title: Girona

text: Girona is served at its new railway station to the west of the Old Town. There are conventional trains from Barcelona to Portbou and the French border.


title: Girona

text: Girona is also an important stop on the AVE services from Paris, Marseille, Toulouse and Figueres to Barcelona, and from Figueres to Barcelona and Madrid.


title: Girona

text: The journey time to Barcelona is approximately 1 hour 35 minutes on the stopping "Regional" trains, 1 hour and 15 minutes by conventional train ("Media Distancia") or 37 minutes on the AVE. Madrid is reached in 3 h 45 min, also on the AVE.


title: Girona

text: The town's airport, Girona-Costa Brava, is south of the town centre. It grew tremendously principally as a result of Ryanair choosing it as one of their European hubs, but then shrunk again after they relocated most of the flights to Barcelona El Prat.


title: Girona

text: Girona Airport is approximately a 30-minute bus ride from the bus terminal and train station in Girona city, and an hour from Barcelona centre, to the south. The bus stops in the centre of Barcelona, at the "Estació d'Autobusos Barcelona Nord", Barcelona's main bus terminal.


title: Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park album)

text: Minutes to Midnight is the third studio album by American rock band Linkin Park, released on May 14, 2007, through Warner Bros. Records. The album was produced by Mike Shinoda and Rick Rubin, and it is Linkin Park's first studio album produced without Don Gilmore, who had produced the band's two previous albums. "Minutes to Midnight" is the band's follow-up album to "Meteora" (2003), and features a shift in the group's musical direction. For the band, the album marked a beginning of deviation from their signature nu metal sound. "Minutes to Midnight" takes its title from the Doomsday Clock symbol. It is also the band's first full-length album to carry a Parental Advisory label.


title: Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park album)

text: Linkin Park started working on their third studio album in 2003, taking a break to tour in support of "Meteora" in 2004. In this time period, the band formed numerous side projects; Mike Shinoda formed his hip hop side project Fort Minor, while Chester Bennington formed Dead by Sunrise, both of which caused the album to be shelved temporarily. The band returned to work on the record afterward, taking on a different musical direction than the 2003 sessions while working with producer Rick Rubin. The album's completion was delayed several times for unknown reasons. Eventually, "What I've Done" was chosen as the album's lead single in April 2007, with the album seeing release in North America on May 15, 2007.


title: Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park album)

text: The album debuted at number one in the US "Billboard" 200 and in 15 other countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada. In the United States, the album had the biggest first week sales of 2007 at the time, with 623,000 albums sold, going on to be certified five times platinum in the US. It was also certified double platinum in New Zealand, Italy, Ireland, and Australia and certified platinum in Canada, France, Switzerland and in the UK. It has sold more than four million copies in the US. It was ranked number 154 on "Billboard"s "Hot 200 Albums of the Decade". Despite its commercial success, "Minutes to Midnight" received mixed reviews from critics. "Rolling Stone" magazine, however, named it the twenty-fifth best album of 2007.


title: Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park album)

text: In an interview, lead singer Chester Bennington explained that the album is "a mix of punk, classic rock, and hip-hop standards" and that "Rick has brought more of a stripped down, classic-rock and hip-hop kind of feel."


title: Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park album)

text: In another interview, Bennington stated: "This time around, Mike Shinoda is singing a lot more. It may seem like he's not on the record, but he's doing a lot of the harmonies. He also sings a couple of songs alone. We're presenting ourselves in a different way."


title: Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park album)

text: Guitarist Brad Delson experimented with an EBow when the band was piecing together "The Little Things Give You Away". The band decided not to use the effect for the solo in that song and instead ended up creating "No More Sorrow" out of the effect. In "Given Up", he jingles the keys that are heard while several clap sounds are overlaid in the intro of the song (as mentioned in the lyric book: "Brad added the sounds on the intro song: multiple tracks of claps - and keys jingling."). Shinoda and Delson teamed up with David Campbell to add string elements to six songs; "Leave Out All the Rest", "Shadow of the Day", "Hands Held High", "The Little Things Give You Away", as well as the two b-sides "No Roads Left" and "Blackbirds" (which was instead later used in the iPhone game "8-Bit Rebellion!" as well as being included as a bonus track for "A Thousand Suns"), respectively. All scratching elements by Joe Hahn that existed in the previous two studio albums are largely absent because of the low mixing, except on the songs "What I've Done", "Wake", "The Little Things Give You Away", "Valentine's Day" and "In Pieces". Hahn contributes more with programming, electronics, and other elements to many of the songs. The church organ and military drumbeat on "Hands Held High" were originally to be used as the backdrop to melodic vocals, but Rubin recommended that the band try the opposite approach according to the album booklet. For the album, the band recorded fifty to sixty songs in August 2006. Their previous albums took only about three to six months to complete, while this one took 14 months. They spent over six months writing the songs. In previous albums, they composed an average of 40 songs, but they made over 100 this time. "Shadow of the Day" is one of two songs (the other being "No Roads Left") to have Bennington playing the guitar. During live performances, Shinoda is generally playing the keyboard for "Shadow of the Day", while Bennington plays rhythm guitar. Shinoda stated in an interview: "We were looking back at the things that we had done in the past... and I think we just figured that we had exhausted that sound. It was easy for us to replicate, it was easy for other bands to replicate, and we just needed to move on."


title: Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park album)

text: Shinoda performs his rapping vocals on only two tracks, "Bleed It Out" and "Hands Held High". This is a significant decrease compared to the amount of rapping on previous albums. The rap vocals on "Hands Held High" are much closer styled to Mike Shinoda's side project Fort Minor than his traditional Linkin Park verses, as he raps during most of the song. Despite a decrease of Mike Shinoda as rapper, he has three solo lead songs on the record: "Hands Held High", "In Between" and the bonus track "No Roads Left". He also raps on "Bleed It Out" while "What I've Done", "Shadow of the Day", "No More Sorrow" and "The Little Things Give You Away" features backing vocals from Shinoda at the end. "Minutes to Midnight" is also Linkin Park's first album to feature guitar solos, particularly in the tracks "What I've Done," "In Pieces" and "The Little Things Give You Away". Also, unlike the previous two studio albums, "Minutes to Midnight" contains profanity and thus the first Linkin Park studio album to contain a Parental Advisory (the first overall being their collaborative EP with Jay-Z, "Collision Course") and politically charged lyrics. The songs that contain profanity are "Given Up", "Bleed It Out" and "Hands Held High". Genre-wise, the album has been described as alternative rock and alternative metal.


title: Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park album)

text: The front and back cover were recorded around the ruins of North Shore Beach and Yacht Club in North Shore, California.


title: Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park album)

text: A year after the release of "Minutes to Midnight", the band released ten different covers that were originally used as consideration for the final cover for the album prior to its release. The band made all ten of these covers available for fans to use as the album art on iTunes.


title: Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park album)

text: "Minutes to Midnight" received generally mixed reviews, based on an aggregate score of 56/100 from Metacritic, with critics showing varying approval, disapproval and indifferent reactions.


title: Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park album)

text: "Rolling Stone" gave "Minutes to Midnight" 4 out of 5 stars, stating that "most of "Minutes" is honed, metallic pop with a hip hop stride and a wake-up kick", and it was placed at number 25 in their list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007. IGN referred to it as "definitely a step in the right direction and a stepping stone for things to come". "Herald Sun" writer Karen Tye gave it 3½ out of 4 stars and praised the band's new sound, asking, "Who knew being a plain old rock band could suit Linkin Park so well?". Despite commending the band for their ambition, "The Guardian"s Caroline Sullivan gave the album 3 out of 5 stars and perceived "their decision to stay roughly within the shrieky boundaries of their genre" as a weakness, while writing that "the sound still pivots on the interplay of walloping guitar chords and self-flagellating lyrics".


title: Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park album)

text: Among those with a more negative view of the album was Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic, who described the album's sound as "passé" and summed the band's effort up as "opting to create a muddled, colorless murk", giving it 3 and a half out of 5 stars. Johan Wippsson from "Melodic" acknowledged the band's progression but felt that the album is "weak" and "too shattered". "NME" magazine's Dan Silver gave it a rating of 2/10, calling it the "sound of a band trying and failing to forge a new identity", and referring to the song "Hands Held High", a song about terrorist attacks and war, as "far and away the funniest thing you will hear all year".


title: Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park album)

text: "Minutes to Midnight" was delayed several times before its release. First scheduled to be released in the summer of 2006, it was later postponed to the fall of 2006, then again to early 2007. The album's release date was finally set for May 14, 2007. In Canada, the album was released on May 15, 2007. There are non-Parental Advisory releases of both the regular album and the special edition album. The songs "Given Up", "Bleed It Out", and "Hands Held High" are edited. In Malaysia, the edited version for the album is available in digipak cover while the explicit edition available for the Tour Edition which features white slipcase cardboard cover and a standard jewel case. In the United States, the album had the biggest first week sales of 2007 at the time, with 623,000 albums sold. In Canada, the album sold over 50,000 copies in its first week and debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart. Worldwide, the album shipped over 3.3 million copies in its first four weeks of release.


title: Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park album)

text: Five singles were released from the album: "What I've Done", "Bleed It Out", "Shadow of the Day", "Given Up", and "Leave Out All the Rest". Although "Given Up" and "Leave Out All the Rest" had not been released as singles until early March 2008, "Given Up" had already charted on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and Billboard Pop 100 charts at numbers 99 and 78 respectively in 2007, and "Leave Out All the Rest" had already charted on Billboard's Pop 100 chart at number 98 and Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart at number 17 in 2007. The songs "Hands Held High" and "No More Sorrow" also charted on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart at numbers 23 and 24, respectively, in 2007. The album has sold 3.3 million copies sold in the US alone.


title: Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park album)

text: Although sales of the album were lower than their two first studio albums, the album was more successful in terms of single's charting performance, with all of the five singles released reaching the Billboard Hot 100, and two songs reaching the Bubbling Under Hot 100.


title: Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park album)

text: Minutes to Midnight – Live Around the World is a live album which features live versions of songs from the third studio album, "Minutes to Midnight". They were recorded in various cities around the world from 2007 to 2010.


title: Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park album)

text: Guest musicians on "Leave Out All the Rest", "Shadow of the Day", "Hands Held High", "The Little Things Give You Away", and "No Roads Left"


title: 2022 New Mexico gubernatorial election

text: The 2022 New Mexico gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor and lieutenant governor of New Mexico. The election coincided with various other federal and state elections. Primary elections were held on June 7.


title: 2022 New Mexico gubernatorial election

text: Incumbent Democratic governor Michelle Lujan Grisham won a second term. She was first elected in 2018 with 57.2% of the vote. Her opponent was Republican Mark Ronchetti, who was also his party's nominee in New Mexico's 2020 U.S. Senate election. This was the first gubernatorial election in New Mexico since 1986 in which the winner was from the same party as the incumbent president.


title: 2022 New Mexico gubernatorial election

text: Travis Sanchez won the Libertarian primary unopposed, but withdrew to become the Libertarian nominee for New Mexico State Auditor. Sanchez was replaced by Efren Gallardo, Jr.


title: Information Technology Act, 2000

text: The Information Technology Act, 2000 (also known as ITA-2000, or the IT Act) is an Act of the Indian Parliament (No 21 of 2000) notified on 17 October 2000. It is the primary law in India dealing with cybercrime and electronic commerce.


title: Information Technology Act, 2000

text: Secondary or subordinate legislation to the IT Act includes the Intermediary Guidelines Rules 2011 and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.


title: Information Technology Act, 2000

text: The bill was passed in the budget session of 2000 and signed by President K. R. Narayanan on 9 May 2000. The bill was finalised by a group of officials headed by the Minister of Information Technology Pramod Mahajan.


title: Information Technology Act, 2000

text: The original Act contained 94 sections, divided into 13 chapters and 4 schedules. The laws apply to the whole of India. If a crime involves a computer or network located in India, persons of other nationalities can also be indicted under the law, .


title: Information Technology Act, 2000

text: The Act provides a legal framework for electronic governance by giving recognition to electronic records and digital signatures. It also defines cyber crimes and prescribes penalties for them. The Act directed the formation of a Controller of Certifying Authorities to regulate the issuance of digital signatures. It also established a Cyber Appellate Tribunal to resolve disputes rising from this new law. The Act also amended various sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, the Banker's Book Evidence Act, 1891, and the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 to make them compliant with new technologies.


title: Information Technology Act, 2000

text: A major amendment was made in 2008. It introduced Section 66A which penalized sending "offensive messages". It also introduced Section 69, which gave authorities the power of "interception or monitoring or decryption of any information through any computer resource". Additionally, it introduced provisions addressing - pornography, child porn, cyber terrorism and voyeurism. The amendment was passed on 22 December 2008 without any debate in Lok Sabha. The next day it was passed by the Rajya Sabha. It was signed into law by President Pratibha Patil, on 5 February 2009.


title: Information Technology Act, 2000

text: From its establishment as an amendment to the original act in 2008, Section 66A attracted controversy over its unconstitutional nature:


title: Information Technology Act, 2000

text: In December 2012, P Rajeev, a Rajya Sabha member from Kerala, tried to pass a resolution seeking to amend the Section 66A. He was supported by D. Bandyopadhyay, Gyan Prakash Pilania, Basavaraj Patil Sedam, Narendra Kumar Kashyap, Rama Chandra Khuntia and Baishnab Charan Parida. P Rajeev pointed that cartoons and editorials allowed in traditional media, were being censored in the new media. He also said that law was barely debated before being passed in December 2008.


title: Information Technology Act, 2000

text: Rajeev Chandrasekhar suggested the 66A should only apply to person to person communication pointing to a similar section under the Indian Post Office Act, 1898. Shantaram Naik opposed any changes, saying that the misuse of law was sufficient to warrant changes. The then Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Mr Kapil Sibal defended the existing law, saying that similar laws existed in US and UK. He also said that a similar provision existed under Indian Post Office Act, 1898. However, P Rajeev said that the UK dealt only with communication from person to person.


title: Information Technology Act, 2000

text: In November 2012, IPS officer Amitabh Thakur and his wife social activist Nutan Thakur, filed a petition in the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court claiming that the Section 66A violated the freedom of speech guaranteed in the Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India. They said that the section was vague and frequently misused.


title: Information Technology Act, 2000

text: Also in November 2012, a Delhi-based law student, Shreya Singhal, filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court of India. She argued that the Section 66A was vaguely phrased, as result it violated Article 14, 19 (1)(a) and Article 21 of the Constitution. The PIL was accepted on 29 November 2012.


title: Information Technology Act, 2000

text: In August 2014, the Supreme Court asked the central government to respond to petitions filed by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) which claimed that the IT Act gave the government power to arbitrarily remove user-generated content.


title: Information Technology Act, 2000

text: On 24 March 2015, the Supreme Court of India, gave the verdict that Section 66A is unconstitutional in entirety. The court said that Section 66A of IT Act 2000 is "arbitrarily, excessively and disproportionately invades the right of free speech" provided under Article 19(1) of the Constitution of India. But the Court turned down a plea to strike down sections 69A and 79 of the Act, which deal with the procedure and safeguards for blocking certain websites. Despite this, as per a research paper by Abhinav Sekhri and Apar Gupta Section 66A of the Information Technology Act 2000, continues to be used by police departments across India in prosecutions.


title: Information Technology Act, 2000

text: The data privacy rules introduced in the Act in 2011 have been described as too strict by some Indian and US firms. The rules require firms to obtain written permission from customers before collecting and using their personal data. This has affected US firms which outsource to Indian companies. However, some companies have welcomed the strict rules, saying it will remove fears of outsourcing to Indian companies.


title: Information Technology Act, 2000

text: The Section 69 allows intercepting any information and ask for information decryption. To refuse decryption is an offence. The Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 allows the government to tap phones. But, according to a 1996 Supreme Court verdict the government can tap phones only in case of a "public emergency". But, there is no such restriction on Section 69. On 20 December 2018, the Ministry of Home Affairs cited Section 69 in the issue of an order authorising ten central agencies to intercept, monitor, and decrypt “any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer.” While some claim this to be a violation of the fundamental right to privacy, the Ministry of Home Affairs has claimed its validity on the grounds of national security.


title: Information Technology Act, 2000

text: The bans on Chinese apps based on Section 69A has been criticized for possibly being in conflict with Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India ensuring freedom of speech and expression to all, as well as possibly in conflict with WTO agreements. The Internet Freedom Foundation has criticized the ban for not following the required protocols and thus lacking transparency and disclosure.


title: Information Technology Act, 2000

text: On 2 April 2015, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis revealed to the state assembly that a new law was being framed to replace the repealed Section 66A. Fadnavis was replying to a query Shiv Sena leader Neelam Gorhe. Gorhe had said that repeal of the law would encourage online miscreants and asked whether the state government would frame a law to this regard. Fadnavis said that the previous law had resulted in no convictions, so the law would be framed such that it would be strong and result in convictions.


title: Information Technology Act, 2000

text: On 13 April 2015, it announced that the Ministry of Home Affairs would form a committee of officials from the Intelligence Bureau, Central Bureau of Investigation, National Investigation Agency, Delhi Police and ministry itself to produce a new legal framework. This step was reportedly taken after complaints from intelligence agencies that, they were no longer able to counter online posts that involved national security matter or incite people to commit an offence, such as online recruitment for ISIS. Former Minister of State with the Ministry of Information Technology, Milind Deora has supported a new "unambiguous section to replace 66A".


title: Information Technology Act, 2000

text: In 2022, it was reported of a proposal to replace the Information Technology Act with a more comprehensive and updated Digital India Act, which would cover a wider range of information technology issues and concerns. This law could ostensibly have focal areas around privacy, social media regulation, regulation of over-the-top platforms, internet intermediaries, introducing additional contraventions or offences and governance of new technologies.


title: Information Technology Act, 2000

text: The Indian government closely connects data to citizens' privacy and this is demonstrated when Shiv Shankar Singh states, "Each person must be able to exercise a substantial degree of control over that data and its use. Data protection is legal safeguard to prevent misuse of information about individual person on a medium including computers."


title: Information Technology Act, 2000

text: The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 suppresses India's Intermediary Guidelines Rules 2011.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: Shaft is a 1971 American crime action film directed by Gordon Parks and written by Ernest Tidyman and John D. F. Black. It is an adaptation of Tidyman's novel of the same name and is the first entry in the "Shaft" film series. The plot revolves around a private detective named John Shaft who is hired by a Harlem mobster to rescue his daughter from the Italian mobsters who kidnapped her. The film stars Richard Roundtree as Shaft, alongside Moses Gunn, Charles Cioffi, Christopher St. John and Lawrence Pressman.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: The film has themes of Black Power movement, race, masculinity, and sexuality. It was filmed in Harlem, Greenwich Village, and Times Square within the Manhattan borough of New York City. The "Shaft" soundtrack album, recorded by Isaac Hayes, was also a success, winning him a Grammy Award for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture and a second Grammy (shared with Johnny Allen) for Best Instrumental Arrangement. The "Theme from "Shaft"" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, making him the first Black man to win the award. The song has appeared on multiple Top 100 lists, including AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs. A prime example of the blaxploitation genre, it was selected in 2000 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: In January 1971, private detective John Shaft is informed that some gangsters are looking for him. He spots one of the men waiting for him in his office building, and ambushes him. At gunpoint, he brings him to his office, where the second gangster is already waiting. During a short fight, Shaft dodges one of them, who falls out of a window. The other one reveals that Bumpy Jonas, the leader of a Harlem-based organized crime family, wants Shaft brought uptown to Harlem for a meeting. At the police station, Lt. Vic Androzzi and a detective question Shaft about the gangster's death, which Shaft calls an "accident". Androzzi allows Shaft to return to the streets for 48 hours to gather more information. Shaft meets with Bumpy, who tearfully reveals that his daughter has been kidnapped. He asks Shaft to ensure her safe return, and Shaft agrees to help. Bumpy advises that Shaft should seek out Ben Buford, a black militant leader.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: Shaft tracks down Buford, and a shootout ensues with an unknown assailant. Afterwards, Shaft is told by Androzzi that Shaft, not Ben, was the target, and that tensions brewing between the uptown hoods belonging to Bumpy Jonas and the downtown Mafiosi have culminated in other murders. Androzzi laments that the issue is seen as black-against-white to the general public and worries about the escalation into a full-blown race war. He also shows Shaft some pictures of Mafia men who just arrived in New York. Shaft and Ben meet with Bumpy and accuse him of setting up the shootout. After agreeing to pay $10,000 for each of Ben's men who died, Ben and Shaft join forces to find Bumpy's daughter.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: Later, Shaft surmises that mobsters are watching his apartment from a local bar. Shaft pretends to be a bartender and calls Androzzi to have the mobsters arrested. Shaft then confronts the arrested mobsters about Bumpy's daughter, and he sets up a meeting. When he gets home, Vic arrives and tells Shaft that the room at the station house was bugged and his superior wants to bring Shaft in for questioning regarding the kidnapping. Instead of taking him in, Androzzi leaves. Shaft is escorted by a Mafia member to the apartment where Marcy Jonas is being held, and Ben and two of his men tail them. Once there, a shootout ensues: two Mafia men are killed, and Shaft takes a bullet in the shoulder. After receiving medical attention, Shaft tells Ben to round up his men and meet him at the hotel where Marcy has been taken. He calls Bumpy to tell him his daughter is fine, but that he needs taxicabs at the hotel for the getaway.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: At the hotel, Shaft, Ben, and Ben's men dress as hotel workers and slowly infiltrate the hotel. Shaft gets to the roof of the hotel, and swings into the room where Marcy is kept. He kills the gangster guarding her and brings her outside. Meanwhile, Ben and his men kill the gangsters in the surrounding rooms, and exit. After the taxicabs take Marcy, Ben, and Ben's men away, Shaft calls Androzzi from a phone booth, telling him that his case has just busted open. Androzzi asks him to close it, and Shaft replies, in reference to an earlier scene, "You're gonna have to close it yourself, shitty!", then hangs up the phone and walks away laughing.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: "Shaft" was adapted from Ernest Tidyman's novels by Tidyman and screenwriter John D. F. Black. Joel Freeman and executive producers Stirling Silliphant and Roger Lewis produced the film.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: The screen detective genre in the late 1960s had been dominated by the big movies, big stars. Paul Newman had established his Harper in 1966, (the character reprised 1975, in The Drowning Pool). Soon following, Frank Sinatra's "Tony Rome" (1967), "The Detective" (1968), "Lady in Cement" (1968) further set the quality. Industry knowledge suggested that the first of the Clint Eastwood Dirty Harry productions was also slated for a 1971 release. Gordon Parks's directorial debut of a major entertainment production was set on a course for an appreciation of comparisons. The instinctive cultural polymath knew where a coup of casting was his by necessity to play.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: Although black in the source novel, Tidyman's original draft screenplay had Shaft as white. However, [Gordon] Parks cast African American actor Richard Roundtree as the eponymous hero. The entire dynamic of the film, its later success, and the future of blaxploitation films were all greatly impacted by Parks' decision. This film was created less to impact black consciousness and more to simply to show a "'fun film,' which people could attend on Saturday night and see a black guy winning." Nevertheless, Parks said in the documentary about his work, "Half Past Autumn" (2000), that he had hoped the film would inspire young African Americans by presenting them with "a hero they hadn't had before." "Shaft" was intentionally created to "appeal to a black urban audience, along with contiguous white youths."


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: After production, in an effort to entice a large black audience to see the film, MGM hired UniWorld, a black advertising firm, who "popularized "Shaft" by using the rhetoric of black power." Although this film was notable for its crossover success with both white and black audiences, UniWorld focused largely on attracting members of the African-American community. "For example, "Variety" reported UniWorld's advertisement description of the protagonist John Shaft as, 'A lone, black Superspade—a man of flair and flamboyance who has fun at the expense of the (white) establishment.'" They also promoted "'the behind-the-camera participation of blacks,' thereby appealing to blacks who would appreciate the film as a black production or could fantasize that blacks had somehow beat the Hollywood system and taken over Metro-Goldwyn Mayer studios."


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: When asked at the 2014 Virginia Film Festival how it felt to be cast as Shaft, Richard Roundtree responded that he had been extremely excited about the part at the time. He had previously been cast mostly in commercials, and this role, his first in a feature film, was a big break for him.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: Melvin Van Peebles claimed that the success of his film "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song" caused "Shaft" to be changed from a "white movie" into a "black one". In fact, filming of "Shaft" began in January 1971, several months before the release of Van Peebles' film, with Roundtree already confirmed in the lead role. The story is set in the same month, as shown by a calendar on Shaft's office wall.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: Tidyman, who is white, was an editor at "The New York Times" prior to becoming a novelist. He sold the movie rights to "Shaft" by showing the galley proofs to the studio (the novel had not yet been published). Tidyman was honored by the NAACP for his work on the "Shaft" movies and books.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: In the creation of "Shaft", there was a significant African-American presence, with director Parks, editor Hugh A. Robertson, and musical composer Isaac Hayes playing crucial roles. On the other hand, white men controlled the other important aspects of "Shaft"'s production. Scenarist and writer Tidyman, writer Black, producer Freeman, and executive producers Silliphant and Lewis were all white men who heavily influenced the making of "Shaft". In an analysis of "Shaft", Stanly Corkin stated, "Further, the reception of the idea of blackness also becomes various, defined by any number of subject positions, and again, those cannot be fixed to any particular racially defined place of origin." In other words, the perception of race depends on the viewer and thus differs between individuals. Since different representations of race appeal to different people, the film's white creators fabricated its representation of blackness in order to appeal to African American and white audiences alike. MGM was struggling financially during the making of this film, so making a profitable film was a necessity. "Under the devious guise of providing the Black American with a new and positive image of his/her life, these films confer upon the viewer, Black or White, little more than a pretended glamour and sophistication, the empty, repetitive wasteland of ancient Hollywood traditionalism."


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: Parks' decision to cast Roundtree rather than a white actor, for whom the role was written, instantly altered the presentation of race in the film. Critics, however, believed the plot was not altered enough to accommodate the change in racial dynamics. "Mark Reid, for example, argues that Shaft is a product of the (white) studio imagination and merely a 'black-skinned replica' of the white action hero commonly found in the detective genre."


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: One way that Shaft's blackness was showcased was through his attire. Shaft was "stylistically racialized: [He] wears clothes and affects manners that are associated with being black". Shaft was known for his elegant garb, as he was frequently draped in leather coats and turtlenecks throughout the film. Although his smooth, classy look evoked a greater interest from viewers, it in no way represented fashion typical of the black community in that era.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: Further, Shaft relies upon a group of militant black nationalists in helping him complete his mission to save Bumpy's daughter. The inclusion of a group so strongly identified with the Black Power movement was clearly an effort to appeal to black audience members. However, the film presented the black nationalists as a group that failed to further the black cause, raised no awareness of the black struggle, and displayed them simply as a hired team of assailants to assist Shaft on his mission.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: The filming of "Shaft" partly in the neighborhood of Harlem also allowed the black viewer to have a deeper connection to this film. The writers portrayed Shaft as a man who clearly had a good relationship with this neighborhood, yet rejected it once he became wealthy, moving to the predominantly white area of Greenwich Village. Traditional black thought in this era was that African Americans who had been prosperous financially should invest in and give back to the communities from which they came. Instead, "the implication is that the wise black (Shaft) will want to sever ties with the people of Harlem and find a place among whites." This point further indicates the false portrayal of race in "Shaft", as a true black action hero of his time period would have been more loyal to his neighborhood.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: The result of this inauthentic portrayal of blackness in early 1970s blaxploitation films like "Shaft" had an effect on black audiences viewing them. Instead of the collective nature of the Civil Rights Movement and Black Power movement in the 1960s, these films helped to usher in a decade of self-indulgence, material gain, and drug consumption. "Equally important, Riley points out that the narratives about, and images of, blacks in these new films are no more than thematic templates reworked with black casts and updated stereotypes that reconfirm white expectations of blacks and serve to repress and delay the awakening of any real political consciousness."


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: Although "Shaft" was a depiction of blackness by white creators, the movie touched on several themes that reflected the ideals of the Black Power movement. Some of the actions taken by Shaft highlighted the positive aspects of this movement, while others brought out some of its less progressive facets.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: A noticeable quality of Roundtree's character was his commanding presence and the control that he displayed in almost every situation he faced throughout the film. In the Black Power movement, leaders ardently fought to gain greater presence and control for their people, because even after desegregation, African Americans were still greatly excluded from the economic, political, and cultural systems engrained in white American society. Shaft was depicted as a character that had achieved a high level of personal freedom, confidence, and control in his life, which was exciting for African American viewers. At the beginning of the film, Shaft was approached by two police officers seeking information. As the officers were depending upon his information, Shaft dictated the conversation from a position of power. Spatially, he also was much taller than the officers, further boosting his position of control. Shaft's economic independence was a crucial part of his persona. Once bankrolled by Bumpy, Shaft was often seen giving money to others, which showed that he had substantial financial security. He also had a beautiful apartment located in Greenwich Village, where rent would have been expensive. The Black Power movement frequently stressed the importance of upward social mobility.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: Another prominent characteristic of this movement was its strong focus on masculinity. This emphasis on the male effort to improve black life was accompanied by sexist beliefs by many leading activists. Their sexist views were felt to be a reaction to the hierarchical power structure already prevalent in society. Having been subjugated by white people for years, African-American men in turn treated women as beneath them. "Robyn Wiegman argues that the members of the Black Power Movement defined the politics of race within 'a metaphorics of phallic power,' which developed out of male activists' desire to counter cultural articulations of black male inferiority, and that this perspective is readily seen in the writings of influential figures such as Malcolm X, Huey Newton, Eldridge Cleaver, and Amiri Baraka."


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: Shaft directly embodied this ideal of extreme black masculinity through displays of hypersexuality and misogyny. "Although Shaft lacked power in the racial sphere, by virtue of being a heterosexual male in a patriarchal system, he still maintains a semblance of power in relation to women." From the very beginning of the film, Shaft's sexuality was highlighted as an important characteristic of his persona. In this scene, Shaft was parting ways with two white officers and one asks him, "Where are you going?" "To get laid", Shaft replied. Shaft was described as a legendary "sex machine", and this dominance over females was presented as an instrument of power. Shaft not only has ample sexual relationships with women, but he treats them with little respect. "While he ha[d] a black girlfriend, which would satisfy the expectations of cultural nationalism, he is not above sleeping around and having random sex with attractive white women." In one scene, Shaft's girlfriend told him that she loves him, and Shaft memorably responded with "Yeah, I know." Also, after a white woman slept with Shaft, she told him, "You're pretty good in the sack, but you're pretty shitty afterwards. You know that?" This statement further highlights both Shaft's sexual prowess and his misogynist actions.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: The third blaxploitation film released, "Shaft" is one of the best and most popular films of the genre. Commenting on the film shortly after its release, "New York Times" movie critic Vincent Canby accurately predicted the wave of blaxploitation films to follow: "How audiences react, however, has a great deal to do with the kind of movies that do get made, and having watched the extraordinary receptions given to both "Sweet Sweetback" and "Shaft" I'm led to wonder if, perhaps, the existence of what seems to be a large, hungry, black movie audience—an audience whose experiences and interests are treated mostly in token fashion by TV—might not be one of the more healthy and exciting developments on the current movie scene." "Shaft" greatly impacted future blaxploitation films which "crudely tried to emulate the success of "Shaft" and "Sweetback", repeated, filled in, or exaggerated the ingredients of the Blaxploitation formula, which usually consisted of a pimp, gangster, or their baleful female counterparts, violently acting out a revenge or retribution motif against corrupt whites in the romanticized confines of the ghetto or inner city."


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: The film was one of only three profitable movies that year for MGM, grossing what "Time" magazine called an "astonishing" $13 million on a budget of $500,000.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: The "Los Angeles Times" said the film cost $1 million and grossed $4.5 million. According to "Variety" by 1976 it earned $7.656 million in theatrical rentals.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: It not only spawned several years of "blaxploitation" action films, it earned enough money to save then-struggling MGM from bankruptcy.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: "Shaft" was extremely successful in theaters, which was a huge accomplishment for the then-struggling MGM studios. It was produced at a cost of $1.2 million while earning $10.8 million in its first year of distribution, $7 million in the U.S. alone.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: The critical reception of "Shaft" was mixed. In general, the film was applauded for its innovation, success, and its lasting effect on the film industry. "Because of the film's positioning securely within the parameters of industry standards, "Shaft" was generally applauded by the critics both black and white, as being a breakthrough production in terms of expanding black representation in commercial cinema."


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: Roger Ebert gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "The strength of Parks's movie is his willingness to let his hero fully inhabit the private-eye genre, with all of its obligatory violence, blood, obscenity, and plot gimmicks. The weakness of 'Shaft,' I suspect, is that Parks is not very eager to inhabit that world along with his hero." Gene Siskel awarded two stars out of four and wrote that the film "offers little more than a rousing opening fight and a chance to see Roundtree glower while he models some fancy leather outfits." "Variety" wrote that the film was "directed by Gordon Parks with a subtle feel for both the grit and the humanity of the script. Excellent cast, headed by newcomer Richard Roundtree, may shock some audiences with a heavy dose of candid dialog and situation." Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" called it "the first good Saturday night movie I've seen in years ... 'Shaft' is not a great film, but it's very entertaining." In a review for "The Monthly Film Bulletin", Nigel Andrews called it "in the main a highly workmanlike and enjoyable thriller." Gary Arnold of "The Washington Post" called it "a diverting commercial thriller, inconsequential but slick and casually enjoyable."


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: Other critics like Clayton Riley mainly found fault in the films' failure to "deal with Black life in serious terms," writing that "Sam Spade is all right for the field hands because the White folks don't want to carry that weight any more. But how seriously would 'Five Easy Pieces' have been taken with a Black pianist as the weary protagonist?" Riley also harshly stated, "Mediocre is the only word to describe the work of Gordon Parks, the director of this nonsense, inept is the kindest thing to say about the performances of Richard Roundtree as John Shaft, a Black private eye on the prowl for kicks in the Big Apple underworld." Parks responded to Riley's social criticisms with a letter to the editor in "The New York Times", stating that "Riley seems sadly alone among blacks in this reaction. Most black critics have lauded the film for its portrayal of Shaft as a strong black hero ... I share Riley's desire to see black actors playing roles now assumed by actors such as Jack Nicholson or Dustin Hoffman, but I don't think the choice for black people is limited to either 'Five Easy Pieces' or Stepin Fetchit."


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 87% based on 46 reviews from critics, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's "Critics Consensus" quotes the movie's opening song: "This is the man that would risk his neck for his brother, man. Can you dig it?"


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: In 2000, "Shaft" was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: The character John Shaft was considered a possible candidate for AFI's "100 Years…100 Heroes and Villains". The film itself was also a candidate for AFI's "100 Years…100 Thrills".


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: One of the greatest factors contributing to "Shaft"'s wild success and lasting appeal is its memorable musical score, "a revolutionary funk/soul masterpiece", composed by Isaac Hayes. Hayes auditioned for the role of Shaft but was asked to compose the musical score instead. "Vulgar, shallow, and crudely done, "Shaft" distinguished itself mainly by having the best musical score of the year. Isaac Hayes's sensual, moody background music added to the texture of the film…"


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: Hayes' soundtrack was known for its unique and catchy sound. "Instead of laying out a series of lengthy, chilled-out raps and jams, the episodic nature of a movie structure obliged him to focus on shorter instrumentals, featuring laid-back, jazz-infused riffs and solos." For example, from the 'Theme from Shaft,' "The instrumental section, played by the Bar Kays and Movement, deploys pulsating bass, stuttering wah-wah guitar, Hayes's own distinctive piano playing, a descending four-note horn motif, ascending flute runs and the now famous Pearl and Dean-style blasts of brass and strings." "Thirty five years on, "Shaft" may sound dated, but it's a sound that inspired a generation of soul musicians. Hayes' laid back vocal delivery and the gorgeous arrangements by Johnny Allen are still breathtaking, and the album remains a quintessential slice of '70s soul."


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: For Hayes' remarkable composition, he received a combination of public praise, notable critical reception, and awards. Only a few weeks after the release of the film, Hayes' soundtrack album had already earned $2 million and had gone platinum. "The "Shaft" theme became so popular that it was heard everywhere, from nightclubs to halftime at football games." (Guerrero 1993) Hayes was also nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Original Dramatic Score and for Best Original Song with the 'Theme from Shaft.'. When he won for Best Original Song, it was the first time an African American composer had won an Academy Award. "The 45-single release of the record topped the US charts, hit number 4 in the UK and is still popular today, enjoying a new lease of life as a cellphone ring tone."


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: "Shaft" it was released on VHS, followed by a DVD release in June 2000, and a Blu-ray release in 2012. The Criterion Collection released a new Blu-ray in June 2022, featuring a 4K restoration of the film.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: "Shaft" initially had two sequels called "Shaft's Big Score!" (1972) and "Shaft in Africa" (1973), with "neither capturing the soul of the original", according to author Howard Hughes. An additional sequel, and part remake, was released in 2000, also called "Shaft", starring Samuel L. Jackson as the title character, and Roundtree appearing as his "Uncle" John Shaft. The earlier sequels were followed by a short-lived 1973–1974 television series titled "Shaft" on CBS. Richard Roundtree was the only person to ever play John Shaft, appearing in all four films and the television series.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: Ernest Tidyman wrote six "Shaft" novel sequels, including "Goodbye, Mr Shaft" and "Shaft's Carnival of Killers".


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: In February 2015, TheWrap reported that "Shaft" would be rebooted by New Line Cinema with John Davis producing the new film. In July 2015, "The Hollywood Reporter" reported that Kenya Barris and Alex Barnow would be writing the script, Davis and Ira Napoliello would be producing, and Richard Brener and Samuel J. Brown would direct. "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote that the film "will have a comedic tone but will retain its action roots". When he was asked about that characterization of the film, Davis said "It's drama, but it's going to be drama with a lot of fun moments. A lot of lighter moments." In January 2017, Deadline reports that Tim Story will direct the film, a sequel, which will follows the son of John Shaft. In August 2017, it was revealed that Richard Roundtree and Samuel L. Jackson would reprise their roles from the 2000 film, and Jessie T. Usher would portray J. J. Shaft, the son of Jackson's character. Roundtree's character was no longer be the uncle, but Jackson's character's father John Shaft Sr. In November 2017, the film was revealed to be entitled "Shaft" and was released on June 14, 2019.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: Already in 1972, Pam Grier's character in "Hit Man" starred in a pornographic film she believed was a screen test for "Shaft".


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: On "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", Shaft is the idol of the fictional Will Smith, and several episodes make references to the film. In one episode Will denies that Shaft is a fictional character and claims he is real, parodying how young children deny that the cartoon characters they love are not real. "The Wedding Show (Psyche!)", a fifth-season episode, includes a "Shaft"-themed wedding for Will and his fiancée, Lisa.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: In The Simpsons episode 'One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish', Bart and Lisa sing the theme song from "Shaft" by Isaac Hayes. The censors originally objected to Bart and Lisa singing the theme from "Shaft", but the producers had to show a clip from the Academy Awards when that song was nominated and performed on television to let the censors know it was suitable to show.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: In "ER", in the fifth season Halloween episode 5, surgical resident Dr. Peter Benton dresses up as John Shaft and reveals to British surgical intern and previous trauma fellow Dr. Elizabeth Corday that when he was a kid he wanted to be Shaft.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: In the "Mystery Science Theater 3000" presentation of "Mitchell", Joel and the robots perform a variation of Isaac Hayes' "Shaft" theme during that film's opening credits. In "Good Eats", Alton Brown performs a parody of the film's theme song about puff pastry. In the final "Father Ted "episode "Going to America", the song is played by an elated Ted, perking up a depressive priest in the process.


title: Shaft (1971 film)

text: It was noted by Quentin Tarantino during the 2012 Comic-Con panel that Broomhilda von Shaft and Django Freeman from his movie "Django Unchained" are intended as the great-great-great-great grandparents of John Shaft, from the "Shaft" movie series.


title: Chinese surname

text: Chinese surnames are used by Han Chinese and Sinicized ethnic groups in China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, and among overseas Chinese communities around the world such as Singapore and Malaysia. Written Chinese names begin with surnames, unlike the Western tradition in which surnames are written last. Around 2,000 Han Chinese surnames are currently in use, but the great proportion of Han Chinese people use only a relatively small number of these surnames; 19 surnames are used by around half of the Han Chinese people, while 100 surnames are used by around 87% of the population. A report in 2019 gives the most common Chinese surnames as Wang and Li, each shared by over 100 million people in China. The remaining top ten most common Chinese surnames are Zhang, Liu, Chen, Yang, Huang, Zhao, Wu and Zhou.


title: Chinese surname

text: Two distinct types of Chinese surnames existed in ancient China, namely xing () ancestral clan names and shi () branch lineage names. Later, the two terms began to be used interchangeably, and in the present day, "xing" refers to the surname and "shi" may refer either the clan or maiden name. The two terms may also be used together as "xingshi" for family names or surnames. Most Chinese surnames ("xing") in current use were originally "shi". The earliest "xing" surname might be matrilinear, but Han Chinese family name has been exclusively patrilineal for a couple of millennia, passing from father to children. This system of patrilineal surnames is unusual in the world in its long period of continuity and depth of written history, and Chinese people may view their surnames as part of their shared kinship and Han Chinese identity. Women do not normally change their surnames upon marriage, except sometimes in places with more western influences such as Hong Kong. Traditionally Chinese surnames have been exogamous in that people tend to marry those with different last names.


title: Chinese surname

text: The most common Chinese surnames were compiled in the Song dynasty work "Hundred Family Surnames", which lists over 400 names. The colloquial expressions "lǎobǎixìng" (老百姓; lit. "old hundred surnames") and "bǎixìng" (, lit. "hundred surnames") are used in Chinese to mean "ordinary folks", "the people", or "commoners".


title: Chinese surname

text: Chinese surnames have a history of over 3,000 years. Chinese mythology, however, reaches back further to the legendary figure Fuxi (with the surname Feng), who was said to have established the system of Chinese surnames to distinguish different families and prevent marriage of people with the same family names. Prior to the Warring States period (fifth century BC), only the ruling families and the aristocratic elite had surnames. Historically there was a difference between ancestral clan names or "xing" () and branch lineage names or "shi" (). "Xing" may be the more ancient surname that referred to the ancestral tribe or clan, while "shi" denoted a branch of the tribe or clan. For example, the ancestors of the Shang had "Zi" (子) as "xing", but the descendants were subdivided into numerous "shi" including Yin (殷), Song (宋), Kong (空), Tong (同) and others. The distinction between the two began to be blurred by the Warring States period. During the Qin dynasty, name usage was standardised, commoners started to acquire a surname or "xing", and the "shi" also became "xing". By the Han dynasty, families only had "xing" or "xing-shi". The great majority of Han Chinese surnames (now called "xing" or "xingshi") that survive to modern times have their roots in "shi" rather than the ancient "xing".


title: Chinese surname

text: In modern usage, "xing" is the surname, but the word "shi" survives as a word to refer to the clan. The term "shi" may be appended to the surname of a person; for example, a man with the Zhang surname may be referred to respectfully as Zhang-"shi" instead of his full name. It is used in particular for the paternal surname of a married woman, therefore in this case "shi" means maiden name, which a Chinese woman would continue to use after marriage.


title: Chinese surname

text: The ancient "xing" were surnames held by the noble clans. They generally contain a "female" () radical, for example Ji (), Jiang (), Yao () and Yíng (). This is taken as evidence that they originated from matriarchal societies based on maternal lineages. The character for "xing" itself is composed of a female radical and the character for "give birth" (生, "shēng"). "Xing" is believed to have been originally transmitted through women of noble birth, while noble men have "shi".


title: Chinese surname

text: Scholars such as Edwin G. Pulleyblank, however, are unconvinced by the matriarchy theory of Chinese surnames due to a lack of independent evidence. An alternative hypothesis has been proposed, suggesting that the use of female radical in "xing" may have arisen from the clan exogamy system used during the Zhou dynasty (the words "xing" and "shi" also did not exist in the Shang dynasty oracle bones). In ancient times, people of the same "xing" were not permitted to marry each other and a woman married into an aristocratic clan needed to be of a different name. Based on observation of the evolution of characters in oracular scripture from the Shang dynasty through the Zhou: the 女 radical seems to appear during the Zhou period next to Shang sinograms indicating a clan or a tribe. This combination seems to designate specifically a female and could mean "lady of such or such clan". The structure of the "xing" sinogram could reflect the fact that in the royal court of Zhou, at least in the beginning, only females (wives married into the Zhou family from other clans) were called by their birth clan name, while the men were usually designated by their title or fief.


title: Chinese surname

text: While people of the same "xing" were not permitted to marry each other, those with the same "shi" can. By the Han dynasty when everyone had "xing" and the surname was transmitted paternally, the practice continued, but it had changed to marriage between families of men on the paternal side being prohibited, but not on the maternal side.


title: Chinese surname

text: Prior to the Qin dynasty (3rd century BC) China was largely a "fengjian" (feudal) society. As fiefdoms were divided and subdivided among descendants, so additional sub-surnames known as "shi" were created to distinguish between noble lineages according to seniority, though in theory they shared the same ancestor. In this way, a nobleman would hold a "shi" and a "xing". "Xing", however, was more important than "shi".


title: Chinese surname

text: The difference between "xing" and "shi" became blurred in the Spring and Autumn period starting with women. For example: Chunqiu referred to Duke Xuan of Lu's consort Lady Mujiang (穆姜), who bore the clan name (姓, "xing") Jiang, as "Jiangshi" 姜氏, "[lady of the] Jiang "shi"" (!).


title: Chinese surname

text: After the states of China were unified by Qin Shi Huang in 221 BC, surnames gradually spread to the lower classes. Most surnames that survive to the present day were originally "shi".


title: Chinese surname

text: According to the chapter on surnames in the Han dynasty work "Fengsu Tong – Xingshi Pian" (風俗通姓氏篇), there are 9 origins of Chinese surnames: dynasty names, posthumous titles, ranks of nobility, state names, official positions, style names, places of residence, occupations, and events. Modern scholars such as Kiang Kang-Hu proposed that there are 18 sources from which Chinese surnames may be derived, while others suggested at least 24. These may be names associated with a ruling dynasty such as the various titles and names of rulers, nobility and dynasty, or they may be place names of various territories, districts, towns, villages, and specific locations, the title of official posts or occupations, or names of objects, or they may be derived from the names of family members or clans, and in a few cases, names of contempt given by a ruler.


title: Chinese surname

text: Chinese surnames or family names are written "before" the first name or given name. Therefore, someone named Wei () from the Zhang () family is called "Zhang Wei" (张伟) and not "Wei Zhang". Chinese women generally retain their maiden name and use their name unchanged after marriage, but in modern times in some communities, some women may choose to attach their husband's surname to the front. Chinese surname is patrilinear where the father's surname is passed on to his children, but more recently some people have opted to use both parents' surnames; although this practice has increased in recent times, it is still relatively uncommon in China, with those who adopted both parents' surnames numbering at only 1.1 million in 2018 (up from 118,000 in 1990).


title: Chinese surname

text: Some Chinese outside of mainland China, particularly those from the Chinese immigrant communities around the world and those who have acquired a Christian or Western first name, have adopted the Western convention when giving their name in English, placing their surname last. Examples of those commonly known in the West include Jackie Chan (Chinese name Chan Kong-sang), Jimmy Choo (Chinese name Choo Yeang Keat), and Yo-Yo Ma. Those with a Western first name can write their name in English in various ways – some may add the Western first name in front and the Chinese given name last (the surname is therefore in the middle), or fully Westernised with both the Western and Chinese given names before the Chinese surname. Examples include Carrie Lam, originally named Cheng Yuet-ngor (Cheng is the surname), but who has acquired her husband's surname Lam and a Western first name as Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.


title: Chinese surname

text: Due to the different spelling conventions and dialects as well as the different spelling preferences in the various countries these Chinese find themselves in, many people of the same Chinese surname can appear differently when written in English, for example the Lin surname (林) may also appear as Lam (Cantonese) or Lim (Hokkien). Some Chinese surnames that appear to be the same written in English may also be different in Chinese due to different characters having the same or similar pronunciations, dialectal differences, or non-standard romanizations (see section on variation in romanization below).


title: Chinese surname

text: Surnames are not evenly distributed throughout China's geography. In northern China, Wáng () is the most common surname, being shared by 9.9% of the population. Next are Lǐ (), Zhāng (/) and Liú (/). In the south, Chén (/) is the most common, being shared by 10.6% of the population. Next are Lǐ (李), Huáng (/), Lín () and Zhāng (张/張). Around the major crossing points of the Yangzi River, the most common surname is Lĭ (李), taking up 7.7%, followed by Wáng (王), Zhāng (张/張), Chan/Chén (陈/陳) and Liú (刘/劉).


title: Chinese surname

text: A 1987 study showed over 450 family names in common use in Beijing, but there were fewer than 300 family names in Fujian. Furthermore, a 2012 study found that there was the lowest amount of isonymy in surnames among the population around middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River both on the provincial and county levels. Additionally, it was found that counties with the highest values of isonymy were distributed in the provinces with high proportions of ethnic minorities. According to the dendrogram of surname distances, several clusters could be identified. Most provinces in a cluster were conterminous with one another. The one exception to this pattern could be explained by demic migration observed where the Han Chinese migrated to Northeastern China.


title: Chinese surname

text: A study by geneticist Yuan Yida has found that of all the people with a particular surname, there tends to be a population concentration in a certain province, as tabulated to the right. It does not show, however, the most common surnames in any one province.


title: Chinese surname

text: The 55th most common family name "Xiào" () appears to be very rare in Hong Kong. This is explained by the fact Hong Kong uses Traditional Chinese characters rather than Simplified Chinese characters. Originally, the surname (Xiāo) was rather common while the surname 肖 (Xiào) was extremely rare, if not non-existent (it is mentioned only sporadically in historical texts). The first round of simplification in 1956 simplified 蕭 into , keeping 蕭/萧 and 肖 distinct. However the second-round in 1977, which has long been abolished, merged 萧 and 肖 into 肖. Despite the retraction of the second round, some people have kept 肖 as their surname, so that there are now two separate surnames, 萧 and 肖.


title: Chinese surname

text: Chén (/) is perhaps the most common surname in Hong Kong and Macau, where it is romanized as Chan. It is the most common Chinese surname in Singapore, where it is usually romanized as Tan, and is also common in Taiwan, where it is romanized as Chén.


title: Chinese surname

text: Fāng (), which is only the 47th most common overall, is much more common in San Francisco's Chinatown in the United States, although the surname is more often than not romanized as Fong, as based on the Yue dialect. As with the concentration of family names, this can also be explained statistically, as a person with an uncommon name moving to an unsettled area and leaving his family name to large number of descendants.


title: Chinese surname

text: After the Song Dynasty, surname distributions in China largely settled down. The Kuàng (/) family, for example, migrated from the northern capital and settled in Guangdong after the Song Dynasty revolts. Villages are often made up of a single patrilineage with individuals having the same surname, often with a common male ancestor. They usually intermarry with others from nearby villages, creating genetic clusters.


title: Chinese surname

text: Of the thousands of surnames which have been identified from historical texts prior to the modern era, most have either been lost (see extinction of family names) or simplified. Historically there are close to 12,000 surnames recorded including those from non-Han Chinese ethnic groups, of which only about 3,100 are in current use, a factor of almost 4:1 (about 75%) reduction. A 2019 figure however put the total number of Chinese family names at 6,150. Of Han Chinese surnames, the largest number ever recorded was 6,363 (3,730 single-character surnames, 2,633 multiple-character surnames), around 2,000 of which are still in use. Chinese Surname extinction is due to various factors, such as people taking the names of their rulers, orthographic simplifications, taboos against using characters from an emperor's name, and others. A recent example of near surname extinction is the rare surname Shan (𢒉). The character may not be displayed on computer systems used by government officials, and people born after the system change as well as people who want to avoid possible problems changed their name to another character such as Xian (冼). The name is still used by the older people, but some people from the village are concerned that future generations will forget their name origin.


title: Chinese surname

text: While new names have arisen for various reasons, this has been outweighed by old names disappearing. The most significant factor affecting the surname frequency is other ethnic groups identifying as Han and adopting Han names. In recent centuries some two-character surnames have often dropped a character. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, moreover, some surnames have been graphically simplified.


title: Chinese surname

text: Although there are thousands of Chinese family names, the 100 most common, which together make up less than 5% of those in existence, are shared by 85% of the population. The three most common surnames in Mainland China are Li, Wang and Zhang, which make up 7.9%, 7.4% and 7.1% respectively. Together they number close to 300 million and are easily the most common surnames in the world. In Chinese, the phrase "third son of Zhang, fourth son of Li" () is used to say "just anybody".


title: Chinese surname

text: In a 1990 study, the top 200 family names accounted for over 96% of a random sample of 174,900 persons, with over 500 other names accounting for the remaining 4%. In a different study (1987), which combined data from Taiwan and China (sample size of 570,000 persons), the top 19 names covered 55.6%, and the top 100 names covered 87% of the sample. Other data suggest that the top 50 names comprise 70% of the population.


title: Chinese surname

text: Most commonly occurring Chinese family names have only one character; however, about twenty double-character family names have survived into modern times. These include Sima ( , simp. ), Zhuge ( , simp. ), Ouyang ( , simp. ), occasionally romanized as "O'Young", suggesting an Irish origin to English-speakers, and Situ (or Sito ). Sima, Zhuge, and Ouyang also happen to be the surnames of four extremely famous premodern Chinese historical figures. There are family names with three or more characters, but those are not ethnically Han Chinese. For example, Aixinjueluo (, also romanized from the Manchu language as Aisin Gioro), was the family name of the Manchu royal family of the Qing dynasty.


title: Chinese surname

text: Transliteration of Chinese family names (see List of common Chinese surnames) into foreign languages poses a number of problems. Chinese surnames are shared by people speaking a number of dialects and languages which often have different pronunciations of their surnames. The spread of the Chinese diaspora into all parts of the world resulted in the Romanization of the surnames based on different languages and Chinese dialects. Countries that have adopted the system of Chinese surnames such as Vietnam and Korea also spell them according to their own pronunciations. As a result, it is common for the same surname to be transcribed differently. For example, the Chen (陳) surname can appear as Chan (Cantonese, e.g. Jackie Chan), Tan (Hokkien), Tang (Teochew), Chin (Hakka), Trần (Vietnamese) and others; the Li (李) surname may appear as Lee (an example is Lee Kuan Yew), the Zhou (周) surname can appear as Chou, Chew, Jew and many others (e.g. Wakin Chau and Jimmy Choo); while the Zheng surname (鄭/郑) can be romanized into Chang, Cheng, Chung, Teh, Tay, Tee, Tsang, Zeng or Zheng (note that in pinyin, Chang, Cheng, Zheng and Zeng are all different names). In certain dialects, different surnames could be homonyms so it is common for family names to appear ambiguous when transliterated. Translating Chinese surnames from foreign transliteration often presents ambiguity. For example, the surname "Li" are all Mandarin-based pinyin transliteration for the surnames Lí (黎); Lǐ (李, 理 and 里); and Lì (郦/酈, 栗, 厉/厲, and 利) depending on the tone which is usually omitted in foreign transliterations.


title: Chinese surname

text: Due to the different pronunciation and romanizations, it is sometimes easy to tell whether a Chinese person has origins in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, or Taiwan. In general people who are of Mainland descent will have both their surnames and names in pinyin. Those who are Taiwanese descent use Wade-Giles romanization. People from Southeast Asia (mainly Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines) and Hong Kong usually base their romanization of surnames and names on the Min, Hakka and Cantonese languages. The younger generation from Singapore often have their surname in dialect and given name in English.


title: Chinese surname

text: There are also people who use non-standard romanizations, e.g. the Hong Kong media mogul 邵逸夫 Run Run Shaw's surname 邵 is spelt as Shaw (Shao in pinyin).


title: Chinese surname

text: The use of different systems of romanization based on different Chinese language variants from 1900~1970 also contributed to the variations.


title: Chinese surname

text: Throughout most of Chinese history, surnames have served sociological functions. Because of their association with the aristocratic elite in their early developments, surnames were often used as symbols of nobility. Thus nobles would use their surnames to be able to trace their ancestry and compete for seniority in terms of hereditary rank. Examples of early genealogies among the royalty can be found in Sima Qian's "Historical Records", which contain tables recording the descent lines of noble houses called "shibiao" ().


title: Chinese surname

text: Later, during the Han dynasty, these tables were used by prominent families to glorify themselves and sometimes even to legitimize their political power. For example, Cao Pi, who forced the abdication of the last Han emperor in his favor, claimed descent from the Yellow Emperor. Chinese emperors sometimes passed their own surnames to subjects as honors. Unlike European practice in which some surnames are obviously noble, Chinese emperors and members of the royal family had regular surnames except in cases where they came from non-Han ethnic groups. This was a result of Chinese imperial theory in which a commoner could receive the Mandate of Heaven and become emperor. Upon becoming emperor, the emperor would retain his original surname. Also as a consequence, many people also had the same surname as the emperor, but had no direct relation to the royal family.


title: Chinese surname

text: The Tang dynasty was the last period when the great aristocratic families, mostly descended from the nobility of pre-Qin states, held significant centralized and regional power. The surname was used as a source of prestige and common allegiance. During the period many genealogical records called "pudie" () were compiled to trace the complex descent lines of families or clans and their marriage ties to other families or clans. Many of these were collected by Ouyang Xiu in his "New History of Tang". To differentiate between different surnames, the Tang also choronyms before stating beforehand, for example Lǒngxī Lǐshì 隴西李氏, meaning Li of Longxi. These were generally the names of commanderies used prior to the reorganization during the Tang, so that they became exclusively associated to clans as their common use had died out. Cadet branches were also listed for further differentiation, such as Gūzāng Fáng 姑臧房, meaning Clan Li of Guzang.


title: Chinese surname

text: During the Song dynasty, ordinary clans began to organize themselves into corporate units and produce genealogies. This trend was led by the poet Su Shi and his father. As competition for resources and positions in the bureaucracy intensified, individuals used their common ancestry and surname to promote solidarity. They established schools to educate their sons and held common lands to aid disadvantaged families. Ancestral temples were also erected to promote surname identity. Clan cohesion was usually encouraged by successive imperial governments since it aided in social stability. During the Qing dynasty surname associations often undertook extrajudicial roles, providing primitive legal and social security functions. They played important roles in the Chinese diaspora to South-East Asia and elsewhere, providing the infrastructure for the establishment of trading networks. In southern China, however, clans sometimes engaged in armed conflict in competition for land. Clans continued the tradition of tracing their ancestry to the distant past as a matter of prestige. Most of these origin myths, though well established, are spurious.


title: Chinese surname

text: As a result of the importance of surnames, rules and traditions regarding family and marriage grew increasingly complex. For example, in Taiwan, there is a clan with the so-called "double Liao" surname. The story is that "Chang Yuan-zih of Liao's in Siluo married the only daughter of Liao San-Jiou-Lang who had no son, and he took the oath that he should be in the name of Liao when alive and should be in the name of Chang after death." In some places, there are additional taboos against marriage between people of the same surname, considered to be closely related. Conversely, in some areas, there are different clans with the same surname which are not considered to be related, but even in these cases surname exogamy is generally practiced.


title: Chinese surname

text: Surname identity and solidarity has declined markedly since the 1930s with the decline of Confucianism and later, the rise of Communism in Mainland China. During the Cultural Revolution, surname culture was actively persecuted by the government with the destruction of ancestral temples and genealogies. Moreover, the influx of Western culture and forces of globalization have also contributed to erode the previous sociological uses of the Chinese surnames.


title: Chinese surname

text: According to a comprehensive survey of residential permits released by the Chinese Ministry of Public Security on 24 April 2007, the ten most common surnames in mainland China are Wang (王), Li (李), Zhang (张), Liu (刘), Chen (陈), Yang (杨), Huang (黄), Zhao (赵), Wu (吴), and Zhou (周). The same names were also found (in slightly different orders) by a fairly comprehensive survey of 296 million people in 2006, and by the 1982 census. The top 100 surnames cover 84.77% of China's population. The top 10 surnames each have populations greater than 20 million. The MPS survey revealed that the top 3 surnames in China have a combined population larger than Indonesia, the world's fourth-most-populous country.


title: Chinese surname

text: The 2019 report by Chinese Ministry of Public Security gives the surnames Wang and Li as the most common ones, with each shared by over 100 million people in China. Each of the most common 23 surnames in China has more than 10 million users.


title: Chinese surname

text: A commonly cited fact from the 1990 edition of the "Guinness Book of World Records" estimated that Zhang was the most common surname in the world, but no comprehensive information from China was available at the time and more recent editions have omitted the claim.


title: Chinese surname

text: Names in Taiwanboth among the immigrant ethnic Chinese and Aboriginal Taiwanese peopleare similar to those in southeast China but differ somewhat from the distribution of names among all Han Chinese. According to a comprehensive survey of residential permits released by the Taiwanese Ministry of the Interior's Department of Population in February 2005, the ten most common surnames in Taiwan are Chen (陳), Lin (林), Huang (黃), Chang or Zhang (張), Li (李), Wang (王), Wu (吳), Liu (劉), Tsai (蔡), and Yang (楊).


title: Chinese surname

text: Taiwanese surnames include some local variants like Tu (塗), which do not even appear among the "Hundred Family Surnames", as well as a number of relatively recently created names like Changchien (張簡) and Chiangfan (姜范). However, names in Taiwan show less diversity than China as a whole: the top ten comprise 52.63% of the Taiwanese population and the top hundred 96.11%. There were also only 1,989 surnames recorded by the Ministry's survey, against China's four or five thousand.


title: Chinese surname

text: As is typical of China as a whole, these surnames conflate many different lineages and origins, although tradition may bind them to the same ancestral temples and rituals or ban intermarriage. For example, some Taiwanese converts to Presbyterianism adopted the name Kai (偕, pinyin "Xié") in honor of the Canadian missionary George Leslie Mackay (馬偕, Pe̍h-ōe-jī "Má-kai").


title: Third Position

text: The Third Position is a set of neo-fascist political ideologies that were first described in Western Europe following the Second World War. Developed in the context of the Cold War, it developed its name through the claim that it represented a third position between the capitalism of the Western Bloc and the communism of the Eastern Bloc.


title: Third Position

text: Between the 1920s and 1940s, various dissident groups presented themselves as part of a movement distinct from both capitalism and Marxist socialism. This idea was revived by various political groups following the Second World War. The rhetoric of the "Third Position" developed among Terza Posizione in Italy and Troisième Voie in France; in the 1980s, it was taken up by the National Front in the United Kingdom. These groups emphasize opposition to both communism and capitalism. Advocates of Third Position politics typically present themselves as "beyond left and right" while syncretizing ideas from each end of the political spectrum, usually reactionary right-wing cultural views and radical left-wing economic views.


title: Third Position

text: The term "Third Position" was coined in Europe and the main precursors of Third Position politics were Italian fascism, Prussian socialism, National Bolshevism (a synthesis of far-right ultranationalism and far-left Bolshevism) and Strasserism (a radical, mass-action, worker-based, socialist form of Nazism, advocated by the "left-wing" of the Nazi Party by brothers Otto and Gregor Strasser, until it was crushed in the Night of the Long Knives in 1934). Neo-fascist, neo-Nazi author Francis Parker Yockey had proposed an alliance between communists and fascists called red-brown alliance (red being the color of communism and brown being the color of Nazism) which would have been anti-Semitic, anti-American, and anti-Zionist in nature. Yockey lent support to Third World liberation movements as well.


title: Third Position

text: Querfront ("cross-front") was the cooperation between conservative revolutionaries in Germany with the far-left during the Weimar Republic of the 1920s. The term is also used today for mutual entryism or cooperation between left and right-wing groups.


title: Third Position

text: Ernst Niekisch and others tried to combine communist and anti-capitalist nationalist forces to overthrow the existing order of the Weimar Republic. He called this merger "National Bolshevism".


title: Third Position

text: Germany's Chancellor, General Kurt von Schleicher (in office 1932–33), attempted to induce the more left-wing Strasserist segment of the Nazi Party to merge with the trade unions as way of forcing Hitler to support his government, but his plan failed.


title: Third Position

text: During the 1930s and 1940s, a number of splinter groups from the radical left became associated with radical nationalism. Jacques Doriot's French Popular Party (from the French Communist Party) and Marcel Déat's National Popular Rally (from the French Section of the Workers' International). Third Position ideology gained some support in France, where in 1985 Jean-Gilles Malliarakis set up a "Third Way" political party, Troisième Voie (TV). Considering its main enemies to be the United States, communism and Zionism, the group advocated radical paths to national revolution. Associated for a time with the Groupe Union Défense, TV was generally on poor terms with Front National until 1991, when Malliarakis decided to approach them. As a result, TV fell apart and a radical splinter group under Christian Bouchet, Nouvelle Résistance, adopted National Bolshevik and then Eurasianist views.


title: Third Position

text: In Italy, the Third Position was developed by Roberto Fiore, along with Gabriele Adinolfi and Peppe Dimitri, in the tradition of Italian neo-fascism. Third Position's ideology is characterized by a militarist formulation, a palingenetic ultranationalism looking favourably to national liberation movements, support for racial separatism and the adherence to a soldier lifestyle. In order to construct a cultural background for the ideology, Fiore looked to the ruralism of Julius Evola and sought to combine it with the desire for a cultural-spiritual revolution. He adopted some of the positions of the contemporary far-right, notably the ethnopluralism of Alain de Benoist and the Europe-wide appeal associated with such views as the Europe a Nation campaign of Oswald Mosley (amongst others). Fiore was one of the founders of the Terza Posizione movement in 1978. Third Position ideas are now represented in Italy by Forza Nuova, led by Fiore; and by the movement CasaPound, a network of far-right social centres.


title: Third Position

text: In the 1980s, the National Front, a British fascist party that had experienced the height of its success in the 1970s, was taken over by a Strasserist faction that referred to themselves as Third Positionist. The Strasserist-led National Front was also characterised by Baker as National Bolshevist in ideology. Reflecting the Nouvelle Droite's influence, the Strasserist Official NF promoted support for "a broad front of racialists of all colours" who were seeking an end to multi-racial society and capitalism, praising black nationalists like Louis Farrakhan and Marcus Garvey. Their publication, "Nationalism Today", featured positive articles on the governments of Libya and Iran, presenting them as part of a global anti-capitalist and anti-Marxist third force in international politics; its members openly acknowledged the influence of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his Third International Theory. This may have had tactical as well as ideological motivations, with Libya and Iran viewed as potential sources of funding. This new rhetoric and ideology alienated much of the party's rank-and-file membership. It experienced internal problems, and in 1989 several of its senior members—Nick Griffin, Derek Holland, and Colin Todd—split from it to establish their International Third Position group. One of its leaders was Roberto Fiore, an ex-member of the Italian far-right movement Third Position.


title: Third Position

text: In the United States, Political Research Associates argues that Third Position politics has been promoted by some white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups such as the National Alliance, American Front, Traditionalist Worker Party, Patriot Front, and White Aryan Resistance, as well as some black nationalist groups, such as the Nation of Islam, since the late 20th century. In 2010, the American Third Position Party (later renamed American Freedom Party) was founded in part to channel the right-wing populist resentment engendered by the financial crisis of 2007–08 and the policies of the Obama administration.


title: Guts (Berserk)

text: The character has also appeared in the animated adaptations of "Berserk" as well as video games with multiple voice actors. Miura conceptualized Guts' character while they were an assistant to George Morikawa. He mentions multiple influences including "Fist of the North Star", "Dororo", "Mad Max", "Conan the Barbarian", among others.


title: Guts (Berserk)

text: Critical response to Guts has been highly positive. Guts has been praised for the themes he embodies as a result of his tragic backstory and how he becomes an anti-hero in the process, to the point of being of one of the most iconic characters in manga and anime.


title: Guts (Berserk)

text: While briefly working as an assistant to George Morikawa at 18, Kentaro Miura had already planned some ideas for "Berserk"s development, having a dark warrior with a gigantic sword illustrated in his portfolio who would later become the first conception of Guts.


title: Guts (Berserk)

text: Miura stated that the inspiration for the series' title was diffuse at the time of creation. He did not have information about the berserkers or the Berserker Armor (which first appeared in the 222nd chapter) planned out from the start. He chose the word, telling himself that "its mysterious aspect would stick well". Miura said that the title was connected to Guts’s imagery, influenced by "Mad Max"'s eponymous character, further elaborating: "In short, starting from a world with a dark hero who is burning for revenge, prompts you to imagine a rabid character. When, guided by his anger, he will pour out this rage on overpowered enemies, we must insist on his fanaticism if you want to stay consistent. That’s why I thought "Berserk" would make a perfect title to represent my universe".


title: Guts (Berserk)

text: Some aspects of Guts (personality and design) were partially inspired by Miura's highschool friend and later fellow manga artist , by Mad Max, and by Rutger Hauer's performances in "Flesh and Blood", "Blade Runner", "The Hitcher" and "The Blood of Heroes". Guts' prosthetic hand was inspired by "Dororo"s Hyakkimaru and "Cobra" eponymous protagonist. Kurt, the protagonist of "", by Shinji Wada, and an illustration of a giant wielding a sword, featured in "The Snow Queen" ("Guin Saga" spin-off), inspired the size of Guts' sword, the Dragon Slayer, by mixing both characters' swords.


title: Guts (Berserk)

text: Miura commented that when drawing the Dragon Slayer, he wanted to emulate the effect of Kenshiro's or Raoh's ("Fist of the North Star") fist "flying out from the page", but he felt that Gut's sword did not have the same feeling of weight as a fist. He wanted to convey an “extension of reality” feel to the sword, similar to the depiction of the "Fist of the North Star"s Hokuto Shinken martial art, and make it believable for the readers.


title: Guts (Berserk)

text: Miura stated that “Black Swordsman” Guts was the first thing he was set on, but he did not have any idea about what his backstory would be. He focused on the character development up until around the third or fourth volume and then he would think about what brought him to revenge. Miura also said that the story of fight between Guts and Griffith speaks about their change after having built their personalities. Miura stated that he based the Band of the Hawk on his own high school friend relationship experience. Specifically, he mentioned that his friendship with later fellow manga artist Koji Mori partially inspired the Guts and Griffith's relationship.


title: Guts (Berserk)

text: In regards to his design, Miura did not conceive the idea of giving Guts' an armor to protect him during battles before the series' publication. Miura claimed everything was in place for this element to be obvious. The manga author found this arrival of powerups to use against overpowered antagonists to be more common in "shōnen" manga than "seinen" manga. Originally, Miura aimed Guts to solve all of his issues with physical strength until the manga took a more magical setting. He then came with the idea of the Berserker Armor, an armor that gives the user immense physical strength at the cost of driving them crazy. Miura felt this was perfect for the series and that it gives more meaning to its title of "Berserk."


title: Guts (Berserk)

text: The character of Guts was voiced by Nobutoshi Canna in Japanese for the 1997 anime; Hiroaki Iwanaga replaced him for the Japanese movies, the 2016 anime and "Berserk and the Band of the Hawk".


title: Guts (Berserk)

text: For English, Marc Diraison voiced him in the 1997 anime and movies; Kaiji Tang voiced him in the 2016 anime; and Michael Bell voiced him in "".


title: Guts (Berserk)

text: Considered by many as the pure personification of strength and will, Guts is a Byronic hero who is born as one who may be able to struggle against causality but who is unable to maintain it indefinitely. The second story arc of the series revolves around his childhood and adolescence in a mercenary band after being adopted by the band's leader Gambino, and his later joining of, and departure from, the Band of the Hawk.


title: Guts (Berserk)

text: The dynamic and turbulent relationship between Guts and Griffith, the leader of the Band of the Hawk, forms the primary focus of the manga for the first thirteen volumes. After the events of the Eclipse, during which he loses his left forearm and right eye, Guts seeks revenge on Griffith, who is now Femto. In the process, he is reunited with Casca after a separation of two years.


title: Guts (Berserk)

text: Guts is a playable character in the video games, "" and "" which adapt Guts' role in the manga. "Berserk and the Band of the Hawk" also feature the main character as a playable one.


title: Guts (Berserk)

text: Guts' characterization has been the subject of studies. According to SyFy, Guts struggles with destiny itself and is constantly resisting the pull of predetermination. Critics noted that Guts, at the beginning of the story, is presented as an antihero who does not care about killing and is indifferent to people who aid him. Guts does not act in accordance with definitions of right and wrong, he operates within a gray area, and does not attempt to be heroic or protect the innocent. However, as the story progresses, it is shown that he is in fact a person who is deeply conflicted internally, giving him notable depths. His tragic and traumatic past, unfolded in the Golden Age arc, proves that Guts is a much more complex character according to Mania, The Fandom Post, and Anime News Network.


title: Guts (Berserk)

text: Other topics focused on Guts involve friendship, camaraderie and human relations. As a child, Guts tries to build some level of friendship with his mercenary group, but due to his traumatic experience with them, he lost trust in people. However, through the time he is with Griffith and the rest of the Band of the Hawk, Guts forms bonds, friendships, animosities and co-dependencies, maturing as well as an individual. Jacob Chapman of "Anime News Network", wrote that through their friendship, Guts' ambitions were elevated and Griffith's were lowered, allowing both of them to consider a new future for the first time, one where they fight side-by-side as equals and die on the battlefield, but they reject this future out of their own personal fears, as Guts did not think he was "good enough" for a happy future and Griffith was terrified of his lofty dream crumbling into something more mundane. When Guts comes running to rescue him during the Eclipse, Griffith reaches his moment of anagnorisis, with his thought: "You're the only one…who made me forget my dream".


title: Guts (Berserk)

text: Betrayal and revenge are major themes in the series. Guts suffered his first betrayal when Gambino sold Guts' body to another soldier for a few coins. Guts is in a quest for revenge after his comrades were betrayed by Griffith and sacrificed by the God Hand. This desire for vengeance has been his main reason of survival. Reviewing the first two volumes, Greg McElhatton of "Read About Comics" wrote: "it's still hard to identify what about "Berserk" brings across such a fascination. Is it the characters? The visual look of the monsters? The little hints of a troubled past, like Guts's tattoo that oozes blood? All of the above? I'm not sure, but I do know that I'm hooked." Chetri called Miura a "splendid storyteller whose artwork is stark and bold enough to bring the world of Guts to life magnificently."


title: Guts (Berserk)

text: Ramsey Isler of IGN stated that Guts "served as a template for many heroes that came after him", adding that the "ridiculously big sword he wields" started a trend, spread to characters like Cloud Strife from "Final Fantasy VII" and Ichigo Kurosaki from "Bleach". Video game director Hideaki Itsuno and producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi are fans of "Berserk", and the role-playing hack and slash game "Dragon's Dogma" included armor based on Guts and Griffith's. Yoko Taro stated that the protagonist of "Drakengard", Caim, was inspired by Guts.


title: Guts (Berserk)

text: The character's role in the animated adaptations has also been praised. According to AnimeNation "the viewer wants to know what happened to make Guts appear as he does in the first episode". Carlo Ross of THEM Anime Reviews stated that, despite initial mixed feelings about the handling of dark characters, Guts comes across as more interesting protagonist when portrayed alongside Griffith whose betrayal leaves a major impact in understanding of Guts' silent and dark personality. Anime News Network agreed, stating that Guts comes across as a tragic humanized individual when his past is explored. Guts' quest for vengeance was commented by IGN to be properly done. Kaiji Tang's work as Guts' voice actor was well-received by Anime News Network for providing "a wonderfully deep, gravel-voiced interpretation" of the character.


title: Liberty Ross

text: Liberty Lettice Lark Ross (born 23 September 1978) is an English model. She has appeared in publications such as "Vogue", "Harper's Bazaar", "i-D", and "Dazed & Confused". She is the sister of composers Atticus and Leopold Ross.


title: Liberty Ross

text: Ross met Mario Testino on Portobello Road in London, where he asked her and a group of friends to do a shoot for British Vogue. She worked sporadically as a model throughout her childhood. She appeared on Ozzy Osbourne's "No Rest for the Wicked" album cover at the age of nine. In 1992, she signed with Storm Management.


title: Liberty Ross

text: In 2000, Ross became the face of an Emanuel Ungaro ad campaign. In May, Ross appeared on the twentieth anniversary cover of "The Face" alongside Kate Moss. In June, Ross appeared on the cover of "British Vogue", shot by personal friend Mario Testino. Ross was then awarded Model of the Year at the Elle Style Awards.


title: Liberty Ross

text: Ross was photographed by Robin Derrick for the December 2000/January 2001 issue of "Vogue Russia". In 2002, Ross shot Burberry's spring campaign alongside Kate Moss and Eva Herzigova. In January 2002, Ross was again featured on the cover of "British Vogue", also photographed by Testino, alongside nine other British models including Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Stella Tennant and Erin O'Connor. Ross also appeared on the November 2002 cover of British magazine "i-D", photographed by Kayt Jones.


title: Liberty Ross

text: In 2003, Ross became the face of the luxury footwear brand Jimmy Choo. She also modelled for the cover of "Vogue Russia", photographed by Todd Barry.


title: Liberty Ross

text: In 2004, she modelled for Dior's Addict perfume. Ross then appeared in the Pirelli Calendar, photographed by Nick Knight. Shortly after, Ross began a three-year hiatus to focus on her family life that ended in 2007 when she re-signed with Storm.


title: Liberty Ross

text: Following her husband's well publicised affair, Ross began to stage a career comeback, appearing on the cover of online magazine "The Edit" and in the pages of "Vanity Fair". Ross made her runway return in September 2012, walking for Alexander Wang at New York Fashion Week.


title: Liberty Ross

text: In 2014, Ross was invited to design a capsule collection for Genetic Denim which was sold exclusively at Net-a-Porter.


title: Liberty Ross

text: Ross married director Rupert Sanders in 2002. Though both Ross and Sanders are British, they moved to Los Angeles to further Sanders' career, and Ross focused on being a wife and mother. Together, they have two children, a daughter and a son. In July 2012, "Us Weekly" published photos of Sanders cheating on Ross with actress Kristen Stewart, prompting Sanders and Stewart to issue separate public apologies. Ross subsequently filed for divorce from Sanders in January 2013, seeking joint custody, spousal support, and legal fees. The divorce was finalised on 30 May 2014.