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Paifang
A ''paifang'', also known as a ''pailou'', is a traditional style of Chinese architectural arch or gateway structure. Evolved from the Indian subcontinent's ''torana'' through the introduction of Buddhism to China, it has developed many styles and has been introduced to other East Asian countries, such as Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Etymology The word ''paifang'' () was originally a collective term for the top two levels of administrative division and subdivisions of ancient Chinese cities. The largest division within a city in ancient China was a ''fang'' (), equivalent to a current day ward. Each ''fang'' was enclosed by walls or fences, and the gates of these enclosures were shut and guarded every night. Each ''fang'' was further divided into several ''pai'' (), which is equivalent to a current day (unincorporated) community. Each ''pai'', in turn, contained an area including several hutongs (alleyways). This system of urban administrative division and subdivision reached an ...
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Chinatown (Washington, D
A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Australasia. The development of most Chinatowns typically resulted from mass migration to an area without any or with very few Chinese residents. Binondo in Manila, established in 1594, is recognized as the world's oldest Chinatown. Notable early examples outside Asia include San Francisco's Chinatown in the United States and Melbourne's Chinatown in Australia, which were founded in the mid-19th century during the California and Victoria gold rushes, respectively. A more modern example, in Montville, Connecticut, was caused by the displacement of Chinese workers in the Manhattan Chinatown following the September 11th attacks in 2001. Definition Oxford Dictionaries defines "Chinatown" as "...a district of any non-Asian town, especially a city ...
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Chinatown
A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Australasia. The development of most Chinatowns typically resulted from mass migration to an area without any or with very few Chinese residents. Binondo in Manila, established in 1594, is recognized as the world's oldest Chinatown. Notable early examples outside Asia include San Francisco's Chinatown in the United States and Melbourne's Chinatown in Australia, which were founded in the mid-19th century during the California and Victoria gold rushes, respectively. A more modern example, in Montville, Connecticut, was caused by the displacement of Chinese workers in the Manhattan Chinatown following the September 11th attacks in 2001. Definition Oxford Dictionaries defines "Chinatown" as "...a district of any non-Asian town, especially a ...
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Torii
A is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred. The presence of a ''torii'' at the entrance is usually the simplest way to identify Shinto shrines, and a small ''torii'' icon represents them on Japanese road maps. The first appearance of ''torii'' gates in Japan can be reliably pinpointed to at least the mid-Heian period; they are mentioned in a text written in 922. The oldest existing stone ''torii'' was built in the 12th century and belongs to a Hachiman shrine in Yamagata Prefecture. The oldest existing wooden ''torii'' is a ''ryōbu torii'' (see description below) at Kubō Hachiman Shrine in Yamanashi Prefecture built in 1535. ''Torii'' gates were traditionally made from wood or stone, but today they can be also made of reinforced concrete, copper, stainless steel or other materials. They are usually either unpainted or painted vermilion with a ...
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Torana
''Torana'' ( sa, तोरण; '' awr-uh-nuh') is a free-standing ornamental or arched gateway for ceremonial purposes in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain architecture of the Indian subcontinent. Toranas can also be widely seen in Southeast Asia and parts of East Asia. Chinese Shanmen gateways, Japanese '' torii'' gateways, Korean Iljumun gateways, Vietnamese Tam quan gateways, and Thai Sao Ching Cha were derived from the Indian ''torana''. They are also referred to as ''vandanamalikas''. History Indologist art historian and archaeologist Percy Brown has traced the origin of ''torana'' from the grama-dvara (village-gateways) of the vedic era (1500 BCE – 500 BCE) village which later developed as a popular adornment for cities, places. sacred shrines.Krishna Chandra Panigrahi, Harish Chandra Das and Snigdha Tripathy, 1994, Kṛṣṇa pratibhā: studies in Indology : Prof. Krishna Chandra Panigrahi commemoration volume, Volume 1, page 12. According to the vedic text, the Arth ...
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Hongsalmun
In architecture, a ''hongsalmun'' is a gate for entering a sacred place in Korea. ''Hongsalmun'', also called ''hongjeonmun'' or ''hongmun'', are usually erected to indicate Korean Confucian sites, such as shrines, tombs, and academies such as ''hyanggyo'' and ''seowon''. The gate indicates entry to a sacred realm. Features ''Hongsalmun'' literally means ‘gate with red arrows’, referring to the set of pointed spikes on its top. In the past, spikes in between columns did not exist. The color is said to be red because of the belief that the color repels ghosts. The gate is composed of two round poles set vertically and two transverse bars. These pillars are usually over nine meters in height. There is no roof and no door-gate. In the middle top gate the symbol of the '' trisula'' and the taegeuk image are placed. The ''hongsalmun'' gate opens to a path that leads toward the front of ''hyanggyo'' and the '' hamabi'' or the "memorial dismount stone". The gate can also be found ...
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Friendship Archway
''Friendship Archway'' is a paifang installed at Chinatown, Washington, D.C., United States. It is one of the largest ceremonial arches outside of China. History Planning for an archway began in 1984, to be jointly funded by Washington DC's newly-announced sister city, Beijing. However, the largely anti-communist population of Chinatown, where the archway was to be located, disagreed with the involvement of mainland China and protested. Local architect Alfred H. Liu designed the ''Friendship Archway'' in 1985 after city officials rejected plans for twelve smaller arches to be placed throughout Chinatown, each decorated with one of the Chinese zodiac animals. Liu had previously designed Wah Luck House, a low-income residential high-rise, in 1982 to meet a HUD deadline; that building was designed in three days and constructed in seven weeks. He was also chairman of the Chinatown Development Corporation, and had emigrated from Taiwan to the United States as a teenager. On November ...
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Chinatown, Liverpool
Chinatown is an area of Liverpool that is an ethnic enclave home to the oldest Chinese community in Europe. Located in the south of the city centre, Chinatown has many Chinese businesses, such as Chinese restaurants and supermarkets, and facilities for the Chinese community. The area is also notable for its Chinese-style architecture; with the paifang on Nelson Street being the largest, multiple-span arch of its kind outside China. History Establishment The first presence of Chinese people in Liverpool dates back to 1834 when the first vessel direct from China arrived in Liverpool's docks to trade such goods as silk and cotton wool. Many Chinese immigrants first arrived in Liverpool in the late 1860s as a result of Alfred Holt and Company employing large numbers of Chinese seamen while establishing the Blue Funnel Shipping Line. The commercial shipping line created strong trade links between the cities of Shanghai, Hong Kong and Liverpool; mainly importing silk, cotton and tea ...
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Yingzao Fashi
The ''Yingzao Fashi'' () is a technical treatise on architecture and craftsmanship written by the Chinese author Li Jie (李誡; 1065–1110), the Directorate of Buildings and Construction during the mid Song Dynasty of China. He revised many older treatises on architecture from 1097 to 1100. By 1100, he had completed his own architectural work, which he presented to Emperor Zhezong of Song. The emperor's successor, Emperor Huizong of Song, had the book published in 1103 to provide architectural standards for builders, architects, literate craftsmen, and the engineering agencies of the central government. Li Jie was then made the Director of Palace Buildings. Thereafter, Li helped oversee the construction of administrative offices, palace apartments, gates and gate-towers, the ancestral temple of the Song Dynasty, along with numerous Buddhist temples. In 1145, a second edition of Li's book was published by Wang Huan. Between 1222-1233, a third printing was published. Th ...
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Liberty Square (Taipei)
Liberty Square (also Freedom Square) is a public plaza covering over 240,000 square meters in the Zhongzheng District of Taipei, Taiwan. It has served as the city's public gathering place of choice since its completion in the late 1970s. The name of the square recalls the important historical role it played in Taiwan's transition from one-party rule to modern democracy in the 1990s. Overview Liberty Square serves as a major site for public gatherings in Taipei and is home to three major landmarks as well as civic parks. At the east end of Liberty Square stands the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. The square is flanked by the National Concert Hall on the north and the National Theater on the south. A park surrounds the plaza and a wall surrounds the site. The square sits within sight of the Presidential Office Building. Liberty Square regularly serves as the site of mass gatherings in Taiwan. It is the scene for red-carpet ceremonies when Taiwan's president g ...
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Hutong
''Hutong'' () are a type of narrow street or alley commonly associated with northern Chinese cities, especially Beijing. In Beijing, hutongs are alleys formed by lines of ''siheyuan'', traditional courtyard residences. Many neighbourhoods were formed by joining one ''siheyuan'' to another to form a hutong, and then joining one hutong to another. The word hutong is also used to refer to such neighbourhoods. Since the mid-20th century, many Beijing hutongs were demolished to make way for new roads and buildings. More recently, however, many hutongs have been designated as protected, in an attempt to preserve this aspect of Chinese cultural history. Hutongs were first established in the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) and then expanded in the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties. Historical hutongs During China's dynastic period, emperors planned the city of Beijing and arranged the residential areas according to the social classes of the Zhou Dynasty (1027–25 ...
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Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in History of India, northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and Silk Road transmission of Buddhism, gradually spread throughout much of Asia via the Silk Road. It is the Major religious groups, world's fourth-largest religion, with over 520 million followers (Buddhists) who comprise seven percent of the global population. The Buddha taught the Middle Way, a path of spiritual development that avoids both extreme asceticism and hedonism. It aims at liberation from clinging and craving to things which are impermanent (), incapable of satisfying ('), and without a lasting essence (), ending the cycle of death and rebirth (). A summary of this path is expressed in the Noble Eightfold Path, a Bhavana, training of t ...
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Panama–Pacific International Exposition
The Panama–Pacific International Exposition was a world's fair held in San Francisco, California, United States, from February 20 to December 4, 1915. Its stated purpose was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was widely seen in the city as an opportunity to showcase its recovery from the 1906 earthquake. The fair was constructed on a site along the northern shore, between the Presidio and Fort Mason, now known as the Marina District. Exhibits and themes Among the exhibits at the Exposition was the '' C. P. Huntington'', the first steam locomotive purchased by Southern Pacific Railroad; the locomotive is now on static display at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. A telephone line was also established to New York City so people across the continent could hear the Pacific Ocean. The Liberty Bell traveled by train on a nationwide tour from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to attend the exposition. The 1915 American Grand Prize and Vanderbilt ...
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