title: Varg Vikernes

text: Vikernes wrote a blog post sympathetic to some of the views of Anders Behring Breivik, but said he suspected Breivik carried out his terrorist attack as part of a Jewish conspiracy. He condemned Breivik for killing innocent Norwegians and called him a "Christian loser", saying the only way to "save Europe" is to "cast aside all Christian and other international nonsense and embrace only the European (i.e. Pagan) values and ideals".


title: Varg Vikernes

text: Vikernes has a son who was born in 2007 to his current wife, Marie Cachet. They were married the same year. In a 2008 interview, he said he and his wife were expecting a second child (Vikernes' third). After his release, he and his family settled on a small farm in Bø, Telemark. They later moved to Salon-la-Tour, Corrèze department, in France. , he said that he had six children and planned to have more. In March 2021, he announced on Twitter that his wife had given birth to their seventh child, a daughter.


title: Varg Vikernes

text: Vikernes is a teetotaler and has never consumed alcohol or other recreational drugs. He also avoids the unnecessary use of pharmaceutical drugs.


title: Varg Vikernes

text: After his release from prison, he changed his legal name to Louis Cachet to avoid difficulties with the public, but still goes by Varg Vikernes in daily life.


title: Varg Vikernes

text: The 1998 book "Lords of Chaos" (Feral House) covers the early Norwegian black metal scene. Michael Moynihan, one of the book's authors, was sympathetic with Vikernes and his extremist politics. Moynihan disputed that he is a Nazi or white supremacist. In the 2018 film adaptation, which Varg heavily criticized, he was played by Emory Cohen.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota. Saskatchewan and Alberta are the only landlocked provinces of Canada. In 2022, Saskatchewan's population was estimated at 1,194,803. Nearly 10% of Saskatchewan’s total area of is fresh water, mostly rivers, reservoirs and lakes.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Residents primarily live in the southern prairie half of the province, while the northern half is mostly forested and sparsely populated. Roughly half live in the province's largest city Saskatoon or the provincial capital Regina. Other notable cities include Prince Albert, Moose Jaw, Yorkton, Swift Current, North Battleford, Melfort, and the border city Lloydminster. English is the primary language of the province, with 82.4% of Saskatchewanians speaking English as their first language.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Saskatchewan has been inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous groups. Europeans first explored the area in 1690 and first settled in the area in 1774. It became a province in 1905, carved out from the vast North-West Territories, which had until then included most of the Canadian Prairies. In the early 20th century, the province became known as a stronghold for Canadian social democracy; North America's first social-democratic government was elected in 1944. The province's economy is based on agriculture, mining, and energy.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Saskatchewan is presently governed by premier Scott Moe, a member of the Saskatchewan Party which has been in power since 2007.


title: Saskatchewan

text: In 1992, the federal and provincial governments signed a historic land claim agreement with First Nations in Saskatchewan. The First Nations received compensation which they could use to buy land on the open market for the bands. They have acquired about , new reserve lands under this process. Some First Nations have used their settlement to invest in urban areas, including Regina and Saskatoon.


title: Saskatchewan

text: The name of the province is derived from the Saskatchewan River. The river is known as ("swift flowing river") in the Cree language. Henday's spelling was "Keiskatchewan", with the modern rendering, "Saskatchewan", being officially adopted in 1882 when a portion of the present-day province was designated a provisional district of the North-West Territories.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Saskatchewan is the only province without a natural border. As its borders largely follow the geographic coordinates of longitude and latitude, the province is roughly a quadrilateral, or a shape with four sides. However, the southern border on the 49th parallel and the northern border on the 60th parallel appear curved on globes and many maps. Additionally, the eastern boundary of the province is partially crooked rather than following a line of longitude, as correction lines were devised by surveyors prior to the homestead program (1880–1928).


title: Saskatchewan

text: Saskatchewan is part of the Western Provinces and is bounded on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the north-east by Nunavut, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota. Saskatchewan has the distinction of being the only Canadian province for which no borders correspond to physical geographic features (i.e. they are all parallels and meridians). Along with Alberta, Saskatchewan is one of only two land-locked provinces.


title: Saskatchewan

text: The overwhelming majority of Saskatchewan's population is located in the southern third of the province, south of the 53rd parallel.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Saskatchewan contains two major natural regions: the Boreal Forest in the north and the Prairies in the south. They are separated by an aspen parkland transition zone near the North Saskatchewan River on the western side of the province, and near to south of the Saskatchewan River on the eastern side. Northern Saskatchewan is mostly covered by forest except for the Lake Athabasca Sand Dunes, the largest active sand dunes in the world north of 58°, and adjacent to the southern shore of Lake Athabasca. Southern Saskatchewan contains another area with sand dunes known as the "Great Sand Hills" covering over . The Cypress Hills, located in the southwestern corner of Saskatchewan and Killdeer Badlands (Grasslands National Park), are areas of the province that were unglaciated during the last glaciation period, the Wisconsin glaciation.


title: Saskatchewan

text: The province's highest point, at , is located in the Cypress Hills less than 2 km from the provincial boundary with Alberta. The lowest point is the shore of Lake Athabasca, at . The province has 14 major drainage basins made up of various rivers and watersheds draining into the Arctic Ocean, Hudson Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Saskatchewan receives more hours of sunshine than any other Canadian province. The province lies far from any significant body of water. This fact, combined with its northerly latitude, gives it a warm summer, corresponding to its humid continental climate (Köppen type "Dfb") in the central and most of the eastern parts of the province, as well as the Cypress Hills; drying off to a semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen type "BSk") in the southwestern part of the province. Drought can affect agricultural areas during long periods with little or no precipitation at all. The northern parts of Saskatchewan – from about La Ronge northward – have a subarctic climate (Köppen "Dfc") with a shorter summer season. Summers can get very hot, sometimes above during the day, and with humidity decreasing from northeast to southwest. Warm southern winds blow from the plains and intermontane regions of the Western United States during much of July and August, very cool or hot but changeable air masses often occur during spring and in September. Winters are usually bitterly cold, with frequent Arctic air descending from the north. with high temperatures not breaking for weeks at a time. Warm chinook winds often blow from the west, bringing periods of mild weather. Annual precipitation averages 30 to 45 centimetres (12 to 18 inches) across the province, with the bulk of rain falling in June, July, and August.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Saskatchewan is one of the most tornado-active parts of Canada, averaging roughly 12 to 18 tornadoes per year, some violent. In 2012, 33 tornadoes were reported in the province. The Regina Cyclone took place in June 1912 when 28 people died in an F4 Fujita scale tornado. Severe and non-severe thunderstorm events occur in Saskatchewan, usually from early spring to late summer. Hail, strong winds and isolated tornadoes are a common occurrence.


title: Saskatchewan

text: The hottest temperature ever recorded in Saskatchewan was when the temperature rose to in Midale and Yellow Grass. The coldest ever recorded in the province was in Prince Albert, which is north of Saskatoon.


title: Saskatchewan

text: The effects of climate change in Saskatchewan are now being observed in parts of the province. There is evidence of reduction of biomass in Saskatchewan's boreal forests (as with those of other Canadian prairie provinces) is linked by researchers to drought-related water stress, stemming from global warming, most likely caused by greenhouse gas emissions. While studies, as early as 1988 (Williams, et al., 1988) have shown climate change will affect agriculture, whether the effects can be mitigated through adaptations of cultivars, or crops, is less clear. Resiliency of ecosystems may decline with large changes in temperature. The provincial government has responded to the threat of climate change by introducing a plan to reduce carbon emissions, "The Saskatchewan Energy and Climate Change Plan", in June 2007.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Saskatchewan has been populated by various indigenous peoples of North America, including members of the Sarcee, Niitsitapi, Atsina, Cree, Saulteaux, Assiniboine (Nakoda), Lakota and Sioux. The first known European to enter Saskatchewan was Henry Kelsey from England in 1690, who travelled up the Saskatchewan River in hopes of trading fur with the region's indigenous peoples. Fort La Jonquière and Fort de la Corne were first established in 1751 and 1753 by early French explorers and traders. The first permanent European settlement was a Hudson's Bay Company post at Cumberland House, founded in 1774 by Samuel Hearne. The southern part of the province was part of Spanish Louisiana from 1762 until 1802.


title: Saskatchewan

text: In 1803, the Louisiana Purchase transferred from France to the United States part of what is now Alberta and Saskatchewan. In 1818, the U.S. ceded the area to Britain. Most of what is now Saskatchewan was part of Rupert's Land and controlled by the Hudson's Bay Company, which claimed rights to all watersheds flowing into Hudson Bay, including the Saskatchewan River, Churchill, Assiniboine, Souris, and Qu'Appelle River systems.


title: Saskatchewan

text: In the late 1850s and early 1860s, scientific expeditions led by John Palliser and Henry Youle Hind explored the prairie region of the province.


title: Saskatchewan

text: In 1870, Canada acquired the Hudson's Bay Company's territories and formed the North-West Territories to administer the vast territory between British Columbia and Manitoba. The Crown also entered into a series of numbered treaties with the indigenous peoples of the area, which serve as the basis of the relationship between First Nations, as they are called today, and the Crown. Since the late twentieth century, land losses and inequities as a result of those treaties have been subject to negotiation for settlement between the First Nations in Saskatchewan and the federal government, in collaboration with provincial governments.


title: Saskatchewan

text: In 1876, following their defeat of United States Army forces at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in Montana Territory in the United States, the Lakota Chief Sitting Bull led several thousand of his people to Wood Mountain. Survivors and descendants founded Wood Mountain Reserve in 1914.


title: Saskatchewan

text: The North-West Mounted Police set up several posts and forts across Saskatchewan, including Fort Walsh in the Cypress Hills, and Wood Mountain Post in south-central Saskatchewan near the United States border.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Many Métis people, who had not been signatories to a treaty, had moved to the Southbranch Settlement and Prince Albert district north of present-day Saskatoon following the Red River Rebellion in Manitoba in 1870. In the early 1880s, the Canadian government refused to hear the Métis' grievances, which stemmed from land-use issues. Finally, in 1885, the Métis, led by Louis Riel, staged the North-West Rebellion and declared a provisional government. They were defeated by a Canadian militia brought to the Canadian prairies by the new Canadian Pacific Railway. Riel, who surrendered and was convicted of treason in a packed Regina courtroom, was hanged on November 16, 1885. Since then, the government has recognized the Métis as an aboriginal people with status rights and provided them with various benefits.


title: Saskatchewan

text: The national policy set by the federal government, the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Hudson's Bay Company and associated land companies encouraged immigration. The "Dominion Lands Act" of 1872 permitted settlers to acquire one-quarter of a square mile of land to homestead and offered an additional quarter upon establishing a homestead. In 1874, the North-West Mounted Police began providing police services. In 1876, the "North-West Territories Act" provided for appointment, by the Ottawa, of a Lieutenant Governor and a Council to assist him.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Highly optimistic advertising campaigns promoted the benefits of prairie living. Potential immigrants read leaflets that described Canada as a favourable place to live and downplayed the need for agricultural expertise. Ads in "The Nor'-West Farmer" by the Commissioner of Immigration implied that western land was blessed with water, wood, gold, silver, iron, copper, and cheap coal for fuel, all of which were readily at hand. The reality was far harsher, especially for the first arrivals who lived in sod houses. However eastern money poured in and by 1913, long term mortgage loans to Saskatchewan farmers had reached $65 million.


title: Saskatchewan

text: The dominant groups comprised British settlers from eastern Canada and Britain, who comprised about half of the population during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They played the leading role in establishing the basic institutions of plains society, economy and government.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Gender roles were sharply defined. Men were primarily responsible for breaking the land; planting and harvesting; building the house; buying, operating and repairing machinery; and handling finances. At first, there were many single men on the prairie, or husbands whose wives were still back east, but they had a hard time. They realized the need for a wife. In 1901, there were 19,200 families, but this surged to 150,300 families only 15 years later. Wives played a central role in settlement of the prairie region. Their labour, skills, and ability to adapt to the harsh environment proved decisive in meeting the challenges. They prepared bannock, beans and bacon, mended clothes, raised children, cleaned, tended the garden, helped at harvest time and nursed everyone back to health. While prevailing patriarchal attitudes, legislation, and economic principles obscured women's contributions, the flexibility exhibited by farm women in performing productive and nonproductive labour was critical to the survival of family farms, and thus to the success of the wheat economy.


title: Saskatchewan

text: On September 1, 1905, Saskatchewan became a province, with inauguration day held on September 4. Its political leaders at the time proclaimed its destiny was to become Canada's most powerful province. Saskatchewan embarked on an ambitious province-building program based on its Anglo-Canadian culture and wheat production for the export market. Population quintupled from 91,000 in 1901 to 492,000 in 1911, thanks to heavy immigration of farmers from Ukraine, U.S., Germany and Scandinavia. Efforts were made to assimilate the newcomers to British Canadian culture and values.


title: Saskatchewan

text: In the 1905 provincial elections, Liberals won 16 of 25 seats in Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan government bought out Bell Telephone Company in 1909, with the government owning the long-distance lines and left local service to small companies organized at the municipal level. Premier Walter Scott preferred government assistance to outright ownership because he thought enterprises worked better if citizens had a stake in running them; he set up the Saskatchewan Cooperative Elevator Company in 1911. Despite pressure from farm groups for direct government involvement in the grain handling business, the Scott government opted to loan money to a farmer-owned elevator company. Saskatchewan in 1909 provided bond guarantees to railway companies for the construction of branch lines, alleviating the concerns of farmers who had trouble getting their wheat to market by wagon. The Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association, was the dominant political force in the province until the 1920s; it had close ties with the governing Liberal party. In 1913, the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association was established with three goals: to watch over legislation; to forward the interests of the stock growers in every honourable and legitimate way; and to suggest to parliament legislation to meet changing conditions and requirements.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Immigration peaked in 1910, and in spite of the initial difficulties of frontier life – distance from towns, sod homes, and backbreaking labour – new settlers established a European-Canadian style of prosperous agrarian society. The long-term prosperity of the province depended on the world price of grain, which headed steadily upward from the 1880s to 1920, then plunged down. Wheat output was increased by new strains, such as the "Marquis wheat" strain which matured 8 days sooner and yielded 7 more bushels per acre (0.72 m/ha) than the previous standard, "Red Fife". The national output of wheat soared from in 1896, to in 1901, reaching by 1921.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Urban reform movements in Regina were based on support from business and professional groups. City planning, reform of local government, and municipal ownership of utilities were more widely supported by these two groups, often through such organizations as the Board of Trade. Church-related and other altruistic organizations generally supported social welfare and housing reforms; these groups were generally less successful in getting their own reforms enacted.


title: Saskatchewan

text: The province responded to the First World War in 1914 with patriotic enthusiasm and enjoyed the resultant economic boom for farms and cities alike. Emotional and intellectual support for the war emerged from the politics of Canadian national identity, the rural myth, and social gospel progressivism The Church of England was especially supportive. However, there was strong hostility toward German-Canadian farmers. Recent Ukrainian immigrants were enemy aliens because of their citizenship in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A small fraction were taken to internment camps. Most of the internees were unskilled unemployed labourers who were imprisoned "because they were destitute, not because they were disloyal".


title: Saskatchewan

text: The price of wheat tripled and acreage seeded doubled. The wartime spirit of sacrifice intensified social reform movements that had predated the war and now came to fruition. Saskatchewan gave women the right to vote in 1916 and at the end of 1916 passed a referendum to prohibit the sale of alcohol.


title: Saskatchewan

text: In the late 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan, imported from the United States and Ontario, gained brief popularity in nativist circles in Saskatchewan and Alberta. The Klan, briefly allied with the provincial Conservative party because of their mutual dislike for Premier James G. "Jimmy" Gardiner and his Liberals (who ferociously fought the Klan), enjoyed about two years of prominence. It declined and disappeared, subject to widespread political and media opposition, plus internal scandals involving the use of the organization's funds.


title: Saskatchewan

text: In 1970, the first annual Canadian Western Agribition was held in Regina. This farm-industry trade show, with its strong emphasis on livestock, is rated as one of the five top livestock shows in North America, along with those in Houston, Denver, Louisville and Toronto.


title: Saskatchewan

text: The province celebrated the 75th anniversary of its establishment in 1980, with Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, presiding over the official ceremonies. In 2005, 25 years later, her sister, Queen Elizabeth II, attended the events held to mark Saskatchewan's centennial.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Since the late 20th century, First Nations have become more politically active in seeking justice for past inequities, especially related to the taking of indigenous lands by various governments. The federal and provincial governments have negotiated on numerous land claims, and developed a program of "Treaty Land Entitlement", enabling First Nations to buy land to be taken into reserves with money from settlements of claims.


title: Saskatchewan

text: "In 1992, the federal and provincial governments signed an historic land claim agreement with Saskatchewan First Nations. Under the Agreement, the First Nations received money to buy land on the open market. As a result, about 761,000 acres have been turned into reserve land and many First Nations continue to invest their settlement dollars in urban areas", including Saskatoon. The money from such settlements has enabled First Nations to invest in businesses and other economic infrastructure.


title: Saskatchewan

text: In June 2021, a graveyard containing the remains of 751 unidentified people was found at the former Marieval Indian residential school, part of the Canadian Indian residential school system, the most found in Canada to date.


title: Saskatchewan

text: According to the Canada 2011 Census, the largest ethnic group in Saskatchewan is German (28.6%), followed by English (24.9%), Scottish (18.9%), Canadian (18.8%), Irish (15.5%), Ukrainian (13.5%), French (Fransaskois) (12.2%), First Nations (12.1%), Norwegian (6.9%), and Polish (5.8%).


title: Saskatchewan

text: As of the 2021 Canadian Census, the ten most spoken languages in the province included English (1,094,785 or 99.24%), French (52,065 or 4.72%), Tagalog (36,125 or 3.27%), Cree (24,850 or 2.25%), Hindi (15,745 or 1.43%), Punjabi (13,310 or 1.21%), German (11,815 or 1.07%), Mandarin (11,590 or 1.05%), Spanish (11,185 or 1.01%), and Ukrainian (10,795 or 0.98%). The question on knowledge of languages allows for multiple responses.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Historically, Saskatchewan's economy was primarily associated with agriculture, with wheat being the precious symbol on the province's flag. Increasing diversification has resulted in agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting only making up 8.9% of the province's GDP in 2018. Saskatchewan grows a large portion of Canada's grain. In 2017, the production of canola surpassed the production of wheat, which is Saskatchewan's most familiar crop and the one most often associated with the province. The total net income from farming was $3.3 billion in 2017, which was $0.9 billion less than the income in 2016. Other grains such as flax, rye, oats, peas, lentils, canary seed, and barley are also produced in the province. Saskatchewan is the world's largest exporter of mustard seed. Beef cattle production by a Canadian province is only exceeded by Alberta. In the northern part of the province, forestry is also a significant industry.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Mining is a major industry in the province, with Saskatchewan being the world's largest exporter of potash and uranium. Oil and natural gas production is also a very important part of Saskatchewan's economy, although the oil industry is larger. Among Canadian provinces, only Alberta exceeds Saskatchewan in overall oil production. Heavy crude is extracted in the Lloydminster-Kerrobert-Kindersley areas. Light crude is found in the Kindersley-Swift Current areas as well as the Weyburn-Estevan fields. Natural gas is found almost entirely in the western part of Saskatchewan, from the Primrose Lake area through Lloydminster, Unity, Kindersley, Leader, and around Maple Creek areas.


title: Saskatchewan

text: A list of the companies includes The Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (defunct in December 2017), Federated Cooperatives Ltd. and IPSCO.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Major Saskatchewan-based Crown corporations are Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI), SaskTel, SaskEnergy (the province's main supplier of natural gas), and SaskPower. Bombardier runs the NATO Flying Training Centre at 15 Wing, near Moose Jaw. Bombardier was awarded a long-term contract in the late 1990s for $2.8 billion from the federal government for the purchase of military aircraft and the running of the training facility. SaskPower since 1929 has been the principal supplier of electricity in Saskatchewan, serving more than 451,000 customers and managing $4.5 billion in assets. SaskPower is a major employer in the province with almost 2,500 permanent full-time staff located in 71 communities.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Publicly funded elementary and secondary schools in the province are administered by twenty-seven school divisions. Public elementary and secondary schools either operate as secular or as a separate schools. Nearly all school divisions, except one operate as an English first language school board. The Division scolaire francophone No. 310 is the only school division that operates French first language schools. In addition to elementary and secondary schools, the province is also home to several post-secondary institutions.


title: Saskatchewan

text: The first education on the prairies took place within the family groups of the First Nations and early fur trading settlers. There were only a few missionary or trading post schools established in Rupert's Land – later known as the North West Territories. The first 76 North-West Territories school districts and the first Board of Education meeting formed in 1886. The pioneering boom formed ethnic bloc settlements. Communities were seeking education for their children similar to the schools of their homeland. Log cabins, and dwellings were constructed for the assembly of the community, school, church, dances and meetings.


title: Saskatchewan

text: The prosperity of the Roaring Twenties and the success of farmers in proving up on their homesteads helped provide funding to standardize education. Textbooks, normal schools for educating teachers, formal school curricula and state of the art school house architectural plans provided continuity throughout the province. English as the school language helped to provide economic stability because one community could communicate with another and goods could be traded and sold in a common language. The number of one-room schoolhouse districts across Saskatchewan totalled approximately 5,000 at the height of this system of education in the late 1940s.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Following World War II, the transition from many one-room schoolhouses to fewer and larger consolidated modern technological town and city schools occurred as a means of ensuring technical education. School buses, highways, and family vehicles create ease and accessibility of a population shift to larger towns and cities. Combines and tractors mean the farmer could manage more than a quarter section of land, so there was a shift from family farms and subsistence crops to cash crops grown on many sections of land. School vouchers have been newly proposed as a means of allowing competition between rural schools and making the operation of co-operative schools practicable in rural areas.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Saskatchewan's Ministry of Health is responsible for policy direction, sets and monitors standards, and provides funding for regional health authorities and provincial health services. Saskatchewan's health system is a single-payer system. Medical practitioners in Saskatchewan are independent contractors. They remit their accounts to the publicly funded Saskatchewan Medical Care Insurance Plan, which pays the accounts. Patients do not pay anything to their doctors or hospitals for medical care.


title: Saskatchewan

text: In 1944, the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), a left-wing agrarian and labour party, won the provincial election in Saskatchewan and formed the first socialist government in North American history. Repeatedly re-elected, the CFC campaigned in the early 1960s on the theme of universal health coverage and, after winning the election again, implemented it, the first in Canada. However, it was fiercely opposed by the province's doctors' union, which went on a massive strike the day the new system came into effect. Supported by the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce, most newspapers and the right-wing Keep Our Doctors movement, the doctors' union ran an effective communications campaign portraying the universal health care system as a communist scheme that would spread disease. The strike, which had become very unpopular because of the outrageous rhetoric of some of its leaders (one of them had called for bloodshed), finally ended after a few weeks, and universal health coverage was adopted by the whole country five years later.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Saskatchewan has the same form of government as the other Canadian provinces with a lieutenant-governor (who is the representative of the King in Right of Saskatchewan), premier, and a unicameral legislature.


title: Saskatchewan

text: During the 20th century, Saskatchewan was one of Canada's more left-wing provinces, reflecting the slant of its many rural citizens which distrusted the distant capital government and which favored a strong local government to attend to their issues. In 1944 Tommy Douglas became premier of the first avowedly socialist regional government in North America. Most of his Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) represented rural and small-town ridings. Under his Cooperative Commonwealth Federation government, Saskatchewan became the first province to have Medicare. In 1961, Douglas left provincial politics to become the first leader of the federal New Democratic Party. In the 21st century, Saskatchewan began to drift to the right-wing, generally attributed to the province's economy shifting toward oil and gas production. In the 2015 federal election, the Conservative Party of Canada won ten of the province's fourteen seats, followed by the New Democratic Party with three and the Liberal Party of Canada with one; in the 2019 election, the Conservatives won in all of Saskatchewan's 14 seats, sweeping their competition.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Provincial politics in Saskatchewan is dominated by the social-democratic Saskatchewan New Democratic Party and the centre-right Saskatchewan Party, with the latter holding the majority in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan since 2007. The current Premier of Saskatchewan is Scott Moe, who took over the leadership of the Saskatchewan Party in 2018 following the resignation of Brad Wall. Numerous smaller political parties also run candidates in provincial elections, including the Green Party of Saskatchewan, Liberal Party of Saskatchewan, and the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan, but none is currently represented in the Legislative Assembly (federal Conservatives and Liberals generally favour the Saskatchewan Party in provincial elections).


title: Saskatchewan

text: No Prime Minister of Canada has been born in Saskatchewan, but two (William Lyon Mackenzie King and John Diefenbaker) represented the province in the House of Commons of Canada during their tenures as head of government.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Below the provincial level of government, Saskatchewan is divided into urban and rural municipalities. The Government of Saskatchewan's Ministry of Municipal Relations recognizes three general types of municipalities and seven sub-types – urban municipalities (cities, towns, villages and resort villages), rural municipalities and northern municipalities (northern towns, northern villages and northern hamlets). The vast majority of the land mass of Northern Saskatchewan is within the unorganized Northern Saskatchewan Administration District. Cities are formed under the provincial authority of "The Cities Act", which was enacted in 2002. Towns, villages, resort villages and rural municipalities are formed under the authority of "The Municipalities Act", enacted in 2005. The three sub-types of northern municipalities are formed under the authority of "The Northern Municipalities Act", enacted in 2010. As provincial laws, these three acts were passed by the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan with royal assent granted by the Lieutenant Governor.


title: Saskatchewan

text: In 2016, Saskatchewan's 774 municipalities covered of the province's land mass and were home to of its population.


title: Saskatchewan

text: These 774 municipalities are local government "creatures of provincial jurisdiction" with legal personality. One of the key purposes of Saskatchewan's municipalities are "to provide services, facilities and other things that, in the opinion of council, are necessary or desirable for all or a part of the municipality". Other purposes are to: "provide good government"; "develop and maintain a safe and viable community"; "foster economic, social and environmental well-being" and "provide wise stewardship of public assets."


title: Saskatchewan

text: Transportation in Saskatchewan includes an infrastructure system of roads, highways, freeways, airports, ferries, pipelines, trails, waterways and railway systems serving a population of approximately 1,003,299 (according to 2007 estimates) inhabitants year-round. It is funded primarily with local and federal government funds. The Saskatchewan Department of Highways and Transportation estimates 80% of traffic is carried on the 5,031-kilometre principal system of highways.


title: Saskatchewan

text: The Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure operates over of highways and divided highways. There are also municipal roads which comprise different surfaces. Asphalt concrete pavements comprise almost , granular pavement almost , non structural or thin membrane surface TMS are close to and finally gravel highways make up over through the province. In the northern sector, ice roads which can only be navigated in the winter months comprise another approximately of travel.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Saskatchewan has over of roads and highways, the highest length of road surface of any Canadian province. The major highways in Saskatchewan are the Trans Canada expressway, Yellowhead Highway northern Trans Canada route, Louis Riel Trail, CanAm Highway, Red Coat Trail, Northern Woods and Water route, and Saskota travel route.


title: Saskatchewan

text: The first Canadian transcontinental railway was constructed by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) between 1881 and 1885. After the great east–west transcontinental railway was built, north–south connector branch lines were established. The 1920s saw the largest rise in rail line track as the CPR and Canadian National Railway (CNR) fell into competition to provide rail service within ten kilometres. In the 1960s there were applications for abandonment of branch lines. Today the only two passenger rail services in the province are "The Canadian" and Winnipeg–Churchill train, both operated by Via Rail. "The Canadian" is a transcontinental service linking Toronto with Vancouver.


title: Saskatchewan

text: The main Saskatchewan waterways are the North Saskatchewan River or South Saskatchewan River routes. In total, there are 3,050 bridges maintained by the Department of Highways in Saskatchewan. There are currently twelve ferry services operating in the province, all under the jurisdiction of the Department of Highways.


title: Saskatchewan

text: The Saskatoon Airport was initially established as part of the Royal Canadian Air Force training program during World War II. It was renamed the John G. Diefenbaker Airport in 1993. "Roland J. Groome Airfield" is the official designation for the Regina International Airport as of 2005; the airport was established in 1930.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Airlines offering service to Saskatchewan are Air Canada, WestJet Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Transwest Air, Sunwing Airlines, Norcanair Airlines, La Ronge Aviation Services Ltd, La Loche Airways, Osprey Wings Ltd, Buffalo Narrows Airways Ltd, Île-à-la-Crosse Airways Ltd, Voyage Air, Pronto Airways, Venture Air Ltd, Pelican Narrows Air Service, Jackson Air Services Ltd, and Northern Dene Airways Ltd.


title: Saskatchewan

text: The Government of Canada agreed to contribute $20 million for two new interchanges in Saskatoon. One of them being at the Highway 219/Lorne Avenue intersection with Circle Drive, the other at the Senator Sid Buckwold Bridge (Idylwyld Freeway) and Circle Drive. This is part of the Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative to improve access to the CNR's intermodal freight terminal thereby increasing Asia-Pacific trade. Also, the Government of Canada will contribute $27 million to Regina to construct a CPR intermodal facility and improve infrastructure transportation to the facility from both national highway networks, Highway 1, the TransCanada Highway and Highway 11, Louis Riel Trail. This also is part of the Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative to improve access to the CPR terminal and increase Asia-Pacific trade.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Saskatchewan is home to a number of museums. The Royal Saskatchewan Museum serves as the provincial museum of the province. Other museums include Diefenbaker House, Evolution of Education Museum, Museum of Antiquities, the RCMP Heritage Centre, Rotary Museum of Police and Corrections, Saskatchewan Science Centre, Saskatchewan Western Development Museum, and the T.rex Discovery Centre.


title: Saskatchewan

text: The province is home to several art galleries, including MacKenzie Art Gallery, and Remai Modern. The province is also home to several performing arts centres including the Conexus Arts Centre in Regina, and TCU Place in Saskatoon. PAVED Arts, a new media artist-run space, is also located in Saskatoon.


title: Saskatchewan

text: The province is presently home to several concert orchestras, the Regina Symphony Orchestra, the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, and the Saskatoon Youth Orchestra. The Regina Symphony Orchestra is at the Conexus Arts Centre, while the Saskatoon performs at TCU Place.


title: Saskatchewan

text: A leading writer from Saskatchewan is W. O. Mitchell (1914–1998), born in Weyburn. His best-loved novel is "Who Has Seen the Wind" (1947), which portrays life on the Canadian Prairies and sold almost a million copies in Canada. As a broadcaster, he is known for his radio series Jake and the Kid, which aired on CBC Radio between 1950 and 1956 and was also about life on the Prairies.


title: Saskatchewan

text: The Saskatchewan Roughriders are the province's professional Canadian football team (playing in the Canadian Football League) and are extremely popular across Saskatchewan. The team's fans are also found to congregate on game days throughout Canada, and collectively they are known as "Rider Nation". The province's other major sports franchise is the Saskatchewan Rush of the National Lacrosse League. In their first year of competition, 2016, the Rush won both their Division Title and the League Championship.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Hockey is the most popular sport in the province. More than 490 NHL players have been born in Saskatchewan, the highest per capita output of any Canadian province, U.S. state, or European country. Notable NHL figures born in Saskatchewan include Keith Allen, Gordie Howe, Bryan Trottier, Bernie Federko, Clark Gillies, Fern Flaman, Bert Olmstead, Harry Watson, Elmer Lach, Max Bentley, Sid Abel, Doug Bentley, Eddie Shore, Clint Smith, Bryan Hextall, Johnny Bower, Emile Francis, Glenn Hall, Chuck Rayner, Brad McCrimmon, Patrick Marleau, Dave Manson, Theo Fleury, Terry Harper, Wade Redden, Brian Propp, Scott Hartnell, Ryan Getzlaf, and Chris Kunitz. Saskatchewan does not have an NHL or minor professional franchise, but five teams in the junior Western Hockey League are located in the province: the Moose Jaw Warriors, Prince Albert Raiders, Regina Pats, Saskatoon Blades and Swift Current Broncos.


title: Saskatchewan

text: In 2015, Budweiser honoured Saskatchewan for their abundance of hockey players by sculpting a 12-foot-tall hockey player monument in ice for Saskatchewan's capital city of Regina. The company then filmed this frozen monument for a national television commercial, thanking the province for creating so many goal scorers throughout hockey's history. Budweiser also gifted the "hockey player" province a trophy made of white birch—Saskatchewan's provincial tree—which bears the name of every pro player in history. Sitting atop the trophy was a golden Budweiser Red Light, synched to every current Saskatchewan player in the pros. This trophy can currently be seen at Victoria Bar in Regina.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Historically, Saskatchewan has been one of the strongest curling provinces. Teams from Saskatchewan have finished in the top three places at 38 briers and top two places in women's championships. Notable curlers from Saskatchewan include Sandra Schmirler, Ernie Richardson, and Vera Pezer. In a 2019 TSN poll, experts ranked Schmirler's Saskatchewan team, which won a gold medal at the 1998 Olympics, as the greatest women's team in Canada's history.


title: Saskatchewan

text: The flag of Saskatchewan was officially adopted on September 22, 1969. The flag features the provincial shield in the upper quarter nearest the staff, with the floral emblem, the Prairie Lily, in the fly. The upper green (in forest green) half of the flag represents the northern Saskatchewan forest lands, while the golden lower half of the flag symbolizes the southern wheat fields and prairies. A province-wide competition was held to design the flag, and drew over 4,000 entries. The winning design was by Anthony Drake, then living in Hodgeville.


title: Saskatchewan

text: In 2005, Saskatchewan Environment held a province-wide vote to recognize Saskatchewan's centennial year, receiving more than 10,000 online and mail-in votes from the public. The walleye was the overwhelming favourite of the six native fish species nominated for the designation, receiving more than half the votes cast. Other species in the running were the lake sturgeon, lake trout, lake whitefish, northern pike and yellow perch.


title: Saskatchewan

text: Saskatchewan's other symbols include the tartan, the licence plate, and the provincial flower. Saskatchewan's official tartan was registered with the Court of Lord Lyon King of Arms in Scotland in 1961. It has seven colours: gold, brown, green, red, yellow, white and black. The provincial licence plates display the slogan "Land of Living Skies". The provincial flower of Saskatchewan is the western red lily.


title: Saskatchewan

text: In 2005, Saskatchewan celebrated its centennial. To honour it, the Royal Canadian Mint issued a commemorative five-dollar coin depicting Canada's wheat fields as well as a circulation 25-cent coin of a similar design. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visited Regina, Saskatoon, and Lumsden, and the Saskatchewan-reared Joni Mitchell issued an album in Saskatchewan's honour.


title: Anushka Shetty

text: Sweety Shetty (born 7 November 1981), known by her stage name Anushka Shetty, is an Indian actress and model who predominantly works in Telugu and Tamil films. She is the recipient of Three Filmfare Awards South, Two Nandi Award, and One Tamil Nadu State Film Award. Having appeared in 47 films, she is one of the highest-paid South Indian actresses and is popularly referred as "Lady Superstar" of South Indian cinema.


title: Anushka Shetty

text: She made her acting debut with the 2005 Telugu film "Super", which garnered her a Filmfare Best Supporting Actress – Telugu nomination. The following year, she starred in S. S. Rajamouli's blockbuster hit "Vikramarkudu". Her further releases "Lakshyam" (2007), "Souryam" (2008), and "Chintakayala Ravi" (2008) were also box office successes. In 2009, Shetty played dual roles in the Telugu dark fantasy film "Arundhati", which led her to her first Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu, and Nandi Award. The following year, Shetty's portrayal of a prostitute in the acclaimed drama "Vedam" won her a second consecutive Best Actress Award from Filmfare.


title: Anushka Shetty

text: In the 2010s, Shetty also starred in Tamil cinema in the action films such as "Vettaikaaran" (2009), "Singam" (2010), "Singam II" (2013), and "Yennai Arindhaal" (2015), all of which were major commercial successes. She continued to draw praise from critics with her leading performances in the dramas "Vaanam" (2011), "Deiva Thirumagal" (2011) and "Size Zero" (2015). She portrayed the titular queen in the 2015 epic historical fiction "Rudhramadevi", which won her the third Filmfare Award for Best Actress- Telugu. Shetty's portrayal of Princess Devasena in the "Baahubali series" (2015–17) received widespread acclaim. While "" (2015) is the seventh highest-grossing Indian film, its sequel "" (2017) is the second highest-grossing Indian film of all time and also made her the highest-paid actress in South Indian cinema.


title: Anushka Shetty

text: Shetty was born in Mangalore, Karnataka, to a Tulu speaking Bunt family from Bellipady village in Puttur taluk of Dakshina Kannada district. Her parents are Prafulla and A. N. Vittal Shetty and she has two elder brothers, Gunaranjan Shetty and Sai Ramesh Shetty. Shetty received her Bachelor of Computer Applications from Mount Carmel College in Bangalore. She was also a yoga instructor, trained under Bharat Thakur.


title: Anushka Shetty

text: While filming her debut film "Super", the director Puri Jagannadh and producer Nagarjuna were keen for Shetty to have a screen name as they felt her real name Sweety may not be appealing to the audience. While mulling over different names, they came across Anushka Manchanda who was singing one of the songs in the film. They liked her first name and decided to adopt "Anushka" as the screen name for Shetty's film career.


title: Anushka Shetty

text: Shetty made her acting debut in Puri Jagannadh's 2005 Telugu film "Super", where she featured alongside Nagarjuna and Ayesha Takia. "IndiaGlitz" said "The two girls, Ayesha and Anushka, are cool and chic. Their angles and curves provide all the glamour and keep you engrossed. What about their acting? Well, they are in this film for it." and "Sify" stated, "The sexy girls Ayesha and Anushka show off their bodies." The same year, she acted in another film "Maha Nandi", opposite Srihari and Sumanth. "IndiaGlitz" said, "Anushka looks comely ---and that is what she seems to be in for." but added, "The script has been stitched and the seams look frayed." "Sify" stated that it "starts promisingly with a racy first half but goes awry and the tempo slackens post interval." and added, "Anushka looks ravishing thanks to Vasu's camera which is a major plus for the film."


title: Anushka Shetty

text: In 2006, she had four releases, the first being S. S. Rajamouli's "Vikramarkudu", where she was paired with Ravi Teja. Kishore of "Nowrunning.com" said "The high points of the movie are the flawless acting of Raviteja and the lusciousness of Anushka. Raviteja has got all the ingredients that an actor should have and Anushka has all the assets to that a woman ought to have." and "Sify" said that Anushka "is definitely a highlight."


title: Anushka Shetty

text: She next starred in the film "Astram", a remake of the 1999 Hindi film "Sarfarosh", following which she debuted in the Tamil film industry, acting in the Sundar C.-directed action flick "Rendu", sharing screen space with R. Madhavan. Later that year, she made a special appearance alongside Mega star Chiranjeevi in A. R. Murugadoss' directorial debut in Telugu, "Stalin".


title: Anushka Shetty

text: Her first release in 2007 was "Lakshyam" which was a success in box office, after which she starred in Raghava Lawrence's "Don" opposite Nagarjuna again. The former, in particular, succeeded at the box office. In 2008 she had appeared in six films. "Okka Magaadu" was the first release, in which she played one of three female leads. Nandamuri Balakrishna was the actor opposite her in "Okka Magaadu". Her next releases "Swagatam" alongside Jagapati Babu and Bhumika Chawla and "Baladur" opposite Ravi Teja garnered poor reviews and box office returns. She next appeared in the film "Souryam" with Gopichand which became a box office hit.


title: Anushka Shetty

text: In 2009, Shetty first starred in the blockbuster hit, the fantasy film "Arundhati". In this heroine-centric film, she essayed two roles for the first time. "Idlebrain"s Jeevi wrote that she was "simply amazing in two roles" and that she did "exceptionally well with subtle yet impact creating performance," while "Rediff.com" claimed that she was "brilliant and breathtaking in parts," labelling "Arundhati" as "totally Anushka's film." "Sify" noted that she was "at her best with great performance" She went on to win the Nandi Special Jury Award and the Filmfare Best Actress Award. Her next film was "Billa", a remake of the 2007 Tamil film of the same name. The film received mixed reviews, with "Rediff" stating "Anushka has a super-toned body and indulges in quite a bit of skin show" but had "nothing much to do," while "Sify" stated "Anushka was there to show her oomph and glamour which she ha.s done full justice." Her final release in 2009 was her second Tamil feature film, the action masala film "Vettaikkaran" with actor Vijay and it received generally unfavourable reviews. "Rediff" said, "Anushka, fresh from her success with "Arundhathi", has been relegated to pretty bimbette again and appears conveniently during the romantic numbers of which "Oru Chinna Thamarai" takes the cake." and "Sify" said, "Anushka has nothing much to do and hence goes unnoticed."


title: Anushka Shetty

text: She had a string of releases in 2010. She portrayed a prostitute in Krish's anthology film "Vedam" which stars Allu Arjun. For her performance, she won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress, her second consecutive Filmfare Award. Her next Telugu film, "Panchakshari", was another heroine-centric film where she again performed double roles. This was followed by the action comedy "Khaleja", where she starred opposite Mahesh Babu for the first time in her career, "Nagavalli", the Telugu remake of the Kannada film "Aptharakshaka" in which she portrayed the famous role of Chandramukhi and "Ragada". She also made special appearances in the movies "Kedi" and "Thakita Thakita". However all these 2010 releases failed to make an impact at the box office. Her sole Tamil release of 2010, the police story "Singam" co-starring Suriya was a high commercial success. "Sify" claimed, "Anushka is there only for glamour and songs, but does a decent job". while Pavithra Srinivasan of "Rediff" stated, "Anushka, thankfully, has more to do than just prance around in skimpy clothes (which she does very well). She romances dutifully, but her part picks up when both she and Suriya are in Chennai, tangling with villains."


title: Anushka Shetty

text: She reprised the role she played in "Vedam" in its Tamil remake, "Vaanam" (2011). Malathi Rangarajan of "The Hindu" said, "Boldness and daring mark Anushka's role—the actor's eyes effectively convey joy, helplessness, agony and anger." A critic from "Sify" wrote that "Anushka is outstanding as the commercial sex worker as she is able to bring out a life-like performance." She next starred in A. L. Vijay's "Deiva Thirumagal". The drama centers on the characters of Krishna (Vikram), an intellectually disabled father and his daughter Nila. The film became a critical and commercial success, fetching her laurels for her portrayal as Anuradha, an advocate. Oneindia stated, "Anushka Shetty's character in the film had good scope for performance without being glamorous." She received her first Filmfare nomination in the Tamil category, besides the Vijay Award for Favourite Heroine.


title: Anushka Shetty

text: In 2012, Anushka collaborated again with A. L. Vijay and Vikram in the action drama "Thaandavam". Malathi Rangarajan stated that "the romance between Vikram and Anushka is a beautiful feature of "Thaandavam"." She later appeared alongside Nagarjuna in the fantasy film "Dhamarukam", which was her first Telugu release after two years. Karthik Pasupulate from "The Times of India" said that Anushka "has little to do as far as performance goes and does a good job of upping the glam quotient." Radhika Rajamani of "Rediff" claimed, "Anushka looks sweet. Nag and Anushka have good onscreen chemistry." "Oneindia" claimed, "Anushka Shetty has less scope for acting, but she impresses you in song sequences."


title: Anushka Shetty

text: Anushka next release was Selvaraghavan's fantasy adventure film "Irandam Ulagam" opposite Arya, that saw her playing a dual role again, the third time in her career. Anushka played Ramya, a doctor and Varna, a high spirited, warrior-like character, in a parallel world. "Rediff" wrote, "Anushka not only shares equal screen space with Arya, but also plays quite a significant role. In fact, the story revolves around her and she has performed admirably." "Behindwoods" wrote, "As the shy doctor Ramya and as the fierce warrior Varna, Anushka is simply at her best showcasing a wide range of emotions and stunts. It is her performance that stands as a pivot for the rest of the story to take shape."


title: Anushka Shetty

text: Her next release was the Tamil film "Lingaa" opposite Rajinikanth, released in December 2014. She starred opposite Rajnikanth in "Lingaa" which opened to mixed reviews.


title: Anushka Shetty

text: In 2015, she starred opposite Ajith Kumar in "Yennai Arindhaal" which opened to positive reviews. Her second release in 2015, is the first part of "Baahubali" directed by S. S. Rajamouli which became one of the top-grossing films in the Indian film industry. Anushka Shetty was referred to in the media as the "Lady Superstar". "The Hindu" noted that, Anushka Shetty is gutsy to take on such a role and emotes through her powerful eyes. Her third release in 2015 was Gunashekar's bilingual "Rudhramadevi" in which she portrays the title role of the queen of Kakatiya dynasty, Rudrama Devi opposite Allu Arjun and Rana Daggubati. AP Herald wrote, "Anushka Shetty was very believable and appreciable as a royal torrid and an honorable woman. Hers is a dual character, that of next to kin 'Rudhradeva' and of powerful 'Rudhramadevi' are superb. She plays her dual role in her characters in style and lends credibility to both the characters." Her final release in 2015 was "Size Zero" where she played a plus-sized women. She got 2 movie in 2016 release as cameo appearance in "Soggade Chinni Nayana" and "Oopiri".


title: Anushka Shetty

text: Her first film release in 2017 was "Si3", in which she was paired with Suriya for the third time in her career. In "Om Namo Venkatesaya" Shetty portrayed Krishnamma, a Goda Devi or Andal-inspired character. Her next release was "". Shetty received a positive response for her portrayal of Yuvarani Devasena.


title: Anushka Shetty

text: The character of Devasena was highly praised by critics and Shetty's portrayal was equally lauded. A Firstpost article noted that the female characters in the second part were the actual heroes of the saga. Comparing Devasena to Arjuna, the article described her as "a competitive warrior who can wield the bow and arrow with finesse".It further noted how her character emphasized the need of freedom of choice writing that "in Devasena's case by taking archery lessons, choosing her life partner and being given the right to reject a matrimonial alliance, she can be her own person and develop into a strong personality, who doesn't break down even when chained for 25 years in the palace courtyard."


title: Anushka Shetty

text: In the Telugu horror thriller film "Bhaagamathie" (2018), Shetty played the character Chanchala, an IAS officer, who is sent to prison after killing her fiancé. Anushka's portrayal of Bhaagamathie and Chanchala was notable. The News Minute wrote,"There is no woman actor in the south who has the kind of commanding presence that Anushka does. When she's on screen, there's no one else you want to watch. I suppose if I ever met her in person, I'd hear imaginary elephants trumpeting around me because she gets under the skin of these regal roles so convincingly." Praising Shetty's performance it further read,"Anushka alternates between playing the gentle Chanchala and the vengeful Bhaagamathie with ease. This is an actor who can pull off stereotypical depictions of femininity without it grating on your nerves – so when she swoons at the sight of blood in one scene, it doesn't put you off because she takes herself seriously and isn't around just as a decorative festoon." In May 2021, she signed for a film under the UV Creations banner.


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: Jeepers Creepers is a 2001 horror film written and directed by Victor Salva. It stars Gina Philips and Justin Long as Trish and Darry Jenner, two siblings in college who are pursued by the Creeper, a demonic serial killer portrayed by Jonathan Breck. The film takes its name from the 1938 song of the same name, which is featured in the film under a version by Paul Whiteman. Patricia Belcher and Eileen Brennan also appear in supporting roles, with Salva making a cameo appearance.


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: Produced by American Zoetrope and the German companies Cinerenta-Cinebeta and Cinerenta Medienbeteiligungs KG, "Jeepers Creepers" began production in August 2000 after Salva convinced the studios to cast Philips and Long with the help of executive producer Francis Ford Coppola. Due to severe budget cuts, the third act of the project was rewritten during production. Filming took place for two months in Florida in Ocala, Dunnellon, Reddick, and Lake Panasoffkee. The film was theatrically released by United Artists and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on August 31, 2001. It was a commercial success, despite mixed reviews, and grossed $59 million on a $10 million budget. It was the first film in the "Jeepers Creepers" film series.


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: Trish Jenner and her brother Darry are traveling home from college for spring break. As they drive through the Florida countryside, an old truck threateningly tailgates them but eventually passes. They later observe the same truck parked next to an abandoned church with the driver sliding what appears to be bodies wrapped in blood-stained sheets into a large pipe sticking out of the ground. Having noticed their car pass by, the driver pursues and runs them off the road.


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: After the truck drives off, Darry convinces Trish to go back to the church. Upon investigation, Darry hears noises coming from within the pipe and crawls inside with Trish holding on to his feet. Trish accidentally drops Darry, and he falls to the bottom of the pipe. Inside, he finds a dying man with stitches running down his stomach and hundreds of bodies sewn to the basement's walls and ceiling, including the bodies of a prom couple that had gone missing twenty-three years prior. Darry eventually finds his way out of the pipe, finds Trish, and they both flee the scene and attempt to contact the police at a diner. At the diner, they are phoned by a strange woman who tells them they are in danger. She then plays the song "Jeepers Creepers" on a record player, telling them one of them will die screaming while hearing the song. Confused, they ignore her warning and leave with two police officers providing a security escort. As they travel, the police learn that the church has caught fire and any potential evidence has been destroyed. The police are then attacked and killed by the driver, who loads their bodies into the truck. Witnessing the aftermath, Trish and Darry drive off in terror.


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: The pair stop at the house of a reclusive, elderly woman, begging her to call the police. The woman complies until she notices the driver hiding in her yard, who kills her before revealing its inhuman face to Trish and Darry. Trish repeatedly runs the driver over with her car but is left horrified as she sees a giant wing tear through its trench coat and flap in the air. The pair leave and drive to a local police station, where they are approached by psychic Jezelle Gay Hartman, the woman who called them at the diner. She tells them the true nature of their pursuer: It is an ancient creature, known as "the Creeper," which awakens every 23rd spring for twenty-three days to feast on human body parts, which then form parts of its own body. She also tells them that it seeks out its victims through fear, and by smelling the fear from Trish and Darry, it has found something it likes.


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: The wounded Creeper arrives at the police station, cuts off the power, and eats several prisoners to heal. The Creeper is swarmed by police but it kills a number of them and evades capture. Trapped, Jezelle warns Trish and Darry that one of them will die a horrible death. Darry demands to know who, and Jezelle looks at Trish. The Creeper finds them but spares Jezelle before cornering Trish and Darry in an upstairs interrogation room. After sniffing them, the Creeper throws Trish aside and chooses Darry. Trish offers her life for her brother's, but the Creeper escapes out of a window and flies away with Darry. The next day, Trish is picked up by her parents, and Jezelle returns home in regret. In an abandoned factory, it is revealed that the Creeper has removed the back of Darry's head and taken his eyes, all the while "Jeepers Creepers" plays on the Creeper's record player.


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: Several critics and moviegoers believe the film was loosely inspired by the case of Dennis DePue. In the state of Michigan in 1990, brother-and-sister Ray and Marie Thornton caught DePue dumping his dead wife's body behind an abandoned schoolhouse. The murder case and subsequent manhunt of DePue were featured on an episode of "Unsolved Mysteries" on March 20, 1991. The following day, DePue committed suicide during a shootout with police in Mississippi. The episode's reenactment of events, and many details contained throughout, were found to be similar to the opening scenes of the film. Writer and director Victor Salva has not confirmed nor denied whether the film took inspiration from the case, but instead said it borrowed elements from "Night of the Living Dead" (1968) and "Duel" (1971).


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: It took Salva one month to write the screenplay, down from his average of six months. He said he wanted the Creeper to kill characters that were for the most part male because he was "very tired of seeing women slaughtered and raped" in cinema. To conceal his final girl-styled ending from viewers, Salva employed various red herrings throughout the first act so viewers would think Trish was going to die. His original script also featured a twenty-page third act which was eventually scrapped during production. In it, Darry drives the Creeper's truck into a train, unsuccessfully sacrificing himself in an attempt to kill the Creeper. The entire sequence had been storyboarded by Brad Parker in preparation for the shoot but, due to a budget cut of $1 million, it had to be removed and rewritten. Because of this, Gina Philips and Justin Long were allowed to improvise many of their scenes during the third act. Some scenes cut from the script were used in its sequel, "Jeepers Creepers 2".


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: Salva wanted the film's defining moment to be the reveal that the Creeper was not human and, to do so, kept the character mysterious throughout the first half by rewriting certain scenes, going against the advice of agents, managers, and acclaimed directors. Salva gave his finished screenplay to executive producer Francis Ford Coppola, who had helped finance "Clownhouse" (1989), Salva's directorial debut. As a result of the successes of the 1999 films "The Blair Witch Project" and "The Sixth Sense", Salva received four offers from interested studios within two days of him completing the script. Seven to eight months later, United Artists and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquired the distribution rights for $2.5 million. United Artists agreed to finance a quarter of the film's $10 million budget, with Germany's Cinerenta-Cinebeta and Cinerenta Medienbeteiligungs KG supplying the rest.


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: Auditions took place in Los Angeles. Philips said she wanted to star after finding the script too scary to finish in one night. She auditioned twice by herself for the role of Trish, and then once with a shortlist of actors who were auditioning for the role of Darry, one of which was Long. Salva said Philips had an "intense focus" during the audition process and that it was "her authenticity that got her the part." Long said he was unsure going in to audition. Salva said Long was cast because of his natural way of portraying fear. American Zoetrope initially planned to cast A-list actors for the lead parts, but Coppola convinced them to instead cast Long and Philips.


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: The role for the Creeper was written specifically for Lance Henriksen, who dropped out of the project. Jonathan Breck auditioned to face his own fears of the horror genre. After being told that he would be showing his own interpretation of the Creeper, Breck spent his time researching different animal movements. On the day of his audition, he shaved his head and took part in the "sniff test", where he was told to sniff the casting crew while in character. When asked about his shaven head, Breck told the casting director that the Creeper "wouldn't have hair", before getting the part. Salva cast Eileen Brennan as "the cat lady" because he was moved by her performance in the short film "Nunzio's Second Cousin". Chris Shepardson played the "dying boy" that Darry finds while in the Creeper's lair. Due to budget reasons, Salva had to write the character without any lines, but during filming, the crew eventually decided to give Shepardson a short line to say. Salva made a cameo appearance in the film as a victim of the Creeper.


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: Principal photography began around Central Florida in August 2000, concluding after a period of two months. Opening scenes were shot on the SW 180th Avenue Road in the city of Dunnellon, with the church used in the film, the now-former St. James Church, being located miles away in Ocala. The diner, "Opper's Diner", was a set built in Lake Panasoffkee, and a reference to producer Barry Opper. An abandoned high school in Reddick stood in for the police station, while a now-demolished meatpacking factory in Ocala was used for the finale.


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: Salva called the filming process "grueling" because they had to work during the summer, facing heat waves and high temperatures. Scenes containing the church's pipe were shot using a six-foot pipe outside the church and two pipes in a sound stage warehouse, where the final scene was shot. Due to the low budget, the art department's cafeteria was also used during filming and only a few fake bodies were made to appear in the Creeper's lair. According to Long, he and Philips tried to avoid interacting with Breck throughout the entire shoot to avoid connecting with the actor, which benefited their performances by making them look scared when they were in character.


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: The Creeper was designed by storyboard artist Brad Parker. Its costume was created by Brian Penikas from Makeup and Monsters while its wings were created by Charles Garcia and digitally rendered by Buddy Gheen, Scott Ramsey, and Bob Morgenroth. The Creeper's truck used on-screen, a 1941 Chevy COE and originally a flatbed truck, had its back section created entirely by production designer Steven Legler. During various takes, the truck stopped working due to its old engine.


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: The film score for "Jeepers Creepers" was composed and conducted by Bennett Salvay, who also served as a music producer alongside Salva. Its music was recorded and mixed at the Todd-AO Scoring Stage by Shawn Murphy, and edited by Chad DeCinces. The album was mastered by Patricia Sullivan Fourstar at Bernie Grundman Mastering.


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: "Jeepers Creepers" premiered at the München Fantasy Filmfest in Germany, and at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Canada in July 2001. The film was theatrically released in the United States by United Artists and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on August 31, 2001. It opened in 2,944 theaters and stayed in release for 126 days. In October, "Jeepers Creepers" was shown at the Sitges Film Festival and the Bergen International Film Festival. The film had its German release on January 3, 2002, where it opened in 298 theaters. On May 24, 2018, the film was theatrically re-released in Colombia.


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: "Jeepers Creepers" was released on DVD by MGM Home Entertainment on January 8, 2002, featuring two viewing options for viewers: standard or widescreen. A special edition of the DVD includes ten deleted and extended scenes, an audio commentary track featuring Salva, a six-part featurette on the making of the movie titled "Behind the Peepers – The Making of "Jeepers Creepers"", a photo gallery, and a theatrical trailer. On September 11, 2012, the film was released on Blu-ray by MGM and 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment, containing all of the same features from the DVD. On June 14, 2016, a two-disc Blu-ray Collector's Edition of the film was released by Shout! Factory, featuring a "Then and Now" featurette, interviews with producer Barry Opper and actress Patricia Belcher, and a new audio commentary on the film featuring the voices of Salva, Philips, and Long. On October 12, 2020, the film was digitally released by 101 Films, who later released the film in the United Kingdom on a Blu-ray set containing the same features as the ones found in the original special edition of the DVD and the Blu-ray Collector's Edition from Shout! Factory.


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: In its original release, "Jeepers Creepers" grossed $37.9 million in the United States and Canada and $21.3 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $59.2 million. Its 2018 re-release managed to earn the film $153 thousand in Colombia, bringing the film's worldwide total to $59.4 million.


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: The film premiered in the United States and Canada on August 31, 2001, in 2,944 theaters on Labor Day weekend. It made $15.8 million in its first four days, ranking 1st in front of "Rush Hour 2" ($11.2 million), and broke the record for the highest Labor Day opening weekend previously held by the 1996 film "" ($9.8 million). The film was able to hold the record until the release of its sequel, "Jeepers Creepers 2" (2003), which made $18.3 million on its own Labor Day weekend. "Jeepers Creepers" made $18.1 million in its first week, and grossed $6.2 million in its second behind the releases of "The Musketeer" ($10.3 million) and "Two Can Play That Game" ($7.7 million).


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: In the United Kingdom, "Jeepers Creepers" opened on October 19, 2001, making $2.2 million in its first weekend, and a total of $8.8 million in the country. The film's largest markets after the U.K. were Mexico ($2.5 million), Spain ($2.1 million), and Italy ($2.1 million). In Germany, the film began its theatrical release on January 3, 2002, and grossed $1.3 million. In other countries apart from the United States and Canada, "Jeepers Creepers" made $21.3 million, bringing its total box office gross to $59.2 million. On May 24, 2018, the film was re-released in Colombia in 83 theaters, earning $153 thousand. Against its $10 million budget, the film was a commercial success.


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: The website's critical consensus reads, ""Jeepers Creepers" has a promising start. Unfortunately, the tension and suspense quickly deflates into genre cliches as the movie goes on." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade rating of "D" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: Several critics praised the film's 1st half but criticized the second half. Stephen Holden, from "The New York Times", said that once the Creeper was revealed, the film "surrenders its imagination to formulaic plot filler". Writing for "The Guardian", Peter Bradshaw said the film "goes right down the pan" after its opening scene and that it is "not genuinely scary or genuinely funny". "Los Angeles Times" film critic Kevin Thomas shared only positive feedback on the film and said it had the "scariest opening sequence of any horror picture in recent memory" and that "Salva has expertly built up enough sheer terror that [it is] uncomfortable to watch." From "The A.V. Club", Nathan Rabin wrote that the film "begins promisingly with an economical first half [...] but once its monster takes center stage, "Jeepers Creepers" heads downhill in a hurry."


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: From BBC News, Nev Pierce called it an "unsettling, gory, but intelligent horror flick", and compared it positively to "Scream" (1996). Writing for the "Chicago Tribune", Robert K. Elder said he disliked the film simply because many parts were left unexplained. "The GW Hatchet" journalist Mira Katz called the film "tragic", criticizing the writing, visual effects, and the finale of the film, stating that it would leave the viewer with a "general sense of disappointment". Film critic David Edelstein, from "Slate" magazine, criticized the film's general storyline and 90-minute runtime but said that "the movie is good enough to put a chill into the late-summer air."


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: At the Sitges Film Festival in 2001, "Jeepers Creepers" received a nomination for Best Film but lost to "Vidocq". The following year, the film was nominated for three awards at the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, winning for Best Wide-Release Film and Best Supporting Actor (Jonathan Breck). At that same ceremony, Brian Penikas was nominated for Best Makeup/Creature FX for his design of the Creeper but lost to the KNB EFX Group for their work on "Thirteen Ghosts". On April 13, 2002, the film received a nomination for Best Movie at the International Horror Guild Awards but lost to the Canadian film "Ginger Snaps" by John Fawcett. On June 10, 2002, the film earned a Saturn Award nomination for Best Horror Film, while Justin Long was nominated for Best Performance by a Younger Actor.


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: Two direct sequels written and directed by Victor Salva have been released. The first sequel, "Jeepers Creepers 2", premiered on August 29, 2003, and takes place a few days after the original. In it, the Creeper pursues a bus filled with teenage students, who try to defeat the creature with the help of Jack Taggart, a man who seeks to avenge the death of his younger son Billy, who had been taken by the Creeper one day prior. The film features a cameo appearance from Justin Long, who reprises his role as Darry, and the appearance of Tom Tarantini, who portrayed a prisoner in the original and Coach Dwayne Barnes in the second film.


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: In 2015, after Salva shared his intentions in making a film focusing on the return of Gina Philips as Trish Jenner, "Jeepers Creepers 3: Cathedral" was officially greenlit. However, Phillips' role in the film was brought down to a cameo, and the film was released in 2017 by Screen Media Films as simply "Jeepers Creepers 3". The film takes place in between the two other films and follows the Creeper as it terrorizes a small community of people attempting to figure out its identity.


title: Jeepers Creepers (2001 film)

text: A reboot titled "Jeepers Creepers: Reborn", written by Sean Michael Argo and directed by Timo Vuorensola, was released by Screen Media Films on September 19, 2022.


title: Han Chinese

text: The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive varieties of the Chinese language. The estimated 1.4 billion Han Chinese people, worldwide, are primarily concentrated in the People's Republic of China (including Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau) where they make up about 92% of the total population. In the Republic of China (Taiwan), they make up about 97% of the population. People of Han Chinese descent also make up around 75% of the total population of Singapore.


title: Han Chinese

text: Originating from Northern China, the Han Chinese trace their cultural ancestry to the Huaxia, the confederation of agricultural tribes living along the Yellow River. This collective Neolithic confederation included agricultural tribes Hua and Xia, hence the name. They settled along the Central Plains around the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River in Northern China. These tribes were the ancestors of the modern Han Chinese people who gave birth to Chinese civilization. Within the course of the Warring States period led to the emergence of the early discernible consciousness of the Zhou-era Chinese referring to themselves as being Huaxia (literally, "the beautiful grandeur"), which was distinctively used to adumbrate a "civilized" culture in contrast to what were perceived as "barbaric" towards the adjacent and adjoining vicinities bordering the Zhou Kingdoms that were inhabited by different non-Han Chinese peoples around them. In many overseas Chinese communities, the term Hua people () or Huazu () is used for people of Han Chinese ethnicity as distinct from Zhongguo Ren () which has connotations and implications to being citizens of China, including people of non-Han Chinese ethnicity.


title: Han Chinese

text: The Huaxia tribes in Northern China continuously expanded into Southern China over the past two millennia, via military conquests and colonisation. Huaxia culture spread southward from its heartland in the Yellow River Basin, absorbing various non-Han ethnic groups that became sinicised over the centuries at various points in China's history.


title: Han Chinese

text: The name "Han people" first appeared in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, inspired by the Han dynasty, which is considered to be one of the first golden age in Chinese history. As a unified and cohesive empire, Han China became East Asia's geopolitical great power, projecting much of its influence on its neighbours and was comparable with the contemporary Roman Empire in population size, geographical and cultural reach. The Han dynasty's prestige and prominence influenced many of the ancient Huaxia to begin identifying themselves as "The People of Han". To this day, the Han Chinese have since taken their ethnic name from this dynasty and the Chinese script is referred to as "Han characters".


title: Han Chinese

text: The name "Han" was derived from the name of the eponymous dynasty, which succeeded the short-lived Qin dynasty and is historically considered to be the first golden age of China's Imperial era due to the power and influence it projected over much of East Asia. As a result of the dynasty's prominence in inter-ethnic and pre-modern international influence, Chinese people began identifying themselves as the "people of Han" (), a name that has been carried down to this day. Similarly, the Chinese language also came to be named the "Han language" () ever since. On Oxford Dictionaries, the Han are defined as "The dominant ethnic group in China". In the "Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania", the Han are called the dominant population in "China, as well as in Taiwan and Singapore". According to the "Merriam-Webster Dictionary", the Han are "the Chinese peoples especially as distinguished from non-Chinese (such as Mongolian) elements in the population".


title: Han Chinese

text: The Han dynasty's founding emperor, Liu Bang, was made king of the Hanzhong region after the fall of the Qin dynasty, a title that was later shortened to "the King of Han" () during the Chu–Han Contention. The name "Hanzhong", in turn, was derived from the Han River, which flows through the region's plains.


title: Han Chinese

text: Prior to the Han dynasty, ancient Chinese scholars used the term Huaxia (, "the magnificent Xia") in texts to describe China proper, while the Chinese populus were referred to as either the "various Hua" (, "Zhūhuá") or the "various Xia" (, "Zhūxià"). This gave rise to a term commonly used nowadays by overseas Chinese as an ethnic identity for the Chinese diaspora – "Huaren" (, "ethnic Chinese people"), "Huaqiao" (, "the Chinese immigrant" meaning overseas Chinese) as well as a literary name for China – "Zhonghua" (, "Central China"). "Zhonghua" refers more to the culture of Chinese people, although it may also be seen as equivalent to "Zhonghua minzu". Some overseas Chinese communities use "Huaren" or "Huaqiao" instead of "Zhongguoren" (), which to them, has connotations to being citizens of the People's Republic of China, due to their political views about the state.


title: Han Chinese

text: Among some southern Han Chinese varieties such as Cantonese, Hakka and Minnan, a different term exists – Tang Chinese (, literally "the people of Tang"), derived from the later Tang dynasty, regarded as another zenith of Chinese civilization. The term is used in everyday conversation and is also an element in one of the words for Chinatown: "street of the Tang people" (). The phrase , is also used to describe the same area).


title: Han Chinese

text: The vast majority of Han Chinese – over 1.2 billion – live in areas under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China (PRC), where they constitute about 92% of its overall population. Han Chinese in China have been a culturally, economically and politically dominant majority vis-à-vis the non-Han minorities throughout most of China's recorded history. Han Chinese are almost the majority in every Chinese province, municipality and autonomous region except for the autonomous regions of Xinjiang (38% or 40% in 2010) and Tibet Autonomous Region (8% in 2014), where Uighurs and Tibetans are the majority, respectively.


title: Han Chinese

text: Han Chinese also constitute the majority in both of the special administrative regions of the PRC – about 92.2% and 88.4% of the population of Hong Kong and Macau, respectively. The Han Chinese in Hong Kong and Macau have been culturally, economically and politically dominant majority vis-à-vis the non-Han minorities.


title: Han Chinese

text: There are over 22 million Han Chinese in Taiwan. At first, these migrants chose to settle in locations that bore a resemblance to the areas they had left behind in mainland China, regardless of whether they arrived in the north or south of Taiwan. Hoklo immigrants from Quanzhou settled in coastal regions and those from Zhangzhou tended to gather on inland plains, while the Hakka inhabited hilly areas. Clashes between these groups over land, water and cultural differences led to the relocation of some communities and, as time passed, varying degrees of intermarriage and assimilation took place. In Taiwan, Han Chinese (including both the earlier Han Taiwanese settlers and the recent Mainland Chinese that arrived in Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek in 1949) constitute over 95% of the population. They have also been a politically, culturally and economically dominant majority vis-à-vis the non-Han indigenous Taiwanese peoples.


title: Han Chinese

text: Nearly 30 to 40 million people of Han Chinese descent live in Southeast Asia. According to a population genetic study, Singapore is "the country with the biggest proportion of Hans" in Southeast Asia. Singapore is the only country in the world where Overseas Chinese constitute a majority of the population and remain a cultural, economic and politically dominant majority vis-à-vis the non-Han minorities. Up until the past few decades, overseas Han communities originated predominantly from areas in Southern China (especially the Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang areas).


title: Han Chinese

text: The total "overseas Chinese" population worldwide number some 60 million people. Han Chinese have settled in numerous countries across the globe, particularly within the Western World where nearly 4 million people of Han Chinese descent live in the United States (about 1.5% of the population), over 1 million in Australia (5.6%) and about 1.5 million in Canada (5.1%), nearly 231,000 in New Zealand (4.9%), and as many as 750,000 in Sub-Saharan Africa.


title: Han Chinese

text: Because of the overwhelming numerical and cultural dominance of Han culture in China, most of the written history of China can be read as "a history of the Han Chinese".


title: Han Chinese

text: The prehistory of the Han Chinese is closely intertwined with both archaeology, biology, historical textual records and mythology. The ethnic stock to which the Han Chinese originally trace their ancestry from were confederations of late Neolithic and early Bronze Age agricultural tribes known as the Huaxia that lived along the Guanzhong and Yellow River basins in Northern China. In addition, numerous ethnic groups were assimilated and absorbed by the Han Chinese at various points in China's history. Like many modern ethnic groups, the ethnogenesis of Han Chinese was a lengthy process that involved the expansion of the Chinese dynasties and their assimilation of various non-Chinese ethnic groups that became sinicised over the centuries.


title: Han Chinese

text: Writers during the Western Zhou and Han dynasties derived ancestral lineages based on Shang dynasty-era legendary materials, while the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian's "Records of the Grand Historian" places the reign of the Yellow Emperor, the legendary leader of Youxiong tribes (), at the beginning of Chinese history. The Yellow Emperor is traditionally credited to have united with the neighbouring Shennong tribes after defeating their leader, the Yan Emperor, at the Battle of Banquan. The newly merged Yanhuang tribes then combined forces to defeat their common enemy from the east, Chiyou of the Jiuli () tribes, at the Battle of Zhuolu and established their cultural dominance in the Central Plain region. To this day, modern Han Chinese refer themselves as "Descendants of Yan and Huang".


title: Han Chinese

text: Although study of this period of history is complicated by the absence of contemporary records, the discovery of archaeological sites has enabled a succession of Neolithic cultures to be identified along the Yellow River. Along the central reaches of the Yellow River were the Jiahu culture (c. 7000 to 6600 BCE), the Yangshao culture (c. 5000 to 3000 BCE) and the Longshan culture (c. 3000 to 2000 BCE). Along the lower reaches of the river were the Qingliangang culture (c. 5400 to 4000 BCE), the Dawenkou culture (c. 4300 to 2500 BCE) and the Yueshi culture (c. 1900 to 1500 BCE).


title: Han Chinese

text: Early ancient Chinese history is largely legendary, consisting of mythical tales intertwined with sporadic annals written centuries to millennia later. Sima Qian's "Records of the Grand Historian" recorded a period following the Battle of Zhuolu, during the reign of successive generations of confederate overlords () known as the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors (c. 2852–2070 BCE), who, allegedly, were elected to power among the tribes. This is a period for which scant reliable archaeological evidence exists – these sovereigns are largely regarded as cultural heroes.


title: Han Chinese

text: The first dynasty to be described in Chinese historical records is the Xia dynasty (c. 2070–1600 BCE), established by Yu the Great after Emperor Shun abdicated leadership to reward Yu's work in taming the Great Flood. Yu's son, Qi, managed to not only install himself as the next ruler, but also dictated his sons as heirs by default, making the Xia dynasty the first in recorded history where genealogical succession was the norm. The civilizational prosperity of the Xia dynasty at this time is thought to have given rise to the name "Huaxia" (, "the magnificent Xia"), a term that was used ubiquitously throughout history to define the Chinese nation.


title: Han Chinese

text: Conclusive archaeological evidence predating the 16th century BCE is, however, rarely available. Recent efforts of the Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project drew the connection between the Erlitou culture and the Xia dynasty, but scholars could not reach a consensus regarding the reliability of such history.


title: Han Chinese

text: The Xia dynasty was overthrown after the Battle of Mingtiao, around 1600 BCE, by Cheng Tang, who established the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BCE). The earliest archaeological examples of Chinese writing date back to this period – from characters inscribed on oracle bones used for divination – but the well-developed characters hint at a much earlier origin of writing in China.


title: Han Chinese

text: During the Shang dynasty, people of the Wu area in the Yangtze River Delta were considered a different tribe, and described as being scantily dressed, tattooed and speaking a distinct language. Later, Taibo, elder uncle of Ji Chang – on realising that his younger brother, Jili, was wiser and deserved to inherit the throne – fled to Wu and settled there. Three generations later, King Wu of the Zhou dynasty defeated King Zhou (the last Shang king), and enfeoffed the descendants of Taibo in Wu – mirroring the later history of Nanyue, where a Chinese king and his soldiers ruled a non-Han population and mixed with locals, who were sinicized over time.


title: Han Chinese

text: After the Battle of Muye, the Shang dynasty was overthrown by Zhou (led by Ji Fa), which had emerged as a western state along the Wei River in the 2nd millennium BCE. The Zhou dynasty shared the language and culture of the Shang people, and extended their reach to encompass much of the area north of the Yangtze River. Through conquest and colonization, much of this area came under the influence of sinicization and this culture extended south. However, the power of the Zhou kings fragmented not long afterwards, and many autonomous vassal states emerged. This dynasty is traditionally divided into two eras – the Western Zhou (1046–771 BCE) and the Eastern Zhou (770–256 BCE) – with the latter further divided into the Spring and Autumn (770–476 BCE) and the Warring States (476–221 BCE) periods. It was a period of significant cultural and philosophical diversification (known as the Hundred Schools of Thought) and Confucianism, Taoism and Legalism are among the most important surviving philosophies from this era.


title: Han Chinese

text: The chaotic Warring States period of the Eastern Zhou dynasty came to an end with the unification of China by the western state of Qin after its conquest of all other rival states under King Ying Zheng. King Zheng then gave himself a new title "First Emperor of Qin" (), setting the precedent for the next two millennia. To consolidate administrative control over the newly conquered parts of the country, the First Emperor decreed a nationwide standardization of currency, writing scripts and measurement units, to unify the country economically and culturally. He also ordered large-scale infrastructure projects such as the Great Wall, the Lingqu Canal and the Qin road system to militarily fortify the frontiers. In effect, he established a centralized bureaucratic state to replace the old feudal confederation system of preceding dynasties, making Qin the first imperial dynasty in Chinese history.


title: Han Chinese

text: This dynasty, sometimes phonetically spelt as the "Ch'in dynasty", has been proposed in the 17th century by Martin Martini and supported by later scholars such as Paul Pelliot and Berthold Laufer to be the etymological origin of the modern English word "China".


title: Han Chinese

text: The reign of the first imperial dynasty was to be short-lived. Due to the First Emperor's autocratic rule and his massive labor projects, which fomented rebellion among the populace, the Qin dynasty fell into chaos soon after his death. Under the corrupt rule of his son and successor Huhai, the Qin dynasty collapsed a mere three years later. The Han dynasty (206 BC–220 CE) then emerged from the ensuing civil wars and succeeded in establishing a much longer-lasting dynasty. It continued many of the institutions created by the Qin dynasty, but adopted a more moderate rule. Under the Han dynasty, arts and culture flourished, while the Han Empire expanded militarily in all directions. Many Chinese scholars such as Ho Ping-ti believe that the concept (ethnogenesis) of Han ethnicity, though an ancient one, was formally entrenched in the Han dynasty. The Han dynasty is considered one of the golden ages of Chinese history, and to this day, the modern Han Chinese people have since taken their ethnic name from this dynasty and the Chinese script is referred to as "Han characters".


title: Han Chinese

text: The fall of the Han dynasty was followed by an age of fragmentation and several centuries of disunity amid warfare among rival kingdoms. During this time, areas of northern China were overrun by various non-Han nomadic peoples, which came to establish kingdoms of their own, the most successful of which was Northern Wei (established by the Xianbei). Starting from this period, the native population of China proper began to be referred to as Hanren, or the "People of Han", to distinguish them from the nomads from the steppe. Warfare and invasion led to one of the first great migrations of Han populations in history, as they fled south to the Yangzi and beyond, shifting the Chinese demographic center and speeding up sinicization of the far south. At the same time most of the nomads in northern China came to be sinicized as they ruled over large Chinese populations and adopted elements of their culture and administration. Of note, the Xianbei rulers of Northern Wei ordered a policy of systematic sinicization, adopting Han surnames, institutions and culture.


title: Han Chinese

text: The Sui (581–618) and Tang (618–907) dynasties saw the continuation of the complete sinicization of the south coast of what is now China proper, including what are now the provinces of Fujian and Guangdong. The later part of the Tang era, as well as the Five Dynasties period that followed, saw continual warfare in north and central China; the relative stability of the south coast made it an attractive destination for refugees.


title: Han Chinese

text: The next few centuries saw successive invasions of Han and non-Han peoples from the north. In 1279, the Mongols conquered all of China, becoming the first non-Han ethnic group to do so, and established the Yuan dynasty. The Mongols divided society into four classes, with themselves occupying the top class and Han Chinese into the bottom two classes. Emigration, seen as disloyal to ancestors and ancestral land, was banned by the Song and Yuan dynasties.


title: Han Chinese

text: In 1644, the Ming capital, Beijing, was captured by Li Zicheng's peasant rebels and the Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide. The Manchus of the Qing dynasty then allied with former Ming general Wu Sangui and seized control of Beijing. Remnant Ming forces led by Koxinga fled to Taiwan and established the Kingdom of Tungning, which eventually capitulated to Qing forces in 1683. Taiwan, previously inhabited mostly by non-Han aborigines, was sinicized during this period via large-scale migration accompanied by assimilation, despite efforts by the Manchus to prevent this, as they found it difficult to maintain control over the island. In 1681, the Kangxi Emperor ordered construction of the Willow Palisade to prevent Han Chinese migration to the three northeastern provinces, which nevertheless had harbored a significant Chinese population for centuries, especially in the southern Liaodong area. The Manchus designated Jilin and Heilongjiang as the Manchu homeland, to which the Manchus could hypothetically escape and regroup if the Qing dynasty fell. Because of increasing Russian territorial encroachment and annexation of neighboring territory, the Qing later reversed its policy and allowed the consolidation of a demographic Han majority in northeast China.


title: Han Chinese

text: China is one of the world's oldest and most complex civilizations, whose culture dates back thousands of years. Overseas Han Chinese maintain cultural affinities to Chinese territories outside of their host locale through ancestor worship and clan associations, which often identify famous figures from Chinese history or myth as ancestors of current members. Such patriarchs include the Yellow Emperor and the Yan Emperor, who according to legend lived thousands of years ago and gave Han people the sobriquet ""Descendants of Yan and Huang Emperor"" (, ), a phrase which has reverberative connotations in a divisive political climate, as in that of between Mainland China and Taiwan.