title: Pantsir missile system

text: In January 2020, Chief Designer for Air Defense Systems at KBP Valery Slugin reported Pantsir air defence systems intercepted about 100 drones during their combat operations all over the world, most of which took place in Syria. Pantsirs were also successfully used against various ground targets, such as terrorist's jihad mobiles, during their Syrian deployment.


title: Pantsir missile system

text: A Syrian Pantsir-S1 system was claimed to be destroyed by the Turkish Armed Forces during strikes on Syria in the night of 27–28 February 2020. Russian media alleged that the video analysis of footage released by Turkish media indicated visible design differences between the system claimed to be destroyed by Turkey and the variant operated by the Syrian Air Defense Force, and claimed that the footage might not come from Syria at all.


title: Pantsir missile system

text: Russian media claimed that the footage was CGI saying that the traces of missing video fragments and debris having the same size and shape after the explosion.


title: Pantsir missile system

text: On 10 March 2020, the Russian Defence Ministry confirmed two Pantsir-S1 systems were damaged during the recent Turkey-Syria clashes, adding that repair works were nearing completion.


title: Pantsir missile system

text: On July 19, 2021, four F-16 fighter jets of the Israeli Air Force entered Syria’s airspace via the US-controlled al-Tanf zone and fired eight guided missiles at an area southeast of Syria’s Aleppo. Vadim Kulit, deputy chief of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties in Syria, claimed that seven missiles were downed by the Russian-made Pantsir-S and Buk-M2 systems of the Syrian Air Defense Forces. In the evening of July 27, a drone was launched by militants from the Kafer-Khattar community in the Idlib Province. The militant drone was downed over the Hama Province by the Syrian air defense who used a Russia-produced Pantsir-S missile system, Kulit claimed the next day. Syrian air defense forces shot down 22 missiles fired by Israel into Syria using Russian-made Buk-M2E and Pantsir-S systems, Rear Adm. Vadim Kulit said on 20 August 2021. Syrian air defense forces shot down twenty-one out of twenty-four missiles fired by Israel into Syria using Russian-made Buk-M2E and Pantsir-S systems, Rear Adm. Vadim Kulit said on September 3, 2021. Syrian air defense forces shot down 8 out of 12 missiles fired by Israel in Syria using Russian-made Pantsir-S systems, Rear Adm. Vadim Kulit said on 08.10.2021. Syrian air defense forces shot down ten out of twelve missiles fired by Israel into Syria using Russian-made Buk-M2E and Pantsir-S systems, Rear Adm. Vadim Kulit said on November 24, 2021.


title: Pantsir missile system

text: On 13 May 2022, the Israeli Air Force launched attacks on SAA positions on Masyaf killing 5 people including one civilian, the attack destroyed one Pantsir-C1 system. On 25 August and 17 September 2022, new attacks were reportedly partly repelled by Syrian Pantsir-S1, Buk-M2E and S-75 systems.


title: Pantsir missile system

text: Various independent experts believe that Pantsir-S1 systems were operated by Russian-backed forces during the Russo-Ukrainian War. Remnants of the main armament of the Pantsir-S1 were reported to have been observed in Ukraine in November 2014. It was also reportedly filmed in Luhansk and photographed in Makiivka in the rebel-held territories during early 2015.


title: Pantsir missile system

text: On 1 March 2022, during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, a Pantsir-S1 system got stuck in the mud in Kherson, Ukraine, and was later destroyed by the Ukrainian Army. On 4 March, another system was found abandoned in Mykolaiv region.


title: Pantsir missile system

text: One system was reportedly destroyed during the Battle of Snake Island in late June or early July 2022.


title: Pantsir missile system

text: According to the OSINT website Oryxspioenkop, by November 2022 at least 12 Pantsir-S1 were lost by Russia in the war.


title: Book of Daniel

text: The Book of Daniel is a 2nd-century BC biblical apocalypse with a 6th century BC setting. Ostensibly "an account of the activities and visions of Daniel, a noble Jew exiled at Babylon", it combines a prophecy of history with an eschatology (a portrayal of end times) both cosmic in scope and political in focus, and its message is that just as the God of Israel saves Daniel from his enemies, so he would save all Israel in their present oppression.


title: Book of Daniel

text: The Hebrew Bible includes Daniel in the "Ketuvim" (writings), while Christian biblical canons group the work with the Major Prophets. It divides into two parts: a set of six court tales in chapters 1–6, written mostly in Aramaic, and four apocalyptic visions in chapters 7–12, written mostly in Hebrew; the deuterocanonical books contain three additional sections, the Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon.


title: Book of Daniel

text: The book's influence has resonated through later ages, from the community of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the authors of the canonical gospels and the Book of Revelation, to various movements from the 2nd century to the Protestant Reformation and modern millennialist movements—on which it continues to have a profound influence.


title: Book of Daniel

text: The Book of Daniel is divided between the court tales of chapters 1–6 and the apocalyptic visions of 7–12, and between the Hebrew of chapters 1 and 8–12 and the Aramaic of chapters 2–7. The division is reinforced by the chiastic arrangement of the Aramaic chapters (see below), and by a chronological progression in chapters 1–6 from Babylonian to Median rule, and from Babylonian to Persian rule in chapters 7–12. Various suggestions have been made by scholars to explain the fact that the genre division does not coincide with the other two, but it appears that the language division and concentric structure of chapters 2–6 are artificial literary devices designed to bind the two halves of the book together. The following outline is provided by Collins in his commentary on Daniel:


title: Book of Daniel

text: There is a recognised chiasm (a concentric literary structure in which the main point of a passage is placed in the centre and framed by parallel elements on either side in "ABBA" fashion) in the chapter arrangement of the Aramaic section. The following is taken from Paul Redditt's "Introduction to the Prophets":


title: Book of Daniel

text: In the third year of King Jehoiakim, God allows Jerusalem to fall into the power of Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon. Young Israelites of noble and royal family, "without physical defect, and handsome," versed in wisdom and competent to serve in the palace of the king, are taken to Babylon to be taught the literature and language of that nation. Among them are Daniel and his three companions, who refuse to touch the royal food and wine. Their overseer fears for his life in case the health of his charges deteriorates, but Daniel suggests a trial and the four emerge healthier than their counterparts from ten days of consuming nothing but vegetables and water. They are allowed to continue to refrain from eating the king's food, and to Daniel, God gives insight into visions and dreams. When their training is done Nebuchadnezzar finds them 'ten times better' than all the wise men in his service and therefore keeps them at his court, where Daniel continues until the first year of King Cyrus.


title: Book of Daniel

text: In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. When he wakes up, he realizes that the dream has some important message, so he consults his wise men. Wary of their potential to fabricate an explanation, the king refuses to tell the wise men what he saw in his dream. Rather, he demands that his wise men tell him what the content of the dream was, and then interpret it. When the wise men protest that this is beyond the power of any man, he sentences all, including Daniel and his friends, to death. Daniel receives an explanatory vision from God: Nebuchadnezzar had seen an enormous statue with a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of mixed iron and clay, then saw the statue destroyed by a rock that turned into a mountain filling the whole earth. Daniel explains the dream to the king: the statue symbolized four successive kingdoms, starting with Nebuchadnezzar, all of which would be crushed by God's kingdom, which would endure forever. Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges the supremacy of Daniel's god, raises Daniel over all his wise men, and places Daniel and his companions over the province of Babylon.


title: Book of Daniel

text: Daniel's companions Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to bow to King Nebuchadnezzar's golden statue and are thrown into a fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar is astonished to see a fourth figure in the furnace with the three, one "with the appearance like a son of the gods." So the king calls the three to come out of the fire, blesses the God of Israel, and decrees that any who blaspheme against him shall be torn limb from limb.


title: Book of Daniel

text: Nebuchadnezzar recounts a dream of a huge tree that is suddenly cut down at the command of a heavenly messenger. Daniel is summoned and interprets the dream. The tree is Nebuchadnezzar himself, who for seven years will lose his mind and live like a wild beast. All of this comes to pass until, at the end of the specified time, Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges that "heaven rules" and his kingdom and sanity are restored.


title: Book of Daniel

text: Belshazzar and his nobles blasphemously drink from sacred Jewish temple vessels, offering praise to inanimate gods, until a hand mysteriously appears and writes upon the wall. The horrified king summons Daniel, who upbraids him for his lack of humility before God and interprets the message: Belshazzar's kingdom will be given to the Medes and Persians. Belshazzar rewards Daniel and raises him to be third in the kingdom, and that very night Belshazzar is slain and Darius the Mede takes the kingdom.


title: Book of Daniel

text: Darius elevates Daniel to high office, exciting the jealousy of other officials. Knowing of Daniel's devotion to his God, his enemies trick the king into issuing an edict forbidding worship of any other god or man for a 30-day period. Daniel continues to pray three times a day to God towards Jerusalem; he is accused and King Darius, forced by his own decree, throws Daniel into the lions' den. But God shuts up the mouths of the lions, and the next morning Darius rejoices to find him unharmed. The king casts Daniel's accusers into the lions' pit together with their wives and children to be instantly devoured, while he himself acknowledges Daniel's God as he whose kingdom shall never be destroyed.


title: Book of Daniel

text: In the first year of Belshazzar Daniel has a dream of four monstrous beasts arising from the sea. The fourth, a beast with ten horns, devours the whole earth, treading it down and crushing it, and a further small horn appears and uproots three of the earlier horns. The Ancient of Days judges and destroys the beast, and "one like a son of man" is given everlasting kingship over the entire world. One of Daniel's attendants explains that the four beasts represent four kings, but that "the holy ones of the Most High" would receive the everlasting kingdom. The fourth beast would be a fourth kingdom with ten kings, and another king who would pull down three kings and make war on the "holy ones" for "a time, two times and a half," after which the heavenly judgment will be made against him and the "holy ones" will receive the everlasting kingdom.


title: Book of Daniel

text: In the third year of Belshazzar Daniel has a vision of a ram and goat. The ram has two mighty horns, one longer than the other, and it charges west, north and south, overpowering all other beasts. A goat with a single horn appears from the west and destroys the ram. The goat becomes very powerful until the horn breaks off and is replaced by four lesser horns. A small horn that grows very large, it stops the daily temple sacrifices and desecrates the sanctuary for two thousand three hundred "evening and mornings" (which could be either 1,150 or 2,300 days) until the temple is cleansed. The angel Gabriel informs him that the ram represents the Medes and Persians, the goat is Greece, and the "little horn" is a wicked king.


title: Book of Daniel

text: In the first year of Darius the Mede, Daniel meditates on the word of Jeremiah that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years; he confesses the sin of Israel and pleads for God to restore Israel and the "desolated sanctuary" of the Temple. The angel Gabriel explains that the seventy years stand for seventy "weeks" of years (490 years), during which the Temple will first be restored, then later defiled by a "prince who is to come," "until the decreed end is poured out."


title: Book of Daniel

text: Daniel 10: In the third year of Cyrus Daniel sees in his vision an angel (called "a man", but clearly a supernatural being) who explains that he is in the midst of a war with the "prince of Persia", assisted only by Michael, "your prince." The "prince of Greece" will shortly come, but first he will reveal what will happen to Daniel's people.


title: Book of Daniel

text: Daniel 11: A future king of Persia will make war on the king of Greece, a "mighty king" will arise and wield power until his empire is broken up and given to others, and finally the king of the south (identified in verse 8 as Egypt) will go to war with the "king of the north." After many battles (described in great detail) a "contemptible person" will become king of the north; this king will invade the south two times, the first time with success, but on his second he will be stopped by "ships of Kittim." He will turn back to his own country, and on the way his soldiers will desecrate the Temple, abolish the daily sacrifice, and set up the abomination of desolation. He will defeat and subjugate Libya and Egypt, but "reports from the east and north will alarm him," and he will meet his end "between the sea and the holy mountain."


title: Book of Daniel

text: Daniel 12: At this time Michael will come. It will be a time of great distress, but all those whose names are written will be delivered. "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt; those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever." In the final verses the remaining time to the end is revealed: "a time, times and half a time" (three years and a half). Daniel fails to understand and asks again what will happen, and is told: "From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days."


title: Book of Daniel

text: The Greek text of Daniel is considerably longer than the Hebrew, due to three additional stories: they remain in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles but were rejected by the Protestant movement in the 16th century on the basis that they were absent from the Hebrew Bible.


title: Book of Daniel

text: The visions of chapters 7–12 reflect the crisis which took place in Judea in 167–164 BC when Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Greek king of the Seleucid Empire, threatened to destroy traditional Jewish worship in Jerusalem. When Antiochus came to the throne in 175 BC the Jews were largely pro-Seleucid. The High Priestly family was split by rivalry, and one member, Jason, offered the king a large sum to be made High Priest. Jason also asked—or more accurately, paid—to be allowed to make Jerusalem a "polis", or Greek city. This meant, among other things, that city government would be in the hands of the citizens, which meant in turn that citizenship would be a valuable commodity, to be purchased from Jason. None of this threatened the Jewish religion, and the reforms were widely welcomed, especially among the Jerusalem aristocracy and the leading priests. Three years later Jason was deposed when another priest, Menelaus, offered Antiochus an even larger sum for the post of High Priest.


title: Book of Daniel

text: Antiochus invaded Egypt twice, in 169 BC with success, but on the second incursion, in late 168 BC, he was forced to withdraw by the Romans. Jason, hearing a rumour that Antiochus was dead, attacked Menelaus to take back the High Priesthood. Antiochus drove Jason out of Jerusalem, plundered the Temple, and introduced measures to pacify his Egyptian border by imposing complete Hellenization: the Jewish Book of the Law was prohibited and on 15 December 167 BC an "abomination of desolation", probably a Greek altar, was introduced into the Temple. With the Jewish religion now clearly under threat a resistance movement sprang up, led by the Maccabee brothers, and over the next three years it won sufficient victories over Antiochus to take back and purify the Temple.


title: Book of Daniel

text: The crisis which the author of Daniel addresses is the defilement of the altar in Jerusalem in 167 BC (first introduced in chapter 8:11): the daily offering which used to take place twice a day, at morning and evening, stopped, and the phrase "evenings and mornings" recurs through the following chapters as a reminder of the missed sacrifices. But whereas the events leading up to the sacking of the Temple in 167 BC and the immediate aftermath are remarkably accurate, the predicted war between the Syrians and the Egyptians (11:40–43) never took place, and the prophecy that Antiochus would die in Palestine (11:44–45) was inaccurate (he died in Persia). The most probable conclusion is that the account must have been completed near the end of the reign of Antiochus but before his death in December 164 BC, or at least before news of it reached Jerusalem, and the consensus of modern scholarship is accordingly that the book dates to the period 167–163 BC.


title: Book of Daniel

text: It is generally accepted that Daniel originated as a collection of Aramaic court tales later expanded by the Hebrew revelations. The court tales may have originally circulated independently, but the edited collection was probably composed in the third or early second-century BC. Chapter 1 was composed (in Aramaic) at this time as a brief introduction to provide historical context, introduce the characters of the tales, and explain how Daniel and his friends came to Babylon. The visions of chapters 7–12 were added and chapter 1 translated into Hebrew at the third stage when the final book was being drawn together.


title: Book of Daniel

text: Daniel is a product of "Wisdom" circles, but the type of wisdom is (the discovery of heavenly secrets from earthly signs) rather than the wisdom of learning—the main source of wisdom in Daniel is God's revelation. It is one of a large number of Jewish apocalypses, all of them pseudonymous. The stories of the first half are legendary in origin, and the visions of the second the product of anonymous authors in the Maccabean period (2nd century BC). Chapters 1–6 are in the voice of an anonymous narrator, except for chapter 4 which is in the form of a letter from king Nebuchadnezzar; the second half (chapters 7–12) is presented by Daniel himself, introduced by the anonymous narrator in chapters 7 and 10.


title: Book of Daniel

text: The author/editor was probably an educated Jew, knowledgeable in Greek learning, and of high standing in his own community. It is possible that the name of Daniel was chosen for the hero of the book because of his reputation as a wise seer in Hebrew tradition. Ezekiel, who lived during the Babylonian exile, mentioned him in association with Noah and Job (Ezekiel 14:14) as a figure of legendary wisdom (28:3), and a hero named Daniel (more accurately Dan'el, but the spelling is close enough for the two to be regarded as identical) features in a late 2nd millennium myth from Ugarit. "The legendary Daniel, known from long ago but still remembered as an exemplary character ... serves as the principal human 'hero' in the biblical book that now bears his name"; Daniel is the wise and righteous intermediary who is able to interpret dreams and thus convey the will of God to humans, the recipient of visions from on high that are interpreted to him by heavenly intermediaries.


title: Book of Daniel

text: The prophecies of Daniel are accurate down to the career of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, king of Syria and oppressor of the Jews, but not in its prediction of his death: the author seems to know about Antiochus' two campaigns in Egypt (169 and 167 BC), the desecration of the Temple (the "abomination of desolation"), and the fortification of the Akra (a fortress built inside Jerusalem), but he seems to know nothing about the reconstruction of the Temple or about the actual circumstances of Antiochus' death in late 164 BC. Chapters 10–12 must therefore have been written between 167 and 164 BC. There is no evidence of a significant time lapse between those chapters and chapters 8 and 9, and chapter 7 may have been written just a few months earlier again.


title: Book of Daniel

text: Further evidence of the book's date is in the fact that Daniel is excluded from the Hebrew Bible's canon of the prophets, which was closed around 200 BC, and the Wisdom of Sirach, a work dating from around 180 BC, draws on almost every book of the Old Testament except Daniel, leading scholars to suppose that its author was unaware of it. Daniel is, however, quoted in a section of the Sibylline Oracles commonly dated to the middle of the 2nd century BC, and was popular at Qumran at much the same time, suggesting that it was known from the middle of that century.


title: Book of Daniel

text: The Book of Daniel is preserved in the 12-chapter Masoretic Text and in two longer Greek versions, the original Septuagint version, c. 100 BC, and the later Theodotion version from c. 2nd century AD. Both Greek texts contain three additions to Daniel: The Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children; the story of Susannah and the Elders; and the story of Bel and the Dragon. Theodotion is much closer to the Masoretic Text and became so popular that it replaced the original Septuagint version in all but two manuscripts of the Septuagint itself. The Greek additions were apparently never part of the Hebrew text.


title: Book of Daniel

text: Eight copies of the Book of Daniel, all incomplete, have been found at Qumran, two in Cave 1, five in Cave 4, and one in Cave 6. Between them, they preserve text from eleven of Daniel's twelve chapters, and the twelfth is quoted in the Florilegium (a compilation scroll) 4Q174, showing that the book at Qumran did not lack this conclusion. All eight manuscripts were copied between 125 BC (4QDan) and about 50 AD (4QDan), showing that Daniel was being read at Qumran only about 40 years after its composition. All appear to preserve the 12-chapter Masoretic version rather than the longer Greek text. None reveal any major disagreements against the Masoretic, and the four scrolls that preserve the relevant sections (1QDan, 4QDan, 4QDan, and 4QDan) all follow the bilingual nature of Daniel where the book opens in Hebrew, switches to Aramaic at 2:4b, then reverts to Hebrew at 8:1.


title: Book of Daniel

text: "(This section deals with modern scholarly reconstructions of the meaning of Daniel to its original authors and audience)"


title: Book of Daniel

text: The Book of Daniel is an apocalypse, a literary genre in which a heavenly reality is revealed to a human recipient; such works are characterized by visions, symbolism, an other-worldly mediator, an emphasis on cosmic events, angels and demons, and pseudonymity (false authorship). The production of apocalypses occurred commonly from 300 BC to 100 AD, not only among Jews and Christians, but also among Greeks, Romans, Persians and Egyptians, and Daniel is a representative apocalyptic seer, the recipient of divine revelation: he has learned the wisdom of the Babylonian magicians and surpassed them, because his God is the true source of knowledge; he is one of the "maskilim" (משכלים), the wise ones, who have the task of teaching righteousness and whose number may be considered to include the authors of the book itself. The book is also an eschatology, as the divine revelation concerns the end of the present age, a predicted moment in which God will intervene in history to usher in the final kingdom. It gives no real details of the end-time, but it seems that God's kingdom will be on this earth, that it will be governed by justice and righteousness, and that the tables will be turned on the Seleucids and those Jews who have cooperated with them.


title: Book of Daniel

text: The message of the Book of Daniel is that, just as the God of Israel saved Daniel and his friends from their enemies, so he would save all Israel in their present oppression. The book is filled with monsters, angels, and numerology, drawn from a wide range of sources, both biblical and non-biblical, that would have had meaning in the context of 2nd-century Jewish culture, and while Christian interpreters have always viewed these as predicting events in the New Testament—"the Son of God", "the Son of Man", Christ and the Antichrist—the book's intended audience is the Jews of the 2nd century BC. The following explains a few of these predictions, as understood by modern biblical scholars.


title: Book of Daniel

text: The concepts of immortality and resurrection, with rewards for the righteous and punishment for the wicked, have roots much deeper than Daniel, but the first clear statement is found in the final chapter of that book: "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting shame and contempt." According to Daniel R. Schwartz, without the resurrection of Jesus, Christianity would have disappeared like the movements following other charismatic Jewish figures of the 1st century.


title: Book of Daniel

text: Daniel was quoted and referenced by both Jews and Christians in the 1st century AD as predicting the imminent end-time. Moments of national and cultural crisis continually reawakened the apocalyptic spirit, through the Montanists of the 2nd/3rd centuries, persecuted for their millennialism, to the more extreme elements of the 16th-century Reformation such as the Zwickau prophets and the Münster Rebellion. During the English Civil War, the Fifth Monarchy Men took their name and political program from Daniel 7, demanding that Oliver Cromwell allow them to form a "government of saints" in preparation for the coming of the Messiah; when Cromwell refused, they identified him instead as the Beast usurping the rightful place of King Jesus. For modern popularizers, the visions and revelations of Daniel remain a guide to the future, when the Antichrist will be destroyed by Jesus Christ at the Second Coming.


title: Book of Daniel

text: The influence of Daniel has not been confined to Judaism and Christianity: In the Middle Ages Muslims created horoscopes whose authority was attributed to Daniel. More recently the Baháʼí Faith, which originated in Persian Shi'ite Islam, justified its existence on the 1,260-day prophecy of Daniel, holding that it foretold the coming of the Twelfth Imam and an age of peace and justice in the year 1844, which is the year 1260 of the Muslim era.


title: Book of Daniel

text: Daniel belongs not only to the religious tradition but also to the wider Western intellectual and artistic heritage. It was easily the most popular of the prophetic books for the Anglo-Saxons, who nevertheless treated it not as prophecy but as a historical book, "a repository of dramatic stories about confrontations between God and a series of emperor-figures who represent the highest reach of man". Isaac Newton paid special attention to it, Francis Bacon borrowed a motto from it for his work "Novum Organum", Baruch Spinoza drew on it, its apocalyptic second half attracted the attention of Carl Jung, and it inspired musicians from medieval liturgical drama to Darius Milhaud and artists including Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Eugène Delacroix.


title: Wuxia

text: The word "" is a compound composed of the elements (, literally "martial", "military", or "armed") and (, literally "chivalrous", "vigilante" or "hero"). A martial artist who follows the code of is often referred to as a (, literally "follower of ") or (, literally "wandering "). In some translations, the martial artist is referred to as a "swordsman" or "swordswoman" even though they may not necessarily wield a sword.


title: Wuxia

text: The heroes in wuxia fiction typically do not serve a lord, wield military power, or belong to the aristocratic class. They often originate from the lower social classes of ancient Chinese society. A code of chivalry usually requires wuxia heroes to right and redress wrongs, fight for righteousness, remove oppressors, and bring retribution for past misdeeds. Chinese traditions can be compared to martial codes from other cultures, such as the Japanese samurai .


title: Wuxia

text: Even though the term "wuxia" as the name of a genre is a recent coinage, stories about xia date back more than 2,000 years. Wuxia stories have their roots in some early youxia tales from 300–200 BCE. The Legalist philosopher Han Fei spoke disparagingly of youxias in his book "Han Feizi" in the chapter "On Five 'Maggot' Classes" about five social classes in the Spring and Autumn period. Some well-known stories include Zhuan Zhu's assassination of King Liao of Wu, and most notably, Jing Ke's attempt on the life of the King of Qin (who later became Qin Shi Huang). In Volume 86 of the "Records of the Grand Historian" ("Shi Ji"), Sima Qian mentioned five notable assassins – Cao Mo, Zhuan Zhu, Yu Rang, Nie Zheng and Jing Ke – in the Warring States period who undertook tasks of conducting political assassinations of aristocrats and nobles. These assassins were known as "cike" (刺客; literally "stabbing guests"). They usually rendered their loyalties and services to feudal lords and nobles in return for rewards such as riches and women. In Volume 124 of the "Shi Ji", Sima Qian detailed several embryonic features of xia culture from his period. These popular phenomena were also documented in other historical records such as the "Book of Han" and the "Book of the Later Han".


title: Wuxia

text: Xiake stories made a turning point in the Tang dynasty (618–907) and returned in the form of "chuanqi" (傳奇; literally "legendary tales"). Stories from that era, such as "Nie Yinniang" (聶隱娘), "The Kunlun Slave", "Thirteenth Madame Jing" ("荊十三娘"), "Red String" (紅線) and "The Bearded Warrior" (虬髯客), served as prototypes for modern wuxia stories. They featured fantasies and isolated protagonists – usually loners – who performed daring heroic deeds. During the Song dynasty (960–1279), similar stories circulated in the "huaben", short works that were once thought to have served as prompt-books for "shuochang" (traditional Chinese storytelling).


title: Wuxia

text: The genre of the martial or military romance also developed during the Tang dynasty. In the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Luo Guanzhong and Shi Nai'an wrote "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin" respectively, which are among the Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. The former is a romanticised historical retelling of the events in the late Eastern Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, while the latter criticises the deplorable socio-economic status of the late Northern Song dynasty. "Water Margin" is often seen as the first full-length wuxia novel: the portrayal of the 108 heroes, and their code of honour and willingness to become outlaws rather than serve a corrupt government, played an influential role in the development of jianghu culture in later centuries. "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is also seen as a possible early antecedent and contains classic close-combat descriptions that were later emulated by wuxia writers in their works


title: Wuxia

text: In the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), further developments were the "gong'an" (公案; literally "public case") and related detective novels, where xia and other heroes, in collaboration with a judge or magistrate, solved crimes and battled injustice. The Justice Bao stories from "Sanxia Wuyi" (三俠五義; later extended and renamed to "Qixia Wuyi") and "Xiaowuyi" (小五義), incorporated much of social justice themes of later wuxia stories. Xiayi stories of chivalrous romance, which frequently featured female heroes and supernatural fighting abilities, also surfaced during the Qing dynasty. Novels such as "Shi Gong'an Qiwen" (施公案奇聞) and "Ernü Yingxiong Zhuan" (兒女英雄傳) have been cited as the clearest nascent wuxia novels.


title: Wuxia

text: The term "wuxia" as a genre label itself first appeared at the end of the Qing dynasty, a calque of the Japanese "bukyō", a genre of oft-militaristic and bushido-influenced adventure fiction. The term was brought to China by writers and students who hoped that China would modernise its military and place emphasis on martial virtues, and it quickly became entrenched as the term used to refer to xiayi and other predecessors of wuxia proper. In Japan, however, the term "bukyō" faded into obscurity.


title: Wuxia

text: Many wuxia works produced during the Ming and Qing dynasties were lost due to the governments' crackdown on and banning of such works. Wuxia works were deemed responsible for brewing anti-government sentiments, which led to rebellions in those eras. The departure from mainstream literature also meant that patronage of this genre was limited to the masses and not to the literati, which led to the stifling of the development of the wuxia genre. Nonetheless, the wuxia genre remained enormously popular with the common people.


title: Wuxia

text: The modern wuxia genre rose to prominence in the early 20th century after the May Fourth Movement of 1919. A new literature evolved, calling for a break with Confucian values, and the xia emerged as a symbol of personal freedom, defiance to Confucian tradition, and rejection of the Chinese family system.


title: Wuxia

text: Xiang Kairan (pen name Pingjiang Buxiaosheng) became the first notable wuxia writer, with his debut novel being "The Peculiar Knights-Errant of the Jianghu" (江湖奇俠傳). It was serialised from 1921–28 and was adapted into the first wuxia film, "The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple" (1928). Zhao Huanting (趙煥亭), who wrote "Chronicles of the Loyal Knights-Errant" (奇俠精忠傳, serialised 1923–27), was another well-known wuxia writer based in Shanghai. Starting from the 1930s, wuxia works proliferated and its centre shifted to Beijing and Tianjin in northern China. The most prolific writers there were collectively referred to as the "Five Great Masters of the Northern School" (北派五大家): Huanzhulouzhu, who wrote "The Swordspeople from Shu Mountains" (蜀山劍俠傳); Gong Baiyu (宮白羽), who wrote "Twelve Coin Darts" (十二金錢鏢); Wang Dulu, who wrote "The Crane-Iron Pentalogy" (鹤鉄五部作); Zheng Zhengyin (郑証因), who wrote "The King of Eagle Claws" (鹰爪王); Zhu Zhenmu (朱貞木), who wrote "The Seven 'Kill' Stele" (七殺碑).


title: Wuxia

text: Wuxia fiction was banned at various times during the Republican era and these restrictions stifled the growth of the genre. In spite of this, wuxia writing prevailed in other Chinese-speaking regions, such as Taiwan and Hong Kong. Between the 1960s and 1980s, the genre entered a golden age. Writers such as Liang Yusheng and Louis Cha (Jin Yong) spearheaded the founding of a "new school" of the wuxia genre that differed largely from its predecessors. They wrote serials for newspapers and magazines. They also incorporated several fictional themes such as mystery and romance from other cultures. In Taiwan, Wolong Sheng, Sima Ling, Zhuge Qingyun (諸葛青雲), Shiao Yi (萧逸) and Gu Long became the region's best known wuxia writers. After them, writers such as Woon Swee Oan and Huang Yi rose to prominence in a later period. Chen Yu-hui is a contemporary female wuxia novelist who made her debut with the novel "The Tian-Guan Duo Heroes" (天觀雙俠).


title: Wuxia

text: There have also been works created after the 1980s which attempt to create a post-wuxia genre. Yu Hua, one of the more notable writers from this period, published a counter-genre short story titled "Blood and Plum Blossoms", in which the protagonist goes on a quest to avenge his murdered father.


title: Wuxia

text: Modern wuxia stories are largely set in ancient or pre-modern China. The historical setting can range from being quite specific and important to the story, to being vaguely-defined, anachronistic, or mainly for use as a backdrop. Elements of fantasy, such as the use of magic powers and appearance of supernatural beings, are common in some wuxia stories but are not a prerequisite of the wuxia genre. However, the martial arts element is a definite part of a wuxia tale, as the characters must know some form of martial arts. Themes of romance are also strongly featured in some wuxia tales.


title: Wuxia

text: A typical wuxia story features a young male protagonist who experiences a tragedy – such as the loss of his loved ones – and goes on to undertake several trials and tribulations to learn several forms of martial arts from various fighters. At the end of the story, he emerges as a powerful fighter whom few can equal. He uses his abilities to follow the code of xia and mends the ills of the jianghu. For instance, the opening chapters of some of Jin Yong's works follow a certain pattern: a tragic event occurs, usually one that costs the lives of the newly introduced characters, and then it sets events into motion that will culminate in the primary action of the story.


title: Wuxia

text: Other stories use different structures. For instance, the protagonist is denied admission into a martial arts sect. He experiences hardships and trains secretly and waits until there is an opportunity for him to show off his skills and surprise those who initially looked down on him. Some stories feature a mature hero with powerful martial arts abilities confronting an equally powerful antagonist as his nemesis. The plot will gradually meander to a final dramatic showdown between the protagonist and his nemesis. These types of stories were prevalent during the era of anti-Qing revolutionaries.


title: Wuxia

text: Certain stories have unique plots, such as those by Gu Long and Huang Yi. Gu Long's works have an element of mystery and are written like detective stories. The protagonist, usually a formidable martial artist and intelligent problem-solver, embarks on a quest to solve a mystery such as a murder case. Huang Yi's stories are blended with science fiction.


title: Wuxia

text: Despite these genre-blending elements, wuxia is primarily a historical genre of fiction. Notwithstanding this, wuxia writers openly admit that they are unable to capture the entire history of a course of events and instead choose to structure their stories along the pattern of the protagonist's progression from childhood to adulthood instead. The progression may be symbolic rather than literal, as observed in Jin Yong's "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer", where Linghu Chong progresses from childish concerns and dalliances into much more adult ones as his unwavering loyalty repeatedly thrusts him into the rocks of betrayal at the hands of his inhumane master.


title: Wuxia

text: The eight common attributes of the xia are listed as benevolence, justice, individualism, loyalty, courage, truthfulness, disregard for wealth, and desire for glory. Apart from individualism, these characteristics are similar to Confucian values such as "ren" (仁; "benevolence", "kindness"), "zhong" (忠; "loyalty"), "yong" (勇; "courage", "bravery") and "yi" (義; "righteousness"). The code of xia also emphasises the importance of repaying benefactors after having received deeds of "en" (恩; "grace", "favour") from others, as well as seeking "chou" (仇; "vengeance", "revenge") to bring villains to justice. However, the importance of vengeance is controversial, as a number of wuxia works stress Buddhist ideals, which include forgiveness, compassion and a prohibition on killing.


title: Wuxia

text: In the jianghu, martial artists are expected to be loyal to their master (Shifu). This gives rise to the formation of several complex trees of master-apprentice relations as well as the various sects such as Shaolin and Wudang. If there are any disputes between fighters, they will choose the honourable way of settling their issues through fighting in duels.


title: Wuxia

text: The martial arts in wuxia stories are based on wushu techniques and other real life Chinese martial arts. In wuxia tales, however, the mastery of such skills are highly exaggerated to superhuman levels of achievement and prowess.


title: Wuxia

text: In wuxia stories, characters attain the above skills and abilities by devoting themselves to years of diligent study and exercise, but can also have such power conferred upon them by a master who transfers his energy to them. The instructions to mastering these skills through training are found in secret manuals known as "miji" (秘笈). In some stories, specific skills can be learned by spending several years in seclusion with a master or training with a group of fighters.


title: Wuxia

text: New and original wuxia writings have dwindled significantly in modern times, particularly so as patronage and readerships of the genre decimated due to readily available alternatives in entertainment such as DVDs, gaming consoles and so forth. The genre has proliferated in manhua (Chinese comics) in places like Hong Kong and Taiwan, with the core essentials of the wuxia genre living on in weekly editions equivalent to the Japanese manga.


title: Wuxia

text: The earliest wuxia films date back to the 1920s. Extant early wuxia films produced in China include "Red Heroine" (1929), "Woman Warrior White Rose" (1929), and "Woman Warrior of the Wild River 6: Rumble at Deerhorn Gully" (1930), the sixth film in a series. "Hua Mu Lan" (1939), another surviving film, is considered a representative of the second wave of wuxia films, during the Anti-Japanese War. Films directed by King Hu and produced by the Shaw Brothers Studio featured sophisticated action choreography using wire and trampoline assisted acrobatics combined with sped-up camera techniques. The storylines in the early films were loosely adapted from existing literature.


title: Wuxia

text: Cheng Pei-pei, Jimmy Wang and Connie Chan are among the better known wuxia movie stars in the 1960s–70s, when films made by King Hu and the Shaw Brothers Studio were most prominent. More recent wuxia movie actors and actresses include Jet Li, Brigitte Lin, Michelle Yeoh, Donnie Yen, Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi. Yuen Woo-ping is a choreographer who achieved fame by crafting action-sequences in wuxia films.


title: Wuxia

text: Wuxia was introduced to Hollywood studios in 2000 by Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", though influence of the genre was previously seen in the United States in the 1970s television series "Kung Fu". Following in Lee's footsteps, Zhang Yimou made "Hero", targeted for the international market in 2002, "House of Flying Daggers" in 2004, "Curse of the Golden Flower" in 2006 and "Shadow" in 2018. Western audiences were also introduced to wuxia through Asian television stations in larger cities, which featured miniseries such as "Warriors of the Yang Clan" and "Paradise", often with English subtitles.


title: Wuxia

text: (Chinese: 江湖儿女; 'Sons and Daughters of Jianghu'), a 2018 Chinese drama directed by Jia Zhangke. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. The story is loosely based on the leader of a gang from Jia Zhangke's childhood, whom he had admired as a role model. Like the rest of Jia's films, it opened to widespread acclaim.


title: Wuxia

text: Western attempts at the genre have been limited, such as the 2008 film "The Forbidden Kingdom", which starred Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Michael Angarano; other movies including wuxia elements are the first three in "The Matrix film series" (1999-2003, the fourth one from 2021 was choreographed by Joshua Grothe) and the "" from 2003-2004, all of which were choregraphed by Yuen Woo-Ping. However, a major exception is DreamWorks Animation's media franchise "Kung Fu Panda". Created as an earnest, if humorous, emulation by producers who were knowledgeable admirers of the genre, the series has been particularly hailed in China as an excellent contribution to the form. More recently, 1990s–2000s Hong Kong stars Daniel Wu and Stephen Fung have worked with AMC Networks to bring wuxia to a US television audience with "Into the Badlands", which premiered in 2015 and ran for three seasons.


title: Wuxia

text: Some notable wuxia video games of the action RPG genre include "The Legend of Sword and Fairy", "Xuan-Yuan Sword", "Jade Empire", and "Kingdom of Paradise", all of which blend wuxia with elements of Chinese mythology and fantasy. "The Legend of Sword and Fairy", in particular, expanded into a franchise of eight video games, two of which were adapted into the television series "Chinese Paladin" (2005) and "Chinese Paladin 3" (2009). There are also MMORPGs, such as "Heroes of Kung Fu" and "Age of Wulin", and hack and slash games, such as "Bujingai" and "Heavenly Sword".


title: Wuxia

text: Games adapted from the works of wuxia writers include "Heroes of Jin Yong", an RPG based on characters in Jin Yong's novels; "Dragon Oath", an MMORPG inspired by Jin Yong's "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils"; and "Martial Kingdoms", a strategy game featuring several martial arts sects which commonly appear in wuxia fiction.


title: Debutante

text: A debutante, also spelled débutante, ( ; from , "female beginner") or deb is a young woman of aristocratic or upper-class family background who has reached maturity and, as a new adult, is presented to society at a formal "debut" ( , ; ) or possibly debutante ball. Originally, the term meant that the woman was old enough to be married, and part of the purpose of her coming out was to display her to eligible bachelors and their families, with a view to marriage within a select circle.


title: Debutante

text: Vienna, Austria, still maintains many of the institutions that made up the social, courtly life of the Habsburg Empire. One of those is the most active formal ball season in the world. From 1 January to 1 March, no less than 28 formal balls, with a huge variety of hosts, are held in Vienna. Many are for specific nationalities, like the Russian Ball or the Serbian Saint Sava ball; social groups like the Hunter's Ball or Verein Grünes Kreuz ball, or trade groups like the Coffee Roasters or Doctors Ball. Some of these balls also have debutantes. However, the two that are best known for their debutantes are the Officer's Ball and the Vienna Opera Ball.


title: Debutante

text: The is considered to be the direct successor of Vienna's Imperial Court Ball. The modern version was founded in 1919, by the association Alt-Neustadt, an association of graduates of the Theresian Military Academy. They have organized the ball publicly since 1926. The Ball is held on the third Friday of January across the twenty-three salons of the Vienna Hofburg Palace and includes nine bands of different styles of music, military formations, and dancing troupes from around the world. The patron is the President of the Republic and it is hosted by the Chief of the Defense Staff. The entrance and presentation of the 80 debutantes is the highlight of the opening event, followed by the presentation of ministers of state, then the Diplomatic Corps, and finishes with the debutantes leading the first formal Viennese waltz to the music of "The Blue Danube". The ladies are from the nobility, daughters of senior ranking military officers, or female officers in the Austrian military. They are presented to the Minister of Defense. The dress code is evening dress: floor-length gowns for women, and white tie and tails for men or mess dress uniform for military members. The final ceremonial is the blowing of the hunt horns and takes place at 4 o'clock in the morning.


title: Debutante

text: The Vienna Opera Ball is held in the auditorium of the Vienna State Opera which is turned into a large ballroom. On the eve of the event, the rows of seats are removed from the stalls, and a new floor, level with the stage, is built. The ball does not start until around 10 pm when the Austrian president and his guests enter the imperial balcony. Their arrival is heralded by trumpets. The Austrian national anthem is played followed by the European anthem. There are performances of the state opera ballet company and classical arias sung by the opera stars. These are normally a small selection of Italian opera and famous Austrian pieces. The highlight of the opening ceremony is the introduction of 180 debutante couples. These are carefully selected young women and men who have successfully completed an application program and a strict classical dance choreography organised by the Elmayer dance school. The debutantes are led into the opera house to the sounds of Carl Michael Ziehrer's Fächerpolonaise. The dress code is evening dress: white tie and tails for men; strictly floor-length gowns for women. White opera gloves are still mandatory for female debutantes at the Vienna Opera Ball.


title: Debutante

text: In Australia, debutante balls (or colloquially "deb balls") are usually organised by high schools, church groups or service clubs, such as Lions or Rotary. The girls who take part are in either Year 10, 11 or 12 at high school (i.e. aged between 15 and 18). The event is often used as a fund-raiser for local charities.


title: Debutante

text: The Australian debutante wears a white or pale-coloured gown similar to a wedding dress. However, the dress does not come with a train on the skirt, and the debutante does not wear a veil. The boy wears black tie or another formal dress suit.


title: Debutante

text: It is customary for the female to ask a male to the debutante ball, with males not being able to "do the deb" unless they are asked, similar to a Sadie Hawkins Dance. The debutantes and their partners must learn how to dance in ballroom style. Debutante balls are almost always held in a reception centre, school hall, the function room of a sporting or other community organisation, e.g. RSL club, or ballroom. Usually they are held late in the year and consist of dinner, dancing, and speeches.


title: Debutante

text: In the United Kingdom, the presentation of debutantes to the Sovereign at Court used to mark the start of the British social season. The presentation of debutantes at court was also a way for young women of marriageable age to be presented to suitable bachelors and their families, in the hopes of finding a suitable husband. Bachelors, in turn, used the court presentation as a chance to find a suitable wife.


title: Debutante

text: Those who wanted to be presented at court were required to apply for permission to do so, and to be made by ladies who had been presented to the Sovereign, such as the mother of a young woman, or her mother-in-law if she was married. If the application was accepted, they would be sent a royal summons from the Lord Chamberlain to attend the Presentation on a certain day. According to "Debrett's", the proceedings on that day always started at 10 am. In addition to debutantes, older women, and married women who had not previously been presented, could be presented at Court.


title: Debutante

text: On the day of the court presentation, the debutante and her sponsor would be announced, the debutante would curtsy to the Sovereign, and she would leave without turning her back.


title: Debutante

text: The court dress was traditionally a white evening dress, but shades of ivory and pink were acceptable. The dress featured short sleeves and the young woman also wore long white gloves, a veil attached to the hair with three white ostrich feathers, and a train, which the debutante would hold on her arm until she was ready to be presented. Debutantes would wear pearls, but many would also wear jewellery that belonged to the family.


title: Debutante

text: After the debutantes were presented to the monarch, they would attend the social season. The season consisted of events such as afternoon tea parties, polo matches, races at Royal Ascot, and balls. Many debutantes would also have their own "coming-out party" or, alternatively, a party shared with a sister or other member of family.


title: Debutante

text: The last debutantes were presented at Court in 1958, after which Queen Elizabeth II abolished the ceremony. Attempts were made to keep the tradition going by organising a series of parties for young women who might otherwise have been presented at Court in their first season (to which suitable young men were also invited) by Peter Townend. However, the withdrawal of royal patronage made these occasions decreasingly significant, and scarcely distinguishable from any other part of the social season. The Queen Charlotte's Ball, a contemporary revival of the traditions of presentation at court, continues under the patronage of the Duke of Somerset.


title: Debutante

text: The expression "debutante", or "deb" for short, has continued to be used, especially in the press, to refer to young women of marriageable age who participate in a semi-public, upper class social scene. The expression "deb's delight" is applied to good looking, unmarried young men from similar backgrounds.


title: Debutante

text: The upper classes of the United States developed social traditions related to British practices. Today a cotillion or debutante ball in the United States is a formal presentation of young women, debutantes, to "polite society", typically hosted by a charity or society. Those introduced can vary from the ages of 16 to 18 (younger ages are more typical of Southern regions, while older are more commonplace in the North). In some areas, 15- and 16-year-olds are called "junior debutantes".


title: Debutante

text: One of the most prestigious, most exclusive, and most expensive debutante balls in the world is the invitation-only International Debutante Ball held annually at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, where girls from prominent world families are presented to high society. The International Debutante Ball has presented princesses, countesses, baronesses and many European royalty and aristocrats as debutantes to high society, including Princess Katarina of Yugoslavia, Vanessa von Bismarck (great-great-granddaughter of Otto von Bismarck), Princess Natalya Elisabeth Davidovna Obolensky (granddaughter of the Prince Ivan Obolensky, who was the Chairman of the International Debutante Ball and himself the grandson of John Jacob Astor IV – founder of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel), Princess Ines de Bourbon Parme, Countess Magdalena Habsburg-Lothringen (great-great-granddaughter of Empress Elisabeth "Sisi" of Austria) and Lady Henrietta Seymour (daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Somerset).


title: Debutante

text: Daughters and granddaughters of billionaire businessmen, high-ranking politicians, such as United States presidents, senators and congressmen, and ambassadors have also been presented at the International Debutante Ball; for example, Tricia Nixon, Julie Nixon, Jennie Eisenhower, Ashley Walker Bush (granddaughter of President George H. W. Bush and niece of President George W. Bush), Lucinda Robb (granddaughter of President Lyndon B. Johnson), Christine Colby (daughter of CIA director William Colby), Hollister Knowlton, Charlotte and Catherine Forbes (granddaughters of Malcolm Forbes), and Christina Huffington (daughter of Arianna Huffington of "The Huffington Post"). Ivanka Trump (daughter of President Donald Trump) was invited but chose not to attend.


title: Debutante

text: To gain admission to a debutante ball, debutantes must usually be recommended by a distinguished committee or sponsored by an established member of élite society, typically their mothers or other female relatives. Wearing white gowns and satin or kid long gloves, the debutantes stand in a receiving line, and are introduced individually to the audience. After the debutante is announced, she is walked around the stage, guided by her father who presents her. Her younger male escort joins her and escorts her to make way for the next. Each debutante brings at least one escort, sometimes two.


title: Debutante

text: Many debutante balls select escorts and pair them with the debs to promote good social pairings. Cotillions may be elaborate formal affairs and involve not only "debs" but also junior debutantes, escorts and ushers, and flower girls and pages. Every debutante must perform a curtsy, also known as the St. James Bow or a full court bow to the attendees. The exception are Texas debutantes who are presented at the International Debutante Ball at New York City's Waldorf Astoria Hotel, who perform the "Texas Dip". This gesture is made as the young woman is formally presented. Débutante balls exist in nearly every major city in the United States. They occur more frequently and are larger affairs in the American South.


title: Debutante

text: The Christmas Cotillion in Savannah, Georgia, first held in 1817, is the oldest debutante ball in the United States. Many cities such as Dallas and Atlanta have several balls in a season. Dallas, for example, has a ball sponsored by the traditional Idlewild organization. Some balls sponsored by modern organizations, such as the Dallas Symphony Orchestra Presentation Ball and La Fiesta de las Seis Banderas, raise money to benefit charities.


title: Debutante

text: The National Cotillion and Thanksgiving Ball of Washington, DC., hosted by Mary-Stuart Montague Price, has met every November for over 60 years with proceeds going to Children's Hospital. Debutantes can formally participate in the ball for up to three years, wearing different colors each time to express their increasing sophistication: debutantes wear white, post-debutantes wear black, and the post-post debutantes wear red.


title: Debutante

text: Another "Old South" debutante ball is the St. Cecilia Society Ball held annually in Charleston, South Carolina. This ball is described in Alexandra Ripley's novel, "Scarlett", the sequel to Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With The Wind". The Society was formed in 1766 as a private subscription concert organization. Over the next fifty-four years, its annual concert series formed the most sophisticated musical phenomenon in North America. Its musical patronage ended in 1820. Today the St. Cecilia Society flourishes is one of South Carolina's oldest and most exclusive social institutions. Today the St. Cecilia Society hosts the annual debutante ball. The society admits only those men whose fathers or brothers are members. The women must be from these families. In New Orleans, Louisiana, a debutante is usually presented at a ball during the Carnival season.


title: Debutante

text: In New York City, there are still several deb balls, including the international one described above. Charity and social balls include the Infirmary (benefits the local hospital), the Society of Mayflower Descendants Ball, and the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York Ball (founded 1835). As an alternative to a ball, and more frequent in the North, a young woman's family might hold a "coming-out party" for her.


title: Debutante

text: Unlike the formal balls, which are held only at a traditional time of the year, the individual "coming-out party" may be held at any time of the year. Some are scheduled around such occasions as the debutante's birthday, or graduation from high school or university. In theory, the only women who could be invited would be those who had already made their débuts, thus affording a sort of rank-order to the debutante season. "Old-money" families often send their preteen sons and daughters to dancing classes, called cotillion, and etiquette lessons in preparation for these parties, which launch their children into society and act as major networking events. Even less grand debutante balls typically require debs to attend a few lessons in social dance, comportment, and in executing their curtsy.


title: Debutante

text: Since the early 20th century, the African-American community organized its own tradition of social organizations, some of which sponsor similar charitable events and activities. They hold their own cotillions and debutante balls for their upper classes. Successful African Americans could meet and make connections with others of their status at such events, and make social, political and economic connections for the young women and men in their families. These formal cotillion and debutante balls still thrive as among the most traditional events of the African-American upper class.


title: Debutante

text: Various Ukrainian émigré organizations in the United States, such as the Ukrainian American Medical Association of North America, the Ukrainian Engineers' Society of America, Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization, and the Ukrainian American Youth Association have hosted annual black-tie debutante balls since after the Second World War. They are used to raise funds for charities and to introduce young Ukrainian ladies between the ages of 16 and 18 to their local ethnic Ukrainian communities. Ukrainian American debutante balls take place in American cities with substantial populations of Ukrainians, such as Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Newark, and Washington D.C. Beside the traditional waltz of the debutantes, one of the highlights of these balls is the Kolomyjka, which usually takes place past midnight. Every guest may spontaneously demonstrate their skills in Ukrainian dances, such as the Hopak or Arkan. Kolomyjka dances tend to last upwards of a half-hour of nonstop folk dancing. Afterward traditional black-tie ball dances are revived.


title: Debutante

text: Author Ann Anderson suggests that the high school prom of public schools is the democratic version of the debutante ball. It requires no membership in the upper class nor family restrictions to girls or boys participation.


title: Debutante

text: Several television series focused on young people from wealthy families include episodes with debutante events. "The Debut," an episode of "The O.C." (a drama about wealthy Californians), featured a representation of an American debutante ball. "Hi, Society," (season 1, episode 10), "They Shoot Humphreys, Don't They?," (season 3, episode 9), "Riding in Town Cars with Boys (season 5, episode 10), and "Monstrous Ball" (season 6, episode 5) of "Gossip Girl", also from "The O.C." creator Josh Schwartz, features a debutante ball in New York City. "Presenting Lorelai Gilmore", an episode of "Gilmore Girls" shows Rory Gilmore as a debutante. She makes her debut at a Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) debutante ball that her grandmother helped put together. In "The Critic", Jay Sherman's younger sister Margo is persuaded to attend her debutante ball. In "BoJack Horseman", the titular character's mother, Beatrice, is shown attending her debutante ball as a young adult through flashbacks in the season 4 episode "Time's Arrow".


title: Debutante

text: In the premiere of "The City", Whitney Port's reality show, her co-worker Olivia Palermo describes her first pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes, which she wore to her "Deb" at the age of 18.


title: Debutante

text: Crime dramas have investigated début-related crimes. "Zoo York," an episode of "", featured the CSI team investigating the murder of a debutante. Medical examiner Evan Zao says that he had attended a debutante ball. "Debut", an episode of "Cold Case", tells the story of a young girl who is murdered the night of her debutante ball. In an episode of "", entitled "Streetwise", detectives investigated the rape and murder of a debutante.


title: Debutante

text: Films with debutante themes include "Metropolitan" (1990), Whit Stillman's feature film, a comedy of manners set during the deb season in Manhattan, and "What a Girl Wants" (2003), in which Amanda Bynes plays an American teen whose estranged father is a British lord, and who is presented at a coming-out party. Bynes is also featured in "She's The Man", in which the main character attends a debutantes preparation program and finally a ball. "Something New", a romantic comedy, has a scene of upper-class African Americans at a cotillion on the West Coast. "The Debut" (2001), a film on contemporary Filipino-American life, explores a wide variety of cultural themes through an informal debutante event.


title: Debutante

text: The 1992 film "The Addams Family" is centered on the reconciliation of Gomez and Fester Addams. They had a falling out as teenagers at a debutante ball. In the film "Little Women" (1994), a "coming-out" party is given. Aunt March talks to Marmee about when Meg will be introduced into society.


title: Debutante

text: "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm" (2020) includes a scene at a debutante ball at Johnston–Felton–Hay House in Macon, Georgia.


title: Debutante

text: In Mexico, Dominican Republic, Panama, Puerto Rico and Paraguay, debutantes are young girls who take part in a "Festival de Debutantes", or a "Quince Años", held for their fifteenth birthdays. "Quinceañera" parties are also held in the United States among Latino communities from these nations.


title: Debutante

text: In Brazil and Mexico, such events are called "Baile de Debutante" (Spanish and Portuguese) or "Festa de Debutante" (only Portuguese), or "Quince Años" (Spanish) or "Quinze Anos" (Portuguese).


title: Debutante

text: In Panama, the Debutante Ball is organized by Damas Guadalupanas. It is a charity event held at Club Union. It takes place when girls are seniors in high school (17–18 years old). This follows the Quince Años, which takes place when they are 15.


title: Hot pot

text: Hot pot or hotpot (), also known as soup-food or steamboat, is a cooking method that originated in China. A heat source on the dining table keeps a pot of soup stock simmering, and a variety of Chinese foodstuffs and ingredients are served beside the pot for the diners to put into the hot stock.


title: Hot pot

text: Hot pot is a flavorful broth traditionally served inside a large metal pot. The broth is brought to a boil and left simmering for the duration of the meal. Raw ingredients, such as meat and vegetables, are placed into the simmering broth and thus cooked. The cooked pieces are dipped into dipping sauces for additional flavor. Hot pot is considered a main course and is usually served without rice or noodles on the side. Hot pots can be prepared and eaten at home or in a restaurant.


title: Hot pot

text: Typical hot pot ingredients include thinly sliced meat, leaf vegetables, mushrooms, vermicelli, sliced potatoes, bean products, egg dumplings, tofu, and seafood. Raw ingredients are pre-sliced into thin sections that will cook quickly and consistently in the simmering broth, which is maintained at a gentle boiling temperature. Most raw foods can be cooked in a hot pot, although they may have different cooking times, and must be immersed in the soup and then removed accordingly.


title: Hot pot

text: At the conclusion of the meal, the broth has acquired many flavors from the added ingredients, and may be served to the diners after turning off the cooking heat source.


title: Hot pot

text: The tripods of Zhou dynasty may be the earliest prototypes of the hot pot. Diners among the nobility each had a personal pot made of bronze, and called "ran lu" (/燃爐). The main part of "ran lu" was a small stove with a small pot above burning charcoal. Later, a hot pot made with copper was created during the "Three Kingdoms period" (200–280 AD), which is generally acknowledged as the origin of the hot pot.


title: Hot pot

text: During the Qing dynasty, hot pot became popular among the emperors. In particular, the Qianlong Emperor was very fond of hot pot and would eat it for almost every meal. Later, the Jiaqing Emperor also had a banquet with 1,550 hot pots at his coronation. Empress Dowager Cixi was also known to have enjoyed hot pot, especially in the winter months.


title: Hot pot

text: Since the 1990s, as the number of Chinese immigrants entering the United States has grown significantly, Chinese food has also spread to the United States, and hot pot has also moved to the forefront of the global culinary scene.


title: Hot pot

text: Chinese hot pots are often divided into "Southern style" and "Northern style", paralleling the cultural regions of China. Although there are wide regional variations, in general, Southern styles tend to have spicy broths, complex dipping sauces and are heavier on seafood, vegetables and mushrooms, while Northern styles are simpler and focus more on the meat, particularly mutton.


title: Hot pot

text: According to research, 67 spices of spices and condiments are commonly used in traditional Chinese hotpot, involving 82 plant species of 50 genera in 26 families.


title: Hot pot

text: Modern eateries offer a partitioned pot with differently-flavored broths in each section. More traditional or older establishments often serve a fragrant, mild broth in a large brass vessel heated by burning coals in a central chimney. The broth is simmered in a deep, donut-shaped bowl surrounding the chimney.


title: Hot pot

text: One of the most famous Southern variations is the Chongqing hot pot (Chinese: 重庆火锅), which uses "mala" seasoning flavored with chilli peppers and Sichuan pepper for a spicy and numbing flavor. Chongqing hotpots often feature a wide variety of different meats and ingredients, and offer many sauces and condiments to flavor the meat. The typical dipping sauce contains sesame oil and is mixed with crushed fresh garlic and chopped spring onions. Due to the high humidity in the region, local people eat spicy food to remove the moisture from their bodies.


title: Hot pot

text: Sichuan also has a number of "dry" hot pots such as mala xiangguo (Chinese: 麻辣香锅), which are similar to "mala" hot pot in ingredients and seasoning, but stir-fry them instead of cooking in broth.


title: Hot pot

text: In neighbouring Yunnan, although spicy broths are equally popular, there is another predominant type of hot pot that is made with various wild or farmed mushrooms. It is called the Wild Mushroom hot pot (). Due to the vast forests and abundant natural resources in Yunnan, people can find a wide variety of edible mushrooms. The easily accessible and fresh mushroom resources lead to the high popularity of the Wild Mushroom hot pot. The big difference between the mushroom hot pot and the spicy hot pot is that the former omits strong spice and chili, and the latter preserves the original flavor of the mushrooms. The mushroom hot pot is also seasonal, depending on the availability of local mushrooms.


title: Hot pot

text: A Cantonese variation includes mixing a raw egg with the condiments to reduce the amount of "heat" absorbed by the food, thereby reducing the likelihood of a sore throat after the steamboat meal, according to Chinese herbalist theories.


title: Hot pot

text: In Hainan cuisine hot pot is generally served in small woks with a prepared broth containing pieces of meat. At the time of serving, the meat is not fully cooked, and approximately fifteen minutes are required before it is ready to eat. Items supplied to be cooked in this type of hot pot include mushrooms, thinly-shaved beef or goat meat, lettuce, and other green vegetables. This dish varies somewhat in different parts of the province. Coconut milk and juice is commonly added into the hot pot.


title: Hot pot

text: In Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisine, chrysanthemum flowers are cooked in the broth to give it a floral essence.


title: Hot pot

text: Instant-boiled mutton () could be viewed as representative of "northern style hot pot", which focus on the main ingredients rather than the soup base. Water is used as the main ingredient of the hotpot instead of the flavored broth.


title: Hot pot

text: In Hubei cuisine, hot pot is normally prepared with hot spices and Sichuan pepper. Items supplied to be cooked in this broth include mushrooms, thinly-shaved beef or lamb, lettuce, and various other green vegetables.


title: Hot pot

text: In Taiwanese cuisine, it is very common to eat hotpot food with a dipping sauce consisting of shacha sauce and raw egg yolk with stir-fried beef. (沙茶牛肉炉). One of the most authentic hotpot restaurants that locals widely praise is a hotpot restaurant called “Xiao Haozhou's sha-cha beef hot pot.” This restaurant was founded in 1949 by a man named Musheng Chen. The popularity of this hot pot restaurant and its unique secret recipe of sha-cha sauce has become one of the iconic sha-cha sauce brands in Taiwanese cuisine nowadays. Initially, this hotpot is only assorted with a light broth and dip with sha-cha source. Influenced by Japanese cuisine, the sha-cha source is now commonly served with raw egg yolk.


title: Hot pot

text: The Taiwanese also developed their Taiwanese style of chili hotpot originated from the Sichuan chili hotpot style. In the Taiwanese style of chili hotpot, people who barely tolerate spicy favor are included. Rather than using animal offal as the main ingredient, the Taiwanese style of chili hotpot uses seafood and beef as their main ingredient due to Taiwan's locational characteristics of nearing the sea.


title: Hot pot

text: In Taiwan, people usually have a hotpot meal during the Chinese Lunar New Year's Eve. Different from the usual days of cooking hotpots with whatever ingredients they like, the Taiwanese follow the principles of Wu-Xing (the five-element principle) when cooking the Lunar year Taiwan hotpot. They believe that by following the current principle of these five elements, then the food they eat can gain a “mutual generation sequence” (xiangsheng 相生) that is beneficial to the ones that eat them. In Taiwanese hotpot, these five elements are represented with the food in five colors: white, black, yellow, red, and green. Therefore, the five indispensable foods are


title: Hot pot

text: Moreover, locals believe that the more color there are shown in a hotpot, the more different nutrients they will gain from eating it. The reason why it is so crucial for Taiwanese people to consume hot pot during the Lunar year is that hot pot not only represents rich nutrition and blessings for family health, but it also represents family reunion and harmony.


title: Hot pot

text: In Japan, hot pots are known as nabemono. There are many variations, including sukiyaki, yosenabe, shabu-shabu, oden, and chankonabe.


title: Hot pot

text: There are two main Korean style hotpot, Jeongol (전골) and Budae Jjigae (부대찌개). Both hotpot have similar spicy broth, loaded with Kimchi, spam, sausages, vegetables and noodles.


title: Hot pot

text: In Cambodian cuisine, hot pot is called "yao hon" (យ៉ាវហន), though some regions call it "chhnang pleurng" (ឆ្នាំងភ្លើង), which literally translates to "pot fire". It is usually eaten during celebrations or family gatherings. Just like the Chinese version, Cambodian hot pot consist of similar ingredients although the dish differs in that coconut milk is used as the base of the soup. Another variation of the dish is called "buttered yao hon" or "buttered chhnang pleurng"; the same ingredients are used but are instead cooked on a flat grill pan where butter is used as the base (this is similar to Korean barbecue). An herb sauce is usually added to "buttered yao hon", since the ingredients are not flavored by immersion in a broth.


title: Hot pot

text: In Philippine cuisine, hotpot is commonly served by Chinese specialty restaurants, and in some all-you-can-eat buffets. The terms "shabu-shabu" and "hotpot" are also used interchangeably for this style of food preparation. In Cebu City, a specialty restaurant offers a "hot pot" that is literally a huge ceramic pot filled with cooked rice, choice of beef, pork, or chicken slices, special sauce, and choice vegetables such as broccoli, carrot, shallot, ginger, pechay, kangkong leaves, spices, and some slices of hard-boiled eggs on top; it is more similar to "kamameshi" than the namesake.


title: Hot pot

text: In Thai cuisine, hotpot is called "Thai suki", although it is quite different from the Japanese "shabu-shabu" variation called "sukiyaki". Originally a Chinese-style hot pot, the number of ingredients to choose from was greatly increased and a Thai-style dipping sauce with chili sauce, chilli, lime, and coriander leaves was added. Another variation is "mu kratha", the Thai hot pot which originated from Korean barbecue combined with "Thai suki". In the Northeast region, a similar style of cooking called chim chum where thinly sliced meat is cooked in clay pots on charcoal stove is also popular. Tom Yum is a common soup base for Thai hot pot.


title: Hot pot

text: In Vietnamese cuisine, a hot pot is called "lẩu" or "cù lao". There are many styles of lẩu ranging from seafood "lẩu hải sản", canh chua soup-base ("lẩu canh chua") or salted fish hot pot ("lẩu mắm").


title: Hot pot

text: In Swiss cuisine, a variation of the traditional Chinese hot pot locally called "fondue chinoise" (lit. "Chinese fondue") is a popular Christmas meal. Various types of meat, fish and vegetables are boiled in a shared pot of broth. Various sauces and pickled condiments are provided on the side. After all the diners have finished cooking, they eat the now well-flavored broth often combined with thin noodles.


title: MIDI

text: MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and related audio devices for playing, editing, and recording music. The specification originates in the paper "Universal Synthesizer Interface" published by Dave Smith and Chet Wood of Sequential Circuits at the 1981 Audio Engineering Society conference in New York City.


title: MIDI

text: A single MIDI cable can carry up to sixteen channels of MIDI data, each of which can be routed to a separate device. Each interaction with a key, button, knob or slider is converted into a MIDI event, which specifies musical instructions, such as a note's pitch, timing and loudness. One common MIDI application is to play a MIDI keyboard or other controller and use it to trigger a digital sound module (which contains synthesized musical sounds) to generate sounds, which the audience hears produced by a keyboard amplifier. MIDI data can be transferred via MIDI or USB cable, or recorded to a sequencer or digital audio workstation to be edited or played back.


title: MIDI

text: A file format that stores and exchanges the data is also defined. Advantages of MIDI include small file size, ease of modification and manipulation and a wide choice of electronic instruments and synthesizer or digitally sampled sounds. A MIDI recording of a performance on a keyboard could sound like a piano or other keyboard instrument; however, since MIDI records the messages and information about their notes and not the specific sounds, this recording could be changed to many other sounds, ranging from synthesized or sampled guitar or flute to full orchestra.


title: MIDI

text: Before the development of MIDI, electronic musical instruments from different manufacturers could generally not communicate with each other. This meant that a musician could not, for example, plug a Roland keyboard into a Yamaha synthesizer module. With MIDI, any MIDI-compatible keyboard (or other controller device) can be connected to any other MIDI-compatible sequencer, sound module, drum machine, synthesizer, or computer, even if they are made by different manufacturers.


title: MIDI

text: MIDI technology was standardized in 1983 by a panel of music industry representatives, and is maintained by the MIDI Manufacturers Association (MMA). All official MIDI standards are jointly developed and published by the MMA in Los Angeles, and the MIDI Committee of the Association of Musical Electronics Industry (AMEI) in Tokyo. In 2016, the MMA established The MIDI Association (TMA) to support a global community of people who work, play, or create with MIDI.


title: MIDI

text: In the early 1980s, there was no standardized means of synchronizing electronic musical instruments manufactured by different companies. Manufacturers had their own proprietary standards to synchronize instruments, such as CV/gate, DIN sync and Digital Control Bus (DCB). Ikutaro Kakehashi, the president of Roland, felt the lack of standardization was limiting the growth of the electronic music industry. In June 1981, he proposed developing a standard to the Oberheim Electronics founder Tom Oberheim, who had developed his own proprietary interface, the Oberheim System.


title: MIDI

text: Kakehashi felt the Oberheim System was too cumbersome, and spoke to president Dave Smith, the president of Sequential Circuits, about creating a simpler, cheaper alternative. While Smith discussed the concept with American companies, Kakehashi discussed it with Japanese companies Yamaha, Korg and Kawai. Representatives from all companies met to discuss the idea in October. Initially, only Sequential Circuits and the Japanese companies were interested. Using Roland's DCB as a basis, Smith and Sequential Circuits engineer Chet Wood devised a universal interface to allow communication between equipment from different manufacturers. Smith and Wood proposed this standard in a paper, "Universal Synthesizer Interface," at the Audio Engineering Society show in October 1981. The standard was discussed and modified by representatives of Roland, Yamaha, Korg, Kawai, and Sequential Circuits. Kakehashi favored the name Universal Musical Interface (UMI), pronounced "you-me", but Smith felt this was "a little corny". However, he liked the use of "instrument" instead of "synthesizer", and proposed "Musical Instrument Digital Interface" (MIDI). Robert Moog, the president of Moog Music, announced MIDI in the October 1982 issue of "Keyboard".


title: MIDI

text: At the 1983 Winter NAMM Show, Smith demonstrated a MIDI connection between Prophet 600 and Roland JP-6 synthesizers. The MIDI specification was published in August 1983. The MIDI standard was unveiled by Kakehashi and Smith, who received Technical Grammy Awards in 2013 for their work. In 1983, the first instruments were released with MIDI, the Roland Jupiter-6 and the Prophet 600. In 1983, the first MIDI drum machine, the Roland TR-909, and the first MIDI sequencer, the Roland MSQ-700, were released.


title: MIDI

text: The MIDI Manufacturers Association (MMA) was formed following a meeting of "all interested companies" at the 1984 Summer NAMM Show in Chicago. The MIDI 1.0 Detailed Specification was published at the MMA's second meeting at the 1985 Summer NAMM show. The standard continued to evolve, adding standardized song files in 1991 (General MIDI) and adapted to new connection standards such as USB and FireWire. In 2016, the MIDI Association was formed to continue overseeing the standard. An initiative to create a 2.0 standard was announced in January 2019. The MIDI 2.0 standard was introduced at the 2020 Winter NAMM show.


title: MIDI

text: The BBC cited MIDI as an early example of open-source technology. Smith believed MIDI could only succeed if every manufacturer adopted it, and so "we had to give it away".


title: MIDI

text: MIDI's appeal was originally limited to professional musicians and record producers who wanted to use electronic instruments in the production of popular music. The standard allowed different instruments to communicate with each other and with computers, and this spurred a rapid expansion of the sales and production of electronic instruments and music software. This interoperability allowed one device to be controlled from another, which reduced the amount of hardware musicians needed. MIDI's introduction coincided with the dawn of the personal computer era and the introduction of samplers and digital synthesizers. The creative possibilities brought about by MIDI technology are credited for helping revive the music industry in the 1980s.


title: MIDI

text: MIDI introduced capabilities that transformed the way many musicians work. MIDI sequencing makes it possible for a user with no notation skills to build complex arrangements. A musical act with as few as one or two members, each operating multiple MIDI-enabled devices, can deliver a performance similar to that of a larger group of musicians. The expense of hiring outside musicians for a project can be reduced or eliminated, and complex productions can be realized on a system as small as a synthesizer with integrated keyboard and sequencer.


title: MIDI

text: MIDI also helped establish home recording. By performing preproduction in a home environment, an artist can reduce recording costs by arriving at a recording studio with a partially completed song. In 2022, the "Guardian" wrote that MIDI remained as important to music as USB was to computing, and represented "a crucial value system of cooperation and mutual benefit, one all but thrown out by today’s major tech companies in favour of captive markets". As of 2022, Smith's original MIDI design was still in use.


title: MIDI

text: MIDI was invented so that electronic or digital musical instruments could communicate with each other and so that one instrument can control another. For example, a MIDI-compatible sequencer can trigger beats produced by a drum sound module. Analog synthesizers that have no digital component and were built prior to MIDI's development can be retrofitted with kits that convert MIDI messages into analog control voltages. When a note is played on a MIDI instrument, it generates a digital MIDI message that can be used to trigger a note on another instrument. The capability for remote control allows full-sized instruments to be replaced with smaller sound modules, and allows musicians to combine instruments to achieve a fuller sound, or to create combinations of synthesized instrument sounds, such as acoustic piano and strings. MIDI also enables other instrument parameters (volume, effects, etc.) to be controlled remotely.


title: MIDI

text: Synthesizers and samplers contain various tools for shaping an electronic or digital sound. Filters adjust timbre, and envelopes automate the way a sound evolves over time after a note is triggered. The frequency of a filter and the envelope attack (the time it takes for a sound to reach its maximum level), are examples of synthesizer parameters, and can be controlled remotely through MIDI. Effects devices have different parameters, such as delay feedback or reverb time. When a MIDI continuous controller number (CCN) is assigned to one of these parameters, the device responds to any messages it receives that are identified by that number. Controls such as knobs, switches, and pedals can be used to send these messages. A set of adjusted parameters can be saved to a device's internal memory as a "patch", and these patches can be remotely selected by MIDI program changes.


title: MIDI

text: MIDI events can be sequenced with computer software, or in specialized hardware music workstations. Many digital audio workstations (DAWs) are specifically designed to work with MIDI as an integral component. MIDI piano rolls have been developed in many DAWs so that the recorded MIDI messages can be easily modified. These tools allow composers to audition and edit their work much more quickly and efficiently than did older solutions, such as multitrack recording. Compositions can be programmed for MIDI that are impossible for human performers to play.


title: MIDI

text: Because a MIDI performance is a sequence of commands that create sound, MIDI recordings can be manipulated in ways that audio recordings cannot. It is possible to change the key, instrumentation or tempo of a MIDI arrangement, and to reorder its individual sections, or even edit inidividual notes. The ability to compose ideas and quickly hear them played back enables composers to experiment.


title: MIDI

text: Algorithmic composition programs provide computer-generated performances that can be used as song ideas or accompaniment.


title: MIDI

text: Some composers may take advantage of standard, portable set of commands and parameters in MIDI 1.0 and General MIDI (GM) to share musical data files among various electronic instruments. The data composed via the sequenced MIDI recordings can be saved as a "standard MIDI file" (SMF), digitally distributed, and reproduced by any computer or electronic instrument that also adheres to the same MIDI, GM, and SMF standards. MIDI data files are much smaller than corresponding recorded audio files.


title: MIDI

text: The personal computer market stabilized at the same time that MIDI appeared, and computers became a viable option for music production. In 1983 computers started to play a role in mainstream music production. In the years immediately after the 1983 ratification of the MIDI specification, MIDI features were adapted to several early computer platforms. The Yamaha CX5M introduced MIDI support and sequencing in an MSX system in 1984.


title: MIDI

text: The spread of MIDI on personal computers was largely facilitated by Roland Corporation's MPU-401, released in 1984, as the first MIDI-equipped PC sound card, capable of MIDI sound processing and sequencing. After Roland sold MPU sound chips to other sound card manufacturers, it established a universal standard MIDI-to-PC interface. The widespread adoption of MIDI led to computer-based MIDI software being developed. Soon after, a number of platforms began supporting MIDI, including the Apple II Plus, IIe and Macintosh, Commodore 64 and Amiga, Atari ST, Acorn Archimedes, and PC DOS.


title: MIDI

text: The Macintosh was a favorite among musicians in the United States, as it was marketed at a competitive price, and it took several years for PC systems to catch up with its efficiency and graphical interface. The Atari ST was preferred in Europe, where Macintoshes were more expensive. The Atari ST had the advantage of MIDI ports that were built directly into the computer. Most music software in MIDI's first decade was published for either the Apple or the Atari. By the time of Windows 3.0's 1990 release, PCs had caught up in processing power and had acquired a graphical interface and software titles began to see release on multiple platforms.


title: MIDI

text: In 2015, Retro Innovations released the first MIDI interface for a VIC-20, making the computer's four voices available to electronic musicians and retro-computing enthusiasts for the first time. Retro Innovations also makes a MIDI interface cartridge for Tandy Color Computer and Dragon computers.


title: MIDI

text: Chiptune musicians also use retro gaming consoles to compose, produce and perform music using MIDI interfaces. Custom interfaces are available for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)/Famicom, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance and Sega Genesis (Mega Drive).


title: MIDI

text: A MIDI file is not an audio recording. Rather, it is a set of instructionsfor example, for pitch or tempoand can use a thousand times less disk space than the equivalent recorded audio. Due to their tiny filesize, fan-made MIDI arrangements became an attractive way to share music online, before the advent of broadband internet access and multi-gigabyte hard drives. The major drawback to this is the wide variation in quality of users' audio cards, and in the actual audio contained as samples or synthesized sound in the card that the MIDI data only refers to symbolically. Even a sound card that contains high-quality sampled sounds can have inconsistent quality from one sampled instrument to another. Early budget-priced cards, such as the AdLib and the Sound Blaster and its compatibles, used a stripped-down version of Yamaha's frequency modulation synthesis (FM synthesis) technology played back through low-quality digital-to-analog converters. The low-fidelity reproduction of these ubiquitous cards was often assumed to somehow be a property of MIDI itself. This created a perception of MIDI as low-quality audio, while in reality MIDI itself contains no sound, and the quality of its playback depends entirely on the quality of the sound-producing device.


title: MIDI

text: The Standard MIDI File (SMF) is a file format that provides a standardized way for music sequences to be saved, transported, and opened in other systems. The standard was developed and is maintained by the MMA, and usually uses a codice_1 extension. The compact size of these files led to their widespread use in computers, mobile phone ringtones, webpage authoring and musical greeting cards. These files are intended for universal use and include such information as note values, timing and track names. Lyrics may be included as metadata, and can be displayed by karaoke machines.


title: MIDI

text: SMFs are created as an export format of software sequencers or hardware workstations. They organize MIDI messages into one or more parallel tracks and time-stamp the events so that they can be played back in sequence. A header contains the arrangement's track count, tempo and an indicator of which of three SMF formats the file uses. A type 0 file contains the entire performance, merged onto a single track, while type 1 files may contain any number of tracks that are performed synchronously. Type 2 files are rarely used and store multiple arrangements, with each arrangement having its own track and intended to be played in sequence.


title: MIDI

text: Microsoft Windows bundles SMFs together with Downloadable Sounds (DLS) in a Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF) wrapper, as RMID files with a codice_2 extension. RIFF-RMID has been deprecated in favor of Extensible Music Files (XMF).


title: MIDI

text: The main advantage of the personal computer in a MIDI system is that it can serve a number of different purposes, depending on the software that is loaded. Multitasking allows simultaneous operation of programs that may be able to share data with each other.


title: MIDI

text: Sequencing software allows recorded MIDI data to be manipulated using standard computer editing features such as cut, copy and paste and drag and drop. Keyboard shortcuts can be used to streamline workflow, and, in some systems, editing functions may be invoked by MIDI events. The sequencer allows each channel to be set to play a different sound and gives a graphical overview of the arrangement. A variety of editing tools are made available, including a notation display or scorewriter that can be used to create printed parts for musicians. Tools such as looping, quantization, randomization, and transposition simplify the arranging process.


title: MIDI

text: Beat creation is simplified, and groove templates can be used to duplicate another track's rhythmic feel. Realistic expression can be added through the manipulation of real-time controllers. Mixing can be performed, and MIDI can be synchronized with recorded audio and video tracks. Work can be saved, and transported between different computers or studios.


title: MIDI

text: Sequencers may take alternate forms, such as drum pattern editors that allow users to create beats by clicking on pattern grids, and loop sequencers such as ACID Pro, which allow MIDI to be combined with prerecorded audio loops whose tempos and keys are matched to each other. Cue-list sequencing is used to trigger dialogue, sound effect, and music cues in stage and broadcast production.


title: MIDI

text: With MIDI, notes played on a keyboard can automatically be transcribed to sheet music. Scorewriting software typically lacks advanced sequencing tools, and is optimized for the creation of a neat, professional printout designed for live instrumentalists. These programs provide support for dynamics and expression markings, chord and lyric display, and complex score styles. Software is available that can print scores in braille.


title: MIDI

text: Notation programs include Finale, Encore, Sibelius, MuseScore and Dorico. SmartScore software can produce MIDI files from scanned sheet music.


title: MIDI

text: Patch editors allow users to program their equipment through the computer interface. These became essential with the appearance of complex synthesizers such as the Yamaha FS1R, which contained several thousand programmable parameters, but had an interface that consisted of fifteen tiny buttons, four knobs and a small LCD. Digital instruments typically discourage users from experimentation, due to their lack of the feedback and direct control that switches and knobs would provide, but patch editors give owners of hardware instruments and effects devices the same editing functionality that is available to users of software synthesizers. Some editors are designed for a specific instrument or effects device, while other, "universal" editors support a variety of equipment, and ideally can control the parameters of every device in a setup through the use of System Exclusive messages. System Exclusive messages use the MIDI protocol to send information about the synthesizer's parameters.


title: MIDI

text: Patch librarians have the specialized function of organizing the sounds in a collection of equipment and exchanging entire banks of sounds between an instrument and a computer. In this way the device's limited patch storage is augmented by a computer's much greater disk capacity. Once transferred to the computer, it is possible to share custom patches with other owners of the same instrument. Universal editor/librarians that combine the two functions were once common, and included Opcode Systems' Galaxy, eMagic's SoundDiver, and MOTU's Unisyn. Although these older programs have been largely abandoned with the trend toward computer-based synthesis using virtual instruments, several editor/librarians remain available, including Coffeeshopped Patch Base, Sound Quest's Midi Quest, and several editors from Sound Tower. Native Instruments' Kore was an effort to bring the editor/librarian concept into the age of software instruments, but was abandoned in 2011.


title: MIDI

text: Programs that can dynamically generate accompaniment tracks are called "auto-accompaniment" programs. These create a full band arrangement in a style that the user selects, and send the result to a MIDI sound generating device for playback. The generated tracks can be used as educational or practice tools, as accompaniment for live performances, or as a songwriting aid.