title: PID controller

text: Without derivative action, a PI-controlled system is less responsive to real (non-noise) and relatively fast alterations in state and so the system will be slower to reach setpoint and slower to respond to perturbations than a well-tuned PID system may be.


title: PID controller

text: Many PID loops control a mechanical device (for example, a valve). Mechanical maintenance can be a major cost and wear leads to control degradation in the form of either stiction or backlash in the mechanical response to an input signal. The rate of mechanical wear is mainly a function of how often a device is activated to make a change. Where wear is a significant concern, the PID loop may have an output deadband to reduce the frequency of activation of the output (valve). This is accomplished by modifying the controller to hold its output steady if the change would be small (within the defined deadband range). The calculated output must leave the deadband before the actual output will change.


title: PID controller

text: The proportional and derivative terms can produce excessive movement in the output when a system is subjected to an instantaneous step increase in the error, such as a large setpoint change. In the case of the derivative term, this is due to taking the derivative of the error, which is very large in the case of an instantaneous step change. As a result, some PID algorithms incorporate some of the following modifications:


title: PID controller

text: The control system performance can be improved by combining the feedback (or closed-loop) control of a PID controller with feed-forward (or open-loop) control. Knowledge about the system (such as the desired acceleration and inertia) can be fed forward and combined with the PID output to improve the overall system performance. The feed-forward value alone can often provide the major portion of the controller output. The PID controller primarily has to compensate for whatever difference or "error" remains between the setpoint (SP) and the system response to the open-loop control. Since the feed-forward output is not affected by the process feedback, it can never cause the control system to oscillate, thus improving the system response without affecting stability. Feed forward can be based on the setpoint and on extra measured disturbances. Setpoint weighting is a simple form of feed forward.


title: PID controller

text: For example, in most motion control systems, in order to accelerate a mechanical load under control, more force is required from the actuator. If a velocity loop PID controller is being used to control the speed of the load and command the force being applied by the actuator, then it is beneficial to take the desired instantaneous acceleration, scale that value appropriately and add it to the output of the PID velocity loop controller. This means that whenever the load is being accelerated or decelerated, a proportional amount of force is commanded from the actuator regardless of the feedback value. The PID loop in this situation uses the feedback information to change the combined output to reduce the remaining difference between the process setpoint and the feedback value. Working together, the combined open-loop feed-forward controller and closed-loop PID controller can provide a more responsive control system.


title: PID controller

text: PID controllers are often implemented with a "bumpless" initialization feature that recalculates the integral accumulator term to maintain a consistent process output through parameter changes. A partial implementation is to store the integral gain times the error rather than storing the error and postmultiplying by the integral gain, which prevents discontinuous output when the I gain is changed, but not the P or D gains.


title: PID controller

text: In addition to feed-forward, PID controllers are often enhanced through methods such as PID gain scheduling (changing parameters in different operating conditions), fuzzy logic, or computational verb logic. Further practical application issues can arise from instrumentation connected to the controller. A high enough sampling rate, measurement precision, and measurement accuracy are required to achieve adequate control performance. Another new method for improvement of PID controller is to increase the degree of freedom by using fractional order. The order of the integrator and differentiator add increased flexibility to the controller.


title: PID controller

text: One distinctive advantage of PID controllers is that two PID controllers can be used together to yield better dynamic performance. This is called cascaded PID control. Two controllers are in cascade when they are arranged so that one regulates the set point of the other. A PID controller acts as outer loop controller, which controls the primary physical parameter, such as fluid level or velocity. The other controller acts as inner loop controller, which reads the output of outer loop controller as setpoint, usually controlling a more rapid changing parameter, flowrate or acceleration. It can be mathematically proven that the working frequency of the controller is increased and the time constant of the object is reduced by using cascaded PID controllers..


title: PID controller

text: For example, a temperature-controlled circulating bath has two PID controllers in cascade, each with its own thermocouple temperature sensor. The outer controller controls the temperature of the water using a thermocouple located far from the heater, where it accurately reads the temperature of the bulk of the water. The error term of this PID controller is the difference between the desired bath temperature and measured temperature. Instead of controlling the heater directly, the outer PID controller sets a heater temperature goal for the inner PID controller. The inner PID controller controls the temperature of the heater using a thermocouple attached to the heater. The inner controller's error term is the difference between this heater temperature setpoint and the measured temperature of the heater. Its output controls the actual heater to stay near this setpoint.


title: PID controller

text: The proportional, integral, and differential terms of the two controllers will be very different. The outer PID controller has a long time constant – all the water in the tank needs to heat up or cool down. The inner loop responds much more quickly. Each controller can be tuned to match the physics of the system "it" controls – heat transfer and thermal mass of the whole tank or of just the heater – giving better total response.


title: PID controller

text: The form of the PID controller most often encountered in industry, and the one most relevant to tuning algorithms is the "standard form". In this form the formula_44 gain is applied to the formula_72, and formula_73 terms, yielding:


title: PID controller

text: In this standard form, the parameters have a clear physical meaning. In particular, the inner summation produces a new single error value which is compensated for future and past errors. The proportional error term is the current error. The derivative components term attempts to predict the error value at formula_76 seconds (or samples) in the future, assuming that the loop control remains unchanged. The integral component adjusts the error value to compensate for the sum of all past errors, with the intention of completely eliminating them in formula_75 seconds (or samples). The resulting compensated single error value is then scaled by the single gain formula_44 to compute the control variable.


title: PID controller

text: the gain parameters are related to the parameters of the standard form through formula_81 and formula_82. This parallel form, where the parameters are treated as simple gains, is the most general and flexible form. However, it is also the form where the parameters have the weakest relationship to physical behaviors and is generally reserved for theoretical treatment of the PID controller. The standard form, despite being slightly more complex mathematically, is more common in industry.


title: PID controller

text: In many cases, the manipulated variable output by the PID controller is a dimensionless fraction between 0 and 100% of some maximum possible value, and the translation into real units (such as pumping rate or watts of heater power) is outside the PID controller. The process variable, however, is in dimensioned units such as temperature. It is common in this case to express the gain formula_44 not as "output per degree", but rather in the reciprocal form of a "proportional band" formula_84, which is "degrees per full output": the range over which the output changes from 0 to 1 (0% to 100%). Beyond this range, the output is saturated, full-off or full-on. The narrower this band, the higher the proportional gain.


title: PID controller

text: In most commercial control systems, derivative action is based on process variable rather than error. That is, a change in the setpoint does not affect the derivative action. This is because the digitized version of the algorithm produces a large unwanted spike when the setpoint is changed. If the setpoint is constant then changes in the PV will be the same as changes in error. Therefore, this modification makes no difference to the way the controller responds to process disturbances.


title: PID controller

text: Most commercial control systems offer the "option" of also basing the proportional action solely on the process variable. This means that only the integral action responds to changes in the setpoint. The modification to the algorithm does not affect the way the controller responds to process disturbances.


title: PID controller

text: Basing proportional action on PV eliminates the instant and possibly very large change in output caused by a sudden change to the setpoint. Depending on the process and tuning this may be beneficial to the response to a setpoint step.


title: PID controller

text: Having the PID controller written in Laplace form and having the transfer function of the controlled system makes it easy to determine the closed-loop transfer function of the system.


title: PID controller

text: This form essentially consists of a PD and PI controller in series. As the integral is required to calculate the controller's bias this form provides the ability to track an external bias value which is required to be used for proper implementation of multi-controller advanced control schemes.


title: PID controller

text: The analysis for designing a digital implementation of a PID controller in a microcontroller (MCU) or FPGA device requires the standard form of the PID controller to be "discretized". Approximations for first-order derivatives are made by backward finite differences. formula_6 and formula_1 are discretized with a sampling period formula_94, k is the sample index.


title: PID controller

text: By simplifying and regrouping terms of the above equation, an algorithm for an implementation of the discretized PID controller in a MCU is finally obtained:


title: PID controller

text: Note: This method solves in fact formula_102 where formula_103 is a constant independent of t. This constant is useful when you want to have a start and stop control on the regulation loop. For instance, setting Kp,Ki and Kd to 0 will keep u(t) constant. Likewise, when you want to start a regulation on a system where the error is already close to 0 with u(t) non null, it prevents from sending the output to 0.


title: PID controller

text: Here, Kp is a dimensionless number, Ki is expressed in formula_104 and Kd is expressed in s. When doing a regulation where the actuator and the measured value are not in the same unit (ex. temperature regulation using a motor controlling a valve), Kp, Ki and Kd may be corrected by a unit conversion factor. It may also be interesting to use Ki in its reciprocal form (integration time). The above implementation allows to perform a I-only controller which may be useful in some cases.


title: PID controller

text: In the real world, this is D-to-A converted and passed into the process under control as the manipulated variable (MV). The current error is stored elsewhere for re-use in the next differentiation, the program then waits until dt seconds have passed since start, and the loop begins again, reading in new values for the PV and the setpoint and calculating a new value for the error.


title: PID controller

text: Note that for real code, the use of "wait(dt)" might be inappropriate because it doesn't account for time taken by the algorithm itself during the loop, or more importantly, any preemption delaying the algorithm.


title: PID controller

text: A common issue when using formula_43 is the response to the derivative of a rising or falling edge of the setpoint as shown below:


title: PID controller

text: A typical workaround is to filter the derivative action using a low pass filter of time constant formula_106 where formula_107:


title: Fairuza Balk

text: Fairuza Balk (born May 21, 1974) is an American actress, musician, and visual artist. Influential in popular culture, Balk is known for her portrayals of distinctive "goth-girl" characters, often with a dark edge. She has appeared in numerous independent films and blockbuster features in both leading and supporting roles.


title: Fairuza Balk

text: Following a series of television film roles, Balk made her feature film debut as Dorothy Gale in the fantasy "Return to Oz" (1985), for which she was nominated for the Young Artist Award for Best Starring Performance By a Young Actress - Motion Picture. Her career progressed with roles in the drama films "Valmont" (1989) and "Gas Food Lodging" (1992), the latter earning her the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. After appearing in the historical drama "Imaginary Crimes" (1994) and the crime drama "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead" (1995), Balk earned acclaim for her role in the horror film "The Craft" (1996), which earned her a nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress, and a cult following. She has since appeared in "The Island of Dr. Moreau" (1996), "American History X" (1998), "The Waterboy" (1998), "Almost Famous" (2000), "" (2002), "Deuces Wild" (2002), "Don't Come Knocking" (2005), "Wild Tigers I Have Known" (2006), "Humboldt County" (2008), and "" (2009).


title: Fairuza Balk

text: On television, Balk portrayed Mildred Hubble in the 1986 adaptation of "The Worst Witch", based on the book series of the same name. She appeared in the recurring role of Ginger on Showtime's "Ray Donovan" in 2015, and currently stars as Lizzie Thomas on the Amazon Prime series "Paradise City" (2021). Balk has been releasing music since 2010 under the name of her unsigned act, Armed Love Militia.


title: Fairuza Balk

text: Balk was born on May 21, 1974, in Point Reyes, California to Solomon Feldthouse (born David Earle Scaff; 1940–2021), a musician, and Catherine Balk (1944–2018), a belly dancer. The name Fairuza is of Persian origin meaning "turquoise". Her father gave her the name for the color of her eyes. Feldthouse was one of the founding members of the 1960s psychedelic rock group Kaleidoscope, and was also a traveling folk musician. He was born in Pingree, Idaho and, between the ages of six and ten, lived in Turkey where he learned Greek, Iraqi, Iranian, and Armenian music.


title: Fairuza Balk

text: Until the age of two, Balk lived in Jackson, Michigan with her mother. They then moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where she began acting at age six. They moved to London and then to Paris for another role. They remained there for six months before returning to Vancouver.


title: Fairuza Balk

text: Balk owned an occult shop in Los Angeles as a young woman upon signing to act in the 1996 film "The Craft".


title: Fairuza Balk

text: Balk took her first acting course around the summer of 1983, where she was taught how to look at a camera and not be shy. Her first experience was in a British Columbia tourism commercial, for which she earned $100. Her debut role was in a 1983 television film titled "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever". While in London, Balk was cast by Walt Disney Productions to star as Dorothy Gale in "Return to Oz", the sequel to MGM's 1939 musical "The Wizard of Oz." This role led to other minor roles, including that of Mildred Hubble in "The Worst Witch". In 1988, at age 14, she moved to Paris to work on "Valmont" with Miloš Forman. She decided to take correspondence courses and went back to Hollywood, where she gained increasing notice as an actress. In 1992, she was awarded an "Independent Spirit Award" as best actress for her performance in the Allison Anders film "Gas Food Lodging".


title: Fairuza Balk

text: In 1996, she appeared in a lead role in "The Craft", in which her character formed a teenage coven with characters portrayed by Neve Campbell, Rachel True and Robin Tunney. Since then, Balk has continued to find roles, primarily dark ones. In 1996, she co-starred in "The Island of Dr Moreau". In 1998, she played a neo-Nazi goth-punk opposite Edward Norton in "American History X", and was featured in "The Waterboy", alongside Adam Sandler. Since 2000, she has appeared in over a dozen films and was briefly in a band called G-13. She has also done voice work for animated films, TV shows and video games, including "Justice League", "Family Guy", "" and "Lords of EverQuest". The 2007 documentary "Return to Oz: The Joy That Got Away" was dedicated to her.


title: Fairuza Balk

text: In 2010, Armed Love Militia, Balk's musical outlet, released the single "Stormwinds". The track was written and sung by Balk. Armed Love Militia continued, with Balk collaborating on an EP with singer and songwriter Mel Sanson.


title: Fairuza Balk

text: In 2011, Balk began to exhibit art in Los Angeles and New York. On August 4, 2012, she participated in the group show 'MiXTAPE', with other notable artists Mark Ryden, Camille Rose Garcia, Jessicka Addams, and Marion Peck. Artists were asked to pick a song and create art inspired by that song. Balk chose the song "Nuages" by Django Reinhardt and created a 16"x20"x12" mixed-media sculpture. The eclectic mix of songs chosen were featured for digital download on iTunes.


title: Fairuza Balk

text: In 2017, the emo puppet band Fragile Rock performed a song titled "Fairuza Balk" on their NPR Tiny Desk Concert.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: , also called Miku Hatsune, and officially code-named CV01, is a Vocaloid software voicebank developed by Crypton Future Media and its official anthropomorphic mascot character, a 16-year-old girl with long, turquoise twintails. Miku's personification has been marketed as a virtual idol, and has performed at live virtual concerts onstage as an animated projection (rear-cast projection on a specially coated glass screen).


title: Hatsune Miku

text: Miku uses Yamaha Corporation's Vocaloid 2, Vocaloid 3, and Vocaloid 4 singing synthesizing technologies. She also uses Crypton Future Media's Piapro Studio, a standalone singing synthesizer editor. She was the second Vocaloid sold using the Vocaloid 2 engine and the first Japanese Vocaloid to use the Japanese version of the 2 engine. The voice is modeled from Japanese voice actress Saki Fujita.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: The name of the character comes from merging the Japanese words for , , and , thus meaning "the first sound of the future", which, along with her code name, refers to her position as the first of Crypton's "Character Vocal Series" (abbreviated "CV Series"), preceding Kagamine Rin/Len (code-named "CV02") and Megurine Luka (code-named "CV03"). The number 01 can also be seen on her left shoulder in official artwork.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: Hatsune Miku was the first Vocaloid developed by Crypton Future Media after they handled the release of the Yamaha vocal Meiko and Kaito. Miku was intended to be the first of a series of Vocaloids called the ""Character Vocal Series"" (abbreviated ""CV Series""), which included Kagamine Rin/Len and Megurine Luka. Each had a particular concept and vocal direction.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: She was built using Yamaha's Vocaloid 2 technology, and later updated to newer engine versions. She was created by taking vocal samples from voice actress Saki Fujita at a controlled pitch and tone. Those samples all contain a single Japanese phonic that, when strung together, creates full lyrics and phrases. The pitch of the samples was to be altered by the synthesizer engine and constructed into a keyboard-style instrument within the Vocaloid software.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: Crypton released Hatsune Miku on August 31, 2007. Crypton had the idea to release Miku as "an android diva in the near-future world where songs are lost." Hatsune Miku was released for Vocaloid 3 on August 31, 2013, including an English vocal library. She was the first Vocaloid to be developed by the company, following their commercial release handle of Yamaha Corporation developed vocals "Meiko" and "Kaito", making Hatsune Miku the third Vocaloid to be sold commercially by the company.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: On April 30, 2010, a new add-on for Vocaloid 2 called "Hatsune Miku Append", was released, consisting of six different timbres for the voice: "Soft" (gentle timbre), "Sweet" (young, chibi quality), "Dark" (mature and melancholic), "Vivid" (bright and cheerful), "Solid" (loud, clear voice), and "Light" (innocent and angelic). "Miku Append" was created to expand Miku's voice library, and as such requires the original program to be installed on the user's computer first. This was the first time a Vocaloid had such a release, and more Append versions were reported from Crypton Future Media at later dates.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: It was mentioned that a 7th "Append" voicebank, a falsetto voice, had been recorded; however, since the developers didn't think it would be useful on its own, no plans were made for an independent release. During the Kagamine Append development, a "darkish Whisper/Sweet" append was being considered. Miku's English vocal was also due for a Vocaloid 2 release, but it was not released in the engine due to low quality.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: To aid in the production of 3D animations, the program MikuMikuDance was developed by an independent programmer. The freeware software allowed a boom in fan-made animations to be developed, as well as being a boost for promoting Vocaloid songs themselves. This spawned "NicoNico Cho Party", where fans could submit their animations to accompany live holographic performances of popular Vocaloid songs.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: An English voicebank for Hatsune Miku was announced in 2011 and was to be released by the end of 2012. However, the decision to move to Vocaloid 3 and issues with English pronunciation delayed the release. It was finally released on August 31, 2013 via digital distribution.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: The Hatsune Miku Vocaloid 3 Japanese vocal library was released on September 26, 2013. It contained updates to all previous Vocaloid 2 vocals except "Vivid" and "Light". These were later released separately, though they were initially offered to anyone who already owned Hatsune Miku, Hatsune Miku Append, and Hatsune Miku V3. Once imported into Vocaloid4, all Vocaloid3 Hatsune Miku vocals could use the new Cross-Synthesis system (XSY) built for the new engine of Vocaloid 3. The voice was also imported into a device called "Pocket Miku", released on April 3, 2014.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: Hatsune Miku received an update for Yamaha's Vocaloid 4 engine under the name of "Hatsune Miku V4X". It makes use of the new EVEC system for Piapro Studio, a VSTi plugin used as an alternative to the traditional Vocaloid Editor. EVEC consists of recorded vowels. Along with the consonant, a different vocal tone can be achieved. Two vocal tones are included in the EVEC system: "Power" and "Soft". Along with the new EVEC system, phoneme errors found in Miku's V2 and V3 voicebanks would be fixed allowing for easier manipulation of the software's voice. , Hatsune Miku V4X/V4 English was released.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: A Mandarin Chinese voicebank was released in September 2017, making Hatsune Miku the first trilingual Vocaloid product. Her Chinese name is ; are the kanji characters for her given name, Miku.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: Miku has been heavily promoted since 2008 and was originally aimed at professional musicians. On September 12, 2007, Amazon.co.jp reported sales of Hatsune Miku totaling 57,500,000 yen, making the character the number-one-selling software of that time. She was the first vocal to be developed and distributed by Crypton Future Media and sung in Japanese. Hatsune Miku's instant success is owed to Vocaloid being a cultural hit in Japan and she reportedly sold 40,000 units by July 2008, selling on average 300 units a week. By January 2011, she had sold 60,000 units.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: Since the success of Hatsune Miku's Vocaloid 2 package led to an expansion of marketing possibilities, most of the mass marketing has come after the software's initial release as a response to Miku's popularity and has been on going since 2008. Even with the addition of other Character Vocals, Miku's name continues to be used as the primary source of marketing for Crypton Future Media, to the point where most products for their Vocaloid related products will usually only feature Hatsune Miku's name. In March 2012, the Nomura Research Institute estimated that the sales of all Hatsune Miku brand goods added up into the region of since the release in 2007. Her name is easily the most recognizable of all Vocaloids.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: In 2011, Crypton began to focus on marketing Miku to United States audiences. On May 7, Amazon placed a preview of Supercell's hit song, "World is Mine", as a single. When the song finally went on sale, it ranked at No. 7 in the top 10 world singles list on iTunes in its first week of sales. Since Crypton had always sold Miku as a virtual instrument in Japan, they asked their Japanese fan base if it was acceptable for them to sell her as a virtual singer to the new market audience. The main purpose of the Miku English version is to allow Japanese producers to break into the western market and expand their audiences.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: In 2008, Good Smile Racing began the licensing of Hatsune Miku and other Crypton Future Media-related Vocaloid content. Studie, which participated in the 2008 and 2009 seasons using a BMW Z4 E86. Their car was painted in official Hatsune Miku art, and fan-derivative versions of Hatsune Miku in some races in the 2009 season. In the 2008 season, a group of "Racing Queens" were seen in the pitstop of races. Dubbed the "MikuMiku Gals", the three girls were Rin Miyama, Riona Osaki and Hina Saito. In 2009, a new set of MikuMiku Gals were introduced; these girls wore outfits based on all three Character Vocal series females and not specifically Hatsune Miku alone. Hiroko Nagano, Atsuko and Ayami were the Racing Queens for the season.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: Team COX, participating in the 2010 season, which uses a Porsche 996 GT3 RSR (and will use a Porsche 997 GT3-R). Their car uses Racing Miku (an official Hatsune Miku derivative wearing an orange racing queen suit) as their image. 2010 was also the first season to receive the first official "Racing Miku" derivative design, and from this season onward, the Racing Queens outfits were based on the season's derivative design. The designer of the 2010 outfit was illustrator Redjuice. Model Ayami returned for this season as a Racing Queen and was joined by fellow models Saki Tachibana and Shihomi Kogoshi.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: GSR and Studie with TeamUKYO was the sponsorship for the 2011 season. The designer of the 2011 Racing Miku derivative design was illustrator Yuichi Murakami. Ayami returned as a Racing Queen for the third time and Tachibana Saki returned for a second season. Haruka Aoi was the third Racing Queen to wear the Racing Miku 2011 outfit. GSR and Studie with TeamUKYO was continued as a sponsorship for the 2012 season. The Racing Miku design was illustrated by Gan for this season. The Racing queens for the season were returning models Tachibana Saki and Aoi Haruka, as well as new models Sena Kougami and Ayana Sato.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: The Studie with TeamUKYO sponsorship continued with the 2013 season. The Racing Miku design for the season was done by Mari Shimazaki. The illustrator of the official art was Saitom. Sena Kougami returned as a racing queen for this season and was joined by Tsukasa Arai and Elena Ishiguro. In 2013, the sponsorship expanded to feature a team in the Isle of Man TT, called Team Mirai, with a Racing Miku-designed bike. They finished 6th with Ian Lougher after a fatal accident struck Yoshinari Matsushita (who rode another bike, a Suzuki 600cc) during practice at Ballacrye Corner. The Racing Miku design also was adapted for a "Sepang" version showing bare toned skin as part of showing good health and promoting the design as "the Angel of summer".


title: Hatsune Miku

text: The illustrator for the 2014 season was Oguchi, one of the 15 artists of "Kantai Collection". The outfit is designed by Koyamashigeto, the art director of "Kill la Kill". The machine version of the outfit is designed by Koyamashigeto and Shōji Kawamori, who is noted for his "Macross" designs. The Racing Queens who wore the outfit were returning models Tsukasa Arai and Sena Kougami, as well as new models Kelal Yamaura and Noa Mizutani. For the 2015 Racing Miku, the design was based on a "Princess Knight" complete with a shield and spear-like umbrella. The illustrator was Taiki, the lead visual design from Square Enix and Sega's games "Lord of Vermilion" and "Rise of Mana". Koyamashigeto once again returned as the art direction and designer for the season. Tsuyoshi Kusano is in charge of the new machine design.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: Sapporo has been a major main target of sponsorship since 2010, with Crypton Future Media sponsoring the winter festivals. The image of Hatsune Miku would appear around the town on public transportation. The image portrayal of Miku that is used is a derivative design called "Snow Miku". Although originally, this was simply a recoloring of the normal Hatsune Miku, unique designs have occurred every year since 2011. Figurines based on the design have also been featured.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: The 2012 design was chosen via a contest. The winning entry was referred to as "Fluffy Coat Snow Miku". The 2013 design was called "Strawberry Daifuku Shiromuku Miku". The 2014 design was based on a Magical Girl design by dera_fury, who was the winner of the 2014 Snow Miku contest. The illustration was "Nekosumi". The design also featured a pet called "Rabbit Yukine". The 2015 design was called "Snow Bell Snow Miku" and was illustrated by Nardack.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: In 2012, several ice sculptures of the Character Vocal series and several snow sculptures of Miku were produced for the event. However, on February 7, 2012, one of the Snow Miku sculptures later collapsed and had to be rebuilt elsewhere with better support. The collapsed figure also hit a woman in her early 60s on the back of the head; no serious injuries were sustained in the process.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: During Miku's development, Crypton decided to take a different approach from that used by the other Vocaloid sound bank publishers. It was decided that to make the product successful not only would a highly appealing voice need to be developed, but that the voice needed an image. She was originally aimed only at professional producers; the amateur and otaku market had not fully formed yet, and so were not initially considered.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: The task for coming up with Miku's image went to the manga artist Kei Garō. When Kei designed Miku, his only direction was that she was an android and what her color scheme (based on Yamaha's synthesizer's signature turquoise color) was. The design on Miku's skirt and boots are based on synthesizer software colors and the bars represent the actual bars within the program's user interface. Miku was originally intended to have a different hairstyle, but Kei stuck to pigtails or bunches after trying them out.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: Nico Nico Douga, a Japanese video streaming website similar to YouTube, played a fundamental role in the recognition and popularity of the software. Soon after Miku's release, Nico Nico Douga users started posting videos of songs created using the character's sound bank. According to Crypton, a popular video featuring Miku's chibi version, Hachune Miku, singing and dancing to "Ievan Polkka" while spinning a Welsh onion in homage to Loituma Girl's original video (which led to Miku also being commonly associated with spring onions) demonstrated the potential of the software in multimedia content creation. As Miku's recognition and popularity grew, Nico Nico Douga became a place for collaborative content creation. Popular original songs written by a user would inspire illustrations, animations in 2D and 3D, and remixes by other users. Some creators would show their unfinished work and ask for ideas.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: In September 2009, three figurines based on the derivative character "Hachune Miku" were launched in a rocket from the United States state of Nevada's Black Rock Desert, though it did not reach outer space. In late November 2009, a petition was launched in order to get a custom-made Hatsune Miku aluminium plate (8 cm × 12 cm, 3.1" × 4.7") made that would be used as a balancing weight for the Japanese Venus spacecraft explorer Akatsuki. Started by Hatsune Miku fan Sumio Morioka (also known as "chodenzi-P"), this project has received the backing of Dr. Seiichi Sakamoto of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. On December 22, 2009, the petition exceeded the needed 10,000 signatures necessary to have the plates made. An original deadline of December 20, 2009, had been set to send in the petition, but due to a couple of delays in the Akatsuki project, a new deadline of January 6, 2010, was set; by this deadline, over 14,000 signatures had been received. On May 21, 2010 at 06:58:22 (JST), Akatsuki was launched, having three plates depicting Hatsune Miku and Hachune Miku in several monochrome images, composed of the miniature letters of the messages from the petition form etched in the plates. The UK 59th issue of the music and fashion magazine "Clash" featured Hatsune Miku as their cover star (using a real-life photo model), with a full feature on her. The third launch of the MOMO sounding rocket by Interstellar Technologies used Hatsune Miku's voice for the countdown.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: The Vocaloid software has also had a great influence on the character Black Rock Shooter, who looks like Hatsune Miku but is not linked to her by design. The character was made famous by the song "Black Rock Shooter", and a number of figurines have been made. An original video animation made by Ordet was streamed for free as part of a promotional campaign running from June 25 to August 31, 2010. A televised anime series aired in February 2012.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: In October 2011, Crypton showed on the official Hatsune Miku Facebook page a letter from the Japanese Minister of Economy for "contributing to the furtherance of the informatization by minister of economy." The flag of the city of Chiba was considered to coincidentally resemble the silhouette of Hatsune Miku, and on the 10th anniversary on August 31, 2017, the municipal government website temporarily changed its logo to look like Miku. Geoffrey Cain of GlobalPost has argued that the phenomenon of Hatsune Miku is partly due to the love of Japanese for giving inanimate objects a soul, which is rooted in Shintoism or animism, but also in the long tradition of Karakuri ningyō or automated wooden puppets. Thus, Japanese are much more ready to accept a virtual character as "human".


title: Hatsune Miku

text: Hatsune Miku is often jokingly attributed as the creator of the video game "Minecraft" (originating from the Miku Twitter parody account "mikumiku_ebooks" which tweeted "i created minecraft") as well as the book series "Harry Potter". Both of these attributions came about after the original creators of both works (Markus Persson and J. K. Rowling, respectively) published tweets that were critical of transgender people, which resulted in backlash from their respective fans.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: Miku's popularity has resulted in various references to her in anime. Miku is the protagonist of a manga series named "Maker Hikōshiki Hatsune Mix", written by Kei Garō. The manga explores the many possibilities of story-telling and has featured numerous adventures, ranging from giant-sized battles with Hatsune Miku to home exploits. There is therefore no single storyline, and the entire setting within the manga is unofficial. During an episode of "Zoku Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei", Miku is seen auditioning for the voice of Meru Otonashi (Kagamine Rin and Len are referenced in the same episode). Miku's voice is used in one of the ending themes for the anime series "Akikan!" (episode 12). Moreover, she also sings the ending theme for the anime "", called . During an episode in the "Lucky Star" OVA, Kagami Hiiragi gets magically transformed into Miku cosplay. A character in the anime "Kämpfer" appears dressed as Miku in episode seven. She also appeared in the large plasma screen in "Chrome Shelled Regios" as an endorser. She also appears in episode 11 of "Baka and Test" as a member of class B. Miku also appears in "Maria Holic" episode 12, when the class is told they have a swim meet. Miku also appears in episode 1 of "Himōto! Umaru-chan", in an imagination of what the main character wants to buy. A parody of Miku is also seen in "Gintama" (episode 237) in the second editor of Gintaman, Daito's anime fantasies. Miku also appeared in the anime "Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion the Animation" as a recurring character. Miku appears as a recurring guest character in 2022's "Dropkick on My Devil! X", the third anime season based on Yukiwo's "Dropkick on My Devil!" manga series, voiced by Saki Fujita as opposed to having lines recorded through the Vocaloid software.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: A series of rhythm games starting from "" were produced by Sega under license using Hatsune Miku and other Crypton Vocaloids, as well as "fan-made" Vocaloids like Akita Neru. The series has sold 6million copies. "" was developed for the Nintendo 3DS. Miku's appearance in this game is based on the Nendoroid series of figures. Later on, a mobile gacha rhythm game called (marketed as "Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage!" outside of Asia) was released. The game features Miku as well as the other Crypton Vocaloids alongside original human characters. Many of the game's playable songs are covers of existing Vocaloid originals. Hatsune Miku is also briefly referenced in the game "Recettear", where a young man stargazing sees "The Green-Onion Girl" constellation. Also, in 2013, Saki Fujita voices Fei-Yen HD, a character based on one of Hatsune Miku's modules, in "Super Robot Wars UX"; this appearance does not use Miku's vocal library. Haruka Sawamura from the "Yakuza" series, another Sega franchise, can wear Miku's outfit in "Yakuza 5", and an ice statue of Miku is also seen in the Sapporo region of the game. TinierMe also made attire that looks like Miku's for their services, allowing users to make their avatar resemble her.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: Miku's clothes appear as a costume for a playable character in the Japanese version of "PangYa" and was the back-up vocal for the game's season four trailer, as a downloadable costume for Sophie in "Tales of Graces" and is seen during a stage in the game "13-sai no Hellowork DS". Miku's clothes also appear in "Phantasy Star Portable 2" as a costume for the player's female character, as well as her hairstyle and leek-themed weapons. Miku appears in the PlayStation 3 version of "The Idolm@ster 2" as downloadable content. In the video game "Skullgirls", one of Filia's alternative colors is based on Miku. Hatsune Miku's attire has also appeared in "Phantasy Star Online 2" as a female character's costume, along with "Miku Dayō" as a Mag Design. She also makes an appearance in the game "Brave Frontier".


title: Hatsune Miku

text: In 2014, Korg introduced "Miku Stomp", a guitar effects unit that emulates the sound of Miku's voice. "Tell Your World" by Livetune, which features her as a featured artist, appears in Japan's "Just Dance Wii U". In 2015, "Ievan Polkka" was announced to appear in "Just Dance 2016" along with a dancer whose outfit is exactly like Miku's. On July 23, 2015, Miku was announced as a DLC character in "", a video game released in 2015 for the PlayStation Vita and developed by Atlus. On November 26, 2015, Miku became a collaboration idol for the second update of the 2016 series of the "Aikatsu!" arcade game. Several cards containing Hatsune Miku uniforms were also included for the update. In 2016, a remix of "Ievan Polkka" appeared on an LG G5 commercial. "PoPiPo" was announced to appear in "Just Dance 2017" also with a dancer whose resembles Miku. Then, "Love Ward" by OSTER project was also announced to appear in "Just Dance 2018" with the same Miku-resembling dancer. In March 2017, Miku was introduced as a playable character in the mobile game '#COMPASS'. In fall 2017, Hatsune Miku was added as a playable character in "PriPara". "Love Ward" and "PoPiPo" are still available in future "Just Dance" games as part of Ubisoft's "Just Dance Unlimited" service for "Just Dance 2016" onwards.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: In August 2017, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the virtual singer, Ricoh released a limited edition of its 360° camera Ricoh Theta branded with Hatsune Miku imagery called the Ricoh Theta SC Type Hatsune Miku. The Ricoh Theta Type Hatsune Miku mobile apps (iOS and Android) allow for placing images of the character (in 55 different poses) within 360° images taken with the camera. Users can manipulate Hatsune Miku's facial expressions, change the direction of the character's shadow and hair, and rotate the character to place it within the 360° image. The product includes a specially designed case and other features illustrated by Fuzichoco, an illustrator at Crypton Future Media.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: In 2020, Hatsune Miku (also under the name Space Channel 39 and Space 39) was announced to be released as part of a DLC pack for "" on July 27 that same year. The installment allows the player to dance with Miku or attempt to defeat her in a dance battle, alongside Ulala, 88MAN, or Pudding. The DLC also unlocks a Hatsune themed outfit for Ulala (under Channel 39).


title: Hatsune Miku

text: In August 2010, over 22,000 original songs had been written under the name Hatsune Miku. Later reports confirmed that she had 100,000 songs in 2011 to her name. Crypton's website promotes Miku's popularity having her voice used in over 100,000 unique songs.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: One of the Vocaloid compilations, "Exit Tunes Presents Vocalogenesis feat. Hatsune Miku", debuted at number-one on the Japanese weekly Oricon album charts dated May 31, 2010, becoming the first Vocaloid album ever to top the charts. Another album, "Supercell", by the group Supercell also features a number of songs using Vocaloids. Other albums, such as 19's Sound Factory's "First Sound Story" and Livetune's" Re:package", and "Re:Mikus" also feature Miku's voice. Other uses of Miku include the albums by Absorb and by OSTER-project. The viral Nyan Cat meme featured an Utauloid cover of "Nyanyanyanyan!" by daniwell-P, the original song featuring Miku. Another song originally using Miku, "Color", was covered by MARiA, and featured as the opening theme of the 2011 anime series "Freezing".


title: Hatsune Miku

text: As a virtual idol, Hatsune Miku first featured in a "live" virtual concert during Animelo Summer Live at the Saitama Super Arena on August 22, 2009. Miku later returned to Animelo Summer Live 2012: Infinity to perform "World is Mine" and "Tell Your World". Miku made her first overseas live appearance at a concert on November 21, 2009, during Anime Festival Asia (AFA) in Singapore. On March 9, 2010, Miku's first solo live performance titled "Miku no Hi Kanshasai 39's Giving Day" was opened at the Zepp Tokyo in Odaiba, Tokyo. Miku performed in the United States on July 2, 2011 at the Nokia Theater at L.A. Live during the 2011 Anime Expo in Los Angeles. The concert followed the same format as the previous "39's Giving Day" concert. Hatsune Miku performed in Japanese rock festival Summer Sonic 2013 on August 10, 2013. Hatsune Miku teamed up with designer Louis Vuitton and director Toshiki Okada for a Vocaloid opera, titled "The End". It featured no human singers and took place at the Theatre du Chatelet Opera House in Paris on November 13 and 15, 2013. Another operatic work starring Hatsune Miku, a short opera buffa entitled "Weebmalion", appeared in 2018, this time featuring a real soloist, tenor Aleksander Kunach, singing with the character in a love duet written by Polish composer, Krzysztof Żelichowski. It was the first time a classically trained voice appeared alongside Vocaloid in original classical composition.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: A young male prototype used for the "Project If..." series was used in Sound Horizon's musical work "Ido e Itaru Mori e Itaru Ido", labeled as the "prologue maxi". The prototype sang alongside Miku for their music and is known only by the name "Junger März_Prototype β". Hatsune Miku was the opening act for Lady Gaga's world tour , performing throughout the first month of Gaga's tour from May 6 to June 3, 2014.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: In March 2014, Hatsune Miku and Crypton Future Media teamed up with the Japanese band Bump of Chicken to record a music video featuring a real band singing alongside Hatsune Miku in real time. This video was uploaded on March 12, 2014, and contains the song "Ray". The video is not after-edited in any way. This was made possible by Crypton's newest technology to focus characters on a screen directly to the recording camera by using a big curved screen, motion data, Wifi-sensors, movement-sensors and some older technology from Crypton.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: Pharrell Williams made a remix of Livetune's song "Last Night, Goodnight" featuring Hatsune Miku. On October 8, 2014, Miku debuted on American network television as the character performed "Sharing the World" on the "Late Show with David Letterman" on CBS. Hatsune Miku is featured in "B Who I Want 2 B" produced by Sophie from Namie Amuro's album "Genic". The 2016 Hatsune Miku Expo tour featured American electronic band Anamanaguchi as an opening act; to commemorate the tour, the band recorded a single track titled "Miku", which they performed live on the tour with Miku as an encore song. Big Boi (of Outkast) sampled Aura Qualic's song "DATA 2.0", featuring Hatsune Miku for his 2017 single "Kill Jill", also appearing in the song's music video. Slushii did a collaboration with Hatsune Miku for the song Though the Night which was released on May 11, 2018 on the single Through the Night.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: In January 2020, Hatsune Miku was announced as a performer at Coachella 2020 in Indio, California, which was later cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Hatsune Miku

text: On December 11, 2020, Hatsune Miku was a featured artist on a remixed version of American rapper Ashnikko's song "Daisy" titled "Daisy 2.0".


The Motion Picture Association film rating system is used in the United States and its territories to rate a motion picture's suitability for certain audiences based on its content. The system and the ratings applied to individual motion pictures are the responsibility of the Motion Picture Association (MPA), previously known as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) from 1945 to 2019. The MPA rating system is a voluntary scheme that is not enforced by law; films can be exhibited without a rating, although most theaters refuse to exhibit non-rated or NC-17 rated films. Non-members of the MPA may also submit films for rating. Other media, such as television programs, music and video games, are rated by other entities such as the TV Parental Guidelines, the RIAA and the ESRB, respectively.


title: Motion Picture Association film rating system

text: Introduced in 1968, following the Hays Code of the classical Hollywood cinema era, the MPA rating system is one of various motion picture rating systems that are used to help parents decide what films are appropriate for their children. It is administered by the Classification & Ratings Administration (CARA), an independent division of the MPA.


text: In 2013, the MPA ratings were visually redesigned, with the rating displayed on a left panel and the name of the rating shown above it. A larger panel on the right provides a more detailed description of the film's content and an explanation of the rating level is placed on a horizontal bar at the bottom of the rating.


text: Film ratings often have accompanying brief descriptions of the specifics behind the film's content and why it received a certain rating. They are displayed in trailers, posters, and on the backside of home video releases. Film rating content descriptors are exclusively used for films rated from PG to NC-17; they are not used for G-rated films because the content in them is suitable for all audiences even if containing mild objectionable content.


text: If a film has not been submitted for a rating or is an uncut version of a film that was submitted, the labels Not Rated (NR) or Unrated (UR) are often used. Uncut/extended versions of films that are labeled "Unrated" also contain warnings saying that the uncut version of the film contains content that differs from the theatrical release and might not be suitable for minors.


text: If a film has not yet been assigned a final rating, the label This Film Is Not Yet Rated is used in trailers and television commercials.


text: The MPA also rates film trailers, print advertising, posters, and other media used to promote a film.


text: Rating cards appear at the head of trailers in the United States which indicate how closely the trailer adheres to the MPA's standards.


text: The MPA also creates blue feature tags for theatrical and home media use. Theatrical releases show the blue tag after the film, with home media releases showing it prior to the film. They feature the rating block and any content descriptors as assigned by the Classification and Rating Administration, the MPA logo, and links to MPA websites along the bottom.


text: Jack Valenti, who had become president of the Motion Picture Association of America in May 1966, deemed the Motion Picture Production Code – in place since 1930 and rigorously enforced since July 1, 1934 – as out of date and bearing "the odious smell of censorship". Filmmakers were pushing at the boundaries of the Code with some even going as far as filing lawsuits against the "Hays Code" by invoking the First Amendment, and Valenti cited examples such as "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", which contained the expressions "screw" and "hump the hostess"; and "Blowup", which was denied Code approval due to nudity, resulting in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, then a member studio of the MPAA, releasing it through a subsidiary. He revised the Code to include the "SMA" (Suggested for Mature Audiences) advisory as a stopgap measure. To accommodate "the irresistible force of creators determined to make 'their films', and to avoid "the possible intrusion of government into the movie arena", he developed a set of advisory ratings which could be applied after a film was completed.


text: On November 1, 1968, the voluntary MPAA film rating system took effect, with three organizations serving as its monitoring and guiding groups: the MPAA, the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), and the International Film Importers & Distributors of America (IFIDA). Only films that premiered in the United States after that date were affected by this. Walter Reade was the only one of 75 top U.S. exhibitors who refused to use the ratings. Warner Bros.-Seven Arts' "The Girl on a Motorcycle" was the first film to receive the X rating, and was distributed by their Claridge Pictures subsidiary. Two other films were rated X by the time the MPAA published their first weekly bulletin listing ratings: Paramount's "Sin With a Stranger" and Universal's "Birds in Peru". Both films were subsequently released by subsidiaries.


text: This content classification system originally was to have three ratings, with the intention of allowing parents to take their children to any film they chose. However, the National Association of Theatre Owners urged the creation of an adults-only category, fearful of possible legal problems in local jurisdictions. The "X" rating was not an MPAA trademark and would not receive the MPAA seal; any producer not submitting a film for MPAA rating could self-apply the "X" rating (or any other symbol or description that was not an MPAA trademark).


text: In 1970, the ages for "R" and "X" were raised from 16 to 17. Also, due to confusion over whether "M"-rated films were suitable for children, "M" was renamed to "GP" (for General audiences, Parental guidance suggested), and in 1971, the MPAA added the content advisory "Some material not generally suitable for pre-teenagers". On February 11, 1972, "GP" was revised to "PG".


text: In the 1980s, complaints about violence and gore in films such as "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and "Gremlins", both of which received PG ratings, refocused attention on films seen by small children and preteens. According to author Filipa Antunes, this revealed the conundrum of a film that "could not be recommended for all children but also could not be repudiated for all children uniformly," leading to speculation that the rating system's PG classification "no longer matched a notion of childhood most parents in America could agree on." Steven Spielberg, director of "Temple of Doom" and executive producer of "Gremlins", suggested a new intermediate rating between "PG" and "R". The "PG-13" rating was introduced on July 1, 1984, with the advisory "Parents Are Strongly Cautioned to Give Special Guidance for Attendance of Children Under 13 – Some Material May Be Inappropriate for Young Children". The first film to be released with this rating was the John Milius war film "Red Dawn". In 1985, the wording was simplified to "Parents Strongly Cautioned – Some Material May Be Inappropriate for Children Under 13". Around the same time, the MPAA won a trademark infringement lawsuit against the producers and distributors of "I Spit on Your Grave" over a fraudulent application of its R rating to the uncut version of the film, and forced its member studios and several other home video distributors to put MPAA ratings on the packaging of MPAA-rated films via a settlement that would come into effect by fall that year.


text: In 1989, Tennessee state law set the minimum age to view a theatrically exhibited R-rated film without adult accompaniment at 18, instead of 17, and categorized the admission of minors to X-rated films as a misdemeanor. The statute remained in force until 2013, when it was ruled to be in violation of the First Amendment. The law was amended in 2013 as to prohibit persons under the age of 18 only if the film was considered "harmful to minors".


text: In the rating system's early years, "X"-rated films such as "Midnight Cowboy" (1969) and "A Clockwork Orange" (1971) were understood to be unsuitable for children, but non-pornographic and intended for the general public. However, pornographic films often self-applied the non-trademarked "X" rating, and it soon became synonymous with pornography in American culture. In late 1989 and early 1990, respectively, "" and "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover", two critically acclaimed art films featuring strong adult content, were released. Neither film was approved for an MPAA rating, limiting their commercial distribution and prompting criticism of the rating system's lack of a designation for such films.


text: In September 1990, the MPAA introduced the rating NC-17 ("No Children Under 17 Admitted"). "Henry & June", previously to be assigned an X rating, was the first film to receive the NC-17 rating instead. Although films with an NC-17 rating had more mainstream distribution opportunities than X-rated films, many theaters refused to screen them, most entertainment media did not accept advertising for them, and many large video outlets refused to stock them.


text: In 1996, the minimum age for NC-17-rated films was raised to 18, by rewording it to "No One 17 and Under Admitted". The ratings used since 1996 are:


text: Since September 1990, the MPAA has included brief explanations of why each film received an "R" rating, allowing parents to know what type of content the film contained. For example, some films' explanations may read "Strong Brutal Violence, Pervasive Language, Some Strong Sexual Content, and Drug Material".


text: By the early 2000s, the MPAA began applying rating explanations for PG, PG-13, and NC-17-rated films as well.


text: Depictions of violence are permitted under all ratings but must be moderated for the lower ones. Violence must be kept to a minimum in G-rated films and must not be intense in PG-rated films. Depictions of intense violence are permitted under the PG-13 rating, but violence that is both realistic and extreme or persistent will generally require at least an R rating.


text: Snippets of language that go "beyond polite conversation" are permitted in G-rated films, but no stronger words are present. Profanity may be present in PG rated films, and use of one of the harsher "sexually-derived words" as an expletive will initially incur at least a PG-13 rating. More than one occurrence will usually incur an R rating as will the usage of such an expletive in a sexual context. Known as the "automatic language rule", the rule has been applied differently depending on the subject matter of the film. For example, "All the President's Men" (1976) received a general rating on appeal, despite multiple instances of strong language, likely because of its historic subject matter. The automatic language rule is arguably the rule that can most often be successfully appealed. The ratings board may award a PG-13 rating passed by a two-thirds majority if they believe the language is justified by the context or by the manner in which the words are used.


text: It is sometimes claimed that films rated PG-13 are only able to use the expletive "fuck" once to avoid an R rating for language. There are several exceptional cases in which PG-13-rated films contain multiple occurrences of the word "fuck": "Adventures in Babysitting," where the word is used twice in the same scene; "Antwone Fisher" which has three uses; "The Hip Hop Project", which has seventeen uses; and "Gunner Palace", a documentary of soldiers in the Second Gulf War, which has 42 uses of the word with two used sexually. Both "Bully", a 2011 documentary about bullying, and "Philomena"—which has two instances of the word—released in 2013, were originally given R ratings on grounds of the language but the ratings were dropped to PG-13 after successful appeals."The King's Speech", however, was given an R rating for one scene using the word "fuck" several times in a speech therapy context; the MPAA refused to recertify the film on appeal, despite the British Board of Film Classification reducing the British rating from a 15 rating to a 12A on the grounds that the uses of the expletive were not directed at anyone.


text: This was satirized in the 2005 film "Be Cool", in which the movie producer Chili Palmer (John Travolta) says: "Do you know that unless you're willing to use the R rating, you can only say the 'F' word once? You know what I say? Fuck that. I'm done." Often film producers will use the word for a scene of gravitas or humor and then blur out any further instances with sound effects.


text: Some forms of media are cut post-release so as to obtain a PG-13 rating for home media release or to feature on an Internet streaming service that will not carry films rated higher than PG-13. In 2020, a recording of "Hamilton" was released on Disney+ after cuts by Lin-Manuel Miranda to remove two of the three instances of "fuck" in the musical to qualify it as PG-13 under MPAA guidelines.


text: A study of popular American teen-oriented films rated PG and PG-13 from 1980 to 2006 found that in those films, teenaged characters use more and stronger profanity than the adult characters in the same movies. However, the study found that the overall amount of such language had declined somewhat since the 1980s.


text: Drug use content is restricted to PG-13 and above. An example of an otherwise PG film being assigned a PG-13 rating for a drug reference (momentary, along with brief language) is "Whale Rider". The film contained only mild profanity, but was rated PG-13 because of a scene where drug paraphernalia were briefly visible. Critic Roger Ebert criticized the MPAA for the rating and called it "a wild overreaction".


text: In May 2007, the MPAA announced that depictions of cigarette smoking would be considered in a film's rating. Anti-smoking advocates stated that the child-friendly PG rating was inappropriate for the 2011 Nickelodeon-animated film "Rango", which included over 60 depictions of characters smoking.


text: Nudity is restricted to PG and above, and anything that constitutes more than brief nudity will require at least a PG-13 rating. Nudity that is sexually oriented will generally require an R rating. Since 2006, films have been flagged by the MPAA for carrying nudity. In 2010, the MPAA flagged three films specifically for "male nudity", precipitated by parental pressure in response to "Brüno". In 2018, MPAA Ratings Chair Joan Graves clarified the MPA's position by stating that "we don't usually define [nudity] as male or female ... usually, we just mention partial nudity, [or] graphic nudity."


text: The MPAA does not have any explicit criteria for sexual content other than excluding sex scenes from G-rated films.


text: Prior to the release of "The Exorcist" at the end of 1973, CARA president Aaron Stern took the unusual step of calling director William Friedkin to tell him that since it was an "important film", it would be rated R and could be released without any cuts. The film drew huge crowds upon its release, many of whom vomited and/or fainted; a psychiatric journal would later document four cases of "cinematic neurosis" induced by the film.


text: Among those patrons were many children, not always accompanied by adults. This left many commentators incredulous that the ratings board would have found that a film with disturbing scenes such as a possessed 12-year-old girl masturbating with a crucifix was acceptable for children to see. Roy Meacham, a Washington, D.C., critic who had praised the film while admonishing parents not to take their children to it, recalled those children he did see leaving showings "drained and drawn afterward; their eyes had a look I had never seen before." Authorities in Washington invoked a municipal ordinance that would have prevented "any" minors from seeing the film, threatening theater owners with arrest if they did.


text: Meacham insinuated that the board had succumbed to pressure from Warner Brothers, which had spent $10 million, more than twice its original budget, making the film; an X rating would have seriously limited "The Exorcist"s commercial prospects. "New Yorker" critic Pauline Kael echoed his criticism. "If "The Exorcist" had cost under a million or been made abroad," she wrote, "it would almost certainly be an X film. But when a movie is as expensive as this one, the [board] doesn't dare give it an X."


text: In 1974, Richard Heffner took over as president of the board. During his interview process, he had asked to screen recent films that had sparked ratings controversies, including "The Exorcist". "How could anything be worse than this?" he recalled thinking later. "And it got an R?" After he took over as head, he would spearhead efforts to be more aggressive with the X rating, especially over violence in films. In 1976, he got the board to give the Japanese martial arts film "The Street Fighter" an X rating for its graphic violence, the first time a film had earned that rating purely for violence.


text: The NC-17 rating has been described as a "kiss of death" for any film that receives it. Like the X rating it replaced, NC-17 limits a film's prospects of being marketed, screened in theaters and sold in major video outlets. In 1995, United Artists released the big-budget film "Showgirls" (1995); it became the most widely distributed film with an NC-17 rating (showing in 1,388 cinemas simultaneously), but it was a financial failure that grossed only 45% of its $45 million budget. Some modest successes can be found among NC-17 theatrical releases, however; Fox Searchlight Pictures released the original NC-17-rated American edition of the European film "The Dreamers" (2003) in theaters in the United States, and later released both the original NC-17 and the cut R-rated version on DVD. A Fox Searchlight spokesman said the NC-17 rating did not give them much trouble in releasing this film (they had no problem booking it, and only the Salt Lake City newspaper "Deseret News" refused to take the film's ad), and Fox Searchlight was satisfied with this film's United States box office result. Another notable exception is "Bad Education" (2004), an NC-17 foreign-language film that grossed $5.2 million in the United States theatrically (a moderate success for a foreign-language film).


text: In 2000, the Directors Guild of America called the NC-17 rating an "abject failure", for causing filmmakers to re-edit films to receive an R rating, rather than accept an NC-17 rating. They argued that this was "not only compromising filmmakers' visions, but also greatly increasing the likelihood that adult-oriented movies are seen by the very groups for which they are not intended." As of March 2007, according to "Variety", MPAA chairman Dan Glickman had been made aware of the attempts to introduce a new rating, or find ways to reduce the stigma of the NC-17 rating. Film studios have pressured the MPAA to retire the NC-17 rating, because of its likely impact on their film's box office revenue.


text: During the controversy about the MPAA's decision to give the film "Blue Valentine" (2010) an NC-17 rating (The Weinstein Company challenged this decision, and the MPAA ended up awarding the same cut an R rating on appeal). Actor Ryan Gosling, who stars in the film, noted that NC-17 films are not allowed wide advertisement and that, given the refusal of major cinema chains like AMC and Regal to show NC-17 rated movies, many such films will never be accessible to people who live in markets that do not have art house theatres.


text: Legal scholar Julie Hilden wrote that the MPAA has a "masterpiece exception" that it has made for films that would ordinarily earn an NC-17 rating, if not for the broader artistic masterpiece that requires the violence depicted as a part of its message. She cites "Saving Private Ryan", with its bloody depiction of the D-Day landings, as an example. This exception is troubling, Hilden argues, because it ignores context and perspective in evaluating other films and favors conventional films over edgier films that contribute newer and more interesting points to public discourse about violence.


text: Starting in 2004, GKC Theatres (since absorbed into AMC Theatres) introduced "R-Cards", which parents could obtain for their children under 17 to see R-rated films without adult accompaniment. The cards generated much controversy; MPAA president Jack Valenti said in a news article: "I think it distorts and ruptures the intent of this voluntary film ratings system. All R-rated films are not alike." John Fithian, the president of the National Association of Theatre Owners, also said that the cards can be harmful. He noted in a news article for the "Christian Science Monitor" that the R rating is "broad enough to include relatively family-friendly fare such as "Billy Elliot" and "Erin Brockovich" (which were both rated R for language) along with films that push the extremes of violence, including "Pulp Fiction" and "Kill Bill"."


text: The film rating system has had a number of high-profile critics. Film critic Roger Ebert called for replacing the NC-17 rating with separate ratings for pornographic and non-pornographic adult film. Ebert argued that the system places too much emphasis on sex, while allowing the portrayal of massive amounts of gruesome violence. The uneven emphasis on sex versus violence is echoed by other critics, including David Ansen, as well as many filmmakers. Moreover, Ebert argued that the rating system is geared toward looking at trivial aspects of the film (such as the number of times a profane word is used) rather than at the general theme of the film (for example, if the film realistically depicts the consequences of sex and violence). He called for an A (adults only) rating, to indicate films high in violence or mature content that should not be marketed to teenagers, but do not have NC-17 levels of sex. He also called for the NC-17 rating to be removed and to have the X rating revived. He felt that everyone understood what X-rated means, while fewer people understood what NC-17 meant.


text: MPAA chairman Dan Glickman has disputed these claims, stating that far more films are initially rated NC-17 for violence than for sex, but that these are later edited by studios to receive an R rating.


text: Despite this, an internal critic of the early workings of the ratings system is film critic and writer Stephen Farber, who was a CARA intern for six months during 1969 and 1970. In "The Movie Ratings Game", he documents a prejudice against sex in relation to violence. The 2006 documentary "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" also points out that four times as many films received an NC-17 rating for sex as they did for violence according to the MPAA's own website, further mentioning a bias against homosexual content compared to heterosexual content, particularly with regards to sex scenes. Filmmaker Darren Stein further insists that his tame teen comedy "G.B.F.", which features multiple same-sex kisses but no intercourse, strong language, violence, or nudity, was "rated R for being gay."


text: The 2011 documentary "Bully" received an R rating for the profanity contained within the film, which prevented most of the intended audience, middle and high schoolers, from seeing the film. The film's director, Lee Hirsch, has refused to recut the film, stating, "I feel a responsibility as a filmmaker, as the person entrusted to tell (these kids') stories, to not water them down." A petition collected more than 200,000 signatures to change the film's rating and a version with less profanity was finally given a PG-13 rating. The same, however, could not be said about the 1995 teen drama "Kids", which director Larry Clark wanted rated R so parents could take their kids to it for educational purposes, but the MPAA rated it NC-17 due to its content of teen sex and turned down Clark's appeal. The movie was then released unrated by Miramax (under Shining Excalibur Films because Miramax, formerly owned by Disney, hesitated to release it as an NC-17 film).


text: Many critics of the MPAA system, especially independent distributors, have charged that major studios' releases often receive more lenient treatment than independent films. The independent film "Saints and Soldiers", which contains no nudity, almost no sex (although, there is a scene in which a German soldier is about to rape a French woman), very little profanity, and a minimum of violence, was said to have been rated R for a single clip where a main character is shot and killed, and required modification of just that one scene to receive a PG-13 rating. Eric Watson, producer of the independently distributed, NC-17-rated "Requiem for a Dream" complained that the studios are paying the budget of the MPAA, which gives the studios leverage over the MPAA's decisions.


text: The comedy "Scary Movie", released by Dimension Films, at the time a division of The Walt Disney Company, contained "strong crude sexual humor, language, drug use and violence," including images of ejaculation, fellatio and an erect penis, but was rated R, to the surprise of many reviewers and audiences; by comparison, the comparatively tame porn spoof "Orgazmo", an independent release by "South Park" creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, contained "explicit sexual content and dialogue" and received an NC-17 (the only on-screen penis seen in the film is a dildo). As Parker and Stone did not have the money and the time to edit the film, it retained its NC-17 rating. In contrast, Parker and Stone's second feature film, "", was distributed by a major studio (Paramount Pictures) and, after multiple submissions and notes from the MPAA, received an R rating.


text: Many critics of the system, both conservative and liberal, would like to see the MPAA ratings unveiled and the standards made public. The MPAA has consistently cited nationwide scientific polls (conducted each year by the Opinion Research Corporation of Princeton, New Jersey), which show that parents find the ratings useful. Critics such as Matt Stone in Kirby Dick's documentary "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" respond this proves only that parents find the ratings more useful than nothing at all. In the film, it is also discussed how the MPAA will not reveal any information about how or why certain decisions are made, and that the association will not even reveal to the filmmaker the specific scenes that need to be cut in order to get an alternative rating.


text: Although there has always been concern about the content of films, the MPAA has been accused of a "ratings creep", whereby the films that fall into today's ratings categories now contain more objectionable material than those that appeared in the same categories two decades earlier. A study put forward by the Harvard School of Public Health in 2004 concluded that there had been a significant increase in the level of profanity, sex and violence in films released between 1992 and 2003. Kimberly Thompson, director of the study, stated: "The findings demonstrate that ratings creep has occurred over the last decade and that today's movies contain significantly more violence, sex, and profanity on average than movies of the same rating a decade ago."


text: Slashfilm.com managing editor David Chen wrote on the website: "It's time for more people to condemn the MPAA and their outrageous antics. We're heading towards an age when we don't need a mommy-like organization to dictate what our delicate sensibilities can and can't be exposed to. I deeply hope that the MPAA's irrelevance is imminent."


text: "Chicago Tribune" film critic Michael Phillips wrote that the MPAA ratings board "has become foolish and irrelevant, and its members do not have my interests at heart, or yours. They're too easy on violence yet bizarrely reactionary when it comes to nudity and language."


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province of Guangdong, bordering Hong Kong to the south, Dongguan to the north, and Huizhou to the northeast. With a population of 17.56 million as of 2020, Shenzhen is the third most populous city by urban population in China after Shanghai and Beijing. Shenzhen is a global center in technology, research, manufacturing, business and economics, finance, tourism and transportation, and the Port of Shenzhen is the world's fourth busiest container port.


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen roughly follows the administrative boundaries of Bao'an County, which was established since imperial times. The southern portion of Bao'an County was seized by the British after the Opium Wars and became Hong Kong, while the village of Shenzhen was situated on the border. Due to the completion of a train station that was the last stop on the Mainland Chinese section of the railway between Guangzhou and Kowloon, Shenzhen's economy grew and became a market town and later a city by 1979, absorbing Bao'an County for the next decade.


title: Shenzhen

text: In the early 1980s, economic reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping resulted in the city becoming the first special economic zone of China due to its close proximity to Hong Kong, attracting foreign direct investment and migrants searching for opportunities. In thirty years, the city's economy and population boomed and has since emerged as a hub for technology, international trade, and finance. It is the home to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, one of the largest stock exchanges in the world by market capitalization and the Guangdong Free-Trade Zone. Shenzhen is ranked as an Alpha- (global first-tier) city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Its nominal GDP has surpassed neighboring cities of Guangzhou and Hong Kong and is now among the top ten cities with the largest economies in the world. Shenzhen also has the eighth most competitive and largest financial center in the world, the eighth-most Fortune Global 500 headquarters of any city in the world, fifth-highest number of billionaires of any city in the world, the second largest number of skyscrapers of any city in the world, the 28th largest scientific research output of any city in the world, and several notable educational institutions, such as Shenzhen University, Southern University of Science and Technology, and Shenzhen Technology University.


title: Shenzhen

text: Due to the city being a leading global technology hub, Shenzhen has been dubbed by media "China's Silicon Valley". The city's entrepreneurial, innovative, and competitive-based culture has resulted in the city being home to numerous small-time manufacturers or software companies. Several of these firms became large technology corporations such as phone manufacturer Huawei, holding company Tencent, and drone-maker DJI. As an important international city, Shenzhen hosts numerous national and international events every year, such as the 2011 Summer Universiade and the . Shenzhen's rapid success has resulted in the Chinese government turning Shenzhen into a model city for other cities in China to follow.


title: Shenzhen

text: The earliest known recorded mention of the name "chen" could date from 1410, during the Ming Dynasty. Locals call the drains in paddy fields "Zhen" (). Shenzhen was named after a deep () drain that was located within the area."


title: Shenzhen

text: The oldest evidence of humans in the area on which Shenzhen was established dates back during the mid-Neolithic period. Since then, this area has seen human activity from more than 6,700 years ago, with Shenzhen's historic counties first established 1,700 years ago, and the historic towns of Nantou and Dapeng, which was built on the area that is now Shenzhen, established more than 600 years ago. The Hakka people also have a history in Shenzhen since 300 years ago when they first immigrated.


title: Shenzhen

text: In 214 BC, when Emperor Qin Shi Huang unified China under the Qin Dynasty, the area went under the jurisdiction of the established Nanhai Commandery, one of the three commanderies that were set up in Lingnan, and was assimilated into Zhongyuan culture. In 331 AD, the Eastern Jin administration split up Nanhai and established a new (东官郡). The seat of both the commandery and Bao'an County, one of its six counties, was located around the modern town of Nantou. In 590, the Sui administration merged the region back into Nanhai. In 757, the Tang administration renamed the county Dongguan, and moved its seat to what is now Dongguan city, although a military garrison remained.


title: Shenzhen

text: During the Song Dynasty, Nantou and the surrounding area became an important trade hub for salt and spices in the South China Sea. The area then became known for producing pearls during the Yuan Dynasty. In the early Ming era, Chinese sailors of a fleet would go to a Mazu temple in Chiwan (in present-day Nanshan District) to pray as they go to Nanyang (Southeast Asia). The Battle of Tunmen, when the Ming won a naval battle against invading Portuguese, was fought south of Nantou. In 1573, the Ming administration established Xin'an County, based in Nantou, which had authority over regions that would be Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Xin'an County's economy primarily was based on the production and trade of salt, tea, spices, and rice.


title: Shenzhen

text: To prevent a rebellion from Ming loyalists under Zheng Chenggong, better known as Koxinga, on the Chinese coast, the recently established Qing administration resettled coastal residents inland and re-organized coastal counties. As a result, Xin'an County lost two-thirds of its territory to the neighboring Dongguan County and was later incorporated into Dongguan in 1669, though Xin'an was restored about 15 years later, in 1684. After the Qing dynasty was defeated by the United Kingdom in the First and Second Opium Wars, Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula were separated from Xin'an and ceded to the British in the Treaty of Nanking and the Convention of Peking. On 21 April 1898, the Qing government signed a "Special Article for the Exhibition of Hong Kong's Borders" with the United Kingdom, and leased the New Territories from Xin'an to the United Kingdom for 99 years.Xin'an was briefly occupied by a British force under the command of Henry Arthur Blake, the governor of Hong Kong, for half a year in 1899. From the of territory that Xin'an held before the treaties, of the county was ceded to the British.


title: Shenzhen

text: In response to the Wuchang Uprising in 1911, Xin'an residents rebelled against the local Qing administration and successfully overthrew them. In the same year the Chinese section of the Kowloon–Canton Railway (KCR) was opened to the public, and the last stop of the Chinese side, Shenzhen Railway Station, had opened in Shenzhen, helping the town's economy and opened Shenzhen up to the world. In 1913, the Republic of China administration renamed Xin'an County back to Bao'an County to prevent confusion from another county of the same name in Henan Province. During the Canton–Hong Kong strike, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions set up a reception station for strike workers in Hong Kong in Shenzhen. Strike workers were also given pickets and armored vehicles by the strike committee to create a blockade around Hong Kong. In 1931, Chen Jitang and his family established several casinos in Shenzhen, the largest of which being Shumchun Casino. While only in operation until 1936, they significantly increased KCR's passenger traffic to and from Shenzhen.


title: Shenzhen

text: During World War II, the Japanese occupied Shenzhen and Nantou, forcing the Bao'an County government to relocate to the neighboring Dongguan County. In 1941, the Japanese army tried to cross into Hong Kong through the Lo Wu Bridge in Shenzhen, though this was detonated by the British, preventing the Japanese from entering Hong Kong. When Japan surrendered in September 1945, the Bao'an County government moved back to Nantou.


title: Shenzhen

text: In 1953, four years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Bao'an County government decided to move to Shenzhen, since the town was closer to the KCR and had a larger economy than Nantou. From the 1950s to the end of the 1970s, Shenzhen and the rest of Bao'an County oversaw a huge influx of refugees trying to escape to Hong Kong from the upheavals that were occurring in mainland China, and a range from 100,000 to 560,000 refugees resided in the county.


title: Shenzhen

text: In January 1978, a Central Inspection Team sent by the State Council investigated and established the issue of creating a foreign trade port in Bao'an County. In May, the investigation team wrote the "Hong Kong and Macao Economic Investigation Report" and proposed to turn Bao'an County and Zhuhai into commodity export bases. In August 1978, the Huiyang District Committee reported to the Provincial Committee on the "Report on the Request for the Change of Bao'an County to Shenzhen". On 18 October, the Standing Committee of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee decided to change Bao'an County into Bao'an City and to turn it into a medium-level prefecture-level city with a foreign trade base. The Huiyang District Committee and the Bao'an County Committee, however, defended the change to rename Bao'an County to Shenzhen, claiming that people in the world know more about Shenzhen and its port than they know about Bao'an County.


title: Shenzhen

text: On 23 January 1979, the Guangdong provincial administration and the district of Huiyang announced their proposal to rename Bao'an County to Shenzhen and was approved and put into effect by the State Council on March 5 of that year. Also, the city would establish six districts: Luohu, Nantou, Songgang, Longhua, Longgang and Kuiyong. On 31 January 1979, the Central Committee of the Communist Party approved a plan to establish the Shekou Industrial Zone in Shenzhen with the purpose "to lead domestic, overseas, and diversified operations, industrial and commercial integration, and trading" based on the systems of that of Hong Kong and Macau. The Shekou Industrial Zone project was led by Hong Kong-based China Merchants Group under Yuan Geng's leadership and was to become the first export processing industrial zone in mainland China.


title: Shenzhen

text: At the beginning of April 1979, the Standing Committee of Guangdong Province discussed and proposed to the Central Committee to set up a "trade cooperation zone" in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and Shantou. In the same month, the Central Working Conference decided on the "Regulations on Vigorously Developing Foreign Trade to Increase Foreign Exchange Income" and agreed to pilot the first special economic zones (SEZ) in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou, and Xiamen. In November, Shenzhen was elevated to the status of prefecture-level city at the regional level by the Guangdong provincial administration.


title: Shenzhen

text: In May 1980, the Central Committee designated Shenzhen as the first SEZ in China, which was promoted by then-paramount leader Deng Xiaoping as part of China's "reform and opening-up" reforms which were set up a year previously. Its objective is to be an experimental ground for the practice of market capitalism within a community guided by the ideals of "socialism with Chinese characteristics". On 26 August, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) approved the "Regulations of the Guangdong Special Economic Zone." Under these regulations, Shenzhen formulated a series of preferential policies to attract foreign investment, including business autonomy, taxation, land use, foreign exchange management, product sales, and entry and exit management. Through the processing of incoming materials, compensation trade, joint ventures, cooperative operations, sole proprietorship, and leasing, the city has attracted a large amount of foreign investment and helped popularize and enable rapid development of the SEZ concept.


title: Shenzhen

text: In March 1981, Shenzhen was promoted to a sub-provincial city. There were plans for Shenzhen to develop its currency, but the plans were shelved due to the risk and the disagreement that a country should not be operating with two currencies. To enforce law and order in the city, the Shenzhen government erected barbed wire and checkpoints between the land borders of the main sections of the SEZ and the SEZ outskirts, as well as the rest of China, in 1983, which was known as the second line border (). In November 1988, Shenzhen became a (), meaning that the city can implement policies that are different from those in the national plan, and was given the right of provincial-level economic administration.


title: Shenzhen

text: In December 1990, under the authority of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange was established to provide a platform for centralized securities trading. In February 1992, the Standing Committee of the NPC granted the government of Shenzhen the power to make local laws and regulations. In 1996 and early 1997, the Shenzhen Guesthouse Hotel in Shenzhen was home to the Provisional Legislative Council and Provisional Executive Council of Hong Kong in preparation for the handover of Hong Kong in 1997.


title: Shenzhen

text: By 2001, as a result of Shenzhen's increasing economic prospects, increasing numbers of migrants from mainland China chose to go to Shenzhen and stay there instead of trying to illegally cross into Hong Kong. There were 9,000 captured border-crossers in 2000, while the same figure was 16,000 in 1991. Around the same time, Shenzhen hosted the second Senior Officials' Meeting of APEC China 2001 on 26 May 2001 in its southern manufacturing center and port. In May 2008, the State Council approved the Shenzhen SEZ to promote Shenzhen's administrative management system, economic system, social field, independent innovation system and mechanism, system and mechanism for opening up and regional cooperation, and resource conservation and environmental friendliness.


title: Shenzhen

text: On 1 July 2010, the State Council dissolved the "second line," and expanded the Shenzhen SEZ to include all districts, a five-fold increase over its pre-expansion size. On 26 August 2010, on the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Shenzhen SEZ, the State Council approved the "Overall Development Plan for Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone." In August 2011, the city hosted the 26th Universiade, an international multi-sport event organized for university athletes. In April 2015, the Shekou Industrial Zone and the Qianhai Zone were integrated within the newly established Guangdong Free-Trade Zone.


title: Shenzhen

text: On 18 August 2019, the central government in Beijing unveiled reform plans covering economical, social, and political sectors of Shenzhen, intending to have the SEZ be a model city for cities in China and the world to follow.


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen is located within the Pearl River Delta, bordering Hong Kong to the south, Huizhou to the north and northeast, Dongguan to the north and northwest. Lingdingyang and Pearl River to the west and Mirs Bay to the east and roughly southeast of the provincial capital of Guangzhou. As of the end of 2017, the resident population of Shenzhen was 12,528,300, of which the registered population was 4,472,200, the actual administrative population was over 20 million. It makes up part of the Pearl River Delta built-up area with 44,738,513 inhabitants, spread over 9 municipalities (including Macau). The city is elongated measuring 81.4 kilometers from east to west while the shortest section from north to south is 10.8 kilometers.


title: Shenzhen

text: Over 160 rivers or channels flow through Shenzhen. There are 24 reservoirs within the city limits with a total capacity of 525 million tonnes. Notable rivers in Shenzhen include the Shenzhen River, Maozhou River and Longgang River.


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen is surrounded by many islands. Most of them fall under the territory of neighbouring areas such as Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Huiyang District, Huizhou. But there are several islands under Shenzhen's jurisdiction, such as Nei Lingding Island, Dachan Island (Tai Shan Island), Xiaochan Island, Mazhou, Laishizhou, Zhouzai and Zhouzaitou. (See List of islands in Shenzhen)


title: Shenzhen

text: Although Shenzhen is situated about a degree south of the Tropic of Cancer, due to the Siberian anticyclone it has a warm, monsoon-influenced, humid subtropical climate (Köppen "Cwa") though it is fairly close to a Tropical one. Winters are mild and relatively dry, due in part to the influence of the South China Sea, and frost is very rare; it begins dry but becomes progressively more humid and overcast. However, fog is most frequent in winter and spring, with 106 days per year reporting some fog. Early spring is the cloudiest time of year, and rainfall begins to dramatically increase in April; the rainy season lasts until late September to early October. The monsoon reaches its peak intensity in the summer months, when the city also experiences very humid, and hot, but moderated, conditions; there are only 2.4 days of + temperatures. The region is prone to torrential rain as well, with 9.7 days that have or more of rain, and 2.2 days of at least . The latter portion of autumn is dry. The annual precipitation averages at around , some of which is delivered in typhoons that strike from the east during summer and early autumn. Extreme temperatures have ranged from on 11 February 1957 to on 10 July 1980.


title: Shenzhen

text: Like virtually all governing institutions in mainland China, Shenzhen has a parallel party-government system, in which the Party Committee Secretary, officially termed the Communist Party of China Shenzhen Municipal Committee Secretary, outranks the Mayor. The party's committee acts as the top policy-formulation body, and is typically composed of 12 members (including the secretary).


title: Shenzhen

text: Despite being a sub-provincial city, Shenzhen as a SEZ still wields a lot of autonomy from the central government. In addition to being promoted to a sub-provincial city, the National People's Congress (NPC) in 1981 granted legislative powers to Shenzhen and other Special Economic Zones, giving the city the privilege to make its own laws and regulations. The Standing Committee of the NPC also granted Shenzhen voted and passed the "Decision on Authorizing the Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress and its Standing Committee and the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government to respectively formulate laws and regulations for implementation in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone" in order to give fully strengthen Shenzhen's legislative powers without interference from the central government.


title: Shenzhen

text: There were several cases of high-ranking Shenzhen officials that were arrested on charges relating to corruption. In December 2002, the Shenzhen People's Intermediate Court sentenced Zhao Yucun, former Commissioner of Shenzhen Customs, to life imprisonment for taking bribes of 9 million RMB. In November 2003, the Guangzhou People's Intermediate Court charged former Shenzhen Deputy Mayor Wang Ju with bribery and abuse of power and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. In June 2005, the Shenzhen People's Intermediate Court charged sentenced Luohu District Public Security Director An Huijun to 15 years in prison for accepting bribes. In May 2011, the Zhengzhou Intermediate Court sentenced former mayor Xu Zongheng to the death penalty with a two-year reprieve for accepting bribes up to US$5.4 million.


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen was originally Bao'an County. On 5 March 1979, the State Council of the People's Republic of China dissolved the county and set up the city of Shenzhen in its place initially with six districts: Luohu (), Nantou (), Songgang (), Longhua (), Longgang (), and Kuiyong (), with the seat based in Luohu. In October 1981, Bao'an County was re-established, with its region now based outside Shenzhen. In June 1983, the districts were dissolved and re-established instead as five management areas (): Shekou (; south-west Shenzhen), Nantou (; west Shenzhen), Shangbu (; central Shenzhen), Luohu (; east-central Shenzhen), and Shatoujiao (; far-east Shenzhen). To enforce law and order in the city, the Shenzhen government erected a border known as the second line (), which consisted of barbed wire and checkpoints between the city and the rest of China. Initially, the border control was relatively strict, requiring non-Shenzhen citizens to obtain special permissions for entering. Over the years, border controls have gradually weakened, and permission requirement has been abandoned.


title: Shenzhen

text: In January 1990, the city merged Shekou Management Area and Nantou Management Area to form the Nanshan District, renamed Shangbu Management Area to the Futian District, and merged Luohu Management Area and Shatoujiao Management Area to form the Luohu District. In December 1992, Bao'an County was dissolved again, with its area taken by Shenzhen and split into two new districts: Bao'an District and Longgang District, though economic privileges within special economics zones did not pertain to them as they were outside the second line border. At this point, Shenzhen has five districts: Luohu, Futian, Nanshan, Bao'an, and Longgang. In March 1998, Shenzhen's government created the Yantian District from the eastern portions of the Luohu District (the original area of the Shatoujiao Management District), and within the second line border. Yantian, Luohu, Futian, and Nanshan together as the special economic districts within the second line border are referred to as "guannei" () while districts that are outside the second line and do not have special economic privileges such as Bao'an and Longgang are referred to as "guanwai" (). The Shenzhen government later established two new districts as part of the "guanwai": Guangming New District in August 2007 and Pingshan New District in June 2009.


title: Shenzhen

text: On 1 July 2010, the second line border was dissolved, and the Shenzhen SEZ was expanded to cover the entire city. Therefore, the four "guanwai" districts Bao'an District, Longgang District, Guangming New District, and Pingshan New District, would be given special economic privileges like the "guannei" districts. The area of the Shenzhen SEZ also increased from to . Since June 2015, the existing unused border structures have been demolished and are being transformed into urban greenspaces and parks. On 15 January 2018, the State Council approved the removal of the barbed wire fence set up to mark the boundary of the SEZ.


title: Shenzhen

text: In early 2011, the provincial government of Guangdong approved the establishment of the Shenzhen-Shantou Special Cooperation Zone in the city and SEZ of Shantou, Guangdong that will last until 2040 with the purpose of economic development. The zone would be managed by Shenzhen and another Cantonese city, Shanwei. The zone is under the jurisdiction of Shenzhen instead of Shantou, with residents living there considered to be permanent residents of Shenzhen.