"Pinyin Tzimu Project" — a Landmark Event in the History of Chinese Civilization Initiated and Supported by the CPC

2021 ◽  
pp. 160
Author(s):  
Alexey Aleksakhin

The Creation of the Alphabet and words spelling of Chinese Mandarin (Pinyin tsimu project) is a landmark event in the history of Chinese civilization. It breathes new life into ancient Chinese characters. Great "dumb" − the Chinese character − for the first time since 1958 has become known to the whole world by sounds of Beijing speech. Today the two types of writing − Chinese Mandarin traditional ideographic and innovative phonographic writing, in their unity, provide the linguocultural unity of the Chinese society and the progress of science and technology of China. Millions of people in China and beyond are studying the Chinese language based on the sound letter standard of the words of Chinese Putonghua. Letter orthogramms of Chinese words provide tele- and Internet communication of hundreds of millions of Chinese. In the 20 century the first Latinized alphabet for the Chinese language was created with the leading participation of one of the founders and leaders of the CPC, Qu Qiubo, (included in the official list of "100 Greatest Figures of New China") under the influence of the experience of creating alphabets for the peoples of the USSR in 1921-26. Chinese alphabet, based on Latin letters and letter-spelling forms of Putonghua words are a huge scientific achievement of Chinese linguists. Outstanding contribution to the creation of the alphabet and letter words of Chinese Mandarin was made by a brilliant Chinese linguist Zhou Youguang (1906-2011), called the «father of pinyin zimu» or Chinese alphabet in China. The top leaders of the Communist Party of China, Mao Tsedong, Zhou Enlai, Chen Yi led the creation of the "pinyin" alphabet. The political will and wisdom of the CPC's senior leadership, combined with the creative genius of Chinese linguists, ensured the creation of a letter writing for the people of China, which was "an epochal event in the history of the development of Chinese civilization".

2014 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
KuuNUx TeeRIt Kroupa

In May 2009, the Arikara returned to the land of their ancestors along the Missouri River in South Dakota. For the first time in more than a half century, a Medicine Lodge was built for ceremony. The lodge has returned from its dormant state to regain its permanent place in Arikara culture. This event will be remembered as a significant moment in the history of the Arikara because it symbolizes a new beginning and hope for the people. Following this historic event, Arikara spiritual leader Jasper Young Bear offered to share his experience and deep insight into Arikara thought: You have to know that the universe is the Creator's dream, the Creator's mind, everything from the stars all the way to the deepest part of the ocean, to the most microscopic particle of the creation, to the creation itself, on a macro level, on a micro level. You have to understand all of those aspects to understand what the lodge represents. The lodge is a fractal, a symbolic representation of the universe itself. How do we as human beings try to make sense of that? That understanding, of how the power in the universe flows, was gifted to us through millennia of prayer and cultural development… It is important for us to internalize our stories, internalize the star knowledge, internalize those things and make that your way, make that your belief, because we're going to play it out inside the lodge. It only lives by us guys interacting with it and praying with it and bringing it to life… We're going to play out the wise sayings of the old people… So you see that it's an Arikara worldview. A learning process of how the universe functions is what you're actually experiencing [inside the Medicine Lodge]. What the old people were describing was the functioning of how we believed the universe behaves. And we had a deep, deep understanding of what that meant and how it was for us. So that's what you're actually seeing in the Medicine Lodge.


1997 ◽  
Vol 13 (52) ◽  
pp. 386-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Plastow

Following Jane Plastow's contextual history of Eritrean theatre in NTQ50, Paul Warwick gave an account in the following issue of its previously undocumented role during the thirty-year Eritrean struggle for independence, describing the efforts of the freedom fighters to create theatre for the first time in a rural context. The Eritrean People's Liberation Front not only deployed theatre as a propaganda weapon, but also recognized its value as an agent for educating the people in matters ranging from women's rights to the benefits of modern medicine and farming methods: and with victory came measures further to stimulate the growth and development of theatre as part of Eritrean culture. Jane Plastow, in this third and concluding article, takes up the story with the invitation issued by the new government to her and her colleagues to initiate the ‘Eritrea Community-Based Theatre Project’, in an attempt both to widen the perspectives of Eritrean actors and to draw upon all relevant traditions, African and European, in developing a popular but distinctive theatre for the people. In addition to her role as director of the project, Jane Plastow is a lecturer at Leeds University, having worked in theatre for some years in a number of other African nations.


2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (10/11) ◽  
pp. 1051-1064 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Keith ◽  
Maria Silies

Purpose – The term luxury and sustainability, within the fashion and textile industries are seldom seen as natural bedfellows. Recently however, the perception of luxury has begun to include a definition left behind in the twentieth century; beautifully hand crafted artefacts valued for the time, skill and design invested in them. It is possible though, for the concept of luxury textiles to embrace this definition and that of the sustainable credentials of a “Cradle to Cradle” (McDonough and Braungart, 2002) mindset (that of a life beyond original creation) and be fashionable. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Utilising a variety of methodologies including case studies, reflective practice and a practice-based approach; this paper examines the use of pre-consumer waste in the creation of new luxury textiles. Several projects are cited, offering examples of collaboration between textile mills and designers in the creation of new fabrics made from luxury by-products. This luxury waste is routinely shredded for automobile seat filling or landfill, however current sustainable thinking encourages a more creative solution to this circumstance. Designers have a crucial role to play in converting an unwanted by-product to one that is highly desirable. Findings – Traditional values of what constitutes a luxury item include the concept of time invested in making a unique handmade artefact. More recently, this premise has been overlooked in favour of branded goods. The slow fashion movement advocates the inherent value of craftsmanship coupled with the ethical use of sustainable and or local materials and processes. The traditional techniques of felting, weave and stitch are utilised to create beautiful, original textiles from discarded waste. By collaborating with local mills, designers provide solutions to something that could be perceived as a problem. Originality/value – The embedded narrative within these layered textiles provides an original quality and added value, building on their Scottish heritage. The resulting textiles reflect their provenance; the landscape they come from and the people who created them. As a result of purchase, the story continues with the new custodian, adding to the ongoing history of the textile. The design work and collaboration that this paper outlines embodies a transferable model for sustainable upcycled luxury textiles.


Author(s):  
Yevhenii Vasyliev

The tragic events of the Revolution of Dignity and the hybrid war have been reflected in various stylistics and genre parameters of dramatic works. The brightest of them were included in two recent anthologies, which were prepared and published thanks to the efforts of the Department of Drama Projects of the National Center for the Performing Arts named after Les Kurbas. The first of them, “Maidan. Before and After. Anthology of the Actual Drama” (2016), has absorbed 9 plays by the authors of different generations (Yaroslav Vereshchak, Nadiia Symchich, Oleg Mykolaychuk, Neda Nezhdana, Oleksandr Viter, Dmytro Ternovyi, etc.). The completely new second anthology “The Labyrinth of Ice and Fire” (2019) also consists of 9 plays (three of which are also part of the previous anthology), which are the reflections of the modern history of Ukraine. The texts about the hybrid war, which are included in two anthologies, are the subject of our analysis. The focus is on the genre specificity of these drama works. The genre modifications of archaic genres inherent in the Ukrainian theatrical tradition (vertep, mystery) are studied in the plays “Vertep-2015” by Nadiia Marchuk and “Maidan Inferno, or On the Other Side of Hell” by Neda Nezhdana. The functioning of the documentary and epic drama (“The Chestnut and the Lily of the Valley” by Oleg Mykolaychuk, “The People and Cyborgs” by Olena Ponomareva and Dario Fertilio) is analysed. The processes of episation and lyricization are considered. The peculiarities of intergeneric diffusion and the creation of a specific genre type — lyrico-epic drama are analysed. The actual monodramas of Neda Nezhdana “The Cat in Memory of the Darkness” and “OTVETKA@ UA” are highlighted, as well as the intermedial character of the genre transformations of Igor Yuziuk’s drama “C-sharp Sixth Octave”


Author(s):  
A.I. Babachenko ◽  
A.S. Vergun ◽  
L.G. Tuboltsev

The history of the creation of the Iron and Steel Institute is given. It is shown that the creation and establishment of the Institute was determined by the need to develop the country's ferrous metallurgy. The Institute has united groups of metallurgical scientists, scattered in their activities, who worked in various institutes of the country. The program of the Institute, despite its youth, was wide and relevant, which can be explained by the experience, initiative and scale of the activities of the scientists who headed the departments of the institute. The origins of the creation of the scientific themes of the Institute, which covered all the major redistribution of the steel industry, are given. The major scientific developments created by the Institute’s staff for the first time in world and domestic practice, which currently form the basis of world metallurgy, are given. Outstanding scientists of the Institute created quite a few scientific schools, which even today continue to make an invaluable contribution to the development of scientific subjects, the implementation of the results of basic and applied research in metallurgical enterprises. The analysis shows that the strategic direction of development of the domestic metallurgy in the future is an evolutionary change in metallurgical technologies. In this regard, the main areas of scientific and technical support of blast furnace, steelmaking and rolling production, heat treatment of rolled products developed at the Institute are given. Examples of modern scientific developments of the Institute are given.


2020 ◽  
pp. 60-64
Author(s):  
G.N. Khisamieva

The relevance of the study lies in the fact that the national and cultural life of the Tatar diaspora in the Northwest China has not been the subject of the research. The research interest is also caused by the fact that the history of the formation and development of the Tatar diaspora, every day, spiritual, educational and cultural life has not been studied at all and is of particular interest to researchers. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that the article examines the process of formation of Tatar theaters and string orchestras in the cities of Kuldzha and Chuguchak for the first time, where the bulk of Tatar emigrants lived. Particular attention was paid to the role of Tatar theaters in the life of indigenous and visiting peoples of the XUAR of the PRC. The purpose of the work is to study and systematize the national and cultural life of the Tatars of Xinjiang. As a result of the study, it can be concluded that the creation of theaters and string orchestras has contributed to the rallying of the Tatars, as well as the preservation of the native language, literature, traditions, culture and identity of the people, which is also a very important factor in preserving identity among the local population of Xinjiang.


Author(s):  
Alsu Sh. Ayzatullova ◽  
Mikhail A. Sudakov

For the first time, the history of the creation and operation of the Tu-144 airliner is investigated on the basis of the memoirs of aviation specialists. The development of an airliner has been studied taking into account the socio-political processes of the 1960s-1970s, and that left a serious imprint on the development of science and technology in this period. The specifics of the historical sources used, highlighting important aspects of the topic, are shown, and their criticism is carried out. The results of the analysis of memories that capture the key moments of the programme of the Soviet supersonic airliner are presented. A comparison was made of the opinions of the authors of memoirs on certain issues (the reasons for the creation of the airliner, problems in its design and testing, as well as the reasons for the completion of the programme). The differences in the assessments of the memoirists of certain aspects of the project are revealed. It is pointed out exactly what lessons can be learned from the project by contemporary Russian statesmen and aviation specialists


Author(s):  
Roza Ismagilova ◽  

For the first time in the history of domestic Ethiopian studies, the article analyzes in detail the successful struggle of one of the Ethiopian peoples’, the Sidama, for self-determination. On the 20th of November, 2019 a truly historic event took place in Ethiopia: one of the country’s many ethnic communities, the Sidama, achieved self-government. At a referendum about 98% voted in favor of the creation of the Sidama state. This provoked a chain reaction in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region: already 13 ethnic communities – Wolaita, Gamo, Gurage, Kaffa and others – are demanding the creation of their own states. Centrifugal processes in the country have become noticeably more active. The present paper is divided in four sections. The first section, “Who are the Sidama?”, offers a detailed description of the Sidama and emphasizes the vitality of traditional social and cultural institutions, including ethnic stratification and the continued presence of castes of artisans. At the same time, it is noted that globalization and urbanization are introducing significant changes in the life of the Sidama. The second section, “The Sidama under ethnic federalism”, analyzes the positive and negative aspects of ethnic federalism and the reasons for the discontent of the Sidama, as well as the causes of Sidama’s grievances and conflicts over power and resources with other ethnic communities, which ultimately led to their struggle for self-government. The third section, “The Sidama’s struggle for self-government”, provides a detailed account of the Sidama’s struggle against the policy of Amharization during the imperial period, the discrimination in Derg rule (1974–1991) and, since 1991, during the period of ethnic federalism. The fourth section, “Referendum”, is devoted to a detailed description of this important event in the life of the Sidama and their victory: the difficulties and obstacles to organizing the referendum, the attitude of the federal government, the referendum itself and victory. Finally, in the fifth section, “The impact of the creation of the Sidama state on the situation in the region”, the author analyzes the Constitution of the new state. The creation of the new 10th state on the ethnic basis means the strengthening of ethnic federalism in Ethiopia. It is important to stress that the author has conducted several e-mail interviews with Sidama scholars and journalists – active participants in the Sidama movement for self-determination – on the topic of post-referendum events.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-72
Author(s):  
Anastasiya S. Arysheva

The essay explores the significance of mass scenes in the history of cinema. It analyzes the directorial style of Sergei Eisenstein and his concept that the human mass becomes observable only with the invention of cinema. The image of the mass is created by the editing. Long shots transform the real human mass into an infinitely growing mass, while close-ups destroy its image. Film editing involves the audience in the creation of the mass: each foreshortening offers a new vision of the people united in the mass. Mass scenes of the film allow the spectator to become infected with the ideas of the mass and to experience the increase in emotions inherent in a crowd. The film appeals to the spectator whose properties are predetermined. The spectator agrees to the viewing conditions dictated by the film and dissolves in the spectacle. The full involvement of the spectator in what he sees on the film screen is the main feature of cinema. Therefore, the manipulation of the spectators consciousness during the film screening is inevitable. Due to the psychological characteristics of their perception, mass scenes are one of the most powerful ways to control the spectator's emotional and intellectual reactions.


Author(s):  
Colin F. Baxter

During the 1930s, British scientists perfected a sugar-white explosive called RDX. Twice as deadly as TNT, RDX was also ten times more expensive. In The Secret History of RDX, historian Colin F. Baxter tells the story of the people who developed, produced, and used RDX in the top-secret, $100 million factory near Kingsport, Tennessee, called the Holston Ordinance Works. Drawing from archival records and numerous interviews with individuals who worked at the “powder plant” from 1942 to 1945, he explores not only the explosive’s military significance but also its impact on the lives of ordinary Americans involved in the war industry. Behind thirty-eight miles of fences, thousands of local men and women synthesized twenty-three thousand tons of RDX each month, enough to supply the entire Allied army, air force, and navy. RDX was added to torpedo warheads, airborne antisubmarine depth charges, and a mounted antisubmarine weapon called the Hedgehog. For the first time, the Allies had a weapon that could challenge German U-boats in the Atlantic, and RDX became the workhorse explosive for the Allies throughout the war. Baxter details the work of Canadian, British, and American scientists as well as the Eastman Company executives who raced to produce the explosive effectively and quickly. He examines the debates between RDX advocates and their opponents in the Army Ordnance Department, as well as the use of the explosive in the bomber war over Germany, naval war in the Atlantic, and as a key element in the trigger device of the atomic bomb.


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