View allAll Photos Tagged Existence
Photo taken by Norbert Kröpfl. Scan kindly provided by Michael Röser.
München-Riem
March 1980
F-BLCL
Boeing 707-328C
19917/763
Air France
Noted at Riem on 29 March 1980 instead of the usual Caravelle. Taxiing to runway 07 for take-off past the grandstands in the background built in 1939 as a viewing platform for spectators and still in existence today.
Information from saairforce.co.za:
Model 707-328C, c/n 19917, built at Renton, Washington USA, in 1968. Delivered to Air France as F-BLCL on 10 December 1968. To SAAF in March 1982, registered as ZS-LSK. Later serialed AF619, then 1419. Last operational flight on 13 September 2006. Ferried from Denel to AFB Waterkloof on 12 June 2007. Final flight from AFB Waterkloof to SAAF Museum, Swartkop, on 2 November 2007.
Total flying hours: 46 433 h
Number of landings: 15 799
Registration details for this airframe:
www.planelogger.com/Aircraft/Registration/F-BLCL/492722
F-BLCL with Air France at HEL in September 1976 (old colours):
www.airhistory.net/photos/0126632.jpg
This airframe as 1419 with South African Air Force at JNB in October 2004:
imgproc.airliners.net/photos/airliners/3/3/8/0703833.jpg
1419 with South African Air Force at JNB in January 2006 (later colours):
imgproc.airliners.net/photos/airliners/2/5/9/1009952.jpg
1419 performing the first of two flypasts before touching down for the last time ever on Swartkop AFB, 2 November 2007:
cdn.jetphotos.com/full/2/86932_1194037937.jpg
1419 on display at the South African Air Force Museum,
Swartkop AFB, Pretoria, South Africa, September 2014:
www.flickr.com/photos/ajw1970/22912435649
Scan from Kodachrome slide.
Disintegrating Planetary Existence.
La disminución de las criaturas extrínsecos convertibles verdades divinas cambiantes esencia inmutable,
approchant la compréhension des connaissances éminence pénétrante enluminures effets lointains,
confortatus est momenti materia nota immensitate species praedicta connaturalitate,
Vorfahren berühmten Jahrhunderte böswillige bitteren Herzen ständigen Kriege glühender Chancen Macht umgibt,
不公正的邪惡寬大嚴酷的教訓唆使暴徒脾氣敵人憤怒鞭笞孵化地塊,
блуждающих несбалансированным ОПЕРАЦИЙ безграничные основы против раструбили будущих неблагоприятных подарков,
تبقى المتمردين أصوات تشتبك قادة سنوات يرثى لها معايير الهمجية المشينة القوانين المعطلة داخل,
εξαφανίστηκε συμβούλια έσβησε το πρωί προσευχές έκπληκτος ευκαιρία για αναδύεται σφαίρες λήθαργο λόγους,
厳粛な基準は、ペノンが高いボディをヒービング武装法律を行進恐ろしい文字を破壊上昇します.
Steve.D.Hammond.
Heard rumors for years of the existence of a nude diver mascot, usually referred to as 'Speed Nymph', but not until this years' Pebble Beach Concours did I actually find one.
The 'Draped Diver' can be seen in my collection here:
Begs the question: who has the better view; the driver or passersby ? (see below) :)
Garden flower in my front yard with Mantis munching on another insect. The title is from a college text book. Can you guess which decade? Better yet don't think about it and I won't either!
++++ FROM WIKIPEDIA +++
Taiwan (/ˌtaɪˈwɑːn/ (About this sound listen)), officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a state in East Asia. Its neighbors include the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the west, Japan to the northeast, and the Philippines to the south. Taiwan is the most populous state and largest economy that is not a member of the United Nations.
The island of Taiwan, formerly known as Formosa, was inhabited by aborigines before the 17th century, when Dutch and Spanish colonies opened the island to mass Han immigration. After a brief rule by the Kingdom of Tungning, the island was annexed by the Qing dynasty, the last dynasty of China. The Qing ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895 after the Sino-Japanese War. While Taiwan was under Japanese rule, the Republic of China (ROC) was established on the mainland in 1912 after the fall of the Qing dynasty. Following the Japanese surrender to the Allies in 1945, the ROC took control of Taiwan. However, the resumption of the Chinese Civil War led to the ROC's loss of the mainland to the Communists, and the flight of the ROC government to Taiwan in 1949. Although the ROC continued to claim to be the legitimate government of China, its effective jurisdiction has, since the loss of Hainan in 1950, been limited to Taiwan and its surrounding islands, with the main island making up 99% of its de facto territory. As a founding member of the United Nations, the ROC continued to represent China at the United Nations until 1971, when the PRC assumed China's seat, causing the ROC to lose its UN membership.
In the early 1960s, Taiwan entered a period of rapid economic growth and industrialization, creating a stable industrial economy. In the 1980s and early 1990s, it changed from a one-party military dictatorship dominated by the Kuomintang to a multi-party democracy with a semi-presidential system. Taiwan is the 22nd-largest economy in the world, and its high-tech industry plays a key role in the global economy. It is ranked highly in terms of freedom of the press, healthcare,[15] public education, economic freedom, and human development.[d][13][16] The country benefits from a highly skilled workforce and is among the most highly educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentages of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree.[17][18]
The PRC has consistently claimed sovereignty over Taiwan and asserted the ROC is no longer in legitimate existence. Under its One-China Policy the PRC refuses diplomatic relations with any country that recognizes the ROC. Today, 20 countries maintain official ties with the ROC but many other states maintain unofficial ties through representative offices and institutions that function as de facto embassies and consulates. Although Taiwan is fully self-governing, most international organizations in which the PRC participates either refuse to grant membership to Taiwan or allow it to participate only as a non-state actor. Internally, the major division in politics is between the aspirations of eventual Chinese unification or Taiwanese independence, though both sides have moderated their positions to broaden their appeal. The PRC has threatened the use of military force in response to any formal declaration of independence by Taiwan or if PRC leaders decide that peaceful unification is no longer possible.[19]
Etymology
See also: Chinese Taipei, Formosa, and Names of China
Taiwan
Taiwan (Chinese characters).svg
"Taiwan" in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters
ROC (Chinese characters).svg
"Republic of China" in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese 臺灣 or 台灣
Simplified Chinese 台湾
[show]Transcriptions
China
Traditional Chinese 中國
Simplified Chinese 中国
Literal meaning Middle or Central State[20]
[show]Transcriptions
Republic of China
Traditional Chinese 中華民國
Simplified Chinese 中华民国
Postal Chunghwa Minkuo
[show]Transcriptions
Japanese name
Kanji 台湾
Kana たいわん
Kyūjitai 臺灣
[show]Transcriptions
There are various names for the island of Taiwan in use today, derived from explorers or rulers by each particular period. The former name Formosa (福爾摩沙) dates from 1542,[verification needed] when Portuguese sailors sighted the main island of Taiwan and named it Ilha Formosa, which means "beautiful island".[21] The name "Formosa" eventually "replaced all others in European literature"[22] and was in common use in English in the early 20th century.[23]
In the early 17th century, the Dutch East India Company established a commercial post at Fort Zeelandia (modern-day Anping, Tainan) on a coastal sandbar called "Tayouan",[24] after their ethnonym for a nearby Taiwanese aboriginal tribe, written by the Dutch and Portuguese variously as Taiouwang, Tayowan, Teijoan, etc.[25] This name was also adopted into the Chinese vernacular (in particular, Hokkien, as Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tāi-oân/Tâi-oân) as the name of the sandbar and nearby area (Tainan). The modern word "Taiwan" is derived from this usage, which is seen in various forms (大員, 大圓, 大灣, 臺員, 臺圓 and 臺窩灣) in Chinese historical records. The area of modern-day Tainan was the first permanent settlement by Western colonists and Chinese immigrants, grew to be the most important trading centre, and served as the capital of the island until 1887. Use of the current Chinese name (臺灣) was formalized as early as 1684 with the establishment of Taiwan Prefecture. Through its rapid development, the entire Formosan mainland eventually became known as "Taiwan".[26][27][28][29]
In his Daoyi Zhilüe (1349), Wang Dayuan used "Liuqiu" as a name for the island of Taiwan, or the part of it near to Penghu.[30] Elsewhere, the name was used for the Ryukyu Islands in general or Okinawa, the largest of them; indeed the name Ryūkyū is the Japanese form of Liúqiú. The name also appears in the Book of Sui (636) and other early works, but scholars cannot agree on whether these references are to the Ryukyus, Taiwan or even Luzon.[31]
The official name of the state is the "Republic of China"; it has also been known under various names throughout its existence. Shortly after the ROC's establishment in 1912, while it was still located on the Chinese mainland, the government used the short form "China" Zhōngguó (中國), to refer to itself, which derives from zhōng ("central" or "middle") and guó ("state, nation-state"), [e] A term which also developed under the Zhou Dynasty in reference to its royal demesne[f] and the name was then applied to the area around Luoyi (present-day Luoyang) during the Eastern Zhou and then to China's Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qingera .[33] During the 1950s and 1960s, after the government had fled to Taiwan due to losing the Chinese Civil War, it was commonly referred to as "Nationalist China" (or "Free China") to differentiate it from "Communist China" (or "Red China").[35] It was a member of the United Nations representing "China" until 1971, when it lost its seat to the People's Republic of China. Over subsequent decades, the Republic of China has become commonly known as "Taiwan", after the island that comprises 99% of the territory under its control. In some contexts, especially official ones from the ROC government, the name is written as "Republic of China (Taiwan)", "Republic of China/Taiwan", or sometimes "Taiwan (ROC)."[36] The Republic of China participates in most international forums and organizations under the name "Chinese Taipei" due to diplomatic pressure from the People's Republic of China. For instance, it is the name under which it has competed at the Olympic Games since 1984, and its name as an observer at the World Health Organization.[37]
History
Main articles: History of Taiwan and History of the Republic of China
See the History of China article for historical information in the Chinese Mainland before 1949.
Prehistoric Taiwan
Main article: Prehistory of Taiwan
A young Tsou man
Taiwan was joined to the mainland in the Late Pleistocene, until sea levels rose about 10,000 years ago. Fragmentary human remains dated 20,000 to 30,000 years ago have been found on the island, as well as later artefacts of a Paleolithic culture.[38][39][40]
Around 6,000 years ago, Taiwan was settled by farmers, most likely from mainland China.[41] They are believed to be the ancestors of today's Taiwanese aborigines, whose languages belong to the Austronesian language family, but show much greater diversity than the rest of the family, which spans a huge area from Maritime Southeast Asia west to Madagascar and east as far as New Zealand, Hawaii and Easter Island. This has led linguists to propose Taiwan as the urheimat of the family, from which seafaring peoples dispersed across Southeast Asia and the Pacific and Indian Oceans.[42][43]
Han Chinese fishermen began settling in the Penghu islands in the 13th century.[44] Hostile tribes, and a lack of valuable trade products, meant that few outsiders visited the main island until the 16th century.[44] By the 1700's visits to the coast by fishermen from Fujian, as well as Chinese and Japanese pirates, became more frequent.[44]
Opening in the 17th century
Main articles: Dutch Formosa, Spanish Formosa, and Kingdom of Tungning
Fort Zeelandia, the Governor's residence in Dutch Formosa
The Dutch East India Company attempted to establish a trading outpost on the Penghu Islands (Pescadores) in 1622, but were militarily defeated and driven off by the Ming authorities.[45]
In 1624, the company established a stronghold called Fort Zeelandia on the coastal islet of Tayouan, which is now part of the main island at Anping, Tainan.[29] David Wright, a Scottish agent of the company who lived on the island in the 1650s, described the lowland areas of the island as being divided among 11 chiefdoms ranging in size from two settlements to 72. Some of these fell under Dutch control, while others remained independent.[29][46] The Company began to import labourers from Fujian and Penghu (Pescadores), many of whom settled.[45]
In 1626, the Spanish Empire landed on and occupied northern Taiwan, at the ports of Keelung and Tamsui, as a base to extend their trading. This colonial period lasted 16 years until 1642, when the last Spanish fortress fell to Dutch forces.
Following the fall of the Ming dynasty, Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong), a self-styled Ming loyalist, arrived on the island and captured Fort Zeelandia in 1662, expelling the Dutch Empire and military from the island. Koxinga established the Kingdom of Tungning (1662–1683), with his capital at Tainan. He and his heirs, Zheng Jing, who ruled from 1662 to 1682, and Zheng Keshuang, who ruled less than a year, continued to launch raids on the southeast coast of mainland China well into the Qing dynasty era.[45]
Qing rule
In 1683, following the defeat of Koxinga's grandson by an armada led by Admiral Shi Lang of southern Fujian, the Qing dynasty formally annexed Taiwan, placing it under the jurisdiction of Fujian province. The Qing imperial government tried to reduce piracy and vagrancy in the area, issuing a series of edicts to manage immigration and respect aboriginal land rights. Immigrants mostly from southern Fujian continued to enter Taiwan. The border between taxpaying lands and "savage" lands shifted eastward, with some aborigines becoming sinicized while others retreated into the mountains. During this time, there were a number of conflicts between groups of Han Chinese from different regions of southern Fujian, particularly between those from Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, and between southern Fujian Chinese and aborigines.
Northern Taiwan and the Penghu Islands were the scene of subsidiary campaigns in the Sino-French War (August 1884 to April 1885). The French occupied Keelung on 1 October 1884, but were repulsed from Tamsui a few days later. The French won some tactical victories but were unable to exploit them, and the Keelung Campaign ended in stalemate. The Pescadores Campaign, beginning on 31 March 1885, was a French victory, but had no long-term consequences. The French evacuated both Keelung and the Penghu archipelago after the end of the war.
In 1887, the Qing upgraded the island's administration from Taiwan Prefecture of Fujian to Fujian-Taiwan-Province (福建臺灣省), the twentieth in the empire, with its capital at Taipei. This was accompanied by a modernization drive that included building China's first railroad.[47]
Japanese rule
Main articles: Taiwan under Japanese rule and Republic of Formosa
Japanese colonial soldiers march Taiwanese captured after the Tapani Incident from the Tainan jail to court, 1915.
As the Qing dynasty was defeated in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), Taiwan, along with Penghu and Liaodong Peninsula, were ceded in full sovereignty to the Empire of Japan by the Treaty of Shimonoseki. Inhabitants on Taiwan and Penghu wishing to remain Qing subjects were given a two-year grace period to sell their property and move to mainland China. Very few Taiwanese saw this as feasible.[48] On 25 May 1895, a group of pro-Qing high officials proclaimed the Republic of Formosa to resist impending Japanese rule. Japanese forces entered the capital at Tainan and quelled this resistance on 21 October 1895.[49] Guerrilla fighting continued periodically until about 1902 and ultimately took the lives of 14,000 Taiwanese, or 0.5% of the population.[50] Several subsequent rebellions against the Japanese (the Beipu uprising of 1907, the Tapani incident of 1915, and the Musha incident of 1930) were all unsuccessful but demonstrated opposition to Japanese colonial rule.
Japanese colonial rule was instrumental in the industrialization of the island, extending the railroads and other transportation networks, building an extensive sanitation system, and establishing a formal education system.[51] Japanese rule ended the practice of headhunting.[52] During this period the human and natural resources of Taiwan were used to aid the development of Japan and the production of cash crops such as rice and sugar greatly increased. By 1939, Taiwan was the seventh greatest sugar producer in the world.[53] Still, the Taiwanese and aborigines were classified as second- and third-class citizens. After suppressing Chinese guerrillas in the first decade of their rule, Japanese authorities engaged in a series of bloody campaigns against the mountain aboriginals, culminating in the Musha Incident of 1930.[54] Intellectuals and laborers who participated in left-wing movements within Taiwan were also arrested and massacred (e.g. Chiang Wei-shui (蔣渭水) and Masanosuke Watanabe (渡辺政之輔)).[55]
Around 1935, the Japanese began an island-wide assimilation project to bind the island more firmly to the Japanese Empire and people were taught to see themselves as Japanese under the Kominka Movement, during which time Taiwanese culture and religion were outlawed and the citizens were encouraged to adopt Japanese surnames.[56] The "South Strike Group" was based at the Taihoku Imperial University in Taipei. During World War II, tens of thousands of Taiwanese served in the Japanese military.[57] For example, former ROC President Lee Teng-hui's elder brother served in the Japanese navy and was killed in action in the Philippines in February 1945. The Imperial Japanese Navy operated heavily out of Taiwanese ports. In October 1944, the Formosa Air Battle was fought between American carriers and Japanese forces based in Taiwan. Important Japanese military bases and industrial centres throughout Taiwan, like Kaohsiung, were targets of heavy American bombings.[58] Also during this time, over 2,000 women were forced into sexual slavery for Imperial
On 25 October 1945, the US Navy ferried ROC troops to Taiwan in order to accept the formal surrender of Japanese military forces in Taipei on behalf of the Allied Powers, as part of General Order No. 1 for temporary military occupation. General Rikichi Andō, governor-general of Taiwan and commander-in-chief of all Japanese forces on the island, signed the receipt and handed it over to General Chen Yi of the ROC military to complete the official turnover. Chen Yi proclaimed that day to be "Taiwan Retrocession Day", but the Allies considered Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to be under military occupation and still under Japanese sovereignty until 1952, when the Treaty of San Francisco took effect.[62][63] Although the 1943 Cairo Declaration had envisaged returning these territories to China, in the Treaty of San Francisco and Treaty of Taipei Japan has renounced all claim to them without specifying to what country they were to be surrendered. This introduced the problem of the legal status of Taiwan.
The ROC administration of Taiwan under Chen Yi was strained by increasing tensions between Taiwanese-born people and newly arrived mainlanders, which were compounded by economic woes, such as hyperinflation. Furthermore, cultural and linguistic conflicts between the two groups quickly led to the loss of popular support for the new government, while the mass movement led by the working committee of the Communist Party also aimed to bring down the Kuomintang government.[64][65] The shooting of a civilian on 28 February 1947 triggered island-wide unrest, which was suppressed with military force in what is now called the February 28 Incident. Mainstream estimates of the number killed range from 18,000 to 30,000. Those killed were mainly members of the Taiwanese elite.[66][67]
The Nationalists' retreat to Taipei: after the Nationalists lost Nanjing (Nanking) they next moved to Guangzhou (Canton), then to Chongqing (Chungking), Chengdu (Chengtu) and Xichang (Sichang) before arriving in Taipei.
After the end of World War II, the Chinese Civil War resumed between the Chinese Nationalists (Kuomintang), led by Chiang Kai-shek, and the Communist Party of China, led by Mao Zedong. Throughout the months of 1949, a series of Chinese Communist offensives led to the capture of its capital Nanjing on 23 April and the subsequent defeat of the Nationalist army on the mainland, and the Communists founded the People's Republic of China on 1 October.[68]
After losing most of the mainland, the Kuomintang held remaining control of Tibet, the portions of Qinghai, Xinjiang, and Yunnan provinces along with the Hainan Island until 1951 before the Communists subsequently captured both territories. From this point onwards, the Kuomintang's territory was reduced to Taiwan, Penghu, the portions of the Fujian province (Kinmen and Matsu Islands), and two major islands of Dongsha Islands and Nansha Islands. The Kuomintang continued to claim sovereignty over all "China", which it defined to include mainland China, Taiwan, Outer Mongolia and other areas. On mainland China, the victorious Communists claimed they ruled the sole and only China (which they claimed included Taiwan) and that the Republic of China no longer existed.[73]
A Chinese man in military uniform, smiling and looking towards the left. He holds a sword in his left hand and has a medal in shape of a sun on his chest.
Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Kuomintang from 1925 until his death in 1975
Chinese Nationalist one-party rule
Martial law, declared on Taiwan in May 1949,[74] continued to be in effect after the central government relocated to Taiwan. It was not repealed until 1987,[74] and was used as a way to suppress the political opposition in the intervening years.[75] During the White Terror, as the period is known, 140,000 people were imprisoned or executed for being perceived as anti-KMT or pro-Communist.[76] Many citizens were arrested, tortured, imprisoned and executed for their real or perceived link to the Communists. Since these people were mainly from the intellectual and social elite, an entire generation of political and social leaders was decimated. In 1998 law was passed to create the "Compensation Foundation for Improper Verdicts" which oversaw compensation to White Terror victims and families. President Ma Ying-jeou made an official apology in 2008, expressing hope that there will never be a tragedy similar to White Terror.[77]
Initially, the United States abandoned the KMT and expected that Taiwan would fall to the Communists. However, in 1950 the conflict between North Korea and South Korea, which had been ongoing since the Japanese withdrawal in 1945, escalated into full-blown war, and in the context of the Cold War, US President Harry S. Truman intervened again and dispatched the US Navy's 7th Fleet into the Taiwan Strait to prevent hostilities between Taiwan and mainland China.[78] In the Treaty of San Francisco and the Treaty of Taipei, which came into force respectively on 28 April 1952 and 5 August 1952, Japan formally renounced all right, claim and title to Taiwan and Penghu, and renounced all treaties signed with China before 1942. Neither treaty specified to whom sovereignty over the islands should be transferred, because the United States and the United Kingdom disagreed on whether the ROC or the PRC was the legitimate government of China.[79] Continuing conflict of the Chinese Civil War through the 1950s, and intervention by the United States notably resulted in legislation such as the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty and the Formosa Resolution of 1955.
With President Chiang Kai-shek, the US President Dwight D. Eisenhower waved to crowds during his visit to Taipei in June 1960.
As the Chinese Civil War continued without truce, the government built up military fortifications throughout Taiwan. Within this effort, KMT veterans built the now famous Central Cross-Island Highway through the Taroko Gorge in the 1950s. The two sides would continue to engage in sporadic military clashes with seldom publicized details well into the 1960s on the China coastal islands with an unknown number of night raids. During the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis in September 1958, Taiwan's landscape saw Nike-Hercules missile batteries added, with the formation of the 1st Missile Battalion Chinese Army that would not be deactivated until 1997. Newer generations of missile batteries have since replaced the Nike Hercules systems throughout the island.
Up until the 1970s, the government was regarded by Western critics as undemocratic for upholding martial law, for severely repressing any political opposition and for controlling media. The KMT did not allow the creation of new parties and those that existed did not seriously compete with the KMT. Thus, competitive democratic elections did not exist.[83][84][85][86][87] From the late 1970s to the 1990s, however, Taiwan went through reforms and social changes that transformed it from an authoritarian state to a democracy. In 1979, a pro-democracy protest known as the Kaohsiung Incident took place in Kaohsiung to celebrate Human Rights Day. Although the protest was rapidly crushed by the authorities, it is today considered as the main event that united Taiwan's opposition.[88]
Democratization
Main articles: Democratic reforms of Taiwan and Elections in Taiwan
Chiang Ching-kuo, Chiang Kai-shek's son and successor as the president, began to liberalize the political system in the mid-1980s. In 1984, the younger Chiang selected Lee Teng-hui, a Taiwanese-born, US-educated technocrat, to be his vice-president. In 1986, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was formed and inaugurated as the first opposition party in the ROC to counter the KMT. A year later, Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law on the main island of Taiwan (martial law was lifted on Penghu in 1979, Matsu island in 1992 and Kinmen island in 1993). With the advent of democratization, the issue of the political status of Taiwan gradually resurfaced as a controversial issue where, previously, the discussion of anything other than unification under the ROC was taboo.
After the death of Chiang Ching-kuo in January 1988, Lee Teng-hui succeeded him as president. Lee continued to democratize the government and decrease the concentration of government authority in the hands of mainland Chinese. Under Lee, Taiwan underwent a process of localization in which Taiwanese culture and history were promoted over a pan-China viewpoint in contrast to earlier KMT policies which had promoted a Chinese identity. Lee's reforms included printing banknotes from the Central Bank rather than the Provincial Bank of Taiwan, and streamlining the Taiwan Provincial Government with most of its functions transferred to the Executive Yuan. Under Lee, the original members of the Legislative Yuan and National Assembly(a former supreme legislative body defunct in 2005）,[89] elected in 1947 to represent mainland Chinese constituencies and having held the seats without re-election for more than four decades, were forced to resign in 1991. The previously nominal representation in the Legislative Yuan was brought to an end, reflecting the reality that the ROC had no jurisdiction over mainland China, and vice versa. Restrictions on the use of Taiwanese Hokkien in the broadcast media and in schools were also lifted.[citation needed]
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Taiwan's special envoy to the APEC summit, Lien Chan, November 2011
Democratic reforms continued in the 1990s, with Lee Teng-hui re-elected in 1996, in the first direct presidential election in the history of the ROC.[90] During the later years of Lee's administration, he was involved in corruption controversies relating to government release of land and weapons purchase, although no legal proceedings commenced. In 1997,"To meet the requisites of the nation prior to national unification",[91] the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China was passed and then the former "constitution of five powers" turns to be more tripartite. In 2000, Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party was elected as the first non-Kuomintang (KMT) President and was re-elected to serve his second and last term since 2004. Polarized politics has emerged in Taiwan with the formation of the Pan-Blue Coalition of parties led by the KMT, favouring eventual Chinese reunification, and the Pan-Green Coalition of parties led by the DPP, favouring an eventual and official declaration of Taiwanese independence.[92][clarification needed] In early 2006, President Chen Shui-bian remarked: “The National Unification Council will cease to function. No budget will be ear-marked for it and its personnel must return to their original posts...The National Unification Guidelines will cease to apply."[93]
The ruling DPP has traditionally leaned in favour of Taiwan independence and rejects the "One-China policy".
On 30 September 2007, the ruling DPP approved a resolution asserting a separate identity from China and called for the enactment of a new constitution for a "normal country". It also called for general use of "Taiwan" as the country's name, without abolishing its formal name, the Republic of China.[94] The Chen administration also pushed for referendums on national defence and UN entry in the 2004 and 2008 elections, which failed due to voter turnout below the required legal threshold of 50% of all registered voters.[95] The Chen administration was dogged by public concerns over reduced economic growth, legislative gridlock due to a pan-blue, opposition-controlled Legislative Yuan and corruption involving the First Family as well as government officials.[96][97]
The KMT increased its majority in the Legislative Yuan in the January 2008 legislative elections, while its nominee Ma Ying-jeou went on to win the presidency in March of the same year, campaigning on a platform of increased economic growth and better ties with the PRC under a policy of "mutual nondenial".[95] Ma took office on 20 May 2008, the same day that President Chen Shui-bian stepped down and was notified by prosecutors of possible corruption charges. Part of the rationale for campaigning for closer economic ties with the PRC stems from the strong economic growth China attained since joining the World Trade Organization. However, some analysts say that despite the election of Ma Ying-jeou, the diplomatic and military tensions with the PRC have not been reduced.[98]
On 24 May 2017, the Constitutional Court ruled that current marriage laws are unconstitutional and that same-sex couples in the Taiwanese LGBT community should have the right to marry. The court has given the Legislative Yuan two years to adequately amend Taiwanese marriage laws. According to the court ruling, if amendments are not passed within two years, same-sex marriages will automatically become legal in Taiwan.[99]
Geography
Main article: Geography of Taiwan
Taiwan is mostly mountainous in the east, with gently sloping plains in the west. The Penghu Islands are west of the main island.
The total area of the current jurisdiction of the Republic of China is 36,193 km2 (13,974 sq mi),[8] making it the world's 137th-largest country/dependency, smaller than Switzerland and larger than Belgium.
The island of Taiwan has an area of 35,883 km2 (13,855 sq mi), and lies some 180 kilometres (110 mi) from the southeastern coast of mainland China across the Taiwan Strait.[8] The East China Sea lies to the north, the Philippine Sea to the east, the Bashi Channel of the Luzon Strait directly to the south, and the South China Sea to the southwest. Its shape is similar to a sweet potato, giving rise to the name sweet potato used by Taiwanese Hokkien speakers for people of Taiwanese descent.[100]
The island is characterized by the contrast between the eastern two-thirds, consisting mostly of rugged mountains running in five ranges from the northern to the southern tip of the island, and the flat to gently rolling Chianan Plains in the west that are also home to most of Taiwan's population. Taiwan's highest point is Yu Shan (Jade Mountain) at 3,952 metres (12,966 ft),[101] making Taiwan the world's fourth-highest island.
The Penghu Islands, 50 km (31.1 mi) west of the main island, have an area of 126.9 km2 (49.0 sq mi). More distant islands controlled by the Republic of China are the Kinmen, Wuchiu and Matsu Islands off the coast of Fujian, with a total area of 180.5 km2 (69.7 sq mi), and the Pratas Islands and Taiping Island in the South China Sea, with a total area of 2.9 km2 (1.1 sq mi) and no permanent inhabitants.[8] The ROC government also claims the Senkaku Islands to the northeast, which are controlled by Japan.
Climate
Taiwan lies on the Tropic of Cancer, and its general climate is marine tropical.[7] The northern and central regions are subtropical, whereas the south is tropical and the mountainous regions are temperate.[102] The average rainfall is 2,600 millimetres (100 inches) per year for the island proper; the rainy season is concurrent with the onset of the summer East Asian Monsoon in May and June.[103] The entire island experiences hot, humid weather from June through September. Typhoons are most common in July, August and September.[103] During the winter (November to March), the northeast experiences steady rain, while the central and southern parts of the island are mostly sunny.
Geology
Main article: Geology of Taiwan
Dabajian Mountain
The island of Taiwan lies in a complex tectonic area between the Yangtze Plate to the west and north, the Okinawa Plate on the north-east, and the Philippine Mobile Belt on the east and south. The upper part of the crust on the island is primarily made up of a series of terranes, mostly old island arcs which have been forced together by the collision of the forerunners of the Eurasian Plate and the Philippine Sea Plate. These have been further uplifted as a result of the detachment of a portion of the Eurasian Plate as it was subducted beneath remnants of the Philippine Sea Plate, a process which left the crust under Taiwan more buoyant.[104]
The major seismic faults in Taiwan correspond to the various suture zones between the various terranes. These have produced major quakes throughout the history of the island. On 21 September 1999, a 7.3 quake known as the "921 earthquake" killed more than 2,400 people. The seismic hazard map for Taiwan by the USGS shows 9/10 of the island as the highest rating (most hazardous).[106]
Political and legal status
Main article: Political status of Taiwan
See also: List of states with limited recognition and Foreign relations of China § International territorial disputes
The political and legal statuses of Taiwan are contentious issues. The People's Republic of China (PRC) claims that the Republic of China government is illegitimate, referring to it as the "Taiwan Authority" even though current ROC territories have never been controlled by the PRC.[107][108] The ROC has its own constitution, independently elected president and armed forces. It has not formally renounced its claim to the mainland, but ROC government publications have increasingly downplayed it.[109]
Internationally, there is controversy on whether the ROC still exists as a state or a defunct state per international law due to the lack of wide diplomatic recognition. In a poll of Taiwanese aged 20 and older taken by TVBS in March 2009, a majority of 64% opted for the "status quo", while 19% favoured "independence" and 5% favoured "unification".[110]
Relations with the PRC
After the KMT's retreat to Taiwan, most countries, notably the countries in the Western Bloc, continued to maintain relations with the ROC. Due to diplomatic pressure, recognition gradually eroded and many countries switched recognition to the PRC in the 1970s. UN Resolution 2758 (25 October 1971) recognized the People's Republic of China as China's sole representative in the United Nations.[122]
The PRC refuses to have diplomatic relations with any nation that recognizes the ROC, and requires all nations with which it has diplomatic relations to make a statement recognizing its claims to Taiwan.[123] As a result, only 19 UN member states and the Holy See maintain official diplomatic relations with the Republic of China. The ROC maintains unofficial relations with most countries via de facto embassies and consulates called Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Offices (TECRO), with branch offices called "Taipei Economic and Cultural Offices" (TECO). Both TECRO and TECO are "unofficial commercial entities" of the ROC in charge of maintaining diplomatic relations, providing consular services (i.e. visa applications), and serving the national interests of the ROC in other countries.[124]
On 16 December 2015, the Obama administration announced a deal to sell $1.83 billion worth of arms to the armed forces of the ROC.[128][129] China's foreign ministry had expressed its disapproval for the sales and issued the US a "stern warning", saying it would hurt China–US relations.[130]
Participation in international events and organizations
See also: Foreign relations of Taiwan § Relation with International organizations
The ROC was a founding member of the United Nations, and held the seat of China on the Security Council and other UN bodies until 1971, when it was expelled by Resolution 2758 and replaced in all UN organs with the PRC. Each year since 1992, the ROC has petitioned the UN for entry, but its applications have not made it past committee.[131]
A white symbol in shape of a five petal flower ringed by a blue and a red line. In its centre stands a circular symbol depicting a white sun on a blue background. The five Olympic circles (blue, yellow, black, green and red) stand below it.
The flag used by Taiwan at the Olympic Games, where it competes as "Chinese Taipei" (中華台北).
Due to its limited international recognition, the Republic of China is a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, represented by a government-funded organization, the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD) under the name "Taiwan".[132][133]
Also due to its One China policy, the PRC only participates in international organizations where the ROC is not recognized as a sovereign country. Most member states, including the United States, do not wish to discuss the issue of the ROC's political status for fear of souring diplomatic ties with the PRC.[134] However, both the US and Japan publicly support the ROC's bid for membership in the World Health Organization as an observer.[135] However, though the ROC sought to participate in the WHO since 1997,[136][137] their efforts were blocked by the PRC until 2010, when they were invited as observers to attend the World Health Assembly, under the name "Chinese Taipei".[138]
Due to PRC pressure, the ROC is forced to use the name "Chinese Taipei" in international events, such as the Olympic Games, where the PRC is also a party.[139] The ROC is typically barred from using its national anthem and national flag in international events due to PRC pressure; ROC spectators attending events such as the Olympics are often barred from bringing ROC flags into venues.[140] Taiwan also participates in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (since 1991) and the World Trade Organization (since 2002) under the name "Chinese Taipei". The ROC is able to participate as "China" in organizations that the PRC does not participate in, such as the World Organization of the Scout Movement.
Opinions within Taiwan
See also: Taiwan independence and Chinese Unification
The Democratic Progressive Party, the largest Pan-Green party, officially seeks independence, but in practice also supports the status quo because its members and the public would not accept the risk of provoking the PRC.[143][144]
On 27 September 2017, Taiwanese premier William Lai said that he was a “political worker who advocates Taiwan independence”, but that as Taiwan was an independent country called the Republic of China, it had no need to declare independence.[146] The relationship with the PRC and the related issues of Taiwanese independence and Chinese unification continue to dominate politics.[147]
Government and politics
Main articles: Government of the Republic of China and Politics of the Republic of China
See also: Elections in Taiwan and Human rights in Taiwan
蔡英文官方元首肖像照.png 賴清德市長.jpg
Tsai Ing-wen
President William Lai Premier
The first line of defence against invasion by the PRC is the ROC's own armed forces. Current ROC military doctrine is to hold out against an invasion or blockade until the US military responds.[195] There is, however, no guarantee in the Taiwan Relations Act or any other treaty that the United States will defend Taiwan, even in the event of invasion.[196] The joint declaration on security between the US and Japan signed in 1996 may imply that Japan would be involved in any response. However, Japan has refused to stipulate whether the "area surrounding Japan" mentioned in the pact includes Taiwan, and the precise purpose of the pact is unclear.[197] The Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty (ANZUS Treaty) may mean that other US allies, such as Australia, could theoretically be involved.[198] In practice, the risk of losing economic ties with China may prevent Australia from taking action.[199] The United States, United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada, Chile, and Peru conduct maritime exercises in the Pacific Ocean every two years called RIMPAC. They are conducted to promote stability and to be able to respond in case of an armed conflict in the region – that includes an invasion of Taiwan by China.[200]
Administrative divisions
Since 1949, the government has made some changes in the area under its control. Taipei became a special municipality in 1967 and Kaohsiung in 1979. The two provincial governments were "streamlined", with their functions transferred to the central government (Fujian in 1956 and Taiwan in 1998).[204] In 2010, New Taipei, Taichung and Tainan were upgraded to special municipalities. And in 2014, Taoyuan County was also upgraded to Taoyuan special municipality. This brought the top-level divisions to their current state:[205]
Level 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
Division
type Special municipality
(直轄市 zhíxiáshì) (6) Mountain Indigenous District
(原住民區 yuánzhùmín qū) (6) Urban Village
(里 lǐ) Neighborhood
(鄰 lín)
District
(區 qū) (164)
Province
(省 shěng) (2)
(Streamlined) City
(市 shì) (3)
County
(縣 xiàn) (13) County-controlled city
(縣轄市 xiànxiáshì) (14)
Urban Township
(鎮 zhèn) (38)
Rural Township
(鄉 xiāng) (122) Rural Village
(村 cūn)
Mountain Indigenous Township
(山地鄉 shāndì xiāng) (24)
Total 22 368 7,851 147,785
WET DREAM, Oil painting by Jaisini
Wet Dream, an oil painting by Jaisini, in terms of exploration of own sexuality, dreams, or nightmares, belongs to a human traditional need for personal revelations. The imagery of the work is of a usually Jaisinesque theme that is not to be a statement or an illusion, but which summons the emotions.
In Wet Dream, the feelings of morning euphoria and desire create a new formula of early life’s passion. Jaisini delivers a high sensory level through the graduate, almost hypnotic step by step desire awakening.
The work precedes the Reincarnation series. As in all of his paintings, Jaisini pursues a metamorphosis of the physical and mental states. In his works, the concept and the material are enclosed and inserted within each other. The essential visual vehicle is in a line, that emphatically has a life of its own and could be perceived as an automatic release. The enclosure of the line is not only graphical, but also symbolic of the connection between the picture’s elements which await their disclosure.
In the years of cubism, Andre Masson created his series of erotic drawings. In his works, Masson portrayed pure erotica with total absorption in the act, orgiastic, uncomplicated, and a little banal. The lack of diversity in such a subject matter as eroticism resulted in the Masson’s scenes of pairs, trios, or even dozens of naked women interacting in a sexual way with one another. Masson filled these scenes with a Rubensian appreciation of the flesh and its pleasures, the very quality which impoverishes the otherwise fruitful area of human psyche.
Jaisini, on the contrary, uses the sensual overtones to enrich and explore the mysterious realm of mind potential. So, instead of creating automatically, similarly, and limited, Jaisini employs his mind to complicate and develop the subject of desire.
In Masson’s erotic series, the only sentiment is the libidinous desire. Jaisini reflects a different time and epoch that is not satisfied with the simple approach. Jaisini combines together the physical with psychological, which becomes nearly a game.
The expressionistic line swirls flow in the open canvas ground and embrace the canvas in expansive loops. The work is airy.
The artist’s thought transfers line into an image of a contraposto torso with a liplike part on the neck cut. Another female images express their physical and emotional concerns. The bottom lean figure indicates the young age of this female. In turn, that may explain the desperate pose for the erotic fulfillment. The third blond woman at the upper right corner appears to be more sexually mature. She holds a big breast that belongs to another female with a face that has only big red lips and flowing down hair lines. Here, we find a profile of a man who seems to sniff the aroma of the female bodies not without pleasure. In the center, there is another gasping profile. The curvilinear forms enhance the overall impression of a fluid movement, which so well corresponds to the erotic sensation. A phallic finger touches a soft pillow and charges erotic energy in all other phallic configurations in Wet Dream.
All images link in their conscious-unconscious, figurative-abstract condition.
The cycle of desire goes on endlessly and is at the core of human existence. In Wet Dream, Jaisini liberates the desire from the self. In this well born work of art the desire is taken for a model. The work demonstrates what we know of creation to be a combination of already existing things into newer forms. That being so, the desire of man must have been in an endless existence and will continue to dwell in bodies and in works of art to which Wet Dream is an example.
Yustas Kotz-Gottlieb
Review of “Wet Dream” by Paul Jaisini
Here's a broadside roster shot of one the most famous pieces of movie railroad equipment in existence, that being Sierra Railway "Shorty" Coach #6. This car was built by the W. L. Holman Car Company in 1902 for use on the Sierra's 19-mile Angels Camp Branch, which featured tight, 28-degree curves and switchbacks. It's called a "shorty" coach because it is only 32 feet long, with a very short wheelbase, which is specifically designed for the tight curves. This car and a sister Combine #5 were used on the Angels Camp Branch until the early 1930s. They were then traded to the Hetch Hetchy Railroad, which interchanged with the Sierra, until that railroad closed down in 1949.
Shorty cars 5 and 6 were then re-acquired by the Sierra and used extensively for the next half century in the making of dozens of Hollywood movie and TV productions. The compact pair were typically used together, and sometimes in combination with other equipment. By the year 2000, the demand for movie work had waned and the cars were preserved at what is now the Railtown 1897 State Historic Park. They are rarely operated today. As can be seen here, Coach #6 is generally in good shape and is operable, although the end platforms are sagging a bit. Sister Combine #5 is in tougher shape, having been used frequently by the Sierra as a caboose. Today, it is displayed in the Jamestown Roundhouse, in need of some significant repairs before it could run again.
XM655 is an Avro Vulcan B Mk2, and the youngest Vulcan in existence (the third to last produced; XM656 and XM657 have both been scrapped). Delivered to 9 squadron at RAF Cottesmore in November 1964, she tranferred to the Waddington Wing in January 1968. She then served with 101 and 44 squadrons, and was with 50 squadron when she was put up for disposal in late 1983. She was bought by businessman Roy Jacobsen who had hopes to fly her on the airshow circuit.
She was the first Vulcan “civilianised” and was flown in to Wellesbourne Mountford about a week after a Cat 3 Check, on the 11th of February 1984. Hundreds of people were there to watch her arrive. She had flown only 5,744 hours, making her a very viable proposition for taking to the air once more. However, the Civil Aviation Authority made it clear that the aircraft would not be flying again without stringent conditions being satisfied. While efforts at funding the work necessary were begun and the aircraft was put on the civil register as G-VULC, little real progress was made. A plan to fly the aircraft in America got as far as registering the aircraft on the American civil register as N655AV but no further. After two years Roy Jacobsen lost interest in XM655 and bought another Vulcan (XL426) which was delivered to Southend. Parking fees were mounting at Wellesbourne and after a number of years the airfield owners took Jacobsen to court to recover them. The result was that the ownership of the aircraft passed to Wellesbourne Airfield.
XM655 had stood without attention for so long that she was in quite poor condition. Ten years of neglect had finally put paid to any lingering hopes of her ever flying again. At one stage she had been broken into, the cockpit instrumentation vandalised and the co-pilot’s control column removed with a hacksaw. The wingtip panels were also damaged at some point. With the transfer of ownership however, the future began looking brighter.
The Delta Engineering Association was formed to look after XM655 and they made it clear from the outset that their intention was to get her into ground running condition only. The aircraft was gradually brought back to life – all the hydraulics were overhauled, the damage to the cockpit was repaired and a number of engine runs undertaken.
Delta moved from Wellesbourne to Kemble in March 1996, and after the brief and unhappy existence and demise of the XM655 Association, the volunteers remaining at Wellesbourne decided that the best way forward would be a properly constituted membership organisation to look after XM655. As a result the 655 Maintenance and Preservation Society (655MaPS) was formed in late 1998.
Thanks to the generosity of Wellesbourne Airfield and with funds provided by the society’s members and other donors, 655MaPS have been able to assemble an impressive collection of workshops, storage units and ground equipment to support and service XM655.
The rear spar has been inspected and found to be in excellent condition. XM655 now has fuel in her tanks at all times to keep the system and the seals ‘wet’. All the aircraft systems are powered up and exercised regularly.
The aircraft has been repainted several times to keep the inevitable corrosion of the more than 50 year old structure under control, the flying control surfaces (elevons and rudder) have been reskinned, the jet pipe end caps have been replaced and the three engines with the longest running hours have been removed, opened, inspected and re-installed.
Engine ground runs (EGRs) are carried out approximately every three months, together with slow taxi runs to ensure the steering and braking systems are functional. Once each year, usually in June, XM655 takes part in Wellesbourne Wings and Wheels, which is our major public event of the year. Reports of past events can be found on the Taxi Runs page, and details of the next event are on the Events page.
XM655 is virtually complete in terms of installed equipment, with the H2S Radar, the Terrain Following Radar (TFR) and Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) systems all still in-place, as well as the complete suite of Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) equipment. The only notable item missing when XM655 left RAF service was the in-flight refuelling probe; not surprising considering the world-wide hunt for serviceable probes which had occurred during the Falklands conflict a couple of years earlier. Eventually, a replacement probe was obtained and installed, and XM655 regained her familiar profile.
Even if it turns into bones, it has a presence that overwhelms those who see it. Here is proof that it once reigned at the top of the food chain. At the museum in Ueno.
There is no need to go out looking for physical evidence of God’s existence; we can work out that he exists just by thinking about it.
There clearly are certain claims that we can tell are false without even having to look into them to find out. The claim to have made a four-sided triangle, and the claim to be over six feet tall but less than five, for example, are both claims that are obviously false. We know that triangles have three sides. We know that being over six feet tall means being over five feet tall too. There’s no need to spend time looking for four-sided triangles or tall short people in order to know that there aren’t any.
We must therefore think of God as cannot be imagined to be better than he is, put it, God is “that than which no greater can be conceived.”
So as we all know those laws of physics that universe tends to be balanced in anyway. If we say God does exist, we actually say yes to the existence of Evil.... Whatever you may name it, Devil, Satan, etc...
There was emptiness more profound than the void between the stars, for which there was no here and there and before and after, and yet out of that void the entire plenum of existence sprang forth.
“The mystery of existence is the connection between our faults and our misfortunes”. So why we battle over a same believe cause. Fighting over the differences. Why not cherish our similarities and make each other understand about the Existence.. of peace, love and humanity.
Taken: Central Church of Abbottabad, NWFP, Pakistan.
Salaspils-perhaps the most terrible of the Nazi concentration camps. In three years of its existence, thousands of children were killed and tortured to death. It wasn't just a death camp – it was a blood Bank. It was pumped out of small prisoners, replenishing the supplies of German hospitals. Emaciated and starved babies, some as young as five, were cynically treated as living containers full of blood, or as objects of medical experiments.
It was originally built for Jews
The camp began to be built in Latvia in October 1941. Nearby was the village of Salaspils-hence the eponymous name that the camp received in the people, although officially it was called Kaiserwald. It was built by Jews, including those from the Riga ghetto.
The head of Einsatzgruppen "A", Stahlecker in his report to his superiors reported :" since December 1941 from the Reich [...]enters the transport with the Jews. Of these, 20,000 were sent to Riga [ ... ] all Jews and [ ... ] are involved in the construction of the camp...] this spring, all Jewish evacuees who survive the winter can be gathered in this camp."
As SS General Jeckeln later testified in court, two or three trains of Jews arrived at the concentration camp every week. There are about a thousand people in each of them. "We shot, presumably, about 87 thousand Jews who arrived in the Salaspils camp from other countries," he said.
From the end of the spring of 1942, Latvian anti-fascists and captured Soviet soldiers, and then Gypsies, were brought to the Salaspils camp. Sometimes Soviet prisoners were specially brought here from other concentration camps to be shot.
Although officially Latvia does not recognize the fact of such a mass murder of children in Salaspils, there are many memories of eyewitnesses and other evidence of these well-known crimes.
Mostly babies were brought here from Belarus and the North-Western regions of Russia – Pskov, Kalinin, and Leningrad.
The "labor education camp" (as Salaspils was officially called in the documents) was actually a blood Bank and a place for fanatical medical experiments. In this so-called "labor" camp, they kept both two-and three-year-old children, and even infants. Instead of a name, each child had a number stamped on their badge.
More than three years of existence of the concentration camp, a total of three and a half thousand liters of children's blood were pumped out. In most cases, it was taken until the child died. This blood was needed by SS officers who were recovering in hospitals.
The moment when a German in a white coat appeared in the barracks and laid out his medical instruments on the table was the most frightening moment for every little prisoner. The monster doctors ordered the children to lie down and stretch out their arms. Most of the children obeyed meekly, and those who refused were tied firmly to the table and forcibly drained of blood. Exhausted children, who looked like they were already dying, were carried out of the barracks, usually to be burned in the camp stove or killed and thrown into the General ditch. The rest were left to draw blood again and again.
In addition, it is known that in Salaspils children were tested for all kinds of poisons, adding arsenic to their food, giving them lethal injections or sending prisoners to gas chambers. Some test subjects had their limbs amputated by Nazi doctors.
According to statistics, more than half of the 12,000 Soviet children used as donors in the Salaspils camp died, but the fascists did their best to hide the traces of mass murder.
It is known (again from the testimony of the fascists at the trial) that under the leadership of a Gestapo employee, Blobel, many mass graves of prisoners of war were destroyed – including prisoners of Salaspils. Covering their tracks, the Nazis dug up graves and burned the bodies. For such excavations, they used the labor of Jews, who were also killed and burned at the end of the work.
In the autumn of 1944, when the Soviet troops attacked, the Salaspils concentration camp (again, to cover their tracks) was destroyed by the Nazis, and its personnel (Germans and Latvian police) were hastily evacuated.
According to the act of the forensic examination of mass children's graves of the Salaspils concentration camp (28. 04. 1945), 632 bodies were found in 54 remaining graves on its territory. Of these, 114 babies are infants, 106 are children from one to three years old, 91 are from three to five years old, and 117 are from three to eight years old…
A memorial was erected in Salaspils in memory of the deceased donor children and others killed after the war. It seems that the souls of small emaciated prisoners who gave their blood to the fascist fanatics still hover in these places.
Sakharibazar, Old Dhaka, 2011
Normal people with extraordinary lifestyles
Along with smile and the gloomy, here life has its own rhyme, has its own colour.
Time passed by, humanity changed along with its history...
But these people remained here tolerating the hardest truth of existences
..........its their story of extraordinary existences.
Sakharibazar, Old Dhaka. A very interesting place for all of us to visit. Culture and customs of old Dhaka are the tribute to the ancient history of Bangladesh. Peoples still living in 100 years old building from generations after generations. With the reflection of their religious beauty Old Dhaka attracts peoples from here and abroad.
Shakhari Bazaar is one of the oldest mohallas (a traditional neighbourhood) in Puran Dhaka (Old Dhaka), located near the intersection of Islampur Road and Nawabpur Road;the two main arteries of the old city and only a block away from the Buriganga River. Shakhari Bazaar stretches along a narrow lane, lined with thin slices of richly decorated brick buildings, built during the late Mughal or Colonial period. Despite rampant modifications, accretion, extension over time, even redevelopment, many still bear the testimony of a rich tradition.
Shakhari Bazaar is the manifestation of the irrational policies, lack of adequate development control rules and distorted legal framework, all of which have left their indelible mark on this precious little mohalla that shares a long history of more than 400 years with Dhaka city itself.The history of Shakhari Bazaar goes back to the pre-Mughal days if not earlier. The first mention of Puran Dhaka can be found in the writings of Mirza Nathan, the general turned historian, who traveled with Subahdar Islam Khan. He mentioned Puran Dhaka, as the area between Dholai Khal and Buriganga river covering Shakhari Bazaar, Tanti Bazaar, Bangla Bazaar, Lakhsmi Bazaar, Bangla Bazaar, Kamar Nagar, Sutar Nagar, Goala Nagar, etc. Each mohalla belonged to separate communities depending on their craft and trade. The influences of the Mughal vocabulary in the planning of the spaces are literally evident in the use of Persian names to identify different spaces..
Sakharibazar, Old Dhaka, 2011
Normal people with extraordinary lifestyles
Along with smile and the gloomy, here life has its own rhyme, has its own colour.
Time passed by, humanity changed along with its history...
But these people remained here tolerating the hardest truth of existences
..........its their story of extraordinary existences.
Sakharibazar, Old Dhaka. A very interesting place for all of us to visit. Culture and customs of old Dhaka are the tribute to the ancient history of Bangladesh. Peoples still living in 100 years old building from generations after generations. With the reflection of their religious beauty Old Dhaka attracts peoples from here and abroad.
Shakhari Bazaar is one of the oldest mohallas (a traditional neighbourhood) in Puran Dhaka (Old Dhaka), located near the intersection of Islampur Road and Nawabpur Road;the two main arteries of the old city and only a block away from the Buriganga River. Shakhari Bazaar stretches along a narrow lane, lined with thin slices of richly decorated brick buildings, built during the late Mughal or Colonial period. Despite rampant modifications, accretion, extension over time, even redevelopment, many still bear the testimony of a rich tradition.
Shakhari Bazaar is the manifestation of the irrational policies, lack of adequate development control rules and distorted legal framework, all of which have left their indelible mark on this precious little mohalla that shares a long history of more than 400 years with Dhaka city itself.The history of Shakhari Bazaar goes back to the pre-Mughal days if not earlier. The first mention of Puran Dhaka can be found in the writings of Mirza Nathan, the general turned historian, who traveled with Subahdar Islam Khan. He mentioned Puran Dhaka, as the area between Dholai Khal and Buriganga river covering Shakhari Bazaar, Tanti Bazaar, Bangla Bazaar, Lakhsmi Bazaar, Bangla Bazaar, Kamar Nagar, Sutar Nagar, Goala Nagar, etc. Each mohalla belonged to separate communities depending on their craft and trade. The influences of the Mughal vocabulary in the planning of the spaces are literally evident in the use of Persian names to identify different spaces..
Me, my daughter (Daini)
Light
Shadow
Lens
Camera
M4-P + MS-Optical Sonnetar 50 mm F1.1 on Portra 400
F2.0 1/125 Second
Lebuh Ampang
Kuala Lumpur MY
Oktober 2010
Hasselblad 501C
Carl Zeiss 80mm f2.8 CF T*
Kodak Ektacolor Pro 160
Sekonic L308s
Epson V700
The Chemin du Roy is a historic road along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. The road begins in Repentigny and extends almost 280 kilometres (170 mi) eastward towards Quebec City. In 1706, the Conseil supérieur of New France decreed that a road be built to connect the settlements along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. Work began in 1731 and was completed in 1737. Upon completion, the Chemin du Roy was 7.4 metres (24 ft) wide, over 280 kilometres (170 mi) long, and crossed 37 seignories. The Chemin du Roy was the longest road in existence at the time north of Mexico.
In the face of a world full of anguish, of the incoherence of existence, the discovery of our own evasion is a nightmare.
When death wipes away a love long cherished and taken for granted, when joy deserts us and all common values become vapid, and present moments seem obsolescent, we are bound to realize the peril of evasiveness. Our apprehension lest in winning small prizes we gamble our lives away, throws our souls open to questions we have been trying to avoid.
-Abraham Joshua Heschel, Who is Man?
Romantics cite butterflies as being carefree creatures that flutter aimlessly in the sunshine. I guess being very open free spirits we T.Girls could be viewed in the same way as we enjoy the best of everything a kind of erotic jack of all trades and even draw endless pleasure from what we've become as living out our fetish. But I'm afraid like the precarious flight of the butterfly it's carefree air hides a long and difficult struggle from hungry caterpillar. Thankfully I have been lucky as I've had no problems or less trouble than I imagined.
Sakharibazar, Old Dhaka, 2011
Normal people with extraordinary lifestyles
Along with smile and the gloomy, here life has its own rhyme, has its own colour.
Time passed by, humanity changed along with its history...
But these people remained here tolerating the hardest truth of existences
..........its their story of extraordinary existences.
Sakharibazar, Old Dhaka. A very interesting place for all of us to visit. Culture and customs of old Dhaka are the tribute to the ancient history of Bangladesh. Peoples still living in 100 years old building from generations after generations. With the reflection of their religious beauty Old Dhaka attracts peoples from here and abroad.
Shakhari Bazaar is one of the oldest mohallas (a traditional neighbourhood) in Puran Dhaka (Old Dhaka), located near the intersection of Islampur Road and Nawabpur Road;the two main arteries of the old city and only a block away from the Buriganga River. Shakhari Bazaar stretches along a narrow lane, lined with thin slices of richly decorated brick buildings, built during the late Mughal or Colonial period. Despite rampant modifications, accretion, extension over time, even redevelopment, many still bear the testimony of a rich tradition.
Shakhari Bazaar is the manifestation of the irrational policies, lack of adequate development control rules and distorted legal framework, all of which have left their indelible mark on this precious little mohalla that shares a long history of more than 400 years with Dhaka city itself.The history of Shakhari Bazaar goes back to the pre-Mughal days if not earlier. The first mention of Puran Dhaka can be found in the writings of Mirza Nathan, the general turned historian, who traveled with Subahdar Islam Khan. He mentioned Puran Dhaka, as the area between Dholai Khal and Buriganga river covering Shakhari Bazaar, Tanti Bazaar, Bangla Bazaar, Lakhsmi Bazaar, Bangla Bazaar, Kamar Nagar, Sutar Nagar, Goala Nagar, etc. Each mohalla belonged to separate communities depending on their craft and trade. The influences of the Mughal vocabulary in the planning of the spaces are literally evident in the use of Persian names to identify different spaces..
Everything happens for a reason. Serendipity,coincidence or whatever you call it, life blows its surprises unexpectedly. I have been encountering 22 several times a day for more than a month now and I can't help but think of the life I had in 2009.....this one's for you....
22
When powerful wings of love seize you
Resist not though its horns pierce you through
And when it promises you a life of eternity
Believe though you kneel tattered in uncertainty.
For when it summons the bravest of your intentions
So shall be born the grandest of all your illusions
For when love delights your eyes and edifies you
So shall it become the arrow that betrays you.
From among the throng of faces it chooses you
Its rudder shall define and embody you
Love will pummel you 'til you are both gentle and strong
It'll crown you with blood 'til you are broken and sifts your wrong.
...And if you slumber and spurn when your heart sings,
Your existence unfolds only a speck of your being
Because if you only long for love's ease and rapture
Hide your face then for its thrashings you will not endure
For love discloses not of beauty and wit
But of soul's nakedness bereft of deceit
Of love be known and its words be true
May they fill every fiber of your being through and through.
-cro (March 7-22, 2011)
Photography and poetry: ©crozahirah
Nikon FM2
Nikkor 28mm F2.8 AIS
Ilford XP2 SUPER
2024-08-10
The only story with this one is the intuition to release the shutter at this particular moment, from this particular perspective. There is a lot happening in the outer fringes of the photo, but I should like to think, and hope that the building has as much of a strong presence on whoever you are as it does on myself.
I took this by framing the shot, and then held it overhead to take it. The 28mm really adds a level of depth sometimes that the 35mm can not get across, and without the distortion of the 24mm.