title: Epsom

text: Rosebery School was opened in 1921 as the Epsom County Secondary School for Girls. In 1927, it moved to its current site on land donated by Lord Rosebery, acquiring its present name at the same time. It became an academy in 2011.


title: Epsom

text: Epsom College was founded in 1851 as the Medical Benevolent College by the physician, John Propert. The school buildings were opened in 1855 by Prince Albert and the first cohort of 100 pupils were all sons of medics. By 1865, the school roll had grown to 300 and had been opened to those able to pay fees. The Grade II-listed chapel, dedicated to St Luke, was built in 1857 and was enlarged by Arthur Blomfield in 1895. Girls were first admitted to the school in 1976 and Epsom College became fully coeducational in 1996.


title: Epsom

text: Kingswood House School is a preparatory school to the west of the town centre. It was founded in 1899 and moved to its present site on West Hill in 1920. Since the 1960s it has operated exclusively as a day school. Girls will be admitted for the first time in September 2021.


title: Epsom

text: The Domesday Book entry for Epsom includes two churches, one of which is thought to be have been on the site of the present St Martin's Church. The oldest part of the current building is the flint tower, which dates from around 1450. Much of the remainder of the church dates from a rebuilding in 1824, with the exception of the choir, chancel and transepts, which were added by Sir Charles Nicholson in 1908. The 15th century spire was damaged in a storm in 1947 and was subsequently demolished.


title: Epsom

text: Following the 1824 rebuilding, many of the memorials from the medieval church were reinstalled in the new church, including several by the sculptor John Flaxman. The parish chest, made from carved Spanish mahogany chest, is reputed to contain wood recovered from ships of the Spanish Armada. The church also holds a copy of the so-called vinegar bible of 1717. The east window, by the local designer F.A. Oldaker, shows Christ the Light of the World, in the style of the painting by William Holman Hunt.


title: Epsom

text: Christ Church was founded as a chapel of ease to St Martin's in 1843. Initially a temporary structure was provided until the first permanent building was opened in 1845. In July 1874, Epsom parish was divided into two, with the western half becoming the new parish of Epsom Common. The chapel of ease became the parish church, but was considered too small for the congregation. Its replacement, the present church, was designed in the Gothic revival style by Arthur Blomfield and opened in 1876. It is constructed from flint with stone dressings and there is a clerestory above the nave. The tower and south aisle were added in 1879 and 1887 respectively.


title: Epsom

text: The chancel arch is decorated with a mural of Christ flanked by angels, beneath which is the rood screen, made of wrought iron and bronze, which was erected 1909. The alabaster reredos, behind the altar, contains figurative scenes in mosaic and the east wall is decorated with panels depicting the four Evangelists. The pulpit dates from 1880 and was originally in St Andrew's Church, Surbiton. The interior of the church was reordered between 1987 and 1995 to increase the versatility of the nave.


title: Epsom

text: Following the Act of Uniformity 1662, local nonconformists began meeting in small groups at Ewell, before establishing themselves at Epsom in around 1688. The Dissenting community flourished in the town in the late 17th and early 18th centuries and, in 1720, the first purpose-built meeting house was constructed on Church Street. As the population of the town decreased in the later 18th century, the congregation declined and the meeting house appears to have been sold by 1803, but remained in use for worship. A new, Gothic revival congregational church was opened in 1905 on the same site. Much of the church, including the roof and organ, was destroyed in fire in 1961, but the building was rebuilt two years later. It was renamed Epsom United Reformed Church in 1972.


title: Epsom

text: The Catholic parish of St Joseph, traces its origins to 1859, when the congregation began to meet regularly for mass in the parlour of a house in Stanley Villas. The first permanent church, in Heathcote Road, was completed in 1866 and was constructed of local red brick with Bath stone dressings. It was extended in 1930 and the west end was rebuilt between 1959 and 1961, but by 1996 it had become clear that it was inadequate for the size of the congregation. Land in St Margaret's Drive was purchased from the county council and construction of a new church began in 1999. The old church was demolished in 2000 and its replacement opened in April 2001. The new church was dedicated by Cormac Murphy-O'Connor in May 2001.


title: Epsom

text: "Epsom Wells", a restoration comedy written by Thomas Shadwell ( – 1692), is one of a series of plays set in English spa towns. It received its first performance in 1673 at the Duke's Theatre in London. A revival of the play in the 1690s included new incidental music by the composer, Henry Purcell.


title: Epsom

text: "Epsom Downs", a comic play written by Howard Brenton (b.1942), is set at the 1977 Epsom Derby. It received its first performance in 1977 at The Roundhouse in London.


title: Epsom

text: Epsom Choral Society was founded in 1922 by the publisher, Humphrey Milford. His son, the composer Robin Milford was the first conductor. The choir has commissioned works from the British composers Cecilia McDowall and Jonathan Willcocks. Epsom Symphony Orchestra for amateur musicians was founded in 1951 and gives four concerts each year at the Epsom Playhouse.


title: Epsom

text: The landscape painter, John Constable (1776–1837), visited Epsom regularly between 1806 and 1812. His works include several depictions of the town, including "View at Epsom" (1809), held by The Tate. The gallery also owns paintings of horse racing taking place on the Downs, including works by Alfred Munnings (1878–1959) and William Powell Frith (1819–1909). "The 1821 Derby at Epsom" (1821) by Théodore Géricault (1791-1824) is held by The Louvre. Paintings of Nonsuch Palace, attributed to Hendrick Danckerts (–1680), and of the view from Epsom Downs, by William Henry David Birch (1895–1968), are held by Epsom Town Hall.


title: Epsom

text: A statuette by the Australian sculptor Tom Merrifield was erected outside the Playhouse in 1999. It depicts the dancer, John Gilpin, performing the title role of Le Spectre de la rose from the ballet by Jean-Louis Vaudoyer.


title: Epsom

text: "Evocation of Speed", a bronze sculpture by Judy Boyt, was installed at Epsom Square in 2002. It depicts two horses - Diomed, the winner of the first Derby in 1780 and Galileo, the winner of the 2001 race. The depictions of the two riders show how the clothing worn by jockeys has changed over time.


title: Epsom

text: A statue of Emily Davison by the artist Christine Charlesworth, was installed in the marketplace in 2021, following a campaign by volunteers from the Emily Davison Memorial Project.


title: Epsom

text: Epsom Playhouse opened in 1984 as part of The Ashley Centre development. It has two performance spaces: The main auditorium seats a maximum of 450. The Myers Studio, which has an octagonal floor plan, seats 80 and is suited to smaller-scale drama, comedy and jazz performances.


title: Epsom

text: British comedy podcast "My Dad Wrote a Porno" sets the second episode of its third season, "Epsom Hall", in the eponymous building.


title: Epsom

text: The current Rainbow Leisure Centre opened in 2003, replacing the original facility which dated from the 1930s. The centre includes swimming pools, two dance studios and a sports hall with four badminton courts. In 2011, a spa facility was added as part of an extensive refurbishment, during which the gym equipment was also upgraded. The centre is managed by Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) under their "Better" brand.


title: Epsom

text: Epsom & Ewell F.C. traces its origins to the Epsom Juniors Cricket Club, founded in March 1918. A year later the team began to play football and was a founder member of the Sutton & District League in 1920. The team changed its name to Epsom Town F.C. in 1922 and played its home games at the Horton Hospital Sports Ground. The club became Epsom F.C. in 1934 and adopted its current name in 1960. Since the start of the 2020/21 season, the club has been based at Fetcham Grove, the Leatherhead F.C. stadium.


title: Epsom

text: The earliest reference to cricket being played in the town is from 1711 and Epsom Cricket Club is thought to have been founded in around 1800. During the early 19th century, matches appear to have taken place on the Downs and also at Stamford Green on Epsom Common. By 1860, the club had established a new ground on Woodcote Road, on land belonging to Edward Richard Northey, and plays its home games there today.


title: Epsom

text: Epsom Hockey Club is thought to have been founded in around 1900 and was well established by the 1909/10 season. Initially, home games were played at the Court Recreation Ground, but the club established a permanent base in Woodcote Road after the Second World War.


title: Epsom

text: Epsom Lawn Tennis Club was founded as a croquet club in the 1850s, based at Woodcote House. By the 1870s, tennis became the more important sport and in 1913 the club had five tennis courts and three croquet courts. The last remaining croquet court was converted to a grass tennis court in 1923.


title: Epsom

text: Epsom and Ewell Harriers is a club for track and field athletes, based at the Poole Road Track in Ewell. Epsom Cycling Club was founded in 1891 and is one of the oldest in the country. The club arranges organised rides and regular time trials in the local area. Sutton and Epsom Rugby Football Club was founded in 1881 and their main ground is at Rugby Lane, Cheam.


title: Epsom

text: Construction of The Ashley Centre was proposed in the late 1970s, following concerns that retail sector of the local economy was in decline. The shopping centre was designed by Humphrey Wood and the building makes extensive use of steel, glass and marble. A multistorey car park and an office block were included in the scheme, in addition to of retail space. The Centre was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 24 October 1984 and is named after the adjacent Ashley Road.


title: Epsom

text: Ashley House is named after Mary Ashley, a former resident who lived at the property until 1849. The three-storey, brick townhouse was constructed in the late 1760s and is protected by a Grade II* listing. It features an Adam-style central doorcase with a composite Tower of the Winds and Ionic columns.


title: Epsom

text: The Assembly Rooms building was constructed in around 1692, when the spa was at the height of it popularity. It functioned as a meeting place and included a tavern, coffee house and billiard room. A bowling green and a cockpit, in which fighting cocks were set against each other for sport, were also part of the same complex. Following the decline of the spa in the first half of the 18th century, much of the building was converted to shops and to housing for private families. Since April 2002, the Assembly Rooms has operated as a public house, owned by Wetherspoons.


title: Epsom

text: The foundation stone for the Clock Tower was laid in November 1847, following the demolition of the watch house which had stood on the site from the 17th century. The tower, designed by James Butler and Henry Hodge, is constructed from red and grey brick with ashlar dressings. Initially four lion sculptures made of Caen stone were positioned at each corner of the base, however by 1902 they had been replaced by electric lanterns, which were replaced, in 1920, by the current globe lights. In the same year, the base of the tower was extended to the east and west to provide toilet facilities. Several public events and civic ceremonies have taken place in the area at the base of the tower, including the official granting of the foundation charter of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in September 1937.


title: Epsom

text: The Spread Eagle Walk shopping centre was constructed as a coaching inn in the late 17th century. The main hotel building has two storeys with an attic and basement. The external stucco finish and sash windows are later additions. The distinctive black eagle sculptures above the two porticos are thought to date from the mid-late 19th century. The inn traded as a public house until around 1990, when it closed for renovation. The driveway into the former stables was converted into the main entrance to the shopping centre and in 1994 the main building was occupied by Lester Bowden outfitters, which had been founded by Arthur Bowden at start of the 20th century.


title: Epsom

text: The neo-Georgian Epsom Town Hall, designed by Hubert Moore Fairweather and William Alfred Pite, was opened in 1934. The building has served as the headquarters of Epsom Urban District Council (UDC), Epsom Borough Council and, since 1974, Epsom and Ewell Borough Council. The New Town Hall was opened in 1992 and is connected to the older building by covered walkways.


title: Epsom

text: Epsom War Memorial at Epsom Cemetery was erected in 1921 to commemorate the 256 residents of Epsom and Ewell who had died in the First World War. The memorial consists of a Celtic cross in granite and the gates are dedicated to the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers, who were billeted in Epsom before the opening of the Woodcote Park camp. Following the end of the Second World War, an additional inscription was added to commemorate those who had died between 1939 and 1945.


title: Epsom

text: The Commonwealth War Graves Memorial was erected in Epsom Cemetery in 1925. It consists of a cross, behind which is a screen wall on which names of 148 Commonwealth soldiers are inscribed. The majority of those commemorated died in the hospitals of the Epsom Cluster.


title: Epsom

text: Woodcote Park was created as a hunting park in the mid-12th century by the abbot of Chertsey Abbey. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the mid-16th century, the park was briefly held by Sir Nicholas Carew, before being annexed to the Honour of Hampton Court. In the mid-17th century, the land was inherited by Elizabeth Mynne, wife of Richard Evelyn, for whom the first mansion house was constructed. The building included decorative features by the sculptor, Grinling Gibbons, and a ceiling by the painter, Antonio Verrio. In 1715, the estate was inherited by Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, who commissioned Isaac Ware to rebuild the mansion in the French Rococo Revival style. Some of the features of the original house were reused, including the Verrio ceiling. Shortly before his death, Calvert engaged John Vardy to design a Palladian stone frontage.


title: Epsom

text: Following long periods of ownership by the Tessier and Brooks families during the 19th century, the Royal Automobile Club (R.A.C.) purchased Woodcote Park in 1913. Many of the historic interiors were not required by the R.A.C. and were removed and sold at auction. In 1927, wood panelling and other decorations in the style of Thomas Chippendale, from one of the drawing rooms, were installed in the Museum of Fine Arts at Boston, Massachusetts. The mansion was destroyed by fire in August 1934, but within two years had been rebuilt with an identical exterior appearance. Today the site features two 18-hole golf courses, sports and spa facilities, as well as restaurants and guest accommodation. The club also houses a fleet of heritage motor vehicles, owned by the R.A.C.


title: Epsom

text: During the medieval period, Epsom Common was the manorial waste land and, in the 12th century, the monks of Chertsey Abbey built the Great Pond to rear fish. The first cottages had been built around the edges of the common by 1679 and by the mid-18th century there were over 30, mostly on the land around Stamford Green. The Common was purchased by Epsom Urban District Council (UDC) in 1935 and its successor body, the Borough Council, continues to own and manage it today. Together with the adjacent Ashtead Common, Epsom Common comprises a Site of Special Scientific Interest and is a Local Nature Reserve. The site has a range of distinctive habitats and is a breeding ground for 59 bird species.


title: Epsom

text: Epsom Downs and the neighbouring Walton Downs are to the south east of the town and together comprise of chalk downland. The Downs are owned by Epsom Racecourse and are managed by a board of Conservators under the framework of the Epsom and Walton Downs Regulation Act 1984. A number of rare plants are present, including round-headed rampion, bastard-toadflax and chalk hill eyebright. The area provides a habitat for bird species including the Eurasian skylark. Since 2013, Epsom Downs has been a Site of Nature Conservation Importance.


title: Epsom

text: Horton Country Park was created in 1973 from two farms belonging to the Epsom Cluster of psychiatric hospitals and is owned and managed by the Borough Council. Around have been designated a Local Nature Reserve in 2004. The country park includes areas of ancient woodland and provides a habitat for a wide range of mammal, bird and insect species including the green woodpecker and roe deer. It also contains a golf course, equestrian centre and a children's farm.


title: Epsom

text: Mounthill Gardens, south west of the town centre, was formed from the grounds of two adjacent houses, both purchased by Epsom UDC in 1950. The smaller house, Rosebank, had been bombed during the Second World War and was subsequently demolished by the Council. The larger house, Mounthill, was used as offices for a time, before it too was demolished. The of steeply sloping land surrounding the two buildings was converted into a public park that opened in 1965.


title: Epsom

text: Rosebery Park, to the south of the town centre, was presented to Epsom UDC in 1913 by Lord Rosebery as "proof of [his] deep and abiding affection" for the town. Rosebery's wish was for the creation of "a public pleasure ground for the resort and recreation of the inhabitants of Epsom." Work to create the formal areas of the park had begun by the outbreak of the First World War, including the enlargement of an existing pond to create the lake. Non-landscaped areas were converted into allotments during the two world wars. Today the park is owned and managed by the Borough Council.


title: Epsom

text: Alexandra Recreation Ground was opened in 1901 on land previously owned by Chertsey Abbey. The land was purchased by Epsom UDC in response to a public petition and was intended for local residents to use for sporting activities. During WWI, the football pitches were ploughed and the land was used to grow potatoes. An adjacent chalk pit was filled in 1933 and is now the site of the children's playground.


title: Epsom

text: The Court Recreation Ground, to the north of the town centre, is the largest recreation ground in the borough. The land was acquired between 1924 and 1926 and a bowling green was created in 1934. The ground has an artificial turf sports pitch, five football pitches and three tennis courts.


title: Empress Michiko

text: Michiko married Crown Prince Akihito and became the Crown Princess of Japan in 1959. She was the first commoner to marry into the Japanese Imperial Family. She has three children with her husband. Her elder son, Naruhito, is the current emperor to the Chrysanthemum Throne. As crown princess and later as empress consort, she has become the most visible and widely travelled imperial consort in Japanese history. Upon Emperor Akihito's abdication, Michiko received the new title of , or Empress Emerita.


title: Empress Michiko

text: Michiko Shōda was born on 20 October 1934 at the University of Tokyo Hospital in Bunkyō, Tokyo, the second of four children born to Hidesaburō Shōda ( "Shōda Hidesaburō"; 1903–1999), president and later honorary chairman of Nisshin Flour Milling Company, and his wife, Fumiko Soejima (副島富美子 "Soejima Fumiko"; 1909–1988). Raised in Tokyo and in a cultured family, she grew up receiving a careful education, both traditional and "Western", learning to speak English and to play piano and being initiated into the arts such as painting, cooking and kōdō. She has an older brother Iwao, a younger brother Osamu, and a younger sister Emiko. She is the niece of several academics, including Kenjirō Shōda, a mathematician who was the president of the University of Osaka from 1954 until 1960.


title: Empress Michiko

text: Shōda attended Futaba Elementary School in Kōjimachi, a neighborhood in Chiyoda, Tokyo, but was required to leave in her fourth grade year because of the American bombings during World War II. She was then successively educated in the prefectures of Kanagawa (in the town of Katase, now part of the city of Fujisawa), Gunma (in Tatebayashi, home town of the Shōda family), and Nagano (in the town of Karuizawa, where Shōda had a second resort home). She returned to Tokyo in 1946 and completed her elementary education in Futaba and then attended the Sacred Heart School for Junior High School and High School in Minato, Tokyo. She graduated from high school in 1953.


title: Empress Michiko

text: In 1957, Shōda graduated "summa cum laude" from the Faculty of Literature at the University of the Sacred Heart (a Catholic university in Tokyo) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature.


title: Empress Michiko

text: Since she came from a particularly wealthy family, her parents were very selective about her suitors. There had been several contenders for her hand in marriage in the 1950s. Biographers of the writer Yukio Mishima, including Henry Scott Stokes, report that Mishima had considered marrying Michiko Shōda, and that he was introduced to her for that purpose some time in the 1950s.


title: Empress Michiko

text: In August 1957, she met then-Crown Prince Akihito on a tennis court at Karuizawa near Nagano. The Imperial Household Council formally approved the engagement of the Crown Prince to Michiko Shōda on 27 November 1958. At that time, the media presented their encounter as a real "fairy tale", or the "romance of the tennis court". The engagement ceremony took place on 14 January 1959.


title: Empress Michiko

text: The future Crown Princess was the daughter of a wealthy industrialist, but she was still a commoner. During the 1950s, the media and most persons familiar with the Japanese monarchy had assumed that the powerful Imperial Household Agency would select a bride for the Crown Prince from the daughters of the former court nobility, or from one of the former branches of the Imperial Family. Some traditionalists opposed the engagement, as Shōda came from a Catholic family, and although she was never baptized, she was educated at Catholic institutions and seemed to share the faith of her parents. It was also widely rumored that Empress Kōjun had opposed the engagement. After the death of Empress Kōjun in 2000, Reuters announced that the former Empress was one of the strongest opponents of the marriage, and that in the 1960s, she had driven her daughter-in-law to depression by persistently accusing her of not being suitable for her son. Death threats alerted the authorities to ensure the security of the Shōda family. Yukio Mishima, known for his traditionalist position, said at the time: "The imperial system becomes 'tabloidesque' in its move toward democratization. It's all wrong—the idea (of the Imperial Family) losing its dignity by connecting with the people."


title: Empress Michiko

text: However, the young couple had by then gained wide public support. That support also came from the ruling political class. Additionally, everyone showed affection for the young "Mitchy" who had become the symbol of Japan's modernization and democratization (the media at the time hinted at the phenomenon of a "Mitchy boom"). The wedding finally took place as a traditional Shinto ceremony on 10 April 1959. The wedding procession was followed in the streets of Tokyo by more than 500,000 people spread over an 8.8 km route, while parts of the wedding were televised, thus making it the first imperial wedding to be made available for public viewership in Japan, drawing about 15 million viewers. In accordance with tradition, Shōda received a personal emblem (): the white birch of Japan () upon admission to the imperial family.


title: Empress Michiko

text: The young couple then moved to , or "East Palace", the traditional name of the official residence of the crown prince installed since 1952, located within the grounds of the Akasaka Estate in Motoakasaka, Minato, Tokyo. They left Tōgū Palace after her husband acceded to the throne in 1989.


title: Empress Michiko

text: In 1963, the Associated Press reported that the Crown Princess, then about three months pregnant, underwent an abortion on 22 March, in Tokyo. As the article stated, "The operation was advised by her physician, Prof. Takashi Kobayashi, who delivered Michiko's first child, three-year-old Prince Hiro, a spokesman said. The spokesman said it is believed the 28-year-old princess' health has been impaired by a continuous round of official and social functions before pregnancy".


title: Empress Michiko

text: Contrary to the tradition that the children of the imperial family should be separated from their parents and placed with private tutors, Crown Prince Akihito and his wife Crown Princess Michiko again broke precedent from the start by preferring to raise their children instead of entrusting them to the care of court chamberlains; the Crown Princess even breastfed. She and her husband have also built up a strong position among the general public, by their frequent trips in the 47 prefectures in the country to meet people but also for the liberties taken by the imperial couple vis-a-vis the protocol. At a more formal level, the Crown Prince and Princess visited 37 foreign countries between 1959 and 1989.


title: Empress Michiko

text: Upon the death of Emperor Shōwa on 7 January 1989, Crown Princess Michiko's husband became the 125th Emperor of Japan, and she became empress consort. The new Emperor and Empress were enthroned ("Sokui Rei Seiden no Gi") at the Tokyo Imperial Palace on 12 November 1990.


title: Empress Michiko

text: Since their enthronement, the imperial couple have visited many countries, and have done much to make the Imperial Family more visible and approachable in contemporary Japan. They also tried to be close to the people, visiting the 47 prefectures of Japan.


title: Empress Michiko

text: Her official duties, apart from visits to other countries, are to assist her husband at events and ceremonies, both within and outside the Imperial Palace, receiving official guests including state guests and also to visit the social, cultural and charitable institutions and facilities. For example, in 2007, Michiko performed duties in her official capacity on more than 300 occasions. For many years Akihito and Michiko visited facilities for children on Children's Day and facilities for the elderly on Respect for the Aged Day. The Imperial Household Agency announced that after 2014 they will pass on these duties to the younger generation. Their health has had no bearing on this decision. Following the death of her mother-in-law, Empress Dowager Nagako, on 16 June 2000, she succeeded her as honorary president of the Japanese Red Cross Society.


title: Empress Michiko

text: As empress, she was particularly responsible for "Momijiyama Imperial Cocoonery", a sericulture farm on the grounds of the imperial palace. She participated in the annual ceremony of harvesting silk, personally feeds silkworms with mulberry leaves and is responsible to take care of them, the frames, and the harvesting. The production and harvesting of silk were part of her ceremonial duties, linked to Shintoism, Japanese culture, and tradition. From 1994 to 2019, the Empress offered a part of the harvested silk of the "koishimaru" variety (the oldest species now kept in Japan) to the Shōsōin Treasure-house in the Buddhist temple Tōdai-ji in Nara to be used for the restoration of its treasures.


title: Empress Michiko

text: The Empress is expected to be the embodiment of traditional values such as modesty and purity. She has demonstrated a strong sense of duty throughout her life, which makes her quite popular amongst the Japanese. She takes part in religious ceremonies with her husband, such as visits to Ise Grand Shrine, other Shinto shrines and Imperial mausoleums to pray to the Imperial Family's ancestral spirits. In addition, she is an accomplished classical pianist.


title: Empress Michiko

text: The Empress emerita particularly enjoys reading, music and plays the piano. Moreover, the imperial family has been known for several decades to form, occasionally, a family piano trio, with Crown Prince Akihito playing the cello, Crown Princess Michiko playing the piano, and Prince Naruhito playing the violin. Empress Michiko is also known to be particularly keen on gagaku, a kind of traditional Japanese court music.


title: Empress Michiko

text: She is also a fan of poetry, including the works of Michio Mado that she has selected, compiled and translated several of his poems in a series of collection under the titles "Dobutsu-tachi" (Animals) in 1992 and "Fushigina Poketto" (The Magic Pocket) in 1998.


title: Empress Michiko

text: She has composed several poems, including waka. Some of them have been published: a series of compound waka by Akihito and Michiko, Crown Prince and Princess, were published in 1987 and then republished in 1991 under the title "Tomoshibi: Light". Finally, a collection of 367 waka by the Empress was published in 1997 under the title , and 53 of them have been translated into French and published in France by "Signatura" under the title "Sé-oto, song of the ford".


title: Empress Michiko

text: In 1991, she wrote a children's book, illustrated by Wako Takeda: "Hajimete no Yamanobori" ("My First Mountain Climb").


title: Empress Michiko

text: She is a hibernophile with an interest in "Children of Lir", recites "I See His Blood Upon The Rose" by Joseph Plunkett as a party piece, and even speaks passable Gaelic.


title: Empress Michiko

text: Michiko suffered from several nervous breakdowns because of the pressure of the media and, according to Reuters, the attitude of her mother-in-law, that had resulted in particular in making her lose her voice for seven months in the 1960s. She briefly collapsed on her birthday in 1993 and did not speak for two months, a condition caused by "deep sadness" and attributed by her doctors to negative media coverage. Empress Michiko had to cancel many of her official duties in the spring of 2007, while suffering from mouth ulcers, nosebleeds and intestinal bleeding due to psychological stress, according to her doctors. This would be similar to the situation of her daughter-in-law, Masako, who also underwent several episodes of depression due to the pressures of her position.


title: Empress Michiko

text: In June 2019, it was announced that Michiko had heart valve abnormalities and an irregular pulse, though she was reported to be well enough to undergo cataract operations. In August 2019, it was revealed that she was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer a month prior while undergoing a routine medical appointment, and was scheduled to have the growth removed. In September 2019, it was reported by "The Japan Times" that the surgery was successful. On her 86th birthday in October 2020, it was revealed that she had been suffering from a mild fever since May.


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: The Red Hand of Ulster (), also known as the Red Hand Uí Néill, is a symbol used in heraldry to denote the Irish province of Ulster and the Northern Uí Néill in particular. However, it has also been used by other Irish clans across the island, including the Connachta, the ruling families of western Connacht (e.g. the O'Flahertys and McHughs) and the Southern Uí Néill, chiefs of the Midlands (e.g. Clann Cholmáin etc.).


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: It is an open hand coloured red, with the fingers pointing upwards, the thumb held parallel to the fingers, and the palm facing forward. It is usually shown as a right hand, but is sometimes a left hand, such as in the coats of arms of baronets.


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: The Red Hand is rooted in Gaelic culture as the sign of a great warrior. It is believed to date back to pagan times.


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: The Red Hand is first documented in surviving records in the 13th century, where it was used by the Hiberno-Norman de Burgh earls of Ulster. It was Walter de Burgh who became first Earl of Ulster in 1243 who combined the de Burgh cross with the Red Hand to create a flag that represented the Earldom of Ulster and later became the modern Flag of Ulster.


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: It was afterwards adopted by the O'Neills when they assumed the ancient kingship of Ulster, inventing the title "Rex Ultonie" (king of Ulster) for themselves in 1317 and then claiming it unopposed from 1345 onwards. An early Irish heraldic use in Ireland of the open right hand can be seen in the seal of Aodh Reamhar Ó Néill, king of the Irish of Ulster, 1344–1364.


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: An early-15th-century poem by Mael Ó hÚigínn is named , the first line of which is a variation of the title: """""", translated as "The Úí Eachach are the 'red hand' of Ireland". The Uí Eachach were one of the Cruthin tribes (known as the Dál nAraidi after 773) that made up the ancient kingdom of Ulaid.


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: The Red Hand symbol is believed to have been used by the O'Neills during its Nine Years' War (1594–1603) against English rule in Ireland, and the war cry "!" ("the Red Hand of Ireland to victory") was also associated with them. An English writer of the time noted "The Ancient Red Hand of Ulster, the bloody Red Hand, a terrible cognizance! And in allusion to that terrible cognizance—the battle cry of Lamh dearg abu!"


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: The Order of Baronets was instituted by letters patent dated 10 May 1612, which state that "the Baronets and their descendants shall and may bear, either in a canton in their coat of arms, or in an inescutcheon, at their election, the arms of Ulster, that is, in a field argent, a hand gules, or a bloody hand." The oldest baronets used a dexter (right) hand just like the O'Neills; however, it later became a sinister (left) hand.


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: The exclusive rights to the use of the Red Hand symbol has proved a matter of debate over the centuries, primarily whether it belonged to the O'Neills or the Magennises. The O'Neills became the chief dynasty of the Cenél nEógain of the Northern Uí Néill and later the kings of Ulster, whilst the Magennises were the ruling dynasty of the Uí Eachach Cobo, the chief dynasty of the Cruthin of Ulaid, and also head of the Clanna Rudraige. A 16th-century poem noted disagreement between the """""" (an alias for Clanna Rudraige) and the Northern Uí Néill.


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: A dispute, dated to 1689, arose between several Irish poets about whose claim to the Red Hand was the most legitimate.


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: Further poetic quatrains in the dispute were written by Mac an Baird, Ó Donnghaile, as well as by Mac an Bhaird's son Eoghain. The Mac an Bhairds appear to deride Ó Donnghaile as not having come from a hereditary bardic family and that he is of very low rank without honour, as well as hinting at his family's genealogical link to the O'Neills.


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: Writing in 1908, the then head of the O'Neill clan says of the Red Hand: "History teaches us that already in pagan days it was adopted by the O'Neills from the Macgennis, who were princes in the north of Ireland region inhabited by them".


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: Those involved in the bardic dispute of 1689 claimed that the Red Hand symbol came from a legendary ancestor who put his bloodstained hand on a banner after victory in battle:


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: Historian Francis J. Bigger notes the use of a right hand by the O'Neills around 1335, and surmises that it may have been for them a symbol signifying divine assistance and strength, whilst also suggesting that the ancient Phoenicians may have brought the symbol to Ireland.


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: In medieval Irish literature, several real and legendary kings were given the byname 'red hand' or 'red handed' to signify that they were great warriors. One is the mythical High King of Ireland, Lugaid Lámderg (Lugaid the red handed), who, according to Eugene O'Curry, is cited in one Irish legend as being king of the Cruthin of Ulaid during the reign of the mythical Conchobar Mac Nessa. The O'Neills believed in the Middle Ages that a messianic 'red handed' king called Aodh Eangach would come to lead them and drive the English out of Ireland. In a 1901 edition of the "All Ireland Review", a writer called "M.M." suggests that the Red Hand is named after the founder of the Clanna Rudraige, Rudraige mac Sithrigi, and that Rudraige's name may mean "red wrist". In another edition a "Y.M." suggests likewise, arguing that Rudraige's name means "red arm". They also suggest that the (Red Branch) of ancient Ulaid may actually come from and (red hand).


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: In another legend which has become widespread, the first man to lay his hand on the province of Ulster would have claim to it. As a result, the warriors rushed towards land with one chopping off his hand and throwing it over his comrades and thus winning the land. In some versions of the tale, the person who cuts off his hand belongs to the O'Neills, or is Niall of the Nine Hostages himself. In other versions, the person is the mythical Érimón.


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: In medieval Irish literature, several real and legendary kings were given the byname 'red hand' or 'red-handed' ( or ). It signified that they were a great warrior, their hand being red with the blood of their enemies.


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: The Dextera Dei, or "Right Hand of God", is a symbol that appears on only three high crosses in Ireland: the Cross of Muiredach at Monasterboice; the Cross of King Flann (also known as the Cross of the Scriptures) at Clonmacnoise; and the Cross in the Street of Kells. The former two have the full hand with fingers extended similar to the Red Hand. The form and position of the Kells Dextera Dei is of a pattern usually found on the Continent, whereas that used at Monasterboice and Clonmacnoise appears to unique within Christendom.


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: The Dextera Dei is suggested by Francis J. Bigger as representing the old-world figurative expression of signifying strength and power, and such hand symbols can be found in ancient civilisations including amongst others the Assyrians, Babylonians, Carthaginians, Chaldeans and Phoenicians. It is also used by Jews, Muslims, and can be found in use in Palestine and Morocco. Aboriginal Australians revered the hands of their deceased chieftains. Another historian, F. J. Elworthy, according to Bigger, conclusively proved the ancient character and widespread usage of the symbol amongst early pagan civilisations.


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: According to Charles Vallancey in 1788, a red hand pointing upwards was the armorial symbol of the kings of Ireland, and that it was still in use by the O'Brien family, whose motto was , meaning "the strong hand up" or "the strong hand will prevail". Hands feature prominently in Dermot O'Connor's 18th-century publication "Blazons and Irish Heraldic Terminology", with the Ó Fearghail sept bearing the motto .


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: In some Central European armorials of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, the Kingdom of Galicia is represented by a coat of arms with a red hand or a red glove. It may be due to the phonetic similarity between "Gaelic" and "Galician" ('canting arms' used to do this deliberately or by confusion, such as Galice-Calice or D'Aragón-Dragón), or by the assimilation of the Galician people with the Milesians (people of Breogán). The most common heraldic shield in Galicia, as an autonomous region or as a kingdom, is a grail with crosses or shamrocks from the 13th century to the present day. In the 17th century St. James of Compostella (Santiago de Compostela) became, according to the bishop Thomas Strong (uncle of Thomas White, founder of the Irish College of Compostela after the Flight of the Earls) the " " true capital of the Irish people in exile "".


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: The form in common use is an open right (dexter) hand coloured red, with the fingers pointing upwards, the thumb held parallel to the fingers, and the palm facing forward.


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: The Red Hand features in other Irish clan coats of arms including the O'Donnellys, O'Cahans, the McHughs of County Galway and their fellow Connacht kinsmen the Flahertys, Dalys, Melaghlins and Kearneys. On the O'Neill and Donnelly coat of arms the motto is (Red Hand of Ireland). The arms of the chiefs of the Scottish Clan MacNeil (of Barra) contain the Red Hand; the clan has traditionally claimed descent from Niall of the Nine Hostages. Many other families have used the Red Hand to highlight an Ulster ancestry. The head of the Guinness family, the Earl of Iveagh, has three Red Hands on his arms granted as recently as 1891.


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: The Red Hand is present in the arms of a number of Ulster's counties, such as Antrim, Cavan, Londonderry, Monaghan and Tyrone. It also appears in the Ulster Banner, and is used by many other official and non-official organisations throughout the province.


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: The Red Hand can be regarded as one of the very few cross-community symbols used in Northern Ireland (which makes up six of Ulster's nine counties) crossing the sectarian political divide. Due to its roots as a Gaelic Irish symbol, nationalist/republican groups have used (and continue to use) it—for example, the republican Irish Citizen Army, the republican National Graves Association, Belfast, the Irish Transport and General Workers Union, and GAA clubs in Ulster. Other organisations within the nine counties of Ulster and also supported within the political sectarian divide, use it happily in the six Ulster counties within Northern Ireland, such as the Ulster Hockey Union, these are supported from both sides of the community—nationalist and unionist. As the most identifiable symbol of Ulster, at the start of the 20th century it has also been used by Northern Ireland's unionists and loyalists, such as its use in the Ulster Covenant (1912) and in the arms of the Government of Northern Ireland (from 1922 and now abolished), the Ulster Banner (the former flag of the Northern Ireland government), the Ulster Volunteers and loyalist paramilitary groups based only within Northern Ireland such as the Ulster Volunteer Force and Ulster Defence Association among others.


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: A left (sinister) Red Hand is an option for baronets to add to their arms to indicate their rank. The College of Arms formally allowed this in 1835, ruling that the baronets of England, Ireland, Great Britain or the United Kingdom may "bear either a canton in their coat of arms, or in an escutcheon, at their pleasure, the arms of Ulster (to wit) a Hand Gules or a Bloody Hand in a Field Argent." It is blazoned as follows: "A hand sinister couped at the wrist extended in pale gules".


title: Red Hand of Ulster

text: King James I of England established the hereditary Order of Baronets in England on 22 May 1611, in the words of Collins (1741): "for the plantation and protection of the whole Kingdom of Ireland, but more especially for the defence and security of the Province of Ulster, and therefore for their distinction those of this order and their descendants may bear (the Red Hand of Ulster) in their coats of arms either in a canton or an escutcheon at their election". Such baronets may also display the Red Hand of Ulster on its own as a badge, suspended by a ribbon below the shield of arms. Baronets of Nova Scotia, unlike other baronets, do not use the Red Hand of Ulster, but have their own badge showing the Royal Arms of Scotland on a shield over the Saltire of St Andrew. The left-hand version has also been used by the Irish National Foresters, the Irish Citizen Army and the Federated Workers' Union of Ireland.


title: Bos

text: Bos (from Latin "bōs": cow, ox, bull) is the genus of wild and domestic cattle. "Bos" is often divided into four subgenera: "Bos", "Bibos", "Novibos", and "Poephagus", but including these last three divisions within the genus "Bos" without including "Bison" in the genus is believed to be polyphyletic by many workers on the classification of the genus since the 1980s. The genus as traditionally defined has five extant species but this rises to eight when the domesticated varieties are counted as separate species, and ten when the closely related genus "Bison" is also included.


title: Bos

text: Most but not all modern breeds of domesticated cattle are believed to have originated from the extinct aurochs. Many ancient breeds are thought to have originated from other species.


title: Bos

text: Zebus and taurine cattle are thought to descend from ancient Indian and Middle Eastern aurochs, respectively.


title: Bos

text: The species are grazers, with large teeth to break up the plant material they ingest. They are ruminants, having a four-chambered stomach that allows them to break down plant material.


title: Bos

text: There are about 1.3 billion domestic cattle alive today, making them one of the world's most numerous mammals. Members of this genus are currently found in Africa, Asia, Europe, parts of North America, South America and also in Oceania. Their habitats vary greatly depending on the particular species; they can be found in prairies, rain forests, wetlands, savannah and temperate forests.


title: Bos

text: Most "Bos" species have a lifespan of 18–25 years in the wild, with up to 36 being recorded in captivity. They have a 9–11 month gestation, depending on the species and birth one or, rarely, two young in the spring.


title: Bos

text: Most species travel in small herds ranging in size from ten to thirty members. Within most herds, there is one bull (male) for all the cows (female). Dominance is important in the herds; calves will usually inherit their mother's position in the hierarchy.


title: Bos

text: They are generally diurnal, resting in the hot part of the day and being active morning and afternoon. In areas where humans have encroached on the territory of a herd, they may turn nocturnal. Some species are also migratory, moving with food and water availability.


title: Bos

text: In 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature resolved a long-standing dispute about the naming of those species (or pairs of species) of "Bos" that contain both wild and domesticated forms. The commission "conserved the usage of 17 specific names based on wild species, which are pre-dated by or contemporary with those based on domestic forms", confirming "Bos primigenius" for the aurochs and "Bos gaurus" for the gaur. If domesticated cattle and gayal are considered separate species, they are to be named "Bos taurus" and "Bos frontalis"; however, if they are considered part of the same species as their wild relatives, the common species are to be named "Bos primigenius" and "Bos gaurus".


title: Bos

text: During the 2010s, analysis of the complex genetics of the bovine lineages determined that the species referred to "Bison" needed to be relegated to a subgenus of "Bos" in order to retain monophyly within "Bos" since both extant species of "Bison" are phylogenetically embedded within "Bos". The specific relationships in these analyses determined that the two living bison species were each other's closest living relatives, with their closest relatives amongst "Bos" being the yaks based on nuclear DNA. The mitochondrial DNA for the wisent was found to contradict the nuclear DNA result, and was more closely related to those of cattle, while the mitochondrial DNA of the American bison supported the nuclear DNA result of a close relationship with yaks. The discrepancy between the mitochondrial DNA of the American bison and wisent is suggested to be likely due to incomplete lineage sorting or genetic introgression into "B. bonasus" from other "Bos" species.


title: Mr. Popper's Penguins (film)

text: Mr. Popper's Penguins is a 2011 American family comedy film distributed by 20th Century Fox, directed by Mark Waters, produced by John Davis, co-produced by Davis Entertainment Company and Dune Entertainment, written by Sean Anders, John Morris and Jared Stern, loosely based on the 1938 children's book of the same name and starring Jim Carrey in the title role, Carla Gugino, Madeline Carroll, Maxwell Perry Cotton, Angela Lansbury, Desmin Borges, Philip Baker Hall, Dominic Chianese, Clark Gregg, Ophelia Lovibond, Jeffrey Tambor, David Krumholtz, Henry Keleman, Dylan Clark Marshall with Frank Welker and James Tupper. The film was originally slated for a release on August 12, 2011, but was moved up to June 17, 2011. The film received mixed reviews from critics and earned $187.3 million on a $55 million budget.


title: Mr. Popper's Penguins (film)

text: In an opening flashback, Thomas Popper Jr., is a child whose father traveled around the world during his childhood in the 1970s. Popper rarely sees his father, Thomas Sr., during his travels and communicates with him through shortwave radio.


title: Mr. Popper's Penguins (film)

text: In the present day, Popper is now a divorced real estate entrepreneur and a father of two children, Janie and Billy. After returning home from work one day, Popper learns that his father has died during an adventure to Antarctica and, as per his will, has left him with a "souvenir" from his adventures in Antarctica. The following week, a crate containing a gentoo penguin, named Captain, appears at his door. Popper immediately becomes annoyed with the penguin and locks him in a bathroom before going to work. After Captain accidentally floods his apartment with bath water, Popper calls his father's organization asking to return the penguin, but, due to a miscommunication, ends up receiving a shipment of five more penguins named Loudy, Bitey, Stinky, Lovey, and Nimrod.


title: Mr. Popper's Penguins (film)

text: Popper intends to give them away to the zoo, but changes his idea when his children think that the penguins are Billy's birthday present. An incensed Popper is forced to spend evenings taking care of the penguins and bribing the apartment clerk to not rat him out to the board, as pets are not allowed in the apartment. At one point, he receives an offer to take the penguins off his hands from Nat Jones, the antagonistic zookeeper at the New York Zoo, who warns him that the penguins won't survive at his house. Unknown to Popper, Jones also plans to trade the penguins for animals the zoo does not have.


title: Mr. Popper's Penguins (film)

text: At work, Popper is given the task of buying Tavern on the Green, the only privately owned piece of real estate in Central Park that is an old restaurant where he used to eat with his father when he was a child. However, the restaurant’s elderly owner, Selma Van Gundy, will only sell it to a person of true value. Popper has meetings with her, but due to him having to juggle them with taking care of the penguins, she begins to have some serious doubts about him.


title: Mr. Popper's Penguins (film)

text: As time goes on, having the penguins around helps Popper become closer to his children. The penguins lay three eggs. Two eggs hatch, but one does not. Popper becomes obsessed with seeing the last egg hatch, causing him to lose his job. Eventually Popper realizes that the egg is somehow unable to hatch, and, after being given permission from Jones to do so, decides to donate the penguins to the zoo. Then, he is re-employed but his children and ex-wife, Amanda, are disappointed by his decision.


title: Mr. Popper's Penguins (film)

text: Popper finds a letter from his father—included in the original crate with Captain but lost when Popper broke the crate by accident—telling him to hold his children close and love them and apologizing for not being a better father that Popper needed. Having second thoughts, Popper asks his children and ex-wife to help him get the penguins back from the zoo, however, they are not in the penguin enclosure. During a brief argument with Jones, he reveals to them his true motives for wanting the penguins and that he plans to separate them. After Jones lies and says that they're too late to save them, the family manages to find and free the penguins, while evading Jones and the zoo's security. Upon seeing how Popper had reunited his family and saved the penguins, Van Gundy sells him the restaurant while Jones is arrested. Popper decides to renovate and reopen the restaurant. Popper and his family travel to Antarctica with the penguins, allowing them to live with their own kind. Popper's first penguin, Captain, is revealed to have laid another egg. Popper tells his children that they will visit the penguins when the egg hatches.


title: Mr. Popper's Penguins (film)

text: Originally, Ben Stiller was slated to play Mr. Popper, and Noah Baumbach was originally going to direct, but they dropped out. Owen Wilson, Jack Black, and Jim Carrey were all considered to replace Stiller, with the role eventually going to Carrey. Mark Waters was chosen to direct. Filming began in October 2010, and finished in January 2011. On September 21, 2010, it was confirmed that Carla Gugino joined the cast as Tom's former wife Amanda Popper. Rhythm and Hues Studios did the penguin animations for certain shots. The musical score was composed by Rolfe Kent and orchestrated by Tony Blondal. It was recorded at the scoring stage at 20th Century Fox in Century City, California with a 78-piece orchestra. An online Museum Slide Game was created by designer Mark Kavanaugh as promotional material for the film.


title: Mr. Popper's Penguins (film)

text: Rolfe Kent scored the music for the film and on its soundtrack. The soundtrack also contains "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" written by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn, "Sweet N' Lo" written by Erwin Lehn, "Doo Wah Dooh Wah" written and performed by Syd Dale, "Set 'Em Up Joe" written by Werner Tautz, "Spin Spin" written by Steve Sidwell, "Go Get It" written and performed by Jeff Cardoni, "Piano Lounge" written by Daniel May and Marc Ferrari, "Ice Ice Baby" performed by Vanilla Ice and music from the Charles Chaplin movies.


title: Mr. Popper's Penguins (film)

text: "Mr. Popper's Penguins" was theatrically released on June 17, 2011 by 20th Century Fox. It earned $6.4 million on opening day and $18.4 million over the three-day weekend, ranking in third place behind "Green Lantern" and "Super 8". The opening was at the high end of 20th Century Fox's expectations, which was predicting a mid- to high teens opening.


title: Mr. Popper's Penguins (film)

text: In its second weekend, the film faced competition from "Cars 2" and dropped 45% to $10.1 million and ranked in fifth place. Over the four-day Independence Day holiday weekend, it ranked in eighth place after dropping 34% to $6.7 million. The film earned $68,224,452 domestically and $119,137,302 in foreign countries, grossing a total of $187,361,754 worldwide.


title: Mr. Popper's Penguins (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 47% based on 142 reviews with an average rating of 5.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Blandly inoffensive and thoroughly predictable, "Mr. Popper's Penguins" could have been worse – but it should have been better." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 53 out of 100 based on 30 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Mr. Popper's Penguins (film)

text: "Mr. Popper's Penguins" was released on Blu-ray and DVD on December 6, 2011. It includes a short film called "Nimrod and Stinky's Antarctic Adventure".


title: Education in Russia

text: In Russia, the state provides most education services regulating education through the Ministry of Education and Science. Regional authorities regulate education within their jurisdictions within the prevailing framework of federal laws. Russia's expenditure on education has grown from 2.7% of the GDP in 2005 to 3.8% in 2013, but remains below the OECD average of 5.2%.


title: Education in Russia

text: Before 1990 the course of school training in the Soviet Union lasted 10 years, but at the end of 1990 an 11-year course officially came into operation. Education in state-owned secondary schools is free; "first" tertiary (university level) education is free with reservations: a substantial number of students enroll on full pay. Male and female students have equal shares in all stages of education, except in tertiary education where women lead with 57%.


title: Education in Russia

text: A 2015 estimate by the United States Central Intelligence Agency puts the literacy rate in Russia at 99.7% (99.7% for men, 99.6% for women). According to a 2016 OECD estimate, 54% of Russia's adults (25- to 64-year-olds) have attained a tertiary education, giving Russia the second-highest attainment of tertiary education among 35 OECD member-countries. 47.7% have completed secondary education (the full 11-year course); 26.5% have completed middle school (9 years) and 8.1% have elementary education (at least 4 years). Highest rates of tertiary education (24.7%) are recorded among women aged 35 to 39 years (compared to 19.5% for men of the same age bracket).


title: Education in Russia

text: Compared with other OECD countries, Russia has close to average class-sizes and some of the shortest instruction-hours per year.


title: Education in Russia

text: In 2014 the Pearson/Economist Intelligence Unit rated Russia's education as the 8th-best in Europe and the 13th-best in the world; Russia's educational attainment was rated as the 21st-highest in the world, and the students' cognitive skills as the 9th-highest.


title: Education in Russia

text: In 2015 the OECD ranked Russian students' mathematics and science skills as the 34th-best in the world, between Sweden and Iceland.


title: Education in Russia

text: In 2016 the US company Bloomberg rated Russia's higher education as the third-best in the world, measuring the percentage of high-school graduates who go on to attend college, the annual science and engineering graduates as a percentage of all college graduates, and science and engineering graduates as a percentage of the labor force.


title: Education in Russia

text: The Human Rights Measurement Initiative finds that Russia is fulfilling 86.8% of what they should be fulfilling for the right to education, based on their level of income.


title: Education in Russia

text: According to the law, the educational system of Russia includes 2 types of education: general and professional.


title: Education in Russia

text: Furthermore, there is also an additional professional education. It is available for graduates of institutions of vocational or higher education.


title: Education in Russia

text: According to the 2002 census, 68% of children (78% urban and 47% rural) aged 5 were enrolled in kindergartens. According to UNESCO data, enrollment in "any" kind of pre-school programme increased from 67% in 1999 to 84% in 2005.


title: Education in Russia

text: Kindergartens, unlike schools, are regulated by regional and local authorities. The Ministry of Education and Science regulates only a brief pre-school preparation program for the 5–6-year-old children. In 2004 the government attempted to charge the full cost of kindergartens to the parents; widespread public opposition caused a reversal of policy. Currently, local authorities can legally charge the parents not more than 20% of costs. Twins, children of university students, refugees, Chernobyl veterans and other protected social groups are entitled to free service.


title: Education in Russia

text: The Soviet system provided for nearly universal primary (nursery, age 1 to 3) and kindergarten (age 3 to 7) service in urban areas, relieving working mothers from daytime childcare needs. By the 1980s, there were 88,000 preschool institutions; as the secondary-education study load increased and moved from the ten to eleven-year standard, the kindergarten programmes shifted from training basic social skills, or physical abilities, to preparation for entering the school level. After the collapse of the Soviet Union the number decreased to 46,000; kindergarten buildings were sold as real estate, irreversibly rebuilt and converted for office use. At the same time, a minority share of successful state-owned kindergartens, regarded as a vertical lift to quality schooling, flourished throughout the 1990s. Privately owned kindergartens, although in high demand, did not gain a significant share due to administrative pressure; share of children enrolled in private kindergartens dropped from 7% in 1999 to 1% in 2005.


title: Education in Russia

text: The improvement of the economy after the 1998 crisis, coupled with historical demographic peak, resulted in an increase in birth rate, first recorded in 2005. Large cities encountered shortage of kindergarten vacancies earlier, in 2002. Moscow's kindergarten waiting list included 15,000 children; in the much smaller city of Tomsk (population 488,000) it reached 12,000. The city of Moscow instituted specialised "kindergarten commissions" that are tasked with locating empty slots for the children; parents sign their children on the waiting list as soon as they are born. The degree of the problem varies between districts, e.g. Moscow's Fili-Davydkovo District (population 78,000) has lost "all" of its kindergartens (residents have to compete for kindergarten slots elsewhere) while Zelenograd claims to have short queue. Independent authors assert that bribes or "donations" for admission to kindergartens compete in amount with university admissions while authorities refute the accusation.


title: Education in Russia

text: The number of Russian children enrolled in preschool institutions reached 7.44 million in 2020, marking a decrease from the previous year. The birth rate saw a decrease from 2020, after growing in the late 2000s and the early 2010s.


title: Education in Russia

text: There were 59,260 general education schools in 2007–2008 school year, an increase from 58,503 in the previous year. However, prior to 2005–2006, the number of schools was steadily decreasing from 65,899 in 2000–2001. The 2007–2008 number includes 4,965 advanced learning schools specializing in foreign languages, mathematics etc.; 2,347 advanced general-purpose schools, and 1,884 schools for all categories of disabled children; it does "not" include vocational technical school and technicums. Private schools accounted for 0.3% of elementary school enrollment in 2005 and 0.5% in 2005.


title: Education in Russia

text: According to a 2005 UNESCO report, 96% of the adult population has completed lower secondary schooling and most of them also have an upper secondary education.


title: Education in Russia

text: Nine-year secondary education in Russia is compulsory since September 1, 2007. Until 2007, it was limited to nine years with grades 10-11 optional; federal subjects of Russia could enforce higher compulsory standard through local legislation within the eleven–year federal programme. Moscow enacted compulsory eleven–year education in 2005, similar legislation existed in Altai Krai, Sakha and Tyumen Oblast. A student of 15 to 18 years of age "may" drop out of school with the approval of his/her parent and local authorities, and without their consent upon reaching age of 18. Expulsion from school for multiple violations disrupting school life is possible starting at the age of 15.


title: Education in Russia

text: The eleven-year school term is split into elementary (years 1–4), middle (years 5–9) and senior (years 10–11) classes. The absolute majority of children attend full programme schools providing eleven-year education; schools limited to elementary or elementary and middle classes typically exist in rural areas. Of all the 59,260 schools in Russia, 36,248 provide the full eleven-year programme, 10,833 offer nine-year "basic" (elementary and middle) education, and 10,198 only offer elementary education. Their number is disproportionately large compared to their share of students due to lesser class sizes in rural schools. In areas where school capacity is insufficient to teach all students on a normal, morning to afternoon, schedule, authorities resort to "double shift" schools, where two streams of students ("morning shift" and "evening shift") share the same facility. There were 13,100 "double shift" and 75 "triple shift" schools in 2007–2008, compared to 19,201 and 235 in 2000–2001.


title: Education in Russia

text: Children are accepted to first year at the age of 6 or 7, depending on individual development of each child. Until 1990, starting age was set at seven years and schooling lasted ten years for students who were planning to proceed to higher education in Universities. Students who were planning to proceed to technical schools were doing so, as a rule, after the 8th year. The switch from ten to eleven-year term was motivated by continuously increasing load in middle and senior years. In the 1960s, it resulted in a "conversion" of the fourth year from elementary to middle school. Decrease in elementary schooling led to greater disparity between children entering middle school; to compensate for the "missing" fourth year, elementary schooling was extended with a "zero year" for six-year-olds. This move remains a subject of controversy.


title: Education in Russia

text: Children of elementary classes are normally separated from other classes within their own floor of a school building. They are taught, ideally, by a single teacher through all four elementary years (except for physical training and, if available, foreign languages); 98.5% of elementary school teachers are women. Their number decreased from 349,000 in 1999 to 317,000 in 2005. Starting from the fifth year, each academic subject is taught by a dedicated subject teacher (80.4% women in 2004, an increase from 75.4% in 1991). Pupil-to-teacher ratio (11:1) is on par with developed European countries. Teachers' average monthly salaries in 2008 range from 6,200 roubles (200 US dollars) in Mordovia to 21,000 roubles (700 US dollars) in Moscow.


title: Education in Russia

text: The school year extends from September 1 to end of May and is divided into four terms. Study programme in schools is fixed; unlike in some Western countries, schoolchildren or their parents have no choice of study subjects. Class load per student (638 hours a year for nine-year-olds, 893 for thirteen-year-olds) is lower than in Chile, Peru or Thailand, and slightly lower that in most states of the United States, although official hours are frequently appended with additional classwork. Students are graded on a 5-step scale, ranging in practice from 2 ("unacceptable") to 5 ("excellent"); 1 is a rarely used sign of extreme failure. Teachers regularly subdivide these grades (i.e. 4+, 5−) in daily use, but term and year results are graded strictly 2, 3, 4 or 5.


title: Education in Russia

text: Some secondary schools conduct, in addition to the standard programme, an in-depth study of some subjects (schools focused on mathematics, foreign languages, arts, military-related subjects, etc.). These schools are considered more prestigious than the usual secondary schools.


title: Education in Russia

text: Upon completion of a nine-year program the student has a choice of either completing the remaining two years at normal school, or of a transfer to a specialized professional training school. Historically, those were divided into low-prestige PTUs and better-regarded technicums and medical (nurse level) schools; in the 2000s, many such institutions, if operational, have been renamed as "colleges". They provide students with a vocational skill qualification and a high school certificate equivalent to 11-year education in a normal school; the programme, due to its work training component, extends over 3 years. In 2007–08 there were 2,800 such institutions with 2,280,000 students. Russian vocational schools, like the Tech Prep schools in the USA, fall out of ISCED classification, thus the enrollment number reported by UNESCO is lower, 1.41 million; the difference is attributed to senior classes of technicums that exceed secondary education standard.


title: Education in Russia

text: All certificates of secondary education (Maturity Certificate, ), regardless of issuing institution, conform to the same national standard and are considered, at least in law, to be fully equivalent. The state prescribes a minimum (and nearly exhaustive) set of study subjects that must appear in each certificate. In practice, extension of study terms to three years slightly disadvantages vocational schools' male students who intend to continue: they reach conscription age before graduation or immediately after it, and normally must serve in the army before applying to undergraduate-level institutions.


title: Education in Russia

text: Although all male pupils are eligible to postpone their conscription to receive higher education, they must be at least signed-up for the admission tests into the university the moment they get the conscription notice from the army. Most military commissariat officials are fairly considerate towards the potential recruits on that matter and usually allow graduates enough time to choose the university and sign-up for admission or enroll there on a paid basis despite the fact that the spring recruiting period has not yet ended by the time most students graduate. All those people may legally be commanded to present themselves to the recruitment centers the next day after graduation.


title: Education in Russia

text: Males of conscription age that chose not to continue their education at any stage usually get notice from the army within half a year after their education ends, because of the periodic nature of recruitment periods in Russian army.


title: Education in Russia

text: Traditionally, the universities and institutes conducted their own admissions tests regardless of the applicants' school record. There was no uniform measure of graduates' abilities; marks issued by high schools were perceived as incompatible due to grading variances between schools and regions. In 2003 the Ministry of Education launched the Unified state examination (USE) programme. The set of standardised tests for high school graduates, issued uniformly throughout the country and rated independent of the student's schoolmasters, akin to the North American SAT, was supposed to replace entrance exams to state universities. Thus, the reformers reasoned, the USE would empower talented graduates from remote locations to compete for admissions at the universities of their choice, at the same time eliminating admission-related bribery, then estimated at 1 billion US dollars annually. In 2003, 858 university and college workers were indicted for bribery; the admission "fee" in MGIMO allegedly reached 30,000 US dollars.


title: Education in Russia

text: University heads, notably Moscow State University rector Viktor Sadovnichiy, resisted the change, arguing that their schools cannot survive without charging the applicants with their own entrance hurdles. Nevertheless, the legislators enacted USE in February 2007. In 2008 it was mandatory for the students and optional for the universities; it is fully mandatory since 2009. A few higher education establishments are still allowed to introduce their own entrance tests in addition to USE scoring; such tests must be publicized in advance.


title: Education in Russia

text: Awarding USE grades involves two stages. In this system, a "primary grade" is the sum of points for completed tasks, with each of the tasks having a maximum number of points allocated to it. The maximum total primary grade varies by subject, so that one might obtain, for instance, a primary grade of 23 out of 37 in mathematics and a primary grade of 43 out of 80 in French. The primary grades are then converted into final or "test grades" by means of a sophisticated statistical calculation, which takes into account the distribution of primary grades among the examinees. This system has been criticized for its lack of transparency.


title: Education in Russia

text: The first nationwide USE session covering all regions of Russia was held in the summer of 2008. 25.3% students failed the literature test, 23.5% failed mathematics; the highest grades were recorded in French, English and social studies. Twenty thousand students filed objections against their grades; one third of objections were settled in the student's favor.


title: Education in Russia

text: Children with physical disabilities, depending on the nature and extent of the disability and the availability of local specialized institutions, attend either such institutions or special classes within regular schools. As of 2007, there were 80 schools for the blind and children with poor eyesight; their school term is extended to 12 years and classes are limited to 9–12 pupils per teacher. Education for the deaf is provided by 99 specialized kindergartens and 207 secondary boarding schools; children who were born deaf are admitted to specialized kindergartens as early as possible, ideally from 18 months of age; they are schooled separately from children who lost hearing "after" acquiring basic speech skills. Vocational schools for the working deaf people who have not completed secondary education exist in five cities only. Another wide network of specialist institutions takes care of children with mobility disorders. 60–70% of all children with cerebral palsy are schooled through this channel. Children are admitted to specialised kindergartens at three or four years of age and streamed into narrow specialty groups; the specialisation continues throughout their school term and may extend to thirteen years. The system, however, is not ready to accept children who also display evident developmental disability; they have no other option than home schooling. All graduates of physical disability schools are entitled to the same level of secondary education certificates as normal graduates.


title: Education in Russia

text: There are 42 specialized vocational training (non-degree) colleges for disabled people; most notable are the School of Music for the Blind in Kursk and the Medical School for the Blind in Kislovodsk. Fully segregated undergraduate education is provided by two colleges: the Institute of Arts for the Disabled (enrollment of 158 students in 2007) and the Social Humanitarian Institute (enrollment of 250 students), both in Moscow. Other institutions provide semi-segregated training (specialized groups within a normal college environment) or declare full disability access of their regular classes. Bauman Moscow State Technical University and Chelyabinsk State University have the highest number of disabled students (170 each, 2007). Bauman University focuses on education for the deaf; the Herzen Pedagogical Institute enroll different groups of physical disability. However, independent studies assert that the universities fail to integrate people with disabilities into their academic and social life.


title: Education in Russia

text: An estimated 20% of children leaving kindergarten fail to adjust to elementary school requirements and are in need of special schooling. Children with delayed development who "may" return to normal schools and study along with normal children are trained at "compensatory classes" within regular schools. The system is intended to prepare these children for normal school at the earliest possible age, closing (compensating) the gap between them and normal students. It is a relatively new development that began in the 1970s and gained national approval in the 1990s.


title: Education in Russia

text: Persistent but mild mental disabilities that preclude co-education with normal children in the foreseeable future but do not qualify as "moderate, heavy, or severe retardation" require specialized "correction" () boarding schools that extend from 8–9 to 18–21 years of age. Their task is to adapt the person to living in a modern society, rather than to subsequent education.


title: Education in Russia

text: Children with stronger forms of intellectual disability are, as of 2008, mostly excluded from the education system. Some are trained within severe disability groups of the "correction" boarding schools and orphanages, others are aided only through counseling.


title: Education in Russia

text: According to a 2005 UNESCO report, more than half of the Russian adult population has attained a tertiary education, which is twice as high as the OECD average.


title: Education in Russia

text: As of the 2007–2008 academic year, Russia had 8.1 million students enrolled in all forms of tertiary education (including military and police institutions and postgraduate studies). Foreign students accounted for 5.2% of enrollment, half of whom were from other CIS countries. 6.2 million students were enrolled in 658 state-owned and 450 private civilian university-level institutions licensed by the Ministry of Education; total faculty reached 625 thousands in 2005.


title: Education in Russia

text: The number of state-owned institutions was rising steadily from 514 in 1990 to 655 in 2002 and remains nearly constant since 2002. The number of private institutions, first reported as 193 in 1995, continues to rise. The trend for consolidation began in 2006 when state universities and colleges of Rostov-on-Don, Taganrog and other southern towns were merged into Southern Federal University, based in Rostov-on-Don; a similar conglomerate was formed in Krasnoyarsk as Siberian Federal University; the third one emerged in Vladivostok as Far Eastern Federal University. Moscow State University and Saint Petersburg State University acquired the "federal university" status in 2007 without further organisational changes.


title: Education in Russia

text: Andrei Fursenko, Minister of Education, is campaigning for a reduction in number of institutions to weed out diploma mills and substandard colleges; in April 2008 his stance was approved by president Dmitry Medvedev: "This amount, around a thousand universities and two thousands spinoffs, does not exist anywhere else in the world; it may be over the top even for China ... consequences are clear: devaluation of education standard". Even supporters of the reduction like Yevgeny Yasin admit that the move will strengthen consolidation of academia in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Novosibirsk and devastate the provinces, leaving the federal subjects of Russia without colleges for training local school teachers. For a comparison, the United States has a total of 4,495 Title IV-eligible, degree-granting institutions: 2,774 BA/BSc degree institutions and 1,721 AA/ASc degree institutions.


title: Education in Russia

text: Financial and visa difficulties have historically made it difficult to obtain higher education abroad for young adults in the post-Soviet era.


title: Education in Russia

text: Unlike the United States or Bologna process model, Russian higher education was traditionally not divided into undergraduate (bachelor's) and graduate (master's) levels. Instead, tertiary education was undertaken in a single stage, typically five or six years in duration, which resulted in a specialist diploma. Specialist diplomas were perceived equal to Western MSc/MA qualification. A specialist graduate needed no further academic qualification to pursue a professional career, with the exception of some (but not all) branches of medical professions that required a post-graduate residency stage. Military college education lasted four years and was ranked as equivalent to "specialist" degree.


title: Education in Russia

text: Historically, civilian tertiary education was divided between a minority of traditional wide curriculum universities and a larger number of narrow specialisation "institutes" (including art schools). Many of these institutes, such as the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, and the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, are concentrated primarily in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Institutes whose graduates are in wide demand throughout Russia, such as medical and teachers' institutes, are spread more evenly across the country. Institutes in geographically specific fields will tend to be situated in areas serving their specialties. Mining and metallurgy institutes are located in ore-rich territories, and maritime and fishing institutes are located in seaport communities.


title: Education in Russia

text: Legal education in Russia exists both within universities and as standalone law institutes such as the Academic Law University (Russian: Академический правовой университет, АПУ) founded under the auspices of the Institute of State and Law. In the 1990s many technical institutes and new private schools created their own departments of law; as of 2008, law departments trained around 750 thousands students.


title: Education in Russia

text: In the 1990s the institutes typically renamed themselves "universities", while retaining their historical narrow specialisation. More recently, a number of these new private 'universities' have been renamed back to 'institutes' to reflect their narrower specialization. In these institutes, the student's specialisation within a chosen department was fixed upon admission, and moving between different streams within the same department was difficult. Study programmes were (and still are) rigidly fixed for the whole term of study; the students have little choice in planning their academic progress. Mobility between institutions with compatible study programmes was allowed infrequently, usually due to family relocation from town to town.


title: Education in Russia

text: Russia is in the process of migrating from its traditional tertiary education model, incompatible with existing Western academic degrees, to a degree structure in line with the Bologna Process model. (Russia co-signed the Bologna Declaration in 2003.) In October 2007 Russia enacted a law that replaces the traditional five-year model of education with a two-tiered approach: a four-year bachelor () degree followed by a two-year master's (, "magistr") degree.


title: Education in Russia

text: The move has been criticised for its merely formal approach: instead of reshaping their curriculum, universities would simply insert a BSc/BA accreditation in the middle of their standard five or six-year programmes. The job market is generally unaware of the change and critics predict that stand-alone BSc/BA diplomas will not be recognised as "real" university education in the foreseeable future, rendering the degree unnecessary and undesirable without further specialisation. Institutions like MFTI or MIFI have practiced a two-tier breakdown of their "specialist" programmes for decades and switched to Bologna process designations well in advance of the 2007 law, but an absolute majority of their students complete all six years of MSc/MA curriculum, regarding BSc/BA stage as useless in real life.


title: Education in Russia

text: Student mobility among universities has been traditionally discouraged and thus kept at very low level; there are no signs that formal acceptance of the Bologna Process will help students seeking better education. Finally, while the five-year "specialist" training was previously free to all students, the new MSc/MA stage is not. The shift forces students to pay for what was free to the previous class; the cost is unavoidable because the BSc/BA degree alone is considered useless. Defenders of the Bologna Process argue that the final years of the "specialist" programme were formal and useless: academic schedules were relaxed and undemanding, allowing students to work elsewhere. Cutting the five-year "specialist" programme to a four-year BSc/BA will not decrease the actual academic content of most of these programmes.


title: Education in Russia

text: Postgraduate diploma structure so far retains its unique Soviet pattern established in 1934. The system makes a distinction between "scientific degrees", evidencing personal postgraduate achievement in scientific research, and related but separate "academic titles", evidencing personal achievement in university-level education.


title: Education in Russia

text: There are two successive postgraduate "degrees": kandidat nauk ("Candidate of science") and doktor nauk ("Doctor of science"). Both are a certificate of scientific, rather than academic, achievement, and must be backed up by original/novel scientific work, evidenced by publications in peer-reviewed journals and a dissertation defended in front of senior academic board. The titles are issued by Higher Attestation Commission of the Ministry of Education. A degree is always awarded in one of 23 predetermined fields of science, even if the underlying achievement belongs to different fields. Thus it is possible to defend two degrees of "kandidat" independently, but not simultaneously; a "doktor" in one field may also be a "kandidat" in a different field.


title: Education in Russia

text: "Kandidat nauk" can be achieved within university environment (when the university is engaged in active research in the chosen field), specialised research facilities or within research and development units in industry. Typical "kandidat nauk" path from admission to diploma takes 2–4 years. The dissertation paper should contain a solution of an existing scientific problem, or a practical proposal with significant economical or military potential. The title is often perceived as equivalent to Western Ph.D., although this may vary depending on the field of study, and may not be seen as such outside of Russia but as a more significant degree.


title: Education in Russia

text: "Doktor nauk", the next stage, implies achieving significant scientific output. This title is often equated to the German or Scandinavian habilitation. The dissertation paper should summarize the author's research resulting in theoretical statements that are qualified as a new discovery, or solution of an existing problem, or a practical proposal with significant economical or military potential. The road from "kandidat" to "doktor" typically takes 10 years of dedicated research activity; one in four candidates reaches this stage. The system implies that the applicants must work in their research field full-time; however, the degrees in social sciences are routinely awarded to active politicians.


title: Education in Russia

text: Academic "titles" of "dotsent" and "professor" are issued to active university staff who already achieved degrees of "kandidat" or "doktor"; the rules prescribe minimum residency term, authoring established study textbooks in their chosen field, and mentoring successful postgraduate trainees; special, less formal rules apply to professors of arts.


title: Education in Russia

text: Military postgraduate education radically falls out of the standard scheme. It includes military academy courses and adjunctura (). Unlike their Western namesakes, Russian military academies are "postgraduate" institutions conducting the advance training career commissioned officer programmes. Passing the course of an academy does not result in an explicitly named degree and enables the graduate to proceed to a certain level of command (equivalent of battalion commander and above). Adjunctura is a military analogue of civilian graduate school, which allow commissioned officers to get academic degree of candidate of military sciences and be appointed to teaching and scientific positions in military educational and scientific research institutions.


title: Education in Russia

text: On 1 June 2021, the Federal Law of 5 April 2021 №85-FZ “On Amendments to the Federal Law "About education in Russian Federation"” entered into force. This law establishes the concept of the outreach activity: it is the activity, carrying out outside educational programs, which aims to dissemination of a knowledge and an experience, to formation of a skills, a values, and a competence, in order to intellectual, spiritual and moral, creative, physical, and (or) professional development of individual, and to meet educational needs of individual. The manner, conditions and implementation modalities of outreach activity and also the procedure for the control of such activity regulated by Government of Russia. Outreach activity can be carried out by public and local authorities and natural and juridical persons concluded a contracts with educational institutions in the order determined by Government of Russia. Although the Russian Academy of Sciences and numerous cultural and educational societies opposed the bill, it was adopted by the State Duma, approved by the Federation Council and signed by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin. According to scientists, science popularizers, educationalists, lawyers, this law, in fact, establishes the prior censorship of virtually every ways to share knowledge and conviction, contrary to the articles 19 and 29 of the Constitution of Russia. According to the authors, the law aims to shield Russian citizens against anti-Russian propaganda.


title: Lee Teng-hui

text: Lee Teng-hui (; 15 January 192330 July 2020) was a Taiwanese statesman and economist who served as President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) under the 1947 Constitution and chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) from 1988 to 2000. He was the first president to be born in Taiwan, the last to be indirectly elected and the first to be directly elected. During his presidency, Lee oversaw the end of martial law and the full democratization of the ROC, advocated the Taiwanese localization movement, and led an ambitious foreign policy to gain allies around the world. Nicknamed "Mr. Democracy", Lee was credited as the president who completed Taiwan's transition to the democratic era.


title: Lee Teng-hui

text: After leaving office, he remained active in Taiwanese politics. Lee was considered the "spiritual leader" of the pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), and recruited for the party in the past. After Lee campaigned for TSU candidates in the 2001 Taiwanese legislative election, he was expelled by the KMT. Other activities that Lee engaged in included maintaining relations with former Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian and Japan.


title: Lee Teng-hui

text: Lee was born in the rural farming community of Sanshi Village, Taihoku Prefecture, Japanese Taiwan. He is of Yongding, Tingzhou Hakka descent. As a child, he often dreamed of traveling abroad, and became an avid stamp collector. Growing up under Japanese colonial rule, he developed a strong interest in Japan. His father was a middle-level Japanese police aide, and his elder brother, Lee Teng-chin (李登欽), who was also known as in Japanese, joined the colony's police academy and soon volunteered for the Imperial Japanese Navy and died in Manila. Lee—one of only four Taiwanese students in his class—graduated with honors and was given a scholarship to Japan's Kyoto Imperial University.


title: Lee Teng-hui

text: During his school days, he learned kendo and bushido. A lifelong collector of books, Lee was heavily influenced by Japanese thinkers like Nitobe Inazō and Kitaro Nishida in Kyoto. In 1944, he too volunteered for service in the Imperial Japanese Army and became a second lieutenant, in command of an anti-aircraft gun in Taiwan. He was ordered back to Japan in 1945 and participated in the clean-up after the Great Tokyo Air Raid of March 1945. Lee stayed in Japan after the surrender and graduated from Kyoto Imperial University in 1946.


title: Lee Teng-hui

text: After World War II ended, and the Republic of China took over Taiwan, Lee enrolled in the National Taiwan University, where in 1948 he earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural science. Lee joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for two stints, in September 1946 and October or November 1947, both times briefly. Lee began the with four others. This group was absorbed by the CCP, and Lee officially left the party in September 1948. In a 2002 interview, Lee himself admitted that he had been a Communist; Lee remains the only Taiwanese president known to have once been a member of the Chinese Communist Party. In that same interview, Lee said that he had strongly opposed Communism for a long time because he understood the theory well and knew that it was doomed to fail. Lee stated that he joined the Communists out of hatred for the KMT.


title: Lee Teng-hui

text: In 1953, Lee received a master's degree in agricultural economics from the Iowa State University (ISU) in the United States. Lee returned to Taiwan in 1957 as an economist with the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction (JCRR), an organization sponsored by the U.S. which aimed at modernizing Taiwan's agricultural system and at land reform. During this period, he also worked as an adjunct professor in the Department of Economics at National Taiwan University and taught at the Graduate School of East Asian Studies at National Chengchi University.


title: Lee Teng-hui

text: In the mid-1960s, Lee returned to the United States, and earned a PhD in agricultural economics from Cornell University in 1968. His advisor was John Williams Mellor. His doctoral dissertation, "Intersectoral Capital Flows in the Economic Development of Taiwan, 1895–1960" (published as a book under the same name) was honored as the year's best doctoral thesis by the American Association of Agricultural Economics and remains an influential work on Taiwan's economy during the Japanese and early KMT periods.


title: Lee Teng-hui

text: Lee encountered Christianity as a young man and in 1961 was baptised. For most of the rest of his political career, despite holding high office, Lee made a habit of giving sermons at churches around Taiwan, mostly on apolitical themes of service and humility. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan.


title: Lee Teng-hui

text: Lee's native language was Taiwanese Hokkien. He was fluent in Mandarin and Japanese and was able to speak well in English. It has been claimed that he was more proficient in Japanese than he was in Mandarin.


title: Lee Teng-hui

text: Shortly after returning to Taiwan, Lee joined the KMT in 1971 and was made a cabinet minister without portfolio responsible for agriculture.


title: Lee Teng-hui

text: In 1978, Lee was appointed mayor of Taipei, where he solved water shortages and improved the city's irrigation problems. In 1981, he became governor of Taiwan Province and made further irrigation improvements.


title: Lee Teng-hui

text: As a skilled technocrat, Lee soon caught the eye of President Chiang Ching-kuo as a strong candidate to serve as vice president. Chiang sought to move more authority to the "bensheng ren" (residents of Taiwan before 1949 and their descendants) instead of continuing to promote "waisheng ren" (mainland Chinese immigrants who arrived in Taiwan after 1949 and their descendants) as his father had. President Chiang nominated Lee to become his Vice President. Lee was formally elected by the National Assembly in 1984.


title: Lee Teng-hui

text: Chiang Ching-kuo died in January 1988 and Lee succeeded him as president. The "Palace Faction" of the KMT, a group of conservative mainlanders headed by General Hau Pei-tsun, Premier Yu Kuo-hwa, and Education Minister Lee Huan, as well as Chiang Kai-shek's widow, Soong Mei-ling, were deeply distrustful of Lee and sought to block his accession to the KMT chairmanship and sideline him as a figurehead. With the help of James Soong—himself a member of the Palace Faction—who quieted the hardliners with the famous plea "Each day of delay is a day of disrespect to Ching-kuo," Lee was allowed to ascend to the chairmanship unobstructed. At the 13th National Congress of Kuomintang in July 1988, Lee named 31 members of the Central Committee, 16 of whom were "bensheng ren": for the first time, "bensheng ren" held a majority in what was then a powerful policy-making body. On 20 March, he ordered to release the political prisoner, Gen. Sun Li-jen from 33 years of house arrest. In August, he listened to the aboriginal legislator Tsai Chung-han's advocacy in the General Assembly of Legislative Yuan and the journalism reportage of Independence Evening Post on the human rights' concern to release the remaining survivors of the civilian Tanker Tuapse free after 34 years in captivity.


title: Lee Teng-hui

text: As he consolidated power during the early years of his presidency, Lee allowed his rivals within the KMT to occupy positions of influence: when Yu Guo-hwa retired as premier in 1989, he was replaced by Lee Huan, who was succeeded by Hau Pei-tsun in 1990. At the same time, Lee made a major reshuffle of the Executive Yuan, as he had done with the KMT Central Committee, replacing several elderly "waishengren" with younger "benshengren", mostly of technical backgrounds. Fourteen of these new appointees, like Lee, had been educated in the United States. Prominent among the appointments were Lien Chan as foreign minister and Shirley Kuo as finance minister.


title: Lee Teng-hui

text: 1990 saw the arrival of the Wild Lily student movement on behalf of full democracy for Taiwan. Thousands of Taiwanese students demonstrated for democratic reforms. The demonstrations culminated in a sit-in demonstration by over 300,000 students at Memorial Square in Taipei. Students called for direct elections of the national president and vice president and for a new election for all legislative seats. On 21 March, Lee welcomed some of the students to the Presidential Building. He expressed his support of their goals and pledged his commitment to full democracy in Taiwan.