title: Sea anemone

text: A typical sea anemone is a single polyp attached to a hard surface by its base, but some species live in soft sediment, and a few float near the surface of the water. The polyp has a columnar trunk topped by an oral disc with a ring of tentacles and a central mouth. The tentacles can be retracted inside the body cavity or expanded to catch passing prey. They are armed with cnidocytes (stinging cells). In many species, additional nourishment comes from a symbiotic relationship with single-celled dinoflagellates, with zooxanthellae, or with green algae, zoochlorellae, that live within the cells. Some species of sea anemone live in association with clownfish, hermit crabs, small fish, or other animals to their mutual benefit.


title: Sea anemone

text: Sea anemones breed by liberating sperm and eggs through the mouth into the sea. The resulting fertilized eggs develop into planula larvae which, after being planktonic for a while, settle on the seabed and develop directly into juvenile polyps. Sea anemones also breed asexually, by breaking in half or into smaller pieces which regenerate into polyps. Sea anemones are sometimes kept in reef aquariums; the global trade in marine ornamentals for this purpose is expanding and threatens sea anemone populations in some localities, as the trade depends on collection from the wild.


title: Sea anemone

text: A typical sea anemone is a sessile polyp attached at the base to the surface beneath it by an adhesive foot, called a basal or pedal disc, with a column-shaped body topped by an oral disc. Most are from in diameter and in length, but they are inflatable and vary greatly in dimensions. Some are very large; "Urticina columbiana" and "Stichodactyla mertensii" can both exceed in diameter and "Metridium farcimen" a metre in length. Some species burrow in soft sediment and lack a basal disc, having instead a bulbous lower end, the physa, which anchors them in place.


title: Sea anemone

text: The column or trunk is generally more or less cylindrical and may be plain and smooth or may bear specialised structures; these include solid papillae (fleshy protuberances), adhesive papillae, cinclides (slits), and small protruding vesicles. In some species the part immediately below the oral disc is constricted and is known as the capitulum. When the animal contracts, the oral disc, tentacles and capitulum fold inside the pharynx and are held in place by a strong sphincter muscle part way up the column. There may be a fold in the body wall, known as a parapet, at this point, and this parapet covers and protects the anemone when it is retracted.


title: Sea anemone

text: The oral disc has a central mouth, usually slit-shaped, surrounded by one or more whorls of tentacles. The ends of the slit lead to grooves in the wall of the pharynx known as siphonoglyphs; there are usually two of these grooves, but some groups have a single one. The tentacles are generally tapered and often tipped by a pore, but in some species they are branched, club-tipped, or reduced to low knobs. The tentacles are armed with many cnidocytes, cells that are both defensive and used to capture prey. Cnidocytes contain stinging nematocysts, capsule-like organelles capable of everting suddenly, giving the phylum Cnidaria its name. Each nematocyst contains a small venom vesicle filled with actinotoxins, an inner filament, and an external sensory hair. A touch to the hair mechanically triggers a cell explosion, which launches a harpoon-like structure that attaches to the organism that triggered it, and injects a dose of venom in the flesh of the aggressor or prey.


title: Sea anemone

text: At the base of the tentacles in some species lie acrorhagi, elongated inflatable tentacle-like organs armed with cnidocytes, that can flail around and fend off other encroaching anemones; one or both anemones can be driven off or suffer injury in such battles.


title: Sea anemone

text: The venom is a mix of toxins, including neurotoxins, that paralyzes the prey so the anemone can move it to the mouth for digestion inside the gastrovascular cavity. Actinotoxins are highly toxic to prey species of fish and crustaceans. However, Amphiprioninae (clownfish), small banded fish in various colours, are not affected by their host anemone's sting and shelter themselves from predators among its tentacles. Several other species have similar adaptions and are also unaffected (see "Mutualistic relationships"). Most sea anemones are harmless to humans, but a few highly toxic species (notably "Actinodendron arboreum", "Phyllodiscus semoni" and "Stichodactyla" spp.) have caused severe injuries and are potentially lethal.


title: Sea anemone

text: Sea anemones have what can be described as an incomplete gut; the gastrovascular cavity functions as a stomach and possesses a single opening to the outside, which operates as both a mouth and anus. Waste and undigested matter is excreted through this opening. The mouth is typically slit-like in shape, and bears a groove at one or both ends. The groove, termed a "siphonoglyph", is ciliated, and helps to move food particles inwards and circulate water through the gastrovascular cavity.


title: Sea anemone

text: The mouth opens into a flattened pharynx. This consists of an in-folding of the body wall, and is therefore lined by the animal's epidermis. The pharynx typically runs for about one third the length of the body before opening into the gastrovascular cavity that occupies the remainder of the body.


title: Sea anemone

text: The gastrovascular cavity itself is divided into a number of chambers by mesenteries radiating inwards from the body wall. Some of the mesenteries form complete partitions with a free edge at the base of the pharynx, where they connect, but others reach only partway across. The mesenteries are usually found in multiples of twelve, and are symmetrically arranged around the central lumen. They have stomach lining on both sides, separated by a thin layer of mesoglea, and include filaments of tissue specialised for secreting digestive enzymes. In some species, these filaments extend below the lower margin of the mesentery, hanging free in the gastrovascular cavity as thread-like acontial filaments. These acontia are armed with nematocysts and can be extruded through cinclides, blister-like holes in the wall of the column, for use in defence.


title: Sea anemone

text: A primitive nervous system, without centralization, coordinates the processes involved in maintaining homeostasis, as well as biochemical and physical responses to various stimuli. There are two nerve nets, one in the epidermis and one in the gastrodermis; these unite at the pharynx, the junctions of the septa with the oral disc and the pedal disc, and across the mesogloea. No specialized sense organs are present, but sensory cells include nematocytes and chemoreceptors.


title: Sea anemone

text: The muscles and nerves are much simpler than those of most other animals, although more specialised than in other cnidarians, such as corals. Cells in the outer layer (epidermis) and the inner layer (gastrodermis) have microfilaments that group into contractile fibers. These fibers are not true muscles because they are not freely suspended in the body cavity as they are in more developed animals. Longitudinal fibres are found in the tentacles and oral disc, and also within the mesenteries, where they can contract the whole length of the body. Circular fibers are found in the body wall and, in some species, around the oral disc, allowing the animal to retract its tentacles into a protective sphincter.


title: Sea anemone

text: Since the anemone lacks a rigid skeleton, the contractile cells pull against the fluid in the gastrovascular cavity, forming a hydrostatic skeleton. The anemone stabilizes itself by flattening its pharynx, which acts as a valve, keeping the gastrovascular cavity at a constant volume and making it rigid. When the longitudinal muscles relax, the pharynx opens and the cilia lining the siphonoglyphs beat, wafting water inwards and refilling the gastrovascular cavity. In general, the sea anemone inflates its body to extend its tentacles and feed, and deflates it when resting or disturbed. The inflated body is also used to anchor the animal inside a crevice, burrow or tube.


title: Sea anemone

text: Unlike other cnidarians, anemones (and other anthozoans) entirely lack the free-swimming medusal stage of their life cycle; the polyp produces eggs and sperm, and the fertilized egg develops into a planula larva, which develops directly into another polyp. Both sexual and asexual reproduction can occur.


title: Sea anemone

text: The sexes in sea anemones are separate in some species, while other species are sequential hermaphrodites, changing sex at some stage in their life. The gonads are strips of tissue within the mesenteries. In sexual reproduction, males may release sperm to stimulate females to release eggs, and fertilization occurs, either internally in the gastrovascular cavity or in the water column. The eggs and sperm, or the larvae, usually emerge through the mouth, but in some species, such as "Metridium dianthus", may be swept out from the body cavity through the cinclides. In many species the eggs and sperm rise to the surface where fertilisation occurs. The fertilized egg develops into a planula larva, which drifts for a while before sinking to the seabed and undergoing metamorphosis into a juvenile sea anemone. Some larvae preferentially settle onto certain suitable substrates; the mottled anemone ("Urticina crassicornis") for example, settles onto green algae, perhaps attracted by a biofilm on the surface.


title: Sea anemone

text: The brooding anemone ("Epiactis prolifera") is gynodioecious, starting life as a female and later becoming hermaphroditic, so that populations consist of females and hermaphrodites. As a female, the eggs can develop parthenogenetically into female offspring without fertilisation, and as a hermaphrodite, the eggs are routinely self-fertilised. The larvae emerge from the anemone's mouth and tumble down the column, lodging in a fold near the pedal disc. Here they develop and grow, remaining for about three months before crawling off to start independent lives.


title: Sea anemone

text: Sea anemones have great powers of regeneration and can reproduce asexually, by budding, fragmentation, or longitudinal or transverse binary fission. Some species such as certain "Anthopleura" divide longitudinally, pulling themselves apart, resulting in groups of individuals with identical colouring and markings. Transverse fission is less common, but occurs in "Anthopleura stellula" and "Gonactinia prolifera", with a rudimentary band of tentacles appearing halfway up the column before it splits horizontally. Some species can also reproduce by pedal laceration. In this process, a ring of material may break off from the pedal disc at the base of the column, which then fragments, the pieces regenerating into new clonal individuals. Alternatively, fragments detach separately as the animal creeps across a surface. In "Metridium dianthus", fragmentation rates were higher in individuals living among live mussels than among dead shells, and all the new individuals had tentacles within three weeks.


title: Sea anemone

text: The sea anemone "Aiptasia diaphana" displays sexual plasticity. Thus asexually produced clones derived from a single founder individual can contain both male and female individuals (ramets). When eggs and sperm (gametes) are formed, they can produce zygotes derived from "selfing" (within the founding clone) or out-crossing, which then develop into swimming planula larvae. Anemones tend to grow and reproduce relatively slowly. The magnificent sea anemone ("Heteractis magnifica"), for example, may live for decades, with one individual surviving in captivity for eighty years.


title: Sea anemone

text: A sea anemone is capable of changing its shape dramatically. The column and tentacles have longitudinal, transverse and diagonal sheets of muscle and can lengthen and contract, as well as bend and twist. The gullet and mesenteries can evert (turn inside out), or the oral disc and tentacles can retract inside the gullet, with the sphincter closing the aperture; during this process, the gullet folds transversely and water is discharged through the mouth.


title: Sea anemone

text: Although some species of sea anemone burrow in soft sediment, the majority are mainly sessile, attaching to a hard surface with their pedal disc, and tend to stay in the same spot for weeks or months at a time. They can move, however, being able to creep around on their bases; this gliding can be seen with time-lapse photography but the motion is so slow as to be almost imperceptible to the naked eye. The process resembles the locomotion of a gastropod mollusc, a wave of contraction moving from the functionally posterior portion of the foot towards the front edge, which detaches and moves forwards. Sea anemones can also cast themselves loose from the substrate and drift to a new location. "Gonactinia prolifera" is unusual in that it can both walk and swim; walking is by making a series of short, looping steps, rather like a caterpillar, attaching its tentacles to the substrate and drawing its base closer; swimming is done by rapid movements of the tentacles beating synchronously like oar strokes. "Stomphia coccinea" can swim by flexing its column, and the sea onion anemone inflates and casts itself loose, adopting a spherical shape and allowing itself to be rolled about by the waves and currents. There are no truly pelagic sea anemones, but some stages in the life cycle post-metamorphosis are able, in response to certain environmental factors, to cast themselves off and have a free-living stage that aids in their dispersal.


title: Sea anemone

text: The sea onion "Paranthus rapiformis" lives on subtidal mud flats and burrows into the sediment, holding itself in place by expanding its basal disc to form an anchor. If it gets washed out of its burrow by strong currents, it contracts into a pearly glistening ball which rolls about. Tube-dwelling anemones, which live in parchment-like tubes, are in the anthozoan subclass Ceriantharia, and are only distantly related to sea anemones.


title: Sea anemone

text: Sea anemones are typically predators, ensnaring prey of suitable size that comes within reach of their tentacles and immobilizing it with the aid of their nematocysts. The prey is then transported to the mouth and thrust into the pharynx. The lips can stretch to aid in prey capture and can accommodate larger items such as crabs, dislodged molluscs and even small fish. "Stichodactyla helianthus" is reported to trap sea urchins by enfolding them in its carpet-like oral disc. A few species are parasitic on other marine organisms. One of these is "Peachia quinquecapitata", the larvae of which develop inside the medusae of jellyfish, feeding on their gonads and other tissues, before being liberated into the sea as free-living juvenile anemones.


title: Sea anemone

text: Although not plants and therefore incapable of photosynthesis themselves, many sea anemones form an important facultative mutualistic relationship with certain single-celled algae species that reside in the animals' gastrodermal cells, especially in the tentacles and oral disc. These algae may be either zooxanthellae, zoochlorellae or both. The sea anemone benefits from the products of the algae's photosynthesis, namely oxygen and food in the form of glycerol, glucose and alanine; the algae in turn are assured a reliable exposure to sunlight and protection from micro-feeders, which the sea anemones actively maintain. The algae also benefit by being protected by the sea anemone's stinging cells, reducing the likelihood of being eaten by herbivores. In the aggregating anemone ("Anthopleura elegantissima"), the colour of the anemone is largely dependent on the proportions and identities of the zooxanthellae and zoochlorellae present. The hidden anemone ("Lebrunia coralligens") has a whorl of seaweed-like pseudotentacles, rich in zooxanthellae, and an inner whorl of tentacles. A daily rhythm sees the pseudotentacles spread widely in the daytime for photosynthesis, but they are retracted at night, at which time the tentacles expand to search for prey.


title: Sea anemone

text: Several species of fish and invertebrates live in symbiotic or mutualistic relationships with sea anemones, most famously the clownfish. The symbiont receives the protection from predators provided by the anemone's stinging cells, and the anemone utilises the nutrients present in its faeces. Other animals that associate with sea anemones include cardinalfish (such as Banggai cardinalfish), juvenile threespot dascyllus, incognito (or anemone) goby, juvenile painted greenling, various crabs (such as "Inachus phalangium", "Mithraculus cinctimanus" and "Neopetrolisthes"), shrimp (such as certain "Alpheus", "Lebbeus", "Periclimenes" and "Thor"), opossum shrimp (such as "Heteromysis" and "Leptomysis"), and various marine snails.


title: Sea anemone

text: Two of the more unusual relationships are those between certain anemones (such as "Adamsia", "Calliactis" and "Neoaiptasia") and hermit crabs or snails, and "Bundeopsis" or "Triactis" anemones and "Lybia" boxing crabs. In the former, the anemones live on the shell of the hermit crab or snail. In the latter, the small anemones are carried in the claws of the boxing crab.


title: Sea anemone

text: Sea anemones are found in both deep oceans and shallow coastal waters worldwide. The greatest diversity is in the tropics, although there are many species adapted to relatively cold waters. The majority of species cling on to rocks, shells or submerged timber, often hiding in cracks or under seaweed, but some burrow into sand and mud, and a few are pelagic.


title: Sea anemone

text: Sea anemones and their attendant anemone fish can make attractive aquarium exhibits, and both are often harvested from the wild as adults or juveniles. These fishing activities significantly impact the populations of anemones and anemone fish by drastically reducing the densities of each in exploited areas. Besides their collection from the wild for use in reef aquaria, sea anemones are also threatened by alterations to their environment. Those living in shallow-water coastal locations are affected directly by pollution and siltation, and indirectly by the effect these have on their photosynthetic symbionts and the prey on which they feed.


title: Sea anemone

text: In southwestern Spain and Sardinia, the snakelocks anemone ("Anemonia viridis") is consumed as a delicacy. The whole animal is marinated in vinegar, then coated in a batter similar to that used to make calamari, and deep-fried in olive oil. Anemones are also a source of food for fisherman communities in the east coast of Sabah, Borneo, as well as the Thousand Islands (as "rambu-rambu") in Southeast Asia.


title: Sea anemone

text: Most Actiniaria do not form hard parts that can be recognized as fossils, but a few fossils of sea anemones do exist; "Mackenzia", from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of Canada, is the oldest fossil identified as a sea anemone.


title: Sea anemone

text: Sea anemones, order Actiniaria, are classified in the phylum Cnidaria, class Anthozoa, subclass Hexacorallia. Rodriguez et al. proposed a new classification for the Actiniaria based on extensive DNA results.


title: Sea anemone

text: Anthozoa contains three subclasses: Hexacorallia, which contains the Actiniaria; Octocorallia; and Ceriantharia. These are monophyletic, but the relationships within the subclasses remain unresolved.


title: Cheongsam

text: Cheongsam (, ), also known as the qipao () and sometimes referred to as the mandarin gown, is a Chinese dress worn by women which takes inspiration from the , the ethnic clothing of the Manchu people. The cheongsam is most often seen as a longer, figure-fitting, one piece garment with a standing collar, an asymmetric, left-over-right () opening and two side slits, and embellished with Chinese frog fasteners on the lapel and the collar. It was developed in the 1920s and evolved in shapes and design over years. It was popular in China from the 1920s to 1940s, overlapping the Republican era, and was popularized by Chinese socialites and high society women in Shanghai. It was also one of the national dress of the Republic of China in 1929 and is currently the national dress of China, which symbolizes a generic Chinese national identity rather than a specific ethnic and/or ancestral identity. Although the cheongsam is sometimes perceived as being a traditional Chinese clothing, the cheongsam continues to evolve with times as it responds to the contemporary modern life.


title: Cheongsam

text: As English loanwords, both ""cheongsam"" and ""qipao"" describe the same type of body-hugging dress worn by Chinese women, and the words could be used interchangeably.


title: Cheongsam

text: The term "cheongsam" is a romanization of Cantonese word ' (), which comes from the Shanghainese term '. In Cantonese and Shanghainese, the term is used to describe a Chinese dress popularized in Shanghai. However, in Mandarin Chinese and other varieties of Chinese, () refers to an exclusively male garment, and the female version is known as the . In Hong Kong, where many Shanghainese tailors fled after the communist revolution of 1949, the word "" became gender-neutral, referring to both male and female garments.


title: Cheongsam

text: The word "qipao" (), which literally means "Bannerman robe" and originally referred to a loose-fitting, trapezoidal-cut garment worn by both Manchu men and women, became a more formal term for the female . Usage of the term ""cheongsam"" in Western countries mostly followed the original Cantonese meaning and applies to the dress worn by women only.


title: Cheongsam

text: The design of the cheongsam has evolved with time; and there are now a various styles of cheongsam. However, after decades of development, the design of cheongsam itself can be roughly categorized into the Beijing style, the Shanghai style, and the Hong Kong style.


title: Cheongsam

text: The cheongsam is typically a tight-fitting dress, with a pair of high side slits above the knee-level. The length of the cheongsam can vary; it can be either long or short. It is more often seen with short sleeves; however, it can also be sleeveless.


title: Cheongsam

text: It is typically found with the mandarin collar and has asymmetric closure which runs from the central collar across the top area of the chest to the armhole curing down to the right side. In Chinese clothing culture, the overlap on the right side is known as . However, the cheongsam is not limited to the asymmetrical closure; there are various styles of cheongsam necklines, including a symmetrical opening in the chest area.


title: Cheongsam

text: The fasteners uses traditional Chinese knotting craftwork with the use of the fastening and Chinese button knot.


title: Cheongsam

text: The cheongsam is typically edged with piping, especially at the collar and the closure. There are four traditional piping techniques used in the making of the cheongsam: () which is a narrow strips of fabric roll around the raw edge of the garment and is the most commonly used nowadays, () which is broad edging typically found in Manchu clothing of the Qing dynasty and the early cheongsam and is now quite rare, () is a very narrow strip of fabric which is even narrower than the , and () is a specific type of technique which uses a narrow strip of fabric which is stitched on the dress.


title: Cheongsam

text: It is also typical for the and the to be used together on the same dress creating a doubl-edged look; this technique is known as (). Other doubled-edged piping technique include “two--one-” and the “two--two-”. The can also be combined with the ; in this combination, the and the would be made of the same width and colour of fabric but they would run parallel to each other about two to five centimeters away from each other.


title: Cheongsam

text: Different materials can be used in the making of the cheongsam, such as wool, silk (including silk floss, damask, brocade, satin), or silk-like materials. The cheongsam can also be unlined or interlined. The fabric of the cheongsam can decorated with a diversity of decorative motifs, which can be embroidered on the dress.


title: Cheongsam

text: The Beijing-style cheongsam originated in Beijing and is fairly traditional and conservative. It is typically handmade. It maintains the traditional straight and A-line silhouette which flattens the curves of the female figure; embroidery and elaborate adornments are considered desirable. It is also characterized by its wide piping. Therefore, the Beijing-style cheongsam expresses the beauty of Chinese culture in its style; it gives the wearer a reserved, concise, gorgeous, and dignified appearance. Although it appears to use simple lines, the production process is complex. The fasteners can sometimes take several days to create, typically requiring twenty-six procedures of silk processing to be turning into silk strips which would be appropriate in the making of the fasteners of various patterns by skilled artisans.


title: Cheongsam

text: The Shanghai-style Cheongsam originated in Shanghai and is a popular and dominant style. The Shanghai-style Cheongsam, especially, conveyed progressive messages of female body emancipation from the 1930s to 1940s; it also came to symbolize the idea of modernity in "pursuing health, fashion, and natural beauty". As a result, to deliberately create a more figure-hugging silhouette and to focus on showing off the natural curve of the female body, many elements of Western tailoring techniques can be found in the Shanghai-style cheongsam, including curved cutting, waist darts. This act of showing the female body was a physical expression of the changes in the identities of Chinese women and their rebellion against the idealized womanhood as indicated in the Confucian ideology. It also features high side slits and high collar. The collars can be lapel collars, water drop collars, and lotus leaf collars; the shape of the sleeves are also diverse. It also uses lighter materials and is less elaborate embroidery or adornments; the piping is very narrow.


title: Cheongsam

text: The Jiangnan-style cheongsam, also known as Su-style cheongsam, originated in the Jiangnan Water town. This style of cheongsam expresses the cultural characteristics of the water town in Jiangnan and also creates a fusion between the beauty of Chinese calligraphy and Chinese painting, incorporating the hand-painting art of the Wumen School of Painting. It is characterized by the sophisticated neckline and embroidered patterns on the edges of the cuff. The dress is also embroidered with rich pattern motifs which tend to be floral, e.g. plum, orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum, peonies, and roses. The fabrics used tend to be high-quality soft satin and plain crepe satin, etc.


title: Cheongsam

text: The Manchu are an ethnic minority that founded the last of China's imperial dynasties, the Qing dynasty, which lasted from 1644 to 1911. When the dynasty was first established, dress regulations were implemented as a way of expressing their identity as a people and creating social order. They used an administrative division called the Eight Banner system. Originally only the Manchu households were organized within this system, but over time naturalized Mongols and Han Chinese was incorporated. The Manchu, and anyone living under the Eight Banners system, wore different clothing from ordinary civilians. Thus, they became known as the "Banner People" ().


title: Cheongsam

text: The type of that both men and women typically wore consisted of long robes, which can be referred to as the Manchu and also categorized under the broad category of () or ().


title: Cheongsam

text: Manchu men wore a , which were designed for horseback riding, known as , which was characterized by two pair of slits (one slit on each side, one slit on the back, and one slit on the front) which increased ease of movement when mounting and dismounting horses, a collar (a collar which curved like the alphabet《S》), and the sleeve cuffs known as ().


title: Cheongsam

text: On the other hand, some imperial Manchu women wore an (), informal dress, which looked similar to the men's known as the (). There were also two styles of for the imperial consorts, known as and , became popular. The and the differed in terms of structure: the had two high side slits which allowed for greater ease of movements while the had no side slits. Both the and differed from the lacking the cuffs. Both the and were also the of the Manchu women; they also both became popular during the reign of Emperor Qianlong. It is also theorized that the cheongsam was derived from the Manchu women's although the shows the absence of slits.


title: Cheongsam

text: Throughout China's multicultural history, clothing has been shaped through an intermingling of Han clothing styles, the Han Chinese being the dominant ethnicity, and the styles of various ethnic groups. Some examples include the standing collar of the cheongsam, which has been found in relics from the Ming dynasty, ruled by the Han Chinese, and was subsequently adopted in the Qing dynasty as Manchu clothing items. Manchu robes were initially collarless. The Manchu also adopted the right closure from the Han Chinese as they initially closed their robes on the left side.


title: Cheongsam

text: Under the dynastic laws of transition from Ming to Qing, all Han Chinese were forced to adopt the Manchu male queue hairstyle and adopt Manchu clothing under the () policy instead of being wearing the traditional under the threat of death penalty. However, the order for ordinary non-Banner Han civilians to wear Manchu clothing was lifted, and only those Han who served as officials or scholars were required to wear them. Over time though, some Han civilian men voluntarily adopted the changshan. By the late Qing, not only officials and scholars, but a great many Han commoners wore Manchu-style male attire. However, until 1911, the Manchu "changpao" was required clothing for Chinese men of a certain class.


title: Cheongsam

text: What is now known as the Chinese changshan was developed by the Han Chinese during the Qing dynasty. The Qing dynasty Chinese changshan started to be worn by the Han Chinese after the Manchu conquest; the Chinese changshan was a modified version of the changshan worn in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644 AD), the preceding dynasty before the Qing dynasty. The Qing dynasty Chinese changshan was modelled after the Manchu's men's robe. It thus adopted certain Manchu Manchu elements, such as by slimming their changshan, by adopting the collar of the Manchu, and by using buttons and loops at the neck and sides. The Chinese changshan differed from the Manchu men's neitao as it only had two slits on the sides lacking the central front and back slits and lacked the presence of the cuffs; the sleeves were also longer than the ones found in the neitao.


title: Cheongsam

text: For women, Manchu and Han systems of clothing coexisted. Throughout the Qing dynasty, Han civilian women could wear traditional Han clothing from the Ming dynasty. As a result, Ming dynasty style clothing was preserved to an extend in China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911.


title: Cheongsam

text: In the late 1910s, after the overthrow of the Qing dynasty and the founding of the Republic of China, women began to partake in the education system. They wore an early form of the cheongsam, which quickly became the regular outfit of urban women in metropolitan cities like Beijing and Shanghai. Cheongsam of the late 1910s and early 1920s had relatively loose cutting with long, wide sleeves. One of the earliest cheongsams was A-line with wide three-quarter sleeves and would fall just below the knee level.


title: Cheongsam

text: Under the Western influences of wearing shorter dresses in 1928, the length of the cheongsam became shorter. In 1929, cheongsam was chosen by the Republic of China government to be one of the national dresses. With the designation of national dress, the Republic of China government also promulgated the new "Clothing Regulations of 1929", which specified the cheongsam should be worn with trousers and be calf-length. However, even before the "Clothing Regulations of 1929", women had already stopped wearing trousers in favor of silk stockings. Chinese women held no respect to the rule, as it was seen as an attempt by the Republican government to control individual rights and woman's liberty.


title: Cheongsam

text: From the 1920s onwards, the cheongsam was quickly popularized by celebrities, socialites, and politicians in Shanghai. Former First Lady of China Madame Wellington Koo (Oei Hui-lan) was a prominent figure among them. Voted several times by "Vogue" into its lists of the world's best-dressed women, Madame Wellington Koo was much admired for her adaptations of the traditional Manchu fashion, which she wore with lace trousers and jade necklaces. Cheongsam dresses at the time had been decorously slit a few inches up the sides, but Madame Koo slashed hers to the knee, 'with lace pantelettes just visible to the ankle'. Unlike other Asian socialites, Madame Koo also insisted on local Chinese silks, which she thought were of superior quality.


title: Cheongsam

text: Starting from the early 1930s, there was a further transformation of the qipao as it became increasingly shorter, tighter, and body-hugging, with side slits that reached up to the thigh. Moreover, numerous distinct cheongsams designs emerged, with experimental changes on fastenings, pipings, collars, fur-lined cuffs, various length of sleeves, or simply sleeveless.


title: Cheongsam

text: Consumer culture rose as Western and Chinese merchants cooperated to move towards early capitalism. People eagerly sought a more modernized dress style and transformed the old cheongsam to suit new tastes. Newer forms featured slender and tight-fitting pencil cuts and deep necks, which is different from the early cheongsam. High-class courtesans and celebrities in the city welcomed the tight-fitting cheongsam. It was at this time the word cheongsam became well-known in English. In Shanghainese, it was first known as for 'long dress', rendered in Mandarin as and in Cantonese as . Then, the spoken Cantonese renditions of was borrowed into English as "cheongsam".


title: Cheongsam

text: Trousers had completely fallen out of use, replaced by different types of hosiery. High-heeled shoes were popularized in the Shanghai fashion scene in the 1930s. Stockings and High-heeled shoes became an essential part of the cheongsam fashion set, which spawned new side slits designs reaching the hip line, intended to display the hosiery and heels. As Western fashions evolved, so did the cheongsam design, introducing high-necked sleeveless dresses, bell-like sleeves, and the black lace frothing at the hem of a ball gown. By the 1940s, cheongsam came in a wide variety of fabrics with an equal variety of accessories.


title: Cheongsam

text: Cheongsams were worn by celebrities, societies, and students of prestigious missionary schools in the early 20th century. As a result, the cheongsam-style uniform was regarded as an icon of the wealthy class and was perceived as Bourgeois by the Communist China. From the 1950s to the 1970s, with the destorying Four Olds movements and the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), China pushed for egalitarian ideology and wearing cheongsam can result in punishment. For example, in 1963, when Chinese President Liu Shaoqi visited four neighbouring countries in South Asia, the first lady Wang Guangmei wore a cheongsam. She was later declared guilty in the Cultural Revolution for wearing the cloth due to its historical ties and symbologies.


title: Cheongsam

text: In other Chinese communities, such as Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, the cheongsam remained popular after the war. It became everyday wear in the British colony of Hong Kong in the 1950s, and leather clutch, high heels, and white gloves were common pairing accessories. However, the popularity ultimately declined in the 1970s, giving way for cheaper and mass-produced Western-style clothing.


title: Cheongsam

text: Since the 1980s, with the trend of reevaluation of Chinese traditional culture, people in mainland China started to pay attention to the cheongsam again. The cheongsam is gaining popularity in films, beauty pageants, and fashion shows in both China and other countries all over the world. In 1984, the cheongsam was specified as the formal attire of female diplomatic agents by the People's Republic of China.


title: Cheongsam

text: Some airlines in Mainland China and Taiwan, such as China Airlines and Hainan Airlines, have cheongsam uniforms for their women flight attendants and ground workers. These uniform cheongsams are in a plain color, hemmed just above the knee, with a close-fitting wool suit jacket of the same color as the cheongsam. It is also common for these uniforms to only borrow certain elements, such as the standing collar and frog clasps, without adopting the whole design.


title: Cheongsam

text: In the 1950s, women in the workforce in Hong Kong started to wear more functional cheongsam made of wool, twill, and other materials. Most were tailor fitted and often came with a matching jacket. The dresses were a fusion of Chinese tradition with modern styles. Cheongsam was commonly replaced by more comfortable clothing such as sweaters, jeans, business suits, and skirts. Due to its restrictive nature, it is now mainly worn as formal wear for important occasions. They are sometimes worn by politicians and film artists in Taiwan and Hong Kong. They are shown in some Chinese movies, such as in the 1960s film "The World of Suzie Wong", where actress Nancy Kwan made the cheongsam briefly fashionable in Western culture. They are also commonly seen in beauty contests, along with swimsuits. Today, cheongsam is only commonly worn day to day as a uniform by people like restaurant hostesses and serving staff at luxury hotels.


title: Cheongsam

text: Before World War II, it was customary for girl students who attended schools run by Western missionaries societies to wear cheongsam as their school uniforms; on the other hand, there were very few indigenous Chinese schools that were using the cheongsam as a school uniform.


title: Cheongsam

text: A few primary schools and some secondary schools in Hong Kong, especially older schools established by Christian missionaries, use a plain-rimmed sky-blue cotton and/or dark blue velvet (for winter) cheongsam with the metal school badge right under the stand-up collar to be closed with a metal hook and eye as the official uniform for their female students. The schools which use this standard include True Light Girls' College, St. Paul's Co-educational College, Heep Yunn School, St. Stephen's Girls' College, Ying Wa Girls' School, etc. These cheongsams are usually straight, with no waist shaping, and the cheongsam hem must reach mid-thigh. The cheongsam fit closely to the neck, and the stiff collar is hooked closed, despite the tropical humid and hot weather. Although the skirts have short slits, they are too narrow to allow students to walk in long strides. The seams above the slits often split when walking and are repeatedly sewn. Many schools also require underskirts to be worn with the cheongsam. The underskirt is a white cotton full slip, hemmed slightly shorter than the cheongsam, and has slits at the sides like the cheongsam, although the slits are deeper. A white cotton undershirt is often worn underneath the cheongsam. The cheongsam's length, styling, color, and sleeve length vary between schools. Many students feel it is an ordeal, yet it is a visible manifestation of the strict discipline that is the hallmark of prestigious secondary schools in Hong Kong, and many students and their parents like that. Some rebellious students express dissatisfaction with this tradition by wearing their uniform with the stand-up collar intentionally left unhooked or hemmed above their knees. The Ying Wa and True Light Schools have sent questionnaires to their students about uniform reforms but have not altered their policies. However, Madam Lau Kam Lung Secondary School of Miu Fat Buddhist Monastery ended their cheongsam uniform in 1990 after receiving suggestions from its student union.


title: Cheongsam

text: Cheongsams are a popular outfit choice for festive seasons like Chinese New Year. In countries with significant Chinese populations, such as Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, it is common for women to have new cheongsams tailored in preparation for the New Year. Cheongsams are also popular outfits for older women on formal occasions or family reunions. Upmarket fashion labels such as Shanghai Tang specialize in modern versions of the cheongsam as occasion wear.


title: Cheongsam

text: In Western weddings, Chinese brides or brides marrying into a Chinese family will often wear cheongsam for a portion of the wedding day. It is common for many brides to have both a traditional white wedding dress and a cheongsam or a guaqun (another kind of wedding attire) to be worn during the tea ceremony. Cheongsam styles have also evolved to be more modern, from mermaid silhouettes to semi-traditional styles that feature a cheongsam top with softer details like lace and a looser skirt.


title: Cheongsam

text: Some Lolita dresses are styled like cheongsam. The dresses or jumper skirts are designed after traditional Chinese dresses. This style of Lolita fashion is called "Qi Lolita".


title: Cheongsam

text: In the 2008 Summer Olympics, the medal bearers wore cheongsam. Similar attire was worn by female members of the Swedish team and of the Spanish team in the opening ceremony, with the national colors.


title: Cheongsam

text: For the 2012 Hong Kong Sevens tournament, sportswear brand Kukri Sports teamed up with Hong Kong lifestyle retail store G.O.D. to produce merchandising, which included traditional Chinese jackets and cheongsam-inspired ladies' polo shirts.


title: Cheongsam

text: In contemporary China, the meaning of cheongsam has been revisited again. It now embodies an identity of being ethnic Chinese and thus is used for important diplomatic occasions.


title: Cheongsam

text: Since 2013, Peng Liyuan, the first lady of China, has worn cheongsam several times while on foreign visits with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.


title: Cheongsam

text: In November 2014, cheongsam was the official attire for the political leaders' wives in the 22nd APEC meeting in Beijing.


title: Cheongsam

text: With the growth of the Chinese economy, cheongsam has experienced a renewed popularity. Many Western designers have integrated elements of cheongsam in their fashion collections. French designer Pierre Cardin once said that cheongsam was his inspiration for many of his evening dress designs. In many films and movies, cheongsam is used to make a fashion statement. The varied interpretations of this ethnic dress brings in debates of cultural appropriation and the designs being linked to Orientalism. In the 2011 movie "One Day", Anne Hathaway wore a set of dark blue cheongsam as evening dress. Many western stars such as Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, Nicole Kidman, Paris Hilton, Emma Watson, Deepika Padukone, and Celine Dion have also made public appearances wearing cheongsam.


title: Cheongsam

text: The cheongsam even became one of the national dress of the Republic of China, along with the , a traditional clothing attire of the Han Chinese women. It was eventually accepted by the People's Republic of China as a form of Han Chinese ethnic dress and became the national dress of China thus becoming transnational and representative of a generic Chinese national identity rather than an ethnic or ancestral identity.


title: Cheongsam

text: The cheongsam can be worn by people of all ages and at any season. It is also used as a style Traditional Chinese wedding dress among many others. For overseas Chinese, the cheongsam has often used as a form of emblematic culture.


title: Cheongsam

text: In the 1920s, the cheongsam was originally an embodiment of Chinese women's rebellion and a heroic gesture and a marker of Chinese feminism and Chinese women's emancipation.


title: Cheongsam

text: The Republican period is the golden age of the cheongsam. In exploring the reasons behind its prevalence in Republic of China, many scholars relate it to the women's liberation movements. After the feudal Qing dynasty was overturned, Chinese feminists called for women's liberation from traditional roles. They led several movements against the Neo-Confucian gender segregation, including the termination of foot binding for women, cutting off long hair, which was conventionally symbolized as women's "oriental" beauty, and encouraging women to wear men's one-piece clothing, Changshan or "changpao".


title: Cheongsam

text: "Changpao" was traditionally taken as men's patent throughout the long history since Han dynasty (202 BC to 220) to Qing dynasty (1616–1911). During that time, Chinese Han female's clothing gradually developed into two pieces. Women were forbidden to wear robes as men did and instead had to wear tops and bottoms known as "Liang jie yi". After the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 (which overthrew the Qing dynasty), young Chinese people began to learn Western science and cultures in order to seek a way of saving the nation. Also, the opening of several ports and ceding territories of China to Western powers imported some Western ideas to mainland China. Among all these Western thoughts, the idea of gender equality quickly gained its followers, among whom young female students became its prime advocates.


title: Cheongsam

text: It was the May Thirteenth Movement of 1925, where anti-Westernization demonstrations persisted throughout the country, that served as an important push for the qipao's institutionalization. The Republicans declared the qipao a formal dress in the Clothing Regulations of 1929. The dress was meant to assert the importance of nationalism by rejecting Western forms of dress. That being said, there were still strict rules regulating how the dress needed to be worn, including specifications about length, material, accessories, collar, buttons, and sleeves, but curiously enough, none of these were followed.


title: Cheongsam

text: From the start, there was no unifying style for the dress like the Republicans intended; Chinese women had no respect for the Clothing Regulations of 1929, which tried to control individuality. There were endless variations in style, with adaptations to length, material, hemlines, collars, fabrics, patterns, colors, and pairing accessories. It was worn by everyone from Shanghai socialites to students, housewives, and prostitutes. The style of the qipao was often in tune with fashion cycles and was influenced by Western trends seen through women styling it with matching scarves, fur coats, and leather heels. Magazines such as LingLong also gave women access to dressmaking knowledge and normalized it for women to make their dresses in their style. The base form of the qipao is rather simple to sew, which makes it easily accessible and economical.


title: Cheongsam

text: The style of cheongsam also varied due to Western influence. It changed from a wide and loose style to a more form-fitting and revealing cut, which put more emphasis on women's body lines. The length of the cheongsam was also reduced from the ankle reaching to above the knee.


title: Cheongsam

text: The design of the cheongsam got various inventions like ruffled collars, bell-like sleeves, and black lace frothing. Starting from that, the priority of cheongsam moved from a political expression to an aesthetic and ornamental emphasis.


title: Cheongsam

text: Due to its long history dating back to the Manchu clothing of the early Qing dynasty, the Beijing-style cheongsam-making technique is listed as a city-level intangible cultural heritage.


title: Cheongsam

text: The Hongkong Cheongsam-making technique is unique due to its historical background, having incorporated both Eastern and Western clothing designs before giving the Hongkong-style cheongsam its distinctive looks. In 2021, the Hong Kong cheongsam making technique was successfully listed on the fifth National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.


title: Cheongsam

text: In Western countries, the cheongsam is widely perceived as being a quintessential Chinese garment. However, the cheongsam is a type of Chinese clothing which was developed in the 20th century under the influences of several cultures, including Western culture, Manchu culture, and the Han Chinese culture. The cheongsam also had a significant impact on international fashion centers in the 1950s and 1960s, such as Paris, Rome, and New York, due to its perceived exoticism and its slim line silhouette which was also fashionable in Europe at those times. Descendants of Chinese immigrants or overseas Chinese in Western countries, such as Canada, may wear cheongsam on events such as weddings, graduation ceremonies, and other occasions; however, the cheongsam is not always perceived as being traditional Chinese clothing; for example, some Canadians of Han Chinese descent still remember the use of as their traditional Chinese dress.


title: Cheongsam

text: In Suriname, the cheongsam is not only presented as being the quintessential Chinese dress but also as the authentic Chinese ethnic clothing; however, the Chinese ethnic clothing, which should have been used, is the , consisting of a (jacket) and a pair of trousers, as it was the attire which was worn by the Hakka people who came in Suriname as indentured laborers and chain immigrants. The use of cheongsam as a cultural marker of Chineseness can be thus perceived as ironic, and a cultural stereotype of Chineseness as the cheongsam is not associated with any specific ancestral clothing of Chinese immigrants.


title: Cheongsam

text: The cheongsam was introduced in Canada after the early 1930s with the flow of Chinese immigrants. However, the wearing the cheongsam is mixed amongst Canadians with Chinese heritage. Some may be reluctant to wear it publicly due to their experiences of being part of a racialized group and/or due to self-loathing due to the experiences of racism and marginalization in various forms, such as physical attacks, ostracism, and bullying, the social pressure to integrate and/or the desire to assimilate in the dominant culture as a protective mechanism even at the expense of rejecting any aspects or association with Chinese culture, identity, and appearance in the dress. Others may wear the cheongsam as an attempt to reconnect with their Chinese heritage and/or to show appreciation to the dress. Some may find themselves uncomfortable or feel alienation when wearing cheongsam due to the lack of self-identification with Chinese culture and Chinese identity.


title: Cheongsam

text: The cheongsam is generally considered to be adapted from the one-piece dress of Manchu women during the Qing dynasty which survived from the 1911 Revolution surviving the political changes and improved until it has become the traditional dress for Chinese women. However, there has been considerable debate on the origin of the cheongsam in academic circles. The following are three common arguments on the origin of the cheongsam:


title: Cheongsam

text: The first argument says that the cheongsam came directly from the clothing of the banner people when the Manchu ruled China during the Qing dynasty. This argument was prominently represented by Zhou Xibao () in his work "The History of Ancient Chinese Clothing and Ornaments".


title: Cheongsam

text: The second opinion holds that the cheongsam inherited some features of the "chángpáo" of Banner People in the Qing dynasty, but the true origin of the cheongsam dates back to a period between the Western Zhou dynasty (1046–771 BC) and the pre-Qin era, approximately two millennia before the Qing dynasty. According to Yuan Jieying's () book "Chinese Cheongsam", the modern cheongsam shares many similarities with the narrow-cut straight skirt that women wore in the Western Zhou dynasty. And Chinese Professor Bao Minxin () also pointed out in his book "A Real Record of Modern Chinese Costume" that the cheongsam originated from the ancient robe in the Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). The robe is a one-piece upper and lower connected long dress which was quite popular among ladies in Han.


title: Cheongsam

text: The third argument was raised by Bian Xiangyang () in his book "An Analysis on the Origin of Qipao". Bian thinks that the cheongsam originates from neither the robe nor the "chángpáo". It is an adaption of Western-style dress during the Republic of China era when people were open to the Western cultures. In his opinion, the cheongsam was a hybrid of traditional Chinese costumes and Western costumes such as the waistcoat and one-piece dress. Moreover, according to him, Chinese women traditionally wore trousers under their clothing and the use of silk stockings under the cheongsam or being bare legs is not a Chinese tradition but the result of Western influence.


title: Cheongsam

text: The Vietnamese "áo dài" looks similar to the cheongsam as they both consist of a long robe with side splits on both sides of the robe with one of the main difference typically being the height of the side split.


title: Cheongsam

text: The "áo dài" was developed from the clothing worn in Chinese court but it could only be worn by the royalty originally. The "áo dài" was derived from "áo ngũ thân" (lit. 'five-panel gown') which was a Nguyễn court fashion which drew strong influences from the civil and military official clothing practices used in China; the "áo dài" also evolved from the early prototypes decreed by Nguyễn Phúc Khoát.


title: Cheongsam

text: In the 18th century, in an attempt to separate his domain from Tonkin ruled by his rival Trịnh clan and build an independent state, Lord Nguyễn Phúc Khoát (reigned 1738–1765) forced his subjects to wear Ming dynasty style Chinese clothing. The ethnic Kinh robe (i.e. the traditional áo giao lĩnh, a type of crossed-collar robe, which was identical to the ones worn by the Han Chinese) was, therefore, replaced by a robe with Chinese-style fasteners, which was buttoned in the front, and had an upright collar. The skirt which was worn by the Vietnamese was also replaced by trousers under his rule. This form of new fashion became the prototype of the "áo dài"; it was a form of "áo ngũ thân" which was invented by Lord Nguyễn Phúc Khoá; the "áo ngũ thân" also had 5 flaps instead of 4 (the 5th flap was small and was found under the front garment) and 5 buttons. Another new form of fashion included a type of four-panel robe which was described by Lê Quý Đôn as an "áo dài" which was loose fitting similarly to the "á"o giao lãnh. Under the rule of Emperor Minh Mang, two new forms of "áo dài" were created from the "áo ngũ thân" regulated by Nguyễn Phúc Khoát: the "áo tứ thân", and the "Huế-style áo dài" which was created with five flaps"." The "Huế-style áo dài" represented royal court culture of the "Huế" and later developed influenced the modern "áo dài".""


title: Blast furnace

text: A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. "Blast" refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric pressure.


title: Blast furnace

text: In a blast furnace, fuel (coke), ores, and flux (limestone) are continuously supplied through the top of the furnace, while a hot blast of air (sometimes with oxygen enrichment) is blown into the lower section of the furnace through a series of pipes called tuyeres, so that the chemical reactions take place throughout the furnace as the material falls downward. The end products are usually molten metal and slag phases tapped from the bottom, and waste gases (flue gas) exiting from the top of the furnace. The downward flow of the ore along with the flux in contact with an upflow of hot, carbon monoxide-rich combustion gases is a countercurrent exchange and chemical reaction process.


title: Blast furnace

text: In contrast, air furnaces (such as reverberatory furnaces) are naturally aspirated, usually by the convection of hot gases in a chimney flue. According to this broad definition, bloomeries for iron, blowing houses for tin, and smelt mills for lead would be classified as blast furnaces. However, the term has usually been limited to those used for smelting iron ore to produce pig iron, an intermediate material used in the production of commercial iron and steel, and the shaft furnaces used in combination with sinter plants in base metals smelting.


title: Blast furnace

text: Blast furnaces are estimated to have been responsible for over 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions between 1900 and 2015, but are difficult to decarbonize.


title: Blast furnace

text: Blast furnaces operate on the principle of chemical reduction whereby carbon monoxide converts iron oxides to elemental iron. Blast furnaces differ from bloomeries and reverberatory furnaces in that in a blast furnace, flue gas is in direct contact with the ore and iron, allowing carbon monoxide to diffuse into the ore and reduce the iron oxide. The blast furnace operates as a countercurrent exchange process whereas a bloomery does not. Another difference is that bloomeries operate as a batch process whereas blast furnaces operate continuously for long periods. Continuous operation is also preferred because blast furnaces are difficult to start and stop. Also, the carbon in pig iron lowers the melting point below that of steel or pure iron; in contrast, iron does not melt in a bloomery.


title: Blast furnace

text: Silica has to be removed from the pig iron. It reacts with calcium oxide (burned limestone) and forms silicates, which float to the surface of the molten pig iron as "slag". Historically, to prevent contamination from sulfur, the best quality iron was produced with charcoal.


title: Blast furnace

text: The downward moving column of ore, flux, coke or charcoal and reaction products must be sufficiently porous for the flue gas to pass through. To ensure this permeability the particle size of the coke or charcoal is of great relevance. Therefore, the coke must be strong enough so it will not be crushed by the weight of the material above it. Besides the physical strength of its particles, the coke must also be low in sulfur, phosphorus, and ash.


title: Blast furnace

text: This reaction might be divided into multiple steps, with the first being that preheated air blown into the furnace reacts with the carbon in the form of coke to produce carbon monoxide and heat:


title: Blast furnace

text: The hot carbon monoxide is the reducing agent for the iron ore and reacts with the iron oxide to produce molten iron and carbon dioxide. Depending on the temperature in the different parts of the furnace (warmest at the bottom) the iron is reduced in several steps. At the top, where the temperature usually is in the range between 200 °C and 700 °C, the iron oxide is partially reduced to iron(II,III) oxide, FeO.


title: Blast furnace

text: The temperatures 850 °C, further down in the furnace, the iron(II,III) is reduced further to iron(II) oxide:


title: Blast furnace

text: Hot carbon dioxide, unreacted carbon monoxide, and nitrogen from the air pass up through the furnace as fresh feed material travels down into the reaction zone. As the material travels downward, the counter-current gases both preheat the feed charge and decompose the limestone to calcium oxide and carbon dioxide:


title: Blast furnace

text: The calcium oxide formed by decomposition reacts with various acidic impurities in the iron (notably silica), to form a fayalitic slag which is essentially calcium silicate, :


title: Blast furnace

text: As the iron(II) oxide moves down to the area with higher temperatures, ranging up to 1200 °C degrees, it is reduced further to iron metal:


title: Blast furnace

text: The temperature-dependent equilibrium controlling the gas atmosphere in the furnace is called the Boudouard reaction:


title: Blast furnace

text: The "pig iron" produced by the blast furnace has a relatively high carbon content of around 4–5% and usually contains too much sulphur, making it very brittle, and of limited immediate commercial use. Some pig iron is used to make cast iron. The majority of pig iron produced by blast furnaces undergoes further processing to reduce the carbon and sulphur content and produce various grades of steel used for construction materials, automobiles, ships and machinery. Desulphurisation usually takes place during the transport of the liquid steel to the steelworks. This is done by adding "calcium oxide", which reacts with the iron sulfide contained in the pig iron to form calcium sulfide (called "lime desulfurization"). In a further process step, the so-called basic oxygen steelmaking, the carbon is oxidized by blowing oxygen onto the liquid pig iron to form "crude steel".


title: Blast furnace

text: Although the efficiency of blast furnaces is constantly evolving, the chemical process inside the blast furnace remains the same. One of the biggest drawbacks of the blast furnaces is the inevitable carbon dioxide production as iron is reduced from iron oxides by carbon and as of 2016, there is no economical substitute – steelmaking is one of the largest industrial contributors of the CO emissions in the world (see greenhouse gases). Several alternatives are being investigated such as plastic waste, biomass or hydrogen as reducing agent, which can substantially reduce the carbon emissions.


title: Blast furnace

text: The challenge set by the greenhouse gas emissions of the blast furnace is being addressed in an ongoing European Program called ULCOS (Ultra Low CO Steelmaking). Several new process routes have been proposed and investigated in depth to cut specific emissions ( per ton of steel) by at least 50%. Some rely on the capture and further storage (CCS) of , while others choose decarbonizing iron and steel production, by turning to hydrogen, electricity and biomass. In the nearer term, a technology that incorporates CCS into the blast furnace process itself and is called the Top-Gas Recycling Blast Furnace is under development, with a scale-up to a commercial size blast furnace under way.


title: Blast furnace

text: Cast iron has been found in China dating to the 5th century BC, but the earliest extant blast furnaces in China date to the 1st century AD and in the West from the High Middle Ages. They spread from the region around Namur in Wallonia (Belgium) in the late 15th century, being introduced to England in 1491. The fuel used in these was invariably charcoal. The successful substitution of coke for charcoal is widely attributed to English inventor Abraham Darby in 1709. The efficiency of the process was further enhanced by the practice of preheating the combustion air (hot blast), patented by Scottish inventor James Beaumont Neilson in 1828.


title: Blast furnace

text: Archaeological evidence shows that bloomeries appeared in China around 800 BC. Originally it was thought that the Chinese started casting iron right from the beginning, but this theory has since been debunked by the discovery of 'more than ten' iron digging implements found in the tomb of Duke Jing of Qin (d. 537 BC), whose tomb is located in Fengxiang County, Shaanxi (a museum exists on the site today). There is however no evidence of the bloomery in China after the appearance of the blast furnace and cast iron. In China, blast furnaces produced cast iron, which was then either converted into finished implements in a cupola furnace, or turned into wrought iron in a fining hearth.


title: Blast furnace

text: Although cast iron farm tools and weapons were widespread in China by the 5th century BC, employing workforces of over 200 men in iron smelters from the 3rd century onward, the earliest blast furnaces constructed were attributed to the Han Dynasty in the 1st century AD. These early furnaces had clay walls and used phosphorus-containing minerals as a flux. Chinese blast furnaces ranged from around two to ten meters in height, depending on the region. The largest ones were found in modern Sichuan and Guangdong, while the 'dwarf" blast furnaces were found in Dabieshan. In construction, they are both around the same level of technological sophistication


title: Blast furnace

text: The effectiveness of the Chinese human and horse powered blast furnaces was enhanced during this period by the engineer Du Shi (c. AD 31), who applied the power of waterwheels to piston-bellows in forging cast iron. Early water-driven reciprocators for operating blast furnaces were built according to the structure of horse powered reciprocators that already existed. That is, the circular motion of the wheel, be it horse driven or water driven, was transferred by the combination of a belt drive, a crank-and-connecting-rod, other connecting rods, and various shafts, into the reciprocal motion necessary to operate a push bellow. Donald Wagner suggests that early blast furnace and cast iron production evolved from furnaces used to melt bronze. Certainly, though, iron was essential to military success by the time the State of Qin had unified China (221 BC). Usage of the blast and cupola furnace remained widespread during the Song and Tang Dynasties. By the 11th century, the Song Dynasty Chinese iron industry made a switch of resources from charcoal to coke in casting iron and steel, sparing thousands of acres of woodland from felling. This may have happened as early as the 4th century AD.


title: Blast furnace

text: The primary advantage of the early blast furnace was in large scale production and making iron implements more readily available to peasants. Cast iron is more brittle than wrought iron or steel, which required additional fining and then cementation or co-fusion to produce, but for menial activities such as farming it sufficed. By using the blast furnace, it was possible to produce larger quantities of tools such as ploughshares more efficiently than the bloomery. In areas where quality was important, such as warfare, wrought iron and steel were preferred. Nearly all Han period weapons are made of wrought iron or steel, with the exception of axe-heads, of which many are made of cast iron.


title: Blast furnace

text: Blast furnaces were also later used to produce gunpowder weapons such as cast iron bomb shells and cast iron cannons during the Song dynasty.


title: Blast furnace

text: The simplest forge, known as the Corsican, was used prior to the advent of Christianity. Examples of improved bloomeries are the (sometimes called wolf-furnace), which remained until the beginning of the 19th century. Instead of using natural draught, air was pumped in by a "trompe", resulting in better quality iron and an increased capacity. This pumping of air in with bellows is known as "cold blast", and it increases the fuel efficiency of the bloomery and improves yield. They can also be built bigger than natural draught bloomeries.


title: Blast furnace

text: The oldest known blast furnaces in the West were built in Dürstel in Switzerland, the Märkische Sauerland in Germany, and at Lapphyttan in Sweden, where the complex was active between 1205 and 1300. At Noraskog in the Swedish parish of Järnboås, traces of even earlier blast furnaces have been found, possibly from around 1100. These early blast furnaces, like the Chinese examples, were very inefficient compared to those used today. The iron from the Lapphyttan complex was used to produce balls of wrought iron known as osmonds, and these were traded internationally – a possible reference occurs in a treaty with Novgorod from 1203 and several certain references in accounts of English customs from the 1250s and 1320s. Other furnaces of the 13th to 15th centuries have been identified in Westphalia.


title: Blast furnace

text: The technology required for blast furnaces may have either been transferred from China, or may have been an indigenous innovation. Al-Qazvini in the 13th century and other travellers subsequently noted an iron industry in the Alburz Mountains to the south of the Caspian Sea. This is close to the silk route, so that the use of technology derived from China is conceivable. Much later descriptions record blast furnaces about three metres high. As the Varangian Rus' people from Scandinavia traded with the Caspian (using their Volga trade route), it is possible that the technology reached Sweden by this means. The step from bloomery to true blast furnace is not big. Simply just building a bigger furnace and using bigger bellows to increase the volume of the blast and hence the amount of oxygen leads inevitably into higher temperatures, bloom melting into liquid iron, and cast iron flowing from the smelters. The Vikings are known to have used double bellows, which greatly increases the volumetric flow of the blast.


title: Blast furnace

text: The Caspian region may also have been the source for the design of the furnace at Ferriere, described by Filarete, involving a water-powered bellows at in Valdidentro in northern Italy in 1226. In a two-stage process the molten iron was tapped twice a day into water, thereby granulating it.


title: Blast furnace

text: The General Chapter of the Cistercian monks spread some technological advances across Europe. This may have included the blast furnace, as the Cistercians are known to have been skilled metallurgists. According to Jean Gimpel, their high level of industrial technology facilitated the diffusion of new techniques: "Every monastery had a model factory, often as large as the church and only several feet away, and waterpower drove the machinery of the various industries located on its floor." Iron ore deposits were often donated to the monks along with forges to extract the iron, and after a time surpluses were offered for sale. The Cistercians became the leading iron producers in Champagne, France, from the mid-13th century to the 17th century, also using the phosphate-rich slag from their furnaces as an agricultural fertilizer.


title: Blast furnace

text: Archaeologists are still discovering the extent of Cistercian technology. At Laskill, an outstation of Rievaulx Abbey and the only medieval blast furnace so far identified in Britain, the slag produced was low in iron content. Slag from other furnaces of the time contained a substantial concentration of iron, whereas Laskill is believed to have produced cast iron quite efficiently. Its date is not yet clear, but it probably did not survive until Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries in the late 1530s, as an agreement (immediately after that) concerning the "smythes" with the Earl of Rutland in 1541 refers to blooms. Nevertheless, the means by which the blast furnace spread in medieval Europe has not finally been determined.


title: Blast furnace

text: Due to the increased demand for iron for casting cannons, the blast furnace came into widespread use in France in the mid 15th century.


title: Blast furnace

text: The direct ancestor of those used in France and England was in the Namur region, in what is now Wallonia (Belgium). From there, they spread first to the Pays de Bray on the eastern boundary of Normandy and from there to the Weald of Sussex, where the first furnace (called Queenstock) in Buxted was built in about 1491, followed by one at Newbridge in Ashdown Forest in 1496. They remained few in number until about 1530 but many were built in the following decades in the Weald, where the iron industry perhaps reached its peak about 1590. Most of the pig iron from these furnaces was taken to finery forges for the production of bar iron.


title: Blast furnace

text: The first British furnaces outside the Weald appeared during the 1550s, and many were built in the remainder of that century and the following ones. The output of the industry probably peaked about 1620, and was followed by a slow decline until the early 18th century. This was apparently because it was more economic to import iron from Sweden and elsewhere than to make it in some more remote British locations. Charcoal that was economically available to the industry was probably being consumed as fast as the wood to make it grew.


title: Blast furnace

text: The first blast furnace in Russia opened in 1637 near Tula and was called the Gorodishche Works. The blast furnace spread from there to central Russia and then finally to the Urals.


title: Blast furnace

text: In 1709, at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, England, Abraham Darby began to fuel a blast furnace with coke instead of charcoal. Coke's initial advantage was its lower cost, mainly because making coke required much less labor than cutting trees and making charcoal, but using coke also overcame localized shortages of wood, especially in Britain and on the Continent. Metallurgical grade coke will bear heavier weight than charcoal, allowing larger furnaces. A disadvantage is that coke contains more impurities than charcoal, with sulfur being especially detrimental to the iron's quality. Coke's impurities were more of a problem before hot blast reduced the amount of coke required and before furnace temperatures were hot enough to make slag from limestone free flowing. (Limestone ties up sulfur. Manganese may also be added to tie up sulfur.)


title: Blast furnace

text: Coke iron was initially only used for foundry work, making pots and other cast iron goods. Foundry work was a minor branch of the industry, but Darby's son built a new furnace at nearby Horsehay, and began to supply the owners of finery forges with coke pig iron for the production of bar iron. Coke pig iron was by this time cheaper to produce than charcoal pig iron. The use of a coal-derived fuel in the iron industry was a key factor in the British Industrial Revolution. Darby's original blast furnace has been archaeologically excavated and can be seen in situ at Coalbrookdale, part of the Ironbridge Gorge Museums. Cast iron from the furnace was used to make girders for the world's first iron bridge in 1779. The Iron Bridge crosses the River Severn at Coalbrookdale and remains in use for pedestrians.


title: Blast furnace

text: The steam engine was applied to power blast air, overcoming a shortage of water power in areas where coal and iron ore were located. This was first done at Coalbrookdale where a steam engine replaced a horse-powered pump in 1742. Such engines were used to pump water to a reservoir above the furnace. The first engines used to blow cylinders directly was supplied by Boulton and Watt to John Wilkinson's New Willey Furnace. This powered a cast iron blowing cylinder, which had been invented by his father Isaac Wilkinson. He patented such cylinders in 1736, to replace the leather bellows, which wore out quickly. Isaac was granted a second patent, also for blowing cylinders, in 1757. The steam engine and cast iron blowing cylinder led to a large increase in British iron production in the late 18th century.


title: Blast furnace

text: Hot blast was the single most important advance in fuel efficiency of the blast furnace and was one of the most important technologies developed during the Industrial Revolution. Hot blast was patented by James Beaumont Neilson at Wilsontown Ironworks in Scotland in 1828. Within a few years of the introduction, hot blast was developed to the point where fuel consumption was cut by one-third using coke or two-thirds using coal, while furnace capacity was also significantly increased. Within a few decades, the practice was to have a "stove" as large as the furnace next to it into which the waste gas (containing CO) from the furnace was directed and burnt. The resultant heat was used to preheat the air blown into the furnace.


title: Blast furnace

text: Hot blast enabled the use of raw anthracite coal, which was difficult to light, to the blast furnace. Anthracite was first tried successfully by George Crane at Ynyscedwyn Ironworks in south Wales in 1837. It was taken up in America by the Lehigh Crane Iron Company at Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, in 1839. Anthracite use declined when very high capacity blast furnaces requiring coke were built in the 1870s.


title: Blast furnace

text: The blast furnace remains an important part of modern iron production. Modern furnaces are highly efficient, including Cowper stoves to pre-heat the blast air and employ recovery systems to extract the heat from the hot gases exiting the furnace. Competition in industry drives higher production rates. The largest blast furnace in the world is in South Korea, with a volume around . It can produce around of iron per year.


title: Blast furnace

text: This is a great increase from the typical 18th-century furnaces, which averaged about per year. Variations of the blast furnace, such as the Swedish electric blast furnace, have been developed in countries which have no native coal resources.


title: Blast furnace

text: According to Global Energy Monitor the blast furnace is likely to become obsolete to meet climate change objectives of reducing carbon dioxide emission, but BHP disagrees. An alternative process involving direct reduced iron is likely to succeed it, but this also needs to use a blast furnace to melt the iron and remove the gangue (impurities) unless the ore is very high quality.


title: Blast furnace

text: The oxygen blast furnace (OBF) process has been extensively studied theoretically because of the potentials of promising energy conservation and CO2 emission reduction. This type may be the most suitable for use with CCS.the main blast furnace has of three levels of reduction zones reduction zone (523–973k),slag formation zone (1073–1273k), combustion zone (1773–1873k)


title: Blast furnace

text: Blast furnaces are currently rarely used in copper smelting, but modern lead smelting blast furnaces are much shorter than iron blast furnaces and are rectangular in shape. The overall shaft height is around 5 to 6 m. Modern lead blast furnaces are constructed using water-cooled steel or copper jackets for the walls, and have no refractory linings in the side walls. The base of the furnace is a hearth of refractory material (bricks or castable refractory). Lead blast furnaces are often open-topped rather than having the charging bell used in iron blast furnaces.


title: Blast furnace

text: The blast furnace used at the Nyrstar Port Pirie lead smelter differs from most other lead blast furnaces in that it has a double row of tuyeres rather than the single row normally used. The lower shaft of the furnace has a chair shape with the lower part of the shaft being narrower than the upper. The lower row of tuyeres being located in the narrow part of the shaft. This allows the upper part of the shaft to be wider than the standard.


title: Blast furnace

text: The blast furnaces used in the Imperial Smelting Process ("ISP") were developed from the standard lead blast furnace, but are fully sealed. This is because the zinc produced by these furnaces is recovered as metal from the vapor phase, and the presence of oxygen in the off-gas would result in the formation of zinc oxide.


title: Blast furnace

text: Blast furnaces used in the ISP have a more intense operation than standard lead blast furnaces, with higher air blast rates per m of hearth area and a higher coke consumption.


title: Blast furnace

text: Zinc production with the ISP is more expensive than with electrolytic zinc plants, so several smelters operating this technology have closed in recent years. However, ISP furnaces have the advantage of being able to treat zinc concentrates containing higher levels of lead than can electrolytic zinc plants.


title: Blast furnace

text: Stone wool or rock wool is a spun mineral fibre used as an insulation product and in hydroponics. It is manufactured in a blast furnace fed with diabase rock which contains very low levels of metal oxides. The resultant slag is drawn off and spun to form the rock wool product. Very small amounts of metals are also produced which are an unwanted by-product.


title: Blast furnace

text: Modern furnaces are equipped with an array of supporting facilities to increase efficiency, such as ore storage yards where barges are unloaded. The raw materials are transferred to the stockhouse complex by ore bridges, or rail hoppers and ore transfer cars. Rail-mounted scale cars or computer controlled weight hoppers weigh out the various raw materials to yield the desired hot metal and slag chemistry. The raw materials are brought to the top of the blast furnace via a skip car powered by winches or conveyor belts.


title: Blast furnace

text: There are different ways in which the raw materials are charged into the blast furnace. Some blast furnaces use a "double bell" system where two "bells" are used to control the entry of raw material into the blast furnace. The purpose of the two bells is to minimize the loss of hot gases in the blast furnace. First, the raw materials are emptied into the upper or small bell which then opens to empty the charge into the large bell. The small bell then closes, to seal the blast furnace, while the large bell rotates to provide specific distribution of materials before dispensing the charge into the blast furnace. A more recent design is to use a "bell-less" system. These systems use multiple hoppers to contain each raw material, which is then discharged into the blast furnace through valves. These valves are more accurate at controlling how much of each constituent is added, as compared to the skip or conveyor system, thereby increasing the efficiency of the furnace. Some of these bell-less systems also implement a discharge chute in the throat of the furnace (as with the Paul Wurth top) in order to precisely control where the charge is placed.


title: Blast furnace

text: The iron making blast furnace itself is built in the form of a tall structure, lined with refractory brick, and profiled to allow for expansion of the charged materials as they heat during their descent, and subsequent reduction in size as melting starts to occur. Coke, limestone flux, and iron ore (iron oxide) are charged into the top of the furnace in a precise filling order which helps control gas flow and the chemical reactions inside the furnace. Four "uptakes" allow the hot, dirty gas high in carbon monoxide content to exit the furnace throat, while "bleeder valves" protect the top of the furnace from sudden gas pressure surges. The coarse particles in the exhaust gas settle in the "dust catcher" and are dumped into a railroad car or truck for disposal, while the gas itself flows through a venturi scrubber and/or electrostatic precipitators and a gas cooler to reduce the temperature of the cleaned gas.


title: Blast furnace

text: The "casthouse" at the bottom half of the furnace contains the bustle pipe, water cooled copper tuyeres and the equipment for casting the liquid iron and slag. Once a "taphole" is drilled through the refractory clay plug, liquid iron and slag flow down a trough through a "skimmer" opening, separating the iron and slag. Modern, larger blast furnaces may have as many as four tapholes and two casthouses. Once the pig iron and slag has been tapped, the taphole is again plugged with refractory clay.


title: Blast furnace

text: The tuyeres are used to implement a hot blast, which is used to increase the efficiency of the blast furnace. The hot blast is directed into the furnace through water-cooled copper nozzles called tuyeres near the base. The hot blast temperature can be from 900 °C to 1300 °C (1600 °F to 2300 °F) depending on the stove design and condition. The temperatures they deal with may be 2000 °C to 2300 °C (3600 °F to 4200 °F). Oil, tar, natural gas, powdered coal and oxygen can also be injected into the furnace at tuyere level to combine with the coke to release additional energy and increase the percentage of reducing gases present which is necessary to increase productivity.


title: Blast furnace

text: The exhaust gasses of a blast furnace are generally cleaned in the dust collector – such as an inertial separator, a baghouse, or an electrostatic precipitator. Each type of dust collector has strengths and weaknesses – some collect fine particles, some coarse particles, some collect electrically charged particles. Effective exhaust clearing relies on multiple stages of treatment. Waste heat is usually collected from the exhaust gases, for example by the use of a Cowper stove, a variety of heat exchanger.


title: Blast furnace

text: The IEA Green House Gas R&D Programme (IEAGHG) has shown that in an integrated steel plant, 70% of the is directly from the blast furnace gas (BFG). It is possible to use carbon capture technology on the BFG before the BFG goes on to be used for heat exchange processes within the plant. In 2000, the IEAGHG estimated using that chemical absorption to capture BFG would cost $35/t of (an additional $8–20/t of would be required for transportation and storage). This would make the entire steel production process in a plant 15–20% more expensive.


title: Blast furnace

text: The results showed that global warming potential and acidification potential were the most significant environmental impacts. On average producing a tonne of steel emits 1.8 tonnes of . However, a steel mill using a top gas recycling blast furnace (TGRBF) producing a tonne of steel will emit 0.8 to 1.3 tonnes of depending upon the recycle rate of the TGRBF.


title: Blast furnace

text: For a long time, it was normal procedure for a decommissioned blast furnace to be demolished and either be replaced with a newer, improved one, or to have the entire site demolished to make room for follow-up use of the area. In recent decades, several countries have realized the value of blast furnaces as a part of their industrial history. Rather than being demolished, abandoned steel mills were turned into museums or integrated into multi-purpose parks. The largest number of preserved historic blast furnaces exists in Germany; other such sites exist in Spain, France, the Czech Republic, Great Britain. Japan, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Mexico, Russia and the United States.


title: Disney Television Animation

text: Disney Television Animation (DTVA), formerly known as Walt Disney Pictures Television Animation Group and Walt Disney Television Animation, is the television animation production arm of Disney Branded Television, a sub-division of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Company established on December 5, 1984 by Gary Krisel during the reorganization and subsequent re-incorporation of The Walt Disney Company following the arrival of then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner.


title: Disney Television Animation

text: The division is responsible for creating, developing and producing animation-oriented television series, films, specials and short films for broadcast predominantly on the 3 main Disney-branded networks; Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney Junior, as well as Disney+.


title: Disney Television Animation

text: The Walt Disney Company first ventured into the television industry as early as 1950, beginning with the one-hour Christmas special, "One Hour in Wonderland".


title: Disney Television Animation

text: This was followed by the 1951 Christmas special, "The Walt Disney Christmas Show", the long-running (1954–2008) anthology series, "The Wonderful World of Disney" (which was Disney's first regular series as a whole), the children's variety show "The Mickey Mouse Club", and the adventure series, "Zorro" (1957–1959).


title: Disney Television Animation

text: However, one element was missing from Disney's expansion into television: An original animated television series. Until the early '80s, the studio had never produced its own original animated shows in-house, because Walt Disney felt it was economically impossible. Nearly all pre-1985 TV animation was wrap-around segments made to bridge the gaps on existing theatrical material on "The Wonderful World of Disney". Osamu Tezuka met Walt at the 1964 World's Fair, at which time Disney said he hoped to "make something just like" Tezuka's "Astro Boy" someday, but unfortunately, nothing came of it.


title: Disney Television Animation

text: The hiring of a new CEO for Walt Disney Productions in 1984, Michael Eisner, lead him to push to expand Disney into new areas thus the establishment of a television animation division that year, whose output would be shopped to all markets: networks, Disney Channel and syndication. Eisner held a meeting at his home in which he brought up the concept of doing a series on the Gummi bear as his kids like the candy. Originally, the staff was told that they could not use the principal Disney cartoon characters in the new shows.


title: Disney Television Animation

text: The Walt Disney Television Animation department was started in November 1984 with Gary Krisel as president and Michael Webster as senior vice president.


title: Disney Television Animation

text: This was considered a risky move because animated TV series was generally considered low-budget investments for most of the history of TV cartoons up through the 1980s.


title: Disney Television Animation

text: Many critics say that Disney's own animation studio had lost most of its luster during . However, the studio took several risks that paid off handsomely. The studio successfully gambled on the idea that a substantially larger investment into quality animation could be made back through both network television and over-the-air in syndication, as well as cable. The final result is a string of higher budgeted animated television productions which proved to be profitable ventures and raised the standard for the TV medium.


title: Disney Television Animation

text: The first productions to make it to air from the studio arrived in 1985, with Eisner's concept fleshed out into "Adventures of the Gummi Bears", joined by an original concept "The Wuzzles", both which are based upon talking animal-based conceptions. The third series in a similar vein, "Fluppy Dogs", was produced as a single hour-long TV movie pilot that aired on ABC on Thanksgiving 1986 and was loosely based a series of children's books and line of toys about a race of anthropomorphic pastel-colored dimension-hopping alien called "fluppy dogs." Dismal viewership ensured the project never made it to series.


title: Disney Television Animation

text: In 1987, Disney finally unveiled the newest series yet in its cycle, and the first in their successful long-time line of syndicated animated shows, "DuckTales". Though forbidden from using the star characters, minor characters such as Scrooge McDuck and Huey, Dewey and Louie were allowed, and Disney did concede to allow for a brief appearance by Donald Duck to establish the series, allowing them to adapt the Duck universe adventure serials by Carl Barks into animation. The show was successful enough to spawn a feature film, "", and two spin-off series: "Darkwing Duck" and "Quack Pack". 1990 release "Treasure of the Lost Lamp" was the first movie from TV Animation Disney MovieToon unit. Disney Television Animation hired a director of specials, Sharon Morrill, in 1993.


title: Disney Television Animation

text: The success of "DuckTales" also paved the way for a new wave of high-quality animated TV series, including Disney's own "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" in 1988. Later, early that spring, "" debuted on March 4, 1989, and was paired with "DuckTales" in an hour-long syndicated show through the 1989-1990 television season. In the 1990–1991 season, Disney expanded the idea even further, to create "The Disney Afternoon", a two-hour-long syndicated block of half-hour cartoons, which premiered much later on September 10, 1990. "DuckTales" was one of the early flagship cartoons in the block.


title: Disney Television Animation

text: On August 24, 1994 with Jeffrey Katzenberg's resignation, Richard Frank became head of newly formed Walt Disney Television and Telecommunications (WDTT), which included WDTA, from units of The Walt Disney Studios. Morrill was in charge of the first "Aladdin" DTV sequel launching Disney Video Premiere/Direct to Video unit.


title: Disney Television Animation

text: Three overseas Disney studios were set up to produce the company's animated television series. Disney Animation Australia was started in 1988. In 1989, the Brizzi brothers sold Brizzi Films to Disney Television Animation and was renamed Walt Disney Animation France. Also that year, Disney Animation Japan was started. Walt Disney Animation Canada was opened in January 1996 to tap Canada's animator pool and produce direct-to-video. As direct-to-video increased in importance, the overseas studios moved to making feature films.


title: Disney Television Animation

text: WDTT chair Frank left Disney in March 1995. With Krisel expecting to be promoted to head up WDTT but passed over, Krisel left WDTA at the end of his contract in January 1996. At the time the Walt Disney Company merged with Capital Cities/ABC, TV Animation was a unit of Walt Disney Television within the Walt Disney Television and Telecommunications group (WDTT). With the retirement of WDTT group president Dennis Hightower in April 1996 and ongoing post-merger reorganization, the unit (along with its Disney TV parent) was transferred to the Walt Disney Studios.


title: Disney Television Animation

text: When the September 1, 1997 season started, the block dropped The Disney Afternoon (temporally rebranded as the ""Disney-Kellogg Alliance""), moving shows to Disney Channel. On September 13, 1997, Disney's ABC unit launched "Disney's One Saturday Morning". The programming block included several new shows, such as , "Recess", "Pepper Ann", "Disney's Doug," and "Mickey Mouse Works."


title: Disney Television Animation

text: In January 1998, Disney also reached a deal to program a new children's block for UPN, "Disney's One Too", to replace that network's internal UPN Kids block. The syndicated block ran until the debut of One Too on September 6, 1999; which aired mainly the same shows as One Saturday Morning.


title: Disney Television Animation

text: By April 1998, Disney MovieToons was folded in with Walt Disney Video Premieres films and network TV specials of Disney TV Animation as Morrill moved to executive vice president over her pre-existing units. At the same time, Barry Blumberg was elevated to the executive vice president for network and syndicated animated TV series. Both reported to Disney Television president Charles Hirschhorn.


title: Disney Television Animation

text: In the second quarter of 2000, due to weak financial performance, Disney Animation Canada was closed. David Stainton took charge of the company as executive vice president in January 2000 then as president in February 2002 under Thomas Schumacher.


title: Disney Television Animation

text: Due to the reconstruction, Disney & ABC also rebranded its One Saturday Morning block to ABC Kids (a subtle tribute to the Fox Kids brand after being acquired by Disney through its purchase of Fox Family Worldwide in 2001) on September 14, 2002. On August 31, 2003, Disney discontinued the "One Too" block, thus ending their deal with UPN.


title: Disney Television Animation

text: After the relaunch as ABC Kids, many of the shows' premieres moved to sister network Toon Disney due to schedule constraints. The remaining shows included: "The Weekenders", "Teacher's Pet", "House of Mouse", "Lloyd in Space", "Teamo Supremo", and "Fillmore!". All new episodes finished airing by 2004, allowing the network to switch to syndicating promotions for new original shows for Disney Channel and upcoming Jetix brand (which held the previous Fox Kids library).


title: Disney Television Animation

text: In January 2003, Disney initiated a reorganization of its theatrical and animation units to improve resource usage and continued focus on new characters and franchise development. Disney then transferred all Television Animation to Disney Channels Worldwide. In this reorganization, the Disney MovieToons/Disney Video Premieres unit move from Television Animation to Feature Animation. The studio was then renamed Disneytoon Studios. While Stainton took over as President of Disney Feature Animation from Schumacher, Blumberg returned to WDTVA as president. "Kim Possible" became the first cartoon produced by Disney Channel (as Jambalaya Studio produced "The Proud Family" for the network).


title: Disney Television Animation

text: Following the company's new shift in focus, in 2004, Disney formed a joint-venture with Jetix Europe N.V. labeled "Jetix Animation Concepts" to produce original shows worldwide. The three series include: "Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!", "Get Ed", and "Yin Yang Yo!". Along with four produced by SIP Animation: "The Tofus", "W.I.T.C.H.", "A.T.O.M.", and "Combo Niños". "Jetix" would typically air as a block on Toon Disney (and sister network ABC Family until August 31, 2006) in the U.S., or as channel internationally (depending on the region).


title: Disney Television Animation

text: Throughout the 2000s, Disney continued to create new animated Disney Channel (& Playhouse Disney) Originals such as "", "Dave the Barbarian", "Brandy & Mr. Whiskers", "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse", "My Friends Tigger & Pooh", and "The Emperor's New School" were in already in production. At this point, animated series would have to be produced solely by the network's animation division. So Disney Channel began experimenting with newer animation techniques to reduce costs under the re-established Disney Channels Worldwide.


title: Disney Television Animation

text: "The Buzz on Maggie" was among the first Disney series to fully utilize Adobe Flash animation, thus saving costs and allowing experimentation. "" (which premiered just months prior) and "The Replacements" received cleaner redesigns for their second seasons (noteworthy, as both series originated as their creator's storybooks) to ease the animation styles for fitting TV budgets. The success of "Kim Possible" also helped show that there was marketing value in Disney Channel cartoons as the network ordered a fourth season (opposed to the standard three seasons of 65 episodes). Disney soon launched "Phineas and Ferb" soon after the closure of Kim Possible (which surpassed it as their longest-running animated series).