title: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

text: The LLNL director is appointed by the board of governors of Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS) and reports to the board. The laboratory director also serves as the president of LLNS. Over the course of its history, the following scientists have served as LLNL director:


title: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

text: The LLNL director is supported by a senior executive team consisting of the deputy director, the deputy director for science and technology, principal associate directors, and other senior executives who manage areas/functions directly reporting to the laboratory director.


title: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

text: The laboratory is organized into four principal directorates, each headed by a principal associate director:


title: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

text: The LLNL director reports to the Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS) board of governors, a group of key scientific, academic, national security and business leaders from the LLNS partner companies that jointly own and control LLNS. The LLNS board of governors has a total of 16 positions, with six of these governors constituting an executive committee. All decisions of the board are made by the governors on the executive committee. The other governors are advisory to the executive committee and do not have voting rights.


title: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

text: The University of California is entitled to appoint three governors to the executive committee, including the chair. Bechtel is also entitled to appoint three governors to the executive committee, including the vice chair. One of the Bechtel governors must be a representative of Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) or the Washington Division of URS Corporation (URS), who is nominated jointly by B&W and URS each year, and who must be approved and appointed by Bechtel. The executive committee has a seventh governor who is appointed by Battelle; they are non-voting and advisory to the executive committee. The remaining board positions are known as independent governors (also referred to as outside governors), and are selected from among individuals, preferably of national stature, and can not be employees or officers of the partner companies.


title: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

text: The University of California-appointed chair has tie-breaking authority over most decisions of the executive committee. The board of governors is the ultimate governing body of LLNS and is charged with overseeing the affairs of LLNS in its operations and management of LLNL.


title: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

text: LLNS managers and employees who work at LLNL, up to and including the president and laboratory director, are generally referred to as laboratory employees. All laboratory employees report directly or indirectly to the LLNS president. While most of the work performed by LLNL is funded by the federal government, laboratory employees are paid by LLNS, which is responsible for all aspects of their employment, including providing health care benefits and retirement programs.


title: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

text: Within the board of governors, authority resides in the executive committee to exercise all rights, powers, and authorities of LLNS, excepting only certain decisions that are reserved to the parent companies. The LLNS executive committee is free to appoint officers or other managers of LLNS and LLNL, and may delegate its authorities as it deems appropriate to such officers, employees, or other representatives of LLNS/LLNL. The executive committee may also retain auditors, attorneys, or other professionals as necessary. For the most part the executive committee has appointed senior managers at LLNL as the primary officers of LLNS. As a practical matter most operational decisions are delegated to the president of LLNS, who is also the laboratory director. The positions of president laboratory director and deputy laboratory director are filled by joint action of the chair and vice chair of the executive committee, with the University of California nominating the president and laboratory director and Bechtel nominating the deputy laboratory director.


title: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

text: The current LLNS chairman is Norman J. Pattiz, founder and chairman of Westwood One, America's largest radio network, who also currently serves on the board of regents of the University of California. The vice chairman is J. Scott Ogilvie, president of Bechtel Systems & Infrastructure, Inc., who also serves on the board of directors of Bechtel Group, Inc. (BGI) and on the BGI Audit Committee.


title: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

text: The Livermore Action Group organized many mass protests, from 1981 to 1984, against nuclear weapons which were being produced by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Peace activists Ken Nightingale and Eldred Schneider were involved. On June 22, 1982, more than 1,300 anti-nuclear protesters were arrested in a nonviolent demonstration. More recently, there has been an annual protest against nuclear weapons research at Lawrence Livermore. In August 2003, 1,000 people protested at Livermore Labs against "new-generation nuclear warheads". In the 2007 protest, 64 people were arrested. More than 80 people were arrested in March 2008 while protesting at the gates.


title: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

text: On July 27, 2021, the Society of Professionals, Scientists, and Engineers – University of Professional & Technical Employees Local 11, CWA Local 9119, went on a three-day strike over unfair labor practices.


title: Charli XCX discography

text: English singer Charli XCX has released five studio albums, four mixtapes, three extended plays, one live album, two DJ mixes, 46 singles (including 15 as a featured artist), and 13 promotional singles. In 2007, XCX began recording her debut album on a loan granted by her parents. Titled "14", after her age at the time, it received only a restricted public release. Two singles, "!Franchesckaar!" and double A-side "Emelline"/"Art Bitch", were released in late 2008 under Orgy Music. In June 2012, Charli XCX released her first mixtape, titled "Heartbreaks and Earthquakes", a one-track file consisting of eight songs. A second mixtape, titled "Super Ultra", was released in November of the same year. Charli XCX's major-label debut studio album, "True Romance", was released in April 2013, and peaked at number 85 on the UK Albums Chart. While failing to appear on any main album charts internationally, the album reached number five on the Heatseekers Albums chart in the United States and number 11 on the ARIA Hitseekers chart in Australia. The album spawned five singles—"Stay Away", "Nuclear Seasons", "You're the One", "You (Ha Ha Ha)" and "What I Like". In 2012, Charli XCX was featured on Icona Pop's song "I Love It", which peaked at number one in the UK and reached the top 10 in various countries including the US, Canada, Ireland and Germany.


title: Charli XCX discography

text: "SuperLove" was released as a stand-alone single in December 2013, peaking at number 62 on the UK Singles Chart. In 2014, Charli XCX released the single "Boom Clap" for the soundtrack to the film "The Fault in Our Stars". The song was an international success, peaking at number six on the UK Singles Chart, number eight on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 and reaching the top 10 in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. "Boom Clap" was later included on Charli XCX's second studio album, "Sucker", released in December 2014. The album charted at number 15 in her native UK, number 28 in the United States, and entered the top 50 in several other countries including Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, and Switzerland. "Sucker" also spawned the top-40 UK single "Break the Rules" and the top-10 UK single "Doing It", which features English singer Rita Ora. Also in 2014, Charli XCX was featured on Iggy Azalea's "Fancy", which topped the US "Billboard" Hot 100 and charted in the top 10 in several countries including the UK, Canada, Ireland and Australia.


title: Charli XCX discography

text: In 2016 Charli XCX released the "Vroom Vroom" EP, which while not a commercial success, signaled a move for the singer into more experimental electronic territory. In promotion of her third studio album, she released the top-40 hits "After the Afterparty" and "Boys". After the album leaked however, the project was scrapped. In 2017 Charli XCX released two more experimental mixtapes, "Number 1 Angel", and "Pop 2", which both received critical acclaim.


title: Charli XCX discography

text: In September 2019 she released her third studio album "Charli", which debuted at number 14 in the United Kingdom, number 42 in the United States, and entered the top 50 in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and Spain. The album's lead single "1999" peaked at number 13 in the UK. She followed-up "Charli" with "How I'm Feeling Now" (2020), an album recorded in six weeks during COVID-19 lockdowns. The album debuted at number 33 in the UK and received critical acclaim.


title: Charli XCX discography

text: Charli XCX released her fifth studio album "Crash" in March 2022, her last album under contract with Atlantic Records. "Crash" is her most commercially successful album to date, topping the charts in the UK, Australia, and Ireland, and becoming her first top 20 in the United States, Belgium and Germany. It also spawned the top-40 single "Beg for You".


title: Stryker Corporation

text: Stryker Corporation is an American multinational medical technologies corporation based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Stryker's products include implants used in joint replacement and trauma surgeries; surgical equipment and surgical navigation systems; endoscopic and communications systems; patient handling and emergency medical equipment; neurosurgical, neurovascular and spinal devices; as well as other medical device products used in a variety of medical specialties.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: In the United States, most of Stryker's products are marketed directly to doctors, hospitals and other healthcare facilities. Internationally, Stryker products are sold in over 100 countries through company-owned sales subsidiaries and branches as well as third-party dealers and distributors.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: Stryker segregates their reporting into three reportable business segments: Orthopedics, Medical and Surgical (MedSurg), and Neurotechnology and Spine.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: The Orthopedic Frame Company, the precursor of Stryker Corporation, was formed in 1941 by Dr. Homer Stryker, a Kalamazoo, Michigan, orthopedist and a 1925 graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School . Stryker developed the Turning Frame, a mobile hospital bed that allowed for repositioning of injured patients while providing necessary body immobility; the cast cutter, a cast cutting apparatus that removed cast material without damaging underlying tissues; and the walking heel, among others. In 1964, the company name was officially changed to Stryker Corporation.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: In 1979, Stryker made an initial public offering of stock and later acquired Osteonics Corporation, entering the replacement hip, knee, and other orthopedic implants market (Stryker). In 1999 annual sales reached $2.1 billion, and in 2000 Stryker was included in the S&P 500 and the Forbes Platinum 400 for the first time. In 2002 sales reached $3.0 billion and Stryker was listed in the Fortune 500 for the first time.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: In 2003, Stephen P. MacMillan joined Stryker as president and CEO. In 2005, annual sales reached $4.9 billion and John W. Brown transitioned to the single role of chairman of the board, a role he retired from in 2010, while MacMillan became president and CEO. By 2007, Stryker sold its Physiotherapy Associates division to private equity firm Water Street Healthcare Partners for $150 million. In February 2012, Mr. MacMillan resigned and Curt R. Hartman was named Interim Chief Executive Officer and vice president and chief financial officer. Mr. William U. Parfet was named non-executive chairman of the board. On October 1, 2012, Mr. Kevin A. Lobo was appointed as president and chief executive officer.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: At the end of 2012, Stryker had approximately 22,000 global employees and annual sales of $8.7 billion. 35% of those sales were outside the U.S.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: In a 2012 global market overview of top medical technology firms, Stryker was ranked number 10 with total portfolio sales in excess of $8.6 billion. Moreover, the firm maintains 35% worldwide reconstructive market share; 50% worldwide MedSurg market share; 15% worldwide Neurotechnology and Spine market share.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: The company was recognized by Hermann Simon as a role model for other small to medium-sized business in his book "Hidden Champions". Stryker recently hired former Johnson & Johnson executive Rob Fletcher as its new chief legal officer.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: Brown served as president, CEO and finally chairman of the board across a 32-year career with Stryker. One report attributes Stryker's rise from a maker of hospital beds to a world-class medical technology company to Brown. , Brown's retained investment in Stryker placed him on the Forbes 400 list with a net worth of .


title: Stryker Corporation

text: In 1998, Stryker purchased Howmedica, the orthopaedic division of Pfizer, for $1.65 billion. Howmedica became Stryker Orthopaedics. In August 2000, Stryker acquired, with stock, Guided Technologies, a developer and manufacturer of optical localizers purposed for use in healthcare and industrial.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: In August 2004, Stryker acquired, for $120 million, SpineCore, a company involved in the development of artificial spinal disks. About two years preceding this date, in June 2002, the firm acquired the Spinal Implant Business of Surgical Dynamics for $135 million.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: In March 2006, Stryker absorbed the Haifa, Israel-based Sightline Technologies into its operations. Sightline, a manufacturer of gastrointestinal endoscopy apparatuses, propelled Stryker into the flexible endoscopy market. In February of the same year, the firm acquired eTrauma.com, a privately held entity involved in the development of software for Picture archiving and communication system (PACS); the company was incorporated into Stryker Endoscopy Business. December 2005 marked the company's acquisition of PlasmaSol Corp. for $17.5 million. PlasmaSol produces technologies allowing sterilization of various MedSurg equipments.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: In 2009, Stryker acquired Ascent Healthcare Solutions the market leader in the reprocessing and remanufacturing of medical devices in the U.S.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: In January 2011, Stryker acquired the Neurovascular Division of Boston Scientific, which includes products used for the minimally invasive treatment of hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke. In June 2011, Stryker purchased Malvern, Pennsylvania-based Orthovita, a biomaterials company specializing in bone augmentation and substitution technologies. The Orthovita business now makes up the Stryker Orthobiologics division, which specializes in biomaterials for all Stryker divisions. In July 2011, Stryker completed the acquisition of privately held Memometal Technologies S.A.. France based Memometal develops, manufactures and markets products for extremity indications based on its proprietary methods for preparing and manufacturing a shape memory metal alloy. In August 2011, Stryker signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Concentric Medical, Inc. in an all-cash transaction for $135 million. Concentric's products include devices for the removal of thrombus in patients experiencing acute ischemic stroke along with a broad range of AIS access products.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: In November 2012, Stryker acquired the Tel Aviv, Israel-based Surpass Medical Ltd., a company developing a flow diversion stent technology to treat brain aneurysms using a mesh design and delivery system, for $135 million.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: In March 2013, Stryker acquired Trauson Holdings Company Limited. Trauson is a trauma manufacturer in China and a major competitor in the spine segment. In December 2013, Stryker acquired MAKO Surgical Corporation. MAKO is a company in South Florida that manufactures and markets surgical robotic arm assistance platforms, most notably the RIO (Robotic Arm Interactive Orthopedic System) as well as orthopedic implants used by orthopedic surgeons for use in partial knee and total hip arthroplasty. Stryker also acquired Patient Safety Technologies, Inc. The company offers Safety-Sponge System, an integrated counting and documentation system that prevents surgical sponges and towels from being unintentionally left in patients after surgical procedures.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: In March 2014, Stryker acquired Pivot Medical, Inc. Pivot is a privately held business selling innovative products for hip arthroscopy with operating facilities in Sunnyvale, CA. In April 2014 Stryker acquires Berchtold Holding AG (Berchtold), a provider of customer-centric healthcare equipment for over 90 years. Berchtold's product portfolio includes surgical tables, equipment booms, and surgical lighting systems geared towards maximizing efficiency and safety in operating rooms and ICUs. On July 1, 2014, Stryker Corp. announced that it had agreed to buy the assets of Small Bone Innovations Inc., a Morrisville, Pa.-based company that specializes in products that help surgeons treat and replace small bones and joints for $358 million. The company also acquired Patient Safety Technologies for $120 million.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: In September 2015, Stryker acquired Turkish company Muka Metal A.S. which is manufacturing hospital beds and patient furniture in Kayseri.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: In February 2016, the company announced it would acquire Sage Products for $2.8 billion. Later in the same month the company announced the acquisition of Physio-Control from Bain Capital Outline of the Northern Mariana Islands Equity for $1.28 billion.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: In June 2017, Stryker acquired Arthrogenx, LLC, which developed the Cobra reusable suture passer for arthroscopic rotator cuff repair and Novadaq. In September, Stryker completed its acquisition of Novadaq Technologies for $700 million. In October, the company acquired Vexim for €183 million. In November 2017 the company announced it would acquire Entellus Medical Inc $662 million, bolstering Strykers ENT business.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: In 2018 Stryker acquired K2M Group Holdings, Inc., producer of complex spine and minimally invasive technology. In May the business acquired Hygia Health, Services SafeAir AG, HyperBranch Medical Technology, Inc.,


title: Stryker Corporation

text: In February 2019 the company announced it would acquire Arrinex, Inc. manufacturer of cryoablation technology for the treatment of chronic rhinitis. In March Stryker acquired the Israeli-based OrthoSpace, Ltd for up to $220 million. In October, the business acquired Mobius Imaging, LLC and GYS Tech, LLC (DBA Cardan Robotics). In November of the same year the company announced it would acquire Wright Medical Group N.V. for around $4 billion ($5.4 billion including debt), expanding into upper-body implants.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: In January 2021, Stryker announced it would acquire joint replacement technology business, OrthoSensor, Inc. In May 2021, Stryker announced the acquisition of TMJ Concepts.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: In January 2022, the company announced it would acquire digital care business Vocera Communications for around $3 billion.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: On January 27, 2000, Stryker Corporation restated its operating results for the year ended December 31, 1998, to reduce acquisition-related charges by $30.9 million.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: Since early 2007, the company has received three warning letters from the Food & Drug Administration citing issues in compliancy. The first of these, a seven-page correspondence, named various issues at an Irish manufacturing facility, such as untimely fix of failures and procedural noncompliance in the testing of failed or otherwise problem-prone devices. The second, sent November 2007, cites issues at the firm's Mahwah, New Jersey, facility, including poor fixation of hip implant components, in some instances requiring mitigation by revision surgeries; exceeded microbial level violations in the cleaning and final packaging areas of the sterile implants; and failure to institute measures in prevention of recurrence of these and other problems. The final warning letter, sent April 2008, cites issues at the firm's Hopkinton, MA biotechnology facility. Again, issues relate to quality and noncompliance including falsification of documents relevant to the selling of products to hospitals which are to be sold under a limited, government-mandated basis. Stryker maintains that employees involved in the falsification of documents have since been terminated.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: In the fall of 2007, Stryker, along with the related companies Biomet, Zimmer Holdings, DePuy Orthopaedics and Smith & Nephew, were involved in civil litigation with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. This litigation called for a net payout of $311 million as the governmental department maintains the aforementioned companies engaged in unlawful kickbacks to physicians who urged hospitals to purchase their respective products. Stryker, however, having cooperated early in the investigation, was not fined.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: As of February 2008, a dispute exists between Stryker Corp. and the U.S. Department of Justice concerning a subpoena linking the company to aforementioned misconduct in sale of products. Since governmental filing of the injunction, Stryker notes that it has produced in excess of 300,000 pages of documentation in compliance with the mandate. U.S. Government counters, however, that the documentation was not proper in scope and format. Law officials expect the investigation to continue for several months.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: Stryker recalled several models of medical vacuums sold under the "Neptune Waste Management System" brand in June and September 2012. The devices, some of which had not been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration, caused a fatal accident when the vacuum was mistakenly used to suction a passive drainage tube.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: On 2012, FDA has issued a warning for the Stryker Rejuvenate hip replacement after it was discovered that the hip replacement was considered defective and can cause similar side effects to DePuy Hip Implants. As a results, on 2014, Stryker was fined 1 billion and 2.5 billion for their defective Rejuvenate and ABG II hip replacement that can cause excruciating pain.


title: Stryker Corporation

text: During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Stryker refused to join the international community and withdraw from the Russian market. Research from Yale University updated on April 28, 2022 identifying how companies were reacting to Russia's invasion identified Stryker in the worst category of "Digging In", meaning Defying Demands for Exit: companies defying demands for exit/reduction of activities.


title: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc

text: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc (born 20 July 1954) is a Vietnamese politician currently serving as the President of Vietnam, one of the highest-ranked officials in Vietnam along with Nguyễn Phú Trọng, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam ("de facto" leader). Nguyễn Xuân Phúc ranked 2nd in the Communist Party's 13th Politburo behind Nguyễn Phú Trọng and was ranked 3rd in the 12th Politburo. Nguyễn Xuân Phúc is also a full member of the National Assembly, serving in its 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th terms. He was elected to the post by the National Assembly of Vietnam on 5 April 2021 after serving 5 years as Prime Minister of the country. Nguyễn Xuân Phúc became a member of the Communist Party of Vietnam on 12 November 1983.


title: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc

text: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc studied at the Hanoi National Economic University in economic management between 1973 and 1978, after which he studied administrative management at the Vietnam National Administrative Academy. From 1978 to 1979 he was employed by Quảng Nam-Đà Nẵng Economic Board. From 1980 to 1993, Phúc worked initially as an employee, before rising to deputy head of Quảng Nam - Đà Nẵng's People's Committee. Nguyễn Xuân Phúc then served in various roles including that of provincial president, director of government offices, before becoming deputy prime minister (2011–2016).


title: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc

text: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc was born on 20 July 1954, in the commune of Quế Phú, district of Quế Sơn, Quảng Nam Province, in what was then the State of Vietnam. He took economic management at Hanoi National Economic University from 1973 to 1978. He was accepted to join the Communist Party of Vietnam on 12 May 1982, officially becoming a member of this party on 12 November 1983.


title: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc

text: From 1978 to 1979 he was among personnel at the Quảng Nam-Đà Nẵng Economic Board. From 1980 to 1993: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc was an employee, then deputy, rising to Chief of Office of the Quảng Nam – Đà Nẵng People's Committee. He studied administrative management at the Vietnam National Administrative Academy.


title: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc

text: His father Nguyễn Hiền was born in 1918, and worked for the Democratic Republic of Vietnam before 1954, heading north in accordance with the Geneva Accord. He, his mother and siblings stayed in their hometown, where they studied at the village school. His mother and siblings secretly worked for the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, and his sister was killed by the US military and the South Vietnamese government after a battle in 1965. In 1966, his mother was also killed. He lived with his sister in his hometown for a while, then secretly brought to North by the comrades of his parents in 1967.


title: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc

text: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc attended junior high school in his hometown of Quang Nam, Da Nang. In the period 1966 - 1968, he went to the Revolutionary War Zone and was trained by the Party in the North. He attended high school and was also the Secretary of the High School Youth Union from 1968 to 1972, graduating from general education on October 10, 1972.


title: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc

text: From 1973, he moved to Hanoi, studied at the National Economics University, participated in activities in the Youth Union movement, and served as Secretary of the Union. In 1978, he graduated with a Bachelor of Economics from Hanoi National Economics University with a foreign language certificate in English B, Russian Literature B. In the 1990s, he studied State Administration. at the National Academy of Public Administration . In 1996, he was sent to study Economic Management at the National University of Singapore.


title: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc

text: On May 12, 1982, he was admitted to the Communist Party of Vietnam, though the official date is November 12, 1983.


title: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc

text: From 1993–1996: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc was the Director of Department of Planning and Investment of Quang Nam-Da Nang Province. He studied economic management at the National University of Singapore.


title: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc

text: From 1997–2001: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc became a permanent member of the Provincial party committee (17th, 18th session); Vice Chairman, then the first Vice Chairman of the provincial People's Committee of Quang Nam Province and Director of Industrial Zones Management Board of Quang Nam Province. He was a member of the provincial People's Council (6th session).


title: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc

text: From 2001–2004: Vice Secretary of provincial party committee of Quang Nam Province, Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Nam Province (term from 1999 – 2004). He was a member of Vietnam's National Assembly (11th session), head of Quang Nam Province's members of the National Assembly, and a member of the Committee for Economy and Budget of the National Assembly (11th session).


title: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc

text: In March 2006, he was appointed Deputy Chief Inspector of the Government. At the 10th National Party Congress, the party elected him to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam. In June 2006, he was appointed as Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Deputy Chairman of the Government Office. In August 2007, he was approved by the National Assembly as Minister of the Government of Vietnam.


title: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc

text: From June 2006 to August 2007 Nguyễn Xuân Phúc was Permanent Vice Minister of the Office of Government, member of the 11th National Assembly's Economic and Budgetary Commission


title: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc

text: From August 2007 to January 2011 Nguyễn Xuân Phúc was Minister of the Office of Government, Head of the Prime Minister's Task Force for Administrative Procedure Reform


title: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc

text: From January 2011 to July 2011 Nguyễn Xuân Phúc was Member of the Politburo of the 11th CPV Central Committee, Minister of the Office of Government


title: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc

text: On 7 April 2016, Nguyễn Xuân Phúc became the Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at the 11th working session of the 13th National Assembly. During his tenure, he has been praised for overseeing Vietnam's successful response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc

text: On 5 April 2021, he was elected the 10th President of Vietnam, during a meeting session of the National Assembly, succeeding Nguyễn Phú Trọng who had previously announced his resignation from the role. Nguyễn Xuân Phúc was the only nominated candidate for the role, the first incumbent Prime Minister to be elected President by the National Assembly, and the first Prime Minister to be elected President since Ho Chi Minh in 1945.


title: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc

text: His wife is Trần Thị Nguyệt Thu. He has 2 children, a daughter named Nguyễn Thị Xuân Trang (b. 1986, married to Mr. Vũ Chí Hùng in 2009) and a son named Nguyễn Xuân Hiếu. His son-in-law, Mr. Vũ Chí Hùng, is the incumbent Vice Director General of the General Department of Taxation.


title: Nguyễn Xuân Phúc

text: He has a brother named Nguyễn Quốc Dũng, born in 1947, who is the former Procurator General of the People's Procuracy of Da Nang. He had a living sister named Nguyễn Thị Thuyền (born right after Mr. Nguyễn Quốc Dũng in 1952) and another sister who was shot by American soldiers during the Vietnam War.


title: Wolfsburg

text: Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian: "Wulfsborg") is the fifth largest city in the German state of Lower Saxony, located on the river Aller. It lies about east of Hanover and west of Berlin.


title: Wolfsburg

text: Wolfsburg is famous as the location of Volkswagen AG's headquarters and the world's biggest car plant. The Autostadt is a visitor attraction next to the Volkswagen factory that features the company's model range: Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Ducati, Lamborghini, MAN, Neoplan, Porsche, Scania, SEAT, Škoda Auto and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. Wolfsburg is one of the few German cities built during the first half of the 20th century as a planned city. From its founding on 1 July 1938 as a home for workers producing the "KdF-"Wagen" until 25 May 1945, the city was called Stadt des KdF-Wagens bei Fallersleben. In 1972, the population first exceeded 100,000. In 2019, the GRP was €188,453 per capita.


title: Wolfsburg

text: Wolfsburg is located at the Southern edge of the ancient river valley of the Aller at the M"ittellandkanal" ("Midland Canal"). It is bordered by the districts of Gifhorn and Helmstedt.


title: Wolfsburg

text: The total annual precipitation is about which is quite low as it belongs to the lowest tenth of the measured data in Germany. Only 7% of all observation stations of the "Deutscher Wetterdiens"t (German weather service) record lower measurements. The warmest month is July and the driest month is February, most precipitation is measured in June where observation stations measure.


title: Wolfsburg

text: The "Wolfsburg" castle was first mentioned in 1302 in a document as the domicile of the noble lineage of Bartensleben. Originally a keep next to the Aller, it was protected by a moat some centuries later. In 1372, the first documentary reference to the "Burg Neuhaus" ("castle of Neuhaus") near Wolfsburg appeared. After the extinction of the Bartensleben line in 1742, the property and its "Schloss Wolfsburg" (Wolfsburg castle) passed on to the Counts of Schulenburg. The communal manor was an important employer for the nearby settlements "Rothenfelde" and "Heßlingen".


title: Wolfsburg

text: Some of today's urban districts, including "Vorsfelde" and the villages transferred to Wolfsburg from the county of Helmstedt, belonged to the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. "Fallersleben" and other villages belonged to the Electorate of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, which later developed into the Kingdom of Hanover and became a Prussian province in 1866. Other urban districts, including "Heßlingen", belonged to the Prussian Duchy of Magdeburg. In 1932, these districts were detached from the Prussian Province of Saxony and integrated into the Province of Hanover.


title: Wolfsburg

text: Wolfsburg was founded on 1 July 1938 as the "Stadt des KdF-Wagens bei Fallersleben," in English """City of the Strength Through Joy car at Fallersleben", a planned town centred around the village of Fallersleben, built to house workers of the Volkswagen factories erected to assemble what would be later known as the Volkswagen Beetle. During World War II, military cars, aeroplanes, and other military equipment were built there, mainly by forced workers and prisoners-of-war. In 1942, German authorities established the Arbeitsdorf concentration camp in the city for a few months. A minimum of six individuals died while working at this camp.


title: Wolfsburg

text: The city and Volkswagen factory were captured on April 11, 1945 by US troops and about 7,700 forced labourers were liberated from the Volkswagen factory. The US troops occupied the city until the end of June, during which time the city was renamed Wolfsburg on 25 May 1945, after the eponymous castle located there. The American occupation ended at the end of June 1945 when the region became part of the British occupation zone. In 1951, Wolfsburg was separated from the District of Gifhorn, and became an urban district.


title: Wolfsburg

text: In 1955, the one-millionth VW Beetle was manufactured in Wolfsburg. Postwar Beetle production ended in Wolfsburg in 1974, though Beetle production continued within Germany at Emden until 1978. The factories in Wolfsburg remain a key part of Volkswagen's production capacity.


title: Wolfsburg

text: During the German economic miracle Wolfsburg experienced a large influx of immigrant workers, especially from Italy.


title: Wolfsburg

text: In 1958, the city hall was built. In 1960 the Volkswagenwerk GmbH (limited partnership with a limited liability) was changed into an AG (public limited company).


title: Wolfsburg

text: In the course of a land reform in Lower Saxony in 1972, 20 localities were added to the city through the "Wolfsburg-Act". Wolfsburg gained the status of major city with nearly 131,000 inhabitants. The city's area grew from 35 to nearly . In 1973, the city's population peaked at 131,971.


title: Wolfsburg

text: In 1982, the A39, a side road of the A2 (Oberhausen - Hannover - Werder), was built as a direct freeway to Wolfsburg.


title: Wolfsburg

text: In 1988, the city became a university town with the establishment of the University of Applied Science Braunschweig/Wolfenbüttel. Today its name is Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences.


title: Wolfsburg

text: As a launch promotion for the 5th generation of the Volkswagen Golf the city of Wolfsburg welcomed visitors on the internet, on the official stationery, and on every city limit sign with the name "Golfsburg" from 25 August to 10 October 2003. This campaign gained the nationwide attention of press, radio, and TV broadcasting.


title: Wolfsburg

text: In the summer of 2009, Wolfsburg gained nationwide attention when their football team, VfL Wolfsburg, won the German football league. A party was held in the city centre with about 100,000 people, the first in the history of the city.


title: Wolfsburg

text: The centre of Wolfsburg is unique in Germany. Instead of a medieval city centre, Wolfsburg features a new and modern attraction called the Autostadt. The old part of the city Alt Wolfsburg shows some manor buildings in traditional framework style. Atop a hill by the River Aller is the Wolfsburg Castle.


title: Wolfsburg

text: The Autostadt is an open-air museum-theme park dedicated to automobiles owned and operated by Volkswagen. In the center of the park are the pavilions featuring Volkswagen's major brands: Volkswagen and Audi to the north, further south are SEAT, Škoda Auto, Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti and the Premium Clubhouse. Right next to the lagoon is the Porsche pavilion. The striking Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles pavilion is in the south-east of the park.


title: Wolfsburg

text: The Autostadt also includes: a planetarium; a Ritz-Carlton hotel; the Phaeno Science Center, the largest hands-on science museum in Germany; a water skiing resort; and a private art museum ("Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg") specialised in modern and contemporary art.


title: Wolfsburg

text: Another major attraction is the Wolfsburg Water Show, the world's largest water-flame-laser-video fountain show with its up to 70 meter high fountains which was in the Autostadt complex in 2014. The event sometimes can be seen when there are special events in the complex.


title: Wolfsburg

text: Besides the Autostadt, another best known and most distinctive is BadeLand. It's a beautiful wellness and relaxation centre with a bathing area and various saunas.


title: Wolfsburg

text: From about 1,000 inhabitants in 1938, the population of the city increased to 25,000 in 1950 and doubled to 50,000 until 1958. On 1 July 1972, the population of Wolfsburg first went beyond the mark of 100,000 because several adjacent suburbanized villages were incorporated into the city with the "Wolfsburg law" which made Wolfsburg a major city ("Großstadt“). In 1973, the population reached its highest level: 131,971. At the end of December 2010, 121,451 people were registered with their principal residence in Wolfsburg. By the end of 2012, this number had climbed to 123,144.


title: Wolfsburg

text: The city of Wolfsburg is organized into 40 districts. One or more districts make up one of the total of 16 localities which are represented by their own councils. Every council has a local official as its mayor.


title: Wolfsburg

text: First the councils were only established in the 11 localities annexed in 1972. They partly took over the functions of the former city councils of each of the districts. In 1991 and 2001 some of the localities were split into smaller areas so that today there are 16 localities, each with its own council which are directly elected by the citizens.


title: Wolfsburg

text: The only exception from this organization is the Allerpark ("Aller Park"), a local recreation area surrounding the Allersee lake, and the area of the Volkswagen factory which are both located in the central city area.


title: Wolfsburg

text: The administrative area of Wolfsburg includes six nature reserves. Five of them are located in the ancient Aller river valley.


title: Wolfsburg

text: Head of the young "Stadt des KdF-Wagens" became the government assessor Karl Bock on enactment #145 of the chief president of the government of Lüneburg effective from 1 July 1938. His followers were also deployed by the government.


title: Wolfsburg

text: In 1946, the military government of the British zone of occupation established a communal constitution following the British example. After this, citizens voted for a council which elected a volunteer mayor/ lord mayor as the city's leader and representative. After 1946, the council elected a full-time director to lead the city council. In 2001, the city council's dual leadership was abolished. It is led by a full-time lord mayor who is also the city's representative. Since 2001, citizens directly elect the lord mayor. The council still has its own chairperson elected by the council's constitutive conference after every local election. The current "Bürgermeister" of Wolfsburg Dennis Weilmann.


title: Wolfsburg

text: The city council is made up of the fractions of the different parties (47 seats) and the lord mayor with one seat. The lord mayor is head of administration, thus the superior of all employees of the city council. The lord mayor is supported by four departmental heads that are voted by the council on his proposal. Together, they make up the board of directors of the city administration where the most important decisions concerning administration are deliberated weekly.


title: Wolfsburg

text: Wolfsburg's emblem shows a silver two-tower castle with a closed gate on red ground over a green base with silver waved timbers. A golden wolf with a blue tongue paces over the castle's battlement. The city's flag is green and white.


title: Wolfsburg

text: Lower Saxony's Department of the Interior awarded the city of Wolfsburg's emblem in 1952 after it had been constituted in the association articles in 1947. In 1961, it was improved heraldically and newly awarded by the governmental executive committee of Lüneburg. The symbols of the wolf and the castle reflect the city's name (canting arm) and do not have a historical, directly conveyed reference. The flag was adopted in 1955.


title: Wolfsburg

text: Volkswagen used a modified version of the Wolfsburg coat of arms as its steering wheel emblem, (and occasionally as a hood ornament, on classic Beetles) until the early 1980s, when it was replaced by the VW roundel.


title: Wolfsburg

text: The city of Wolfsburg is a member of the association "Braunschweigische Landschaft e.V". with a registered office in Braunschweig and in the "Lüneburgischen Landschaftsverband e.V". with a registered office in Uelzen. These associations were founded to foster cultural establishments of the regions.


title: Wolfsburg

text: The most famous professional sports club in the city is VfL Wolfsburg, established in 1945. The men's football team won the Bundesliga in 2009, the DFB-Pokal in 2015 and the DFL-Supercup in 2015. The women's football team has been even more successful, winning six Bundesliga titles and seven DFB-Pokal titles. The women's team has also succeeded in winning the UEFA Women's Champions League in two consecutive years, 2013 and 2014.


title: Wolfsburg

text: Wolfsburg is also the home of the ice hockey team Grizzlys Wolfsburg, which since 2007 has made it to a leading position in the first-tier Deutsche Eishockey Liga, where it was runner-up in 2011, 2016 and 2017.


title: Wolfsburg

text: Also based in city is the tennis tournament Volkswagen Challenger, which has been held annually in Wolfsburg since 1993.


title: AV idol

text: An or is a type of pornographic film actress in Japan. It is a sub-category of the idol culture in Japanese pop entertainment. AV idols work in the pornographic business, often both as an actress as well as a model as the video performances vary widely, from suggestive softcore imagery to hardcore pornography. The industry is noted for having frequent turnovers; since the dawn of the AV industry in the early 1980s, hundreds of AV idols have debuted every year, with an average career span of about a year, appearing in five or ten videos during that time. Few notable AV idols have careers spanning longer than a decade, have a wide general public recognition, or make a significant impact on the industry in some other manner.


title: AV idol

text: The line between "adult" and "family" entertainment in Japan is not as clear-cut as it is in some other countries. A celebrity may appear in AVs after already having established a career in mainstream television. Also, it is not rare for a popular AV actress to go on to become a mainstream celebrity.


title: AV idol

text: The AV, or "Adult Video" market is a major industry in Japan, reportedly worth about ¥400 billion ($4 billion) per year. In 1992, it was reported that over 11 AVs were being made every day by over 70 production companies in Tokyo alone. The AV market was estimated to make up about 30 percent of Japan's video rentals. It was estimated in 1994 that, between legal and illegal videos, around 14,000 AVs a year were being made in the country, in contrast to about 2,500 in the United States. In an English language interview in 2011, AV idol Azusa Maki estimated that as many as 10,000 girls attempt to get into the Japanese AV industry each year.


title: AV idol

text: AV performers were often struggling actresses who could not find work in the theatrical Roman Porno films and girls from the soaplands. AV star Kaoru Kuroki has been credited with raising the status of AV idols in the public's eye. According to cultural essayist Rosemary Iwamura, "she didn't seem to be making videos because of a lack of options but rather as an informed choice."


title: AV idol

text: AV actresses are usually recruited by scouts in Tokyo neighborhoods such as Roppongi, Shinjuku and Matahine. These scouts are affiliated with talent agencies who then hire the actresses to the AV production companies. Some women wishing to appear in AVs apply to the production companies, but they are usually referred to the talent agencies. The production companies are typically charged ¥1.5 million (US$15,000) or more for an actress to appear in a video. AV actresses make between ¥200,000 and 4 million yen per video. Steve Scott, president of Third World Media, an importer of Japanese adult movies to the United States, estimated a top-tier AV star could make up to nearly ¥36 million for an eight-picture deal.


title: AV idol

text: AV fans are invited to follow the progress of a prominent AV actress' career over several video appearances. In her AV debut video, the actress is introduced as a "new face," and her inexperience is played up in interviews preceding the modeling and sex scenes. Following this debut video, the AV audience follows the actress' journey through sexual awakening, and her eventual specialization, after about five AV appearances, in a specific genre such as lesbianism or SM. Once the actress has established herself as a mature AV star, she has the options of continuing into some of the more outrageous AV genres, retiring, or, sometimes, re-emerging under a new name as a "new face."


title: AV idol

text: In 2022, the Japanese government passed a new law that made pornography legal in the country. The new set of laws also aims to protect actors who were pressured into entering the industry, by giving them rights to prohibit the sale of videos in which they appear after five years from initial release date.


title: AV idol

text: AV director "Tarzan" Yagi says that a successful AV actress should fit a stereotype which "can be identified at a glance, making it easier for viewers to recognize the type they prefer." Yagi mentions "the 'slender' type, 'Lolita' type, 'buxom' type and so on."


title: AV idol

text: Some AV idols have garnered a substantial following outside Japan, resulting in some of their content being subtitled into other languages.


title: AV idol

text: In June 2008, a bill that proposed the imposition of a ban on child-pornography possession was submitted to the House of Representatives of Japan where it was brought before the Diet in September, but failed to pass. On 15 July 2014 penalties were added to the simple possession of child pornography as a result of the revision of the law.


title: AV idol

text: The most dominant type of Japanese pornography centers on the stereotype of the cute ("kawaii") and innocent-looking but sexually eager female high school student in a school uniform. AV idols of this sort are innumerable and ever-changing, though most are 18 years of age or older. The schoolgirl trope is a reflection of the JK business (compensated dating with adolescent girls), which is popular with older men.


title: AV idol

text: While a few early AV idols such as Kyoko Nakamura and Eri Kikuchi established careers due primarily to large breasts, Noriyuki Adachi sets Kimiko Matsuzaka's 1989 debut as the point at which the "Big Bust Boom" (巨乳ブーム - "Kyonyu Boom") began. A string of big-bust AV idols followed, including Hitomi Tanaka, Fuko, Miki Sawaguchi, Mariko Morikawa, Rin Aoki, Nozomi Momoi and Anna Ohura. By the mid-1990s, the Big Bust genre had become a staple of the AV industry.


title: AV idol

text: The vast majority of AV actresses debut in their late teens, but in the mid-1990s a trend for "mature women" became evident. While youth remained the norm, the broadening in tastes led to "mature" AV stars like Aki Tomosaki in 2000, Asuka Yūki in 2005 and Maki Tomoda in 2006, all of whom had passed their 30th birthdays at the time of their debuts. These actresses became popular in AVs with an incest theme. Yoko Shimada the international actress did AV with TEK-032 and TEK-034 sold on R18.com a channel specialising in AV films.


title: Hobgoblin

text: A hobgoblin is a household spirit, typically appearing in folklore, once considered helpful, but which since the spread of Christianity has often been considered mischievous. Shakespeare identifies the character of Puck in his "A Midsummer Night's Dream" as a hobgoblin.


title: Hobgoblin

text: The earliest known use of the word can be traced to about 1530, although it was likely in use for some time prior to that.


title: Hobgoblin

text: Hobgoblins seem to be small, hairy little men who, like their close relatives the brownies, are often found within human dwellings, doing odd jobs around the house while the family is asleep. Such chores are typically small tasks like dusting and ironing. Often, the only compensation necessary in return for these is food.


title: Hobgoblin

text: While brownies are more peaceful creatures, hobgoblins are more fond of practical jokes. They also seem to be able to shapeshift, as seen in one of Puck's monologues in "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Robin Goodfellow is perhaps the most mischievous and most infamous of all his kind, but many are less antagonizing. Like other fairy folk, hobgoblins are easily annoyed. They can be mischievous, frightening, and even dangerous. Attempts to give them clothing will often banish them forever, though whether they are offended by such gifts or are simply too proud to work in new clothes differs from teller to teller.


title: Hobgoblin

text: The bauchan is a Scottish domestic hobgoblin that is mischievous and belligerent but also very helpful when the need arises.


title: Hobgoblin

text: The bwbach (or boobach, plural bwbachod) is a Welsh domestic hobgoblin that will perform household chores in return for bowls of cream. They are good-natured but mischievous and have a dislike of clergymen and teetotalers, upon whom they will play relentless pranks.


title: Hobgoblin

text: In the poem "L'Allegro" (1645) by John Milton a domestic hobgoblin or brownie, known as a Lubbar Fend (or lubber fiend) and described as strong and hairy, threshes the corn then lays by the fireplace enjoying his bowl of cream that he earns as payment. In the earlier play "The Knight of the Burning Pestle" (1607) by Francis Beaumont, a similar being is known as "Lob-Lie-by-the-Fire", described as a giant and the son of a witch. Folklorist K.M. Briggs stated that the two creatures are generally equated. Briggs' own fantasy novel, "Hobberdy Dick" (1955), is about a hobgoblin that lives in the home of a 17th century Puritan family.


title: Hobgoblin

text: In a 1684 hymn Bunyan couples the hobgoblin with "a foul fiend", as two monstrous beings who try (and fail) to "daunt the Pilgrim's spirit".


title: Hobgoblin

text: The term "hobgoblin" is used sometimes to mean a superficial object that is a source of (often imagined) fear or trouble. The best-known example of this usage is probably Ralph Waldo Emerson's line, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds", from the essay "Self-Reliance".


title: Hobgoblin

text: Hobgoblins exist in the works of Tolkien as a larger kind of orc, though they are not prominently featured. In the preface of "The Hobbit", he states that ""Orc" is not an English word. It occurs in one or two places but is usually translated goblin (or hobgoblin for the larger kinds)".


title: Hobgoblin

text: is portrayed as a selfish character, always hungry, insulting to others, and annoyed with always being confused for a goblin.


title: Andromeda (constellation)

text: Andromeda is one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century Greco-Roman astronomer Ptolemy, and one of the 88 modern constellations. Located in the northern celestial hemisphere, it is named for Andromeda, daughter of Cassiopeia, in the Greek myth, who was chained to a rock to be eaten by the sea monster Cetus. Andromeda is most prominent during autumn evenings in the Northern Hemisphere, along with several other constellations named for characters in the Perseus myth. Because of its northern declination, Andromeda is visible only north of 40° south latitude; for observers farther south, it lies below the horizon. It is one of the largest constellations, with an area of 722 square degrees. This is over 1,400 times the size of the full moon, 55% of the size of the largest constellation, Hydra, and over 10 times the size of the smallest constellation, Crux.


title: Andromeda (constellation)

text: Its brightest star, Alpha Andromedae, is a binary star that has also been counted as a part of Pegasus, while Gamma Andromedae is a colorful binary and a popular target for amateur astronomers. Only marginally dimmer than Alpha, Beta Andromedae is a red giant, its color visible to the naked eye. The constellation's most obvious deep-sky object is the naked-eye Andromeda Galaxy (M31, also called the Great Galaxy of Andromeda), the closest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way and one of the brightest Messier objects. Several fainter galaxies, including M31's companions M110 and M32, as well as the more distant NGC 891, lie within Andromeda. The Blue Snowball Nebula, a planetary nebula, is visible in a telescope as a blue circular object.


title: Andromeda (constellation)

text: In Chinese astronomy, the stars that make up Andromeda were members of four different constellations that had astrological and mythological significance; a constellation related to Andromeda also exists in Hindu mythology. Andromeda is the location of the radiant for the Andromedids, a weak meteor shower that occurs in November.


title: Andromeda (constellation)

text: The uranography of Andromeda has its roots most firmly in the Greek tradition, though a female figure in Andromeda's location had appeared earlier in Babylonian astronomy. The stars that make up Pisces and the middle portion of modern Andromeda formed a constellation representing a fertility goddess, sometimes named as Anunitum or the Lady of the Heavens.


title: Andromeda (constellation)

text: Andromeda is known as "the Chained Lady" or "the Chained Woman" in English. It was known as "Mulier Catenata" ("chained woman") in Latin and "al-Mar'at al Musalsalah" in Arabic. It has also been called "Persea" ("Perseus's wife") or "Cepheis" ("Cepheus's daughter"), all names that refer to Andromeda's role in the Greco-Roman myth of Perseus, in which Cassiopeia, the queen of Ethiopia, bragged that her daughter was more beautiful than the Nereids, sea nymphs blessed with incredible beauty. Offended at her remark, the nymphs petitioned Poseidon to punish Cassiopeia for her insolence, which he did by commanding the sea monster Cetus to attack Ethiopia. Andromeda's panicked father, Cepheus, was told by the Oracle of Ammon that the only way to save his kingdom was to sacrifice his daughter to Cetus. She was chained to a rock by the sea but was saved by the hero Perseus, who in one version of the story used the head of Medusa to turn the monster into stone; in another version, by the Roman poet Ovid in his Metamorphoses, Perseus slew the monster with his diamond sword. Perseus and Andromeda then married; the myth recounts that the couple had nine children together – seven sons and two daughters – and founded Mycenae and its Persideae dynasty. After Andromeda's death Athena placed her in the sky as a constellation, to honour her. Three of the neighbouring constellations (Perseus, Cassiopeia and Cepheus) represent characters in the Perseus myth, while Cetus retreats to beyond Pisces. It is connected with the constellation Pegasus.


title: Andromeda (constellation)

text: Andromeda was one of the original 48 constellations formulated by Ptolemy in his 2nd-century Almagest, in which it was defined as a specific pattern of stars. She is typically depicted with α Andromedae as her head, ο and λ Andromedae as her chains, and δ, π, μ, β, and γ her body and legs. However, there is no universal depiction of Andromeda and the stars used to represent her body, head, and chains. Arab astronomers were aware of Ptolemy's constellations, but they included a second constellation representing a fish overlapping Andromeda's body; the nose of this fish was marked by a hazy patch that we now know as the Andromeda Galaxy, M31. Several stars from Andromeda and most of the stars in Lacerta were combined in 1787 by German astronomer Johann Bode to form Honores Friderici (also called Friedrichs Ehre). It was designed to honour King Frederick II of Prussia, but quickly fell into disuse. Since the time of Ptolemy, Andromeda has remained a constellation and is officially recognized by the International Astronomical Union. Like all those that date back to a pattern known to Ptolemy, it is attributed to a wider zone and thus many surrounding stars. In 1922, the IAU defined its recommended three-letter abbreviation, "And". The official boundaries of Andromeda were defined in 1930 by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte as a polygon of 36 segments. Its right ascension is between 22 57.5 and 2 39.3 and its declination is between 53.19° and 21.68° in the equatorial coordinate system.


title: Andromeda (constellation)

text: In traditional Chinese astronomy, nine stars from Andromeda (including Beta Andromedae, Mu Andromedae, and Nu Andromedae), along with seven stars from Pisces, formed an elliptical constellation called "Legs" (奎宿). This constellation either represented the foot of a walking person or a wild boar. Gamma Andromedae and its neighbours were called "Teen Ta Tseang Keun" (天大将军, heaven's great general), representing honour in astrology and a great general in mythology. Alpha Andromedae and Gamma Pegasi together made "Wall" (壁宿), representing the eastern wall of the imperial palace and/or the emperor's personal library. For the Chinese, the northern swath of Andromeda formed a stable for changing horses (, 天厩, stable on sky) and the far western part, along with most of Lacerta, became Tengshe, a flying snake.


title: Andromeda (constellation)

text: An Arab constellation called "al-Hut" (the fish) was composed of several stars in Andromeda, M31, and several stars in Pisces. ν And, μ And, β And, η And, ζ And, ε And, δ And, π And, and 32 And were all included from Andromeda; ν Psc, φ Psc, χ Psc, and ψ Psc were included from Pisces.


title: Andromeda (constellation)

text: As per Hindu astronomy, Andromeda is known as Devyani Constellation while Cassiopeia is Sharmishta Constellation. Devyani and Sharmishta are wives of King Yayati (Perseus Constellation) who is the earliest patriarch of the Kuru and Yadu Clans that are mentioned frequently in epic Mahabharat. There is an interesting story of these three characters mentioned in Mahabharat. Devyani is the daughter of Guru Shukracharya while Shar Sharmishtha


title: Andromeda (constellation)

text: Hindu legends surrounding Andromeda are similar to the Greek myths. Ancient Sanskrit texts depict Antarmada chained to a rock, as in the Greek myth. Scholars believe that the Hindu and Greek astrological myths were closely linked; one piece of evidence cited is the similarity between the names "Antarmada" and "Andromeda".


title: Andromeda (constellation)

text: Andromeda is also associated with the Mesopotamian creation story of Tiamat, the goddess of Chaos. She bore many demons for her husband, Apsu, but eventually decided to destroy them in a war that ended when Marduk killed her. He used her body to create the constellations as markers of time for humans.


title: Andromeda (constellation)

text: In the Marshall Islands, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Triangulum, and Aries are incorporated into a constellation representing a porpoise. Andromeda's bright stars are mostly in the body of the porpoise; Cassiopeia represents its tail and Aries its head. In the Tuamotu islands, Alpha Andromedae was called "Takurua-e-te-tuki-hanga-ruki", meaning "Star of the wearisome toil", and Beta Andromedae was called "Piringa-o-Tautu".


title: Andromeda (constellation)

text: Of the stars brighter than 4th magnitude (and those with measured luminosity), Andromeda has a relatively even distribution of evolved and main-sequence stars.


title: Andromeda (constellation)

text: The constellation of Andromeda lies well away from the galactic plane, so it does not contain any of the open clusters or bright nebulae of the Milky Way. Because of its distance in the sky from the band of obscuring dust, gas, and abundant stars of our home galaxy, Andromeda's borders contain many visible distant galaxies. The most famous deep-sky object in Andromeda is the spiral galaxy cataloged as Messier 31 (M31) or NGC 224 but known colloquially as the Andromeda Galaxy for the constellation. M31 is one of the most distant objects visible to the naked eye, 2.2 million light-years from Earth (estimates range up to 2.5 million light-years). It is seen under a dark, transparent sky as a hazy patch in the north of the constellation. M31 is the largest neighboring galaxy to the Milky Way and the largest member of the Local Group of galaxies. In absolute terms, M31 is approximately 200,000 light-years in diameter, twice the size of the Milky Way. It is an enormous – 192.4 by 62.2 arcminutes in apparent size – barred spiral galaxy similar in form to the Milky Way and at an approximate magnitude of 3.5, is one of the brightest deep-sky objects in the northern sky. Despite being visible to the naked eye, the "little cloud" near Andromeda's figure was not recorded until AD 964, when the Arab astronomer al-Sufi wrote his "Book of Fixed Stars". M31 was first observed telescopically shortly after its invention, by Simon Marius in 1612.


title: Andromeda (constellation)

text: The future of the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies may be interlinked: in about five billion years, the two could potentially begin an Andromeda–Milky Way collision that would spark extensive new star formation.


title: Andromeda (constellation)

text: American astronomer Edwin Hubble included M31 (then known as the Andromeda Nebula) in his groundbreaking 1923 research on galaxies. Using the 100-inch Hooker Telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory in California, he observed Cepheid variable stars in M31 during a search for novae, allowing him to determine their distance by using the stars as standard candles. The distance he found was far greater than the size of the Milky Way, which led him to the conclusion that many similar objects were "island universes" on their own. Hubble originally estimated that the Andromeda Galaxy was 900,000 light-years away, but Ernst Öpik's estimate in 1925 put the distance closer to 1.5 million light-years.


title: Andromeda (constellation)

text: The Andromeda Galaxy's two main companions, M32 and M110 (also known as NGC 221 and NGC 205, respectively) are faint elliptical galaxies that lie near it. M32, visible with a far smaller size of 8.7 by 6.4 arcminutes, compared to M110, appears superimposed on the larger galaxy in a telescopic view as a hazy smudge, M110 also appears slightly larger and distinct from the larger galaxy; M32 is 0.5° south of the core, M32 is 1° northwest of the core. M32 was discovered in 1749 by French astronomer Guillaume Le Gentil and has since been found to lie closer to Earth than the Andromeda Galaxy itself. It is viewable in binoculars from a dark site owing to its high surface brightness of 10.1 and overall magnitude of 9.0. M110 is classified as either a dwarf spheroidal galaxy or simply a generic elliptical galaxy. It is far fainter than M31 and M32, but larger than M32 with a surface brightness of 13.2, magnitude of 8.9, and size of 21.9 by 10.9 arcminutes.


title: Andromeda (constellation)

text: The Andromeda Galaxy has a total of 15 satellite galaxies, including M32 and M110. Nine of these lie in a plane, which has caused astronomers to infer that they have a common origin. These satellite galaxies, like the satellites of the Milky Way, tend to be older, gas-poor dwarf elliptical and dwarf spheroidal galaxies.


title: Andromeda (constellation)

text: Along with the Andromeda Galaxy and its companions, the constellation also features NGC 891 (Caldwell 23), a smaller galaxy just east of Almach. It is a barred spiral galaxy seen edge-on, with a dark dust lane visible down the middle. NGC 891 is incredibly faint and small despite its magnitude of 9.9, as its surface brightness of 14.6 indicates; it is 13.5 by 2.8 arcminutes in size. NGC 891 was discovered by the brother-and-sister team of William and Caroline Herschel in August 1783. This galaxy is at an approximate distance of 30 million light-years from Earth, calculated from its redshift of 0.002.


title: Andromeda (constellation)

text: Andromeda's most celebrated open cluster is NGC 752 (Caldwell 28) at an overall magnitude of 5.7. It is a loosely scattered cluster in the Milky Way that measures 49 arcminutes across and features approximately twelve bright stars, although more than 60 stars of approximately 9th magnitude become visible at low magnifications in a telescope. It is considered to be one of the more inconspicuous open clusters. The other open cluster in Andromeda is NGC 7686, which has a similar magnitude of 5.6 and is also a part of the Milky Way. It contains approximately 20 stars in a diameter of 15 arcminutes, making it a tighter cluster than NGC 752.


title: Andromeda (constellation)

text: There is one prominent planetary nebula in Andromeda: NGC 7662 (Caldwell 22). Lying approximately 3 degrees southwest of Iota Andromedae at a distance of about 4,000 light-years from Earth, the "Blue Snowball Nebula" is a popular target for amateur astronomers. It earned its popular name because it appears as a faint, round, blue-green object in a telescope, with an overall magnitude of 9.2. Upon further magnification, it is visible as a slightly elliptical annular disk that gets darker towards the center, with a magnitude 13.2 central star. The nebula has an overall magnitude of 9.2 and is 20 by 130 arcseconds in size.


title: Andromeda (constellation)

text: Each November, the Andromedids meteor shower appears to radiate from Andromeda. The shower peaks in mid-to-late November every year, but has a low peak rate of fewer than 2 meteors per hour. Astronomers have often associated the Andromedids with Biela's Comet, which was destroyed in the 19th century, but that connection is disputed. Andromedid meteors are known for being very slow and the shower itself is considered to be diffuse, as meteors can be seen coming from nearby constellations as well as from Andromeda itself. Andromedid meteors sometimes appear as red fireballs. The Andromedids were associated with the most spectacular meteor showers of the 19th century; the storms of 1872 and 1885 were estimated to have a peak rate of 2 meteors per second (a zenithal hourly rate of 10,000), prompting a Chinese astronomer to compare the meteors to falling rain. The Andromedids had another outburst on December 3–5, 2011, the most active shower since 1885, with a maximum zenithal hourly rate of 50 meteors per hour. The 2011 outburst was linked to ejecta from Comet Biela, which passed close to the Sun in 1649. None of the meteoroids observed were associated with material from the comet's 1846 disintegration. The observers of the 2011 outburst predicted outbursts in 2018, 2023, and 2036.


title: Yuezhi

text: The Yuezhi (;) were an ancient people first described in Chinese histories as nomadic pastoralists living in an arid grassland area in the western part of the modern Chinese province of Gansu, during the 1st millennium BC. After a major defeat at the hands of the Xiongnu in 176 BC, the Yuezhi split into two groups migrating in different directions: the Greater Yuezhi ("Dà Yuèzhī" 大月氏) and Lesser Yuezhi ("Xiǎo Yuèzhī" 小月氏). This started a complex domino effect that radiated in all directions and, in the process, set the course of history for much of Asia for centuries to come. The Greater Yuezhi initially migrated northwest into the Ili Valley (on the modern borders of China and Kazakhstan), where they reportedly displaced elements of the Sakas. They were driven from the Ili Valley by the Wusun and migrated southward to Sogdia and later settled in Bactria. The Greater Yuezhi have consequently often been identified with peoples mentioned in classical European sources as having overrun the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, like the "Tókharioi" (Greek "Τοχάριοι"; Sanskrit "Tukhāra") and "Asii" (or "Asioi"). During the 1st century BC, one of the five major Greater Yuezhi tribes in Bactria, the "Kushanas" (), began to subsume the other tribes and neighbouring peoples. The subsequent Kushan Empire, at its peak in the 3rd century AD, stretched from Turfan in the Tarim Basin in the north to Pataliputra on the Gangetic plain of India in the south. The Kushanas played an important role in the development of trade on the Silk Road and the introduction of Buddhism to China.


title: Yuezhi

text: The Lesser Yuezhi migrated southward to the edge of the Tibetan Plateau. Some are reported to have settled among the Qiang people in Qinghai, and to have been involved in the Liang Province Rebellion (184–221 AD) against the Eastern Han dynasty. Another group of Yuezhi is said to have founded the city state of Cumuḍa (now known as "Kumul" and Hami) in the eastern Tarim. A fourth group of Lesser Yuezhi may have become part of the Jie people of Shanxi, who established the Later Zhao state of the 4th century AD (although this remains controversial).


title: Yuezhi

text: Although some scholars have associated them with artifacts of extinct cultures in the Tarim Basin, such as the Tarim mummies and texts recording the Tocharian languages, the evidence for any such link is purely circumstantial.


title: Yuezhi

text: Three pre-Han texts mention peoples who appear to be the Yuezhi, albeit under slightly different names.


title: Yuezhi

text: In the 1st century BC, Sima Qian – widely regarded as the founder of Chinese historiography – describes how the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) bought jade and highly valued military horses from a people that Sima Qian called the "Wūzhī" 烏氏 (OC: *ʔa-kje), led by a man named Luo. The "Wūzhī" traded these goods for Chinese silk, which they then sold on to other neighbours. This is probably the first reference to the Yuezhi as a lynchpin in trade on the Silk Road, which in the 3rd century BC began to link Chinese states to Central Asia and, eventually, the Middle East, the Mediterranean and Europe.


title: Yuezhi

text: Numerous nomadic artifacts are attributed to the areas of southern Ningxia and southeastern Gansu during the period of the 5th-4th century BC. They are quite similar to the works of the nomadic Ordos culture further east, and reflect strong Scythian influences. Some of these by the neighbouring Qin state in China, probably also for nomadic consumption. Nomadic figures with long noses riding on a camel also appear regularly in southern Ningxia from the 4th century BC.


title: Yuezhi

text: Hakan Aydemir, assistant professor at Istanbul Medeniyet University, reconstructs the ethnonym *"Arki" ~ *"Yarki" which underlay Chinese transcriptions 月氏 (Old Chinese *"ŋwat-tēɦ" ~"[ŋ]ʷat-tēɦ") and 月支 (Later Han Chinese *"ŋyat-tśe") as well as various other foreign transcriptions and Tocharian A ethnonym "Ārśi". Aydemir suggests that *"Arki" ~ *"Yarki" is etymologically Indo-European.


title: Yuezhi

text: The earliest detailed account of the Yuezhi is found in chapter 123 of the "Records of the Great Historian" by Sima Qian, describing a mission of Zhang Qian in the late 2nd century BC. Essentially the same text appears in chapter 61 of the "Book of Han", though Sima Qian has added occasional words and phrases to clarify the meaning.


title: Yuezhi

text: Both texts use the name "Yuèzhī" 月氏 (OC: *ŋʷjat-kje), composed of characters meaning "moon" and "clan" respectively. Several different romanizations of this Chinese-language name have appeared in print. The Iranologist H. W. Bailey preferred "Üe-ṭşi". Another modern Chinese pronunciation of the name is "Ròuzhī", based on the thesis that the character in the name is a scribal error for ; however Thierry considers this thesis "thoroughly wrong".


title: Yuezhi

text: The account begins with the Yuezhi occupying the grasslands to the northwest of China at the beginning of the 2nd century BC:


title: Yuezhi

text: The area between the Qilian Mountains and Dunhuang lies in the western part of the modern Chinese province of Gansu, but no archaeological remains of the Yuezhi have yet been found in this area. Some scholars have argued that "Dunhuang" should be Dunhong, a mountain in the Tian Shan, and that Qilian should be interpreted as a name for the Tian Shan. They have thus placed the original homeland of the Yuezhi 1,000 km further northwest in the grasslands to the north of the Tian Shan (in the northern part of modern Xinjiang). Other authors suggest that the area identified by Sima Qian was merely the core area of an empire encompassing the western part of the Mongolian plain, the upper reaches of the Yellow River, the Tarim Basin and possibly much of central Asia, including the Altai Mountains, the site of the Pazyryk burials of the Ukok Plateau.


title: Yuezhi

text: By the late 3rd century the Xiongnu monarch Touman even sent his eldest son Modu as a hostage to the Yuezhi. The Yuezhi often attacked their neighbour the Wusun to acquire slaves and pasture lands. Wusun originally lived together with the Yuezhi in the region between Dunhuang and Qilian Mountain. The Yuezhi attacked the Wusuns, killed their monarch Nandoumi and took his territory. The son of Nandoumi, Kunmo fled to the Xiongnu and was brought up by the Xiongnu monarch.


title: Yuezhi

text: Gradually the Xiongnu grew stronger, and war broke out with the Yuezhi. There were at least four wars according to the Chinese accounts. The first war broke out during the reign of the Xiongnu monarch Touman (who died in 209 BC) who suddenly attacked the Yuezhi. The Yuezhi wanted to kill Modu, the son of the Xiongnu king Touman kept as a hostage to them, but Modu stole a good horse from them and managed to escape to his country. He subsequently killed his father and became ruler of the Xiongnu. It appears that the Xiongnu did not defeat the Yuezhi in this first war. The second war took place in the 7th year of Modu era (203 BC). From this war, a large area of the territory originally belonging to the Yuezhi was seized by the Xiongnu and the hegemony of the Yuezhi started to shake. The third war probably was at 176 BC (or shortly earlier) and the Yuezhi were badly defeated.


title: Yuezhi

text: Shortly before 176 BC, led by one of Modu's tribal chiefs, the Xiongnu invaded Yuezhi territory in the Gansu region and achieved a crushing victory. Modu boasted in a letter (174 BC) to the Han emperor that due to "the excellence of his fighting men, and the strength of his horses, he has succeeded in wiping out the Yuezhi, slaughtering or forcing to submission every number of the tribe." The son of Modu, Laoshang Chanyu (ruled 174–166 BC), subsequently killed the king of the Yuezhi and, in accordance with nomadic traditions, "made a drinking cup out of his skull." ("Shiji" 123.)


title: Yuezhi

text: Nevertheless, in about 173 BC, the Wusun were apparently defeated by the Yuezhi, who killed a Wusun king ("kunmi" or "kunmo" ) known as Nandoumi ().


title: Yuezhi

text: After their defeat by the Xiongnu, the Yuezhi split into two groups. The Lesser or Little Yuezhi ("Xiao Yuezhi") moved to the "southern mountains", believed to be the Qilian Mountains on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau, to live with the Qiang.


title: Yuezhi

text: The so-called Greater or Great Yuezhi ("Dà Yuèzhī", 大月氏) began migrating north-west in about 165 BC, first settling in the Ili valley, immediately north of the Tian Shan mountains, where they defeated the Sai (Sakas): "The Yuezhi attacked the king of the Sai who moved a considerable distance to the south and the Yuezhi then occupied his lands" ("Book of Han" 61 4B). This was "the first historically recorded movement of peoples originating in the high plateaus of Asia."


title: Yuezhi

text: In 132 BC the Wusun, in alliance with the Xiongnu and out of revenge from an earlier conflict, again managed to dislodge the Yuezhi from the Ili Valley, forcing them to move south-west. The Yuezhi passed through the neighbouring urban civilization of Dayuan (in Ferghana) and settled on the northern bank of the Oxus, in the region of northern Bactria, or Transoxiana (modern Tajikistan and Uzbekistan).


title: Yuezhi

text: The Yuezhi were visited in Transoxiana by a Chinese mission, led by Zhang Qian in 126 BC, which sought an offensive alliance with the Yuezhi against the Xiongnu. Zhang Qian, who spent a year in Transoxiana and Bactria, wrote a detailed account in the "Shiji", which gives considerable insight into the situation in Central Asia at the time. The request for an alliance was denied by the son of the slain Yuezhi king, who preferred to maintain peace in Transoxiana rather than seek revenge.


title: Yuezhi

text: Zhang Qian also described the remnants of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom on the other side of the Oxus River (Chinese "Gui") as a number of autonomous city-states under Yuezhi suzerainty:


title: Yuezhi

text: The next mention of the Yuezhi in Chinese sources is found in chapter 96A of the "Book of Han" (completed in AD 111), relating to the early 1st century BC. At this time, the Yuezhi are described as occupying the whole of Bactria, organized into five major tribes or "xīhóu" (Ch:翖侯, "Allied Prince"). These tribes were known to the Chinese as:


title: Yuezhi

text: The "Book of the Later Han" (5th century CE) also records the visit of Yuezhi envoys to the Chinese capital in 2 BC, who gave oral teachings on Buddhist sutras to a student, suggesting that some Yuezhi already followed the Buddhist faith during the 1st century BC (Baldev Kumar 1973).


title: Yuezhi

text: Chapter 88 of the "Book of the Later Han" relies on a report of Ban Yong, based on the campaigns of his father Ban Chao in the late 1st century AD. It reports that one of the five tribes of the Yuezhi, the "Guishuang", had managed to take control of the tribal confederation:


title: Yuezhi

text: A later Chinese annotation in Zhang Shoujie's "Shiji" (quoting Wan Zhen 萬震 in "Nánzhōuzhì" 南州志 ["Strange Things from the Southern Region"], a now-lost 3rd-century text from the Wu kingdom), describes the Kushans as living in the same general area north of India, in cities of Greco-Roman style, and with sophisticated handicraft. The quotes are dubious, as Wan Zhen probably never visited the Yuezhi kingdom through the Silk Road, though he might have gathered his information from the trading ports in the coastal south. Chinese sources continued to use the name Yuezhi and seldom used the Kushan (or "Guishuang") as a generic term:


title: Yuezhi

text: The Central Asian people who called themselves "Kushana", w were among the conquerors of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom during the 2nd century BC, and re widely believed to have originated as a dynastic clan or tribe of the Yuezhi. The area of Bactria they settled came to be known as Tokharistan. Because some inhabitants of Bactria became known as "Tukhāra" (Sanskrit) or "Tókharoi" (Τοχάριοι; Greek), these names later became associated with the Yuezhi.


title: Yuezhi

text: In the 3rd century BC, Bactria had been conquered by the Greeks under Alexander the Great and since settled by the Hellenistic civilization of the Seleucids.


title: Yuezhi

text: The resulting Greco-Bactrian Kingdom lasted until the 2nd century BC. The area came under pressure from various nomadic peoples and the Greek city of Alexandria on the Oxus was apparently burnt to the ground in about 145 BC. The last Greco-Bactrian king, Heliocles I, retreated and moved his capital to the Kabul Valley. In about 140–130 BC, the Greco-Bactrian state was conquered by the nomads and dissolved. The Greek geographer Strabo mentions this event in his account of the central Asian tribes he called "Scythians":


title: Yuezhi

text: Writing in the 1st century BC, the Roman historian Pompeius Trogus attributed the destruction of the Greco-Bactrian state to the Sacaraucae and the Asiani "kings of the Tochari". Both Pompeius and the Roman historian Justin (2nd century AD) record that the Parthian king Artabanus II was mortally wounded in a war against the Tochari in 124 BC. Several relationships between these tribes and those named in Chinese sources have been proposed, but remain contentious.


title: Yuezhi

text: After they settled in Bactria, the Yuezhi became Hellenized to some degree – as shown by their adoption of the Greek alphabet and by some remaining coins, minted in the style of the Greco-Bactrian kings, with the text in Greek.


title: Yuezhi

text: According to Sergey Yatsenko, the carpets with vivid embroidered scenes discovered in Noin-Ula were made by the Yuezhi in Bactria, and were obtained by the Xiongnu through commercial exchange or tributary payment, as the Yuezhi may have remained tributaries of the Xiongnu a long time following their defeat. Embroidered carpets were one of the highest prized luxury items for the Xiongnu. The figures depicted in the carpets are believed to reflect the clothing and customs of the Yuezhi while they were in Bactria in the 1st century BCE-1st century CE.


title: Yuezhi

text: The graves of Tillya Tepe, complete with numerous artifacts, dated to the period between the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE, probably belonged to the Yuezhis/ early Kushans after the fall of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and before the rise of the Kushan Empire. They correspond to a time when the Yuezhis had not yet encountered Buddhism.


title: Yuezhi

text: The area of the Hindu Kush (Paropamisadae) was ruled by the western Indo-Greek king until the reign of Hermaeus (reigned c. 90 BC–70 BC). After that date, no Indo-Greek kings are known in the area. According to Bopearachchi, no trace of Indo-Scythian occupation (nor coins of major Indo-Scythian rulers such as Maues or Azes I) have been found in the Paropamisade and western Gandhara. The Hindu Kush may have been subsumed by the Yuezhi, who by then had been dominated by Greco-Bactria for almost two centuries.


title: Yuezhi

text: As they had done in Bactria with their copying of Greco-Bactrian coinage, the Yuezhi copied the coinage of Hermeaus on a vast scale, up to around 40 AD, when the design blends into the coinage of the Kushan king Kujula Kadphises. Such coins may provide the earliest known names of Yuezhi "yabgu" (a minor royal title, similar to prince), namely Sapadbizes and/or Agesiles, who both lived in or about 20 BC.


title: Yuezhi

text: After that point, they extended their control over the northwestern area of the Indian subcontinent, founding the Kushan Empire, which was to rule the region for several centuries. Despite their change of name, most Chinese authors continued to refer to the Kushanas as the Yuezhi.


title: Yuezhi

text: The Kushanas expanded to the east during the 1st century AD. The first Kushan emperor, Kujula Kadphises, ostensibly associated himself with King Hermaeus on his coins.


title: Yuezhi

text: The Kushanas integrated Buddhism into a pantheon of many deities and became great promoters of Mahayana Buddhism, and their interactions with Greek civilization helped the Gandharan culture and Greco-Buddhism flourish.


title: Yuezhi

text: During the 1st and 2nd centuries, the Kushan Empire expanded militarily to the north and occupied parts of the Tarim Basin, putting them at the center of the lucrative Central Asian commerce with the Roman Empire. The Kushanas collaborated militarily with the Chinese against their mutual enemies. This included a campaign with the Chinese general Ban Chao against the Sogdians in 84 CE, when the latter were trying to support a revolt by the king of Kashgar. In around AD 85, the Kushanas also assisted the Chinese in an attack on Turpan, east of the Tarim Basin.


title: Yuezhi

text: Following the military support provided to the Han, the Kushan emperor requested a marriage alliance with a Han princess and sent gifts to the Chinese court in expectation that this would occur. After the Han court refused, a Kushan army 70,000 strong marched on Ban Chao in 86 AD. The army was apparently exhausted by the time it reached its objective and was defeated by the Chinese force. The Kushanas retreated and later paid tribute to the Chinese emperor Han He (89–106).


title: Yuezhi

text: In about 120 AD, Kushan troops installed Chenpan—a prince who had been sent as a hostage to them and had become a favorite of the Kushan Emperor—on the throne of Kashgar, thus expanding their power and influence in the Tarim Basin. There they introduced the Brahmi script, the Indian Prakrit language for administration, and Greco-Buddhist art, which developed into Serindian art.


title: Yuezhi

text: Following this territorial expansion, the Kushanas introduced Buddhism to northern and northeastern Asia, by both direct missionary efforts and the translation of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. Major Kushan missionaries and translators included Lokaksema (born c. 147 CE) and Dharmaraksa (c. 233 – c. 311), both of whom were influential translators of the Mahayana sutras into Chinese. They went to China and established translation bureaus, thereby being at the center of the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism.


title: Yuezhi

text: In the "Records of the Three Kingdoms" (chap. 3), it was recorded that in 229 AD, "The king of the Da Yuezhi [Kushanas], Bodiao 波調 (Vasudeva I), sent his envoy to present tribute, and His Majesty (Emperor Cao Rui) granted him the title of King of the Da Yuezhi Intimate with the Wei (Ch: 親魏大月氏王, "Qīn Wèi Dà Yuèzhī Wáng")."


title: Yuezhi

text: Soon afterwards, the military power of the Kushanas began to decline. The rival Sasanian Empire of Persia extended its dominion into Bactria during the reign of Ardashir I around 230 CE. The Sasanians also occupied neighboring Sogdia by 260 AD and made it into a satrapy.


title: Yuezhi

text: During the course of the 3rd and 4th centuries, the Kushan Empire was divided and conquered by the Sasanians, the Hephthalite tribes from the north, and the Gupta and Yaudheya empires from India.


title: Yuezhi

text: "Xiao Yuezhi" refers to the less militarized Yuezhi who settled in northern China (following the migration of the Greater Yuezhi). The term is used of peoples in locations as diverse as Tibet, Qinghai, Shanxi and the Tarim Basin.


title: Yuezhi

text: Some of the Lesser Yuezhi settled among the Qiang people of Huangzhong, Qinghai, according to archaeologist Sophia-Katrin Psarras. Yuezhi and Qiang were said to be among members of the Auxiliary of Loyal Barbarians From Huangzhong that mutinied against the Han dynasty, in the Liangzhou Rebellion (184–221 CE).


title: Yuezhi

text: Elements of the Lesser Yuezhi are said to have been a component of the Jie people, who originated from Yushe County in Shanxi. Other theories link the Jie more strongly to the Xiongnu, Kangju, or the Tocharian-speaking peoples of the Tarim. Led by Shi Le (Emperor Ming of Later Zhao), the Jie people established the Later Zhao dynasty (319–351). The Jie populations were later massacred by Ran Min of the short-lived Ran Wei dynasty during the Wei–Jie war.


title: Yuezhi

text: In Tibet, the "Gar" or "mGar" – a clan name associated with blacksmiths - may have been descended from tbe Lesser Yuezhi who resettled in Qiang in 162 BC.


title: Yuezhi

text: A Chinese monk named Gao Juhui, who traveled to the Tarim Basin in the 10th century, described the "Zhongyun" (仲雲; Wade–Giles "Tchong-yun") as descendants of the Lesser Yuezhi.


title: Yuezhi

text: This was the city state of Cumuḍa (also "Cimuda" or "Cunuda"), south of Lop Nur in the eastern Tarim. (Following the subsequent settlement of Uyghur-speaking people in the area, Cumuḍa became known as "Čungul", "Xungul" and "Kumul". Under subsequent Han Chinese influence, it became known as Hami.)


title: Yuezhi

text: Whatever their fate may have been, the "Xiao Yuezhi" ceased to be identifiable by that name and appear to have been subsumed by other ethnicities, including Tibetans, Uyghurs and Han.


title: Yuezhi

text: The relationship between the Yuezhi and other Central Asian peoples is unclear. Based on claimed similarities of names, different scholars have linked them to several groups, but none of these identifications is widely accepted.


title: Yuezhi

text: Mallory and Mair suggest that the Yuezhi and Wusun were among the nomadic peoples, at least some of whom spoke Iranian languages, who moved into northern Xinjiang from the Central Asian steppe in the 2nd millennium BC.


title: Yuezhi

text: Scholars such as Edwin Pulleyblank, Josef Markwart, and László Torday, suggest that the name "Iatioi"—a Central Asian people mentioned by Ptolemy in "Geography" (AD 150)—may also be an attempt to render Yuezhi.


title: Yuezhi

text: There has been only limited scholarly support for a theory developed by W. B. Henning, who proposed that the Yuezhi were descended from the Guti (or Gutians) and an associated, but little known tribe known as the Tukri, who were native to the Zagros Mountains (modern Iran and Iraq), during the mid-3rd millennium BC. In addition to phonological similarities between these names and "*ŋʷjat-kje" and Tukhāra, Henning pointed out that the Guti could have migrated from the Zagros to Gansu, by the time that the Yuezhi entered the historical record in China, during the 1st millennium BC. However, the only material evidence presented by Henning, namely similar ceramic ware, is generally considered to be far from conclusive.


title: Yuezhi

text: Proposed links with the Abhira, Aorsi, Asii, Getae, Goths, Gushi, Jat, Massagetae, and other groups have also gathered little support.


title: Yuezhi

text: When manuscripts dating from the 6th to 8th centuries AD written in two hitherto-unknown Indo-European languages were discovered in the northern Tarim Basin, the early 20th-century linguist Friedrich W. K. Müller identified them with the enigmatic ""twγry" ("Toγari") language" used to translate Indian Buddhist Sanskrit texts and mentioned as the source of an Old Turkic (Uyghur) manuscript. Müller then proposed to connect the name "Toγari" (Togar/Tokar) to the "Tókharoi" people of Tokharistan (themselves associated with the Yuezhi) described in early Greek histories. He thus referred to the newly discovered languages as "Tocharian", which became the common name for both the languages of the Tarim manuscripts and the people who produced them. Most historians have been rejecting the identification of the Tocharians of the Tarim with the "Tókharoi" of Bactria, mainly because they are not known to have spoken any languages other than Bactrian, a quite dissimilar Eastern Iranian language. Other scholars suggest that the Yuezhi/Kushanas may previously have spoken Tocharian before shifting to Bactrian on their arrival in Bactria, an example of an invading or colonising elite adopting a local language (as also seen for the Greeks, the Turks or the Arabs upon their successive settlements in Bactria). However, while Tocharian contains some loanwords from Bactrian, there are no traces of Tocharian in Bactrian.


title: Yuezhi

text: Another possible endonym of the Yuezhi was put forward by H. W. Bailey, who claimed that they were referred to, in 9th and 10th century Khotan Saka Iranian texts, as the "Gara". According to Bailey, the "Tu Gara" ("Great Gara") were the Great Yuezhi. This is consistent with the Ancient Greek Τόχαροι "Tokharoi" (Latinised "Tochari") in reference to the faction of the Kushans that conquered Bactria, as well as the Tibetan language name "Gar" (or "mGar"), for the members of the Lesser Yuezhi who settled in the Tibetan Empire.


title: Chuvashia

text: The Chuvash Republic (, "Chuvashskaya Respublika – Chuvashiya"; , transl. "Çăvaş Respubliki"), or Chuvashia (, "Chuvashiya"; , transl. "Çăvaş Yen"), is a federal subject of Russia (a republic) in Eastern Europe. It is the homeland of the Chuvash people, a Turkic ethnic group. Its capital is the city of Cheboksary. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 1,251,619.


title: Chuvashia

text: The Chuvash Republic is located in the center of European Russia, in the heart of the Volga-Vyatka economic region, mostly to the west of the Volga River, in the Volga Upland. It borders with the Mari El Republic in the north, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast in the west, the Republic of Mordovia in the southwest, Ulyanovsk Oblast in the south, and the Republic of Tatarstan in the east and southeast. There are over two thousand rivers in the republic—with the major ones being the Volga, the Sura, and the Tsivil—as well as four hundred lakes. Some of the Volga River valley reservoirs are in the north of the republic, and the Sura River flows towards the Volga along much of the republic's western boundary. Climate is moderate continental, with the average temperatures ranging from in January to in July. Annual precipitation varies between , but is uneven from one year to another. Natural resources include gypsum, sand, clay, sapropel deposits, phosphorite, and peat. There are oil and natural gas deposits, although their extraction has not yet been commercially pursued. Forests, mostly in the south along the Sura River, cover approximately 30% of the land.


title: Chuvashia

text: The ancestors of the Chuvash were Bulgars and Suars, Turkic tribes residing in the Northern Caucasus in the 5th to 8th centuries. In the 7th and 8th centuries, a part of the Bulgars left for the Balkans, where, together with local Slavs, they established the state of modern Bulgaria. Another part moved to the Middle Volga Region (see Volga Bulgaria), where the Bulgar population that did not adopt Islam formed the foundation of the Chuvash people.


title: Chuvashia

text: During the Mongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria, the steppe-dwelling Suar migrated north, where Volga Finnic tribes, such as the Mordvins and Mari lived. The Chuvash claim to be the descendants of these Suars who assimilated with the Mari. In 1242, they became vassals of the Golden Horde. Later Mongol and Tatar rulers did not intervene in local internal affairs as long as tribute was paid annually to Sarai. When the power of the Golden Horde began to diminish, local Mişär Tatar Murzas from Piana and Temnikov tried to govern the Chuvash area.


title: Chuvashia

text: During Ivan the Terrible's war of conquest against the Khanate of Kazan, in August 1552, the Chuvash Orsai and Mari Akpar Tokari princes swore their loyalty to the Grand Duchy of Muscovy at Alatyr on the Sura River. Between 1650 and 1850, the Russian Orthodox Church sent Chuvash-speaking missionaries to try to convert the Chuvash to the Orthodox faith. A group of these missionaries created a written Chuvash language. Most of the Chuvash who stayed in the area became Orthodox Christians, but some remained pagan.


title: Chuvashia

text: On May 15, 1917, the Chuvash joined the Idel-Ural Movement and in December 1917 joined the short-lived Idel-Ural State, when an agreement was reached with Tatar representatives to draw the eastern border of Chuvashia at the Sviyaga River. In 1918–1919, the Russian Civil War encompassed the area. This ended with victory for the Bolsheviks. To gain support from the local population, Lenin ordered the creation of a Chuvash state within the Russian SFSR. On June 24, 1920, the Chuvash Autonomous Oblast was formed, which was transformed into the Chuvash ASSR in April 1925.


title: Chuvashia

text: Until 2012, the Chuvash Republic officially had the status of a state. In the constitution of Chuvashia (version 6 - dated September 13, 2011 No. 46), the following was fixed: "The Chuvash Republic is a republic (state) within the Russian Federation."


title: Chuvashia

text: During the Soviet period, the high authority in the republic was shared between three persons: The first secretary of the Chuvashia CPSU Committee (who in reality had the biggest authority), the chairman of the oblast Soviet (legislative power), and the Chairman of the Republic Executive Committee (executive power). Since 1991, CPSU lost all the power, and the head of the Republic administration, and eventually the governor was appointed/elected alongside elected regional parliament.


title: Chuvashia

text: The Charter of Republic of Chuvashia is the fundamental law of the region. The State Council of the Chuvash Republic is the republic's regional standing legislative (representative) body. The highest executive body is the Republic's Government, which includes territorial executive bodies such as district administrations, committees, and commissions that facilitate development and run the day to day matters.


title: Chuvashia

text: Despite not being large, the republic is one of the most densely populated regions in the Russian Federation. Population:


title: Chuvashia

text: The capital (and largest city) is Cheboksary (population 464,000 in 2010). Cheboksary is situated mostly on the southern bank of the Volga in the northern part of the republic (one northern bank district was added in the second part of the 20th century), approximately east of Moscow. Nearby to the east is the next largest city, Novocheboksarsk (population 124,000 in 2010).