Growing Pears
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Growing Pears
"Growing Pears" (), also variously translated as "Planting a Pear Tree", "Sowing Pears", and "The Wonderful Pear Tree", is a short story by Pu Songling, first published in ''Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio''. Set in ancient China, the story revolves around a miserly pear seller and a Taoist priest. Plot In an unspecified Chinese village, a dishevelled Taoist priest unsuccessfully begs a pear seller for a single pear. However, an altruistic passer-by offers to buy the old man a pear, which he gladly accepts. The Taoist then offers to reciprocate by giving free pears to the crowd; he buries the pip of the pear in the ground and waters the soil with boiling water, shortly after which a mature pear tree sprouts. After handing out all of the tree's fruits to the passers-by, the Taoist cuts the tree down and heads off. The miserly pear seller, who had been caught up by the spectacle, only just realises that all his pears have gone missing – and his fruit cart has been sawn into p ...
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WikiProject Novels
A WikiProject, or Wikiproject, is a Wikimedia movement affinity group for contributors with shared goals. WikiProjects are prevalent within the largest wiki, Wikipedia, and exist to varying degrees within sister projects such as Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikidata, and Wikisource. They also exist in different languages, and translation of articles is a form of their collaboration. During the COVID-19 pandemic, CBS News noted the role of Wikipedia's WikiProject Medicine in maintaining the accuracy of articles related to the disease. Another WikiProject that has drawn attention is WikiProject Women Scientists, which was profiled by '' Smithsonian'' for its efforts to improve coverage of women scientists which the profile noted had "helped increase the number of female scientists on Wikipedia from around 1,600 to over 5,000". On Wikipedia Some Wikipedia WikiProjects are substantial enough to engage in cooperative activities with outside organizations relevant to the field at issue. For e ...
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The Painted Skin
"The Painted Skin" () is a short story by the Chinese writer Pu Songling collected in ''Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'' in 1740. Literary critics have recognised it as one of the best and best-known entries in ''Strange Tales''; in particular, its textual detail and in-depth characterisation are lauded. "The Painted Skin" has also received numerous adaptations in popular media, especially in film. The story's original title has become a common phrase in Chinese vocabulary, "a synonym for duplicity that wears an outwardly human face but is inwardly demonic". Set in Shandong, the story revolves around a Chinese scholar, Wang, who becomes infatuated with a demon disguised as a beautiful young maiden. They develop a romantic relationship which goes awry after Wang discovers her true identity. Thereafter, a Taoist priest's skills are put to the task of exorcising the demon; a fight between good and evil ensues. Plot An academician from Taiyuan, referred to only by his surname, ...
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University Of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the best universities in the world and it is among the most selective in the United States. The university is composed of an undergraduate college and five graduate research divisions, which contain all of the university's graduate programs and interdisciplinary committees. Chicago has eight professional schools: the Law School, the Booth School of Business, the Pritzker School of Medicine, the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, the Harris School of Public Policy, the Divinity School, the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies, and the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. The university has additional campuses and centers in London, Paris, Beijing, Delhi, and Hong Kong, as well as in downtown ...
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Shandong
Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural and religious center for Taoism, Chinese Buddhism and Confucianism. Shandong's Mount Tai is the most revered mountain of Taoism and a site with one of the longest histories of continuous religious worship in the world. The Buddhist temples in the mountains to the south of the provincial capital of Jinan were once among the foremost Buddhist sites in China. The city of Qufu is the birthplace of Confucius and was later established as the center of Confucianism. Confucianism developed from what was later called the Hundred Schools of Thought from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius. Shandong's location at the intersection of ancient and modern n ...
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John Wilkie
John Elbert Wilkie (1860 – December 13, 1934) was an American journalist and Chief of the United States Secret Service from 1898 to 1911. Journalist At age 19, Wilkie joined the staff of the '' Chicago Times'' as a reporter. His father, Frank B. Wilkie, was an editorial writer at the newspaper; the two traveled to Europe and served. Upon returning to the United States, Wilkie joined the staff of the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he initially served as financial editor and later city editor.NEW SECRET SERVICE CHIEF.; Sketch of John E. Wilkie, Who Succeeds W.B. Hazen.
''The New York Times'', February 28, 1898, Accessed January 7, 2009.
While at the ''Tribune'', Wilkie hired satirist

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Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television are named), it remains the most-read daily newspaper in the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region. It had the sixth-highest circulation for American newspapers in 2017. In the 1850s, under Joseph Medill, the ''Chicago Tribune'' became closely associated with the Illinois politician Abraham Lincoln, and the Republican Party's progressive wing. In the 20th century under Medill's grandson, Robert R. McCormick, it achieved a reputation as a crusading paper with a decidedly more American-conservative anti-New Deal outlook, and its writing reached other markets through family and corporate relationships at the ''New York Daily News'' and the ''Washington Times-Herald.'' The 1960s saw its corporate parent owner, Tribune Company, rea ...
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Indian Rope Trick
The Indian rope trick is a magic trick said to have been performed in and around India during the 19th century. Sometimes described as "the world’s greatest illusion", it reputedly involved a magician, a length of rope, and one or more boy assistants. In the 1990s the trick was said by some historians to be a hoax perpetrated in 1890 by John Wilkie of the ''Chicago Tribune'' newspaper. Peter Lamont has argued that there are no accurate references to the trick predating 1890, and that later stage magic performances of the trick were inspired by Wilkie's account. Lamont, Peter. (2005). ''The Rise of the Indian Rope Trick: How a Spectacular Hoax Became History''. Abacus. pp. 80-95, 208. There are old accounts from the 9th century (by Adi Shankara), the 14th century (by Ibn Battuta), and the 17th century (by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir) of versions of the trick, but this is denied by Lamont as the accounts described are different from the "classic" Indian rope trick. Lamont, Pete ...
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Soushen Ji
The ''Soushen Ji'', variously translated as ''In Search of the Sacred'', ''In Search of the Supernatural'', and ''Anecdotes about Spirits and Immortals'', is a Chinese compilation of legends, short stories, and hearsay concerning Chinese gods, Chinese ghosts, and other supernatural phenomena. Although the authorship of the book is not made explicit in the text, it is believed to have been written and compiled by Gan Bao, a historian at the court of Emperor Yuan of Jin (sometimes wrongly referred to as Yü Pao) around AD350. It was reissued in numerous editions, including in 1593. The book usually consists of 464 stories. Stories Notable stories include: * Gan Jiang Mo Xie〈干將莫邪〉 * Wu Wang Xiao Nü〈吳王小女〉 * Li Ji Zhan She〈李寄斬蛇〉a legend about serpent-slaying: ''Li Ji Slays the Giant Serpent'' (''Li Chi Slays the Serpent''), similar to the legend of Chen Jinggu. * Han Bing Fufu〈韓憑夫婦〉 The collection also contains a variant of the st ...
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Gan Bao
Gan Bao (or Kan Pao) (, pronounced ân.pàu ( fl. 315, died March or April 336), courtesy name Lingsheng (令升), was a Chinese historian and writer at the court of Emperor Yuan of Jin. Life He was a native of Xincai County, in southern Henan. After diligent study of the classics during his childhood and youth, Gan Bao was appointed head of Office of History at the court. Apparently, the position was granted to him in recognition of his skills which he demonstrated in his ''Chin-chi'' (晋纪, "Jin-ji"), presumably a written account of earlier court activities. ''Soushen Ji'' Gan Bao subsequently occupied other prominent positions at the court, but today he is best remembered for the book ''Soushen Ji'', which he probably compiled. An extremely important early example of the Zhiguai ''Zhiguai xiaoshuo'', translated as "tales of the miraculous", "tales of the strange", or "records of anomalies", is a type of Chinese literature which appeared in the Han dynasty and developed aft ...
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Eastern Jin
Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Lines (2015), an American airline that began operations in 2015 *Eastern Airlines, LLC, previously Dynamic International Airways, a U.S. airline founded in 2010 *Eastern Airways, an English/British regional airline *Eastern Provincial Airways, a defunct Canadian airline that operated from 1949 to 1986 *Eastern Railway (other), various railroads * Eastern Avenue (other), various roads *Eastern Parkway (other), various parkways *Eastern Freeway, Melbourne, Australia *Eastern Freeway Mumbai, Mumbai, India *, a cargo liner in service 1946-65 Education *Eastern University (other) * Eastern College (other) Other uses * Eastern Broadcasting Limited, former name of Maritime Broadcasting System, Canad ...
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Saigon
, population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_info = US$61.7 billion , blank2_name = – Per capita , blank2_info = US$6,862 , blank3_name = GRP ( PPP) , blank3_info = 2019 , blank4_name = – Total , blank4_info = US$190.3 billion , blank5_name = – Per capita , blank5_info = US$21,163 , blank6_name = HDI (2020) , blank6_info = 0.795 ( 2nd) , area_code = 28 , area_code_type = Area codes , website = , timezone = ICT , utc_offset = +07:00 , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 700000–740000 , iso_code ...
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Herbert A
Herbert may refer to: People Individuals * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert Name * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert, Northern Territory, a rural locality * Herbert, South Australia. former government town * Division of Herbert, an electoral district in Queensland * Herbert River, a river in Queensland * County of Herbert, a cadastral unit in South Australia Canada * Herbert, Saskatchewan, Canada, a town * Herbert Road, St. Albert, Canada New Zealand * Herbert, New Zealand, a town * Mount Herbert (New Zealand) United States * Herbert, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Herbert, Michigan, a former settlement * Herbert Creek, a stream in South Dakota * Herbert Island, Alaska Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Herbert (Disney character) This list of Donald Duck universe characters focuses on Disney cartoon and comics characte ...
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