title: Shenzhen

text: The Shenzhen government later established two new districts on 27 October 2011, Longhua New District and Dapeng New District. With approval of the State Council, Shenzhen re-organized Longhua New District as Longhua District and Pingshan New District as Pingshan District on 11 October 2016 and Guangming New District as Guangming District on 24 May 2018, therefore becoming their own jurisdictions.


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen was the first of the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) to be established by general secretary Deng Xiaoping. Back to Apr 1979, Shenzhen was reformed as a Special Export Zone to create a favorable investment environment and introduce advanced technology and management experience, later renamed to Special Economic Zone in May 1980. As of 2018, Shenzhen has a nominal GDP of 2.42 trillion RMB (HK$2.87 trillion), which recently had surpassed neighboring Hong Kong's GDP of HK$2.85 trillion and Guangzhou's GDP of 2.29 trillion RMB (HK$2.68 trillion), making the economic output of Shenzhen the third largest out of Chinese cities, trailing behind Shanghai and Beijing. In addition, Shenzhen's GDP growth between 2016 and 2017 of 8.8% surpassed that of Hong Kong and Singapore, with 3.7% and 2.5% respectively. With a market capitalization of US$2.5 trillion as of 30 November 2018, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) is the 8th largest exchange in the world.


title: Shenzhen

text: In the 2021 Global Financial Centres Index, Shenzhen was ranked as having the 8th most competitive and largest financial center in the world and 6th in the whole of Asia & Oceania region (after Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing, and Tokyo). As of 2020, Shenzhen is ranked as an Alpha- (global first-tier) city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network and ranked as having the 8th most competitive and largest financial center in the world. According to "Forbes", Shenzhen has the fifth-highest number of billionaires of any city in the world. Shenzhen's nominal GDP is projected to be among the world top 10 largest cities in 2035 (together with Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in China) according to a study by Oxford Economics and its nominal GDP per capita will reach above US$57,000 (ranking first in mainland China) in 2030, which is comparable to Tokyo and Seoul.


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen is part of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road that runs from the Chinese coast south to the tip of India via the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, there to the Upper Adriatic region to the northern Italian hub of Trieste with its rail connections to Central Europe and the North Sea.


title: Shenzhen

text: As of August 2022, Shenzhen has the eighth-most Fortune Global 500 headquarters of any city in the world and the third-most in China after (Beijing and Shanghai) within its city limits.


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen's industry is described by its Municipal Bureau of Statistics to be upheld by its four-pillar industries: high-tech, finance, logistics, and culture. Shenzhen is also a large hub of the Chinese and global technology industry and home to a large startup ecosystem. As of 2020, the city was ranked as the 4th Fintech powerhouse in the world after (New York City, Shanghai and Beijing). Shenzhen is primarily known for its high-tech industry, which has a value of 585.491 billion RMB (US$82.9 billion) in 2015, a 13% increase compared to last year. Out of the nominal GDP of 1,750.299 billion RMB in 2015, the high-tech industry comprises 33.4% of this amount. Shenzhen is home to a number of prominent tech firms, such as telecommunications and electronics corporation Huawei, internet giant and holding conglomerate Tencent, drone-maker DJI, and telecommunications company ZTE. Other tech firms include personal computer manufacturer Hasee, radio manufacturer Hytera, consumer electronics manufacturer OnePlus, and electronic and automobile manufacturer BYD. Shenzhen annually holds the , which showcases high-tech products and provides for dialogue and investment for high-tech. As a result, Shenzhen is dubbed by media outlets as "China's Silicon Valley" or the "Silicon Valley of Hardware" for the world. Shenzhen ranks 28th globally by scientific research outputs as tracked by the Nature Index.


title: Shenzhen

text: In addition to its numerous high-tech companies, Shenzhen is also home to a number of large financial institutions, such as China Merchants Bank and Ping An Insurance and its subsidiary Ping An Bank. Since the city's establishment as a SEZ, a number of foreign banks had established offices in the city, including Citibank, HSBC, Standard Chartered, and Bank of East Asia. In total, the financial industry accounts for 14.5% of the city's nominal GDP in 2015 (254.282 billion RMB), which was a 15.9% increase over the previous year. By the end of 2016, the total assets of the financial industry amounted to 12.7 trillion RMB (banking industry assets were 7.85 trillion RMB, security companies assets were 1.25 trillion RMB, and insurance industry assets were 3.6 trillion RMB), making Shenzhen's financial industry the third largest in China. In addition, Shenzhen is one of the world's top ten financial centers as of 2019, jumping five places to ninth place as determined by "variety of areas of competitiveness, including business environment, human capital, infrastructure, financial sector development and reputation."Addressing the logistics industry, courier SF Express and shipping company China International Marine Containers (CIMC) have their headquarters in Shenzhen. The Port of Shenzhen, composed of Yantian International Container Terminals, Chiwan Container Terminals, Shekou Container Terminals, China Merchants Port and Shenzhen Haixing (Mawan port), handled a record number of containers with rising trade increased cargo shipments in 2005, ranking it as the world's fourth-busiest container port. Shenzhen's high port traffic levels combined with a high urban population make Shenzhen a large port megacity, the largest type of port-city in the world. Together, the logistics industry accounts for around 10.1% (178.27 billion RMB) of the city's nominal GDP in 2015, which was an increase of 9.4%. Shenzhen Port’s first foreign trade blockchain cargo release platform was launched recently.


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen had prioritized the cultural industry in according to the , establishing the Shenzhen Fashion Creative Industry Association (深圳市时尚文化创意协会) and planning the 4.6 square-kilometer Dalang Fashion Valley (大浪时尚创意城). On 7 December 2008, UNESCO approved Shenzhen's entrance into the Creative Cities Network, and awarded the Shenzhen the title of "United Nations Design Capital." Altogether, the cultural industry in turn contributes to 5.8% (102.116 billion RMB) of Shenzhen's economy in 2015.


title: Shenzhen

text: In addition to the four pillar industries that was listed by the municipal government, Shenzhen also has a relatively notable real-estate industry. The real-estate industry altogether contributes to 9.2% (162.777 billion RMB) of Shenzhen's economy in 2015, which was an increase of 16.8% compared to last year. Real estate developers such as the Evergrande Group, Vanke, and China Resources Land are headquartered within the city.


title: Shenzhen

text: As a SEZ, Shenzhen has established several industrial zones to encourage economic activities. The Shekou Industrial Zone was approved and established back on 31 January 1979 by the Central Committee of the CPC to assist in the "Hong Kong-based" economy of Shenzhen. In 1996, the State Council approved and established the Shenzhen High-tech Industrial Development Zone, helping to develop Shenzhen's high-tech industry in areas such as electronics and information technology. In accordance to the National Plan in 2001, the Shenzhen Software Park, integrated within the High-tech Industrial Development Zone, was established for software production and assist in the development of the city's software industry. On 26 August 2010, the State Council approved the "Overall Development Plan for Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone" to solidify ties between Hong Kong and Shenzhen.


title: Shenzhen

text: Tourism is gradually growing as an important industry for Shenzhen. Shenzhen has been ranked second on the list of 'top 10 cities to visit in 2019' by Lonely Planet. The Shenzhen administration in its "12th Five-Year Plan for Tourism Development of Shenzhen" had focused on turning the city into an international tourist hub, with emphasis on the city's scientific, fashion, and industrial elements. The Shenzhen tourist industry is claimed by the local administration in having a strong development advantage, due to the city being one of the tier-one cities in China, as well as being known for its coastal resources, climate environment, capitalist economy, and technological innovation. In 2015, the tourism industry's total revenue was 124.48 billion RMB (US$17.6 billion), a 98.1% increase from 2010.Out of the total revenue, 28% (35 billion RMB "or" US$4.968 billion) came from international tourists, an increase of 56.2% from 2010. In addition, in that year, Shenzhen received 11.63 million tourists, a 51% increase from 2010.


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen has numerous tourist destinations, ranging from recreational areas such as theme parks and public parks to tall buildings. Most of the tourist attractions are part of Overseas Chinese Town (OCT), a colloquial name for parks owned by OCT Enterprises and is classified as an AAAAA scenic area by the China National Tourism Administration. These include the Window of the World, the Splendid China Folk Village, Happy Valley (), OCT East, and OCT Harbour. Other theme parks include Shekou Sea World (), Xiaomeisha Sea World, and the now-closed Minsk World. Shenzhen also has a number of popular public parks and beaches, such as People's Park, Lianhuashan Park, Lizhi Park, Zhongshan Park, Wutongshan Park, Dameisha () and (). The city is also home to tall buildings such as the Ping An Finance Centre, KK100, and the Shun Hing Square (also known as Di Wang Tower).


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen's tourism industry is recently expanding under the "13th Five-Year Plan for Tourism Development of Shenzhen" as promoted under the Shenzhen local government. In this plan, the tourist industry plans to exceed 200 billion RMB and receive 150 million domestic and foreign tourists by 2020. Part of the plan includes organizing the tourist industry within five brands: theme parks, retail, natural recreational areas, sports, and international gatherings, as well as speeding up construction of future tourist attractions and turning Shenzhen into a Chinese hub for sports.


title: Shenzhen

text: Retail is an important pillar of Shenzhen's tertiary sector. Out of the added value of Shenzhen's tertiary sector of 1.42 trillion RMB (US$201 billion) in 2018, retail contributed 43% (616.89 billion RMB) of this amount, a 7.6 percent increase compared to last year (601.62 billion RMB). In addition, 10.9% of Shenzhen's FDI is directed towards the wholesale and retail sector.


title: Shenzhen

text: Huaqiang North () is one of Shenzhen's notable retail areas, being known for having one of the largest electronics markets in the world. Luohu Commercial City, a commercial complex located adjacent to Shenzhen Railway Station, is noted for having a variety of products that ranges from electronics and counterfeit goods to tailored suits and curtains. In addition to Huaqiang North and Luohu Commercial City, Shenzhen has numerous shopping malls and commercial areas, including COCO Park and its branches COCO City and Longgang COCO Park, Uniworld (), Uniwalk (), and Coastal City(海岸城). Shenzhen is also home to drugstore chain China Nepstar.


title: Shenzhen

text: "Smart retail", which uses technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data in production, circulation, and sales of consumer goods, has been growing popular within enterprises in Shenzhen. Businesses in Shenzhen are encouraged to use the Internet to develop the consumer market and new retail projects would be assisted with the use of technology. In addition, the Shenzhen administration is setting up a new retail industry development fund to promote the use of "smart retail", with the intention of stimulating the economy of Shenzhen and to turn the city into a "new retail" hub.


title: Shenzhen

text: As of 2020, Shenzhen had a total permanent population of 17,560,000, with 5,874,000 (33.4%) of them hukou holders (registered locally). As Shenzhen is a young city, senior citizens above 60 years old took up only 5.36 percent of the city's total population. Despite this, the life expectancy in Shenzhen is 81.25 in 2018, ranking among the top twenty cities in China. The male to female ratio in Shenzhen is 130 to 100, making the city having the highest sex disparity in comparison to other cities in Guangdong. Shenzhen also has a high birth rate compared to other Chinese cities with 21.7 babies for every 10,000 of its 13.44 million population in 2019. Based on the population of its total administrative area, Shenzhen is the fifth most populous city proper in China. Shenzhen is part of the Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region (covering cities such as Guangzhou, Dongguan, Foshan, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Huizhou, Hong Kong, and Macau), the world's largest urban area according to the World Bank, and has a population of 78 million according to the 2020 Census.


title: Shenzhen

text: Before Shenzhen's establishment as a SEZ in 1980, the area was composed mainly of Hakka and Cantonese people. When the SEZ was established, the city attracted migrants from all around Guangdong, including Hakka, Cantonese, and Teochew, as well as migrants from Southern and Central Chinese provinces such as Hunan, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Sichuan, and Henan. Most of these migrants live in urban villages called "chengzhongcun" () such as Baishizhou in the Nanshan District. Shenzhen also has a notable Korean minority based in the Nanshan District and the Futian District originating from migrants moving to Shenzhen to work for South Korean companies that had branched out into the city when China had opened up.


title: Shenzhen

text: Due to Shenzhen's population overshooting the 14.8 million population target for 2016 to 2020, the Shenzhen justice bureau on 25 May 2021 had announced it would make it harder to earn a hukou to live in the city. In regards to the registered population (hukou), Shenzhen has seen an increase of 2.178 million or 58.9% of registered residents in the city from 2015 to 2020. In regards to permanent population, the city has seen an increase of 7,136,088 or 68.46% of permanent residents in the city from 2010 to 2020, creating an average annual growth rate of 5.35%.


title: Shenzhen

text: According to the Department of Religious Affairs of the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government, the two main religions present in Shenzhen are Buddhism and Taoism. Every district also has Protestant churches, Catholic churches, and mosques. According to a 2010 survey held by the University of Southern California, approximately 37% of Shenzhen's residents were practitioners of Chinese folk religions, 26% were Buddhists, 18% Taoists, 2% Christians and 2% Muslims; 15% were unaffiliated to any religion. Most new migrants to Shenzhen rely upon the common spiritual heritage drawn from Chinese folk religion. Shenzhen also hosts the headquarters of the Holy Confucian Church, established in 2009.


title: Shenzhen

text: Prior to the establishment of Special Economic Zone, the indigenous local communities could be divided into Cantonese and Hakka speakers, which were two cultural and linguistic sub-ethnic groups vernacular to Guangdong province. Two Cantonese varieties were spoken locally. One was a fairly standard version, known as standard Cantonese. The other, spoken by several villages south of Fuhua Road was called Weitou dialect. Two or three Hong Kong villages south of the Shenzhen River also speak this dialect. This is consistent with the area settled by people who accompanied the Southern Song court to the south in the late 13th century. Younger generations of the Cantonese communities now speak the more standard version. Today, some aboriginals of the Cantonese and Hakka speaking communities have dispersed into urban settlements (e.g. apartments and villas), but most of them are still clustering in their traditional urban and suburban villages.


title: Shenzhen

text: The influx of migrants from other parts of the country has drastically altered the city's linguistic landscape, as Shenzhen has undergone a language shift towards Mandarin, which was both promoted by the Chinese Central Government as a national lingua franca and natively spoken by most of the out-of-province immigrants and their descendants. However, in recent years multilingualism has been on the rise as descendants of immigrants of out-of-province Mandarin native speakers have begun to assimilate into the local culture through friends, television and other media. Despite the ubiquity of Mandarin Chinese, according to the "SCMP", some Shenzhen residents, Cantonese and non-Cantonese alike, have attempted to revive the Cantonese language as part of Shenzhen's culture.


title: Shenzhen

text: In 2019, Shenzhen has been dubbed by "The Guardian" as "the world leader completing new skyscrapers." The city is ranked the second in the world in terms of the number of buildings above 150 meters, with 297 of them completed as of July 2021, after neighboring Hong Kong. There were more skyscrapers completed in Shenzhen in the year 2016 than in the whole of the US and Australia combined. The construction boom continues today with over 85 skyscrapers under construction across the city as of 2021, the most in the world. Most of the skyscrapers in Shenzhen were built by either Hong Kong or foreign-based architects, utilizing a modern style, though functionalism was a dominant form of architecture in the city's skyscrapers in the late 20th century. Among the most prominent examples are the high Guomao Building, the high Shun Hing Square, the high KK100, the high China Resources Headquarters, and the high Ping An Finance Centre, which is also the second tallest in China and the fourth tallest building in the world. Built in 2015, the skyscraper is to be unique and elegant among its surroundings to represent the history and achievements of the main tenant: Ping An Insurance.


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen also has several historical buildings based in traditional Chinese architecture. There are Hakka walled villages located in the city such as Crane Lake and Gangeng in the Longgang District. Like typical Hakka walled villages, the architecture of Crane Lake and Gangeng are based around large thick grey walls, narrow alleyways, and courtyards. Nantou (or Xin'an) is a historic town located in the present-day Nanshan District and has some buildings that date back to the Ming Dynasty such as the Guandi Temple, though most of these traditional buildings have been replaced by modern ones. Chiwan, located in the Nanshan District, also has several historical buildings, such as the tomb to the last emperor of the Southern Song, Zhao Bing and Tianhou Temple which was built by Zheng He as an offering to Mazu to protect the Ming treasure fleet. There are also several historical forts that had defended the coastline located within the city, such as Dapeng Fortress and Chiwan Left Fort.


title: Shenzhen

text: Before the 1980s, Shenzhen's education system was primarily based on primary and limited secondary schooling, with no residents admitted to a university. Since Shenzhen's establishment as a SEZ in the 1980s, migrants poured into the city, and jobs requiring a university education grew. Shenzhen started implementing policies that will help develop a more high-quality education system, borrowing teachers from the best schools in the country with promises of higher pay and benefits. In addition, the city started building new schools and renovating the infrastructure of its existing schools to give teachers a more comfortable environment to teach.In the mid-1980s, as upper secondary education became popular, there was a need for higher education institutions in the city. Opened in 1983, Shenzhen Normal School, later upgraded to Shenzhen Normal College, trained students to become primary school teachers. Approved by the State Council in the same year, Shenzhen University became Shenzhen's first comprehensive full-time higher educational institution. In 1999, the Shenzhen Municipal Government set up the Shenzhen Virtual University Park in the Science and Technology Park, where teachers from China's top universities taught graduate students. In 2011, the innovative Southern University of Science and Technology was established followed in 2018 by the Shenzhen Institute of Technology. Other universities have established campuses in the city, including Tsinghua University, Peking University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Harbin Institute of Technology, and Moscow State University.


title: Shenzhen

text: The 9-year compulsory education in Shenzhen is free. Secondary schools such as Shenzhen Middle School, Shenzhen Experimental School, Shenzhen Foreign Languages School, and Shenzhen High School, all of which have an on-line rate of over 90%, are dubbed as "Shenzhen's four famous schools." As of 2015, Shenzhen has 12 higher educational institutions, 335 general secondary schools, 334 primary schools, and 1,489 preschools.


title: Shenzhen

text: According to Laurie Chen of the "South China Morning Post", Shenzhen, which had 15 million people as of 2019, had not built as many primary and secondary schools for its populace as it should have, compared to similarly developed cities in China. Laurie Chen cited the acceptance rate of Shenzhen secondary schools in 2018: 35,000 slots were available for almost 80,000 applicants. She also cited how Guangzhou had 961 primary schools while Shenzhen had only 344 primary schools, as well as how Guangzhou's count of primary school teachers exceeded that of Shenzhen's by 17,000; Chen argued that Guangzhou and Shenzhen have similar populations. In response Shenzhen schools began increasing salaries for prospective teachers.


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen is the second largest transportation hub in Guangdong and South China, trailing behind the provincial capital of Guangzhou. Shenzhen has a developed extensive public transportation system, covering rapid transit, buses and taxis, most of which can be accessed by either using a Shenzhen Tong card or using QR codes generated by WeChat mini programs. Shenzhen is noted for being the first major city worldwide to only use electric buses and taxis.


title: Shenzhen

text: Regarding air transport, Shenzhen is served by its own Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport and the neighboring Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA). Located from the center of the city, Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport serves as the main hub for passenger airlines Shenzhen Airlines and Donghai Airlines and a main hub for cargo airlines Jade Cargo International, SF Airlines, and UPS Airlines. Together, Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport handled 49,348,950 passengers, 355,907 aircraft, and 1,218,502.2 cargo in 2018, making it the 5th busiest airport in China in terms of passenger traffic and the 4th busiest airport in the country in terms of aircraft and cargo traffic. In addition to flying through Bao'an International Airport, ticketed passengers can also take ferries from the Shekou Cruise Centre and the Fuyong Ferry Terminal to the Skypier at Hong Kong International Airport. There are also coach bus services connecting Shenzhen with HKIA.


title: Shenzhen

text: The Shenzhen Metro serves as the city's rapid transit system. The system in 2022 reaches of route operating on 12 lines with 290 stations. By 2030 the network is planned to be 8 express and 24 non-express lines totalling 1142 kilometres of trackage. The average daily metro ridership in 2021 is 5.99 million passengers. The metro also operates a tram system in the Longhua District.


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen is served by seven inter-city railway stations: Futian, Guangmingcheng, Pingshan, Shenzhen (also known as Luohu Railway Station) Shenzhen East, Shenzhen North, and Shenzhen West. High-speed rail (HSR) lines that go through the city are the Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link, the Beijing–Guangzhou high-speed railway, and the Xiamen–Shenzhen railway (forms part of the Hangzhou–Fuzhou–Shenzhen passenger railway). Non-HSR lines that go through Shenzhen are the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Railway (forms part of the Kowloon–Canton railway) and the Beijing-Kowloon Railway.


title: Shenzhen

text: As of August 2019, the city's bus system encompasses over 900 lines, with a total of over 16,000 electric vehicles, the largest of its kind in the world. The system is operated by multiple companies. As at January 2019 conversion of Shenzhen's taxi fleet to electric vehicles reached 99%. Electric taxis have a blue and white colour scheme. Petroleum fuelled taxis are coloured either green or red.


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen serves as a fabric to China's expressway system. Expressways within the city include the Meiguan Expressway (part of the G94 Pearl River Delta Ring Expressway), the Jihe Expressway (part of the G15 Shenhai Expressway), the Yanba Expressway (part of the S30 Huishen Coastal Expressway), the S28 Shuiguan Expressway, the Yanpai Expressway (part of the G25 Changshen Expressway and the S27 Renshen Expressway), and the S33 Nanguang Expressway. In response to being rejected from being a part of the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge, Shenzhen is constructing a bridge across the Pearl River Delta to connect the city of Zhongshan.


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen is connected with Hong Kong (city and airport), Zhuhai and Macau through ferries that leave from and arrive at the Shekou Cruise Center. The Fuyong Passenger Terminal in the Bao'an District provide services to and from Hong Kong (Hong Kong International Airport) and Macau (Taipa Temporary Ferry Terminal and Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal). The Port of Shenzhen is the third busiest container port in the world, handling 27.7 million TEUs in 2018.


title: Shenzhen

text: Due to its proximity to Hong Kong, Shenzhen has the largest number of entry and exit ports, the largest number of entry and exit personnel, and the largest traffic volume in China. Shenzhen is busiest in China when it comes to border crossings, with people entering and exiting the country through the city and Hong Kong reaching 239 million in 2015. In the same year, a total of 15.5 million vehicles crossed the border in Shenzhen, a 0.4% increase of last year. Border crossing ports include the Shenzhen Bay Port, Futian Port, Huanggang Port, Man Kam To Port, and Luohu Port.


title: Shenzhen

text: Multiple ports on the part of the coastline of Shenzhen constitute the Shenzhen Port. In 2019, Shenzhen had 211 international container routes, and the container throughput of the entire Shenzhen port reached nearly 25.77 million boxes in 2019, ranking fourth in the world. Yantian Port is the busiest port among Shenzhen ports and the main foreign trade channel in South China in the mid-term.


title: Shenzhen

text: As Shenzhen is located in Guangdong, the city historically has a Cantonese culture before its transition to a SEZ. Migrants coming to the city to find work and opportunities have turned Shenzhen into a cultural melting pot. Despite this, the municipal government and some of the residents living in Shenzhen, including those who are not from Guangdong, have invested in keeping and reflecting off the city's Cantonese heritage. Shenzhen has presented itself as a city of opportunity for young people in China. The competitive culture that the city promotes among the youth have also used the term "Shenzhen speed," which resulted from the fast construction of the tallest building in Shenzhen. The term also describes a period of constant competition, quick changes, and high-efficiency.


title: Shenzhen

text: In 2003, the municipal government announced plans to turned Shenzhen into a cultural city by promoting design, animation, and library construction. The municipal government also intends to develop the city's cultural industry in accordance to the , establishing the and the . Shenzhen's cultural industry specializes in being one of the largest handicraft manufacturers in China, and is also an industry center for oil painting in bases such as Dafen Village. Shenzhen also hosts the Shenzhen International Cultural Fair which specializes as an expo for the world's cultural industries, with the first expo being in November 2004. As a result of these developments, Shenzhen was awarded by UNESCO the title of "United Nations Design Capital" and was accepted entry into the Creative Cities Network on 7 December 2008.


title: Shenzhen

text: As part of turning Shenzhen into a cultural city, the municipal government established the "Library City" () concept in 2003. The plan would create a library network within the city through library construction, service improvement, and create a comfortable reading environment. By the end of 2015, Shenzhen has 620 public libraries, including 3 city-level public libraries, 8 district-level public libraries, and 609 grassroots libraries. Notable libraries include the Shenzhen Library and the Shenzhen Children's Library. Shenzhen also has bookstores, with the most notable being Shenzhen Book City in the Futian District. With an operating area of , it claimed to be the largest bookstore of Asia at the time of its opening. Shenzhen has a number of museums and art galleries, such as the Shenzhen Museum, the Shenzhen Art Museum, the Shekou Maritime Museum, the Longgang Museum of Hakka Culture, the Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art, and the He Xiangning Art Museum. Shenzhen also has a few theaters, notably the Shenzhen Concert Hall, the Shenzhen Grand Theater, and the Shenzhen Poly Theater.


title: Shenzhen

text: As with Hong Kong and the surrounding Guangdong province, the main cuisine of Shenzhen is Cantonese. However, due to the recent growth of migrants to the city, Shenzhen also hosts a diverse array of cuisines, from Chinese cuisines such as Chaozhou cuisine, Hakka cuisine, Sichuan Cuisine, Shanghai cuisine, and Xiang cuisine, as well as foreign cuisines such as Korean, Japanese, French, and American. The Yantian District is known for its Teochew-based and Hakka-based seafood, with restaurants lined up along the coastline. Some recreational areas in Shenzhen such as Xianhu Botanical Garden, Donghu Park, and Xiaomeisha, host barbecues where visitors bring their own food. Street food such as Xinjiang lamb skewers, Northern Chinese pancakes, and black sesame soups, can be found in Xijie Street and the urban village of Baishizhou. Shenzhen also has its own tea culture. In regards to food chains, first McDonald's restaurant in mainland China opened for business in Shenzhen on 8 October 1990, providing the city American fast food. Shenzhen is home to the HeyTea chain of tea shops, which provides a variety of cheese and fruit teas and is popular among social media.


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen has a prominent nightlife culture, with most of the activity centered in the entertainment complexes of COCO Park and Shekou, with the former being referred by the "South China Morning Post" ("SCMP") as "Shenzhen's answer to Lan Kwai Fong." There are many bars and clubs in the city, mostly unregulated, that stay open till the morning. Tunnel raves, referred by the "SCMP" as "a Shenzhen nightlife staple", have earned a reputation in the world, though they are often cracked down by police. Police has also cracked down on prostitution and pornography, which were elements of nightlife entertainment in Shenzhen, with one of the most prominent operations being centered in Shazui () in the Futian District in the mid-2000s, resulting in closures of entertainment businesses and a decrease of foreign tourists in that area of the city.


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen is home to several professional sports teams, including the Shenzhen Leopards of the Chinese Basketball Association and Shenzhen F.C. of the China League One and the Chinese Super League. Other professional sports teams include Shenzhen Ledman F.C. of China League Two until the club was disbanded in 2018 and the Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays of the Zhenskaya Hockey League.


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen is the host of several international sports events. In August 2011, the city has hosted the 26th Summer Universiade, a multi-sporting event for university students. In 2018, Shenzhen hosted a pre-season National Hockey League game between the Calgary Flames and Boston Bruins. From 2019 to 2028, Shenzhen is hosting the WTA Finals tennis tournament, which is the season-ending championship for women's tennis. Shenzhen is also one of the host cities of the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup. Shenzhen is also a popular destination for skateboarders from all over the world, due to the architecture of the city and its lax skate laws.


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen has several multi-purpose sports venues. Shenzhen Stadium, located in the Futian District, is home to the Shenzhen F.C. For the 2011 Summer Universiade, Shenzhen has constructed several sports venues, such as the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center in the Nanshan District and the Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre in the Longgang District.


title: Shenzhen

text: One of the most significant sporting events unique to Shenzhen is RoboMaster, an annual intercollegiate robot competition founded and hosted by DJI based on autonomous moving target shooting. Started in 2015, the competition introduced a 5-on-5 MOBA-style robot combat between university students around China and later the world. Rewards to the competition include a prize pool of 3,750,000 RMB and a job landing at DJI.


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen has an extensive three-level public park system that was established in 2006, which categorizes parks as natural parks, urban parks, and community parks. By 2019, the city had 1,090 parks covering about 39,320 hectares, including 33 natural parks, 152 urban parks and 905 community parks. According to state-owned news outlet Xinhua, Shenzhen plans to build and renovate over 40 parks per year, bringing the number of parks in the city to 1,500 by 2035.


title: Shenzhen

text: Lianhuashan Park is located on the territory of 150 hectares in the Futian District. At the top of the mountain is a large bronze statue of Deng Xiaoping.


title: Shenzhen

text: Wutongshan National Park is spread around the mountain of the same name in the Luohu District. From the observation deck, there is a view of the Shenzhen skyline as well as Hong Kong and the surrounding bay, and on the next peak there is a transmission tower of a local television station.


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen Bay Park, located along the city's coastline along Shenzhen Bay, opened in 2011, which included the nearby Mangrove Park. There are several thematic recreation areas and attractions, and along the 9-kilometer-long coastal strip there is an embankment. The Mangrove Ecopark was established in 2000 in the Futian District and at that time was the smallest national park in China. A large group of birds migrate to the ecopark in the mangroves on an area of 20.6 hectares in a 9-kilometer coastal zone of the Shenzhen Bay.


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen Bay Park is connected to the Dashahe Park (大沙河公园, 'big sand river'), located in Nanshan District, it follows the Dashahe River.


title: Shenzhen

text: Other notable parks in Shenzhen include the Shenzhen Garden Flower Exposition Center, Shenzhen Safari Park, Xili Lake Resort, and Yangtai Mountain Fountain Park.


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen also has several beaches: Dameisha () and () in the Yantian District, and Jinshawan (), Nan'ao (), and Xichong () in Dapeng Peninsula (in the vicinity of Dapeng New District, which is administered by the Longgang District).


title: Shenzhen

text: During the COVID-19 pandemic, Shenzhen achieved an average air quality index (AQI) score of 44.8 µg/m³ and daily AQI score of 19 µg/m³. Out of ten Chinese mega-cities, Shenzhen recorded the lowest in average PM concentration (22.5 µg/m³), average PM concentration (37.7 µg/m³), average carbon monoxide concentration (0.6 µg/m³), and average nitrogen dioxide concentration (21.9 µg/m³). Swiss environmental technology company IQAir attributed most of the pollution in Shenzhen to stem from the engineering industry, continued use of coal, and traffic.


title: Shenzhen

text: In 2014, Shenzhen experienced severe water pollution in the city's rivers and waterways, with 173 of the 310 rivers considered to be in "critical" condition and four rivers: the Maozhou, Guanlan, Longgang and Pingshan Rivers, to be the most polluted out of all rivers in the Pearl River Delta. The pollutants in the river consisted mainly of ammonia, phosphorus, and nitrogen. As a result, the city had conducted a campaign to restore the city's rivers by building more water pipes and sewage treatment plants.


title: Shenzhen

text: From 2000 to 2014, Shenzhen spent 30 billion RMB to restore the city's rivers from water pollution, which some were considered at the time to be the most polluted in the Pearl River Delta. The city had constructed 33 sewage treatment plants and laid almost of sewage pipes. By 2020, the city laid an additional of water pipelines and completed 13,793 pipeline renovation projects in urban villages and housing estates.


title: Shenzhen

text: In 2009, Shenzhen was chosen as one of thirteen cities to pilot a national new-energy vehicle program. In 2017, Shenzhen offered 3.3 billion RMB in subsidies in electric buses and the construction of charging facilities. In mid-2018, the city made major headlines for being the first city to roll an all-electric public bus fleet. In the same year, more than half of the city's taxi fleet are electric, with the goal to turn the fleet all-electric. By early 2019, Shenzhen rolled out an all-electric taxi fleet, with 99% of taxis now electric-powered.


title: Shenzhen

text: In late 2019, Shenzhen launched a garbage classification program in which waste is to be sorted in four categories: recyclables, kitchen waste, hazardous waste, and other waste. Residents who follow the guidelines will be given cash while those who don't would be fined by the government.


title: Shenzhen

text: In Shenzhen there are 14 newspapers, one comprehensive publishing house, three video-audio products publishing houses, 88 bureaus of inland and Hong Kong media organizations, 40 periodicals, and about 200 kinds of in-house publications of which the majority belong to enterprises. The most prominent media companies in Shenzhen are the Shenzhen Media Group, the Shenzhen Press Group, China Entertainment Television (CETV), and Phoenix Television branch iFeng.


title: Shenzhen

text: "" (, sznews.com) is a Chinese-language newspaper owned by the Shenzhen Press Group that serves as Shenzhen's main online news source. "Shenzhen Daily" is an English-language news outlet for Shenzhen covering local, national and international news. That's Shenzhen is the Shenzhen edition of That's PRD, an English-language media company with an online, print and social footprint. ShekouDaily.com is an online media outlet providing news and resources focusing on the "Shekou" sub-district in Nanshan District of Shenzhen.


title: Shenzhen

text: The area encompassed by Shenzhen and Hong Kong was formerly belonged to Bao'an County in imperial times. After the Qing defeat in the Second Opium War, the United Kingdom seized Hong Kong Island and was leased the New Territories, forming the modern-day boundaries between Hong Kong and Shenzhen (the successor to Bao'an). The two cities are separated by two bays: Shenzhen Bay and Mirs Bay, and a river: Sham Chun River. According to then-Executive Council member Leung Chun-ying, the two cities' close relationship can be due to the close distance between the two, similar economic systems, differences in wages and price levels, and that the two cities have different systems compared to other Chinese cities, with Hong Kong embracing the one country, two systems principle while Shenzhen is a SEZ.


title: Shenzhen

text: From the establishment of Shenzhen as a SEZ in 1980 to 2007, Hong Kong has been Shenzhen's largest trade partner, with exports to Hong Kong accounted for 46.6% of Shenzhen's total exports. In 2015, the total import and export volume of Shenzhen Port to Hong Kong was 1.1 trillion RMB. Both cities had established the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industries Cooperation Zone within the Nanshan District which is a free-trade zone that mirrors the economic policies of both cities and to bring Hong Kong closer to Mainland China. Tencent estimated that by 2020, Qianhai is expected to create a total output value of 150 billion RMB, with an output of 10 billion RMB per square kilometer. As of 23 February 2021, Qianhai has a total of 11,325 firms from Hong Kong.


title: Shenzhen

text: As of September 2016, there are nine crossing points on the boundary between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, among which six are land connections. From west to east these include the Shenzhen Bay Port, Futian Port, Huanggang Port, Man Kam To Port, Luohu Port and Shatoujiao Port. On either sides of each of these ports of entry are road and/or rail transportation.


title: Shenzhen

text: Shenzhen has been very active in cultivating sister city relationships. In October 1989, Shenzhen Mayor Li Hao and a delegation travelled to Houston to attend the signing ceremony establishing a sister city relationship between Houston and Shenzhen. Houston became the first sister city of Shenzhen. As of 2015, Shenzhen has established sister city relationship with 25 cities in the world.


title: Whitney Cummings

text: Whitney Cummings (born September 4, 1982) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, writer, director, producer, investor and podcaster.


title: Whitney Cummings

text: A native of Washington, DC, Cummings pursued a comedy career in Los Angeles after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, where she had studied with the intention of becoming a journalist. After beginning standup in 2004, she secured regular appearances as a roundtable guest on "Chelsea Lately". She subsequently created, produced, and starred in NBC's "Whitney", a sitcom in which she portrayed a semifictionalized version of herself. The series ran for two seasons before being cancelled in 2013. Simultaneously, Cummings created the CBS sitcom "2 Broke Girls", which also began in 2011, and concluded in 2017.


title: Whitney Cummings

text: Cummings released her first hour-long standup special, "Money Shot", in 2010 on Comedy Central. She followed this with a second standup special for the network, entitled "I Love You" (2014). Her third special, "I'm Your Girlfriend", was released on HBO in 2016, and later delivered as an audio streaming album in 2021. Beginning in 2018, Cummings served as a producer and writer for the ABC revival of "Roseanne", but left the project prior to its cancellation. Cummings's fourth special, "Can I Touch It?", premiered on Netflix in July 2019.


title: Whitney Cummings

text: Cummings was born on September 4, 1982, in Washington, D.C., to Patti Cummings, a native of Texas and a public relations director of Neiman Marcus at Mazza Gallerie; and Eric Lynn Cummings, a lawyer and venture capitalist from West Virginia. She has an older half-brother named Kevin and an older sister named Ashley. Cummings was raised Roman Catholic. Her parents divorced when she was five years old.


title: Whitney Cummings

text: She has stated that she was raised in a dysfunctional, alcoholic household. At age 12, she temporarily resided with her aunt in Virginia, and spent summers in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, where her father worked as a manager at the Hill Top House Hotel. Cummings attended St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland, graduating in 2000. During high school, she interned at Washington's NBC-owned television station WRC-TV. She studied acting at Washington, D.C.'s Studio Theater.


title: Whitney Cummings

text: After high school, Cummings enrolled at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. During this time, she worked as a department store model at local shopping malls. She graduated "magna cum laude" in 2004 with a degree in Communications, and initially aspired to a career as a journalist.


title: Whitney Cummings

text: Cummings moved to Los Angeles after college and worked on "Punk'd" on MTV in 2004. That same year, she starred in the low-budget thriller "EMR", which was screened at Cannes. Cummings began performing stand-up in 2004. In 2007, "Variety" named her one of 10 Comics to Watch in 2007. In 2008, she appeared in the San Francisco audition for "Last Comic Standing", although she did not pass the showcase.


title: Whitney Cummings

text: She co-starred on "The Tony Rock Project" and appeared in the 2008 romantic comedy "Made of Honor". Beginning in 2007, Cummings appeared as a regular roundtable guest on the E! series "Chelsea Lately", and continued to appear until its conclusion in 2014. In 2008, she was named one of 12 Rising Stars of Comedy by "Entertainment Weekly". She subsequently appeared as a comedy roaster in the "Comedy Central Roasts" of Joan Rivers (2009), David Hasselhoff (2010), and Donald Trump (2011).


title: Whitney Cummings

text: In August 2010, her first one-hour special, titled "Whitney Cummings: Money Shot", premiered on Comedy Central. In 2010, Cummings went on tour with Denis Leary and the "Rescue Me Comedy Tour" to promote the show's sixth season. She dated Cameron Fegreus. She also appeared with Leary on "Douchebags and Donuts".


title: Whitney Cummings

text: In 2011, two multi-camera, live-audience sitcoms that Cummings created were picked up by broadcast networks: "2 Broke Girls" (which she co-created and executive produced with Michael Patrick King) and "Whitney" (which she starred in, executive produced, and created). "Whitney", in which Cummings portrayed a semi-fictionalized version of herself, was not well received by critics, and Cummings acknowledges it was a learning curve for her. The series was canceled after two seasons in May 2013. While still working on the second season of "Whitney", Cummings also hosted a talk show, "Love You, Mean It with Whitney Cummings", on E! in 2012, which was cancelled after 11 episodes.


title: Whitney Cummings

text: Cummings later stated that she was overworking herself during this period, and was also in the midst of battling an eating disorder in which she would binge eat followed by compulsive exercise. In June 2014, Cummings released her second hour-long special, "I Love You", on Comedy Central.


title: Whitney Cummings

text: Her third hour-long special debuted on HBO in 2016, titled "I'm Your Girlfriend". Reviews were mixed, suggesting it felt less comedic than her previous stand up performances.


title: Whitney Cummings

text: Cummings had a supporting role in the 2017 thriller "Unforgettable", starring Katherine Heigl and Rosario Dawson, released in April 2017. The following month, "2 Broke Girls" was cancelled after having run six consecutive seasons. Cummings made her directorial debut with "The Female Brain" (2017), an independent comedy film distributed by IFC Films, which Cummings also starred in.


title: Whitney Cummings

text: Also in 2017, Cummings published her first book, titled "I'm Fine...And Other Lies", a collection of personal stories about her life.


title: Whitney Cummings

text: Beginning in 2018, Cummings served as one of the head writers, an executive producer, and overseer of day-to-day production of the revival of the comedy series "Roseanne", for ABC. Cummings left the show, however, after its star, Roseanne Barr, made a series of inflammatory, racially charged jokes on her Twitter account, which subsequently resulted in the series' cancellation.


title: Whitney Cummings

text: Her fourth hour-long special, "Can I Touch It?", was released on July 30, 2019 on Netflix. This special features a robot that Cummings had custom made to look exactly like her, and she brings this robot out at the end of the special.


title: Whitney Cummings

text: On November 5, 2019, Cummings launched her first podcast entitled "Good for You." Her first guest was actor/producer Dan Levy. "Good for You" is co-hosted by former assistant and fellow comedian Benton Ray, and features a wide variety of guests, ranging from politicians and comedians to actors and journalists.


title: Whitney Cummings

text: Cummings has described her comedic influences, beginning with Paul Reiser, whom she said, "made these hysterical, brilliant commentary about the most mundane things and open it up to a hysterical world". Other important influences for her were George Carlin, who she says challenged her to "question everything". Later influences were Dave Attell ("a legend now but he's very edgy"), Lenny Bruce, and Bill Hicks.


title: Odysseus

text: Odysseus ( ; , ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; ), is a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the "Odyssey". Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's "Iliad" and other works in that same epic cycle.


title: Odysseus

text: Son of Laërtes and Anticlea, husband of Penelope, and father of Telemachus and Acusilaus, Odysseus is renowned for his intellectual brilliance, guile, and versatility ("polytropos"), and is thus known by the epithet Odysseus the Cunning (). He is most famous for his "nostos", or "homecoming", which took him ten eventful years after the decade-long Trojan War.


title: Odysseus

text: The form "Odys(s)eus" is used starting in the epic period and through the classical period, but various other forms are also found. In vase inscriptions, we find the variants "Oliseus" (), "Olyseus" (), "Olysseus" (), "Olyteus" (), "Olytteus" () and "Ōlysseus" (). The form "Oulixēs" () is attested in an early source in Magna Graecia (Ibycus, according to Diomedes Grammaticus), while the Greek grammarian Aelius Herodianus has "Oulixeus" (). In Latin, he was known as ' or (considered less correct) '. Some have supposed that "there may originally have been two separate figures, one called something like Odysseus, the other something like Ulixes, who were combined into one complex personality." However, the change between "d" and "l" is common also in some Indo-European and Greek names, and the Latin form is supposed to be derived from the Etruscan "" (see below), which perhaps accounts for some of the phonetic innovations.


title: Odysseus

text: The etymology of the name is unknown. Ancient authors linked the name to the Greek verbs ' () “to be wroth against, to hate”, to ' () “to lament, bewail”, or even to "" () “to perish, to be lost”. Homer relates it to various forms of this verb in references and puns. In Book 19 of the "Odyssey", where Odysseus' early childhood is recounted, Euryclea asks the boy's grandfather Autolycus to name him. Euryclea seems to suggest a name like "Polyaretos", "for he has "much" been "prayed for"" (πολυάρητος) but Autolycus "apparently in a sardonic mood" decided to give the child another name commemorative of "his own experience in life": "Since I have been angered (ὀδυσσάμενος "odyssamenos") with many, both men and women, let the name of the child be Odysseus". Odysseus often receives the patronymic epithet "Laertiades" (), "son of Laërtes".


title: Odysseus

text: It has also been suggested that the name is of non-Greek origin, possibly not even Indo-European, with an unknown etymology. Robert S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin. In Etruscan religion the name (and stories) of Odysseus were adopted under the name "" ("Uθuze"), which has been interpreted as a parallel borrowing from a preceding Minoan form of the name (possibly "*Oduze", pronounced /'ot͡θut͡se/); this theory is supposed to explain also the insecurity of the phonologies ("d" or "l"), since the affricate /t͡θ/, unknown to the Greek of that time, gave rise to different counterparts (i. e. "δ" or "λ" in Greek, "θ" in Etruscan).


title: Odysseus

text: In the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" Homer uses several epithets used to describe Odysseus, starting with the opening, where he is described as "the man of many devices" (in the 1919 Murray translation). The Greek word used is πολύτροπον, literally the man of many turns, and other translators have suggested alternate English translations, including "man of twists and turns" (Fagles 1996) and "a complicated man" (Wilson 2018).


title: Odysseus

text: In the account of Dares the Phrygian, Odysseus was illustrated as ". . .tough, crafty, cheerful, of medium height, eloquent, and wise."


title: Odysseus

text: Relatively little is given of Odysseus' fictional background other than that according to Pseudo-Apollodorus, his paternal grandfather or step-grandfather is Arcesius, son of Cephalus and grandson of Aeolus, while his maternal grandfather is the thief Autolycus, son of Hermes and Chione. Hence, Odysseus was the great-grandson of the Olympian god Hermes.


title: Odysseus

text: According to the "Iliad" and "Odyssey", his father is Laertes and his mother Anticlea, although there was a non-Homeric tradition that Sisyphus was his true father. The rumour went that Laërtes bought Odysseus from the conniving king. Odysseus is said to have a younger sister, Ctimene, who went to Same to be married and is mentioned by the swineherd Eumaeus, whom she grew up alongside, in book 15 of the "Odyssey".


title: Odysseus

text: The majority of sources for Odysseus' supposed pre-war exploits—principally the mythographers Pseudo-Apollodorus and Hyginus—postdate Homer by many centuries. Two stories in particular are well known:


title: Odysseus

text: When Helen of Troy is abducted, Menelaus calls upon the other suitors to honour their oaths and help him to retrieve her, an attempt that leads to the Trojan War. Odysseus tries to avoid it by feigning lunacy, as an oracle had prophesied a long-delayed return home for him if he went. He hooks a donkey and an ox to his plow (as they have different stride lengths, hindering the efficiency of the plow) and (some modern sources add) starts sowing his fields with salt. Palamedes, at the behest of Menelaus' brother Agamemnon, seeks to disprove Odysseus' madness and places Telemachus, Odysseus' infant son, in front of the plow. Odysseus veers the plow away from his son, thus exposing his stratagem. Odysseus holds a grudge against Palamedes during the war for dragging him away from his home.


title: Odysseus

text: Odysseus and other envoys of Agamemnon travel to Scyros to recruit Achilles because of a prophecy that Troy could not be taken without him. By most accounts, Thetis, Achilles' mother, disguises the youth as a woman to hide him from the recruiters because an oracle had predicted that Achilles would either live a long uneventful life or achieve everlasting glory while dying young. Odysseus cleverly discovers which among the women before him is Achilles when the youth is the only one of them to show interest in examining the weapons hidden among an array of adornment gifts for the daughters of their host. Odysseus arranges further for the sounding of a battle horn, which prompts Achilles to clutch a weapon and show his trained disposition. With his disguise foiled, he is exposed and joins Agamemnon's call to arms among the Hellenes.


title: Odysseus

text: Odysseus is represented as one of the most influential Greek champions during the Trojan War in Homer's fictional account. Along with Nestor and Idomeneus he is one of the most trusted counsellors and advisors. He always champions the Achaean cause, especially when others question Agamemnon's command, as in one instance when Thersites speaks against him. When Agamemnon, to test the morale of the Achaeans, announces his intentions to depart Troy, Odysseus restores order to the Greek camp. Later on, after many of the heroes leave the battlefield due to injuries (including Odysseus and Agamemnon), Odysseus once again persuades Agamemnon not to withdraw. Along with two other envoys, he is chosen in the failed embassy to try to persuade Achilles to return to combat.


title: Odysseus

text: When Hector proposes a single combat duel, Odysseus is one of the Danaans who reluctantly volunteered to battle him. Telamonian Ajax ("The Greater"), however, is the volunteer who eventually fights Hector. Odysseus aids Diomedes during the night operations to kill Rhesus, because it had been foretold that if his horses drank from the Scamander River, Troy could not be taken.


title: Odysseus

text: After Patroclus is slain, it is Odysseus who counsels Achilles to let the Achaean men eat and rest rather than follow his rage-driven desire to go back on the offensive—and kill Trojans—immediately. Eventually (and reluctantly), he consents. During the funeral games for Patroclus, Odysseus becomes involved in a wrestling match with Ajax "The Greater" and foot race with Ajax "The Lesser," son of Oileus and Nestor's son Antilochus. He draws the wrestling match, and with the help of the goddess Athena, he wins the race.


title: Odysseus

text: Odysseus has traditionally been viewed as Achilles' antithesis in the "Iliad": while Achilles' anger is all-consuming and of a self-destructive nature, Odysseus is frequently viewed as a man of the mean, a voice of reason, renowned for his self-restraint and diplomatic skills. He is also in some respects antithetical to Telamonian Ajax (Shakespeare's "beef-witted" Ajax): while the latter has only brawn to recommend him, Odysseus is not only ingenious (as evidenced by his idea for the Trojan Horse), but an eloquent speaker, a skill perhaps best demonstrated in the embassy to Achilles in book 9 of the "Iliad". The two are not only foils in the abstract but often opposed in practice since they have many duels and run-ins.


title: Odysseus

text: Since a prophecy suggested that the Trojan War would not be won without Achilles, Odysseus and several other Achaean leaders are described in the "Achilleid" as having gone to Skyros to find him. Odysseus discovered Achilles by offering gifts, adornments and musical instruments as well as weapons, to the king's daughters, and then having his companions imitate the noises of an enemy's attack on the island (most notably, making a blast of a trumpet heard), which prompted Achilles to reveal himself by picking a weapon to fight back, and together they departed for the Trojan War.


title: Odysseus

text: The story of the death of Palamedes has many versions. According to some, Odysseus never forgives Palamedes for unmasking his feigned madness and plays a part in his downfall. One tradition says Odysseus convinces a Trojan captive to write a letter pretending to be from Palamedes. A sum of gold is mentioned to have been sent as a reward for Palamedes' treachery. Odysseus then kills the prisoner and hides the gold in Palamedes' tent. He ensures that the letter is found and acquired by Agamemnon, and also gives hints directing the Argives to the gold. This is evidence enough for the Greeks, and they have Palamedes stoned to death. Other sources say that Odysseus and Diomedes goad Palamedes into descending a well with the prospect of treasure being at the bottom. When Palamedes reaches the bottom, the two proceed to bury him with stones, killing him.


title: Odysseus

text: When Achilles is slain in battle by Paris, it is Odysseus and Ajax who retrieve the fallen warrior's body and armour in the thick of heavy fighting. During the funeral games for Achilles, Odysseus competes once again with Ajax. Thetis says that the arms of Achilles will go to the bravest of the Greeks, but only these two warriors dare lay claim to that title. The two Argives became embroiled in a heavy dispute about one another's merits to receive the reward. The Greeks dither out of fear in deciding a winner, because they did not want to insult one and have him abandon the war effort. Nestor suggests that they allow the captive Trojans to decide the winner. The accounts of the Odyssey disagree, suggesting that the Greeks themselves hold a secret vote. In any case, Odysseus is the winner. Enraged and humiliated, Ajax is driven mad by Athena. When he returns to his senses, in shame at how he has slaughtered livestock in his madness, Ajax kills himself by the sword that Hector had given him after their duel.


title: Odysseus

text: Together with Diomedes, Odysseus fetches Achilles' son, Pyrrhus, to come to the aid of the Achaeans, because an oracle had stated that Troy could not be taken without him. A great warrior, Pyrrhus is also called Neoptolemus (Greek for "new warrior"). Upon the success of the mission, Odysseus gives Achilles' armour to him.


title: Odysseus

text: It is learned that the war can not be won without the poisonous arrows of Heracles, which are owned by the abandoned Philoctetes. Odysseus and Diomedes (or, according to some accounts, Odysseus and Neoptolemus) leave to retrieve them. Upon their arrival, Philoctetes (still suffering from the wound) is seen still to be enraged at the Danaans, especially at Odysseus, for abandoning him. Although his first instinct is to shoot Odysseus, his anger is eventually diffused by Odysseus' persuasive powers and the influence of the gods. Odysseus returns to the Argive camp with Philoctetes and his arrows.


title: Odysseus

text: Perhaps Odysseus' most famous contribution to the Greek war effort is devising the strategy of the Trojan Horse, which allows the Greek army to sneak into Troy under cover of darkness. It is built by Epeius and filled with Greek warriors, led by Odysseus. Odysseus and Diomedes steal the Palladium that lay within Troy's walls, for the Greeks were told they could not sack the city without it. Some late Roman sources indicate that Odysseus schemed to kill his partner on the way back, but Diomedes thwarts this attempt.


title: Odysseus

text: Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey" portray Odysseus as a culture hero, but the Romans, who believed themselves the heirs of Prince Aeneas of Troy, considered him a villainous falsifier. In Virgil's "Aeneid", written between 29 and 19 BC, he is constantly referred to as "cruel Odysseus" (Latin "dirus Ulixes") or "deceitful Odysseus" ("pellacis", "fandi fictor"). Turnus, in "Aeneid", book 9, reproaches the Trojan Ascanius with images of rugged, forthright Latin virtues, declaring (in John Dryden's translation), "You shall not find the sons of Atreus here, nor need the frauds of sly Ulysses fear." While the Greeks admired his cunning and deceit, these qualities did not recommend themselves to the Romans, who possessed a rigid sense of honour. In Euripides' tragedy "Iphigenia at Aulis", having convinced Agamemnon to consent to the sacrifice of his daughter, Iphigenia, to appease the goddess Artemis, Odysseus facilitates the immolation by telling Iphigenia's mother, Clytemnestra, that the girl is to be wed to Achilles. Odysseus' attempts to avoid his sacred oath to defend Menelaus and Helen offended Roman notions of duty, and the many stratagems and tricks that he employed to get his way offended Roman notions of honour.


title: Odysseus

text: Odysseus is probably best known as the eponymous hero of the "Odyssey". This epic describes his travails, which lasted for 10 years, as he tries to return home after the Trojan War and reassert his place as rightful king of Ithaca.


title: Odysseus

text: Homebound from Troy, after a raid on Ismarus in the land of the Cicones, he and his twelve ships are driven off course by storms. They visit the lethargic Lotus-Eaters and are captured by the Cyclops Polyphemus while visiting his island. After Polyphemus eats several of his men, he and Odysseus have a discussion and Odysseus tells Polyphemus his name is Outis ("Nobody"). Odysseus takes a barrel of wine and the Cyclops drinks it, falling asleep. Odysseus and his men take a wooden stake, ignite it with the remaining wine, and blind him. While they escape, Polyphemus cries in pain, and the other Cyclopes ask him what is wrong. Polyphemus cries, "Nobody has blinded me!" and the other Cyclopes think he has gone mad. Odysseus and his crew escape, but Odysseus rashly reveals his real name, and Polyphemus prays to Poseidon, his father, to take revenge. They stay with Aeolus, the master of the winds, who gives Odysseus a leather bag containing all the winds, except the west wind, a gift that should have ensured a safe return home. However, the sailors foolishly open the bag while Odysseus sleeps, thinking that it contains gold. All of the winds fly out, and the resulting storm drives the ships back the way they had come, just as Ithaca comes into sight.


title: Odysseus

text: After pleading in vain with Aeolus to help them again, they re-embark and encounter the cannibalistic Laestrygonians. Odysseus' ship is the only one to escape. He sails on and visits the witch-goddess Circe. She turns half of his men into swine after feeding them cheese and wine. Hermes warns Odysseus about Circe and gives him a drug called moly, which resists Circe's magic. Circe, being attracted to Odysseus' resistance, falls in love with him and releases his men. Odysseus and his crew remain with her on the island for one year, while they feast and drink. Finally, Odysseus' men convince him to leave for Ithaca.


title: Odysseus

text: Guided by Circe's instructions, Odysseus and his crew cross the ocean and reach a harbor at the western edge of the world, where Odysseus sacrifices to the dead and summons the spirit of the old prophet Tiresias for advice. Next Odysseus meets the spirit of his own mother, who had died of grief during his long absence. From her, he learns for the first time news of his own household, threatened by the greed of Penelope's suitors. Odysseus also talks to his fallen war comrades and the mortal shade of Heracles.


title: Odysseus

text: Odysseus and his men return to Circe's island, and she advises them on the remaining stages of the journey. They skirt the land of the Sirens, pass between the six-headed monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis, where they row directly between the two. However, Scylla drags the boat towards her by grabbing the oars and eats six men.


title: Odysseus

text: They land on the island of Thrinacia. There, Odysseus' men ignore the warnings of Tiresias and Circe and hunt down the sacred cattle of the sun god Helios. Helios tells Zeus what happened and demands Odysseus' men be punished or else he will take the sun and shine it in the Underworld. Zeus fulfills Helios' demands by causing a shipwreck during a thunderstorm in which all but Odysseus drown. He washes ashore on the island of Ogygia, where Calypso compels him to remain as her lover for seven years. He finally escapes when Hermes tells Calypso to release Odysseus.


title: Odysseus

text: Odysseus is shipwrecked and befriended by the Phaeacians. After he tells them his story, the Phaeacians, led by King Alcinous, agree to help Odysseus get home. They deliver him at night, while he is fast asleep, to a hidden harbor on Ithaca. He finds his way to the hut of one of his own former slaves, the swineherd Eumaeus, and also meets up with Telemachus returning from Sparta. Athena disguises Odysseus as a wandering beggar to learn how things stand in his household.


title: Odysseus

text: When the disguised Odysseus returns after 20 years, he is recognized only by his faithful dog, Argos. Penelope announces in her long interview with the disguised hero that whoever can string Odysseus' rigid bow and shoot an arrow through twelve axe shafts may have her hand. According to Bernard Knox, "For the plot of the "Odyssey", of course, her decision is the turning point, the move that makes possible the long-predicted triumph of the returning hero". Odysseus' identity is discovered by the housekeeper, Eurycleia, as she is washing his feet and discovers an old scar Odysseus received during a boar hunt. Odysseus swears her to secrecy, threatening to kill her if she tells anyone.


title: Odysseus

text: When the contest of the bow begins, none of the suitors are able to string the bow. After all the suitors have given up, the disguised Odysseus asks to participate. Though the suitors refuse at first, Penelope intervenes and allows the "stranger" (the disguised Odysseus) to participate. Odysseus easily strings his bow and wins the contest. Having done so, he proceeds to slaughter the suitors (beginning with Antinous whom he finds drinking from Odysseus' cup) with help from Telemachus and two of Odysseus' servants, Eumaeus the swineherd and Philoetius the cowherd. Odysseus tells the serving women who slept with the suitors to clean up the mess of corpses and then has those women hanged in terror. He tells Telemachus that he will replenish his stocks by raiding nearby islands. Odysseus has now revealed himself in all his glory (with a little makeover by Athena); yet Penelope cannot believe that her husband has really returned—she fears that it is perhaps some god in disguise, as in the story of Alcmene (mother of Heracles)—and tests him by ordering her servant Euryclea to move the bed in their wedding-chamber. Odysseus protests that this cannot be done since he made the bed himself and knows that one of its legs is a living olive tree. Penelope finally accepts that he truly is her husband, a moment that highlights their "homophrosýnē" (“like-mindedness”).


title: Odysseus

text: The next day Odysseus and Telemachus visit the country farm of his old father Laërtes. The citizens of Ithaca follow Odysseus on the road, planning to avenge the killing of the Suitors, their sons. The goddess Athena and the god Zeus intervene and persuade both sides to make peace.


title: Odysseus

text: According to some late sources, most of them purely genealogical, Odysseus had many other children besides Telemachus. Most such genealogies aimed to link Odysseus with the foundation of many Italic cities. The most famous being:


title: Odysseus

text: The supposed last poem in the Epic Cycle is called the "Telegony" and is thought to tell the story of Odysseus' last voyage, and of his death at the hands of Telegonus, his son with Circe. The poem, like the others of the cycle, is "lost" in that no authentic version has been discovered.


title: Odysseus

text: In 5th century BC Athens, tales of the Trojan War were popular subjects for tragedies. Odysseus figures centrally or indirectly in a number of the extant plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles ("Ajax", "Philoctetes") and Euripides ("Hecuba", "Rhesus", "Cyclops") and figured in still more that have not survived. In his "Ajax", Sophocles portrays Odysseus as a modern voice of reasoning compared to the title character's rigid antiquity.


title: Odysseus

text: Plato in his dialogue "Hippias Minor" examines a literary question about whom Homer intended to portray as the better man, Achilles or Odysseus.


title: Odysseus

text: Pausanias at the "Description of Greece" writes that at Pheneus there was a bronze statue of Poseidon, surnamed Hippios (), meaning "of horse", which according to the legends was dedicated by Odysseus and also a sanctuary of Artemis which was called Heurippa (), meaning "horse finder", and was founded by Odysseus. According to the legends Odysseus lost his mares and traversed the Greece in search of them. He found them on that site in Pheneus. Pausanias adds that according to the people of Pheneus, when Odysseus found his mares he decided to keep horses in the land of Pheneus, just as he reared his cows. The people of Pheneus also pointed out to him writing, purporting to be instructions of Odysseus to those tending his mares.


title: Odysseus

text: As Ulysses, he is mentioned regularly in Virgil's "Aeneid" written between 29 and 19 BC, and the poem's hero, Aeneas, rescues one of Ulysses' crew members who was left behind on the island of the Cyclopes. He in turn offers a first-person account of some of the same events Homer relates, in which Ulysses appears directly. Virgil's Ulysses typifies his view of the Greeks: he is cunning but impious, and ultimately malicious and hedonistic.


title: Odysseus

text: Ovid retells parts of Ulysses' journeys, focusing on his romantic involvements with Circe and Calypso, and recasts him as, in Harold Bloom's phrase, "one of the great wandering womanizers". Ovid also gives a detailed account of the contest between Ulysses and Ajax for the armour of Achilles.


title: Odysseus

text: Greek legend tells of Ulysses as the founder of Lisbon, Portugal, calling it "Ulisipo" or "Ulisseya", during his twenty-year errand on the Mediterranean and Atlantic seas. Olisipo was Lisbon's name in the Roman Empire. This folk etymology is recounted by Strabo based on Asclepiades of Myrleia's words, by Pomponius Mela, by Gaius Julius Solinus (3rd century AD), and will be resumed by Camões in his epic poem "Os Lusíadas" (first printed in 1572).


title: Odysseus

text: Dante Alighieri, in the Canto XXVI of the "Inferno" segment of his "Divine Comedy" (1308–1320), encounters Odysseus ("Ulisse" in Italian) near the very bottom of Hell: with Diomedes, he walks wrapped in flame in the eighth ring ("Counselors of Fraud") of the Eighth Circle ("Sins of Malice"), as punishment for his schemes and conspiracies that won the Trojan War. In a famous passage, Dante has Odysseus relate a different version of his voyage and death from the one told by Homer. He tells how he set out with his men from Circe's island for a journey of exploration to sail beyond the Pillars of Hercules and into the Western sea to find what adventures awaited them. Men, says Ulisse, are not made to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge.


title: Odysseus

text: After travelling west and south for five months, they see in the distance a great mountain rising from the sea (this is Purgatory, in Dante's cosmology) before a storm sinks them. Dante did not have access to the original Greek texts of the Homeric epics, so his knowledge of their subject-matter was based only on information from later sources, chiefly Virgil's "Aeneid" but also Ovid; hence the discrepancy between Dante and Homer.


title: Odysseus

text: In her poem (published in 1836), Letitia Elizabeth Landon gives her version of "The Song of the Sirens" with an explanation of its purpose, structure and meaning. This illustrates a painting by Charles Bentley engraved by R. Sands, and showing The Black Mountains of Cephalonia in the background. A further poetical illustration, also in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1837, is to an engraving of a painting by Charles Bentley, and harks back to the island 'where Ulysses was king'.


title: Odysseus

text: Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "Ulysses" (published in 1842) presents an aging king who has seen too much of the world to be happy sitting on a throne idling his days away. Leaving the task of civilizing his people to his son, he gathers together a band of old comrades "to sail beyond the sunset".


title: Odysseus

text: Frederick Rolfe's "The Weird of the Wanderer" (1912) has the hero Nicholas Crabbe (based on the author) travelling back in time, discovering that he is the reincarnation of Odysseus, marrying Helen, being deified and ending up as one of the three Magi.


title: Odysseus

text: James Joyce's novel "Ulysses" (first published 1918–1920) uses modern literary devices to narrate a single day in the life of a Dublin businessman named Leopold Bloom. Bloom's day turns out to bear many elaborate parallels to Odysseus' ten years of wandering.


title: Odysseus

text: In Virginia Woolf's response novel "Mrs Dalloway" (1925) the comparable character is Clarissa Dalloway, who also appears in "The Voyage Out" (1915) and several short stories.


title: Odysseus

text: Nikos Kazantzakis's "" (1938), a 33,333-line epic poem, begins with Odysseus cleansing his body of the blood of Penelope's suitors. Odysseus soon leaves Ithaca in search of new adventures. Before his death he abducts Helen, incites revolutions in Crete and Egypt, communes with God, and meets representatives of such famous historical and literary figures as Vladimir Lenin, Don Quixote and Jesus.


title: Odysseus

text: "Return to Ithaca" (1946) by Eyvind Johnson is a more realistic retelling of the events that adds a deeper psychological study of the characters of Odysseus, Penelope, and Telemachus. Thematically, it uses Odysseus' backstory and struggle as a metaphor for dealing with the aftermath of war (the novel being written immediately after the end of the Second World War).


title: Odysseus

text: In the eleventh chapter of Primo Levi's 1947 memoir "If This Is a Man", "The Canto of Ulysses", the author describes the last voyage of Ulysses as told by Dante in "The Inferno" to a fellow-prisoner during forced labour in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz.


title: Odysseus

text: Odysseus is the hero of "The Luck of Troy" (1961) by Roger Lancelyn Green, whose title refers to the theft of the Palladium.


title: Odysseus

text: In 1986, Irish poet Eilean Ni Chuilleanain published "The Second Voyage", a poem in which she makes use of the story of Odysseus.


title: Odysseus

text: In S. M. Stirling's "Island in the Sea of Time" (1998), first part to his Nantucket series of alternate history novels, Odikweos ("Odysseus" in Mycenaean Greek) is a "historical" figure who is every bit as cunning as his legendary self and is one of the few Bronze Age inhabitants who discerns the time-travellers' real background. Odikweos first aids William Walker's rise to power in Achaea and later helps bring Walker down after seeing his homeland turn into a police state.


title: Odysseus

text: "The Penelopiad" (2005) by Margaret Atwood retells his story from the point of view of his wife Penelope.


title: Odysseus

text: The literary theorist Núria Perpinyà conceived twenty different interpretations of the "Odyssey" in a 2008 study.


title: Odysseus

text: Odysseus is also a character in David Gemmell's "Troy" trilogy (2005–2007), in which he is a good friend and mentor of Helikaon. He is known as the ugly king of Ithaka. His marriage with Penelope was arranged, but they grew to love each other. He is also a famous storyteller, known to exaggerate his stories and heralded as the greatest storyteller of his age. This is used as a plot device to explain the origins of such myths as those of Circe and the Gorgons. In the series, he is fairly old and an unwilling ally of Agamemnon.


title: Odysseus

text: In Madeline Miller's "The Song of Achilles" (a retelling of the Trojan War as well as the life of Patroclus and his romance with Achilles), Odysseus is a major character with much the same role he had in Homer's "Iliad", though it is expanded upon. Miller's "Circe" tells of Odysseus's visit to Circe's island from Circe's point of view, and includes the birth of their son Telegonus, and Odysseus' inadvertent death when Telegonus travels to Ithaca to meet him.


title: Odysseus

text: Catholic priest and Benedictine monk J. Augustine Wetta, OSB imagines Odysseus and Diomedes trapped in Dante's Inferno, struggling to escape in his novel "The Eighth Arrow: Odysseus in the Underworld."


title: Odysseus

text: The actors who have portrayed Odysseus in feature films include Kirk Douglas in the Italian "Ulysses" (1955), John Drew Barrymore in "The Trojan Horse" (1961), Piero Lulli in "The Fury of Achilles" (1962), and Sean Bean in "Troy" (2004).


title: Odysseus

text: In TV miniseries he has been played by Bekim Fehmiu in "L'Odissea" (1968), Armand Assante in "The Odyssey" (1997), and by Joseph Mawle in "" (2018).


title: Odysseus

text: "Ulysses 31" is a French-Japanese animated television series (1981) that updates the Greek mythology of Odysseus to the 31st century.


title: Odysseus

text: Joel and Ethan Coen's film "O Brother Where Art Thou?" (2000) is loosely based on the "Odyssey". However, the Coens have stated that they had never read the epic. George Clooney plays Ulysses Everett McGill, leading a group of escapees from a chain gang through an adventure in search of the proceeds of an armoured truck heist. On their voyage, the gang encounter—amongst other characters—a trio of Sirens and a one-eyed bible salesman. The plot of their 2013 movie "Inside Llewyn Davis" includes elements of the epic, as the hero, a former seaman, embarks on a torrid journey with a cat named "Ulysses".


title: Odysseus

text: The British group Cream recorded the song "Tales of Brave Ulysses" in 1967 and the 2002 the U.S. progressive metal band Symphony X released a 24-minute adaption of the tale on their album "The Odyssey". Suzanne Vega's song "Calypso" from 1987 album "Solitude Standing" shows Odysseus from Calypso's point of view, and tells the tale of him coming to the island and his leaving.


title: Odysseus

text: Rolf Riehm composed an opera based on the myth, "Sirenen – Bilder des Begehrens und des Vernichtens" ("Sirens – Images of Desire and Destruction") which premiered at the Oper Frankfurt in 2014.


title: Odysseus

text: Odysseus is featured in a verse of the song 'Journey of the Magi' on Frank Turner's 2009 album Poetry of the Deed.


title: Odysseus

text: Over time, comparisons between Odysseus and other heroes of different mythologies and religions have been made.


title: Odysseus

text: A similar story exists in Hindu mythology with Nala and Damayanti where Nala separates from Damayanti and is reunited with her. The story of stringing a bow is similar to the description in the "Ramayana" of Rama stringing the bow to win Sita's hand in marriage.


title: Odysseus

text: The "Aeneid" tells the story of Aeneas and his travels to what would become Rome. On his journey he also endures strife comparable to that of Odysseus. However, the motives for both of their journeys differ as Aeneas was driven by this sense of duty granted to him by the gods that he must abide by. He also kept in mind the future of his people, fitting for the future "Father of Rome".


title: Odysseus

text: In folkloristics, the story of Odysseus's journey back to his native Ithaca and wife Penelope corresponds to the tale type ATU 974, , of the international Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index for folktale classification.


title: Odysseus

text: Strabo writes that on "Meninx" () island, modern Djerba at Tunisia, there was an altar of the Odysseus.


title: Odysseus

text: Pliny the Elder writes that in Italy there were some small islands (modern Torricella, Praca, Brace and other rocks) which were called Ithacesiae because of a watchtower that Odysseus built there.


title: Odysseus

text: According to ancient Greek tradition, Odysseus founded a city in Iberia which was called Odysseia (Ὀδύσσεια) or Odysseis (Ὀδυσσεῖς) which had a sanctuary of goddess Athena. Ancient authors identified it with Olisipo (modern Lisbon), but modern researchers believe that even its existence is uncertain.


title: Odysseus

text: Hellanicus of Lesbos wrote that Rome was founded by Aeneas and Odysseus who came together there. Other ancient historians, including Damastes of Sigeum, agreed with him.


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater of Operations and dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during World War II. It is the third-most produced bomber of all time, behind the four-engined Consolidated B-24 Liberator and the multirole, twin-engined Junkers Ju 88. It was also employed as a transport, antisubmarine aircraft, drone controller, and search-and-rescue aircraft.


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: In a USAAC competition, Boeing's prototype Model 299/XB-17 outperformed two other entries but crashed, losing the initial 200-bomber contract to the Douglas B-18 Bolo. Still, the Air Corps ordered 13 more B-17s for further evaluation, then introduced it into service in 1938. The B-17 evolved through numerous design advances but from its inception, the USAAC (later, the USAAF) promoted the aircraft as a strategic weapon. It was a relatively fast, high-flying, long-range bomber with heavy defensive armament at the expense of bombload. It also developed a reputation for toughness based upon stories and photos of badly damaged B-17s safely returning to base.


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: The B-17 saw early action in the Pacific War, where it conducted raids against Japanese shipping and airfields. But it was primarily employed by the USAAF in the daylight strategic bombing campaign over Europe, complementing RAF Bomber Command's night-time area bombing of German industrial, military and civilian targets. Of the roughly of bombs dropped on Nazi Germany and its occupied territories by U.S. aircraft, over (42.6%) were dropped from B-17s.


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: As of November 2022, four aircraft remain airworthy, none flown in combat. Dozens more are in storage or on static display. The oldest of these is a D-series flown in combat in the Pacific on the first day of the United States' involvement in World War II.


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: On 8 August 1934, the USAAC tendered a proposal for a multiengine bomber to replace the Martin B-10. The Air Corps was looking for a bomber capable of reinforcing the air forces in Hawaii, Panama, and Alaska. Requirements were for it to carry a "useful bombload" at an altitude of for 10 hours with a top speed of at least .


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: They also desired, but did not require, a range of and a speed of . The competition for the air corps contract was to be decided by a "fly-off" between Boeing's design, the Douglas DB-1, and the Martin Model 146 at Wilbur Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio.


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: The prototype B-17, with the Boeing factory designation of Model 299, was designed by a team of engineers led by E. Gifford Emery and Edward Curtis Wells, and was built at Boeing's own expense. It combined features of the company's experimental XB-15 bomber and 247 transport. The B-17's armament consisted of five .30 caliber (7.62 mm) machine guns, with a payload up to of bombs on two racks in the bomb bay behind the cockpit. The aircraft was powered by four Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet radial engines, each producing at .


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: The first flight of the Model 299 was on 1935 with Boeing chief test-pilot Leslie Tower at the controls. The day before, Richard Williams, a reporter for "The Seattle Times", coined the name "Flying Fortress" when – observing the large number of machine guns sticking out from the new airplane – he described it as a "15-ton flying fortress" in a picture caption. The most distinct mount was in the nose, which allowed the single machine gun to be fired toward nearly all frontal angles.


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: Boeing was quick to see the value of the name and had it trademarked for use. Boeing also claimed in some of the early press releases that Model 299 was the first combat aircraft that could continue its mission if one of its four engines failed. On , the prototype flew from Seattle to Wright Field in nine hours and three minutes with an average cruising speed of , much faster than the competition.


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: At the fly-off, the four-engined Boeing's performance was superior to those of the twin-engined DB-1 and Model 146. Major General Frank Maxwell Andrews of the GHQ Air Force believed that the capabilities of large four-engined aircraft exceeded those of shorter-ranged, twin-engined aircraft, and that the B-17 was better suited to new, emerging USAAC doctrine. His opinions were shared by the air corps procurement officers, and even before the competition had finished, they suggested buying 65 B-17s.


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: On 30 October 1935, a test flight determining the rate of climb and service ceiling was planned. The command pilot was Major Ployer Peter Hill, Wright Field Material Division Chief of the Flying Branch, his first flight in the Model 299. Copilot was Lieutenant Donald Putt, while Boeing chief test pilot Leslie R. Tower was behind the pilots in an advisory role. Also on board were Wright Field test observer John Cutting, and mechanic Mark Koegler. Tragically, the plane stalled and spun into the ground soon after takeoff, bursting into flames. Though initially surviving the impact, Hill died within a few hours, and Tower on 19 November. Post accident interviews with Tower and Putt determined the control surface gust lock had not been released. Doyle notes, "The loss of Hill and Tower, and the Model 299, was directly responsible for the creation of the modern written checklist used by pilots to this day."


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: The crashed Model 299 could not finish the evaluation, disqualifying it from the competition. While the air corps was still enthusiastic about the aircraft's potential, army officials were daunted by its cost; Douglas quoted a unit price of $58,200 () based on a production order of 220 aircraft, compared with $99,620 ( ) from Boeing. Army Chief of Staff Malin Craig cancelled the order for 65 YB-17s, and ordered 133 of the twin-engined Douglas B-18 Bolo, instead.


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: Regardless, the USAAC had been impressed by the prototype's performance, and on 1936, through a legal loophole, the Air Corps ordered 13 YB-17s (designated Y1B-17 after November 1936 to denote its special F-1 funding) for service testing. The YB-17 incorporated a number of significant changes from the Model 299, including more powerful Wright R-1820-39 Cyclone engines. Although the prototype was company-owned and never received a military serial (the B-17 designation itself did not appear officially until January 1936, nearly three months after the prototype crashed), the term "XB-17" was retroactively applied to the "NX13372's" airframe and has entered the lexicon to describe the first Flying Fortress.


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: Between 1 March and 4 August 1937, 12 of the 13 Y1B-17s were delivered to the 2nd Bombardment Group at Langley Field in Virginia for operational development and flight tests. One suggestion adopted was the use of a preflight checklist to avoid accidents such as that which befell the Model 299. In one of their first missions, three B-17s, directed by lead navigator Lieutenant Curtis LeMay, were sent by General Andrews to "intercept" and photograph the Italian ocean liner "Rex" off the Atlantic coast. The mission was successful and widely publicized. The 13th Y1B-17 was delivered to the Material Division at Wright Field, Ohio, to be used for flight testing.


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: A 14th Y1B-17 ("37-369"), originally constructed for ground testing of the airframe's strength, was upgraded by Boeing with exhaust-driven General Electric turbo-superchargers, and designated Y1B-17A. Designed by Dr. Sanford Moss, engine exhaust gases turned the turbine's steel-alloy blades, forcing high-pressure ram air into the Wright Cyclone GR-1820-39 engine supercharger. Scheduled to fly in 1937, it encountered problems with the turbochargers, and its first flight was delayed until 1938. The aircraft was delivered to the army on 1939. Once service testing was complete, the Y1B-17s and Y1B-17A were redesignated B-17 and B-17A, respectively, to signify the change to operational status. The Y1B-17A had a maximum speed of , at its best operational altitude, compared to for the Y1B-17. Also, the Y1B-17A's new service ceiling was more than higher at , compared to the Y1B-17's . These turbo-superchargers were incorporated into the B-17B.


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: Opposition to the air corps' ambitions for the acquisition of more B-17s faded, and in late 1937, 10 more aircraft designated B-17B were ordered to equip two bombardment groups, one on each U.S. coast. Improved with larger flaps and rudder and a well-framed, 10-panel plexiglas nose, the B-17Bs were delivered in five small batches between July 1939 and March 1940. In July 1940, an order for 512 B-17s was issued, but at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, fewer than 200 were in service with the army.


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: A total of 155 B-17s of all variants were delivered between 1937 and 1941, but production quickly accelerated, with the B-17 once holding the record for the highest production rate for any large aircraft. The aircraft went on to serve in every World War II combat zone, and by the time production ended in May 1945, 12,731 aircraft had been built by Boeing, Douglas, and Vega (a subsidiary of Lockheed).


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: The aircraft went through several alterations in each of its design stages and variants. Of the 13 YB-17s ordered for service testing, 12 were used by the 2nd Bomb Group of Langley Field, Virginia, to develop heavy bombing techniques, and the 13th was used for flight testing at the Material Division at Wright Field, Ohio. Experiments on this aircraft led to the use of a quartet of General Electric turbo-superchargers, which later became standard on the B-17 line. A 14th aircraft, the YB-17A, originally destined for ground testing only and upgraded with the turbochargers, was redesignated B-17A after testing had finished.


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: As the production line developed, Boeing engineers continued to improve upon the basic design. To enhance performance at slower speeds, the B-17B was altered to include larger rudders and flaps. The B-17C changed from three bulged, oval-shaped gun blisters to two flush, oval-shaped gun window openings, and on the lower fuselage, a single "bathtub" gun gondola housing, which resembled the similarly configured and located "Bodenlafette"/"Bola" ventral defensive emplacement on the German Heinkel He 111P-series medium bomber.


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: While models A through D of the B-17 were designed defensively, the large-tailed B-17E was the first model primarily focused on offensive warfare. The B-17E was an extensive revision of the Model 299 design: The fuselage was extended by ; a much larger rear fuselage, vertical tailfin, rudder, and horizontal stabilizer were added; a gunner's position was added in the new tail; the nose (especially the bombardier's framed, 10-panel nose glazing) remained relatively the same as the earlier B through D versions had; a Sperry electrically powered manned dorsal gun turret just behind the cockpit was added; a similarly powered (also built by Sperry) manned ventral ball turret just aft of the bomb bay – replaced the relatively hard-to-use, Sperry model 645705-D remotely operated ventral turret on the earliest examples of the E variant. These modifications resulted in a 20% increase in aircraft weight. The B-17's turbocharged Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 engines were upgraded to increasingly more powerful versions of the same powerplants throughout its production, and similarly, the number of machine gun emplacement locations was increased.


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: The B-17F variants were the primary versions flying for the Eighth Air Force to face the Germans in 1943, and had standardized the manned Sperry ball turret for ventral defense, also replacing the earlier, 10-panel framed bombardier's nose glazing from the B subtype with an enlarged, nearly frameless Plexiglas bombardier's nose enclosure for improved forward vision.


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: Two experimental versions of the B-17 were flown under different designations, the XB-38 Flying Fortress and the YB-40 Flying Fortress. The XB-38 was an engine testbed for Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled engines, should the Wright engines normally used on the B-17 become unavailable. The only prototype XB-38 to fly crashed on its ninth flight, and the type was abandoned. The Allison V-1710 was allocated to fighter aircraft.


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: The YB-40 was a heavily armed modification of the standard B-17 used before the North American P-51 Mustang, an effective long-range fighter, became available to act as escort. Additional armament included an additional dorsal turret in the radio room, a remotely operated and fired Bendix-built "chin turret" directly below the bombardier's accommodation, and twin guns in each of the waist positions. The ammunition load was over 11,000 rounds. All of these modifications made the YB-40 well over heavier than a fully loaded B-17F. The YB-40s with their numerous heavy modifications had trouble keeping up with the lighter bombers once they had dropped their bombs, so the project was abandoned and finally phased out in July 1943. The final production blocks of the B-17F from Douglas' plants did, however, adopt the YB-40's "chin turret", giving them a much-improved forward defense capability.


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: By the time the definitive B-17G appeared, the number of guns had been increased from seven to 13, the designs of the gun stations were finalized, and other adjustments were completed. The B-17G was the final version of the Flying Fortress, incorporating all changes made to its predecessor, the B-17F, and in total, 8,680 were built, the last (by Lockheed) on 1945. Many B-17Gs were converted for other missions such as cargo hauling, engine testing, and reconnaissance. Initially designated SB-17G, a number of B-17Gs were also converted for search-and-rescue duties, later to be redesignated B-17H.


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: Late in World War II, at least 25 B-17s were fitted with radio controls and television cameras, loaded with of high explosives and dubbed BQ-7 "Aphrodite missiles" for Operation Aphrodite. The operation, which involved remotely flying Aphrodite drones onto their targets by accompanying CQ-17 "mothership" control aircraft, was approved on 1944, and assigned to the 388th Bombardment Group stationed at RAF Fersfield, a satellite of RAF Knettishall.


title: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

text: The first four drones were sent to Mimoyecques, the Siracourt V-1 bunker, Watten, and Wizernes on 4 August, causing little damage. The project came to a sudden end with the unexplained midair explosion over the Blyth estuary of a B-24, part of the United States Navy's contribution as "Project Anvil", en route for Heligoland piloted by Lieutenant Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., future U.S. president John F. Kennedy's elder brother. Blast damage was caused over a radius of . British authorities were anxious that no similar accidents should again occur, and the Aphrodite project was scrapped in early 1945.