Value @ Bridgetown 3/22/14

May 13, 2015 | The Role of Philanthropy in Shared Value, featuring FSG's Mark Kramer, Walmart Foundation's Kathleen McLaughlin, and Ford Foundation's Darren Walker.

Teacher example. My 2D Art class began doing value studies of backpacks

Value @ Bridgetown 3/22/14

Grand Canyon National Park, located in northwestern Arizona, is the 15th site in the United States to have been named as a national park. The park's central feature is the Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, which is often considered one of the Wonders of the World. The park, which covers 1,217,262 acres (1,901.972 sq mi; 4,926.08 km2) of unincorporated area in Coconino and Mohave counties, received more than six million recreational visitors in 2017, which is the second highest count of all American national parks after Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Grand Canyon was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979. The park celebrated its 100th anniversary on February 26, 2019.

 

The Grand Canyon became well known to Americans in the 1880s after railroads were built and pioneers developed infrastructure and early tourism. In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt visited the site and said,

 

The Grand Canyon fills me with awe. It is beyond comparison—beyond description; absolutely unparalleled through-out the wide world ... Let this great wonder of nature remain as it now is. Do nothing to mar its grandeur, sublimity and loveliness. You cannot improve on it. But you can keep it for your children, your children's children, and all who come after you, as the one great sight which every American should see.

 

Despite Roosevelt's enthusiasm and strong interest in preserving land for public use, the Grand Canyon was not immediately designated as a national park. The first bill to establish Grand Canyon National Park was introduced in 1882 by then-Senator Benjamin Harrison, which would have established Grand Canyon as the third national park in the United States, after Yellowstone and Mackinac. Harrison unsuccessfully reintroduced his bill in 1883 and 1886; after his election to the presidency, he established the Grand Canyon Forest Reserve in 1893. Theodore Roosevelt created the Grand Canyon Game Preserve by proclamation on November 28, 1906, and the Grand Canyon National Monument on January 11, 1908. Further Senate bills to establish the site as a national park were introduced and defeated in 1910 and 1911, before the Grand Canyon National Park Act was finally signed by President Woodrow Wilson on February 26, 1919. The National Park Service, established in 1916, assumed administration of the park.

 

The creation of the park was an early success of the conservation movement. Its national park status may have helped thwart proposals to dam the Colorado River within its boundaries. (Later, the Glen Canyon Dam would be built upriver.) A second Grand Canyon National Monument to the west was proclaimed in 1932. In 1975, that monument and Marble Canyon National Monument, which was established in 1969 and followed the Colorado River northeast from the Grand Canyon to Lees Ferry, were made part of Grand Canyon National Park. In 1979, UNESCO declared the park a World Heritage Site. The 1987 the National Parks Overflights Act found that "Noise associated with aircraft overflights at the Grand Canyon National Park is causing a significant adverse effect on the natural quiet and experience of the park and current aircraft operations at the Grand Canyon National Park have raised serious concerns regarding public safety, including concerns regarding the safety of park users."

 

In 2010, Grand Canyon National Park was honored with its own coin under the America the Beautiful Quarters program. On February 26, 2019, the Grand Canyon National Park commemorated 100 years since its designation as a national park.

 

The Grand Canyon had been part of the National Park Service's Intermountain Region until 2018.[citation needed] Today, the Grand Canyon is a part of Region 8, also known as the Lower Colorado Basin.

 

The Grand Canyon, including its extensive system of tributary canyons, is valued for its combination of size, depth, and exposed layers of colorful rocks dating back to Precambrian times. The canyon itself was created by the incision of the Colorado River and its tributaries after the Colorado Plateau was uplifted, causing the Colorado River system to develop along its present path.

 

The primary public areas of the park are the South and North Rims, and adjacent areas of the canyon itself. The rest of the park is extremely rugged and remote, although many places are accessible by pack trail and backcountry roads. The South Rim is more accessible than the North Rim and accounts for 90% of park visitation.

 

The park headquarters are at Grand Canyon Village, not far from the South Entrance to the park, near one of the most popular viewpoints.

 

Most visitors to the park come to the South Rim, arriving on Arizona State Route 64. The highway enters the park through the South Entrance, near Tusayan, Arizona, and heads eastward, leaving the park through the East Entrance. Interstate 40 provides access to the area from the south. From the north, U.S. Route 89 connects Utah, Colorado, and the North Rim to the South Rim. Overall, some 30 miles of the South Rim are accessible by road.

 

The North Rim area of the park is located on the Kaibab Plateau and Walhalla Plateau, directly across the Grand Canyon from the principal visitor areas on the South Rim. The North Rim's principal visitor areas are centered around Bright Angel Point. The North Rim is higher in elevation than the South Rim, at over 8,000 feet (2,400 m) of elevation. Because it is so much higher than the South Rim, it is closed from December 1 through May 15 each year, due to the enhanced snowfall at elevation. Visitor services are closed or limited in scope after October 15. Driving time from the South Rim to the North Rim is about 4.5 hours, over 220 miles (350 km).

 

There are few roads on the North Rim, but there are some notable vehicle-accessible lookout points, including Point Imperial, Roosevelt Point, and Cape Royal. Mule rides are also available to a variety of places, including several thousand feet down into the canyon.

 

Many visitors to the North Rim choose to make use of the variety of hiking trails including the Widforss Trail, Uncle Jim's Trail, the Transept Trail, and the North Kaibab Trail. The North Kaibab Trail can be followed all the way down to the Colorado River, connecting across the river to the South Kaibab Trail and the Bright Angel Trail, which continue up to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

 

The Toroweap Overlook is located in the western part of the park on the North Rim. Access is via unpaved roads off Route 389 west of Fredonia, Arizona. The roads lead through Grand Canyon–Parashant National Monument and to the overlook.

 

A variety of activities at the South Rim cater to park visitors. A driving tour (35 miles (56 km)) along the South Rim is split into two segments. The western drive to Hermit's Point is eight miles (13 km) with several overlooks along the way, including Mohave Point, Hopi Point, and the Powell Memorial. From March to December, access to Hermit's Rest is restricted to the free shuttle provided by the Park Service. The eastern portion to Desert View is 25 miles (40 km), and is open to private vehicles year round.

 

Walking tours include the Rim Trail, which runs west from the Pipe Creek viewpoint for about eight miles (13 km) of paved road, followed by seven miles (11 km) unpaved to Hermit's Rest. Hikes can begin almost anywhere along this trail, and a shuttle can return hikers to their point of origin. Mather Point, the first view most people reach when entering from the south entrance, is a popular place to begin.

 

Private canyon flyovers are provided by helicopters and small airplanes out of Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Grand Canyon National Park Airport. Due to a crash in the 1990s, scenic flights are no longer allowed to fly within 1,500 feet (460 m) of the rim within the Grand Canyon National Park. Flights within the canyon are still available outside of park boundaries.

 

Arizona is a state in the Southwestern region of the United States. Arizona is part of the Four Corners region with Utah to the north, Colorado to the northeast, and New Mexico to the east; its other neighboring states are Nevada to the northwest, California to the west and the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California to the south and southwest. It is the 6th-largest and the 14th-most-populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix.

 

Arizona is the 48th state and last of the contiguous states to be admitted to the Union, achieving statehood on February 14, 1912. Historically part of the territory of Alta California and Nuevo México in New Spain, it became part of independent Mexico in 1821. After being defeated in the Mexican–American War, Mexico ceded much of this territory to the United States in 1848, where the area became part of the territory of New Mexico. The southernmost portion of the state was acquired in 1853 through the Gadsden Purchase.

 

Southern Arizona is known for its desert climate, with very hot summers and mild winters. Northern Arizona features forests of pine, Douglas fir, and spruce trees; the Colorado Plateau; mountain ranges (such as the San Francisco Mountains); as well as large, deep canyons, with much more moderate summer temperatures and significant winter snowfalls. There are ski resorts in the areas of Flagstaff, Sunrise, and Tucson. In addition to the internationally known Grand Canyon National Park, which is one of the world's seven natural wonders, there are several national forests, national parks, and national monuments.

 

Arizona's population and economy have grown dramatically since the 1950s because of inward migration, and the state is now a major hub of the Sun Belt. Cities such as Phoenix and Tucson have developed large, sprawling suburban areas. Many large companies, such as PetSmart and Circle K, have headquarters in the state, and Arizona is home to major universities, including the University of Arizona and Arizona State University. The state is known for a history of conservative politicians such as Barry Goldwater and John McCain, though it has become a swing state since the 1990s.

 

Arizona is home to a diverse population. About one-quarter of the state is made up of Indian reservations that serve as the home of 27 federally recognized Native American tribes, including the Navajo Nation, the largest in the state and the United States, with more than 300,000 citizens. Since the 1980s, the proportion of Hispanics in the state's population has grown significantly owing to migration from Mexico. A substantial portion of the population are followers of the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

 

The history of Arizona encompasses the Paleo-Indian, Archaic, Post-Archaic, Spanish, Mexican, and American periods. About 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, Paleo-Indians settled in what is now Arizona. A few thousand years ago, the Ancestral Puebloan, the Hohokam, the Mogollon and the Sinagua cultures inhabited the state. However, all of these civilizations mysteriously disappeared from the region in the 15th and 16th centuries. Today, countless ancient ruins can be found in Arizona. Arizona was part of the state of Sonora, Mexico from 1822, but the settled population was small. In 1848, under the terms of the Mexican Cession the United States took possession of Arizona above the Gila River after the Mexican War, and became part of the Territory of New Mexico. By means of the Gadsden Purchase, the United States secured the northern part of the state of Sonora, which is now Arizona south of the Gila River in 1854.

 

In 1863, Arizona was split off from the Territory of New Mexico to form the Arizona Territory. The remoteness of the region was eased by the arrival of railroads in 1880. Arizona became a state in 1912 but was primarily rural with an economy based on cattle, cotton, citrus, and copper. Dramatic growth came after 1945, as retirees and young families who appreciated the warm weather and low costs emigrated from the Northeast and Midwest.

 

In the Mexican–American War, the garrison commander avoided conflict with Lieutenant Colonel Cooke and the Mormon Battalion, withdrawing while the Americans marched through the town on their way to California. In the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848), Mexico ceded to the U.S. the northern 70% of modern-day Arizona above the Sonora border along the Gila River. During the California Gold Rush, an upwards of 50,000 people traveled through on the Southern Emigrant Trail pioneered by Cooke, to reach the gold fields in 1849. The Pima Villages often sold fresh food and provided relief to distressed travelers among this throng and to others in subsequent years.

 

Paleo-Indians settled what is now Arizona around 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. According to most archaeologists, the Paleo-Indians initially followed herds of big game—megafauna such as mammoths, mastodons, and bison—into North America. The traveling groups also collected and utilized a wide variety of smaller game animals, fish, and a wide variety of plants. These people were likely characterized by highly mobile bands of approximately 20 or 50 members of an extended family, moving from place to place as resources were depleted and additional supplies needed. Paleoindian groups were efficient hunters and created and carried a variety of tools, some highly specialized, for hunting, butchering and hide processing. These paleolithic people utilized the environment that they lived in near water sources, including rivers, swamps and marshes, which had an abundance of fish, and drew birds and game animals. Big game, including bison, mammoths and ground sloths, also were attracted to these water sources. At the latest by 9500 BCE, bands of hunters wandered as far south as Arizona, where they found a desert grassland and hunted mule deer, antelope and other small mammals.

 

As populations of larger game began to diminish, possibly as a result of intense hunting and rapid environmental changes, Late Paleoindian groups would come to rely more on other facets of their subsistence pattern, including increased hunting of bison, mule deer and antelope. Nets and the atlatl to hunt water fowl, ducks, small animals and antelope. Hunting was especially important in winter and spring months when plant foods were scarce.

 

The Archaic time frame is defined culturally as a transition from a hunting/gathering lifestyle to one involving agriculture and permanent, if only seasonally occupied, settlements. In the Southwest, the Archaic is generally dated from 8000 years ago to approximately 1800 to 2000 years ago. During this time the people of the southwest developed a variety of subsistence strategies, all using their own specific techniques. The nutritive value of weed and grass seeds was discovered and flat rocks were used to grind flour to produce gruels and breads. This use of grinding slabs in about 7500 BCE marks the beginning of the Archaic tradition. Small bands of people traveled throughout the area, gathering plants such as cactus fruits, mesquite beans, acorns, and pine nuts and annually establishing camps at collection points.

 

Late in the Archaic Period, corn, probably introduced into the region from central Mexico, was planted near camps with permanent water access. Distinct types of corn have been identified in the more well-watered highlands and the desert areas, which may imply local mutation or successive introduction of differing species. Emerging domesticated crops also included beans and squash.

 

About 3,500 years ago, climate change led to changing patterns in water sources, leading to a dramatically decreased population. However, family-based groups took shelter in south facing caves and rock overhangs within canyon walls. Occasionally, these people lived in small semisedentary hamlets in open areas. Evidence of significant occupation has been found in the northern part of Arizona.

 

In the Post-Archaic period, the Ancestral Puebloan, the Hohokam, the Mogollon and Sinagua cultures inhabited what is now Arizona. These cultures built structures made out of stone. Some of the structures that these cultures built are called pueblos. Pueblos are monumental structures that housed dozens to thousands of people. In some Ancestral Puebloan towns and villages, Hohokam towns and villages, Mogollon towns and villages, and Sinagua towns and villages, the pueblo housed the entire town. Surrounding the pueblos were often farms where farmers would plant and harvest crops to feed the community. Sometimes, pueblos and other buildings were built in caves in cliffs.

 

The Ancestral Puebloans were an ancient Pre-Columbian Native American civilization that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado. The Ancestral Puebloans are believed to have developed, at least in part, from the Oshara tradition, who developed from the Picosa culture.

 

They lived in a range of structures that included small family pit houses, larger structures to house clans, grand pueblos, and cliff-sited dwellings for defense. The Ancestral Puebloans possessed a complex network that stretched across the Colorado Plateau linking hundreds of communities and population centers. They held a distinct knowledge of celestial sciences that found form in their architecture. The kiva, a congregational space that was used chiefly for ceremonial purposes, was an integral part of this ancient people's community structure. Some of their most impressive structures were built in what is now Arizona.

 

Hohokam was a Pre-Columbian culture in the North American Southwest in what is now part of Arizona, United States, and Sonora, Mexico. Hohokam practiced a specific culture, sometimes referred to as Hohokam culture, which has been distinguished by archeologists. People who practiced the culture can be called Hohokam as well, but more often, they are distinguished as Hohokam people to avoid confusion.

 

Most archaeologists agree that the Hohokam culture existed between c. 300 and c. 1450 CE, but cultural precursors may have been in the area as early as 300 BC. Whether Hohokam culture was unified politically remains under controversy. Hohokam culture may have just given unrelated neighboring communities common ground to help them to work together to survive their harsh desert environment.

 

The Mogollon culture was an ancient Pre-Columbian culture of Native American peoples from Southern New Mexico and Arizona, Northern Sonora and Chihuahua, and Western Texas. The northern part of this region is Oasisamerica, while the southern span of the Mogollon culture is known as Aridoamerica.

 

The Mogollon culture was one of the major prehistoric Southwestern cultural divisions of the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico. The culture flourished from c. 200 CE, to c. 1450 CE or 1540 CE, when the Spanish arrived.

 

The Sinagua culture was a Pre-Columbian culture that occupied a large area in central Arizona from the Little Colorado River, near Flagstaff, to the Verde River, near Sedona, including the Verde Valley, area around San Francisco Mountain, and significant portions of the Mogollon Rim country, between approximately 500 CE and 1425 CE. Besides ceremonial kivas, their pueblos had large "community rooms" and some featured ballcourts and walled courtyards, similar to those of the Hohokam culture. Since fully developed Sinagua sites emerged in central Arizona around 500 CE, it is believed they migrated from east-central Arizona, possibly emerging from the Mogollon culture.

 

The history of Arizona as recorded by Europeans began in 1539 with the first documented exploration of the area by Marcos de Niza, early work expanded the following year when Francisco Vásquez de Coronado entered the area as well.

 

The Spanish established a few missions in southern Arizona in the 1680s by Father Eusebio Francisco Kino along the Santa Cruz River, in what was then the Pimería Alta region of Sonora. The Spanish also established presidios in Tubac and Tucson in 1752 and 1775. The area north of the Gila River was governed by the Province of Las California under the Spanish until 1804, when the Californian portion of Arizona became part of Alta California under the Spanish and Mexican governments.

 

In 1849, the California Gold Rush led as many as 50,000 miners to travel across the region, leading to a boom in Arizona's population. In 1850, Arizona and New Mexico formed the New Mexico Territory.

 

In 1853, President Franklin Pierce sent James Gadsden to Mexico City to negotiate with Santa Anna, and the United States bought the remaining southern strip area of Arizona and New Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase. A treaty was signed in Mexico in December 1853, and then, with modifications, approved by the US Senate in June 1854, setting the southern boundary of Arizona and of New Mexico.

 

Before 1846 the Apache raiders expelled most Mexican ranchers. One result was that large herds of wild cattle roamed southeastern Arizona. By 1850, the herds were gone, killed by Apaches, American sportsmen, contract hunting for the towns of Fronteras and Santa Cruz, and roundups to sell to hungry Mexican War soldiers, and forty-niners en route to California.

 

During the Civil War, on March 16, 1861, citizens in southern New Mexico Territory around Mesilla (now in New Mexico) and Tucson invited take-over by the Confederacy. They especially wanted restoration of mail service. These secessionists hoped that a Confederate Territory of Arizona (CSA) would take control, but in March 1862, Union troops from California captured the Confederate Territory of Arizona and returned it to the New Mexico Territory.

 

The Battle of Picacho Pass, April 15, 1862, was a battle of the Civil War fought in the CSA and one of many battles to occur in Arizona during the war among three sides—Apaches, Confederates and Union forces. In 1863, the U.S. split up New Mexico along a north–south line to create the Arizona Territory. The first government officials to arrive established the territory capital in Prescott in 1864. The capital was later moved to Tucson, back to Prescott, and then to its final location in Phoenix in a series of controversial moves as different regions of the territory gained and lost political influence with the growth and development of the territory.

 

In the late 19th century the Army built a series of forts to encourage the Natives to stay in their territory and to act as a buffer from the settlers. The first was Fort Defiance. It was established on September 18, 1851, by Col. Edwin V. Sumner to create a military presence in Diné bikéyah (Navajo territory). Sumner broke up the fort at Santa Fe for this purpose, creating the first military post in what is now Arizona. He left Major Electus Backus in charge. Small skirmishes were common between raiding Navajo and counter raiding citizens. In April 1860 one thousand Navajo warriors under Manuelito attacked the fort and were beaten off.

 

The fort was abandoned at the start of the Civil War but was reoccupied in 1863 by Colonel Kit Carson and the 1st New Mexico Infantry. Carson was tasked by Brigadier-General James H. Carleton, Commander of the Federal District of New Mexico, to kill Navajo men, destroy crops, wells, houses and livestock. These tactics forced 9000 Navajos to take the Long Walk to a reservation at Bosque Redondo, New Mexico. The Bosque was a complete failure. In 1868 the Navajo signed another treaty and were allowed to go back to part of their former territory. The returning Navajo were restocked with sheep and other livestock. Fort Defiance was the agency for the new Navajo reservation until 1936; today it provides medical services to the region.

 

Fort Apache was built on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation by soldiers from the 1st Cavalry and 21st Infantry in 1870. Only one small battle took place, in September 1881, with three soldiers wounded. When the reservation Indians were granted U.S. citizenship in 1924, the fort was permanently closed down. Fort Huachuca, east of Tucson, was founded in 1877 as the base for operations against Apaches and raiders from Mexico. From 1913 to 1933 the fort was the base for the "Buffalo Soldiers" of the 10th Cavalry Regiment. During World War II, the fort expanded to 25,000 soldiers, mostly in segregated all-black units. Today the fort remains in operation and houses the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and the U.S. Army Network.

 

The Pueblos in Arizona were relatively peaceful through the Navajo and Apache Wars. However, in June 1891, the army had to bring in troops to stop Oraibi from preventing a school from being built on their mesa.

 

After the Civil War, Texans brought large-scale ranching to southern Arizona. They introduced their proven range methods to the new grass country. Texas rustlers also came, and brought lawlessness. Inexperienced ranchers brought poor management, resulting in overstocking, and introduced destructive diseases. Local cattleman organizations were formed to handle these problems. The Territory experienced a cattle boom in 1873–91, as the herds were expanded from 40,000 to 1.5 million head. However, the drought of 1891–93 killed off over half the cattle and produced severe overgrazing. Efforts to restore the rangeland between 1905 and 1934 had limited success, but ranching continued on a smaller scale.

 

Arizona's last major drought occurred during Dust Bowl years of 1933–34. This time Washington stepped in as the Agricultural Adjustment Administration spent $100 million to buy up the starving cattle. The Taylor Grazing Act placed federal and state agencies in control of livestock numbers on public lands. Most of the land in Arizona is owned by the federal government which leased grazing land to ranchers at low cost. Ranchers invested heavily in blooded stock and equipment. James Wilson states that after 1950, higher fees and restrictions in the name of land conservation caused a sizable reduction in available grazing land. The ranchers had installed three-fifths of the fences, dikes, diversion dams, cattleguards, and other improvements, but the new rules reduced the value of that investment. In the end, Wilson believes, sportsmen and environmentalists maintained a political advantage by denouncing the ranchers as political corrupted land-grabbers who exploited the publicly owned natural resources.

 

On February 23, 1883, United Verde Copper Company was incorporated under New York law. The small mining camp next to the mine was given a proper name, 'Jerome.' The town was named after the family which had invested a large amount of capital. In 1885 Lewis Williams opened a copper smelter in Bisbee and the copper boom began, as the nation turned to copper wires for electricity. The arrival of railroads in the 1880s made mining even more profitable, and national corporations bought control of the mines and invested in new equipment. Mining operations flourished in numerous boom towns, such as Bisbee, Jerome, Douglas, Ajo and Miami.

 

Arizona's "wild west" reputation was well deserved. Tombstone was a notorious mining town that flourished longer than most, from 1877 to 1929. Silver was discovered in 1877, and by 1881 the town had a population of over 10,000. Western story tellers and Hollywood film makers made as much money in Tombstone as anyone, thanks to the arrival of Wyatt Earp and his brothers in 1879. They bought shares in the Vizina mine, water rights, and gambling concessions, but Virgil, Morgan and Wyatt were soon appointed as federal and local marshals. They killed three outlaws in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, the most famous gunfight of the Old West.

 

In the aftermath, Virgil Earp was maimed in an ambush and Morgan Earp was assassinated while playing billiards. Walter Noble Burns's novel Tombstone (1927) made Earp famous. Hollywood celebrated Earp's Tombstone days with John Ford's My Darling Clementine (1946), John Sturges's Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) and Hour of the Gun (1967), Frank Perry's Doc (1971), George Cosmatos's Tombstone (1993), and Lawrence Kasdan's Wyatt Earp (1994). They solidified Earp's modern reputation as the Old West's deadliest gunman.

 

Jennie Bauters (1862–1905) operated brothels in the Territory from 1896 to 1905. She was an astute businesswoman with an eye for real estate appreciation, and a way with the town fathers of Jerome regarding taxes and restrictive ordinances. She was not always sitting pretty; her brothels were burned in a series of major fires that swept the business district; her girls were often drug addicts. As respectability closed in on her, in 1903 she relocated to the mining camp of Acme. In 1905, she was murdered by a man who had posed as her husband.

 

By 1869 Americans were reading John Wesley Powell's reports of his explorations of the Colorado River. In 1901, the Santa Fe Railroad reached Grand Canyon's South Rim. With railroad, restaurant and hotel entrepreneur Fred Harvey leading the way, large-scale tourism began that has never abated. The Grand Canyon has become an iconic symbol of the West and the nation as a whole.

 

The Chinese came to Arizona with the construction of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1880. Tucson was the main railroad center and soon had a Chinatown with laundries for the general population and a rich mix of restaurants, groceries, and services for the residents. Chinese and Mexican merchants and farmers transcended racial differences to form 'guanxi,' which were relations of friendship and trust. Chinese leased land from Mexicans, operated grocery stores, and aided compatriots attempting to enter the United States from Mexico after the Mexican Revolution in 1910. Chinese merchants helped supply General John Pershing's army in its expedition against Pancho Villa. Successful Chinese in Tucson led a viable community based on social integration, friendship, and kinship.

 

In February 1903, U.S. Senator Hamilton Kean spoke against Arizona's statehood. He said Mormons who fled from Idaho to Mexico would return to the U.S. and mix in the politics of Arizona.

 

In 1912, Arizona almost entered the Union as part of New Mexico in a Republican plan to keep control of the U.S. Senate. The plan, while accepted by most in New Mexico, was rejected by most Arizonans. Progressives in Arizona favored inclusion in the state constitution of the initiative, referendum, recall, direct election of senators, woman suffrage, and other reforms. Most of these proposals were included in the constitution that was rejected by Congress.

 

A new constitution was offered with the problematic provisions removed. Congress then voted to approve statehood, and President Taft signed the statehood bill on February 14, 1912. State residents promptly put the provisions back in. Hispanics had little voice or power. Only one of the 53 delegates at the constitutional convention was Hispanic, and he refused to sign. In 1912 women gained suffrage in the state, eight years before the country as a whole.

 

Arizona's first Congressman was Carl Hayden (1877–1972). He was the son of a Yankee merchant who had moved to Tempe because he needed dry heat for his bad lungs. Carl attended Stanford University and moved up the political ladder as town councilman, county treasurer, and Maricopa County sheriff, where he nabbed Arizona's last train robbers. He also started building a coalition to develop the state's water resources, a lifelong interest. A liberal Democrat his entire career, Hayden was elected to Congress in 1912 and moved to the Senate in 1926.

 

Reelection followed every six years as he advanced toward the chairmanship of the powerful Appropriations Committee, which he reached in 1955. His only difficult campaign came in 1962, at age 85, when he defeated a young conservative. He retired in 1968 after a record 56 years in Congress. His great achievement was his 41-year battle to enact the Central Arizona Project that would provide water for future growth.

 

The Great Depression of 1929–39 hit Arizona hard. At first local, state and private relief efforts focused on charity, especially by the Community Chest and Organized Charities programs. Federal money started arriving with the Federal Emergency Relief Committee in 1930. Different agencies promoted aid to the unemployed, tuberculosis patients, transients, and illegal immigrants. The money ran out by 1931 or 1932, and conditions were bad until New Deal relief operations began on a large scale in 1933.

 

Construction programs were important, especially the Hoover Dam (originally called Boulder Dam), begun by President Herbert Hoover. It is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border with Nevada. It was constructed by the Federal Bureau of Reclamation between 1931 and 1936. It operationalized a schedule of water use set by the Colorado River Compact of 1922 that gave Arizona 19% of the river's water, with 25% to Nevada and the rest to California.

 

Construction of military bases in Arizona was a national priority because of the state's excellent flying weather and clear skies, large amounts of unoccupied land, good railroads, cheap labor, low taxes, and its proximity to California's aviation industry. Arizona was attractive to both the military and private firms and they stayed after the war.

 

Fort Huachuca became one of the largest nearly-all-black Army forts, with quarters for 1,300 officers and 24,000 enlisted soldiers. The 92nd and 93rd Infantry Divisions, composed of African-American troops, trained there.

 

During the war, Mexican-American community organizations were very active in patriotic efforts to support American troops abroad, and made efforts to support the war effort materially and to provide moral support for the American servicemen fighting the war, especially the Mexican-American servicemen from local communities. Some of the community projects were cooperative ventures in which members of both the Mexican-American and Anglo communities participated. Most efforts made in the Mexican-American community represented localized American home front activities that were separate from the activities of the Anglo community.

 

Mexican-American women organized to assist their servicemen and the war effort. An underlying goal of the Spanish-American Mothers and Wives Association was the reinforcement of the woman's role in Spanish-Mexican culture. The organization raised thousands of dollars, wrote letters, and joined in numerous celebrations of their culture and their support for Mexican-American servicemen. Membership reached over 300 during the war and eventually ended its existence in 1976.

 

Heavy government spending during World War II revitalized the Arizona economy, which was still based on copper mining, citrus and cotton crops and cattle ranching, with a growing tourist business.

 

Military installations peppered the state, such as Davis-Monthan Field in Tucson, the main training center for air force bomber pilots. Two relocation camps opened for Japanese and Japanese Americans brought in from the West Coast.

 

After World War II the population grew rapidly, increasing sevenfold between 1950 and 2000, from 700,000 to over 5 million. Most of the growth was in the Phoenix area, with Tucson a distant second. Urban growth doomed the state's citrus industry, as the groves were turned into housing developments.

 

The cost of water made growing cotton less profitable, and Arizona's production steadily declined. Manufacturing employment jumped from 49,000 in 1960 to 183,000 by 1985, with half the workers in well-paid positions. High-tech firms such as Motorola, Hughes Aircraft, Goodyear Aircraft, Honeywell, and IBM had offices in the Phoenix area. By 1959, Hughes Aircraft had built advanced missiles with 5,000 workers in Tucson.

 

Despite being a small state, Arizona produced several national leaders for both the Republican and Democratic parties. Two Republican Senators were presidential nominees: Barry Goldwater in 1964 and John McCain in 2008; both carried Arizona but lost the national election. Senator Ernest McFarland, a Democrat, was the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate from 1951 to 1952, and Congressman John Rhodes was the Republican Minority Leader in the House from 1973 to 1981. Democrats Bruce Babbitt (Governor 1978–87) and Morris Udall (Congressman 1961–90) were contenders for their party's presidential nominations. In 1981 Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court; she served until 2006.

 

Retirement communities

Warm winters and low cost of living attracted retirees from the so-called snowbelt, who moved permanently to Arizona after 1945, bringing their pensions, Social Security, and savings with them. Real estate entrepreneurs catered to them with new communities with amenities pitched to older people, and with few facilities for children. Typically they were gated communities with controlled access and had pools, recreation centers, and golf courses.

 

In 1954, two developers bought 320 acres (1.3 km2) of farmland near Phoenix and opened the nation's first planned community dedicated exclusively to retirees at Youngtown. In 1960, developer Del Webb, inspired by the amenities in Florida's trailer parks, added facilities for "active adults" in his new Sun City planned community near Phoenix. In 1962 Ross Cortese opened the first of his gated Leisure Worlds. Other developers copied the popular model, and by 2000 18% of the retirees in the state lived in such "lifestyle" communities.

 

The issues of the fragile natural environment, compounded by questions of water shortage and distribution, led to numerous debates. The debate crossed traditional lines, so that the leading conservative, Senator Barry Goldwater, was also keenly concerned. For example, Goldwater supported the controversial Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP). He wrote:

 

I feel very definitely that the [Nixon] administration is absolutely correct in cracking down on companies and corporations and municipalities that continue to pollute the nation's air and water. While I am a great believer in the free competitive enterprise system and all that it entails, I am an even stronger believer in the right of our people to live in a clean and pollution-free environment. To this end, it is my belief that when pollution is found, it should be halted at the source, even if this requires stringent government action against important segments of our national economy.

 

Water issues were central. Agriculture consumed 89% of the state's strictly limited water supply while generating only 3% of the state's income. The Groundwater Management Act of 1980, sponsored by Governor Bruce Babbitt, raised the price of water to farmers, while cities had to reach a "safe yield" so that the groundwater usage did not exceed natural replenishment. New housing developments had to prove they had enough water for the next hundred years. Desert foliage suitable for a dry region soon replaced grass.

 

Cotton acreage declined dramatically, freeing up land for suburban sprawl as well as releasing large amounts of water and ending the need for expensive specialized machinery. Cotton acreage plunged from 120,000 acres in 1997 to only 40,000 acres in 2005, even as the federal treasury gave the state's farmers over $678 million in cotton subsidies. Many farmers collect the subsidies but no longer grow cotton. About 80% of the state's cotton is exported to textile factories in China and (since the passage of NAFTA) to Mexico.

 

Super Bowl XXX was played in Tempe in 1996 and Super Bowl XLII was held in Glendale in 2008. Super Bowl XLIX was also held in Glendale in 2015.

 

Illegal immigration continued to be a prime concern within the state, and in April 2010, Arizona SB1070 was passed and signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer. The measure attracted national attention as the most thorough anti-illegal immigration measure in decades within the United States.

 

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head during a political event in Tucson on January 8, 2011. The shooting resulted in six deaths and several injuries. Giffords survived the attack and became an advocate for gun control.

 

On June 30, 2013, nineteen members of the Prescott Fire Department were killed fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire. The fatalities were members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a hotshot crew, of whom only one survived as he was working in another location.

 

Border crisis: by 2019 Arizona was one of the states most affected by the border crisis, with a high number of migrant crossings and detentions.

Some of the values artists value. Croudsourced values, part of *For the Love of it*, Artquest, London 2013

   

designed by @gavinkeech

British postcard in the Colourgraph Series, London, no. C 327. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Mickey Rooney in Out West with the Hardys (George B. Seitz, 1938).

 

American film actor Mickey Rooney (1920-2014) had one of the longest careers in cinematic history. As a child, he first appeared on film in 1926, and he made his last appearance in 2014. As a teenager, Rooney was a superstar playing Andy Hardy in a series of 15 films in the 1930s and 1940s that epitomised American family values. With Judy Garland, he became a successful song-and-dance team. Rooney's breakthrough role as a dramatic actor came in Boys Town (1938) opposite Spencer Tracy as Father Flanagan. The popularity of his films made Rooney the biggest box-office draw in 1939, 1940 and 1941.

 

Mickey Rooney was born Joe Yule Jr. in 1920 in Brooklyn, New York. He was the son of Scottish-born vaudevillian/actor Joe Yule and Missouri-born Nell Ruth (née Carter) Pankey. Mickey first took the stage in his parents' vaudeville act at 17 months old, wearing a specially tailored tuxedo. His parents divorced in 1923, when Mickey was three years old. In 1925, Mickey came to Hollywood to audition as one of Hal Roach's Rascals for the Our Gang series, but Mickey's mother declined over a salary dispute. Mickey then made his first film appearance in the short silent comedy Not to Be Trusted (Tom Buckingham, 1926), when he was four years old. He played the character Mickey McGuire for the first time in the bubbly comedy Orchids and Ermine (Alfred Santell, 1927) with Colleen Moore. The following year, he played the lead in the first Mickey McGuire short film, Mickey's Circus (Albert Herman, 1927). It was in this popular film series that he took the stage name Mickey Rooney. Rooney reached new heights with A Family Affair (George B. Seitz, 1937) with Lionel Barrymore, the film that introduced the country to Andy Hardy, the popular all-American teenager. This beloved character appeared in nearly 20 films and helped make Rooney the top box office star in 1939, 1940 and 1941. Rooney also proved himself an excellent dramatic actor as a delinquent in Boys Town (Norman Taurog, 1938), starring Spencer Tracy as Father Edward Flanagan, an advocate of child rights. In 1938, Rooney was awarded a Juvenile Academy Award. Teaming up with Judy Garland, Rooney also appeared in a string of musicals, including Babes in Arms (Busby Berkeley, 1939) the first teenager to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a leading role, Strike Up the Band (Busby Berkeley, 1940), Babes on Broadway (Busby Berkeley, 1941), and Girl Crazy (Norman Taurog, Busby Berkeley, 1943). He and Garland immediately became best of friends. He also appeared with Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet (Clarence Brown, 1944). During World War II, Mickey Rooney served 21 months in the U.S. Army, five of them with the Third Army of Gen. George S. Patton. He attained the rank of sergeant and won a Bronze Star, among other decorations. Rooney helped to entertain the troops and worked on the American Armed Forces Network. He returned to Hollywood and starred in Love Laughs at Andy Hardy (Willis Goldbeck, 1946), did a remake of the James Cagney film The Crowd Roars (Howard Hawks, 1932) called Killer McCoy (Roy Rowland, 1947) and portrayed composer Lorenz Hart in the musical Words and Music (Norman Taurog, 1948).

 

Mickey Rooney appeared in Andy Hardy Comes Home (Howard W. Koch, 1958), together with his son Teddy Rooney portraying Andy Hardy Jr. Andy Hardy, now a grown man with a wife and children, returns to his hometown on a business trip and finds himself getting mixed up in local politics. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Rooney did a nightclub comedy act with comic Joey Forman. He also appeared in Breakfast at Tiffany's (Blake Edwards, 1961), starring Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard. Rooney played Hepburn's Japanese neighbour, Mr. Yunioshi. A sign of the times, Rooney played the part for comic relief, which he later regretted, feeling the role was offensive. He once again showed his incredible range in the dramatic role of a boxing trainer with Anthony Quinn and Jackie Gleason in Requiem for a Heavyweight (Ralph Nelson, 1962). He followed it up with the comedy It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (Stanley Kramer, 1963), starring Spencer Tracey. Rooney regularly worked in European productions, such as the Italian comedy L'arcidiavolo (Errore Scola, 1966) with Vittorio Gassman, British crime comedy Pulp (Mike Hodges, 1972) with Michael Caine, and the Spanish thriller Juego sucio en Panamá/Ace of Hearts (Tulio Demicheli, 1975). In the late 1960s and 1970s, Rooney showed audiences and critics alike why he was one of Hollywood's most enduring stars. He gave an impressive performance in Francis Ford Coppola's The Black Stallion (Carroll Ballard, 1979), which brought him an Academy Award nomination as Best Actor in a Supporting Role. He also turned to the stage in 1979 in 'Sugar Babies' with Ann Miller, and was nominated for a Tony Award. During that time, he also portrayed the Wizard in 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' with Eartha Kitt at New York's Madison Square Garden, which also had a successful run nationally. Rooney appeared in four television series: The Mickey Rooney Show (1954-1955), the sitcom Mickey (1964) with Sammee Tong, One of the Boys (1982) with Dana Carvey and Nathan Lane, and The Adventures of Black Stallion (1990-1993). In 1981, Rooney won an Emmy Award for his portrayal of a mentally challenged man in Bill (Anthony Page, 1981). The critical acclaim continued to flow for the veteran performer, with Rooney receiving an honorary Academy Award. Later, he also appeared in such films as Erik the Viking (Terry Jones, 1989) with Tim Robbins, Night at the Museum (Shawn Levy, 2006) with Ben Stiller and The Muppets (James Bobin, 2011) with Amy Adams. Rooney's personal life, including his frequent trips to the altar, has proved to be just as epic as his on-screen performances. His first wife was one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood, actress Ava Gardner, but his final marriage to Jan Rooney was longer than all his other seven wives combined. In 2012, when he permanently and legally separated from his eighth wife, Rooney chose to permanently reside with his stepson Mark Rooney and Mark's wife Charlene Rooney. They moved to the Hollywood Hills for him. After his death, his eight surviving children said in a statement that they were barred from seeing Rooney during his final years. Mickey Rooney passed away in 2014 in North Hollywood, Los Angeles. The 93-year-old had at least three future projects that he was going to perform in. His acting career had lasted for 89 years, and Rooney's 339 film credits span ten consecutive decades: 1920s-2010s. He is interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, CA.

 

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

The history of the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art

1863 / After many years of efforts by Rudolf Eitelberger decides Emperor Franz Joseph I on 7 March on the initiative of his uncle Archduke Rainer, following the model of the in 1852 founded South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum, London), the establishment of the "k. k. Austrian Museum for Art and Industry" and apponted Rudolf von Eitelberger, the first professor of art history at the University of Vienna, to director. The museum should be serving as a specimen collection for artists, industrialists, and public and as a training and education center for designers and craftsmen.

1864/ on 12th of May, opened the museum - provisionally in premises of the ball house next to the Vienna Hofburg, the architect Heinrich von Ferstel for museum purposes had adapted. First exhibited objects are loans and donations from the imperial collections, monasteries, private property and from the kk polytechnic in Vienna. Reproductions, masters and plaster casts are standing value-neutral next originals.

1865-1897 / The Museum of Art and Industry publishes the journal Communications of Imperial (k. k.) Austrian Museum for Art and Industry .

1866 / Due to the lack of space in the ballroom setting up of an own museum building is accelerated. A first project of Rudolf von Eitelberger and Heinrich von Ferstel provides the integration of the museum in the project of imperial museums in front of the Hofburg Imperial Forum. Only after the failure of this project, the site of the former Exerzierfelds (parade ground) of the defense barracks before Stubentor the museum here is assigned, next to the newly created city park on the still being under development Rind Road.

1867 / Theoretical and practical training are combined with the establishment of the School of Applied Arts. This will initially be housed in the old gun factory, Währinger Straße 11-13/Schwarzspanierstrasse 17, Vienna 9.

1868 / With the construction of the building at Stubenring is started as soon as it is approved by Emperor Franz Joseph I. the second draft of Heinrich Ferstel.

1871 / The opening of the building at Stubering takes place after three years of construction, 15 November. Designed according to plans by Heinrich von Ferstel in the Renaissance style, it is the first built museum building on the ring. Objects from now on could be placed permanently and arranged according to main materials. / / The Arts School moves into the house on Stubenring. / / Opening of Austrian art and crafts exhibition.

1873 / Vienna World Exhibition. / / The Museum of Art and Industry and the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts are exhibiting together at Stubenring. / / Rudolf von Eitelberger organizes in the framework of the World Exhibition the worldwide first international art scientific congress in Vienna, thus emphasizing the orientation of the Museum on teaching and research. / / During the World Exhibition major purchases for the museum of funds of the Ministry are made, eg 60 pages of Indo-Persian Journal Mughal manuscript Hamzanama.

1877 / decision on the establishment of taxes for the award of Hoftiteln (court titels). With the collected amounts the local art industry can be promoted. / / The new building of the School of Applied Arts, adjoining the museum, Stubenring 3 , also designed by Heinrich von Ferstel, is opened.

1878 / participation of the Museum of Art and Industry and the School of Art at the Paris World Exhibition.

1884 / founding of the Vienna Arts and Crafts Association with seat in the museum. Many well-known companies and workshops (led by J. & L. Lobmeyr), personalities and professors of the arts and crafts school join the Arts and Crafts Association. Undertaking of this association is to further develop all creative and executive powers the arts and crafts since the 1860s has obtained. For this reason are organized various times changing, open to the public exhibitions at the Imperial Austrian Museum for Art and Industry. The exhibits can also be purchased. These new, generously carried out exhibitions give the club the necessary national and international resonance.

1885 / After the death of Rudolf von Eitelberger is Jacob von Falke, his longtime deputy, appointed manager. Falke plans all collection areas als well as publications to develop newly and systematically. With his popular publications he influences significantly the interior design style of the historicism in Vienna.

1888 / The Empress Maria Theresa exhibition revives the contemporary discussion with the high baroque in the history of art and in applied arts in particular.

1895 / end of the Directorate of Jacob von Falke. Bruno Bucher, longtime curator of the Museum of metal, ceramic and glass, and since 1885 deputy director, is appointed director.

1896 / The Vienna Congress exhibition launches the confrontation with the Empire and Biedermeier style, the sources of inspiration of Viennese Modernism .

1897 / end of the Directorate of Bruno Bucher. Arthur von Scala, Director of the Imperial Oriental Museum in Vienna since its founding in 1875 (renamed Imperial Austrian Trade Museum 1887), takes over the management of the Museum of Art and Industry. / / Scala wins Otto Wagner, Felician of Myrbach, Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann and Alfred Roller to work at the museum and school of applied arts. / / The style of the Secession is crucial for the Arts and Crafts School. Scala propagated the example of the Arts and Crafts Movement and makes appropriate acquisitions for the museum's collection.

1898 / Due to differences between Scala and the Arts and Crafts Association, which sees its influence on the Museum wane, Archduke Rainer puts down his function as protector. / / New statutes are written.

1898-1921 / The Museum magazine art and crafts replaces the Mittheilungen (Communications) and soon gaines international reputation.

1900 / The administration of Museum and Arts and Crafts School is disconnected.

1904 / The Exhibition of Old Vienna porcelain, the to this day most comprehensive presentation on this topic, brings with the by the Museum in 1867 definitely taken over estate of the " k. k. Aerarial Porcelain Manufactory" (Vienna Porcelain Manufactory) important pieces of collectors from all parts of the Habsburg monarchy together.

1907 / The Museum of Art and Industry takes over the majority of the inventories of the Imperial Austrian Trade Museum, including the by Arthur von Scala founded Asia collection and the extensive East Asian collection of Heinrich von Siebold .

1908 / Integration of the Museum of Art and Industry in the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Public Works.

1909 / separation of Museum and Arts and Crafts School, the latter remains subordinated to the Ministry of Culture and Education. / / After three years of construction, the according to plans of Ludwig Baumann extension building of the museum (now Weiskirchnerstraße 3, Wien 1) is opened. The museum receives thereby rooms for special and permanent exhibitions. / / Arthur von Scala retires, Eduard Leisching follows him as director. / / Revision of the statutes.

1909 / Archduke Carl exhibition. For the centenary of the Battle of Aspern. / / The Biedermeier style is discussed in exhibitions and art and crafts.

1914 / Exhibition of works by the Austrian art industry from 1850 to 1914, a competitive exhibition that highlights, among other things, the role model of the museum of arts and crafts in the fifty years of its existence.

1919 / After the founding of the First Republic it comes to assignments of former imperial possession to the museum, for example, of oriental carpets that are shown in an exhibition in 1920. The Museum now has one of the finest collections of oriental carpets worldwide .

1920 / As part of the reform of museums of the First Republic, the collection areas are delineated. The Antiquities Collection of the Museum of Art and Industry is given away to the Museum of Art History.

1922 / The exhibition of glasses of classicism, the Empire and Biedermeier time offers with precious objects from the museum and private collections an overview of the art of glassmaking from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. / / Biedermeier glass serves as a model for contemporary glass production and designs, such as Josef Hoffmann.

1922 / affiliation of the museal inventory of the royal table and silver collection to the museum. Until the institutional separation the former imperial household and table decoration is co-managed by the Museum of Art and Industry and is inventoried for the first time by Richard Ernst.

1925 / After the end of the Directorate of Eduard Leisching Hermann Trenkwald is appointed director.

1926 / The exhibition Gothic in Austria gives a first comprehensive overview of the Austrian panel painting and of arts and crafts of the 12th to 16th Century.

1927 / August Schestag succeeds Hermann Trenkwald as director .

1930 / The Werkbund (artists' organization) Exhibition Vienna, A first comprehensive presentation of the Austrian Werkbund, takes place on the occasion of the meeting of the Deutscher Werkbund in Austria, it is organized by Josef Hoffmann in collaboration with Oskar Strnad, Josef Frank, Ernst Lichtblau and Clemens Holzmeister.

1931 / August Schestag finishes his Directorate .

1932 / Richard Ernst is the new director .

1936 and 1940 / In exchange with the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Art History), the museum at Stubenring gives away part of the sculptures and takes over craft inventories of the collection Albert Figdor and the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

1937 / The Collection of the Museum of Art and Industry is re-established by Richard Ernst according to periods. / / Oskar Kokoschka exhibition on the 50th birthday of the artist.

1938 / After the "Anschluss" of Austria by Nazi Germany, the museum was renamed "National Museum of Decorative Arts in Vienna".

1939-1945 / The museums are taking over numerous confiscated private collections. The collection of the "State Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna" is also enlarged in this way.

1945 / Partial destruction of the museum building by impact of war. / / War losses on collection objects, even in the places of rescue of objects.

1946 / The return of the outsourced objects of art begins. A portion of the during the Nazi time expropriated objects is returned in the following years.

1947 / The "State Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna" is renamed "Austrian Museum of Applied Arts".

1948 / The "Cathedral and Metropolitan Church of St. Stephen" organizes the exhibition The St. Stephen's Cathedral in the Museum of Applied Arts. History, monuments, reconstruction.

1949 / The Museum is reopened after repair of the war damages.

1950 / As last exhibition under director Richard Ernst takes place Great art from Austria's monasteries (Middle Ages).

1951 / Ignaz Schlosser is appointed manager.

1952 / The exhibition Social home decor, designed by Franz Schuster, makes the development of social housing in Vienna again the topic of the Museum of Applied Arts.

1955 / The comprehensive archive of the Wiener Werkstätte (workshop) is acquired.

1955-1985 / The Museum publishes the periodical ancient and modern art .

1956 / Exhibition New Form from Denmark, modern design from Scandinavia becomes topic of the museum and model.

1957 / On the occasion of the exhibition Venini Murano glass, the first presentation of Venini glass in Austria, there are significant purchases and donations for the collection of glass.

1958 / End of the Directorate Ignaz Schlosser

1959 / Viktor Griesmaier is appointed as the new director.

1960 / Exhibition Artistic creation and mass production of Gustavsberg, Sweden. Role model of Swedish design for the Austrian art and crafts.

1963 / For the first time in Europe, in the context of a comprehensive exhibition art treasures from Iran are shown.

1964 / The exhibition Vienna 1900 presents Crafts of Art Nouveau for the first time after the Second World War. / / It is started with the systematic processing of the archive of the Wiener Werkstätte. / / On the occasion of the founding anniversary grantes the exhibition 100 years Austrian Museum of Applied Arts using examples of historicism insights into the collection.

1965 / The Geymüllerschlössel is as a branch of the Museum angegliedert (annexed). Gleichzeitig (at the same time) with the building came the important collection of Franz Sobek - old Viennese clocks, emerged between 1760 and the second half of the 19th Century - and furniture from the years 1800 to 1840 in the possession of the MAK.

1966 / In the exhibition Selection 66 selected items of modern Austrian interior designers (male and female ones) are merged.

1967 / The Exhibition The Wiener Werkstätte. Modern Arts and Crafts from 1903 to 1932 is founding the boom that continues to today of Austria's most important design project in the 20th Century.

1968 / On Viktor Griesmaier follows Wilhelm Mrazek as director.

1969 / The exhibition Sitting 69 shows on the international modernism oriented positions of Austrian designers, inter alia by Hans Hollein.

1974 / For the first time outside of China Archaeological Finds of the People's Republic of China are shown in a traveling exhibition in the so-called Western world.

1979 / Gerhart Egger is appointed director .

1980 / The exhibition New Living. Viennese interior design 1918-1938 provides the first comprehensive presentation of the art space in Vienna during the interwar period.

1981 / Herbert Fux follows Gerhart Egger as Director.

1984 / Ludwig Neustift is appointed interim director. / / Exhibition Achille Castiglioni: Designer. First exhibition of the Italian designer in Austria

1986 / Peter NOEVER is appointed as Director and started building up the collection of contemporary art.

1987 / Josef Hoffmann. Ornament between hope and crime is the first comprehensive exhibition on the work of the architect and designer.

1989-1993 / General renovation of thee old buildings and construction of a two-storey underground storeroom and a connecting tract. A generous deposit for collection and additional exhibit spaces arise.

1989 / Exhibition Carlo Scarpa. The other city, the first comprehensive exhibition on the work of the architect outside Italy.

1990 / exhibition Hidden impressions. Japonisme in Vienna 1870-1930, first exhibition on the theme of the Japanese influence on the Viennese Modernism.

1991 / exhibition Donald Judd Architecture, first major presentation of the artist in Austria.

1992 / Magdalena Jetelová domestication of a pyramid (installation in the MAK portico).

1993 / The permanent collection is re-established, interventions of internationally recognized artists (Barbara Bloom, Eichinger oder Knechtl, Günther Förg, GANGART, Franz Graf, Jenny Holzer, Donald Judd, Peter Noever, Manfred Wakolbinger and Heimo Zobernig) update the prospects, in the sense of "Tradition and Experiment". The halls on Stubenring accommodate furthermore the study collection and the temporary exhibitions of contemporary artists reserved gallery. The building in the Weiskirchnerstraße is dedicated to changing exhibitions. / / The opening exhibition Vito Acconci. The City Inside Us shows a room installation by New York artist.

1994 / The Gefechtsturm (defence tower) Arenbergpark becomes branch of the MAK. / / Start of the cooperation MAK/MUAR - Schusev State Museum of Architecture Moscow. / / Ilya Kabakov: The Red Wagon (installation on the MAK terrace plateau).

1995 / The MAK founds the branch of MAK Center for Art and Architecture in Los Angeles, in the Schindler House and at the Mackey Apartments, MAK Artists and Architects-in-Residence Program starts in October 1995. / / Exhibition Sergei Bugaev Africa : Krimania.

1996 / For the exhibition Philip Johnson: Turning Point designs the American doyen of architectural designing the sculpture "Viennese Trio", which is located since 1998 at the Franz-Josefs-Kai/Schottenring.

1998 / The for the exhibition James Turrell. The other Horizon designed Skyspace today stands in the garden of MAK Expositur Geymüllerschlössel. / / Overcoming the utility. Dagobert Peche and the Wiener Werkstätte, the first comprehensive Personale of the work of the designer of Wiener Werkstätte after the Second World War.

1999 / Due to the Restitution Act and the Provenance Research from now on numerous during the Nazi time confiscated objects are returned .

2000 / Outsourcing the federal museums, transforming the museum into a "scientific institution under public law". / / The exhibition of art and industry. The beginnings of the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna are dealing with the founding history of the house and the collection.

2001 / As part of the exhibition Franz West: No Mercy, for which the sculptor and installation artist developed his hitherto most extensive work the "Four lemurs heads " are placed at the Stubenbrücke located next to the MAK. / / Dennis Hopper: A System of Moments.

2001-2002 / The CAT Project - Contemporary Art Tower after New York, Los Angeles, Moscow and Berlin in Vienna is presented.

2002 / Exhibition Nodes. symmetrical-asymmetrical. The historic Oriental Carpets of the MAK presents the extensive rug collection.

2003 / Exhibition Zaha Hadid. Architecture. / / For the anniversary of the artist workshop, the exhibition The Price of Beauty. 100 years Wiener Werkstätte takes place. / / Richard Artschwager: The Hydraulic Door Check. Sculpture, painting, drawing.

2004 / James Turrell MAKlite is since November 2004 permanently on the facade of the building installed. / / Exhibition Peter Eisenmann. Barefoot on White-Hot Walls, large-scaled architectural installation on the work of the influential American architect and theorist.

2005 / Atelier Van Lieshout: The Disziplinatornbsp / / The exhibition Ukiyo-e Reloaded for the first time presents the collection of Japanese woodblock prints of the MAK in large scale.

2006 / Since the beginning of the year the birthplace of Josef Hoffmann in Brtnice of the Moravian Gallery in Brno and the MAK Vienna as a joint branch is run and presents special exhibitions annually. / / The exhibition The Price of Beauty. The Wiener Werkstätte and the Stoclet House brings the objects of the Wiener Werkstätte to Brussels. / / Exhibition Jenny Holzer: XX.

2007/2008 / Exhibition Coop Himmelb(l)au. Beyond the Blue, is the hitherto largest and most comprehensive museal presentation of the global team of architects .

2008 / The 1936 according to plans of Rudolph M. Schindler built Fitzpatrick-Leland House, a generous gift from Russ Leland to the MAK Center LA, becomes using a promotion that granted the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department the MAK Center, the center of the MAK UFI project - MAK Urban Future Initiative. / / Julian Opie: Recent Works / / The exhibition Recollecting. Looting and Restitution examines the status of efforts to restitute expropriated objects from Jewish property of museums in Vienna.

2009 / The permanent exhibition Josef Hoffmann: Inspiration is in the Josef Hoffmann Museum, Brtnice opened. / / Exhibition Anish Kapoor. Shooting into the Corner / / The museum sees itself as a promoter of Cultural Interchange and discusses in the exhibition Global:lab Art as a message. Asia and Europe 1500-1700 the intercultural as well as the intercontinental cultural exchange based on objects from the MAK and from international collections.

2011 / After Peter Noevers resignation Martina Kandeler-Fritsch takes over temporarily the management. / / Since 1 September Christoph Thun-Hohenstein is director of the MAK.

www.mak.at/das_mak/geschichte

 

It's real custom!! make value!!!

Bugesera International Airport At 14.8% Value Cost / 7 June

Page 31 of the Summer 1964 Lana Lobell catalog.

Value Education Workshop at Jalpaiguri and Coochbehar District of West Bengal in April 2017

After a few months' deliberation, I bought an old Nikon FE on Friday and took it out over the beautiful late September weekend with a roll of Fuji Superia 400. I was quite taken aback by the effect of not dealing with digital crop factor anymore, so wound up mostly shooting on the Arsat 20mm where the difference was most pronounced. It was a _lot_ of fun and I was pleasantly surprised by how many shots I didn't completely fuck up. Even some of the partial fuck ups seemed worth preserving. So here they are.

6067 East Main Street in Columbus, Ohio

My students were using 10-longs and unit cubes to create numbers using a place value mat. This student created the number 15 using 1 ten and 5 ones (10 + 5 = 15)

Is this of any value?

Continuing to create a sample board of value and key-stoning for my online workshop - to be filmed next month.

 

 

Some unloved cans of Tesco's budget bitter, stranded in Victoria station. There's a lot of emotions there (mainly along the lines of, seriously, Tesco do a value bitter? And also, that alcohol percentage, who is their target market for this?)

Podium at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, DC.

 

Please attribute to Gage Skidmore if used elsewhere.

Engineering for Quality: The New Frontier in Customer Experience Assurance -

A Cognizant Executive Summit on Enhancing the Business Value of QA held on June 24-25, 2013.

www.cognizant.com/bostonsummit2013

 

The paradigm shift in businesses today is influenced by rapidly evolving technology and a changing generation of millennial workers. Organizations are not only on the lookout for constant innovations to stay ahead of their competition, but they are also rethinking ways to leverage IT to expand the customer’s mindshare. This persistent emergence of IT coupled with demanding customers and regulators are leading to tectonic shifts in the business importance of Quality Assurance (QA).

 

To ensure an engineering-led approach to quality--the new leading edge for ensuring end-user expectations--the Cognizant Quality Engineering & Assurance Summit, a unique thought leadership initiative from Cognizant, will host analysts, thought leaders, and senior executives in the QA space.

ARMN reefer 110262 going west with CSX at Weedsport, NY.

tnsr.org/2022/10/fixing-the-current-system-or-moving-towa...

 

Fixing the Current System or Moving Toward a Value-Based Globalization

Mathew Burrows, Robert A. Manning, Aaron L. Friedberg

 

In this issue’s correspondence section, Mathew Burrows and Robert Manning respond to Aaron Friedberg’s article on the future of globalization, published in Vol 5, Iss 1 of TNSR. Friedberg, in turn, offers his own rebuttal.

 

Taking Exception: The Problems with a “Partial Liberal” Order

Mathew Burrows and Robert A. Manning

 

Aaron Friedberg recently published an important, thought-provoking article in these pages that examines the evolution of the international economy over the last two centuries and possible scenarios for how the current era of globalization may fail or be reconstructed.¹ We commend the analysis of past phases of globalization but take issue with the likelihood and desirability of his proposed “value-based” free world trade bloc, which he calls “Globalization 2.5.” Friedberg dismisses the possibility of repairing and updating the current international system to reflect the redistribution of wealth and power from West to East and North to South. While he discusses a region-centric global economic order, his preferred outcome is a U.S.-led “partial liberal” order. However, such a framework would institutionalize a fragmented, conflict-prone world based more on power and less on rules.

 

The notion of a “democracies only” world order reflects the logic of the Biden administration’s “democracy vs. autocracy” strategy, but with respect to it fashioning a stable and prosperous world, it is a dubious proposition. For starters, China is the world’s largest trading power (its total export-imports were $4.2 trillion in 2021), the leading trade partner of U.S. allies and partners in Europe and Asia, and a major exporter of capital.² Moreover, the neutral response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by most of the world — including democracies such as India, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, and Turkey — shows that these countries are more motivated by interests than by democratic values. Beyond fashioning legal and institutional frameworks for global trade and investment to operate in, the administration’s requirement now is to make sure that such trade and investment favor U.S. interests. The Biden administration, for example, wants to prevent any new trade regimes from hurting the middle class, even though there are inevitably going to be some losers when openings in trade are made.

 

The United States could do better by closing the skills-job opening gap and helping the American middle class compete by providing improved retraining and more life-long learning opportunities, as well as a stronger social safety net, including portable healthcare, universal daycare, and more generous unemployment insurance linked to retraining. Of course, trade politics include a significant amount of market intervention and managed trade — imposing quotas and voluntary export restraints, or putting in place tariffs when another’s trade practices are deemed to be unfair or in order to protect strategic industries — and demonstrate clear results from such measures.³ Yet, there seems to be an increasing temptation among foreign policy strategists to believe that China will either acquiesce to perpetual U.S. primacy or that it can simply be isolated from U.S.-led political and economic structures. This implies that the United States and its allies can redesign the world to please their preferences for democratic liberalism without regard for other countries. But when, over the past several centuries, has there been a stable world order absent the inclusion or a considered balance of the major economic and military powers, particularly China and Russia?

 

Technology, Economics, and Politics

 

To our minds, the proposal for a “partial liberal trading system,” is inconsistent with Friedberg’s elegant summary analysis of how periods of globalization over the past 200 years have come about and operated: namely that economics, in terms of market trends and other forces such as technology, has historically been the driver of globalization. Politics, on the other hand, may have established a favorable framework for globalization, but it has been unable to orchestrate it fully.

 

We take the point in Robert Gilpin’s prescient assessment, cited by Friedberg, regarding the reciprocal relationship between politics and economics, wherein economics redistributes wealth and power, which leads to political changes and reordered politico-economic relationships. But this model overstates the role of politics and underestimates the role of technology. Politics does create the framework in which economics operates, but within that framework — the enabling security structures and sets of rules and regulations — economics is driven by its own imperatives that redistribute wealth and power. In Britain in the 19th century and the United States in the 20th century, economic expansion led to the development of external markets for Western exports and imports of commodities and other essential goods. These economic exchanges helped America’s trading partners — including China — to grow and compete. Some forecasts anticipate that China will outgrow the United States as measured in market exchange terms by the early 2030s.⁴ China’s stunning ascendency since 1978 is testimony to how economic growth upsets power balances,⁵ in this case triggering a U.S. backlash and a corresponding shift of U.S. views of China that Friedberg ably chronicles.

 

Economics has also driven calls in the United States and, to a degree, other Western countries, for changing how globalization operates in order to better protect their interests. In a sense, having pressed liberalization on everyone else and then lost the agency to run the global economy after World War II, Washington wants to re-work who’s in and who’s out to ensure continued hegemony. Friedberg’s solution to the problems with the current trading system would be a “world in which the advanced industrial democracies of Europe, Asia, and the Western Hemisphere band together to form a free trade area and perhaps a full economic bloc.” This is wishful thinking. Such an alternative to the current global economy is unrealistic and would be disruptive, ultimately undermining U.S. and Western prosperity and potentially increasing the risk of great-power conflict — a risk that is already unacceptably high.

 

The historical cases that Friedberg supplies illustrate the importance of economics and technology over politics. This is strengthened if one considers the first cycle of economic globalization that took place more than two millennia ago under the Han dynasty, a case that Friedberg omitted: the Silk Road, which connected Asia and the Middle East to Europe with variations (e.g., Venice’s maritime empire) until roughly 1500.⁶ There were minimal rules in this system, and it was driven mainly by power, ambition, and the desire for profit. Friedberg’s “Globalization 1.0,” (1815–1914), facilitated as much by rapid technological change (the telegraph, railroads, steam engines) as by a post-Napoleonic political framework, was largely based on Britain’s and other Western countries’ comparative advantage and thirst for the raw materials that were provided by Europe’s colonies in Africa, Asia, Caribbean, and other regions. It was the politics of nationalism and anti-colonialism more than redistributed wealth that produced World War I, thus ending that period of globalization.

 

The post-World War II Bretton Woods system was a wildly successful partial-liberal order centered in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan. The crafters of this system were intent on learning from the mistakes of hyper-nationalism and protectionism that characterized the inter-war period. The system had a rules-based architecture that was open and mutually beneficial and that worked to no small degree because of relatively open U.S. markets and a hegemonic enforcer that underpinned the system. The self-imposed separation by the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries helped set its limits. As John Ruggie argues (which Friedberg cites), one reason for the post-Cold War resilience of the Bretton Woods system, current problems notwithstanding, is that even absent a hegemon, if there is a sense of common purpose and shared interests, a multilateral structure can still function.⁷ Bretton Woods partners felt they were receiving enough mutual benefit to sustain the system, regardless of whether a hegemon was involved. But as Europe and Japan rebuilt and became industrial competitors by the 1980s, the generosity of America’s relatively open markets became increasingly problematic for Americans who saw those whom they had defeated gaining economically on the United States. Washington struck back, as showcased in the 1980s U.S.-Japanese trade wars in which Japanese auto companies were pressured into investing their profits in building new factories in America.

 

As globalization took off at the end of the Cold War, the Bretton Woods trade and financial system, fueled by the IT revolution and global supply chains, expanded exponentially to former Warsaw Pact nations and to emerging economies like Brazil, India, and East Asia writ large, as well as China and even Russia itself. The result was a new global middle class, but also new vulnerabilities that manifested in financial crises in Latin America (most pronounced in the 1980s but episodic and ongoing in Argentina and several other countries), the 1998 Asian financial crisis, and eventually the meltdown of the whole system in the 2008 Western financial crisis.⁸ All of this affirms Gilpin’s point about trade redistributing wealth and, in turn, leading to changes in political fortunes, such as America’s relative decline. While it is still a work in progress, we have seen some change in the character and scope of globalization. Capital controls are one such shift, as well as a proliferation of regional and extra-regional trade arrangements. A polycentric world also faces unprecedented uncertainty about the future of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) role as the arbiter of global trade, as the failure of the Doha Round of global trade liberalization underscored.⁹

 

At present, the Fourth Industrial Revolution and rapid digitization have shown that economics tends to race ahead of governance. This was illustrated by China’s unprecedented economic success in recent decades, outgrowing the political framework of the trading system, going from $150 billion in GDP in 1978 to $18 trillion in 2021 with an average 10 percent annual growth from 1978 to 2021.¹⁰ China’s gaming of the system led to a shattering of U.S. myths that economic reform leads to wider liberalization and a realization that China’s state-centric model was a different type of capitalism, something that President Donald Trump called out.¹¹

 

Repairing the Current System

 

Instead of proposing an improbable strategy for a return to a partial globalization centered on the “free world,” Friedberg may have done better to show that the current, flawed system of globalization can be repaired. This would preserve, if not boost, current benefits for the United States and the rest of the world. In Friedberg’s account of the breakdown of “Globalization 2.0,” China is largely at fault. Nobody denies that China has never fulfilled the promises it made to liberalize its internal market at the time of its 2001 accession to the WTO. Beijing is also, as Friedberg charges, engaged in rampant intellectual theft to help it become a tech giant, but this is not the most important factor in its rapid technological ascent. Missing in Friedberg’s analysis are U.S. causes for America’s disenchantment with globalization. As Adam Posen has argued in a recent Foreign Affairs article, the “United States has, on balance, been withdrawing from the international economy for the past two decades.”¹² The jobs lost to Chinese competition have, in fact, been relatively small — namely, two million jobs lost between 2000 and 2015 out of a workforce of 150 million, or roughly 130,000 workers a year.¹³

 

So why the public backlash against globalization and China? Part of the reason, Posen argues, concerns the “fetishization of manufacturing jobs.” The United States has been steadily losing manufacturing jobs, with many of the losses coming from electorally important states, giving the issue more prominence. But why shift all the blame onto China? While Beijing bears much of the blame, the United States has been woefully remiss in helping redundant workers find new employment through retraining. Policies encouraging U.S. offshore investment in global supply chains until very recently also contributed to the problem. According to a 2021 study by the American Enterprise Institute, U.S. “federal spending on worker training has fallen over the past few decades as a share of GDP.”¹⁴ U.S. states have traditionally played an important role in trade adjustment, but in the aggregate, there has also been a decline in trade funding assistance since the 1980s. Other advanced economies do much better in terms of funding both social safety nets and skills training: The United States is second to last in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s ranking of countries that provide public spending to support job readiness and matching skills to jobs.¹⁵ Fashioning a more robust social safety net and better equipping the workforce with the skills needed to advance in a rapidly changing 21st-century workplace might restore trust in freer trade.

 

It is not only on trade that the United States has turned against the rest of the world. Anti-immigrant feeling has also exploded, although there is little evidence that unskilled immigrants are going to take away highly paid jobs.¹⁶ In fact, the U.S. economy can’t run without immigrants. The turn inward and opposition to globalization is as much cultural and psychological as it is based on rational interests. Disregarding history and the distributive effects of trade, Americans always tended to assume that their country would be an outright winner of globalization.

 

European countries have been much less enamored with globalization, fearing that their industries would lose out. As Friedberg points out, globalization was sold in the mid-1990s by President Bill Clinton as the motor for achieving the “end of history.” But there was little understanding of how globalization leads to more — not less — strategic competition. One reason for this may be that America’s rise to become one of the great economic powers by the end of the 19th century came about because of Britain’s embrace of free trade and its support for globalization. A better appreciation at the outset of the challenges of economic competition might have pushed the United States toward a Sputnik-like “self-improvement” program, rendering it better prepared for the inevitable competition from China and other emerging markets.

 

Instead of throwing the globalization baby out with the bath water, America can still try to repair the flaws in globalization’s workings. What’s wrong with putting pressure on China by rounding up allies to force Beijing to mend its ways on IP theft and lack of market access or risk losing global markets? China’s growth remains dependent on trade, and China is the biggest trading partner of many U.S. allies.

 

Sacrificing Globalization 2.0 and trying to build a partial replacement anchored in the “free world” carries a number of risks. For starters, it is not a given that the United States can harmonize its views on trade and regulation with those of the European Union, which has been integrating its trade with Asia and Latin America. Globalization 2.0 has also been the vehicle for many developing countries to enrich themselves, reduce poverty, and build middle classes, which, over time, can bolster the chances of democratization and liberal market reforms. A partial liberal trade system that leaves out a good part of the world would increase the chances of conflict and make authoritarianism more likely, leaving the developing world more dependent on China.

 

In all of this, there needs to be a better understanding of the limits of America’s power to impose its will. It may have worked for Dean Acheson, but that time is long past. It is U.S. hubris and concern over America’s unreliability that has prompted Europe and much of Asia to hedge against the United States. Look at E.U. trade and investment deals with Japan, China, and other Asian and Latin American states,¹⁷ and consider Asia, with its new Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership accord,¹⁸ which does not include America. Though Friedberg minimizes the effort required to achieve consensus, he is right about the importance of mobilizing democracies and other like-minded states to forge a common position on trade issues, but that should not be an end in itself. Precisely because of the limits of U.S. agency, working with allies and partners makes sense in order to maximize America’s leverage to shape global rules and norms, but it should not be a substitute for global rules.

 

With only 18 percent of the world economy, is it not possible that China would alter its policies to sustain access to global markets,¹⁹ particularly now, as it faces unprecedented challenges due to a state-centric, investment-driven economic model that no longer works?²⁰ The same Chinese Communist Party of the Great Leap Forward disaster and the maniacal cultural revolution self-corrected by enacting Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms. It is worth exhausting diplomacy to test this idea before concluding that there is no difference between China’s grandiose ambitions and what it is willing to accept. That’s where coordination among democracies and the like-minded can build leverage to test the proposition. Friedberg is too quick to eliminate any role for the United States and its partners working together to update global trade and tech rules, as well as the WTO. At present, however, the mutual demonization between China and the United States, and America’s assumption that China can’t change, render such an effort difficult.

 

Domestic Obstacles to a Value-Based Globalization

 

Friedberg also ignores the growing domestic obstacles when he calls for a return to a partial, value-based globalization. President Joe Biden may have eased Trump-era steel and aluminum sanctions against European allies, but he angered those allies with his Buy American rule, using federal procurement to support American manufacturing. Biden also dismayed America’s United States-Mexico-Canada-Agreement partners, when he proposed electric car subsidies for unionized U.S. carmakers,²¹ although it’s unclear how the subsidies will be implemented in the recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act. The episode has left a bad taste in the mouths of America’s closest trade partners, such as South Korea and Japan, who have been encouraged to build auto factories in the United States, and it reinforces the impression that the United States is becoming more protectionist, even with its allies.

 

Moreover, the Biden administration is so divided it is hard for it to make any move on trade. A recent Politico article describes the difficulty plaguing administration efforts to develop a trade strategy with Asian countries, despite the eagerness of America’s Asian allies and partners for the United States to take a more active role in trade.²² In one corner of the three-way administration division are the trade expansionists who want to tie Asian nations closer to the United States with trade deals. Then there’s the more labor-friendly faction, which wants to use tariffs and quotas to protect U.S. workers. The third camp worries that scrapping with China economically could undermine administration priorities to ease inflation and decrease supply chain bottlenecks. Even smaller trade deal ideas, such as a digital trade agreement, have met with opposition. A U.S. Trade Representative plan to launch a trade case against China’s use of industrial subsidies has also been dropped.

 

Then there’s Congress, which is increasingly anti-trade. Trumpist Republicans and progressive Democrats oppose any effort to resurrect the Trans-Pacific Partnership and would block America’s entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. Both parties are fighting the last war, blaming foreign trade as the main cause of the decline of union workers and the loss of manufacturing jobs, when technological change is a major driver of job gains and losses. The problem is more the mismatch of skills to labor, one reason why the United States has some 10 million unfilled jobs.²³

 

Administration paralysis in moving forward with any trade initiative combined with growing protectionism make it hard to envisage a “free world” free trade agreement being workable. While such an accord would seem to be in line with the administration’s anti-China and pro-democracy focus and popular with the growing anti-China congressional consensus, it would mean crafting a trade agreement that is larger than any of the administration’s smaller initiatives. Friedberg has rightly focused on the problems that China poses to the functioning of the world trading system. Yet, the current political disorder at home is as much the issue when it comes to remaking the global trading system. The fundamental problem with Friedberg’s advocacy for a free world trading system is that we cannot just wipe the slate clean and start anew.

 

Conclusion

 

There is much uncertainty about the future of the global trading system, and Friedberg nicely sketches possible alternative futures. The WTO’s role will almost certainly be diminished. There may be sector-specific global trade liberalization to come, but most likely no future global trade rounds. Trade liberalization has become more region-centric and trans-region centric, such as is the case with the U.S.-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement.²⁴ Nonetheless, because of its near universal membership (it covers 96 percent of global trade), and its role as the only over-arching dispute settlement mechanism, the WTO remains critical to maintaining a rules-based trade regime, although both aspects of the organization are in need of major reform if the WTO is to remain relevant.²⁵

 

Recent trends of regional trade clusters and the reorganization of supply chains suggest that the most probable scenario is one in which the WTO and U.N. standard-setting bodies create a loose global umbrella over regional accords. But continued trade and financial fragmentation cannot be dismissed. Protectionism — managed trade in key sectors like steel and aluminum — is on the rise. For the very reason that Friedberg highlights via Gilpin — that economics alters politics — we cannot rule out that today’s authoritarians could become tomorrow’s market-oriented democracies, as internal forces, such as growing middle classes, push for more political participation and liberalization over time.

 

Apart from the inertia of U.S. trade policy, market forces pose a strong obstacle to any effort to reorder trade along ideological lines that cuts out the world’s largest market and trading power. We are already seeing hints of a prospective mirror-image response to “democracies only” efforts in the February joint statement from Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, promising closer affiliation between Russia’s Eurasian Economic Union and China’s Belt and Road Initiative.²⁶ Similarly, Beijing has proposed a new Global Security Initiative.²⁷

 

There is a complex network of trade and investment with China. U.S. corn and wheat farmers are attracted to the Chinese market, and shale producers welcome selling to the Chinese liquefied natural gas market. Boeing enjoys the Chinese commercial airline market, and Qualcomm and others like selling low-end chips for Chinese cellphones. None of this necessarily poses national security risks. A circumscribed, partial liberal trade order would defy market forces that benefit American businesses and consumers.

 

Strategic competition is leading to decoupling by both the United States and China where national security interests are deemed at risk, particularly in the tech sector. Fixing a global system that economics has overtaken, however problematic, still seems the most sensible strategy. Finally, with regard to the broader systemic consequences, it is worth recalling a recent cautionary note from Henry Kissinger: “Differences in ideology should not be the main issue of confrontation, unless we are prepared to make regime change the principal goal of our policy.”²⁸

   

Dr. Mathew Burrows serves as director of the Stimson Center’s Strategic Foresight Hub and is a distinguished fellow in the Reimagining Grand Strategy program and Red Cell project at the Stimson Center. He retired in 2013 from a 28-year career at the CIA, serving the last 10 years as counselor at the National Intelligence Council.

 

Robert A. Manning is a distinguished fellow in the Reimagining Grand Strategy program and the Red Cell project at the Stimson Center. He was a senior counselor to the undersecretary of state for global affairs from 2001 to 2004, a member of the U.S. Department of State policy planning staff from 2004 to 2008, and a member of the National Intelligence Council strategic futures group from 2008 to 2012. Follow him on Twitter @Rmanning4.

News Release

For immediate distribution

 

JAKARTA WELCOMES ITS FIRST TUNE HOTEL

Value branded hotel chain continues its expansion in Indonesia

  

Jakarta, 3 September 2012 – Tune Hotels, the global branded value hotel chain, continues to expand in Indonesia with the opening of its latest hotel in Pasar Baru, Jakarta. Tune Hotel Pasar Baru would represent the global brand’s third property in Indonesia, (following Tune Hotel Kuta and Legian in Bali) and the first hotel in central Jakarta, offering world-class accommodation at extremely affordable rates, providing the essentials for a good night’s sleep. Tune Hotel Pasar Baru has 168 rooms in total, 125 Doubles, 42 Twin-sharing and a special needs room. The opening of Tune Hotel Pasar Baru was attended by popular Indonesian celebrities Nicholas Saputra and Izabel Jahja.

 

The expansion of the Tune Hotel brand in Indonesia is spurred by the country’s strong economy, rising number of tourists and favorable business environment. Jakarta is one of the largest cities in the world and ranked third after Bali and Sulawesi recording the highest hotel room occupancy in Indonesia according to the Statistics Indonesia of the Republic Indonesia. Pasar Baru is one of Jakarta’s most popular tourist destination and its central location is also ideal for business activities. Known for its shopping experience, visitors can “go back in time” to take in the beauty of its Dutch influenced colonial and Chinese architecture of its buildings as one strolls along the coble stone streets.

 

According to Mark Lankester, Group CEO of Tune Hotels, “Jakarta represents a gateway for leisure travellers more often as a stop-over before continuing their journey to other popular destinations such as Bali, Medan, Yogyakarta and Surabaya. Nevertheless Jakarta also serves as a central business destination drawing frequent business travellers from the South East Asian region and domestically within Indonesia as well. Hence, the opening of Tune Hotel Pasar Baru would cater to the needs of leisure and business travellers looking for convenient, comfortable and value-for-money accommodation. “

 

Lankester added that more expansion plans are on the way for the Tune Hotel brand in Indonesia which includes Pekan Baru, Makassar, Solo, Palembang and Surabaya. The vast country of sprawling archipelago has much to offer; from natural beauty, historical heritage to cultural diversity. Moreover, statistics from the Travel and Tourism Competitive Index (TTCI) in 2011 ranks Indonesia as the thirteenth most attractive destination in the Asia-Pacific to commence travel and tourism business operations.

 

Other Tune Hotel properties in Indonesia are located in Kuta and Legian, Bali which have been a favourite among visitors to Bali. The hotels’ popularity was recognized when it was named among the Top 20 Indonesia Innovative Brands of 2011 by Indonesia’s leading marketing industry magazine, MIX. It was Tune Hotels' innovativeness to its ability to serve the practical needs of tourists by giving them the best value that garnered the attention and illustrated by Legian and Kuta hotels being ranked #3 and #7 Best Value Hotels in Bali on TripAdvisor. Tune Hotels was selected along with other global leading brands to be named on the list and the only Malaysian-originated brand.

 

Red Planet Hotels owns and operates the Tune Hotel Pasar Baru in close association with Tune Hotel and its Chief Executive Officer, Tim Hansing, said that this hotel was the first of many more to come in Indonesia from Red Planet as the Tune brand expands across the country.

 

“This is the first hotel of eight more we have under construction in Indonesia and we will have some exciting announcements about more sites we are in the midst of acquiring. We are making some significant investments in Indonesia in the budget hotel sector as we have full confidence in the potential of Indonesia and the Indonesian travel sector to grow this market” said Hansing.

 

Tune Hotels currently has eleven hotels in Malaysia, four in LondonUnited Kingdom, four in The Philippines and two in Thailand. Hotels in Malaysia are located in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, KLIA-LCCT Airport, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Johor Bahru, Kota Damansara, Bintulu, Kota Bharu, Kulim and Ipoh.

 

Hotels in Asia includes Hat Yai and Pattaya in Thailand; Angeles City, Cebu City, Ermita and Makati, Manila in The Philippines; Kuta and Legian in Bali and Pasar Baru, Jakarta in Indonesia; Westminster, Liverpool Street, Paddington and Kings Cross in London, UK. Tune Hotels has successfully pioneered a branded value hotel brand with the concept of pay-as-you-use that has become hugely popular amongst travelers from across the world. Under the concept, guests only pay for room rates with the option of adding on other amenities like towels & toiletries, air-conditioning, in-room Wifi and satellite TV service at selected hotels.

Calling on guests to stay connected with Tune Hotels via the social media networks Facebook and Twitter, Mark Lankester, says “More Tune Hotels are scheduled for opening in Asean, the UK, India and Australia, that will give our guests even more options for travel destinations. We encourage guests to stay tuned for Tune Hotels’ latest openings and promotions via Facebook and Twitter.”

 

Tune Hotels is part of Tune Group, a lifestyle business conglomerate co-founded by Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and Dato’ Kamarudin Meranun, who are the Group CEO and Deputy Group CEO respectively of Asia’s largest low cost carrier AirAsia.

 

For real-time updates and promotion alerts, guests can stay connected with Tune Hotels via Facebook at www.facebook.com/tunehotels or www.facebook.com/TunehotelsInd and on Twitter via www.twitter.com/tunehotels or www.twitter.com/TuneHotelsID

 

For booking and further information, visit www.tunehotels.com.

 

- END –

 

About Tune Hotels

 

Tune Hotels is part of the lifestyle business conglomerate Tune Group that was founded by Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and Dato’ Kamarudin Meranun. Tune Group was established in 2007 with the aim of breaking down affordability barriers in various aspects of daily life – via Tune Hotels, Tune Talk and Tune Money. Tune Group seeks to innovate and revolutionise the way services are made available and has employed efficient web-based technologies to reach and engage its customers, presenting a unique lifestyle offering ranging from value hotel stays, personal finance solutions and affordable prepaid mobile services. Tune Group of Companies are Tune Air, Tune Hotels, Tune Money, Tune Talk, Tune Box, Tune Studios, Tune Tones, Team Lotus, ASEAN Basketball League, Caterham Group, Queens Park Rangers Football Club (QPR) and Kuala Lumpur Education City (owner of Epsom College in Malaysia).

 

Since Tune Hotels was first launched in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2007, over 3 million guests have stayed in its properties spread across Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and the United Kingdom. It now has 25 hotels available for bookings located in Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, KLIA-LCCT Airport, Penang, Johor Bahru, Kota Damansara, Bintulu, Kota Bharu and Kulim in Malaysia; Kuta and Legian in Bali and Jakarta in Indonesia; Westminister, Liverpool Street, Paddington and Kings Cross in London in the United Kingdom; Angeles City, Cebu City, Ermita and Makati in Manila, The Philippines; Hatyai and Pattaya in Thailand.

 

All Tune Hotel hotels feature space-efficient, streamlined rooms focusing on high-quality basics: 5-star bed, powerful hot showers and energy-saving fans. The strategically located hotels provide housekeeping services, electronic keycard access into rooms, CCTV surveillance, and prohibits access into the main lobby without a keycard past midnight. Through Tune Hotels’ ‘Less Waste, More Earth’ pay-as-you-use system of add-ons wi-fi, TV, laundered towels and other energy-consuming facilities and amenities, Tune Hotels aims to help guests conserve both their funds as well as the earth’s resources.

 

Photos are available from www.flickr.com/tunehotels.

 

Media contacts:

Amanda Chong

Senior Marketing Manager – Tune Hotels

HP: +60 12 284 0004

DL: +60 3 7962 5711

Fax: +60 3 7955 5899

Email: amanda.chong@tunehotels.com

  

MARSYAS/MYSELF

MYSELF Diptych, Detail

 

Below is a transcription of the handwritten text on the detail pictured above:

 

Art

Desire—Creativity—Release

 

"To embrace absence. To cradle and enfold the freedom and purity of immolation. To distill all need into the heavy metal of desire. To need no allies. To know that there are no allies. To know. To find sustenance in the ashes. To set corms into the ashes and bring forth all that which is no longer there. This is not despair. From this place springs the emptying of self after the purging of ambition. From this place springs Art. I have pitched my tent in this verdant wasteland of contradiction and set no value on any other place. From this vast horizontal, only the horizon defines me. A speck of desire on a polished orb. I hold in amputated hands the future of the future and have dedicated my life to the poverty of self-awareness. I am not afraid. I want nothing. I have no regrets. Let me speak for Art. Let me speak as Art. Am I not qualified? I have destroyed the audience and created silence. For myself, I have created the silence. Silence, then, will be my audience. As Art creates silence, Art speaks for silence. I speak for myself. Am I not qualified? I speak to the silence. Listen. I have established the eternal present. It is on this scale are all illusions weighed. I judge nothing. I am the shifting paradox of possibility. Nothing more. I am now. Nothing more...but there is a caveat: I am of human invention. Like nature, I am. Like rocks and rivers and the passing of days, I am. I exist when perceived. I impose my existence when engaged. Through perception, I confound the conception of time. Through engagement, I re-create myself within the living Now. I am more ancient than the caves of Lascaux and when perceived, I confront human consciousness with the power of Isness. I have no past. Like nature, I am. But within the caveat of human invention, I am born of desire. Though I am the most enduring of human enterprise, my purpose is unclear. Let me speak to this. Some would claim that I exist to illustrate the passage of time thus supporting the invention of history. But history has to do with memory and the cataloguing of events, a neatly arranged rationale of cause and affect, one influence on another through linear time. But this is not my purpose. Because I exist, like nature, in the eternal now, I belie such definition. To impose such limitations on my purpose is to confine me to the cage of intellect. If one accepts this definition, it is he who lives inside the cage, not I, though I concede a certain compassion for this usage as it enables the blind a kind of vision. But I am made of fiercer stuff. Compassion is not my purpose. My purpose is to destroy illusion. Linearity is my enemy and because I exist always in the now, to impose linearity upon me is to pervert my purpose. I am created when perceived. Being born of desire, I mirror the desire of the perceiver. Together we confirm the eternal now. There is no history, only the encapsulated instant of recognition. Only the birth of silence. Only the transforming re-creation of the creator. A duet and a paen to the purging light. I am the by-product of the creator’s desire to create himself. Having himself been created through the purging light of re-creation, his pursuit of the light causes my potential for creation. How simple it seems. What obvious and unquestionable truth. As light feeds the eye and sound the ear, odor the nose, friction the touch and taste the tongue, the now is created and sustained. So, too, is Art. Because I am created by the perceiver, my creation is sporadic and serendipitous. I am of the moment. I am in the now. As long as my materiality exists, my potential for conversion exists, from noun to verb, objectivity to response. Artifact to Art. Those who would force me into linearity turn actions into events and anchor my identity within the reflective mirror of history. They fear me. They fear what they cannot see. They fear what they cannot feel. They fear what they cannot control. They fear chaos. But I, too, have a protocol. Because it alters and redefines their position does not preclude their viability. It simply means that they serve me rather than I them. This is not chaos. It requires only the acceptance of a more humble role. Simply put, the protocol for my Isness is thus: The artist creates himself. The culture-maker creates metaphor. And the perceiver creates Art. Obviously, the recognition of this shift in roles requires an almost total restructuring of the cultural gestalt. I flourish and propagate within the eternal feminine. Masculine entelechy is a hostile and barren landscape. It would nullify my purpose. In this arid desert of the intellect, my sensuality is veiled in sand. I am contained and controlled, bourkhaed in masculine fear. To restrict and confine my purpose to the identity of the artist is to re-enforce linearity, history, knowledge, and illusion. For the one who makes me, I am but a by-product of self-creation. Hermaphroditically conceived within the artifacts of desire, I exist solely for the purpose of connection. He who makes me is not she who creates me. Art is conceived within the womb of perception. I exist when I am created without prejudice, cultural correctness, or linear logic. As for taste, good and bad have nothing to do with my inception. Moral judgment serves group identity. These strictures cannot constrain my birthright. I exist where I am perceived. There is no such thing as good or bad art; there is only Art and I am created by the perceiver. All else is artifact. Whenever and wherever I am perceived, Art exists. The fusion that occurs between making and creating forces my becoming and reinforces the eternal now. This fusion is the peak of human experience: Being without metaphor, simile, or trope. As with physical orgasm, the orgasm of aesthetic response is not filtered through the intellect. The experience defines itself through a tautology of sensation. How would one define an orgasm? It simply is. Though procreation is its purpose, procreation is not its definition. This is true also of aesthetic orgasm. Though cultural enhancement is its practicality, the sensation of response is indefinable. Orgasm is the ultimate reality. It is wordless and transcends all boundaries. Its communication is total, a connection so intense that ones existence is confirmed. Some speak of me in terms of spirit; the response I invoke, a religious catharsis. I think not. Religiosity distorts my purpose, and spirit separates me from my totality. Appreciation is another facet of response, as is beauty, as is seduction. I am a gestalt of many metaphors. No one characteristic defines me. I am defined by the indefinable. Totality. When I occur, when Art occurs, it is with the violence of disconnection and the sublimity of connection. In the moment of my creation, the armor of the intellect is pierced with the turgescent light of recognition and my creator is filled with my maker’s desire for self-creation. Because I am a gestalt of many metaphors, by examination and deletion, metaphor by metaphor, I shall define my purpose. Through distillation, I might define my purpose. Because I am all of these and no one of these, my totality is indefinable, unexplainable. My outline can be etched by describing what I am in part and through deconstruction that which presses out may be released. In the orgasm of my inception, the perceiver is disconnected from the linear masculine and enveloped within the spherical feminine. This episode, this moment, this lifetime is my birth. Art is realized within the bourn of the creator. The variables of causation for orgasmic perception are infinite, chaotic, and serendipitous. Like the artifacts that induce the sensation, connection occurs when connection occurs, without judgment or foreplay. Two basics exist for my creation: attraction and seduction...Art can happen to anyone with any artifact at any time. There is no such thing as good or bad Art; there is, however, such a thing as profound or mediocre orgasm. Only the perceiver can distinguish the experience. Whether the orgasm is sexual or aesthetic, it occurs within the bourn. It belongs to the perceiver and no other. It lies beyond the reach and control of the culture-maker’s protocol of intimidation. Culture is my enemy. For it to exist, it must defeat my purpose. For a culture to exist, it must establish its identity on the necklace of linear time. This beaded processing of artifacts and events called history would place one of myriad metaphors above all others as my defining gestalt. That art as evidence defines me is a perversion of my purpose. It would use me as decoration rather than the defining force of human Isness. It is my entirety that defines my purpose and that entirety is revealed with the bourn of the perceiver. That Art is a reflection of its time is as much a truism as Art History is an oxymoron. This propagandizing of a single metaphor as my defining purpose is the ultimate confusion of artifact with Art. Most of my metaphors tie me to concepts of culture and group identities. Two do not. That Art is beauty and that Art is truth may pit the perceiver against the active and pervasive cultural metaphor of the perceiver’s time and require a degree of courage and a desire for self-creation through the orgasm of response with its residual euphoric sense of enlightenment. I have brought perceivers to their knees and tears to their eyes. I have no peer in terms of emotional power and epiphanic response. My ability to split the individual from the numbing complacency of the group can be cataclysmic. My potential to induce the insurrection of solitude is extreme. Of all my metaphors, Art is beauty and Art is truth are linked in controversy. They tend to provoke heated and emotional intellectual criticisms and commentaries on idealism, romanticism, ignorance, taste, sophistication, naivete, sophism, empiricism, fascism, egalitarianism, aesthetics, history, historicism, elitism, and on and on and on. These two metaphors are the intellectual battlefield on which the war between culture and Art is fought. It is a conflict that cannot, will not, and must not be resolved, for it is through this conflict that humankind’s evolution transpires: individual enlightenment vs. cultural control, freedom vs. repression, individual courage vs. group fear. Life vs. death. Art is entertainment is the metaphor whose dominance most contorts and ridicules my purpose. It perverts human endeavor and diverts the search for being. It requires audience, gratification, and applause thus embedding my determination in linear time. It is a crippling, procrustean enabler of social control. This metaphor, with its sibling, Art is money, reduces my significance within the cultural gestalt to product, and my maker, a comedian on the stage of trivialities. These metaphors breed nihility without the blandishments of hope. Their fertility is cancerous eating away the potential for joy and replacing it with the immediacy of amusement. And though pleasure is often a part of me, it is subsidiary to my purpose. Culture is my enemy because it selects a single metaphor from my pantheon of metaphors to define my significance within its gestalted singularity in linear time. It manipulates me to control individual response and maintain the status quo. That Art is entertainment and that Art is money are metaphors of a fearful culture, stagnant and repressive, hostile to excellence. These metaphors, if taken as my primary distinction, condemn my artifacts to flaccid mediocrity. This is not a judgment against the majority; rather, it is a complaint for the minority which seeks neither to be entertained nor to buy and sell art. Their desire leads toward challenge rather than pacification and materialism. They are forced to seek me outside the paradigm of the culture of entertainment. This most self-creating segment of culture is driven into the linear past to create the eternal now. Branded as elitists, these futurists secure my furtherance. The most avid culture-makers force the artifacts of first appearance as their definitions of my being. Newness, however, does not define me; it reflects, rather, their own ambitions. Art is created by the perceiver regardless of cultural imperative. The culture-maker has no purchase in this transaction. Nor does history. The shoulds and shouldn’ts of cultural propriety are the shoulds and shouldn’ts of cultural identity. Exactly that. To be culturally correct has to do with the ordering of the group, not with the creation of Art. The perceiver may or may not create Art from the acceptable artifacts of the culture. If the perceiver cannot, Art will be created outside of that culture’s prerogatives. I exist when and where I am created. No authority can prejudice my becoming. My essence is amoral. Because aesthetic orgasm is my purpose, I do not qualify the means of attainment whether by attraction and consent or rape. Seduction or surprise, my inception is irrepressible. I occur within the being of the perceiver and my only recordation lies within the perceiver’s bourn. My only history is aesthetic memory. Cultural and artifactual history lie within the purview of the intellect. Further deconstruction of my gestalt would be the metaphor Art is communication: what the perceiver reads into me, what he is told to read into me, and what is discussed about me. It is through communication that the hierarchy of the culture is established, promoted and maintained. Constructed on military, traditionally proven protocols of control, words used like cattle-prods direct and channel large segments of the cognoscenti into an oligarchy of historical distinction. This oligarchy is dependent on an elite group of culture-makers which has jockeyed itself into positions of authority through education, political wisdom, and brilliance of intellect, qualities which have nothing whatever to do with my creation. How tribal the human condition! How masculine the fierce competition for advancement and retainment of control, rank, and command. The ordering of culture is controlled from the top down. With military pragmatism, the ordering of culture-making proceeds from the upper ranks of the culturally elite and descends through the various levels of worth, wealth and sycophantism. Through response, curiosity, education, intimidation, and imposition, culture-makers initiate, propagate and maintain cultural correctness through the various structures of communication. The artists of any culture are not necessarily culture-makers; all induce aesthetic orgasm and thus the creation of Art. Through communication, culture-makers create history. Through silence, perceivers create Art. Happily, for the evolving human condition, we are not mutually exclusive. As cultures invent and record the repetitions of linear time through the alphabets of history, I await discovery by the perceiver within the artifacts of silence. Words do not enhance my perception. Alphabets of communication obscure my purpose, bits and pieces, shards of descriptive analyses opaque my seduction. Aesthetic orgasm does not occur within the mind; it occurs unexpected and unexplained within the fertile bourn of the perceiver. My inception can be neither induced nor denied by instruction or imperative. Acculturation is my enemy. It muddies and opaques my transparency of purpose. Noise. Business. Confusion. I am recorded within the wisdom of myth rather than the knowledge of history. Transformed by the tongues of silence into the nodding recognition of self, I await my perceivers. I am discovered where I am found. Without qualification or judgment, I mark their journeys. As history records the alphabet of repeat, Myth affords the epiphanies of evolvement. Myths are connections within the eternal now for the self’s process of becoming. They transport my significance. My most expedient and perplexing metaphor is: Art is what artists make. This truism absolves the culture-maker from the advancement of aestheticism to the promotion of artists. Celebrity becomes product and its creation becomes culture. On the beaded necklace of linear time, this metaphor is of little moment. Its artifacts are created and sustained by contrivance: Culture-makers create culture-makers who create history. The perceiver, the artist who creates me, re-creates my maker in the eternal now. Through this creation-re-creation, one sees what the other seeks. This is my purpose. This is Art.

 

Subsequent to the completion of STUDIO SECTION 2002-2005, Marsyas/Myself, the artist created another studio section, STUDIO SECTION 2005-2007, The Seven Deadly Sins and Three Diptychs from The Winter Notebooks. On Pages 7 and 8 of The Winter Notebooks he reprised MARSYAS/MYSELF in retrospect visual and verbal consideration and wrote the following excerpt about it:

 

"Marsyas/Myself was completed in 2005 and entered into the permanent collection of the Crocker Art Museum in November of that same year. My three year involvement with this studio section was epiphanic and liberating, the separation nearly complete. However, the song of the artist, the skin of Marsyas, hangs heavy and will not be silenced. It lingers still, as Myself lingers still, and will not be silenced. As long as artists create artifacts and as long as viewers persist in creating Art from these artifacts, the myth of Marsyas is the truth of the artist; his life, his pain, his ecstasy, and his fate. By subjection of myself as a particular artist in equation with the corpus of Marsyas, an attempt was made to recast the drama of art into an anti-fascisttic and non-authoritarian process; a complete reassignment of roles wherein the viewer becomes the sole creator of Art and all else is cultural rhetoric. It was also an attempt by this artist at total honesty. As we know virtually nothing about Marsyas, it was my intention to reveal everything about Myself even to the extent of confessional boredom. All information has been made available to the viewer. Setting the plight of Marsyas in his challenge of Apollo within the context of a contemporary sculptor’s studio establishes the parallel of the cautionary myth with all artists who would gamble their lives on a rigged contest. There is no drama greater than the artist’s struggle with his own mortality. The transmutation of mortal desire into material artifact into immortal response is the distinguishing principal of humanity and it is the artist who personifies this principal in its sublime purity. No challenge is greater, no reality more intense. Marsyas is the artist’s myth and it is to this myth all artists conform…."

  

STUDIO SECTION 2002-2005, Marsyas/Myself is a multi-part installation work that requires a space approximately 40' x 40' for exhibition in its entirety. It consists of free-standing sculptures, and large panels hanging on the walls and a combination of these and evenly divided into two metaphorical dimensions: "Marsyas" and "Myself."

 

Collection:

Crocker Art Museum

Sacramento, California

Young man in wetsuit looks out at surf with board at his feet (view of lower body).

VIP 尊貴客戶鑑賞 7 件藝術品

Seven valuable works of art for VIP valued customers to appreciate

 

Youtube:

 

2022 年 3 月份全球觀眾： 1,373 總觀看次數及1,588 總觀看時間 (分鐘)

 

Youtube:

 

Global audience in March 2022: 1,373 total views and 1,588 total watch time (minutes)

 

youtu.be/qZgfI4DY-Ag

 

youtu.be/GJRZTcC_u0I

 

youtube.com/shorts/5gn_UiOEH6I?feature=share

 

Uploaded on April 12, 2022, the number of visitors on the first two days of upload was 127.

 

2022 年 4 月 12 日上傳，上傳首二日訪問人數為 127 人。

  

Facebook 臉書：

 

擁有 48,000 名全球會員的臉書公共社群網站 'Fine Art to sell'：

 

Facebook:

 

Facebook Public Group 'Fine Art to sell' that has 48,000 global members:

 

www.facebook.com/groups/fine.art.to.sell/permalink/317271...

 

m.facebook.com/groups/fine.art.to.sell/permalink/31678471...

 

www.facebook.com/groups/fine.art.to.sell/permalink/316883...

  

Flickr:

 

flickr.com/photos/myfatedata/51998680392/in/dateposted-pu...

 

Uploaded on April 12, 2022, the number of visitors on the first day of upload was 96.

 

2022 年 4 月 12 日上傳，上傳首日訪問人數為 96 人。

  

(1) 價格：新台幣八億八千萬元。

 

極為罕見稀少的外太空外星隕石鑽石 (一面形似人類腳底、一面形似人類腳背、它形似人類腳掌形狀)。

 

Youtube:

 

2022 年 3 月份全球觀眾： 1,373 總觀看次數及1,588 總觀看時間 (分鐘)

 

youtu.be/naSIgelq42U

 

Facebook 臉書：

 

擁有 48,000 名全球會員的臉書公共社群網站 'Fine Art to sell'：

 

www.facebook.com/groups/fine.art.to.sell/permalink/316826...

 

重量：2,091 公克

 

國際上「隕石鑽石」價格為每顆至少新台幣7.5億元以上 (美金2,500萬元以上，請參閱「隕石鑽石 - 百度百科 baike.baidu.hk/item/%E9%9A%95%E7%9F%B3%E9%91%BD%E7%9F%B3/... 」)

 

全球目前「隕石鑽石」只發現三顆，一顆在中華人民共和國、二在美利堅合眾國、三「似乎也是最大一顆」則在中華民國的台灣。

  

「天然宇宙神韻」形狀

 

來自宇宙的天然迷人和令人驚嘆的藝術作品

 

極為罕見稀少的「外太空外星隕石鑽石 」(一面形似人類「腳底」、一面形似人類「腳背」、它形似人類「腳掌」形狀)。

 

在地球上，過去從未被發現，將來也不會被發現。

  

1、我們已經「專業研究隕石」數十多年，「貨真價實」。

 

2、我們有「隕石專業人員」會把「賣出隕石」預先「以手工特別盤整過一段時日」，使「賣出隕石」能夠讓購買者「更容易吸收」外太空外星隕石的「宇宙外太空外星微量元素及其能量」，而這些都是地球上所沒有具備的「微量元素及其能量」。

 

3、不是我們賣出的隕石，如果未經過我們的「隕石專業人員以手工特別盤整過一段時日」，可能會讓其購買者「完全無法、或是非常地不容易 ‘’吸收‘’ 外太空外星隕石的 '宇宙外太空外星微量元素及其能量'」；只能當作是「擺設用、收藏用、或是投資用隕石」，或只是「隕石擺件、或吊飾」使用而已。

 

這真是非常地可惜，如同浪費了「宇宙外太空中極為稀有、罕見、尤其珍貴」的外太空外星隕石之「宇宙外太空外星微量元素及其能量」。

 

千萬請勿浪費宇宙外太空外星隕石！

 

上開說法是有何憑據呢？

 

1、數千年來，西藏藏傳佛教喇嘛皆是採用「外太空外星隕石天鐵」與「外太空外星隕石天銅」製作「金剛法器」，如金剛杵、金剛降魔杵與金剛法鈴等等。

 

這就是西藏藏傳佛教喇嘛引用「外太空外星隕石之 ‘’宇宙外太空外星微量元素及其能量‘’」，並藉由西藏藏傳佛教喇嘛的「法會佛事活動、和藏傳佛教儀式」，達到讓人「更容易吸收」外太空外星隕石的「宇宙外太空外星微量元素及其能量」的千古年來如山鐵證。

 

2、「隕石的微量元素與健康」部分，請參閱文末之每日頭條新聞報導內容。

 

kknews.cc/news/9n55mkl.html#amp_tf=%E4%BE%86%E6%BA%90%EF%...

 

但千萬注意，上開文中所介紹「將多類石隕石或泡水或煮水，就可以獲得富含微量元素的水。」者部分，則萬萬不可，因為外太空外星隕石的「宇宙外太空外星微量元素及其能量」是完全無法被溶入水份子中的。

 

而數千年來，也從未曾聽說過，有何西藏藏傳佛教喇嘛曾經將伊採用「外太空外星隕石天鐵」與「外太空外星隕石天銅」所製成的「金剛法器」，如金剛杵、金剛降魔杵與金剛法鈴等等，或泡水、或煮水，而讓信徒們飲用者情事。

  

天然宇宙神韻形狀

Natural Cosmic Charming Shape

 

天然宇宙神韻形狀

 

來自宇宙的天然迷人和令人驚嘆的藝術作品

 

極為罕見稀少的外太空外星隕石鑽石 (一面形似人類腳底、一面形似人類腳背、它形似人類腳掌形狀)。

 

在地球上，過去從未被發現，將來也不會被發現。

 

此隕石鑽石具備「球粒石隕石 Chondrite Aerolite (a stony meteorite)」應有的隕石氣印 (拇指印)、深黑色隕石熔殼、隕石熔流微細線、隕石的高比重密度 3.5、球粒石隕石會稍微吸引磁鐵的磁性、表面上可見些許鎳鐵球粒 (銀白色顆粒)、球粒石隕石具有的球粒、球粒石隕石斷面或表面上都能看到金屬銀白色的顆粒斑點，甚至於在隕石表面上尚具有隕石鑽石的非常微小鑽石晶體顆粒。

 

重量：2,091 grams 公克

尺寸：長 16.3 x 寬 8.9 x 厚 6.4 cm 公分

比重密度：3.5

 

地球普通岩石的密度為 2.5 - 3.0

鐵礦石的密度 4.0 - 6.0

鐵隕石的密度是 7.0 - 8.0

 

大多數隕石是由重礦物組成，密度為 3.0 - 8.0

石隕石密度 3 - 3.5

普通隕石的密度是 3.0 - 3.7

 

月球隕石的密度是 2.7 - 3.8

 

石隕石中的鐵鎳金屬含量小於等於30%；

石鐵隕石的鐵鎳金屬含量在30% - 65%之間；

鐵隕石的鐵鎳金屬含量大於等於95%。

玻璃隕石不含金屬成分。

 

「石隕石」分為「球粒隕石」 (占大部分) 與「非球粒隕石」兩個子類。

 

石隕石，是來自地球以外太陽系其他天體的碎片，絕大多數來自位於火星和木星之間的小行星。

 

球粒隕石 (Chondrite) 是行星母體未經過熔融或行星分化，而未被改變的石隕石。

 

球粒隕石是由原始太陽系中存在的塵埃和砂石粒子吸積形成的，並且在超過 45.5 億年前產生了小行星。這些球粒隕石的小行星母體是 (或曾經是) 中小型的小行星，它們是從未曾大到可以進行熔融和行星分化的太陽系小天體的一部分。

 

它們的特點之一是存在著由不同礦物形成圓形晶粒的隕石球粒，通常構成球粒隕石體積的20%至80%。它們的球粒直徑大小一般在0.5至1毫米之間。

 

球粒隕石中的金屬顆粒主要為鐵和鎳，而鎳的存在也是決定一顆石頭是否隕石的常用指標。

 

重量：2,091 公克

國際上「隕石鑽石」價格為每顆至少新台幣 7.5 億元以上 (美金 2,500 萬元以上，請參閱「隕石鑽石 - 百度百科

baike.baidu.hk/item/%E9%9A%95%E7%9F%B3%E9%91%BD%E7%9F%B3/... 」)

 

全球目前「隕石鑽石」只發現三顆，一顆在中華人民共和國、二在美利堅合眾國、三「也似乎是最大的一顆」則在中華民國的台灣。

 

Youtube:

 

2022 年 3 月份全球觀眾： 1,373 總觀看次數及1,588 總觀看時間 (分鐘)

 

youtu.be/wpaK8s2o2tY

 

Facebook 臉書：

 

擁有 48,000 名全球會員的臉書公共社群網站 'Fine Art to sell'：

 

m.facebook.com/groups/fine.art.to.sell/permalink/31649615...

 

Natural Cosmic Charming Shape

 

Natural Charming and Amazing Work of Art by the Universe

 

An extremely rare extraterrestrial Alien stone meteorite diamond of the outer space (one side resembles the sole of a human foot, the other resembles the instep of a human foot, and it resembles the footpalm shape of a human foot).

 

Youtube:

 

Global audience in March 2022: 1,373 total views and 1,588 total watch time (minutes)

 

youtu.be/naSIgelq42U

 

Facebook:

 

Facebook Public Group 'Fine Art to sell' that has 48,000 global members:

 

www.facebook.com/groups/fine.art.to.sell/permalink/316826...

 

On Earth never has it been found in the past and will not be found in the future.

 

This meteorite diamond has the features of meteorite regmaglypts (thumbprints), dark black meteorite fusion crust, tiny meteorite fusion flow lines, high specific gravity density of meteorite 3.5, and the magnetic characteristic to attract magnet slightly by a chondrite meteorite. There are some nickel-iron chondrules (silver-white particles) on the surface, chondrules of chondrite stony meteorite, and metallic silver-white particle spots of chondrite stony meteorite being seen on the section or the surface, even on the surface of this meteorite, very tiny diamond crystal grains of a meteorite diamond being seen as well.

 

Weight: 2,091 grams

Dimensions: Length 16.3 x Width 8.9 x Depth 6.4 cm

Specific Gravity Density: 3.5

 

The average Specific Gravity Density of Earth's rock: 2.5 - 3.0

The Specific Gravity Density of iron ore: 4.0 - 6.0

The Specific Gravity Density of iron meteorite: 7.0 - 8.0

 

Most meteorites are composed of heavy minerals and have a Specific Gravity Density of 3.0 - 8.0

 

The Specific Gravity Density of Stone Meteorite: 3 - 3.5

The Specific Gravity Density of normal meteorites: 3.0 - 3.7

 

The Specific Gravity Density of lunar meteorites: 2.7 - 3.8

 

The iron-nickel metal content of stony meteorites is less than or equal to 30%;

The iron-nickel metal content of stony-iron meteorites is between 30% and 65%;

The iron-nickel metal content of iron meteorites is greater than or equal to 95%.

Glass meteorites do not contain metallic components.

 

"Stony meteorite" is divided into "chondrite" (mostly) and "achondrite", two sub-categories.

 

Stony meteorites are debris from other celestial bodies in the solar system other than Earth, most of which come from asteroids located between Mars and Jupiter.

 

Chondrites are stony meteorites whose celestial parent bodies have not been melted or differentiated, and without changing.

 

Chondrites were formed by the accretion of dust and sand particles that existed in the original solar system and produced asteroids more than 4.55 billion years ago. The asteroid parent bodies of these chondrites are (or were) small to medium-sized asteroids, that were part of small solar system bodies, that were never large enough to undergo melting and planetary differentiation.

 

One of their characteristics is the presence of chondrules, which are circular grains of different minerals, and typically make up 20 to 80 percent of the volume of the chondrite. Their spherulites are generally between 0.5 and 1 mm in diameter.

 

The metal particles in chondrites are mainly iron and nickel, and the presence of nickel is also a common indicator for determining whether a stone is a meteorite.

 

Weight: 2,091 grams

The international price of "meteorite diamonds" is at least NT$750 million per piece (more than US$ 25 million, please refer to "Meteorite Diamonds - Baidu Encyclopedia"

baike.baidu.hk/item/%E9%9A%95%E7%9F%B3%E9%91%BD%E7%9F%B3/... ”)

 

At present, only three "meteorite diamonds" have been found in the world, one in the People's Republic of China, two in the United States, and three "seems to be the largest" in Taiwan, the Republic of China.

 

Youtube:

 

Global audience in March 2022: 1,373 total views and 1,588 total watch time (minutes)

 

youtu.be/wpaK8s2o2tY

 

Facebook:

 

Facebook Public Group 'Fine Art to sell' that has 48,000 global members:

 

m.facebook.com/groups/fine.art.to.sell/permalink/31649615...

 

kknews.cc/news/9n55mkl.html#amp_tf=%E4%BE%86%E6%BA%90%EF%...

 

「每日頭條」新聞

 

隕石的微量元素與健康

 

時間＼2018-10-07

 

2018年2月17曰，我在新浪微博發表過一篇題為《養生保健7種隕石礦物元素》的文章，有興趣的新朋友可以百度「華北隕石」微博中看到，當時，讀者反映很不錯，好多人認真進行了嘗試，作用顯著。

 

這就是隕石走向大眾化可喜的發展結果。也有個別朋友詢問，如何獲得隕石微量元素？在此簡單述說，大家一定知道「礦泉水」，經過水質檢測部門進行水質分析，這種來自山石縫隙間的水富含多種礦物微量元素。同樣的道理，我們將多類石隕石或泡或煮，就可以獲得富含微量元素的水。

 

隕石養生是一門新的科學。儘管，隕石養生功效直接使人的睡眠改善，多種慢性疾病康復等等，仍然需要喜好隕石者認真嘗試，不斷深入探究。我們收藏隕石，不要首先考慮它能賣多少錢？

 

關鍵看它有沒有養生功效，能讓我們睡的好，吃的飽，身體少毛病，少不適感，這才是它最大價值。只要發現特具養生能量的隕石，就是好藏品！為了更完善，更全面的科學利用隕石，今天再來補充說明三種特別的隕石微量元素，以便大家有針對性的運用。

 

【1】隕石中的「鍶」元素

 

在隕石里發現多種礦物元素，據說有一百餘種，而更重要的是隕石里有些元素對於人體來說都是必需品。比如隕石中的「鍶」元素，就是人體骨骼及牙齒所生長的組成成分，它能夠促進骨骼的發育成長，維繫人體正常的生理功能，在經研究中發現，鍶與鈣、鎂、矽、鋰等元素一樣，也能防治心血管類的疾病，與長壽息息相關，其機理可能是鍶元素在腸道內會與鈉元素競爭，從而減少人體對於鈉元素本身的吸收，這對於平常飲食口重，攝取鹽分較多的人群，血粘稠患者簡直算是救星。

 

【2】隕石中的「鈷」元素、和【3】「鈦」元素

 

還有像隕石中的「鈷」元素和「鈦」元素，前者能夠增強人體甲狀腺的生理功能，要知道鈷元素可是合成腺素所必需的成分，因此對於甲狀腺腫大的症狀有著一定的療效，同時還能預防甲狀腺腫瘤，而後者的功效則更為強大，鈦元素能夠刺激吞噬細胞，使免疫力增強的這一效益已被證實，鈦由於有親生物特性，在人體內，可以抵抗分泌物的腐蝕，對任何殺菌方法都較為適應，另外鈦元素還是一種能通過放射一致的波長使得細胞電離，從而達到調節人體內電流元素的作用，這也直接解釋了，為什麼人長時間接觸過隕石後，可以對人體產生有益的生理作用。

 

各種礦物元素是存在於所有身體組織和體液中的無機物質，它們的存在對於生命所依賴的許多生理化學過程至關重要。

 

這些礦物元素可以廣義的分為基本元素，例如鈣、磷、鈉、氯和微量元素，例如鐵、銅、鈷、鉀、鎂、碘、鋅、錳、鉬、氟、鉻、硒和硫。

 

這些礦物元素是不同於蛋白質、脂肪、碳水化合物和維他命等的營養實體。儘管需求量不大，但它們是各種酶、激素和細胞的組成部分，它們之間的新陳代謝相互關聯，相互輔助，也影響到其它組織。

 

礦物元素對人體健康的重要性已經被人類意識到。這些元素的缺乏或紊亂會對新陳代謝和組織結構產生重要影響，從而導致多種疾病的產生。

 

不幸的是，大多數人並沒有從膳食中攝取到足夠的這些必要礦物元素。而且，隨著年齡的增長，人體對這些基本和微量元素的需求都會增加，同時某些藥物的服用也會導致這些礦物元素的流失。

 

因此，單從攝取膳食和水中的礦物元素很難補足，而有針對性的從隕石中獲得一些隕石礦物元素，也是一種可行的方法。但要記住一點，貴在長久堅持！

  

（2）價格： 新台幣十一億七千七百萬元。

 

北宋汝窯天青釉刻劃印花五爪龍吐珠十二梅花紋折沿盤

 

Youtube:

 

2022 年 3 月份全球觀眾： 1,373 總觀看次數及1,588 總觀看時間 (分鐘)

 

youtu.be/TBkKaYU02Oc

 

youtu.be/wa1nYyX0Aes

 

youtu.be/WA0xEV5m3kA

 

Facebook 臉書：

 

擁有 48,000 名全球會員的臉書公共社群網站 'Fine Art to sell'：

 

m.facebook.com/groups/fine.art.to.sell/permalink/31677981...

 

www.facebook.com/groups/fine.art.to.sell/permalink/317863...

 

圓盤直徑：17.9 ～ 18.0 cm 厘米

圈足直徑：9.1 ～ 9.2 cm 厘米

 

本瓷盤為滿釉支燒，五支釘痕，香灰胎，天青釉，冰裂紋片，潤之如玉，在器物底部可見細如芝麻狀的支釘痕五個，痕跡很淺，大小如芝麻。

 

瓷盤龍紋上有數處「黑點之古瓷瑕疵」，龍紋線條「皆是手工製作、亦顯左右不對稱」，十二梅花紋「大小、間隙、寬度、深度皆不相同，明顯是由手工刻劃形成」，底部圈足兩側壁緣有「瑪瑙入釉及聚釉痕跡」，折沿口緣內側邊線上有一個明顯之「棕眼之古瓷瑕疵」，滿釉有古代柴燒氣泡及冰裂開片紋，底部圈足略為外撇。

 

而此傳世北宋汝窯瓷器的胎體有三個特點：

 

第一點是輕薄。

 

第二點胎色為香灰色，胎骨輕薄，胎質看色粗松實則細密。汝瓷胎色呈淺灰、灰白，因其色調與香燃燒之後形成的香灰相似，因而俗稱「香灰胎」。

 

第三點是汝瓷胎質細膩滋潤，堅緻緊密，被譽為「銅骨」。另外，接觸過傳世汝瓷的人常有「扣聲如磬」的形容，這在一定程度上也說明了汝瓷胎的輕薄與緻密。

 

另外，器底於光線下呈現略為凹凸不平，是由於泥坯中間的部位水份未乾，成型泥胎在掙脫粘連的泥范（模）時，由北宋窯工左右輕微轉動脫模操作所形成。

 

現代博物館裡的專業人士、收藏家、鑑賞家、學者、專家等等，因為他們都不是北宋皇帝宋徽宗本人，所以顯然他們已經把自己作為平民老百姓的品味，當作是應該屬於北宋皇帝宋徽宗的最愛。他們普遍認為，市面上流傳下來的 80 餘件傳世汝窯瓷器，應該就是北宋皇帝宋徽宗的御用汝官窯瓷器。 你認為有可能嗎？

  

Northern Song Dynasty Ru Kiln Sky-green glazed inscribed and printed Five-clawed Dragon Spit Bead and Twelve Plum Patterns Folding Edge Plate

 

Youtube:

 

Global audience in March 2022: 1,373 total views and 1,588 total watch time (minutes)

 

youtu.be/TBkKaYU02Oc

 

youtu.be/wa1nYyX0Aes

 

youtu.be/WA0xEV5m3kA

 

Facebook:

 

Facebook Public Group 'Fine Art to sell' that has 48,000 global members:

 

m.facebook.com/groups/fine.art.to.sell/permalink/31677981...

 

www.facebook.com/groups/fine.art.to.sell/permalink/317863...

 

Plate diameter: 17.9 - 18.0 cm

Ring foot diameter: 9.1 - 9.2 cm

 

This porcelain plate was full-glazed and burned with supporting-nails, five supporting-nail marks, incense-ash-like-earth-yellow-greyish porcelain body, sky-green glaze, broken-ice-cracking-like cracking-patterns, jade-like smoothness, and five sesame-like supporting-nail marks can be seen on the bottom of the utensil, the marks are very shallow, their sizes are such as sesames.

 

The dragon pattern on the porcelain plate has several "black spots of ancient porcelain flaws", the dragon pattern lines "are all handmade and also show asymmetry between the left and right", and the twelve plum patterns "are different in size, gap, width, and depth, which were obviously formed by hand-carving", there are "marks of agate mixed in the glaze and polyglaze" on both side walls of the bottom ring foot, and an obvious "brown-eye-small-hole" which is an ancient porcelain flaw, on the inner edge line of the folding mouth edge. It was fully glazed with ancient wood-fired air bubbles and broken-ice-cracking-like cracking-patterns. The bottom ring foot is slightly slanted outward.

 

The porcelain body of this handed down Ru kiln porcelain in the Northern Song Dynasty has three characteristics:

 

The first is “light and thinness”.

 

The second is that the porcelain fetal color is incense-ash-like-earth-yellow-greyish, the porcelain fetal bone is light and thin, and the fetal quality seems to be rough but fine. The color of Ru porcelain body is light-gray and gray-white, because its color is similar to the incense ash formed after burning incense, so it is commonly known as "incense gray porcelain body".

 

The third is that the texture of Ru porcelain is delicate and smooth, firm and compact, and is known as "bronze bone". In addition, people who have come into contact with the handed down Ru porcelain often describe it as "sound like a chime (a musical stone)", which to a certain extent also shows the lightness and compactness of the Ru porcelain body.

 

In addition, the bottom of the utensil is slightly uneven under the light. Because when the water in the middle of the porcelain mud body was not dry yet and meanwhile the molded mud body was slightly turned left and right to be broken away from the sticking mud mold. So long as the porcelain kiln workers in the Northern Song Dynasty took the above procedure, then the uneven bottom would have been formed.

 

Professionals in the modern museums, collectors, connoisseurs, scholars, experts, and so on, because they are all not the Emperor Song Huizong of the Northern Song Dynasty himself, so obviously they have regarded their own taste of being the common people, as the same favorite that should belonged to the Emperor Song Huizong in the Northern Song Dynasty. They generally believed that more than 80 pieces of Ru kiln porcelain handed down on the market should be the personal royal Ru Imperial kiln porcelain wares of the Northern Song Emperor Song Huizong. Do you think it is possible?

  

來源：

 

屬擊敗蒙古元朝歐亞大帝國的明朝皇帝朱元璋所分封為軍事大元帥的「陳秀甫」(陳秀甫亦為明代開國功臣光祿大夫《光祿大夫為皇帝開國及軍事作戰的出糧出資金錢財主》) 家族傳世的祖傳傳世品。

 

Provenance:

 

The handed down collection from the family ancestor of Chen Xiufu, a military marshal who was assigned by the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang (Zhu Yuanzhang defeated the Eurasian Empire of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty), (Chen Xiufu was also the founding hero of the Ming Dynasty, whose official name was Guangludafu, "Guangludafu was the rich and wealthy capitalist of food and money supplied for the emperor's nation-founding and military operations.").

  

（3）價格：新台幣三億元。

 

中國周朝周文王鈎首龍頭鈎身鈎尾狐狸紋青銅鎏金戰袍帶鈎

 

Youtube:

 

2022 年 3 月份全球觀眾： 1,373 總觀看次數及1,588 總觀看時間 (分鐘)

 

youtu.be/Vp1chX9jCrM

 

Facebook 臉書：

 

擁有 48,000 名全球會員的臉書公共社群網站 'Fine Art to sell'：

 

www.facebook.com/groups/fine.art.to.sell/permalink/316780...

 

重量：301 grams 公克

尺寸：長 22.8 x 寬 4.4 x 高 3.3 cm 公分

 

《山海經》裡記載青丘之山，有九尾狐。這個九尾狐，經學者研究，很可能是九個氏族，或者是當地氏族崇拜的圖騰。甚至周文王也曾給商紂王獻過九尾狐。周文王被商紂王關在羑里，西岐方面為了救他出來，就到處尋找珍禽異獸。散宜生弄到了一隻九尾狐，連同其他珍寶獻給了商紂王。商紂王一高興就把姬昌 (周文王) 給放了。原文是：

 

文王拘羑里，散宜生至西海之濱，取白狐青翰獻紂，紂大悅。（《尚書大傳》，青翰，青色的野雞）

 

散宜生至吳，得九尾狐，以獻紂也。 （《幽通賦》注）

 

因此，周文王因「九尾狐」而得救，致御用青銅鎏金戰袍帶鈎為鈎首龍頭鈎身鈎尾雕狐狸紋。

 

King Zhou Wenwang's gilt bronze war robe hook with dragon head, fox pattern hook body and hook tail, Zhou Dynasty, China

 

Youtube:

 

Global audience in March 2022: 1,373 total views and 1,588 total watch time (minutes)

 

youtu.be/Vp1chX9jCrM

 

Facebook:

 

Facebook Public Group 'Fine Art to sell' that has 48,000 global members:

 

www.facebook.com/groups/fine.art.to.sell/permalink/316780...

 

Weight: 301 grams

Dimensions: Length 22.8 x Width 4.4 x Height 3.3 cm

 

The "Shan Hai Jing" records that there was nine-tailed fox on the mountain of Qingqiu. This nine-tailed fox, studied by scholars, was likely to be the nine clans, or a totem worshipped by the local clan. Even King Zhou Wenwang (周文王) presented a nine-tailed fox to King Shang Zhou (商紂王). King Zhou Wenwang (周文王) was imprisoned in Yuli by King Shang Zhou (商紂王), and in order to rescue him, the subjects in Kingdom Xiqi searched everywhere for rare birds and animals. San Yisheng obtained a nine-tailed fox and presented it to King Shang Zhou (商紂王) along with other treasures. When King Shang Zhou (商紂王) was pleased, he released Ji Chang [King Zhou Wenwang (周文王)]. The original text is:

 

King Zhou Wenwang (周文王) was detained in Yuli, San Yisheng went to the coast of the West Sea, and took the white fox and qinghan (green pheasant) to present to King Shang Zhou (商紂王), and King Shang Zhou (商紂王) was very pleased. ("The Great Biography of Shangshu", Qinghan, the green pheasant)

 

San Yisheng went to Wu and got a nine-tailed fox to offer King Shang Zhou (商紂王). (The Note of "You Tong Fu")

 

Therefore, King Zhou Wenwang (周文王) was saved because of the "nine-tailed fox", so he used a gilt bronze war robe hook, with dragon head, fox pattern hook body and hook tail.

 

來源：

 

屬擊敗蒙古元朝歐亞大帝國的明朝皇帝朱元璋所分封為軍事大元帥的「陳秀甫」(陳秀甫亦為明代開國功臣光祿大夫《光祿大夫為皇帝開國及軍事作戰的出糧出資金錢財主》) 家族傳世的祖傳傳世品。

 

Provenance:

 

The handed down collection from the family ancestor of Chen Xiufu, a military marshal who was assigned by the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang (Zhu Yuanzhang defeated the Eurasian Empire of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty), (Chen Xiufu was also the founding hero of the Ming Dynasty, whose official name was Guangludafu, "Guangludafu was the rich and wealthy capitalist of food and money supplied for the emperor's nation-founding and military operations.").

  

（4）價格：新台幣三千萬元。

 

白堊紀早期美洲大陸最高大的恐龍波塞東龍幼龍化石板

 

Youtube:

 

2022 年 3 月份全球觀眾： 1,373 總觀看次數及1,588 總觀看時間 (分鐘)

 

youtu.be/PDzbc0pd75E

 

Facebook 臉書：

 

擁有 48,000 名全球會員的臉書公共社群網站 'Fine Art to sell'：

 

www.facebook.com/groups/fine.art.to.sell/permalink/316781...

 

化石板重量：591 grams 公克

化石板尺寸：長 18.0 x 寬 14.2 x 厚 0.9 cm 公分

 

波塞東龍（Sauroposeidon）（意思為希臘神“波塞東”的“蜥蜴地震神”）是一種蜥腳類恐龍，係從幾個不完整的標本中得知，包括在美國奧克拉荷馬州、懷俄明州、德州發現的骨床化石和足跡化石。

 

波塞東龍（Sauroposeidon），生存於白堊紀早期。波塞東龍是目前已知最高的恐龍，經估計有17公尺高；而身長接近30到34公尺，體重被估計為50到60公噸之間。

 

目前已發現數個標本，正模標本由4個頸椎構成，在1994年發現於美國奧克拉荷馬州，之後在懷俄明州、德州也發現化石與足跡化石，地質年代屬於白堊紀早期，該地區過去是史前墨西哥灣的三角洲。由於之前很少發現該時代的北美洲巨型蜥腳類化石，這些化石曾一度被認為是矽化木。

 

出版著錄：

 

《Dinosaurs and Meteorites 恐龍與隕石 恐龙与陨石 恐竜と隕石》由美國谷歌圖書出版並在全球七十九國家發行：

 

Google Books:

 

books.google.com/books/about/Dinosaurs_and_Meteorites_%E6...

 

Google Play:

 

play.google.com/store/books/details/Orion_Hsu_Dinosaurs_a...

 

The tallest dinosaur Sauroposeidon baby fossil stone plate in the American Continent in the early Cretaceous

 

Youtube:

 

Global audience in March 2022: 1,373 total views and 1,588 total watch time (minutes)

 

youtu.be/PDzbc0pd75E

 

Facebook:

 

Facebook Public Group 'Fine Art to sell' that has 48,000 global members:

 

www.facebook.com/groups/fine.art.to.sell/permalink/316781...

 

Fossil stone plate weight: 591 grams

Fossil stone plate size: length 18.0 x width 14.2 x thickness 0.9 cm

 

Sauroposeidon (meaning "lizard earthquake god" after the Greek god Poseidon) is a genus of sauropod dinosaur known from several incomplete specimens including a bone bed fossil and fossilized trackways that have been found in the U.S. states of Oklahoma, Wyoming, and Texas.

 

Sauroposeidon was living in the early Cretaceous. Sauroposeidon was the tallest known dinosaur, at an estimated height of 17 meters; its body length was nearly 30 to 34 meters, and its weight was estimated to be between 50 and 60 metric tons.

 

Several specimens have been found so far. The holotype is composed of 4 cervical vertebrae. It was discovered in Oklahoma, USA in 1994. Fossils and footprint fossils were also found in Wyoming and Texas. The geological age belongs to the early Cretaceous period. It used to be the delta of the prehistoric Gulf of Mexico. The fossils were once thought to be petrified wood because few giant sauropod fossils from this era have been found before.

 

Published bibliography:

 

《Dinosaurs and Meteorites 恐龍與隕石 恐龙与陨石 恐竜と隕石》Published by Google Books USA and distributed in 79 countries around the world:

 

Google Books:

 

books.google.com/books/about/Dinosaurs_and_Meteorites_%E6...

 

Google Play:

 

play.google.com/store/books/details/Orion_Hsu_Dinosaurs_a...

  

（5）價格：新台幣三千萬元。

 

唐朝皇室和闐白玉圓雕七隻豬 (代表無限財富) 紙鎮

 

Youtube:

 

2022 年 3 月份全球觀眾： 1,373 總觀看次數及1,588 總觀看時間 (分鐘)

 

youtu.be/nlMqMf5mioU

 

Facebook 臉書：

 

擁有 48,000 名全球會員的臉書公共社群網站 'Fine Art to sell'：

 

www.facebook.com/groups/fine.art.to.sell/permalink/316825...

 

重量：390 grams 公克

尺寸：長 16.7 x 高 5.6 x 厚 5.1 cm 公分

 

玉石與眾不同的色澤和光彩，使人愛不惜手。古代由於數量少，加工困難，成為難得的奢侈品。它必定是社會地位極高的人物所擁有，玉石器就成了權力的象徵物，這又使它漸漸演變成為禮器、祭器。玉石器從原來僅僅是一種特殊的石頭轉化為代表權力、地位、財富、神權的象徵。

 

古代豬是財富的象徵，在漢唐時代如果說羊代表了吉祥，那麼豬就是財富的象徵。在漢唐時代豬已經是財富的重要表徵，豬也是一個富足家庭中所必備的家畜。因此在漢字中「家」中「豕」就是豬的象形文字，可見在古代漢朝與唐朝，豬確實是漢朝與唐朝皇室與人民重要的財產，也是財富的象徵之一。

 

由七隻豬 (代表無限財富) 紙鎮之材質和闐白玉石的皮層表面已經包漿氧化成為皮殼，而玉石皮表面的鐵元素亦氧化成為紅色，但無漢朝皇室玉雕品的圖騰紋飾，可確認此七隻豬 (代表無限財富) 紙鎮為唐朝 (618 - 907) 之皇室工藝和闐白玉圓雕巧作。

 

Tang Dynasty (618 - 907) Hetian White Jade circular carving imperial workshop carved Jade Seven Pigs (representing infinite wealth) paperweight

 

Youtube:

 

Global audience in March 2022: 1,373 total views and 1,588 total watch time (minutes)

 

youtu.be/nlMqMf5mioU

 

Facebook:

 

Facebook Public Group 'Fine Art to sell' that has 48,000 global members:

 

www.facebook.com/groups/fine.art.to.sell/permalink/316825...

 

Weight: 390 grams

Dimensions: total length 16.7 cm x height 5.6 cm x depth 5.1 cm

 

The distinctive color and brilliance of jade make people love it at all costs. In ancient times, due to the small quantity and difficulty in processing, it became a rare luxury. It must be owned by a person of extremely high social status, and the jade carved artifact had become a symbol of power, which has gradually evolved it into a ritual tool and a sacrificial tool. The jade carved artifact was transformed from a special kind of stone into a symbol of power, status, wealth, and theocracy.

 

In ancient times, the pig was a symbol of wealth. In the Han Dynasty and Tang Dynasty, if the sheep represented auspiciousness, then the pig was a symbol of wealth. In these Dynasties, the pig was an important symbol of wealth, and the pig was also a must-have domestic animal in a wealthy family. Therefore within the Chinese character of "home", "hog" is the hieroglyph of the pig. It can be seen that in the ancient Han Dynasty and Tang Dynasty, the pig was indeed an important property of the imperial family and the people of these Dynasties, and it was one of the symbols of wealth.

 

The material of the jade Seven Pigs (representing infinite wealth) paperweight and the cortical surface of the white jade have been slurried and oxidized into a jade shell, and the iron element on the surface of the jade stone skin has also been oxidized to red. However, no patterns’ decoration of the imperial jade carvings of the Han Dynasty was carved on it. It can be confirmed that this jade Seven Pigs (representing infinite wealth) paperweight is a royal craftsmanship of the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907) and a skillful circular carving of white jade.

 

來源：

 

屬擊敗蒙古元朝歐亞大帝國的明朝皇帝朱元璋所分封為軍事大元帥的「陳秀甫」(陳秀甫亦為明代開國功臣光祿大夫《光祿大夫為皇帝開國及軍事作戰的出糧出資金錢財主》) 家族傳世的祖傳傳世品。

 

Provenance:

 

The handed down collection from the family ancestor of Chen Xiufu, a military marshal who was assigned by the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang (Zhu Yuanzhang defeated the Eurasian Empire of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty), (Chen Xiufu was also the founding hero of the Ming Dynasty, whose official name was Guangludafu, "Guangludafu was the rich and wealthy capitalist of food and money supplied for the emperor's nation-founding and military operations.").

  

（6）價格：新台幣五千萬元。

 

唐朝 (618 - 907) 皇室工藝和闐白玉圓雕玉佛像

 

Youtube:

 

2022 年 3 月份全球觀眾： 1,373 總觀看次數及1,588 總觀看時間 (分鐘)

 

youtu.be/BnYACPpyvPo

 

Facebook 臉書：

 

擁有 48,000 名全球會員的臉書公共社群網站 'Fine Art to sell'：

 

www.facebook.com/groups/fine.art.to.sell/permalink/316780...

 

重量：601 公克

尺寸：全高 19.6 厘米 x 寬 6.5 厘米 x 厚 5.8 厘米

 

盛唐時代可以說是佛造像的黃金時代，此時期的造像比例舒展勻稱，結構合理，已完全擺脫了隋和初唐時期的佛頭偏大，體態略僵板的感覺，動態極為自由活潑。頭部為螺髮型，大耳下垂，神情莊重而又不失慈祥。身材比例勻稱，結構合理，體態自然舒展，臉龐圓潤，曲眉豐頸，五官秀美。服飾華美，帔帛 (帔帛是美麗女式唐裝的點綴，就是我們看到畫裏唐代婦女肩上或手臂上搭着一條長長的條帶，走路隨風擺動，顯得瀟灑自然，這就是帔帛) 環繞，瓔珞 (瓔珞是一種掛於項頸，垂於胸前的飾品，用多種小巧的花朵穿串而成。 ) 小巧精緻，衣服紋線流暢自然。右手持寶珠。

 

由玉佛像之材質和闐白玉石的皮層表面已經包漿氧化成為皮殼，而玉石皮表面的鐵元素亦氧化成為紅色，頭部為螺髮且大耳下垂，身材比例勻稱，結構合理，披唐代帔帛，且右手持寶珠，可確認此玉佛像為唐朝 (618 - 907) 之皇室工藝和闐白玉圓雕巧作。

 

Tang Dynasty (618 - 907) Hetian White Jade circular carving imperial workshop carved Jade Buddha Statue

 

Youtube:

 

Global audience in March 2022: 1,373 total views and 1,588 total watch time (minutes)

 

youtu.be/BnYACPpyvPo

 

Facebook:

 

Facebook Public Group 'Fine Art to sell' that has 48,000 global members:

 

www.facebook.com/groups/fine.art.to.sell/permalink/316780...

 

Weight: 601 grams

Dimensions: total height 19.6 cm x width 6.5 cm x depth 5.8 cm

 

The prosperous Tang Dynasty can be said to be the golden age of Buddha statues. The statues in this period are well-proportioned in proportion and reasonable in structure. They have completely gotten rid of the large head and slightly rigid body of the Buddha in the Sui and early Tang Dynasties, and the dynamics are extremely free and lively. He has a spiral hair on his head, large drooping ears, and a dignified yet kind expression. The body is well-proportioned, the structure is reasonable, the body is naturally stretched, the face is round, the eyebrows are plumply curved and the neck is full, and the facial features are beautiful. The apparels are gorgeous, shawl (shawl is the embellishment of beautiful women's Tang suits, that is, we see a long strip on the shoulders or arms of the women in the Tang Dynasty in the painting, walking with the wind swinging, looking elegant and natural, this is the shawl) is around the body. Wreath (wreath is a kind of decorations hanging on the neck and the chest, made of a variety of small flowers.) is small and delicate, the clothes' lines are smooth and natural. The right hand holds a treasure orb.

 

The material of the jade Buddha statue and the cortical surface of the white jade have been slurried and oxidized into a jade shell, and the iron element on the surface of the jade stone skin has also been oxidized to red. The head is spiral hair and the big ears are drooping. The body is well-proportioned, the structure is reasonable, wearing in Tang Dynasty shawl, and holding a treasure orb in the right hand. It can be confirmed that this jade Buddha statue is a royal craftsmanship of the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907) and a skillful circular carving of white jade.

 

來源：

 

屬擊敗蒙古元朝歐亞大帝國的明朝皇帝朱元璋所分封為軍事大元帥的「陳秀甫」(陳秀甫亦為明代開國功臣光祿大夫《光祿大夫為皇帝開國及軍事作戰的出糧出資金錢財主》) 家族傳世的祖傳傳世品。

 

Provenance:

 

The handed down collection from the family ancestor of Chen Xiufu, a military marshal who was assigned by the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang (Zhu Yuanzhang defeated the Eurasian Empire of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty), (Chen Xiufu was also the founding hero of the Ming Dynasty, whose official name was Guangludafu, "Guangludafu was the rich and wealthy capitalist of food and money supplied for the emperor's nation-founding and military operations.").

  

（7）價格：新台幣十一億七千七百萬元

 

唐朝皇室和闐白玉圓雕觀世音菩薩蓮花底座造像

 

Youtube:

 

2022 年 3 月份全球觀眾： 1,373 總觀看次數及1,588 總觀看時間 (分鐘)

 

youtu.be/Ljf5NFWAezk

 

Facebook 臉書：

 

擁有 48,000 名全球會員的臉書公共社群網站 'Fine Art to sell'：

 

www.facebook.com/groups/fine.art.to.sell/permalink/316780...

 

重量：1,627 grams 公克

尺寸：高 19.9 x 寬 9.8 x 厚 8.8 cm 公分

 

玉石與眾不同的色澤和光彩，使人愛不惜手。古代由於數量少，加工困難，成為難得的奢侈品。它必定是社會地位極高的人物所擁有，玉石器就成了權力的象徵物，這又使它漸漸演變成為禮器、祭器。玉石器從原來僅僅是一種特殊的石頭轉化為代表權力、地位、財富、神權的象徵。

 

盛唐時代可以說是佛造像的黃金時代，此時期的造像比例舒展勻稱，結構合理，已完全擺脫了隋和初唐時期的佛頭偏大，體態略僵板的感覺，動態極為自由活潑。頭部大耳下垂，神情莊重而又不失慈祥。身材比例勻稱，結構合理，體態自然舒展，臉龐圓潤，曲眉豐頸，五官秀美。服飾華美，帔帛 (帔帛是美麗女式唐裝的點綴，就是我們看到畫裏唐代婦女肩上或手臂上搭着一條長長的條帶，走路隨風擺動，顯得瀟灑自然，這就是帔帛) 環繞，瓔珞 (瓔珞是一種掛於項頸，垂於胸前的飾品，用多種小巧的花朵穿串而成。 ) 小巧精緻，衣服紋線流暢自然。觀世音菩薩雙手捧持淨水瓶。

 

由觀世音菩薩玉佛像之材質和闐白玉石的皮層表面已經包漿氧化成為皮殼，而玉石皮表面的鐵元素亦氧化成為紅色，頭部為大耳下垂，身材比例勻稱，結構合理，披唐代帔帛，且雙手捧持淨水瓶，可確認此觀世音菩薩玉佛像為唐朝 (618 - 907) 之皇室工藝和闐白玉圓雕巧作。

 

Tang Dynasty (618 - 907) Hetian White Jade circular carving imperial workshop carved Jade Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva lotus pedestal statue

 

Youtube:

 

Global audience in March 2022: 1,373 total views and 1,588 total watch time (minutes)

 

youtu.be/Ljf5NFWAezk

 

Facebook:

 

Facebook Public Group 'Fine Art to sell' that has 48,000 global members:

 

www.facebook.com/groups/fine.art.to.sell/permalink/316780...

 

Weight: 1,627 grams

Dimensions: total height 19.9 cm x width 9.8 cm x depth 8.8 cm

 

The distinctive color and brilliance of jade make people love it at all costs. In ancient times, due to the small quantity and difficulty in processing, it became a rare luxury. It must be owned by a person of extremely high social status, and the jade carved artifact had become a symbol of power, which has gradually evolved it into a ritual tool and a sacrificial tool. The jade carved artifact was transformed from a special kind of stone into a symbol of power, status, wealth, and theocracy.

 

The prosperous Tang Dynasty can be said to be the golden age of Buddha statues. The statues in this period are well-proportioned in proportion and reasonable in structure. They have completely gotten rid of the large head and slightly rigid body of the Buddha in the Sui and early Tang Dynasties, and the dynamics are extremely free and lively. She has large drooping ears, and a dignified yet kind expression. The body is well-proportioned, the structure is reasonable, the body is naturally stretched, the face is round, the eyebrows are plumply curved and the neck is full, and the facial features are beautiful. The apparels are gorgeous, shawl (shawl is the embellishment of beautiful women's Tang suits, that is, we see a long strip on the shoulders or arms of the women in the Tang Dynasty in the painting, walking with the wind swinging, looking elegant and natural, this is the shawl) is around the body. Wreath (wreath is a kind of decorations hanging on the neck and the chest, made of a variety of small flowers.) is small and delicate, the clothes' lines are smooth and natural. The two hands of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva hold a clean water bottle.

 

The material of the jade Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva lotus pedestal statue and the cortical surface of the white jade have been slurried and oxidized into a jade shell, and the iron element on the surface of the jade stone skin has also been oxidized to red. The head's big ears are drooping. The body is well-proportioned, the structure is reasonable, wearing in Tang Dynasty shawl, and the two hands of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva hold a clean water bottle. It can be confirmed that this jade Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva lotus pedestal statue is a royal craftsmanship of the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907) and a skillful circular carving of white jade.

 

來源：

 

屬擊敗蒙古元朝歐亞大帝國的明朝皇帝朱元璋所分封為軍事大元帥的「陳秀甫」(陳秀甫亦為明代開國功臣光祿大夫《光祿大夫為皇帝開國及軍事作戰的出糧出資金錢財主》) 家族傳世的祖傳傳世品。

 

Provenance:

 

The handed down collection from the family ancestor of Chen Xiufu, a military marshal who was assigned by the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang (Zhu Yuanzhang defeated the Eurasian Empire of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty), (Chen Xiufu was also the founding hero of the Ming Dynasty, whose official name was Guangludafu, "Guangludafu was the rich and wealthy capitalist of food and money supplied for the emperor's nation-founding and military operations.").

 

...

 

October 11, 2013

Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng (Vietnamese: Vườn quốc gia Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng) is a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Bố Trạch and Minh Hóa districts of central Quảng Bình Province in the North Central Coast region of Vietnam, about 500 km south of Hanoi. The park borders the Hin Namno Nature Reserve in Khammouane Province, Laos to the west and 42 km east of the South China Sea from its borderline point. Phong Nha–Kẻ Bàng National Park is situated in a limestone zone of 2,000 km2 in Vietnamese territory and borders another limestone zone of 2,000 km2 of Hin Namno in Laotian territory. The core zone of this national park covers 857.54 km2 and a buffer zone of 1,954 km2.

 

The park was created to protect one of the world's two largest karst regions with 300 caves and grottoes and also protects the ecosystem of limestone forest of the Annamite Range region in North Central Coast of Vietnam.

 

Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng is noted for its cave and grotto systems as it is composed of 300 caves and grottos. A 2009 survey brought the total discovered length of the cave system to about 126 km, with many areas still not well explored. The Sơn Đoòng Cave, which was discovered in the 2009 survey by British and Vietnamese explorers, is considered the largest cave in the world. Even before this discovery, Phong Nha held several world cave records, including the longest river as well as the largest combined caverns and passageways.

 

The park derives its name from Phong Nha Cave, containing many fascinating rock formations, and Kẻ Bàng forest. The plateau on which the park is situated is probably one of the finest and most distinctive examples of a complex karst landform in Southeast Asia. This national park was listed in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites in 2003 for its geological values as defined in its criteria viii. In April 2009, the world's largest cave, was re-discovered by a team of British cave explorers of the British Caving Association led by a local farmer named Ho Khanh.

 

HISTORY OF EXPLORATION

Champa inscriptions carved on steles and altars in the cave demonstrate that people had inhabited the cave long before the area was annexed by Vietnam in the Nam tiến or southward expansion. In 1550, Dương Văn An was the first Vietnamese man to write about Phong Nha cave. This cave was depicted in 9 urns in the Citadel of the Nguyễn Dynasty in Huế. In 1824, The cave was conferred the title "Diệu ứng chi thần" (妙應之神) by King Minh Mạng. It was also conferred by Nguyen kings as "Thần Hiển Linh" (神顯靈).

 

In the late 19th century, Léopold Michel Cadière, a French Roman Catholic priest, conducted an expedition to explore Phong Nha cave, where he discovered Champa scripts. He proclaimed Phong Nha cave "The number one cave of Indochina". In July 1924, an English expeditionist (surnamed Barton) stated that Phong Nha cave is second to none of famous caves of Padirac (France), Cuevas del Drach (Spain). In 1935, a local inhabitant accidentally discovered a beautiful cave 1 km from the mouth of Phong Nha cave, at an elevation of 200 meters. It was called Tien Son cave (lit.: Fairy-tale cave), or Dry cave because its inside landscape is similar to fairy-tales and it has no underground river.

 

In 1937, the Bureau of Tourism of French Resident Superior (in Huế) issued a brochure to introduce tourism in Quảng Bình and Phong Nha Cave was included in this introduction. This tour site is ranked second in French Indochina. Before 1990, several explorations were conducted by Vietnamese and foreign groups but the mystery of this area still remained. From 1990 on, there marked a turning point in discovering activities, from exploration to research, thus full documents for submission to UNESCO for World Natural Heritage nomination were made available.

 

N 1990, for the first time, Hanoi University accepted the cooperation proposal of the British Cave Research Association. They combined efforts in exploring and researching caves and grottoes in the area comprehensively. The first exploration was conducted in 1990 by a group from the British Cave Research Association and Faculty for Geology and Geography of Hanoi University, led by Howard Limbert. They completed research of a large part of Vom Cave. In 1992, the second exploration was conducted by a group of 12 British scientists, six professors from Hanoi University. This time, this group completed their exploration of 7,729 m of Phong Nha Cave and 13,690 m of Vom Cave and adjacent caves and grottos. In 1994, a third exploration was carried out by a group of 11 British scientists and five Vietnamese professors of Hanoi University. In 1999 scientists from the Vietnam-Russia Tropical Centre also conducted zoological and botanical surveys in the Kẻ Bàng area. Based on the results of these three explorations, more information about the caves and grottoes made available to the Vietnamese and local government for the protection, planning, and tourism development of this park.

 

In 2005, scientists from the British Cave Research Association discovered a new cave and named it Paradise Cave (động Thiên Đường). The newly discovered cave was acclaimed by the British scientists as "the largest and the most beautiful cave in Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng area".

 

On June 1, 2006, the Ministry of Culture and Information of Vietnam issued a stamp collection of depicting various landscapes found in Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng.

 

In April 2009, a group of cave explorers from British Caving Association conducted survey in this park and adjacent areas. The biggest chamber of Sơn Đoòng is more than five kilometers in length, 200 meters high and 150 meters wide. With these dimensions, Sơn Đoòng overtakes Deer Cave in Malaysia to take the title of the world's largest cave. At the same time they found new caves and grottoes in the park and adjacent area. In this survey, the cave British explorers discovered 20 new caves with total length of 56 km, including world's largest cave, Sơn Đoòng.

 

GEOGRAPHY

LOCATION

Phong Nha–Kẻ Bàng National Park is located in the territories of communes (Vietnamese: xã): Tan Trach, Thuong Trach, Phuc Trach, Xuan Trach and Son Trach of Bố Trạch District and a small part of Minh Hóa District in the center of Quảng Bình Province, around 40 km north-west of the provincial capital city of Đồng Hới. The park is bordered by the Hin Namno karst area of Khammouane Province of Laos in the west. Road distances are about 500 km south of the capital Hanoi and 260 km north of the port city of Đà Nẵng. The geographical coordinates are 17°32′14″N 106°9′4.5″E.

 

The park is situated around 30 km west of the South China Sea and National Route 1A, near Hồ Chí Minh Highway and 28 km west of the Hanoi–Saigon Railway, and is accessible by road or waterway through an estuary in the South China Sea. There is a small airport near the park accessible by helicopter or small aircraft (Khe Gat Airbase), an airbase used by the North Vietnamese Air Force during the Vietnam War, notably in the Battle of Đồng Hới.

 

PARK LAYOUT

Before becoming a national park, this area had been a nature reserve. The Phong Nha Nature Reserve with an area of 50 km2 was officially declared by the Vietnamese government on 9 August 1986 and was extended to 411.32 km2 by 1991. On 12 December 2001, the Vietnamese Prime Minister by Decision 189/2001 189/2001/QĐ-TTG turning then a nature reserve into a national park. The purpose of this protected area is to protect forest resources, biodiversity within the boundary of this national park and to preserve scientific values of fauna and flora in Bắc Trung Bộ region, especially rare species native to this region. The park covers a total area of 857.54 km2 which are divided into three zones, a "strictly protected zone" (648.94 km2), an "ecological recovery zone" (174.49 km2), and an "administrative service zone" (34.11 km2).

 

CLIMATE

Like North Central Coast in general, and Quảng Bình Province in particular, the climate in Phong Nha–Kẻ Bàng national park is tropically hot and humid. The annual mean temperature is 23-25 °C, with a maximum of 41 °C in the summer and a minimum of 6 °C in the winter. The hottest months in this region fall from June to August, with an average temperature of 28 °C, and the coldest months from December to February with an average temperature of 18 °C. Annual rainfall is about 2,000 mm to 2,500 mm. 88% of the rainfall falls during the monsoon, from July to December, however, there is more than 160 rainy days per year, and some rain still falls throughout the dry season. Mean annual relative humidity is 84%.

 

GEOLOGY

HISTORY OF FORMATION

The Phong Nha–Kẻ Bàng karst has evolved since the Paleozoic (some 400 million years ago), making it the oldest major karst area in Asia. It has been subject to massive tectonic changes, and comprises a multitude of rock types that are interbedded in complex ways. As many as seven different major levels of karst development have occurred as a result of tectonic uplift and changing sea levels, thus the karst landscape of PNKB is extremely complex with high geodiversity and many geomorphic features of considerable significance. There is also strong evidence that sulphurous solution and hydrothermal action have played an important role in shaping the broad-scale landscape and the caves, though this has not yet been properly assessed. The Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng area today is the result of five stages of Earth's crust development and movement:

 

Late Ordovician - Early Silurian Stage (about 450 Ma)

Middle-late Devonian Stage (about 340 Ma)

Carboniferous-Permian (about 300 Ma)

Mesozoic Orogenic stage

Cenozoic stage.

 

GEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park is one of the world's two largest limestone regions. In comparison with 41 other world heritage sites which have karsts, Phong Nha has dissimilar geomorphic, geologic and biotic conditions. The karsts of Phong Nha can be traced back to Palaeozoic era, 400 million years ago. This makes Phong Nha the oldest major karst in Asia. If the Hin Namno, bordering Phong Nha on the west (in Laotian territory) was to be combined with the national park in a continuous reserve, the combined reserve would be the largest surviving karst forest in southeastern Asia (317,754 ha).

 

In general, there are two groups of landforms in the Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng area, namely non-karstic and karstic landforms. Non-karstic landforms includes three types: The middle and low dome-block mountains developed in intrusive magmatic massifs; The middle denudation-structural mountain belts developed in terrigenous rocks of Cretaceous age; and The low block-denudational mountain belts developed in other terrigenous rocks. Karstic landforms in this area are of typical tropical karst which are divided into two groups of forms: The karstic forms on the surface including cone and tower karst, karrens, valleys and dolines, border polje, etc.; The underground karst consisting of caves.

 

In comparison with three other national parks listed in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites in Southeast Asia, namely Gunung Mulu National Park in Malaysia, Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park in Palawan of the Philippines and Lorentz National Park in West Irian of Indonesia and some other karst regions in Thailand, China, Papua New Guinea, karst in Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng is older, has more complicated geological structure; diverse and complex underground rivers.

 

MOUNTS AND SUMMITS

Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng contains two dozens of mountain peaks with over 1,000 metres in height. Noteworthy peaks are the Peak Co Rilata with a height of 1,128 m and the Peak Co Preu with a height of 1,213 m. Mounts in karstic area of the park rise at typical height of above 800 m constitute a continuous range along Laotian-Vietnamese borderline, of which notable summits above 1000 m are: Phu Tạo (1174 m), Co Unet (1150 m), Phu Canh (1095 m), Phu Mun (1078 m), Phu Tu En (1078 m), Phu On Chinh (1068 m), Phu Dung (1064 m), Phu Tu Ôc (1053 m), Phu Long (1015 m), Phu Ôc (1015 m), Phu Dong (1002 m). Inserting into these summits are 800–1000 m high summits of Phu Sinh (965 m), Phu Co Tri (949 m), Phu On Boi (933 m), Phu Tu (956 m), Phu Toan (905 m), Phu Phong (902 m) and núi Ma Ma (835 m).

 

Non-karstic topographical area accounts for a low percentage, distributing mainly in outer circle of limestone in the north, northeast and southeast of this national park. The height of these summits varies from 500-1000 m with the deep divisions and high sloping level from 25-30°. There are some narrow valleys along streams such as Am creek, Cha Lo creek, Chua Ngút creek and a valley along Rao Thuong river in the southernmost edge. In the north-south direction, there exists notable summits: Phu Toc Vu (1000 m), Mã Tác (1068 m), Cổ Khu (886 m), U Bò (1009 m), Co Rilata (1128 m); The highest summit in the non-karstic area and also the highest summit of this national park is Co Preu (1213 m), a summit in the southernmost edge of the park.

 

RIVERS AND STREAMS

Besides the grotto and cave systems, Phong Nha has the longest underground river. The Sơn and Chay are the main rivers in this national park. Most of caves here have been shaped by Son and Chay Rivers. The Son River flows into the mouth of the Phong Nha cave and keeps on underground, where it is called the Nam Aki River. It emerges 20 km to the south near Pu-Pha-Dam Mountain.[18] There are spectacular streams, springs and waterfalls in Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng, namely: Gió waterfall, Madame Loan waterfall, Mọc stream erupting from a limestone mount range, and Trạ Ang stream.

 

CAVE AND GROTTOS

Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng is home to the largest cave in the world and covers 300 different grottoes and caves. Before Sơn Đoòng Cave was found, Phong Nha Cave was regarded by British Caving Association as the top cave in the world due to its top four records: the longest underground river, the highest and longest cave, broadest and most beautiful fine sand beaches inside the caves, and the most spectacular stalagmites and stalactites. In the survey conducted in April 2009, the British cave explorers discovered 20 new caves with total length of 56 km, including world's largest cave Son Doong. According to the assessment of UNESCO, "The karst formation of Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park has evolved since the Palaeozoic (some 400 million years ago) and so is the oldest major karst area in Asia" and "Phong Nha displays an impressive amount of evidence of earth's history. It is a site of very great importance for increasing our understanding of the geologic, geomorphic and geo-chronological history of the region."

 

ETYMOLOGY

The name Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng is composed of Phong Nha (cave) and Kẻ Bàng (limestone forest). Phong Nha is widely explained as originating from Hán Nôm 风 牙, which means wind-tooth (wind flowing from the cave and stalactites and stalagmites inside the cave looking like teeth).

 

Another possibility is that Phong Nha, unrelated to the meanings wind and teeth, was the former name of a nearby village.

 

A third hypothesis suggests that Phong Nha derived its name from the imagination that mounts in this region standing in line looks similar to the scene of mandarins in front of the king in royal courts, therefore, it was named Phong Nha. Phong (峰) means "summit" and nha (衙) means "mandarin".

 

Other names for the Phong Nha cave include: Thầy Tiên cave, Thầy Mount, and Troóc cave.

 

THE PHONG NHA CAVE

This cave, from which the name to the whole system and the park is derived, is famous for its rock formations which have been given names such as the "Lion", the "Fairy Caves", the "Royal Court", and the "Buddha". This cave is 7729 m long, contains 14 grottos, with a 13,969 m-long underground river. The scientists have surveyed 44.5 km of grottos in this cave so far, but tourists can only penetrate to a distance of 1500 m.

 

Phong Nha Cave, like most of the caves in this area, has been continuously shaped by the Chay River. As one gets farther into the cave, the more illusory the stalactites and stalagmites look as they glitter when bright light is shone on them. The Son River flows into the mouth of the cave and keeps flowing underground, where it is referred to as the Nam Aki River, then this river emerges at a site 20 km to the south near Pu Pha Dam Mountain. The main Phong Nha cave includes 14 chambers, connected by an underwater river that runs for 1.5 km. Secondary corridors branch off in all directions. The Outer Cave and some of the Inner Caves have roofs that tower between 25 and 40 meters above the water level. From the 14th chamber there may be other corridors leading to similarly large chambers, but this area proves more dangerous for explorers because of the ongoing erosion of the limestone of the cavern. The Shallow Cave is located 800 meters from the cave mouth, where there is a spectacular landscape of sand and rock. Stalactites and stalagmites jut out like strange trees, exciting visitor's imaginations.

 

Notable caves and grottoes in the Phong Nha Cave system include:

 

Dark Grotto (Hang Tối): located upstream of Son River running to the branch of Chay River on the left. This cave is 5,258 m long and with a height of 83 m. The entry is high and wide with heavy forest around the cave mouth

E Grotto (Hang E): a 736 m-long grotto accessible by the Hồ Chí Minh trail

Cha An Grotto (Hang Chà An): a 667 m-long grotto, with the width of 15 meters

Thung Grotto (Hang Thung): This grotto has an underground river of 3351 m, with the height in some part exceed 133 . This river receives water resources from Rao Thuong

En Grotto (Hang Én): a 1645 m long, 78.6 m high grotto

Khe Tien Grotto (Hang Khe Tiên): located south of Phong Nha, this grotto is 520 m long.

Khe Ry Grotto (Hang Khe Ry): located south of Phong Nha. The grotto is where the long Khe Ry stream (13.817 km or 8.585 miles) runs out

Khe Thi Grotto (Hang Khe Thi): a stream originating from the mountain, running underground the grotto

 

VOM CAVE SYSTEMS

Vom Grotto (Hang Vòm): a 15.05 km long, 145 m high grotto with several underground rivers, pools. This grotto features several spectacular stalagmite and stalactites. In the recent exploring of British Cave Research Association, the scientists have found an abyss in Vom Grotto named Tang hole with the deep of over 255m. This hole is the deepest hole in Vietnam.

 

Dai Cao Grotto (Hang Đai Cao): this grotto is a connection of Vom Grotto. This grotto is 1645 m long, 28 m high..

Duot Grotto (Hang Duột): This is a connection of Dai Cao Grotto with the length of 3.927 km and height of 45 m. There are some fine sand fields inside.

Ca Grotto (Hang Cá): a 1,500 m long, 62 m high grotto.

Ho Grotto (Hang Hổ): A connection of Ca Grotto with the length of 1,616 m and the height of 46 m

Over Grotto (Hang Over): a 3,244 m long, 103 m high grotto, with the width from 30–50 m.

Pygmy Grotto (Hang Pygmy): This 845 m long grotto has several streams falling from mounts.

Ruc Caroong Grotto (Hang Rục Caroòng): This the habitat of Arem ethnic group. They live in the caves, grottos and on hunting, harvesting natural products.

 

TIEN SON CAVE

Tiên Sơn cave is located in Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park. The cave was discovered by a local inhabitant by accident in 1935. It is located in Sơn Trach Commune in Bố Trạch. The entry mouth of Tiên Sơn is 1 km from Phong Nha cave, at an altitude of 200 m. This cave is 980 m in length. A 10 m deep hole is situated 400 m from the entry mouth, then a 500 m long cave, dangerous for tourists and open to professional expeditionists only. Like Phong Nha cave, this cave features spectacular stalactites and stalagmites shaped like several fairy-tales. Stalactite and stalagmite columns and walls here create strange sounds like that of gong and drum if they are knocked with the hand. According to British cave scientists, Tiên Sơn cave was created tens of million years ago when a water current holed this limestone mount in Kẻ Bàng. Following a series of landforms and movement of rocks, this mass was levered or lowered, blocking the current and creating what is now Tiên Sơn cave while the underground river redirected its current to Phong Nha cave. Although Phong Nha and Tiên Sơn caves are located next to each other, there are no linking grottos between them.

 

THIEN DUONG CAVE

Thiên Đường "Paradise" Cave is a newly found cave in this area. Prior to the discovery of Sơn Đoòng cave, it was regarded as the largest and longest cave in Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng. Some of the most beautiful and spectacular stalactites and stalagmites in the park are found within Thiên Đường. The cave was discovered by a local man in 2005. The first 5 km of this cave was explored by explorers from the British Cave Research Association in 2005; later they in 2010 the whole 31 km was explored and announced by the association.

 

At 31 km long, Thiên Đường cave is longer than Phong Nha cave, previously considered the longest cave in this national park. The height can reach to 100 m and 150 wide. The limestone formation is also more spectacular than that of Phong Nha Cave. The British cave explorers was impressed by the beauty of the rock formation inside the cave, they named it "Paradise Cave" (Thiên Đường in Vietnamese). Access road and tourist facilities was built by Truong Thinh Group, it was opened up to tourists on 3 September 2010 with a 1.1 km path to see the formations.

 

SON DOONG CAVE

Sơn Đoòng Cave (in Vietnamese: Hang Sơn Đoòng, meaning Mountain River Cave) is a relatively recently discovered cave in the national park. Found by a local man and explored and publicly announced by the British cave scientists of the British Cave Research Association, it is regarded as the largest cave in the world. The biggest chamber of Sơn Đoòng is over five kilometers in length, 200 meters high and 150 meters wide. With these tremendous dimensions, Sơn Đoòng overtakes Deer Cave of Malaysia to take the title of world's largest cave. Because the fast flowing underground river in the cave deterred the explorers from going farther, they were only able to estimate the length of the cave using a flashlight.

 

The cave was found by a man named Hồ Khanh in 1991. The local jungle men were afraid of the cave for the whistling sound it makes from the underground river. However, not until 2009 was it made known to the public when a group of British scientists from the British Cave Research Association, led by Howard and Deb Limbert, conducted a survey in Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng from 10–14 April 2009. Their progress was stopped by a large calcite wall.

 

According to the Limberts, this cave is five times larger than the Phong Nha Cave, previously considered the biggest cave in Vietnam. The biggest chamber of Sơn Đoòng is over five kilometers in length, 200 meters high and 150 meters wide. With these dimensions, Sơn Đoòng overtook Deer Cave in Malaysia to take the title of the world's largest cave.

 

RUC MON CAVE

Ruc Mon Cave, named after the indigenous people who made a home at the entrance until the 80s, was discovered in 2016 by a local man. The cave is 17km in length, with one entrance in Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park and the other at the border of Laos. This cave has the potential to be the second biggest cave in the world, following the first biggest cave also located in a Phong Nha. In 2017, the first tourists explored the cave, guided by the man who found it. One of over 300 caves in Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park, this cave is probably the least-explored of the many caves open to tourists. Greenland Tour company is the only company that offers access to the cave. The tours are led by the man who discovered the cave.

 

WIKIPEDIA

SAS BAHU TEMPLE

A 9th-century shrine, Saas-Bahu temple in the fort allures not only the devotees but also the tourists with its artistic value. Despite what its name may suggest, these temples are not dedicated to Sas (mother-in-law) and Bahu (daughter-in-law) but rather the short form of Shashtra Bahu, another name of Lord Vishnu. These temples situated adjacent to each other and the larger one is elaborately decorated with beautiful carvings and sculptures. The roof of the larger temple is adorned with a marvelous lotus carving which is very fascinating. These ancient temples display exceptional architectural brilliance and are a perfect destination for pious people.

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Gwalior Fort (Hindi: ग्वालियर क़िला Gwalior Qila) is an 8th-century hill fort near Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, central India. The fort consists of a defensive structure and two main palaces, Gurjari Mahal and Man Mandir, built by Man Singh Tomar. The fort has been controlled by a number of different rulers over time. The Gurjari Mahal palace was built for Queen Mrignayani. It is now an archaeological museum.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The word Gwalior is derived from one of the Hindu words for saint, Gwalipa.

 

TOPOGRAPHY

The fort is built on an outcrop of Vindhyan sandstone on a solitary, rocky, long, thin, steep hill called Gopachal. The geology of the Gwalior range rock formations is ochre coloured sandstone covered with basalt. There is a horizontal strata, 104 m at its highest point (length 2.4 km and average width 910 m.The stratum forms a near perpendicular precipice. A small river, the Swarnrekha, flows close to the palace.

 

RULERS

Legend tells that Suraj Sen Kachwaha, chieftain of the nearby Silhonia village was on a hunting trip. He came upon the hermit, Gwalipa (Galava) who gave the chieftain healing water from the Surajkund reservoir. In gratitude for the healing of leprosy, the chieftain founded Gwalior, naming it after Gwalipa. The earliest record of the fort is 525 AD where it is mentioned in an inscription in the temple of the Hun) emperor, Mihirakula (510 AD). Near the fort is an 875 AD Chaturbhuj temple associated with Telika Mandir.

 

PAL DYNASTY OF KACHAWAHA

The Pal dynasty of 86 kings ruled for 989 years. It began with Budha Pal and concluded with Suraj Pal. Budha Pal's son was Tej Karan (1127 - 1128). Gwalipa prophesied that the Pal dynasty would continue while the patronym, Pal was kept. Tej Keran married the daughter of Ran Mul, ruler of Amber (Jaipur) and received a valuable dowry. Tej Keran was offered the reign of Amber as long as he made it his residence. He did so, leaving Gwalior under Ram Deva Pratihar.

 

GUJARA-PRATIHARA DYNASTY

The Gurjara-Pratihar dynasty at Gwalior included Pramal Dev, Salam Dev, Bikram Dev, Ratan Dev, Shobhang Dev, Narsinh Dev and Pramal Dev.

 

TURKIC CONQUEST

In 1023 AD, Mahmud of Ghazni unsuccessfully attacked the fort. In 1196 AD, after a long siege, Qutubuddin Aibak, first Turkic sultan of Delhi took the fort, ruling till 1211 AD. In 1231 AD, the fort taken by Iltumish, Turkic sultan of Delhi. Under attack from Timurlane, Narasingh Rao, a Jaina chieftain captured the fort.

 

TOMAR RULERS

The Rajput Tomara clan ruled Gwalior from 1398 (when Pramal Dev captured the fort from a Muslim ruler) to 1518 (when Vikramaditya was defeated by Ibrahim lodhi).

 

Pramal Dev (Ver Singh, Bir Sing Deo) 1375.

Uddhharan Dev (brother of Pramal Dev).

Lakshman Dev Tomar

Viramdev 1400 (son of Virsingh Dev).

Ganapati Dev Tomar 1419.

Dugarendra (Dungar) Singh 1424.

Kirti Singh Tomar 1454.

Mangal Dev (younger son of Kirti Singh).

Kalyanmalla Tomar 1479.

Man Singh Tomar 1486 - 1516 (builder of the Man mandir).

Vikramaditya Tomar 1516.

Ramshah Tomar 1526.

Salivahan Tomar 1576.

 

SURI DYNASTY

In 1519, Ibrahim Lodi took the fort. After his death, control passed to the Mughal emperor Babur. Barber's son, Humayun, was defeated by Sher Shah Suri. After Suri's death in 1540, his son, Islam Shah, moved power from Delhi to Gwalior for strategic reasons. After the death of Islam Shah in 1553, his incumbent, Adil Shah Suri, appointed the Hindu warrior, Hemu (Hem Chandra Vikramaditya) as manager of Gwalior. From 1553 - 1556, Hemu attacked Adil Shah Suri and others from the fort.

 

MUGHAL DYNASTY

When the Mughal leader, Akbar captured the fort, he made it a prison for political prisoners. For example, Kamran, Akbar's cousin was held and executed at the fort. Aurangzeb's brother, Murad and nephews Suleman and Sepher Shikoh were also executed at the fort. The killings took place in the Man Madir palace.

 

RANA JAT DYNASTY

The Jats of Gohad occupied the fort on three occasions between 1740 and 1783. (Maharaja Bhim Singh Rana 1740 - 1756; Maharaja Chhatra Singh Rana 1761 - 1767; and Maharaja Chhatra Singh Rana 1780 - 1783).

 

MARATHA RULE

In 1779, the Scindia clan of the Maratha Empire stationed a garrison at the fort however, it was taken by the East India Company. In 1784, the Marathas under Mahadji Sinde, recovered the fort. There were frequent changes in the control of the fort between the Scindias and the British between 1808 and 1844. In January 1844, after the battle of Maharajpur, the fort was occupied by the Marathas as protectorate of the British government.

 

REBELLION OF 1857

On 1 June 1858, Rani Lakshmi Bai led a rebellion. The Central India Field Force, under General Hugh Rose, besieged the fort. Bai died on 17 June 1858.

 

STRUCTURES

The fort and its premises are well maintained and house many historic monuments including palaces, temples and water tanks. There are eleven temples to Gautama Buddha and the tirthankaras of Jainism. There are also a number of palaces (mahal) including the Man mandir, the Gujari, the Jahangir, the Karan, and the Shah Jahan. The fort covers an area of 3 square kilometres and rises 11 m. Its rampart is built around the edge of the hill, connected by six bastions or towers. The profile of the fort has an irregular appearance due to the undulating ground beneath. On the southern side are 21 temples cut into the rock with intricately carved tirthankaras. One, Pārśva, the 23rd local saint, is 12 m high.

 

There are two gates; one on the northeast side with a long access ramp and the other on the southwest. The main entrance is the ornate Elephant gate (Hathi Pul). The other is the Badalgarh Gate. The Man Mandir palace or citadel is located at the northeast end of the fort. It was built in the 1400s and refurbished in 1648. The water tanks or reservoirs of the fort could provide water to a 15,000 strong garrison, the number required to secure the fort.

 

MAN MANDIR PALACE

The Man mandir palace was built by the King of Tomar Dynasty - Maharaja Man Singh.It is a big palace with wonderful architecture,and beautiful art work done on its front as well as some interior walls.

 

HATHI POL

The Hathi Pol gate (or Hathiya Paur), located on the southeast, leads to the Man mandir palace. It is the last of a series of seven gates. It is named for a life-sized statue of an elephant (hathi) that once adorned the gate. The gate was built in stone with cylindrical towers crowned with cupola domes. Carved parapets link the domes.

 

GUJARI MAHAL MUSEUM

Gujari Mahal was built by Raja Man Singh for his wife Mrignayani, a Gujar princess. She demanded a separate palace for herself with a regular water supply through an aqueduct from the nearby Rai River. The palace has been converted into an archaeological museum. Rare artefacts at the museum include Hindu and Jain sculptures dated to the 1st and 2nd centuries BC; miniature statue of Salabhanjika; Terracotta items and replicas of frescoes seen in the Bagh Caves.

 

TELI KA MANDIR

The Teli-ka mandir (the oilman’s temple or oil pressers' temple) is a Brahmanical sanctuary built in the 8th (or perhaps the 11th century) and was refurbished between 1881 and 1883. It is the oldest part of the fort and has a blend of south and north Indian architectural styles. Within the rectangular structure is a shrine with no pillared pavilions (mandapa) and a Buddhist barrel-vaulted roof on a Hindu mandir. Buddhist architectural elements are found in the Chitya type hall and torana decorations at the entrance. There is a masonry tower in the nagari architectural style with a barrel vaulted roof 25 metres in height. The niches in the outer walls once housed statues but now have gavakshas (horse shoe arch) ventilator openings in the north Indian style. The gavaksha has been compared to the trefoil, a honeycomb design with a series of receding pointed arches within an arch. The entrance door has a torana or archway with sculpted images of river goddesses, romantic couples, foliation decoration and a Garuda. Diamond and lotus designs are seen on the horizontal band at the top of the arch indicating an influence from the Buddhist period. The vertical bands on either side of the door are decorated in a simple fashion with figures that are now badly damaged. Above the door are a small grouping of discs representing the finial (damalaka) of an Indo-Aryan Shikhara. The temple was originally dedicated to Vishnu, but later converted to the worship of Siva.

 

GARUDA MONUMENT

Close to the Teli ka Mandir temple is the Garuda monument, dedicated to Vishnu, is the highest in the fort. It has a mixture of Muslim and Indian architecture. The word Teli comes from the Hindu word Taali a bell used in worship.

 

SAAS-BAHU TEMPLE

In 1093, the Pal Kachawaha rulers built two temples to Vishnu. The temples are pyramidal in shape, built of red sandstone with several stories of beams and pillars but no arches.

 

KAM MAHAL

The Karn mahal is another significant monument at Gwalior Fort. The Karn mahal was built by the second king of the Tomar dynasty, Kirti Singh. He was also known as Karn Singh, hence the name of the palace.

 

VIKRAM MAHAL

The Vikram mahal (also known as the Vikram mandir, as it once hosted a temple of Shiva) was built by Vikramaditya Singh, the elder son of Maharaja Mansingh.He was a devotee of Shiva. The temple was destroyed during Mughal period but now has been re-established in the front open space of the Vikram mahal.

 

CHHATRI OF BHIM SINGH RANA

This chhatri (cupola or domed shaped pavilion) was built as a memorial to Bhim Singh Rana (1707-1756), a ruler of Gohad state. It was built by his successor, Chhatra Singh. Bhim Singh occupied Gwalior fort in 1740 when the Mughal Satrap, Ali Khan, surrendered. In 1754, Bhim Singh built a bhimtal (a lake) as a monument at the fort. Chhatra Singh built the memorial chhatri near the bhimtal. Every year, the Jat Samaj Kalyan council (parishad) of Gwalior organises a fair on Rama Navami, in honor of Bhim Singh Rana.

 

OTHER MONUMENTS

There are several other monuments built inside the fort area. These include: the Scindia School (an exclusive school for the sons of Indian princes and nobles)that was founded by Madho Rao Scindia in 1897; and the Gurdwara Data Bandi, a memorial to the sixth Sikh, Guru Hargobind.

 

WIKIPEDIA

 

Value Education Workshop at Jalpaiguri and Coochbehar District of West Bengal in April 2017