title: Zhejiang

text: Zhejiang consists mostly of hills, which account for about 70% of its total area, with higher altitudes towards the south and the west. Zhejiang also has a longer coastline than any other mainland province of China. The Qiantang River runs through the province, from which it derives its name. Included in the province are three thousand islands, the most in China. The capital Hangzhou marks the end of the Grand Canal and lies on Hangzhou Bay on the north of Zhejiang, which separates Shanghai and Ningbo. The bay contains many small islands collectively called the Zhoushan Islands.


title: Zhejiang

text: Hangzhou is a historically important city of China and is considered a World City with a "Beta+" classification according to GaWC. It includes the notable West Lake. Various varieties of Chinese are spoken in Zhejiang, the most prominent being Wu Chinese. Zhejiang is also one of China's leading provinces in research and education. As of 2022, two major cities in Zhejiang ranked in the world's top 200 cities (Hangzhou 19th and Ningbo 170th) by scientific research output, as tracked by Nature Index.


title: Zhejiang

text: The province's name derives from the Zhe River (), the former name of the Qiantang River which flows past Hangzhou and whose mouth forms Hangzhou Bay. It is usually understood as meaning "Crooked" or "Bent River," from the meaning of Chinese , but is more likely a phono-semantic compound formed from adding (the "water" radical used for river names) to phonetic (Pinyin "zhé" but reconstructed Old Chinese *"tet"), preserving a proto-Wu name of the local Yue, similar to Yuhang, Kuaiji and Jiang.


title: Zhejiang

text: Kuahuqiao culture was an early Neolithic culture that flourished in the Hangzhou area in 6,000-5,000 BC.


title: Zhejiang

text: Zhejiang was the site of the Neolithic cultures of the Hemudu (starting in 5500 BC) and Liangzhu (starting in 3400 BC).


title: Zhejiang

text: The area of modern Zhejiang was outside the major sphere of influence of Shang civilization during the second millennium BC. Instead, this area was populated by peoples collectively known as Dongyue.


title: Zhejiang

text: The kingdom of Yue began to appear in the chronicles and records written during the Spring and Autumn period. According to the chronicles, the kingdom of Yue was in Northern Zhejiang. Shiji claims that its leaders were descended from the Xia founder Yu the Great. The "Song of the Yue Boatman" () was transliterated into Chinese and recorded by authors in North China or inland China of Hebei and Henan around 528 BC. The song shows that the Yue people spoke a language that was mutually unintelligible with the dialects spoken in north and inland China. The Sword of Goujian bears bird-worm seal script. Yuenü () was a swordswoman from the state of Yue. To check the growth of the kingdom of Wu, Chu pursued a policy of strengthening Yue.


title: Zhejiang

text: Under King Goujian, Yue recovered from its early reverses and fully annexed the lands of its rival in . The Yue kings then moved their capital center from their original home around Mount Kuaiji in present-day Shaoxing to the former Wu capital at present-day Suzhou. With no southern power to turn against Yue, Chu opposed it directly and, in 333 BC, succeeded in destroying it. Yue's former lands were annexed by the Qin Empire in 222 BC and organized into a commandery named for Kuaiji in Zhejiang but initially headquartered in Wu in Jiangsu.


title: Zhejiang

text: Kuaiji Commandery was the initial power base for Xiang Liang and Xiang Yu's rebellion against the Qin Empire which initially succeeded in restoring the kingdom of Chu but eventually fell to the Han. Under the Later Han, control of the area returned to the settlement below Mount Kuaiji but authority over the Minyue hinterland was nominal at best and its Yue inhabitants largely retained their own political and social structures.


title: Zhejiang

text: At the beginning of the Three Kingdoms era (220–280 CE), Zhejiang was home to the warlords Yan Baihu and Wang Lang prior to their defeat by Sun Ce and Sun Quan, who eventually established the Kingdom of Wu. Despite the removal of their court from Kuaiji to Jianye (present-day Nanjing) and they continued development of the region and benefitted from influxes of refugees fleeing the turmoil in northern China. Industrial kilns were established and trade reached as far as Manchuria and Funan (South Vietnam).


title: Zhejiang

text: Zhejiang was part of the Wu during the Three Kingdoms. Wu (229–280), commonly known as Eastern Wu or Sun Wu, had been the economically most developed state among the Three Kingdoms (220–280 CE). The historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms records that Zhejiang had the best-equipped, strong navy force. The story depicts how the states of Wei () and Shu (), lack of material resources, avoided direct confrontation with the Wu. In armed military conflicts with Wu, the two states relied intensively on tactics of camouflage and deception to steal Wu's military resources including arrows and bows.


title: Zhejiang

text: Despite the continuing prominence of Nanjing (then known as Jiankang), the settlement of Qiantang, the former name of Hangzhou, remained one of the three major metropolitan centers in the south to provide major tax revenue to the imperial centers in the north China. The other two centers in the south were Jiankang and Chengdu. In 589, Qiantang was raised in status and renamed Hangzhou.


title: Zhejiang

text: Following the fall of Wu and the turmoil of the Wu Hu uprising against the Jin dynasty (266–420), most of elite Chinese families had collaborated with the non-Chinese rulers and military conquerors in the north. Some may have lost social privilege and took refuge in areas south of the Yangtze River. Some of the Chinese refugees from North China might have resided in areas near Hangzhou. For example, the clan of Zhuge Liang (181–234), a chancellor of the state of Shu Han from Central Plain in north China during the Three Kingdoms period, gathered together at the suburb of Hangzhou, forming an exclusive, closed village Zhuge Village (Zhege Cun), consisting of villagers all with family name "Zhuge." The village has intentionally isolated itself from the surrounding communities for centuries to this day and only recently came to be known in public. It suggests that a small number of powerful, elite Chinese refugees from the Central Plain might have taken refuge south of the Yangtze River. However, considering the mountainous geography and relative lack of agrarian lands in Zhejiang, most of these refugees might have resided in some areas in South China beyond Zhejiang, where fertile agrarian lands and metropolitan resources were available, mainly Southern Jiangsu, Eastern Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Anhui and provinces where less cohesive, organized regional governments had been in place. Metropolitan areas of Sichuan was another hub for refugees, given that the state of Shu had long been founded and ruled by political and military elites from the Central Plain and North China. Some refugees from North China might have found residence in South China depending on their social status and military power in the north. The rump Jin state or the Southern dynasties vied against some elite Chinese from the Central Plain and south of the Yangtze River.


title: Zhejiang

text: Zhejiang, as the heartland of the Jiangnan (Yangtze River Delta), remained the wealthiest area during the Six Dynasties (220 or 222–589), Sui and Tang. After being incorporated into the Sui dynasty, its economic richness was used for the Sui dynasty's ambitions to expand north and south, particularly into Korea and Vietnam. The plan led the Sui dynasty to restore and expand the network which became the Grand Canal of China. The Canal regularly transported grains and resources from Zhejiang, through its metropolitan center Hangzhou (and its hinterland along both the Zhe River and the shores of Hangzhou Bay) and from Suzhou and thence to the North China Plain. The débâcle of the Korean war led to Sui's overthrow by the Tang, who then presided over a centuries-long golden age for the country. Zhejiang was an important economic center of the empire's Jiangnan East Circuit and was considered particularly prosperous. Throughout the Tang dynasty, The Grand Canal had remained effective, transporting grains and material resources to North China plain and metropolitan centers of the empire. As the Tang dynasty disintegrated, Zhejiang constituted most of the territory of the regional kingdom of Wuyue.


title: Zhejiang

text: After the collapse of the Tang dynasty in 907, the entire area of what is now Zhejiang fell under the control of the kingdom Wuyue established by King Qian Liu, who selected Hangzhou (a city in the modern day area of Zhejiang) as his kingdom's capital. Despite being under Wuyue rule for a relatively short period of time, Zhejiang underwent a long period of financial and cultural prosperity which continued even after the kingdom fell.


title: Zhejiang

text: After Wuyue was conquered during the reunification of China, many shrines were erected across the former territories of Wuyue, mainly in Zhejiang, where the kings of Wuyue were memorialised, and sometimes, worshipped as being able to dictate weather and agriculture. Many of these shrines, known as "Shrine of the Qian King" or "Temple to the Qian King," still remain today, with the most popularly visited example being that near West Lake in Hangzhou.


title: Zhejiang

text: China's province of Zhejiang during the 940s was also the place of origin of the Hú family (Hồ in Vietnamese) from which the founder of the Hồ Dynasty who ruled Vietnam, Emperor Hồ Quý Ly, came from.


title: Zhejiang

text: The Song dynasty re-established unity around 960. Under the Song, the prosperity of South China began to overtake that of North China. After the north was lost to the Jurchen Jin dynasty in 1127 following the Jingkang Incident, Hangzhou became the capital of the Song dynasty under the name Lin'an, which was renowned for its prosperity and beauty, it was suspected to have been the largest city in the world at the time.


title: Zhejiang

text: From then on, northern Zhejiang and neighboring southern Jiangsu have been synonymous with luxury and opulence in Chinese culture. The Mongol conquest and the establishment of the Yuan dynasty in 1279 ended Hangzhou's political clout, but its economy continued to prosper. The famous traveler Marco Polo visited the city, which he called "Kinsay" (after the Chinese "Jingshi", meaning "Capital City") claiming it was "the finest and noblest city in the world."


title: Zhejiang

text: Greenware ceramics made from celadon had been made in the area since the 3rd-century Jin dynasty, but it returned to prominence—particularly in Longquan—during the Southern Song and Yuan. Longquan greenware is characterized by a thick unctuous glaze of a particular bluish-green tint over an otherwise undecorated light-grey porcellaneous body that is delicately potted. Yuan Longquan celadons feature a thinner, greener glaze on larger vessels with decoration and shapes derived from Middle Eastern ceramic and metalwares. These were produced in large quantities for the Chinese export trade to Southeast Asia, the Middle East and (during the Ming) Europe. By the Ming, however, production was notably deficient in quality. It is in this period that the Longquan kilns declined, to be eventually replaced in popularity and ceramic production by the kilns of Jingdezhen in Jiangxi.


title: Zhejiang

text: Zhejiang was finally conquered by the Mongols in the late 13th century who later established the short lived Yuan dynasty. Zhejiang became part of the much larger Jiangzhe Province.


title: Zhejiang

text: The Ming dynasty, which drove out the Mongols in 1368, finally established the present day province of Zhejiang with its borders having little changes since this establishment.


title: Zhejiang

text: As in other coastal provinces, number of fortresses were constructed along the Zhejiang coast during the early Ming to defend the land against pirate incursions. Some of them have been preserved or restored, such as Pucheng in the south of the province (Cangnan County).


title: Zhejiang

text: Under the late Ming dynasty and the Qing dynasty that followed it, Zhejiang's ports were important centers of international trade.


title: Zhejiang

text: "In 1727 the to-min or 'idle people' of Cheh Kiang province (a Ningpo name still existing), the yoh-hu or 'music people' of Shanxi province, the si-min or 'small people' of Kiang Su (Jiangsu) province and the Tanka people or 'egg-people' of Canton (to this day the boat population there), were all freed from their social disabilities and allowed to count as free men." "Cheh Kiang" is another romanization for Zhejiang. The Duomin () are a caste of outcasts in this province.


title: Zhejiang

text: During the First Opium War, the British navy defeated Eight Banners forces at Ningbo and Dinghai. Under the terms of the Treaty of Nanking, signed in 1843, Ningbo became one of the five Chinese treaty ports opened to virtually unrestricted foreign trade. Much of Zhejiang came under the control of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom during the Taiping Rebellion, which resulted in a considerable loss of life in the north-western and central parts of the province, sparing the rest of Zhejiang from the disastrous depopulation that occurred. In 1876, Wenzhou became Zhejiang's second treaty port. Jianghuai Mandarin speakers later came to settle in these depopulated regions of northern Zhejiang.


title: Zhejiang

text: During the Second Sino-Japanese War, which led into World War II, much of Zhejiang was occupied by Japan and placed under the control of the Japanese puppet state known as the Reorganized National Government of China. Following the Doolittle Raid, most of the B-25 American crews that came down in China eventually made it to safety with the help of Chinese civilians and soldiers. The Chinese people who helped them, however, paid dearly for sheltering the Americans. The Imperial Japanese Army began the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign to intimidate the Chinese out of helping downed American airmen. Imperial Japanese forces killed an estimated 250,000 Chinese civilians from the area of Hangzhou to Nanchang and also Zhuzhou while searching for Doolittle's men.


title: Zhejiang

text: After the People's Republic of China took control of Mainland China in 1949, the Republic of China government based in Taiwan continued to control the Dachen Islands off the coast of Zhejiang until 1955, even establishing a rival Zhejiang provincial government there. During the Cultural Revolution (1966–76), Zhejiang was in chaos and disunity and its economy was stagnant, especially during the high tide (1966–69) of the revolution. The agricultural policy favoring grain production at the expense of industrial and cash crops intensified economic hardships in the province. Mao's self-reliance policy and the reduction in maritime trade cut off the lifelines of the port cities of Ningbo and Wenzhou. While Mao invested heavily in railroads in interior China, no major railroads were built in South Zhejiang, where transportation remained poor.


title: Zhejiang

text: Zhejiang benefited less from central government investment than some other provinces due to its lack of natural resources, a location vulnerable to potential flooding from the sea and an economic base at the national average. Zhejiang, however, has been an epicenter of capitalist development in China and has led the nation in the development of a market economy and private enterprises. Northeast Zhejiang, as part of the Yangtze Delta, is flat, more developed and industrial.


title: Zhejiang

text: Zhejiang consists mostly of hills, which account for about 70% of its total area. Altitudes tend to be the highest to the south and west and the highest peak of the province, Huangmaojian Peak (), is located there. Other prominent mountains include Mounts Yandang, Tianmu, Tiantai and Mogan, which reach altitudes of .


title: Zhejiang

text: Valleys and plains are found along the coastline and rivers. The north of the province lies just south of the Yangtze Delta and consists of plains around the cities of Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou, where the Grand Canal of China enters from the northern border to end at Hangzhou. Another relatively flat area is found along the Qu River around the cities of Quzhou and Jinhua. Major rivers include the Qiangtang and Ou Rivers. Most rivers carve out valleys in the highlands, with plenty of rapids and other features associated with such topography. Well-known lakes include the West Lake of Hangzhou and the South Lake of Jiaxing.


title: Zhejiang

text: There are over three thousand islands along the rugged coastline of Zhejiang. The largest, Zhoushan Island, is Mainland China's third largest island, after Hainan and Chongming. There are also many bays, of which Hangzhou Bay is the largest. Zhejiang has a humid subtropical climate with four distinct seasons. Spring starts in March and is rainy with changeable weather. Summer, from June to September is long, hot, rainy and humid. Fall is generally dry, warm and sunny. Winters are short but cold except in the far south. Average annual temperature is around , average January temperature is around and average July temperature is around . Annual precipitation is about . There is plenty of rainfall in early summer and by late summer Zhejiang is directly threatened by typhoons forming in the Pacific.


title: Zhejiang

text: Zhejiang is divided into eleven prefecture-level divisions: all prefecture-level cities (including two sub-provincial cities):


title: Zhejiang

text: The eleven prefecture-level divisions of Zhejiang are subdivided into 90 county-level divisions (36 districts, 20 county-level cities, 33 counties, and one autonomous county). Those are in turn divided into 1,570 township-level divisions (761 towns, 505 townships, 14 ethnic townships, and 290 subdistricts). Hengdian belongs to Jinhua, which is the largest base of shooting films and TV dramas in China. Hengdian World Studios is called "China's Hollywood." At the year end of 2017, the total population is 56.57 million.


title: Zhejiang

text: The politics of Zhejiang is structured in a dual party-government system like all other governing institutions in Mainland China. The Governor of Zhejiang is the highest-ranking official in the People's Government of Zhejiang. However, in the province's dual party-government governing system, the Governor is subordinate to the Zhejiang Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Provincial Committee Secretary, colloquially termed the "Zhejiang CCP Party Chief."


title: Zhejiang

text: Several political figures who served as Zhejiang's top political office of Communist Party Secretary have played key roles in various events in PRC history. Tan Zhenlin (term 1949–1952), the inaugural Party Secretary, was one of the leading voices against Mao's Cultural Revolution during the so-called February Countercurrent of 1967. Jiang Hua (term 1956–1968), was the "chief justice" on the Special Court in the case against the Gang of Four in 1980. Three provincial Party Secretaries since the 1990s have gone onto prominence at the national level. They include CPC General Secretary and President Xi Jinping (term 2002–2007), National People's Congress Chairman and former Vice-Premier Zhang Dejiang (term 1998–2002), and Zhao Hongzhu (term 2007–2012), the Deputy Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, China's top anti-corruption body. Of Zhejiang's fourteen Party Secretaries since 1949, none were native to the province.


title: Zhejiang

text: Zhejiang was home to Chiang Kai-shek and many high-ranking officials in the Kuomintang, who fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the Civil War.


title: Zhejiang

text: Zhejiang is one of the richest and most developed provinces in China. As of 2020, Zhejiang's nominal GDP was US$1.01 trillion, ranking between the Netherlands and Indonesia with a GDP of US$ 913 billion and US$ 1.06 trillion respectively, the 16th and 17th largest in the world respectively.


title: Zhejiang

text: As of 2018, its nominal GDP was US$849 billion (CN￥ 5.62 trilion), about 6.24% of the country's GDP and ranked 4th among province-level administrative units; the province's primary, secondary and tertiary industries were worth CN￥196.70 billion (US$29.72 billion), CN￥2.3506 trillion (US$355.22 billion) and CN￥3.0724 trillion (US$464.29 billion) respectively. Its nominal GDP per capita was US$14,907 (CN￥98,643) and ranked the 5th in the country. The private sector in the province has been playing an increasingly important role in boosting the regional economy since Economic Reform in 1978.


title: Zhejiang

text: Zhejiang's main manufacturing sectors are electromechanical industries, textiles, chemical industries, food and construction materials. In recent years Zhejiang has followed its own development model, dubbed the "Zhejiang model," which is based on prioritizing and encouraging entrepreneurship, an emphasis on small businesses responsive to the whims of the market, large public investments into infrastructure, and the production of low-cost goods in bulk for both domestic consumption and export. As a result, Zhejiang has made itself one of the richest provinces and the "Zhejiang spirit" has become something of a legend within China. However, some economists now worry that this model is not sustainable, in that it is inefficient and places unreasonable demands on raw materials and public utilities, and also a dead end, in that the myriad small businesses in Zhejiang producing cheap goods in bulk are unable to move to more sophisticated or technologically more advanced industries. The economic heart of Zhejiang is moving from North Zhejiang, centered on Hangzhou, southeastward to the region centered on Wenzhou and Taizhou. The per capita disposable income of urbanites in Zhejiang reached 55,574 yuan (US$8,398) in 2018, an annual real growth of 8.4%. The per capita disposable income of rural residents stood at 27,302 yuan (US$4,126), a real growth of 9.4%.


title: Zhejiang

text: Traditionally, the province is known as the "Land of Fish and Rice." True to its name, rice is the main crop, followed by wheat; north Zhejiang is also a center of aquaculture in China, and the Zhoushan fishery is the largest fishery in the country. The main cash crops include jute and cotton and the province also leads the provinces of China in tea production. (The renowned Longjing tea is a product of Hangzhou.) Zhejiang's towns have been known for handicraft production of goods such as silk, for which it is ranked second among the provinces. Its many market towns connect the cities with the countryside.


title: Zhejiang

text: As of 1832, the province was exporting silk, paper, fans, pencils, wine, dates, tea and "golden-flowered" hams.


title: Zhejiang

text: Ningbo, Wenzhou, Taizhou and Zhoushan are important commercial ports. The Hangzhou Bay Bridge between Haiyan County and Cixi, is the longest bridge over a continuous body of sea water in the world.


title: Zhejiang

text: On Thursday, September 15, 2011, more than 500 people from Hongxiao Village protested over the large-scale death of fish in a nearby river. Angry protesters stormed the Zhejiang Jinko Solar Company factory compound, overturned eight company vehicles, and destroyed the offices before police came to disperse the crowd. Protests continued on the two following nights with reports of scuffles, officials said. Chen Hongming, a deputy head of Haining's environmental protection bureau, said the factory's waste disposal had failed pollution tests since April. The environmental watchdog had warned the factory, but it had not effectively controlled the pollution, Chen added.


title: Zhejiang

text: Han Chinese make up the vast majority of the population and the largest Han subgroup are the speakers of Wu varieties of Chinese. There are also 400,000 members of ethnic minorities, including approximately 200,000 She people and approximately 20,000 Hui Chinese. Jingning She Autonomous County in Lishui is the only She autonomous county in China.


title: Zhejiang

text: The predominant religions in Zhejiang are Chinese folk religions, Taoist traditions and Chinese Buddhism. According to surveys conducted in 2007 and 2009, 23.02% of the population believes and is involved in ancestor veneration, while 2.62% of the population identifies as Christian, decreasing from 3.92% in 2004. The reports didn't give figures for other types of religion; 74.36% of the population may be either irreligious or involved in worship of nature deities, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, folk religious sects. As of the mid-2010s, Zhejiang has 34,880 registered folk religious temples greater than 20 sqm and 10,000 registered places of worship of the five doctrines (Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam).


title: Zhejiang

text: In mid-2015 the government of Zhejiang recognised folk religion as "civil religion" beginning the formal registration of the province's folk religious temples under the aegis of the provincial Bureau of Folk Faith. Buddhism has an important presence since its arrival in Zhejiang 1,800 years ago.


title: Zhejiang

text: Catholicism arrived 400 years ago in the province and Protestantism 150 years ago. Zhejiang is one of the provinces of China with the largest concentrations of Protestants, especially notable in the city of Wenzhou. In 1999, Zhejiang's Protestant population comprised 2.8% of the provincial population, a small percentage but higher than the national average.


title: Zhejiang

text: The rapid development of religions in Zhejiang has driven the local committee of ethnic and religious affairs to enact policies to rationalise them in 2014, variously named "Three Remodelings and One Demolition" operations or "Special Treatment Work on Illegally Constructed Sites of Religious and Folk Religion Activities" according to the locality. These regulations have led to cases of demolition of churches and folk religion temples or the removal of crosses from churches' roofs and spires. An exemplary case was that of the Sanjiang Church. Despite English-language media focused on Christian churches, only 2.3% of the buildings affected by the regulations were Christian churches; most of them were folk religious temples.


title: Zhejiang

text: Islam arrived 1,400 years ago in Zhejiang. Today Islam is practiced by a small number of people including virtually all the Hui Chinese living in Zhejiang. In 2020, there are 117,000 Muslims in Zhejiang. Another religion present in the province is She shamanism (practiced by She ethnic minority).


title: Zhejiang

text: The Zhejiang Radio & Television, Hangzhou Radio & Television Group, Ningbo Radio & Television Group are the local broadcasters in Zhejiang Province.


title: Zhejiang

text: Zhejiang is mountainous and has therefore fostered the development of many distinct local cultures. Linguistically speaking, Zhejiang is extremely diverse. Most inhabitants of Zhejiang speak varieties of Wu, but those Wu dialects are very diverse, especially in the south, where one valley may speak a dialect completely unintelligible to the next valley a few kilometers away. Other varieties of Chinese are spoken as well, mostly along the borders; Mandarin and Huizhou dialects are spoken on the border with Anhui, while Min dialects are spoken on the border with Fujian. (See Hangzhou dialect, Shaoxing dialect, Ningbo dialect, Wenzhou dialect, Taizhou dialect, Jinhua dialect and Quzhou dialect for more information)


title: Zhejiang

text: Throughout history there have been a series of "lingua francas" in the area to allow for better communication. The dialects spoken in Hangzhou, Shaoxing and Ningbo have taken on this role historically. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Mandarin, which is not mutually intelligible with any of the Wu dialects, has been promoted as the standard language of communication throughout China. As a result, most of the population now can, to some degree, speak and comprehend Mandarin and can code-switch when necessary. A majority of the population educated since 1978 can speak some Mandarin. Urban residents tend to be more fluent in Mandarin than rural people. Nevertheless, a Zhejiang accent is detectable in almost everyone from the area communicating in Mandarin and the home dialect remains an important part of the everyday lives and cultural identities of most Zhejiang residents.


title: Zhejiang

text: Zhejiang is the home of Yue opera, one of the most prominent forms of Chinese opera. "Yueju" originated in Shengzhou and is traditionally performed by actresses only, in both male and female roles. Other important opera traditions include Yongju (of Ningbo), Shao opera (of Shaoxing), Ouju (of Wenzhou), Wuju (of Jinhua), Taizhou Luantan (of Taizhou) and Zhuji Luantan (of Zhuji).


title: Zhejiang

text: Longjing tea (also called dragon well tea), originating in Hangzhou, is one of the most prestigious, if not "the" most prestigious Chinese tea. Hangzhou is also renowned for its silk umbrellas and hand fans. Zhejiang cuisine (itself subdivided into many traditions, including Hangzhou cuisine) is one of the eight great traditions of Chinese cuisine.


title: Zhejiang

text: Since ancient times, north Zhejiang and neighbouring south Jiangsu have been famed for their prosperity and opulence and simply inserting north Zhejiang place names (Hangzhou, Jiaxing, etc.) into poetry gave an effect of dreaminess, a practice followed by many noted poets. In particular, the fame of Hangzhou (as well as Suzhou in neighbouring Jiangsu province) has led to the popular saying: "Above there is heaven; below there is Suzhou and Hangzhou" (), a saying that continues to be a source of pride for the people of these two still prosperous cities.


title: Zhejiang

text: Zhejiang is one of China's leading provinces in research and education. As of 2022, two major cities in Zhejiang ranked in the world's top 200 cities (Hangzhou 19th and Ningbo 170th) by scientific research output, as tracked by Nature Index.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: Subramanian Swamy (born 15 September 1939) is an Indian politician, economist and statistician. Before joining politics, he was a professor of Mathematical Economics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He is known for his Hindu nationalist views. Swamy was a member of the Planning Commission of India and was a Cabinet Minister in the Chandra Shekhar government. Between 1994 and 1996, Swamy was Chairman of the Commission on Labour Standards and International Trade under former Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao. Swamy was a long-time member of the Janata Party, serving as its president until 2013 when he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He has written on foreign affairs of India dealing largely with China, Pakistan and Israel. He was nominated to Rajya Sabha on 26 April 2016.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: Subramanian Swamy was born on 15 September 1939, in Mylapore, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, to a family which hailed originally from Madurai in Tamil Nadu. He identifies as a Brahmin. His father, Sitaraman Subramanian, was a bureaucrat and his mother, Padmavathi, was a homemaker. He has one younger brother, Ram Subramanian, as well as two younger sisters.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: Sitaraman Subramanian was an officer in the Indian Statistical Service who served as the director of the Central Statistical Institute in Delhi, and was a statistical adviser to the Government of India. The family, which hailed from Madurai in Tamil Nadu, moved to New Delhi when Swamy was only six months old. Due to his father's job and the family's Tamil roots, major national leaders like K. Kamaraj, C. Rajagopalachari and S. Satyamurti often visited Sitaraman.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: He attended Hindu College, University of Delhi, from where he earned his bachelor's degree in Mathematics. He then took his master's degree in Statistics from the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. He was later recommended by Hendrik S. Houthakker and went to study at Harvard University on a full Rockefeller scholarship, where he received his PhD in Economics in 1965, with his thesis titled "Economic Growth and Income Distribution in a Developing Nation". His thesis adviser was Nobel laureate Simon Kuznets. While he was a doctoral student at Harvard, he attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a cross-registered student and later worked at the United Nations Secretariat in New York City as an Assistant Economics Affairs Officer in 1963. He subsequently worked as a resident tutor at Lowell House at Harvard University.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: Swamy met Roxna Kapadia, whose father was member of Indian Civil Service (British India) and an Indian lady of Parsi ethnicity who was studying PhD in mathematics at Harvard University. They were married in June 1966. Swamy has two daughters. The elder daughter, Gitanjali Swamy, is an entrepreneur and private equity professional. She is married to Sanjay Sarma, a professor at MIT, who is the son of E.A.S Sarma, a retired IAS officer and former secretary of Economic Affairs to the government of India. The younger daughter, Suhasini Haidar, is a print and television journalist married to Nadeem Haidar, the son of former Indian Foreign Secretary Salman Haidar.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: In July 1965, immediately after obtaining his PhD in economics from Harvard, Swamy joined the Department of Economics at the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences as an assistant professor. in 1969, he was made an associate professor. As an associate professor, he was invited by Amartya Sen to occupy the chair on Chinese studies at the Delhi School of Economics. He accepted the offer and even travelled to India to take up the position, but his appointment was cancelled at the last minute due to his views on India's economic policy and also its nuclear policy. at that time, India was still partially oriented towards socialism and the "command economy" model instituted by Nehru, and Swamy was a believer in market economy.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: Thereafter, Swamy moved to the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi where he was a full Professor of Mathematical Economics there from 1969 to the early 1970s. He was removed from the position by its board of governors in the early 1970s because of his disapproval of Indira Gandhi's poor economic policies but was legally reinstated in the late 1990s by the Supreme Court of India. He continued in the position until 1991 when he resigned to become a cabinet minister. He served on the Board of Governors of the IIT, Delhi (1977–80) and on the Council of IITs (1980–82). He also taught economics courses at Harvard Summer School until 2011, when the Harvard faculty voted to eliminate Swamy's courses as a result of his "offensive" statements about Muslims.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: Swamy currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the SCMS Group of Institutions, which includes the SCMS Cochin School of Business in Kochi.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: Swamy's career started with his involvement in the Sarvodaya movement, which was an apolitical movement but which formed the foundation of the creation of Janata Party later. The real turn in his political career came after his sacking from IIT. Liberal economic policies put forward by him did not go well with the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who sneered at his plans as 'Santa Claus with unrealistic ideas'. He was later expelled from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. This marked the beginning of his active political career. Staunch opponent of Indira Gandhi Bharatiya Jana Sangh sent him to Rajya Sabha – the upper house of Indian Parliament.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: He was an elected Member of Parliament five times between 1974 and 1999. As a Lok Sabha candidate, he has represented the city of Mumbai North East twice (1977 and 1980) and the city of Madurai (1998). As a Rajya Sabha candidate, he has represented Uttar Pradesh (1974) in the Parliament.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: During the period of the Emergency, he fled to the United States, seeking haven with an Indian businessman in Michigan who had become the spokesperson of the opposition in the United States. In 1976, when the Emergency was still in force and an arrest warrant had been issued in his name, Swamy came to Parliament to attend the session and managed to escape India after the session was adjourned. This act of defiance was well received in the eyes of opposition parties.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: In 1981, he along with Harish Rawat and 13 others led first pilgrimage to Kailash–Manasarovar after 1962 Sino-Indian War. In 1984, Swamy stated his opinion that Janata Party should focus on organisational levels of the party. In February 1984, he filed his nomination for Janata Party President against Chandra Shekhar, but lost.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: During 1990 and 1991, Swamy served as a member of the Planning Commission of India and as Cabinet Minister of Commerce and Law. On 27 December 1990, Financial Times published an interview of Swamy by David Housego in which he claimed that the decision to raise import duties by his government is a "panic reaction". In Parliament Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar claimed that Swamy had denied what had been attributed to him in the article, but David Housego who wrote the story stood firmly by it.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: Between 1994 and 1996, Swamy was chairman of the Commission on Labour Standards and International Trade (equivalent in rank to a cabinet minister) under Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao. In 1997, he filed a petition against P. Chidambaram in Delhi High Court, which alleged that Chidambaram had violated Prevention of Corruption Act while purchasing shares of Fairgrowth Financial Services Limited in 1991. But in 1998, Delhi High Court dismissed his petition under technical grounds.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: During 1998 general election, Swamy formed an alliance with J. Jayalalithaa's AIADMK and won from Madurai constituency. One year later, on 29 March 1999, Swamy organised a "tea party" to bring various opposition leaders together. This meeting was attended by various leaders like Chandra Shekhar, P. V. Narasimha Rao, H. D. Deve Gowda, J. Jayalalithaa, Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi etc. This led to AIADMK's withdrawal from NDA coalition government and the government lost the majority in the Lok Sabha.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: He continued to be president of the Janata Party till 2013. On 11 August 2013, Swamy officially joined the BJP when its president was Rajnath Singh. His admission to the party would mark the merger of the Janata Party with the Bharatiya Janata Party.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: In 1996, Swamy had filed a criminal complaint against Jayalalithaa which led to her prosecution, conviction and sentencing to four years imprisonment by the trial court in 2014. Later, on 11 May 2015, a special Bench of the Karnataka High Court set aside the trial court order convicting former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha, who was acquitted of all charges in the disproportionate assets case. An Appeal against the High court verdict was filed in Supreme Court. The final verdict of Supreme Court came in February 2017 that indicted Jayalalitha posthumously and upheld the trial court judgement in toto.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: Swamy released a letter alleging that former intelligence chief had asked DoT to tap the phone of many politicians and businessmen in Karnataka when Ramakrishna Hegde, the then Chief Minister, resigned in 1988. Hegde then filed a case against him in 1989 and 1990.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: In 1987, when Muslim youths were killed under police custody, Swamy spoke against it and sat on a fast for more than a week in Jantar Mantar demanding the institution of an inquiry. After 25 years he started pursuing the case once again in court.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: Rebecca John, a counsel for the Hashimpura complainants, told Additional Sessions Judge Rakesh Siddhartha who is conducting the trial in the case, that "there is no other motive than politics behind Swamy's plea for further investigation and it would only further delay the trial".


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: In November 2008, Swamy amongst others wrote the first of five letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking permission to prosecute A. Raja in regard to 2G spectrum case. After not receiving any response, Swamy decided to file a case on his own in the Supreme Court of India regarding the matter, which then asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to produce a detailed report on it. He further called on the Indian government to re-auction the 2G spectrum without the involvement of Communications Minister Kapil Sibal.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: On 15 April 2011, he filed a 206-page petition with PM Singh seeking permission to prosecute Sonia Gandhi on charges of corruption. He also raised doubts regarding her acquisition of Indian citizenship. Swamy filed documents in the court to prosecute Minister of Home Affairs P. Chidambaram by including a 15 January 2008 letter written by Chidambaram to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Swamy also placed on record the certified copy of the minutes of a meeting between Chidambaram, Raja and the prime minister during the tenure of Raja as the MOC&IT. Since criminal charges were filed against the accused, but no evidence was given by Swamy or the CBI, all the respondents have got bail as of July 2012.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: On 31 January 2012, the Supreme Court of India accepted Swamy's petition against the Prime Minister's Office in the 2G case, saying that all public authorities should give a sanction within three months against any public official if a request is made for prosecution.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: The Supreme Court said that Swamy had the locus standi to seek sanction from the Prime Minister for the prosecution of A. Raja in the 2G case. Sanction by a competent authority for the prosecution of a public servant has to be granted within a time frame, the apex court said. Justice AK Ganguly said that the sanction would be deemed to be granted if competent authority failed to take a decision within four months.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: Swamy's arguments were that he wrote to the PMO on 29 November 2008, but it was only on 19 March 2010 the PMO replied that the plea made by Swamy was "premature" as investigation was being carried out by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).Raja was arrested by the CBI in the case and got bail on 15 May 2012 after spending nearly 15 months in the Tihar Central Jail.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: In 1997, Swamy filed a petition in the Supreme Court of India to strike down a provision which barred CBI from investigating corruption charges against officers of the rank of joint secretary and above without prior permission of the Government of India called as ""Dr. Subramanian Swamy Versus Director, Central Bureau of Investigation & Anr."" on 6 May 2014, a five-judge constitution bench held the single directive provision as invalid and unconstitutional. The court said that "Protection of prior approval for probing graft charges against officers at level of joint secretary and above has propensity of shielding corruption." Incumbent CBI Director Ranjit Sinha welcomed the judgement and said, "now a very heavy responsibility has been cast upon us to ensure that no innocent civil-servant is harassed."


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: Swamy demanded that an independent committee should be formed to check the security and safety of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) to avoid any rigging or tampering. He demanded that a printed receipt should be given to every voter after casting the vote. His PIL to investigate the working of EVM was dismissed by the Delhi High Court on 17 January 2012. The court refused to give any direction to the Election Commission to bring back paper-ballot system or use of printed receipts. The Commission argued that the use of paper is not feasible due to the huge size of Indian electorate. The court further asked the Election Commission to "immediately begin a process of wider consultations" and the Parliament "to go into this question in depth and decide".


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: On 22 January 2013 the Election Commission informed the Supreme Court that it would include Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system which is in the testing phase after the court agreed with some points raised by Swamy who was the contender, in the machines so that every voter will come to know who he/she is voting by getting a printed slip after pressing the EVM button. The voter paper audit trail has then been in use from 4 September 2013.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: On 8 October 2013 the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission to implement audit trail system in 2014 general election in phases.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: On 1 November 2012 Swamy alleged that both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi have committed fraud and land grabbing to a tune of by acquiring a public ltd company called Associated Journals Private Ltd (AJPL) through their owned private company, Young Indian which was formed on 23 November 2010. Through this they had got publication rights of "National Herald" and "Qaumi Awaz" newspapers, with real estate properties in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. The acquired place was intended only for newspaper purposes but were used for running a passport office, amounting to crores of rupees, it alleges. Swamy further added that Rahul Gandhi hid the facts in his affidavit while filing nomination for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: It further alleges that on 26 February 2011 AJPL approved the transfer of unsecured loan of from the All India Congress Committee at zero interest. Swamy argued that it is illegal for any political party to lend the loan as per violation of Section 269T of Income Tax Act 1961. on 2 November, the party responded that the loan was given only for reviving National Herald newspaper with no commercial interest. Swamy decided to approach the Supreme Court for de-recognising the Congress party, while the Election Commission ordered the probe on 17 November 2012.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: The hearing of the case had been taken up thereafter on different occasions with the court observing prima facie evidence against all the accused. on 1 August 2014 the Enforcement Directorate initiated probe to find any money laundering in the case while on the same day Swamy was served notice by the High Court. on 28 August the metropolitan court fixed 9 December for the next hearing of the case, while on 12 January 2015 the judge of the Delhi High Court recused himself from hearing the case stating that schedule of cases has been changed and directed that the petitions be directed before an appropriate bench. on 27 January 2015, the Supreme Court asked Swamy to make out a case for the speedy trial in the Delhi High Court since the petition cannot be heard directly.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: On 18 September 2015 it was reported that the Enforcement Directorate had reopened the investigation. Following it, on 19 December 2015 Patiala House Court granted unconditional bail immediately on the hearing to all the five accused but one. on 12 July 2016 the Delhi High Court set aside the trial court order of 11 January and 11 March based on plea by Swamy to examine balance sheets of Congress party, AJL and Young Indian from 2010 to 2013, and fixed the date of next hearing on 20 August. Currently, the case proceedings are on-going in Delhi High Court.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: Swamy had filed a petition in the Supreme Court with priests of the Dikshitar sect challenging the decision of the Madras High Court on transferring the administration of the Nataraja temple to the then Tamil Nadu government in 2009.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: Swamy on referring to the provisions of Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, contended that Podu Dikshitars have right to administer the temple and argued on handing over the administration on mismanagement grounds of temple's wealth is violation under Article 26 of the Constitution of India. on 6 January 2014 the Supreme Court ruled that the administration is to be handed over back to the priests of the temple from the state government.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: Subramanian Swamy filed a petition to remove Kerala State government's control over Hindu temples by abolishing Devaswom. in 2018, the Supreme Court agreed to examine the petition moved by him and TG Mohan Das to abolish Devaswom Board. The Supreme Court issued notice to the Kerala government and Devaswom Board of Travanacore and Cochin and sought their response in six weeks. in 2019, the Kerala government opposed Subramanian Swamy's plea.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: On 22 February 2016, Swamy filed a petition in the Supreme Court allowing construction of Rama temple at the disputed site where Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992, and expediting the adjudication related to order of the Allahabad High Court on 30 September 2010, petition was accepted on 26 February to be later heard by the court.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: In February 2020, Subramanian Swamy filed a public interest litigation in Uttarakhand High Court against newly framed law to govern Char Dham and 51 other temples of the state. Swamy in his PIL, requested the court to declare the Uttarakhand Char Dham Devasthanam Management Act, 2019 'unconstitutional' which was passed in the legislative assembly of Uttarakhand in December 2019. But the Uttarakhand High Court upheld the constitutionality of the "Uttarakhand Char Dham Devasthanam Management Act, 2019", dismissing the public interest litigation filed by Subramanian Swamy and "Sri 5 Mandir Samiti Gangotri Dham and another." However, the Court read down "Section 22" of the Act, which was about the acquisition of land for the Char Dham.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: In September 2020, Swamy filed a SLP (Special Leave Petition) in Supreme Court against Uttarakhand High Court judgement uphelding the Char Dham Act.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: Swamy has worked towards normalising relations between China and India. According to Swamy, the re-opening of the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage route was announced at a meeting convened by the People's Republic of China paramount leader Deng Xiaoping in April 1981, in which Swamy was in attendance.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: In various speeches and articles, Swamy has expressed his admiration for, and solidarity with, the State of Israel and has credited its retaliatory capacity for its ability to survive as a nation in a hostile Arab environment. Swamy made pioneering efforts towards India's establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: Swamy, on several occasions, has voiced support for the state of Sri Lanka in its role during Sri Lanka's protracted civil war with the LTTE, for which he was criticised as "pro Lanka" by his political opponents domestically. in an interview given to "The Sunday Leader" newspaper, Swamy stated that the Indian government should attend the CHOGM meeting held in Colombo despite stiff opposition from Indian politicians in Tamil Nadu concerned for the welfare and human rights of Tamils in Sri Lanka, placing the onus on the LTTE for human rights violations during the Sri Lankan civil war, he had favoured Mahinda Rajapaksa also during Sri Lanka 2015 election.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: Swamy is a strong supporter of former U.S. President Donald Trump, endorsing Trump's presidential candidacy in 2016 and comparing Trump to himself.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: After the Charlottesville riots in August 2017, he posted a tweet urging Indians residing in the United States to "stand with Trump at this hour of his being hunted by cockeyed liberals & Left wing loonies on racism" and praised Trump for "having showed the hypocrites their place by telling it like it is."


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: Following criticism of Pakistan by Trump, Swamy called for closer relations between India and the United States.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: In March 2017, he brought a privat member's bill to punish cow slaughter in India with capital punishment.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: In 2018, when the Indian Supreme Court decriminalized gay sexual acts, Swamy criticised the ruling, saying "It could give rise to an increase in the number of HIV cases."


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: In September 2008, Swamy stridently retorted against the contentions of some Indian columnists who voiced their opinions in favor of "peacefully" surrendering Kashmir to Pakistan. He said,


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: Swamy is well known for his critical views against the "Aryan versus Dravidian" politics of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, calling it as the theory forwarded by the British. He has been a staunch opponent of the armed rebel group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: He also urged the Indian government not to support the US led resolution condemning war crimes in the Sri Lankan Civil War, citing it as one-sided and not in the interest of India. Swamy moved the court and got the order restoring quota for Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in colleges in the state.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: Swamy obtained Supreme Court Stay against the implementation of Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP). He believes that it would hurt the sentiments of people who believe that this shallow land connecting between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka was built by Lord Rama. He strongly opposes the implementation of SSCP citing that implementing this scheme will be a criminal offence under section 295 Indian Penal Code. He wrote letters to Prime Minister of India in June 2009 asking him to stop the project and had informed the Supreme Court on 14 October 2015 that the government may not continue with the Sethusamudram Project.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: Swamy has made several statements in the past that reflect on his Hindu nationalist position. He has called for the creation of an "enlightened secular democracy which redresses all historical wrongs done to Hindus." He has claimed that India is the world's most ancient civilization that consists of "an organic cultural core which is Hindu in character." He has also claimed that the Hindu foundation of India is what makes India distinctive in the world.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: After the 2011 Mumbai bombings, he wrote an controversial editorial wherein, as a response to Islamic terrorism, he called for the removal of 300 mosques built at sites of Hindu temples. and for the disenfranchisement of Muslims unless they "acknowledge that their ancestors were Hindus". After the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard voted to have his classes removed for "demonising" Muslims, his regular Harvard summer teaching sessions were cancelled because of this article.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: In a 2020 "Vice" interview, he stated that under the Indian constitution, "Article 14 guarantees equality of equals" and that "there is no such thing as equal rights, they [Muslim immigrants] are not in an equal category." He added, "We know that where the Muslim population is large, there is always trouble." He later claimed that this had been misinterpreted in a tweet stating, "One fake quote is that I had declared Muslims are not equal to Hindus under Art. 14."


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: In September 2020, Swamy said that India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED), and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had "unearthed huge evidence" to prove in court that Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death was "murder by conspiracy." Swamy also said there had been "systematic destruction" of evidence in the case. Two weeks before, Swamy had said the Mumbai Police were "complicit" in the murder, that Dubai was "involved," and that "the Bollywood Cartel remains to be identified and made as 'accessory before the murder'." in October 2020, after a medical board from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) ruled out murder, stating that the actor died by suicide, a team of scientists associated with Microsoft Research, India released an independent report, "Anatomy of a Rumour: Social media and the suicide of Sushant Singh Rajput." They wrote, "Perhaps the most interesting case is that of sitting parliamentarian Subramanian Swamy, once a central player in the policy circles, now wilfully [sic] mongering deceit, and also the most popular Twitter handle in wordclouds [sic] of trolls." In December 2020, after more than four months of investigation, the CBI sent Swamy a 3-page letter stating it was looking into all aspects of the case "in a thorough and professional manner using latest scientific techniques," and that "no aspect has been ruled out," but making no mention of Swamy's conspiracy theories.


title: Subramanian Swamy

text: Swamy is the author of several books, research papers and journals. a complete list of papers, books and journals authored by him is given below. He has also co-authored with Paul Samuelson, a paper on the Theory of Index Numbers (American Economic Review, 1974) and another in the Royal Economic Society's Economic Journal (1984).


title: Windhoek

text: Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 2020 was 431,000 which is growing continually due to an influx from all over Namibia.


title: Windhoek

text: Windhoek is the social, economic, political, and cultural centre of the country. Nearly every Namibian national enterprise, governmental body, educational and cultural institution is headquartered there.


title: Windhoek

text: The city developed at the site of a permanent hot spring known to the indigenous pastoral communities. It developed rapidly after Jonker Afrikaner, Captain of the Orlam, settled there in 1840 and built a stone church for his community. In the decades following, multiple wars and armed hostilities resulted in the neglect and destruction of the new settlement. Windhoek was founded a second time in 1890 by Imperial German Army Major Curt von François, when the territory was colonised by the German Empire.


title: Windhoek

text: Theories vary on how the place got its modern name of Windhoek. Most believe it is derived from the Afrikaans word "wind-hoek" (wind corner). Another theory suggests that Captain Jonker Afrikaner named Windhoek after the Winterhoek Mountains at Tulbagh in South Africa, where his ancestors had lived. The first known mention of the name "Windhoek" was in a letter from Jonker Afrikaner to Joseph Tindall, dated 12 August 1844.


title: Windhoek

text: In 1840 Jonker Afrikaner established an Orlam settlement at Windhoek. He and his followers stayed near one of the main hot springs, located in the present-day Klein Windhoek suburb. He built a stone church that held 500 people; it was also used as a school. Two Rhenish missionaries, Carl Hugo Hahn and Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt, started working there in late 1842. Two years later they were driven out by two Methodist Wesleyans, Richard Haddy and Joseph Tindall. Gardens were laid out and for a while Windhoek prospered. Wars between the Nama and Herero peoples eventually destroyed the settlement. After a long absence, Hahn visited Windhoek again in 1873 and was dismayed to see that nothing remained of the town's former prosperity. In June 1885, a Swiss botanist found only jackals and starving guinea fowl amongst neglected fruit trees.


title: Windhoek

text: A request by merchants from Lüderitzbucht resulted in the declaration in 1884 of a German protectorate over what was called German South West Africa ("Deutsch-Südwestafrika"), now Namibia. The borders of the German colony were determined in 1890 and Germany sent a protective corps, the "Schutztruppe" under Major Curt von François, to maintain order. Von François stationed his garrison at Windhoek, which was strategically situated as a buffer between the warring Nama and Herero peoples. The twelve strong springs provided water for the cultivation of produce and grains.


title: Windhoek

text: Colonial Windhoek was founded on 18 October 1890, when von François fixed the foundation stone of the fort, which is now known as the Alte Feste (Old Fortress).


title: Windhoek

text: After 1907, development accelerated as indigenous people migrated from the countryside to the growing town to seek work. More European settlers arrived from Germany and South Africa. Businesses were erected on Kaiser Street (presently Independence Avenue), and along the dominant mountain ridge over the city. At this time, Windhoek's three castles, Heinitzburg, Sanderburg, and Schwerinsburg, were built.


title: Windhoek

text: The German colonial era came to an end after the end of World War I but South West Africa, and with it Windhoek, already fell in 1915. Until the end of the war the city was administered by a South African military government, and no further development occurred. In 1920, after the Treaty of Versailles, the territory was placed under a League of Nations Class C mandate and again administered by South Africa.


title: Windhoek

text: After World War II more capital became available to improve the area's economy. After 1955, large public projects were undertaken, such as the building of new schools and hospitals, tarring of the city's roads (a project begun in 1928 with Kaiser Street), and the building of dams and pipelines to stabilise the water supply. The city introduced the world's first potable re-use plant in 1958, treating recycled sewage and sending it directly into the town's water supply. On 1 October 1966 the then Administrator of South West Africa granted Windhoek the coat of arms, which was registered on 2 October 1970 with the South African Bureau of Heraldry. Initially a stylized aloe was the principal emblem, but this was amended to a natural aloe ("Aloe littoralis") on 15 September 1972. The Coat of Arms is described as "A Windhoek aloe with a raceme of three flowers on an island. Crest: A mural crown Or. Motto: SUUM CUIQUE ("To each their own")".


title: Windhoek

text: Windhoek formally received its town privileges on 18 October 1965 on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the second foundation of the town by von François.


title: Windhoek

text: Since independence in 1990, Windhoek has remained the national capital, as well as the provincial capital of the central Khomas Region. Since independence and the end of warfare, the city has had accelerated growth and development.


title: Windhoek

text: The city is the administrative, commercial, and industrial center of Namibia. A 1992/93 study estimated that Windhoek provides over half of Namibia's non-agricultural employment, with its national share of employment in utilities being 96%, in transport and communication 94%, finance and business services 82%. Due to its relative size Windhoek is, even more than many other national capital cities, the social, economic, and cultural centre of the country. Nearly every national enterprise is headquartered here. The University of Namibia is, too, as are the country's only theatre, all ministry head offices, and all major media and financial entities. The governmental budget of the city of Windhoek nearly equals those of all other Namibian local authorities combined. Of the 3,300 US$-millionaires in Namibia, 1,400 live in Windhoek.


title: Windhoek

text: Windhoek's three main access roads from Rehoboth, Gobabis, and Okahandja are paved, and are designed to be able to withstand the largest possible flood to be expected in fifty years. Sealed roads can carry traffic moving at and should last for 20 years.


title: Windhoek

text: In 1928, Kaiserstraße, now Independence Avenue, was the first paved road in Windhoek. Ten years later the next one, Gobabis road, now Sam Nujoma Drive, was also paved. Today out of ca. of Namibia's total road network, about is sealed.


title: Windhoek

text: In 2014, The Roads Authority has planned to upgrade the Windhoek-Okahandja road to a dual carriageway. It costs about N$1 billion and is expected to be completed in 2021. Later on, they also plan to upgrade the Windhoek and Hosea Kutako International Airport to a dual carriageway. This is expected to be completed in 2022.


title: Windhoek

text: As everywhere in Namibia, public transport is scarce and transportation across town is largely done by taxi; there were 6,492 registered taxis in 2013.


title: Windhoek

text: Windhoek is served by two airports, with the closest one being Eros Airport, located south of the city center for smaller craft, and the other being Hosea Kutako International Airport, east of the city. A number of foreign airlines operate to and from Windhoek. Air charters and helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft rentals are also available.


title: Windhoek

text: Hosea Kutako International Airport handles over 800,000 passengers a year. It has one runway without capacity limitations. The other international airport is located in Walvis Bay, with domestic airports at Lüderitz, Oranjemund and Ondangwa.


title: Windhoek

text: Eros Airport is the busiest airport in Namibia in terms of take offs and landings. This city airport handles approximately 150 to 200 movements per day (around 50,000 per year). In 2004, the airport served 141,605 passengers, the majority of which are light aircraft. Primarily, limitations such as runway length, noise, and air space congestion have kept Eros from developing into a larger airport. Most of Namibia's charter operators have Eros as their base.


title: Windhoek

text: Expanding the town area has – apart from financial restrictions – proven to be challenging due to its geographical location. In southern, eastern and western directions, Windhoek is surrounded by rocky, mountainous areas, which make land development costly. The southern side is not suitable for industrial development because of the presence of underground aquifers. This leaves the vast Brakwater area north of town the only feasible place for Windhoek's expansion.


title: Windhoek

text: Windhoek's City Council has plans to dramatically expand the city's boundaries such that the town area will cover . Windhoek would become the third-largest city in the world by area, after Tianjin and Istanbul, although its population density is only 63 inhabitants per square kilometre.


title: Windhoek

text: In many of Windhoek's townships residents live in shacks. In 2020 the city had a total of 41,900 of these informal housing structures, accommodating close to 100,000 inhabitants.


title: Windhoek

text: Windhoek has over 300 sunny days per year. It experiences a hot semi-arid climate ("BSh") according to Köppen climate classification as the annual average temperature is above . The temperature throughout the year would be called mild, due to altitude influence. The annual average high and low temperature range is . The coldest month is July, with an average temperature of , while the hottest month is December, with average temperature . Due to its location near the Kalahari Desert, the city receives 3,605 hours of sunshine. Precipitation is abundant during the summer season, and minimal during the winter season. The average annual precipitation is , with lows of in the 2018/19 rainy season, and in 1929/30.


title: Windhoek

text: In 1971, there were roughly 26,000 whites living in Windhoek, outnumbering the black population of 24,000. About one third of white residents at the time, at least 9,000 individuals, were German speakers. Windhoek's population stands at over 325,858 (65% black; 17% white; 18% other), and is growing 4% annually in part due to informal settlements that have even higher growth rates of nearly 10% a year. In public life, Afrikaans, and to a lesser extent German, are still used as lingua francas even though the government only uses English. Currently Windhoek has an population of 431,000 as of 2020.


title: Windhoek

text: Windhoek is the only self-governed settlement in Khomas Region. It is governed by a multi-party municipal council that has fifteen seats. The council meets monthly; its decisions are taken collectively.


title: Windhoek

text: SWAPO won the 2015 local authority election and gained twelve seats, by having 37,533 votes. Three opposition parties gained one seat each: The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), formerly DTA, with 4,171 votes, the National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO) with 1,453 votes, and the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) with 1,422 votes. SWAPO also won the 2020 local authority election but lost the majority control over the town council. It obtained 20,250 votes and gained five seats. The Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), an opposition party formed in August 2020, obtained 14,028 votes and gained four seats. Two seats each went to the local branch of the Affirmative Repositioning movement (8,501 votes) and the Landless People's Movement (LPM, a new party registered in 2018, 7,365 votes). PDM (5,411 votes) and NUDO (1,455 votes) obtained one seat each.


title: Windhoek

text: Windhoek is known as the art capital of Namibia. The National Art Gallery, National Theatre and the National Museum are all located here. Two locations are part of the National Museum, the Alte Feste (historical) showcases a range of colonial items such as wagons and domestic items, while the Owela Museum (scientific; named after Owela, a traditional game played with pebbles) contains displays of minerals, fossils and meteorites and gives an insight into traditional village life. There are also the Independence Memorial Museum, the National Library of Namibia and the Windhoek Public Library, built in 1925, next to the Alte Feste.


title: Windhoek

text: The places of worship are predominantly Christian churches and temples: those of Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia, Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia, German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (all three members of the Lutheran World Federation), Baptist Convention of Namibia (Baptist World Alliance), Assemblies of God, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Windhoek (Catholic Church). There are also a few Islamic mosques in the city, including the Windhoek Islamic Center.


title: Windhoek

text: Rugby is a popular sport in Namibia, and the national team is called the "Welwitchias". Namibia has made the Rugby World Cup on six occasions, in 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019, but has never won a game.


title: Windhoek

text: The city has several football clubs which include African Stars F.C., Black Africa F.C., F.C. Civics Windhoek, Orlando Pirates F.C., Ramblers F.C. and SK Windhoek, Tigers F.C., Tura Magic F.C., Citizens F.C.


title: Windhoek

text: The Namibia national cricket team, the Eagles, plays the majority of its home games at the Wanderers Cricket Ground. It has also played at other grounds in the city, including the United Ground and the Trans Namib Ground. The team took part in the 2003 Cricket World Cup in South Africa, though they lost all their games. They have played in each edition of the ICC Intercontinental Cup.


title: Windhoek

text: The 'Tony Rust Raceway' is located west of Windhoek on the Daan Viljoen road, and reopened in 2007. Farm Windhoek, located adjacent to the townlands and owned by the municipality, is a sports venue for hiking, running, and mountain biking.


title: Candidiasis

text: Candidiasis is a fungal infection due to any type of "Candida" (a type of yeast). When it affects the mouth, in some countries it is commonly called thrush. Signs and symptoms include white patches on the tongue or other areas of the mouth and throat. Other symptoms may include soreness and problems swallowing. When it affects the vagina, it may be referred to as a yeast infection or thrush. Signs and symptoms include genital itching, burning, and sometimes a white "cottage cheese-like" discharge from the vagina. Yeast infections of the penis are less common and typically present with an itchy rash. Very rarely, yeast infections may become invasive, spreading to other parts of the body. This may result in fevers along with other symptoms depending on the parts involved.


title: Candidiasis

text: More than 20 types of "Candida" can cause infection with "Candida albicans" being the most common. Infections of the mouth are most common among children less than one month old, the elderly, and those with weak immune systems. Conditions that result in a weak immune system include HIV/AIDS, the medications used after organ transplantation, diabetes, and the use of corticosteroids. Other risks include dentures, following antibiotic therapy, and breastfeeding. Vaginal infections occur more commonly during pregnancy, in those with weak immune systems, and following antibiotic use. Individuals at risk for invasive candidiasis include low birth weight babies, people recovering from surgery, people admitted to intensive care units, and those with an otherwise compromised immune system.


title: Candidiasis

text: Efforts to prevent infections of the mouth include the use of chlorhexidine mouthwash in those with poor immune function and washing out the mouth following the use of inhaled steroids. Little evidence supports probiotics for either prevention or treatment, even among those with frequent vaginal infections. For infections of the mouth, treatment with topical clotrimazole or nystatin is usually effective. Oral or intravenous fluconazole, itraconazole, or amphotericin B may be used if these do not work. A number of topical antifungal medications may be used for vaginal infections, including clotrimazole. In those with widespread disease, an echinocandin such as caspofungin or micafungin is used. A number of weeks of intravenous amphotericin B may be used as an alternative. In certain groups at very high risk, antifungal medications may be used preventatively.


title: Candidiasis

text: Infections of the mouth occur in about 6% of babies less than a month old. About 20% of those receiving chemotherapy for cancer and 20% of those with AIDS also develop the disease. About three-quarters of women have at least one yeast infection at some time during their lives. Widespread disease is rare except in those who have risk factors.


title: Candidiasis

text: Signs and symptoms of candidiasis vary depending on the area affected. Most candidal infections result in minimal complications such as redness, itching, and discomfort, though complications may be severe or even fatal if left untreated in certain populations. In healthy (immunocompetent) persons, candidiasis is usually a localized infection of the skin, fingernails or toenails (onychomycosis), or mucosal membranes, including the oral cavity and pharynx (thrush), esophagus, and the genitalia (vagina, penis, etc.); less commonly in healthy individuals, the gastrointestinal tract, urinary tract, and respiratory tract are sites of candida infection.


title: Candidiasis

text: In immunocompromised individuals, "Candida" infections in the esophagus occur more frequently than in healthy individuals and have a higher potential of becoming systemic, causing a much more serious condition, a fungemia called candidemia. Symptoms of esophageal candidiasis include difficulty swallowing, painful swallowing, abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting.


title: Candidiasis

text: Infection in the mouth is characterized by white discolorations in the tongue, around the mouth, and throat. Irritation may also occur, causing discomfort when swallowing.


title: Candidiasis

text: Thrush is commonly seen in infants. It is not considered abnormal in infants unless it lasts longer than a few weeks.


title: Candidiasis

text: Infection of the vagina or vulva may cause severe itching, burning, soreness, irritation, and a whitish or whitish-gray cottage cheese-like discharge. Symptoms of infection of the male genitalia (balanitis thrush) include red skin around the head of the penis, swelling, irritation, itchiness and soreness of the head of the penis, thick, lumpy discharge under the foreskin, unpleasant odour, difficulty retracting the foreskin (phimosis), and pain when passing urine or during sex.


title: Candidiasis

text: Signs and symptoms of candidiasis in the skin include itching, irritation, and chafing or broken skin.


title: Candidiasis

text: Common symptoms of gastrointestinal candidiasis in healthy individuals are anal itching, belching, bloating, indigestion, nausea, diarrhea, gas, intestinal cramps, vomiting, and gastric ulcers. Perianal candidiasis can cause anal itching; the lesion can be red, papular, or ulcerative in appearance, and it is not considered to be a sexually transmissible disease. Abnormal proliferation of the candida in the gut may lead to dysbiosis. While it is not yet clear, this alteration may be the source of symptoms generally described as the irritable bowel syndrome, and other gastrointestinal diseases.


title: Candidiasis

text: "Candida" yeasts are generally present in healthy humans, frequently part of the human body's normal oral and intestinal flora, and particularly on the skin; however, their growth is normally limited by the human immune system and by competition of other microorganisms, such as bacteria occupying the same locations in the human body.


title: Candidiasis

text: "Candida" requires moisture for growth, notably on the skin. For example, wearing wet swimwear for long periods of time is believed to be a risk factor. Candida can also cause diaper rashes in babies. In extreme cases, superficial infections of the skin or mucous membranes may enter the bloodstream and cause systemic "Candida" infections.


title: Candidiasis

text: Factors that increase the risk of candidiasis include HIV/AIDS, mononucleosis, cancer treatments, steroids, stress, antibiotic usage, diabetes, and nutrient deficiency. Hormone replacement therapy and infertility treatments may also be predisposing factors. Use of inhaled corticosteroids increases risk of candidiasis of the mouth. Inhaled corticosteroids with other risk factors such as antibiotics, oral glucocorticoids, not rinsing mouth after use of inhaled corticosteroids or high dose of inhaled corticosteroids put people at even higher risk. Treatment with antibiotics can lead to eliminating the yeast's natural competitors for resources in the oral and intestinal flora, thereby increasing the severity of the condition. A weakened or undeveloped immune system or metabolic illnesses are significant predisposing factors of candidiasis. Almost 15% of people with weakened immune systems develop a systemic illness caused by "Candida" species. Diets high in simple carbohydrates have been found to affect rates of oral candidiases.


title: Candidiasis

text: "C. albicans" was isolated from the vaginas of 19% of apparently healthy people, i.e., those who experienced few or no symptoms of infection. External use of detergents or douches or internal disturbances (hormonal or physiological) can perturb the normal vaginal flora, consisting of lactic acid bacteria, such as lactobacilli, and result in an overgrowth of "Candida" cells, causing symptoms of infection, such as local inflammation. Pregnancy and the use of oral contraceptives have been reported as risk factors. Diabetes mellitus and the use of antibiotics are also linked to increased rates of yeast infections.


title: Candidiasis

text: In penile candidiasis, the causes include sexual intercourse with an infected individual, low immunity, antibiotics, and diabetes. Male genital yeast infections are less common, but a yeast infection on the penis caused from direct contact via sexual intercourse with an infected partner is not uncommon.


title: Candidiasis

text: Breast-feeding mothers may also develop candidiasis on and around the nipple as a result of moisture created by excessive milk-production.


title: Candidiasis

text: In oral candidiasis, simply inspecting the person's mouth for white patches and irritation may make the diagnosis. A sample of the infected area may also be taken to determine what organism is causing the infection.


title: Candidiasis

text: Symptoms of vaginal candidiasis are also present in the more common bacterial vaginosis; aerobic vaginitis is distinct and should be excluded in the differential diagnosis. In a 2002 study, only 33% of women who were self-treating for a yeast infection actually had such an infection, while most had either bacterial vaginosis or a mixed-type infection.


title: Candidiasis

text: Diagnosis of a yeast infection is done either via microscopic examination or culturing. For identification by light microscopy, a scraping or swab of the affected area is placed on a microscope slide. A single drop of 10% potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution is then added to the specimen. The KOH dissolves the skin cells, but leaves the "Candida" cells intact, permitting visualization of pseudohyphae and budding yeast cells typical of many "Candida" species.


title: Candidiasis

text: For the culturing method, a sterile swab is rubbed on the infected skin surface. The swab is then streaked on a culture medium. The culture is incubated at 37 °C (98.6 °F) for several days, to allow development of yeast or bacterial colonies. The characteristics (such as morphology and colour) of the colonies may allow initial diagnosis of the organism causing disease symptoms.


title: Candidiasis

text: Respiratory, gastrointestinal, and esophageal candidiasis require an endoscopy to diagnose. For gastrointestinal candidiasis, it is necessary to obtain a 3–5 milliliter sample of fluid from the duodenum for fungal culture. The diagnosis of gastrointestinal candidiasis is based upon the culture containing in excess of 1,000 colony-forming units per milliliter.


title: Candidiasis

text: A diet that supports the immune system and is not high in simple carbohydrates contributes to a healthy balance of the oral and intestinal flora. While yeast infections are associated with diabetes, the level of blood sugar control may not affect the risk. Wearing cotton underwear may help to reduce the risk of developing skin and vaginal yeast infections, along with not wearing wet clothes for long periods of time. For women who experience recurrent yeast infections, there is limited evidence that oral or intravaginal probiotics help to prevent future infections. This includes either as pills or as yogurt.


title: Candidiasis

text: Oral hygiene can help prevent oral candidiasis when people have a weakened immune system. For people undergoing cancer treatment, chlorhexidine mouthwash can prevent or reduce thrush. People who use inhaled corticosteroids can reduce the risk of developing oral candidiasis by rinsing the mouth with water or mouthwash after using the inhaler. People with dentures should also disinfect their dentures regularly to prevent oral candidiasis.


title: Candidiasis

text: Candidiasis is treated with antifungal medications; these include clotrimazole, nystatin, fluconazole, voriconazole, amphotericin B, and echinocandins. Intravenous fluconazole or an intravenous echinocandin such as caspofungin are commonly used to treat immunocompromised or critically ill individuals.


title: Candidiasis

text: The 2016 revision of the clinical practice guideline for the management of candidiasis lists a large number of specific treatment regimens for "Candida" infections that involve different "Candida" species, forms of antifungal drug resistance, immune statuses, and infection localization and severity. Gastrointestinal candidiasis in immunocompetent individuals is treated with 100–200 mg fluconazole per day for 2–3 weeks.


title: Candidiasis

text: Mouth and throat candidiasis are treated with antifungal medication. Oral candidiasis usually responds to topical treatments; otherwise, systemic antifungal medication may be needed for oral infections. Candidal skin infections in the skin folds (candidal intertrigo) typically respond well to topical antifungal treatments (e.g., nystatin or miconazole). For breastfeeding mothers topical miconazole is the most effective treatment for treating candidiasis on the breasts. Gentian violet can be used for thrush in breastfeeding babies. Systemic treatment with antifungals by mouth is reserved for severe cases or if treatment with topical therapy is unsuccessful. Candida esophagitis may be treated orally or intravenously; for severe or azole-resistant esophageal candidiasis, treatment with amphotericin B may be necessary.


title: Candidiasis

text: Vaginal yeast infections are typically treated with topical antifungal agents. Penile yeast infections are also treated with antifungal agents, but while an internal treatment may be used (such as a pessary) for vaginal yeast infections, only external treatments – such as a cream – can be recommended for penile treatment. A one-time dose of fluconazole by mouth is 90% effective in treating a vaginal yeast infection. For severe nonrecurring cases, several doses of fluconazole is recommended. Local treatment may include vaginal suppositories or medicated douches. Other types of yeast infections require different dosing. "C. albicans" can develop resistance to fluconazole, this being more of an issue in those with HIV/AIDS who are often treated with multiple courses of fluconazole for recurrent oral infections.


title: Candidiasis

text: For vaginal yeast infection in pregnancy, topical imidazole or triazole antifungals are considered the therapy of choice owing to available safety data. Systemic absorption of these topical formulations is minimal, posing little risk of transplacental transfer. In vaginal yeast infection in pregnancy, treatment with topical azole antifungals is recommended for seven days instead of a shorter duration.


title: Candidiasis

text: For vaginal yeast infections, many complementary treatments are proposed, however a number have side effects. No benefit from probiotics has been found for active infections.


title: Candidiasis

text: Treatment typically consists of oral or intravenous antifungal medications. In candidal infections of the blood, intravenous fluconazole or an echinocandin such as caspofungin may be used. Amphotericin B is another option.


title: Candidiasis

text: Among individuals being treated in intensive care units, the mortality rate is about 30–50% when systemic candidiasis develops.


title: Candidiasis

text: Oral candidiasis is the most common fungal infection of the mouth, and it also represents the most common opportunistic oral infection in humans. Infections of the mouth occur in about 6% of babies less than a month old. About 20% of those receiving chemotherapy for cancer and 20% of those with AIDS also develop the disease.


title: Candidiasis

text: It is estimated that 20% of women may be asymptomatically colonized by vaginal yeast. In the United States there are approximately 1.4 million doctor office visits every year for candidiasis. About three-quarters of women have at least one yeast infection at some time during their lives.


title: Candidiasis

text: Esophageal candidiasis is the most common esophageal infection in persons with AIDS and accounts for about 50% of all esophageal infections, often coexisting with other esophageal diseases. About two-thirds of people with AIDS and esophageal candidiasis also have oral candidiasis.


title: Candidiasis

text: Candidal sepsis is rare. Candida is the fourth most common cause of bloodstream infections among hospital patients in the United States. The incidence of bloodstream candida in intensive care units varies widely between countries.


title: Candidiasis

text: The first description of a fungus as the causative agent of an oropharyngeal and oesophageal candidosis was by Bernhard von Langenbeck in 1839.


title: Candidiasis

text: Vulvovaginal candidiasis was first described in 1849 by Wilkinson. In 1875, Haussmann demonstrated the causative organism in both vulvovaginal and oral candidiasis is the same.


title: Candidiasis

text: With the advent of antibiotics following World War II, the rates of candidiasis increased. The rates then decreased in the 1950s following the development of nystatin.


title: Candidiasis

text: The colloquial term "thrush" refers to the resemblance of the white flecks present in some forms of candidiasis (e.g., pseudomembranous candidiasis) with the breast of the bird of the same name.<ref name="emedicine/Medscape"></ref> The term candidosis is largely used in British English, and candidiasis in American English. "Candida" is also pronounced differently; in American English, the stress is on the "i", whereas in British English the stress is on the first syllable.


title: Candidiasis

text: The genus "Candida" and species "C. albicans" were described by botanist Christine Marie Berkhout in her doctoral thesis at the University of Utrecht in 1923. Over the years, the classification of the genera and species has evolved. Obsolete names for this genus include "Mycotorula" and "Torulopsis". The species has also been known in the past as "Monilia albicans" and "Oidium albicans". The current classification is "nomen conservandum", which means the name is authorized for use by the International Botanical Congress (IBC).


title: Candidiasis

text: The genus "Candida" includes about 150 different species. However, only a few are known to cause human infections. "C. albicans" is the most significant pathogenic species. Other species pathogenic in humans include "C. auris", "C. tropicalis", "C. glabrata", "C. krusei", "C. parapsilosis", "C. dubliniensis", and "C. lusitaniae".


title: Candidiasis

text: The name "Candida" was proposed by Berkhout. It is from the Latin word "toga candida", referring to the white toga (robe) worn by candidates for the Senate of the ancient Roman republic. The specific epithet "albicans" also comes from Latin, "albicare" meaning "to whiten". These names refer to the generally white appearance of "Candida" species when cultured.


title: Candidiasis

text: A 2005 publication noted that "a large pseudoscientific cult" has developed around the topic of "Candida", with claims stating that up to one in three people are affected by yeast-related illness, particularly a condition called "Candidiasis hypersensitivity". Some practitioners of alternative medicine have promoted these purported conditions and sold dietary supplements as supposed cures; a number of them have been prosecuted. In 1990, alternative health vendor Nature's Way signed an FTC consent agreement not to misrepresent in advertising any self-diagnostic test concerning yeast conditions or to make any unsubstantiated representation concerning any food or supplement's ability to control yeast conditions, with a fine of $30,000 payable to the National Institutes of Health for research in genuine candidiasis.


title: Candidiasis

text: High level "Candida" colonization is linked to several diseases of the gastrointestinal tract including Crohn's disease.


title: Medicare (United States)

text: Medicare is a government national health insurance program in the United States, begun in 1965 under the Social Security Administration (SSA) and now administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). It primarily provides health insurance for Americans aged 65 and older, but also for some younger people with disability status as determined by the SSA, including people with end stage renal disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease).


title: Medicare (United States)

text: In 2018, according to the 2019 Medicare Trustees Report, Medicare provided health insurance for over 59.9 million individuals—more than 52 million people aged 65 and older and about 8 million younger people. According to annual Medicare Trustees reports and research by the government's MedPAC group, Medicare covers about half of healthcare expenses of those enrolled. Enrollees almost always cover most of the remaining costs by taking additional private insurance and/or by joining a public Part C or Part D Medicare health plan. In 2020, US federal government spending on Medicare was $776.2 billion.


title: Medicare (United States)

text: No matter which of those two options the beneficiaries choose—or if they choose to do nothing, beneficiaries also have other healthcare-related costs. These additional costs can include deductibles and co-pays; the costs of uncovered services—such as for long-term custodial, dental, hearing, and vision care; the cost of annual physical exams (for those not on Part C health plans that include physicals); and the costs related to basic Medicare's lifetime and per-incident limits. Medicare is funded by a combination of a specific payroll tax, beneficiary premiums, and surtaxes from beneficiaries, co-pays and deductibles, and general U.S. Treasury revenue.


title: Medicare (United States)

text: Medicare Parts. Medicare is divided into four Parts: A, B, C and D. Part A covers hospital, skilled nursing, and hospice services. Part B covers outpatient services. Part D covers self-administered prescription drugs. Additionally, Part C is an alternative that allows patients to choose their own plans that provide the same services as Parts A and B, but with additional benefits. The specific details on these four plans are as follows:


title: Medicare (United States)

text: Originally, the name "Medicare" in the United States referred to a program providing medical care for families of people serving in the military as part of the Dependents' Medical Care Act, which was passed in 1956. President Dwight D. Eisenhower held the first White House Conference on Aging in January 1961, in which creating a health care program for social security beneficiaries was proposed.


title: Medicare (United States)

text: In July 1965, under the leadership of President Lyndon Johnson, Congress enacted Medicare under Title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide health insurance to people age 65 and older, regardless of income or medical history. Johnson signed the Social Security Amendments of 1965 into law on July 30, 1965, at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri. Former President Harry S. Truman and his wife, former First Lady Bess Truman became the first recipients of the program.


title: Medicare (United States)

text: Before Medicare was created, only approximately 60% of people over the age of 65 had health insurance, with coverage often unavailable or unaffordable to many others, as older adults paid more than three times as much for health insurance as younger people. Many of this group (about 20% of the total in 2015) became "dual eligible" for both Medicare and Medicaid with the passing of the law. In 1966, Medicare spurred the racial integration of thousands of waiting rooms, hospital floors, and physician practices by making payments to health care providers conditional on desegregation.


title: Medicare (United States)

text: Medicare has been operating for just over a half-century and, during that time, has undergone several changes. Since 1965, the program's provisions have expanded to include benefits for speech, physical, and chiropractic therapy in 1972. Medicare added the option of payments to health maintenance organizations (HMOs) in the 1970s. The government added hospice benefits to aid elderly people on a temporary basis in 1982, and made this permanent in 1984.


title: Medicare (United States)

text: Congress further expanded Medicare in 2001 to cover younger people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease). As the years progressed, Congress expanded Medicare eligibility to younger people with permanent disabilities who receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) payments and to those with end-stage renal disease (ESRD).


title: Medicare (United States)

text: The association with HMOs that began in the 1970s was formalized and expanded under President Bill Clinton in 1997 as Medicare Part C (although not all Part C health plans sponsors have to be HMOs, about 75% are). In 2003, under President George W. Bush, a Medicare program for covering almost all self-administered prescription drugs was passed (and went into effect in 2006) as Medicare Part D.


title: Medicare (United States)

text: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), administers Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA), and parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) ("Obamacare"). Along with the Departments of Labor and Treasury, the CMS also implements the insurance reform provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and most aspects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 as amended. The Social Security Administration (SSA) is responsible for determining Medicare eligibility, eligibility for and payment of Extra Help/Low Income Subsidy payments related to Parts C and D of Medicare, and collecting most premium payments for the Medicare program.


title: Medicare (United States)

text: The Chief Actuary of the CMS must provide accounting information and cost-projections to the Medicare Board of Trustees to assist them in assessing the program's financial health. The Trustees are required by law to issue annual reports on the financial status of the Medicare Trust Funds, and those reports are required to contain a statement of actuarial opinion by the Chief Actuary.


title: Medicare (United States)

text: Since the Medicare program began, the CMS (that was not always the name of the responsible bureaucracy) has contracted with private insurance companies to operate as intermediaries between the government and medical providers to administer Part A and Part B benefits. Contracted processes include claims and payment processing, call center services, clinician enrollment, and fraud investigation. Beginning in 1997 and 2005, respectively, these Part A and B administrators (whose contracts are bid out periodically), along with other insurance companies and other companies or organizations (such as integrated health delivery systems, unions and pharmacies), also began administering Part C and Part D plans.