find any significant architectural details that they could use in the Radio City theaters. In any case, Roxy's friend Peter Clark turned out to have much more innovative designs for the proposed theaters than the Europeans did.


title: Radio City Music Hall

text: Roxy had a list of design requests for the Music Hall. First, he did not want the theater to have either a large balcony over the box seating or rows of box seating facing each other, as implemented in opera houses. One alternative called for "a rather deep balcony" and a shallower second balcony, but would have obstructed views from the rear orchestra. Consequently, the final plan used three tiers of balconies, cantilevered off the back wall. Second, Roxy specified that the stage contain a central section with three parts so the sets could be changed easily. Roxy wanted red seats because he believed it would make the theater successful, and he wished for the auditorium to be oval in shape because contemporary wisdom held that oval auditoriums had better acoustic qualities. Finally, he wanted to build at least 6,201 seats in the Music Hall so it would be larger than the Roxy Theatre. There were only 5,960 audience seats, but Roxy counted exactly 6,201 seats by including elevator stools, orchestra pit seats, and dressing-room chairs. Roxy also wanted the theater to have an "intimate" design as well. According to architect Henry Hofmeister, a single level of steeply raked stadium seating would likely have been used in a larger auditorium, quoting a theatrical proverb: "A house divided against the performer cannot stand."


title: Radio City Music Hall

text: Despite Roxy's specific requests for design features, the Music Hall's general design was determined by the Associated Architects, the architectural consortium that was designing the rest of Rockefeller Center. The Music Hall was to be at the northwest corner of the Rockefeller Center complex, at the base of the 1270 Sixth Avenue office building; the theater's rear wall would have to support the offices above. Radio City Music Hall was designed by architect Edward Durell Stone and interior designer Donald Deskey in the Art Deco style. Stone used Indiana Limestone for the facade, as with all the other buildings in Rockefeller Center, but he also included some distinguishing features. Three signs with the theater's name were placed on the facade, while intricately ornamented fire escapes were installed on the walls facing 50th and 51st Streets. Inside, Stone designed Grand Foyer with a large staircase, balconies, and mirrors and commissioned Ezra Winter for the grand foyer's mural, "Quest for the Fountain of Eternal Youth". Deskey, meanwhile, was selected as part of a competition for interior designers for the Music Hall. He had reportedly called Winter's painting "God-awful" and regarded the interior and exterior as not much better. To make the Music Hall presentable in his opinion, Deskey designed upholstery and furniture that was custom to the theater. Deskey's plan was regarded the best of 35 submissions, and he ultimately used the rococo style in his interior design.


title: Radio City Music Hall

text: The International Music Hall evolved into a theater called Radio City Music Hall. The names "Radio City" and "Radio City Music Hall" derive from one of the complex's first tenants, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), which planned a mass media complex called Radio City on the west side of Rockefeller Center. Over time, the appellation of "Radio City" devolved from describing the entire complex to just the complex's western section. Radio City Music Hall was the only part of the complex that retained the name by 1937, and the name "Radio City" became shorthand for the theater.


title: Radio City Music Hall

text: Construction on Radio City Music Hall started in December 1931, and the theater topped out in August 1932. Its construction set many records at the time, including the use of of copper wire and of brass pipe. In November 1932, Russell Markert's précision dance troupe the Roxyettes (later to be known as the Rockettes) left the Roxy Theatre and announced that they would be moving to Radio City. By then, Roxy was busy adding music acts in preparation for the theater's opening at the end of the year.


title: Radio City Music Hall

text: Radio City Music Hall opened to the public on December 27, 1932, with a lavish stage show featuring numbers including Ray Bolger, Ronnie Mansfield, Doc Rockwell, Martha Graham, The Mirthquakers, The Tuskegee Choir and Patricia Bowman. The opening was meant to be a return to high-class variety entertainment. However, Radio City's opening program flopped because the program was very long, spanning from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. of the next day, and a multitude of acts were crammed onto the world's largest stage, ensuring that individual acts were lost in the cavernous hall. As the premiere went on, audience members, including John Rockefeller Jr, waited in the lobby or simply left early. Some news reporters, tasked with writing reviews of the premiere, guessed the ending of the program because they left beforehand.


title: Radio City Music Hall

text: Reviews ranged from furious to commiserate. The film historian Terry Ramsaye wrote that "if the seating capacity of the Radio City Music Hall is precisely 6,200, then just exactly 6,199 persons must have been aware at the initial performance that they were eye witnesses to [...] the unveiling of the world's best 'bust'". Set designer Robert Edmond Jones resigned in disappointment, and Graham was fired. Despite the negative reviews of the performances, the theater's design was very well received. One reviewer stated: "It has been said of the new Music Hall that it needs no performers; that its beauty and comforts alone are sufficient to gratify the greediest of playgoers."


title: Radio City Music Hall

text: Radio City's initial policy of live shows was so poorly received that, just two weeks after its opening, its managers announced that the theater would switch to showing feature films, accompanied by a spectacular stage show that Roxy had perfected. The announcement came amid false rumors that the theater would close. On January 11, 1933, after incurring a net operating loss of $180,000, Radio City became a movie and live-show house. The first film shown on the giant screen was Frank Capra's "The Bitter Tea of General Yen". One critic said the same year that the Music Hall "is alone in carrying on the tradition of bigger things which underlay the whole project at the beginning". William G. Van Schmus was hired as the theater's managing director that March, though he had never managed a theater before. The top admission in the theater's first year was 40 cents during the day and 88 cents at night.


title: Radio City Music Hall

text: Radio City became the premiere showcase for films from the RKO-Radio Studio, with "Topaze" being the first RKO film to play there in 1933. Some of the films that premiered at Radio City Music Hall included "King Kong" (1933), "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961), "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962), "Mary Poppins" (1964), and "The Lion King" (1994). The "New York Daily News" said that, in total, the theater hosted the premieres of over 650 movies. At the theater's peak, four complete performances were presented every day.


title: Radio City Music Hall

text: In addition to its movie screenings, Radio City hosted a "Holy Hour" with adherents of three religious faiths starting in 1933. The theater started experimenting with operatic performances in May 1934. The performances were so popular that Van Schmus decided to produce more opera shows to be performed four times a day. Van Schmus subsequently hired Serge Sudeikin, Albert Johnson, and Boris Aronson as the theater's art directors, under senior producer Leon Leonidoff. Early films at Radio City included "Becky Sharp" (1935), the first feature film to use three-strip Technicolor production; a 1936 film version of the musical "Show Boat"; and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937), Walt Disney's first full-length feature film. The theater's non-cinematic events included a stage show about the history of lighting, as well as a fundraiser for the Red Cross. By January 1937, more than 25 million people had visited the theater over the previous four years, paying total admission of $17.5 million.


title: Radio City Music Hall

text: Radio City was used for Easter worship services starting in 1940. The next year, the theater hosted "the most elaborate benefit performance ever held in New York", a World War II fundraiser. After Van Schmus died in January 1942, G. S. Eysell took over as the managing director. During this time, Radio City hosted films such as "The Philadelphia Story" (1940), "Sunny" (1941), "The Valley of Decision" (1945), and "The Late George Apley" (1947). Lines for the theater's Christmas show frequently stretched around the block. Performances by the Rockettes and a 60-member orchestra accompanied many live shows. Ernö Rapée, who had headed Radio City's orchestra since its opening, continued to lead the theater's orchestra until he died in 1945. Radio City continued to operate every day, although it sometimes closed briefly for part of the day. For example, it partially closed after U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt died in 1945 and again during a fuel shortage the next year.


title: Radio City Music Hall

text: Alexander Smallens became the theater's musical director in 1947, and Raymond Paige assumed that position three years later. The theater's sound system was upgraded in mid-1953, enabling the venue to show 3D films without intermission. Radio City disbanded its in-house male chorus in 1958, instead hiring choral acts from around the world. The theater also hosted benefit parties for Big Brothers Inc. from 1953 to at least 1959. Through the next decade, Radio City was successful regardless of the status of the city's economic, business, and entertainment sectors as a whole. It remained open even as other theaters such as the Paramount and the Roxy closed. A committee led by Radio City's director, Russell V. Dowling, selected the theater's live acts and other performances.