Names.

The collection of fortifications known as the Great Wall of China has historically had a number of different names in both Chinese and English.  In Chinese histories, the term "Long Wall(s)" (長城, "changcheng") appears in Sima Qian's "Records of the Grand Historian", where it referred both to the separate great walls built between and north of the Warring States and to the more unified construction of the First Emperor. The Chinese character, meaning city or fortress, is a phono-semantic compound of the "earth" radical and phonetic, whose Old Chinese pronunciation has been reconstructed as *"deŋ". It originally referred to the rampart which surrounded traditional Chinese cities and was used by extension for these walls around their respective states; today, however, it is much more often the Chinese word for "city".  The longer Chinese name "Ten-Thousand Mile Long Wall" (萬里長城, "Wanli Changcheng") came from Sima Qian's description of it in the "Records", though he did not name the walls as such. The 493 "Book of Song" quotes the frontier general Tan Daoji referring to "the long wall of 10,000 miles", closer to the modern name, but the name rarely features in pre-modern times otherwise. The traditional Chinese mile (, "lǐ") was an often irregular distance that was intended to show the length of a standard village and varied with terrain but was usually standardized at distances around a third of an English mile (540 m). Since China's metrication in 1930, it has been exactly equivalent to, which would make the wall's name describe a distance of. However, this use of "ten-thousand" ("wàn") is figurative in a similar manner to the Greek and English "myriad" and simply means "innumerable" or "immeasurable".  Because of the wall's association with the First Emperor's supposed tyranny, the Chinese dynasties after Qin usually avoided referring to their own additions to the wall by the name "Long Wall". Instead, various terms were used in medieval records, including "frontier(s)" (, "sāi"), "rampart(s)" (, "yuán"), "barrier(s)" (, "zhàng"), "the outer fortresses" "wàibǎo"), and "the border wall(s)" "biānqiáng"). Poetic and informal names for the wall included "the Purple Frontier" "Zǐsāi") and "the Earth Dragon" "Tǔlóng"). Only during the Qing period did "Long Wall" become the catch-all term to refer to the many border walls regardless of their location or dynastic origin, equivalent to the English "Great Wall".  The current English name evolved from accounts of from early modern European travelers. By the 19th century, "The Great Wall of China" had become standard in English and French, although other European languages such as German continue to refer to it as "the Chinese wall".

History.

Early walls.

The Chinese were already familiar with the techniques of wall-building by the time of the Spring and Autumn period between the 8th and 5th centuries BC. During this time and the subsequent Warring States period, the states of Qin, Wei, Zhao, Qi, Han, Yan, and Zhongshan all constructed extensive fortifications to defend their own borders. Built to withstand the attack of small arms such as swords and spears, these walls were made mostly of stone or by stamping earth and gravel between board frames. King Zheng of Qin conquered the last of his opponents and unified China as the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty ("Qin Shi Huang") in 221 BC. Intending to impose centralized rule and prevent the resurgence of feudal lords, he ordered the destruction of the sections of the walls that divided his empire among the former states. To position the empire against the Xiongnu people from the north, however, he ordered the building of new walls to connect the remaining fortifications along the empire's northern frontier. "Build and move on" was a central guiding principle in constructing the wall, implying that the Chinese were not erecting a permanently fixed border. Transporting the large quantity of materials required for construction was difficult, so builders always tried to use local resources. Stones from the mountains were used over mountain ranges, while rammed earth was used for construction in the plains. There are no surviving historical records indicating the exact length and course of the Qin walls. Most of the ancient walls have eroded away over the centuries, and very few sections remain today. The human cost of the construction is unknown, but it has been estimated by some authors that hundreds of thousands, if not up to a million, workers died building the Qin wall. Later, the Han, the Northern Dynasties and the Sui all repaired, rebuilt, or expanded sections of the Great Wall at great cost to defend themselves against northern invaders. The Tang and Song dynasties did not undertake any significant effort in the region. Non-Han dynasties also built their border walls: the Xianbei-ruled Northern Wei, the Khitan-ruled Liao, Jurchen Jin and the Tangut-established Western Xia, who ruled vast territories over Northern China throughout centuries, all constructed defensive walls but those were located much to the north of the other Great Walls as we know it, within China's province of Inner Mongolia and in Mongolia itself.

Ming era.

The Great Wall concept was revived again under the Ming in the 14th century, and following the Ming army's defeat by the Oirats in the Battle of Tumu. The Ming had failed to gain a clear upper hand over the Mongolian tribes after successive battles, and the long-drawn conflict was taking a toll on the empire. The Ming adopted a new strategy to keep the nomadic tribes out by constructing walls along the northern border of China. Acknowledging the Mongol control established in the Ordos Desert, the wall followed the desert's southern edge instead of incorporating the bend of the Yellow River.  Unlike the earlier fortifications, the Ming construction was stronger and more elaborate due to the use of bricks and stone instead of rammed earth. Up to 25,000 watchtowers are estimated to have been constructed on the wall. As Mongol raids continued periodically over the years, the Ming devoted considerable resources to repair and reinforce the walls. Sections near the Ming capital of Beijing were especially strong. Qi Jiguang between 1567 and 1570 also repaired and reinforced the wall, faced sections of the ram-earth wall with bricks and constructed 1,200 watchtowers from Shanhaiguan Pass to Changping to warn of approaching Mongol raiders. During the 1440s–1460s, the Ming also built a so-called "Liaodong Wall". Similar in function to the Great Wall (whose extension, in a sense, it was), but more basic in construction, the Liaodong Wall enclosed the agricultural heartland of the Liaodong province, protecting it against potential incursions by Jurched-Mongol Oriyanghan from the northwest and the Jianzhou Jurchens from the north. While stones and tiles were used in some parts of the Liaodong Wall, most of it was in fact simply an earth dike with moats on both sides.  Towards the end of the Ming, the Great Wall helped defend the empire against the Manchu invasions that began around 1600. Even after the loss of all of Liaodong, the Ming army held the heavily fortified Shanhai Pass, preventing the Manchus from conquering the Chinese heartland. The Manchus were finally able to cross the Great Wall in 1644, after Beijing had already fallen to Li Zicheng's rebels. Before this time, the Manchus had crossed the Great Wall multiple times to raid, but this time it was for conquest. The gates at Shanhai Pass were opened on May 25 by the commanding Ming general, Wu Sangui, who formed an alliance with the Manchus, hoping to use the Manchus to expel the rebels from Beijing. The Manchus quickly seized Beijing, and eventually defeated both the rebel-founded Shun dynasty and the remaining Ming resistance, establishing the Qing dynasty rule over all of China.  Under Qing rule, China's borders extended beyond the walls and Mongolia was annexed into the empire, so constructions on the Great Wall were discontinued. On the other hand, the so-called Willow Palisade, following a line similar to that of the Ming Liaodong Wall, was constructed by the Qing rulers in Manchuria. Its purpose, however, was not defense but rather to prevent Han Chinese migration into Manchuria.

Foreign accounts.

None of the Europeans who visited China or Mongolia in the 13th and 14th centuries, such as Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, William of Rubruck, Marco Polo, Odoric of Pordenone and Giovanni de' Marignolli, mentioned the Great Wall.  The North African traveler Ibn Battuta, who also visited China during the Yuan dynasty c. 1346, had heard about China's Great Wall, possibly before he had arrived in China. He wrote that the wall is "sixty days' travel" from Zeitun (modern Quanzhou) in his travelogue "Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling". He associated it with the legend of the wall mentioned in the Qur'an, which Dhul-Qarnayn (commonly associated with Alexander the Great) was said to have erected to protect people near the land of the rising sun from the savages of Gog and Magog. However, Ibn Battuta could find no one who had either seen it or knew of anyone who had seen it, suggesting that although there were remnants of the wall at that time, they were not significant.  Soon after Europeans reached Ming China by ship in the early 16th century, accounts of the Great Wall started to circulate in Europe, even though no European was to see it for another century. Possibly one of the earliest European descriptions of the wall and of its significance for the defense of the country against the "Tartars" (i.e. Mongols) may be the one contained in João de Barros's 1563 "Asia". Other early accounts in Western sources include those of Gaspar da Cruz, Bento de Goes, Matteo Ricci, and Bishop Juan González de Mendoza, the latter in 1585 describing it as a "superbious and mightie work" of architecture, though he had not seen it. In 1559, in his work "A Treatise of China and the Adjoyning Regions", Gaspar da Cruz offers an early discussion of the Great Wall. Perhaps the first recorded instance of a European actually entering China via the Great Wall came in 1605, when the Portuguese Jesuit brother Bento de Góis reached the northwestern Jiayu Pass from India. Early European accounts were mostly modest and empirical, closely mirroring contemporary Chinese understanding of the Wall, although later they slid into hyperbole, including the erroneous but ubiquitous claim that the Ming Walls were the same ones that were built by the First Emperor in the 3rd century BC.  When China opened its borders to foreign merchants and visitors after its defeat in the First and Second Opium Wars, the Great Wall became a main attraction for tourists. The travelogues of the later 19th century further enhanced the reputation and the mythology of the Great Wall.

Course.

A formal definition of what constitutes a "Great Wall" has not been agreed upon, making the full course of the Great Wall difficult to describe in its entirety. The defensive lines contain multiple stretches of ramparts, trenches and ditches, as well as individual fortresses.

Han Great Wall.

Han fortifications starts from Yumen Pass and Yang Pass, southwest of Dunhuang, in Gansu province. Ruins of the remotest Han border posts are found in Mamitu ("Horse lose its way") near Yumen Pass.

Ming Great Wall.

The Jiayu Pass, located in Gansu province, is the western terminus of the Ming Great Wall. From Jiayu Pass the wall travels discontinuously down the Hexi Corridor and into the deserts of Ningxia, where it enters the western edge of the Yellow River loop at Yinchuan. Here the first major walls erected during the Ming dynasty cut through the Ordos Desert to the eastern edge of the Yellow River loop. There at Piantou Pass "Piāntóuguān") in Xinzhou, Shanxi province, the Great Wall splits in two with the "Outer Great Wall" "Wài Chǎngchéng") extending along the Inner Mongolia border with Shanxi into Hebei province, and the "inner Great Wall" "Nèi Chǎngchéng") running southeast from Piantou Pass for some, passing through important passes like the Pingxing Pass and Yanmen Pass before joining the Outer Great Wall at Sihaiye in Beijing's Yanqing County.  The sections of the Great Wall around Beijing municipality are especially famous: they were frequently renovated and are regularly visited by tourists today. The Badaling Great Wall near Zhangjiakou is the most famous stretch of the Wall, for this is the first section to be opened to the public in the People's Republic of China, as well as the showpiece stretch for foreign dignitaries. South of Badaling is the Juyong Pass; when used by the Chinese to protect their land, this section of the wall had many guards to defend China's capital Beijing. Made of stone and bricks from the hills, this portion of the Great Wall is high and wide.  One of the most striking sections of the Ming Great Wall is where it climbs extremely steep slopes in Jinshanling. There it runs long, ranges from in height, and across the bottom, narrowing up to across the top. Wangjinglou "Wàngjīng Lóu") is one of Jinshanling's 67 watchtowers, above sea level. Southeast of Jinshanling is the Mutianyu Great Wall which winds along lofty, cragged mountains from the southeast to the northwest for. It is connected with Juyongguan Pass to the west and Gubeikou to the east. This section was one of the first to be renovated following the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution.  At the edge of the Bohai Gulf is Shanhai Pass, considered the traditional end of the Great Wall and the "First Pass Under Heaven". The part of the wall inside Shanhai Pass that meets the sea is named the "Old Dragon Head". north of Shanhai Pass is Jiaoshan Great Wall (焦山長城), the site of the first mountain of the Great Wall. northeast from Shanhaiguan is Jiumenkou "Jiǔménkǒu"), which is the only portion of the wall that was built as a bridge.  In 2009, 180 km of previously unknown sections of the Ming wall concealed by hills, trenches and rivers were discovered with the help of infrared range finders and GPS devices. In March and April 2015, nine sections with a total length of more than, believed to be part of the Great Wall, were discovered along the border of Ningxia autonomous region and Gansu province.

Characteristics.

Before the use of bricks, the Great Wall was mainly built from rammed earth, stones, and wood. During the Ming, however, bricks were heavily used in many areas of the wall, as were materials such as tiles, lime, and stone. The size and weight of the bricks made them easier to work with than earth and stone, so construction quickened. Additionally, bricks could bear more weight and endure better than rammed earth. Stone can hold under its own weight better than brick, but is more difficult to use. Consequently, stones cut in rectangular shapes were used for the foundation, inner and outer brims, and gateways of the wall. Battlements line the uppermost portion of the vast majority of the wall, with defensive gaps a little over tall, and about wide. From the parapets, guards could survey the surrounding land. Communication between the army units along the length of the Great Wall, including the ability to call reinforcements and warn garrisons of enemy movements, was of high importance. Signal towers were built upon hill tops or other high points along the wall for their visibility. Wooden gates could be used as a trap against those going through. Barracks, stables, and armories were built near the wall's inner surface.

Condition.

While portions north of Beijing and near tourist centers have been preserved and even extensively renovated, in many other locations the Wall is in disrepair. The wall sometimes provided a source of stones to build houses and roads. Sections of the Wall are also prone to graffiti and vandalism, while inscribed bricks were pilfered and sold on the market for up to 50 renminbi. Parts have been destroyed to make way for construction or mining. A 2012 report by the National Cultural Heritage Administration states that 22% of the Ming Great Wall has disappeared, while of wall have vanished. More than of the wall in Gansu province may disappear in the next 20 years, due to erosion from sandstorms. In some places, the height of the wall has been reduced from more than to less than. Various square lookout towers that characterize the most famous images of the wall have disappeared. Many western sections of the wall are constructed from mud, rather than brick and stone, and thus are more susceptible to erosion. In 2014 a portion of the wall near the border of Liaoning and Hebei province was repaired with concrete. The work has been much criticized.

Visibility from space.

From the Moon.

The notion that the Wall can be seen from the moon, (385,000 km, 239,000 miles) is a well-known but implausible myth.  One of the earliest known references to the myth that the Great Wall can be seen from the moon appears in a letter written in 1754 by the English antiquary William Stukeley. Stukeley wrote that, "This mighty wall of four score miles [130 km] in length is only exceeded by the Chinese Wall, which makes a considerable figure upon the terrestrial globe, and may be discerned at the Moon." The claim was also mentioned by Henry Norman in 1895 where he states "besides its age it enjoys the reputation of being the only work of human hands on the globe visible from the Moon." The issue of "canals" on Mars was prominent in the late 19th century and may have led to the belief that long, thin objects were visible from space. The claim that the Great Wall is visible from the moon also appears in 1932's "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" strip.  The claim that the Great Wall is visible from the moon has been debunked many times (The apparent width of the Great Wall from the Moon would be the same as that of a human hair viewed from away), but is still ingrained in popular culture.

From low Earth orbit.

A more controversial question is whether the Wall is visible from low Earth orbit (an altitude of as little as ). NASA claims that it is barely visible, and only under nearly perfect conditions; it is no more conspicuous than many other man-made objects.  Veteran U.S. astronaut Gene Cernan has stated: "At Earth orbit of high, the Great Wall of China is, indeed, visible to the naked eye." Ed Lu, Expedition 7 Science Officer aboard the International Space Station, adds that, "it's less visible than a lot of other objects. And you have to know where to look."  In October 2003, Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei stated that he had not been able to see the Great Wall of China. In response, the European Space Agency (ESA) issued a press release reporting that from an orbit between, the Great Wall is visible to the naked eye.  Leroy Chiao, a Chinese-American astronaut, took a photograph from the International Space Station that shows the wall. It was so indistinct that the photographer was not certain he had actually captured it. Based on the photograph, the "China Daily" later reported that the Great Wall can be seen from'space' with the naked eye, under favorable viewing conditions, if one knows exactly where to look.

The Great Wall of China () is the collective name of a series of fortification systems generally built across the historical northern borders of China to protect and consolidate territories of Chinese states and empires against various nomadic groups of the steppe and their polities. Several walls were being built from as early as the 7th century BC by ancient Chinese states; selective stretches were later joined together by Qin Shi Huang (220–206 BC), the first emperor of China. Little of the Qin wall remains. Later on, many successive dynasties have built and maintained multiple stretches of border walls. The most well-known sections of the wall were built by the Ming dynasty (1368–1644).

La Grande Muraille ( ; littéralement « la longue muraille »), aussi appelé « Les Grandes Murailles » est un ensemble de fortifications militaires chinoises construites, détruites et reconstruites en plusieurs fois et à plusieurs endroits entre le et le pour marquer et défendre la frontière nord de la Chine. C'est la structure architecturale la plus importante jamais construite par l’Homme à la fois en longueur, en surface et en masse.


Early life and amateur career.

Gino Bartali was born in Ponte a Ema, Florence, Italy, the third son of four children of a smallholder, Torello Bartali. He was powerfully built, with a broad nose and a boxer's face. He earned pocket money by selling raffia to makers of covers for wine bottles. He began work in a bicycle shop when he was 13. He started racing at 13, became a promising amateur and turned professional in 1935 when he was 21. He was Italian champion the next year. On 14 November 1940 Bartali married Adriana Bani in Florence. The wedding was celebrated by Cardinal Della Costa and was blessed by Pope Pius XII, to whom Bartali donated a bicycle.

Professional career.

Bartali won a stage of the 1935 Giro d'Italia and was King of the Mountains, the first of seven times he won the title in the Giro. He was 20. In 1936, before he turned 22, he won the Giro and the Giro di Lombardia, although his season was marred when his brother, Giulio, died in a racing accident on 14 June. Bartali came close to giving up cycling.  He was persuaded to return and in 1937 won the Giro again. His reputation outside Italy was that he was yet another Italian who could not ride well outside his country. There was some truth in the claim. The writer Tim Hilton said: "Bartali was essentially an Italian cyclist, a champion who rode within sight of his own people, and was uneasy when the Tour de France travelled north of Paris. He never disputed the northern classics."  Stung by the claim, he rode the Tour de France in 1937. He got off to a bad start, losing more than eight minutes by the third stage and more than ten by the Ballon d'Alsace, a mountain in the Vosges. There he came back to life and led by 1m 14s over the rest and by enough over the leaders that he took the leader's jersey that night in Grenoble. But that was the end of his race. He and two helpers, Jules Rossi and Francesco Camusso, were riding across a wooden bridge over the river Colau when Rossi skidded. Bartali rode into a parapet and fell into the river.  Roger Lapébie wrote: "In the valley that leads to Briançon, I saw the accident to the "maillot jaune", Bartali. The narrow and bumpy road ran along the foot of a rock. Suddenly Rossi, who was leading, took a bend badly, braked and his back wheel hit the parapet of a bridge. Bartali, who was beside Rossi, couldn't get clear and I saw him fall over the bridge and into the little river three metres below." Camusso pulled him out. Bartali was cut to his arm and knee and had trouble breathing because of a blow to the chest. He rode on to the end of the day, often pushed by his helpers. He finished 10 minutes behind the rest but kept his lead.  He got through the Alps, by then having lost his jersey, and retired in Marseille. Before he dropped out, he notified the organiser, Henri Desgrange, who said: "You are the first rider to come to see me before dropping out. You're a good man ["un brave garçon"], Gino. We'll see each other again next year and you'll win." He did return in 1938 and overcame the teamwork of the Belgians, the cold and rain and a puncture on the Col de l'Iseran. He won the hardest stage, from Digne to Briançon, by more than five minutes. The radio commentator Georges Briquet, after he had seen the crowds of Italians greeting Bartali with green-white-red flags said: "These people had found a superman. Outside Bartali's hotel at Aix-les-Bains, an Italian general was shouting 'Don't touch him – he's a god.'" A public subscription was started in his name in Italy, and Benito Mussolini was among the contributors.  The approaching war led Italy not to send a team in 1939. Bartali won the Giro d'Italia twice before the war – in 1936 and 1937 – and once after it (1946). He won classics such as Milan–San Remo, the Giro di Lombardia and the Züri-Metzgete. His most famous victory was the 1948 Tour de France.

1948: Second Tour.

Bartali returned to the Tour in 1948 to find that many riders he had known had died in the war and that there were as many more who had started racing since he stopped (see below for Bartali's war record). He was so worried that he spent an evening memorising two dozen riders he did not know. The Tour started in a rainstorm and Bartali found he could identify nobody because the whole field was wearing waterproofs. He took his chance and found he was with Briek Schotte. The two finished together at Trouville, and Bartali took the yellow jersey.  It was during that Tour that the leader of the Italian Communist Party, Palmiro Togliatti, was shot in the neck by a sniper as he was leaving the parliament building. The writer Bernard Chambaz said:  History and myth united, and a miracle if you like, because that evening Bartali got a phone call at his hotel. In a bad mood, dubious, he didn't want to answer. But someone whispered that it was Alcide de Gasperi, his old friend from Catholic Action, now parliamentary president, who told him that Palmiro Togliatti, secretary-general of the communist party, had been shot at and had survived by a miracle. The situation in the peninsula was very tense amid the ravages of the Cold War. Italy needed Bartali to do what he best knew how to do, to win stages. The communists occupied factories and radio and television stations, and angry rows in parliament came close to blows. A revolt was looming. Then Bartali won three stages in a row and led the Tour by 14 minutes. An obituary says:  Just as it seemed the communists would stage a full-scale revolt, a deputy ran into the chamber shouting 'Bartali's won the Tour de France!' All differences were at once forgotten as the feuding politicians applauded and congratulated each other on a cause for such national pride. That day, with immaculate timing, Togliatti awoke from his coma on his hospital bed, inquired how the Tour was going, and recommended calm. All over the country political animosities were for the time being swept aside by the celebrations and a looming crisis was averted. The former prime minister, Giulio Andreotti said: "To say that civil war was averted by a Tour de France victory is surely excessive. But it is undeniable that on that 14th of July of 1948, day of the attack on Togliatti, Bartali contributed to ease the tensions."

1950: Tour de France.

Gino Bartali had a row during the 1950 Tour de France with the French rider Jean Robic. Newspapers made much of it, and the atmosphere was tense. Robic got clear of Bartali on the col d'Aubisque in the Pyrenees. Bartali made up ground over the Tourmalet, took the descent to Sainte-Marie-de-Campan and started up the col d'Aspin. There he caught Robic and the two rode together. The two rubbed shoulders and they fell.  Bartali said French fans by the road were so angry, accusing him of sabotaging Robic's chances, that they punched him and that one threatened him with a knife. Bartali remounted and won the stage. Fiorenzo Magni, leading the Italian 'B' team, the "Cadetti", took the yellow jersey. The pair and their teams had barely returned to their hotel when Bartali said he was going home and so, he said, were the two Italian teams. The organisers, Jacques Goddet and Félix Lévitan, went to his hotel, the Hôtel de France, in Lourdes, to dissuade him. Bartali, a cigarette in his mouth, said, "I have no intention of risking my life to a madman." The truth of what happened may never be known: Louison Bobet, who saw the incident on the mountain, said: "I'm pretty sure that in the time it took me to pass him, Bartali wasn't struck, and I think he mistook as blows what was an attempt to get him back in the saddle. A hunt started for the knifeman but all spectators could remember was that a man who had been slicing salami still had his knife in his hand when he went to help.  It then emerged that the Italian teams had been withdrawn by the Italian cycling association. Italian fans grew so angry that a stage due to cross the border to San Remo stopped just short of the Italian border instead, at Menton. The affair escalated to the national level when the French foreign minister, Robert Schuman, apologised to his Italian counterpart for what seemed to be no more than a man interrupted in the making of a sandwich. René de Latour said: To say that Magni was sore is putting it very mildly indeed. When he spoke to men he could trust, he would say: 'Gino knows what his little game is. He is too clever to ignore the facts that he will be lucky to win this Tour, and he prefers a foreign team win rather than see one of our team succeed, especially me. It was bad enough for him with Coppi winning last year.

Rescues and Resistance role during World War II.

Bartali earned respect for his work in helping Jews who were being persecuted by the Nazis during the time of the Italian Social Republic. It emerged in December 2010 that Bartali had hidden a Jewish family in his cellar and, according to one of the survivors, saved their lives in doing so.  Bartali used his frame to carry messages and documents to the Italian Resistance. Bartali cycled from Florence through Tuscany, Umbria, and Marche, many times traveling as far afield as Assisi, all the while wearing the racing jersey emblazoned with his name. Neither the Fascist police nor the German troops risked discontent by arresting him.  Giorgio Nissim, a Jewish accountant from Pisa, was a member of DELASEM, founded by the Union of the Israelitic Communities to help Jewish Italians escape persecution. The network in Tuscany was discovered in autumn 1943 and all Jewish members except Nissim sent to concentration camps. With the help of the Archbishops of Genoa Pietro Boetto and Florence Elia Dalla Costa, the Franciscan Friars of Assisi and others, Nissim reorganized DELASEM in Tuscany and helped 800 survive.  Nissim died in 2000. His sons found from his diaries that Bartali had used his fame to help. Nissim and the Oblati Friars of Lucca forged documents and needed photographs of those they were helping. Bartali used to leave Florence in the morning, pretending to train, ride to Assisi where many Jews were hiding in the Franciscan convents, collect their photographs and ride back to Nissim. At Assisi Bartali was in direct contact with Rufino Niccacci. Bartali also used his position to learn about raids on safehouses.  Bartali was eventually taken to Villa Triste in Florence. The SD and the Italian RSS official Mario Carità questioned Bartali, threatening his life. In spite of any threats, Bartali did not reveal what he had done. Even after the war he never boasted his merits; he used to say: "The good is done, but it is not said. And certain medals hang on the soul, not on the jacket."  Bartali continued working with the Assisi Network. In 1943, he led Jewish refugees towards the Swiss Alps himself. He cycled, pulling a wagon with a secret compartment, telling patrols it was just part of his training. Bartali told his son Andrea only that "One does these things and then that's that".  In June 2012, a book about Bartali's wartime activities, "Road To Valor" by Aili and Andres McConnon, was published.  In 2013, Yad Vashem awarded Gino Bartali the honour Righteous Among the Nations. He is a central figure in the 2014 documentary "".

Riding style and legacy.

Bartali was a good climber and a pioneer of derailleur gears. His style was unusual: he rarely danced on the pedals and often stayed in the saddle throughout a 15 km climb. When others attacked, he stayed in the saddle but changed up gear, to a sprocket three teeth smaller.  He rode smoothly on mountains but every now and then freewheeled, always with his right foot lowered with his weight on it. Then a second or two later he would start pedalling again.  Bartali's feat of winning three consecutive mountain stages (13, 14 and 15) in the 1948 Tour de France has never been equaled. It is one of the most astonishing accomplishments in the history of road cycling. It would be 50 years before anyone again won three consecutive stages, when Italian cyclist Mario Cipollini did so in the early (flat) stages of the 1999 Tour de France, winning four consecutive sprint finishes in stages 4, 5, 6 and 7.

Rivalry with Coppi.

Bartali's rivalry with Fausto Coppi divided Italy. Bartali, a conservative, was venerated in the rural, agrarian south, while Coppi, more worldly, secular, innovative in diet and training, was a hero of the industrial north.  The lives of each came together on 7 January 1940 when Eberrardo Pavesi, head of the Legnano team, took on Coppi to ride for Bartali. Bartali thought Coppi was "as thin as a mutton bone", but accepted. Their rivalry started when Coppi, the helper, won the Giro and Bartali, the star, marshalled the two men's team to chase him. By the 1948 world championship at Valkenburg, both climbed off rather than help the other win. The Italian cycling association said: "They have forgotten to honour the Italian prestige they represent. Thinking only of their personal rivalry, they abandoned the race, to the approbation of all sportsmen." They were suspended for two months.  The thaw partly broke when the pair shared a drink bottle during the climb of the Col d'Izoard in the 1952 Tour but the two men fell out over who had offered it. "I did," Bartali insisted. "He never gave me anything." Their rivalry was the subject of intense coverage and resulted in many epic races.  When professional cycle racing resumed in 1946 after World War II, Bartali narrowly beat Coppi in that year's Giro, while Coppi won Milan–San Remo. Bartali won the Tour de Suisse twice, another Milan–San Remo, and the 1948 Tour de France – a full ten years after his last victory. Coppi took victories in the 1947 Giro d'Italia, the Giro di Lombardia and the Grand Prix des Nations.  Despite the rivalry, perhaps heightened by Coppi's victory in the 1949 Giro, Bartali supported Coppi's bid in the 1949 Tour de France. The two Italian teammates destroyed the race as a contest in a mountainous Alpine stage over the Col de Vars and Col d'Izoard. When Coppi had a puncture on the Izoard, Bartali waited for him, then Bartali did the same and Coppi waited. On the final climb to Briançon, Coppi allowed Bartali to win (on his 35th birthday) and take the yellow jersey. But Coppi assumed the "maillot jaune" the following day after Bartali had a puncture with 40 km of the stage still to race. Coppi retained the lead to Paris, while Bartali took second place.  The 1950 Tour de France saw him lead the Italian team again, with Coppi electing not to contest the race, but having been threatened by frenzied fans, the entire Italian team resigned from the race.  Bartali always suspected that Coppi took drugs. On the hairpins of the Col di Bracco, during a stage of the 1946 Giro from Genoa to Montecatini Terme, Coppi drank from a glass phial and threw it into the verge. Bartali drove back after the race and found it. He said:  With the meticulous care of a detective collecting evidence for fingerprinting I picked it up, dropped it into a white envelope and put it carefully in my pocket. The next day I rushed round to my personal doctor and asked him to send the phial to a lab for analysis. Disappointment: no drug, no magic potion. It was nothing more than an ordinary tonic, made in France, that I could have bought without a prescription.  I realised that I should have to try to outsmart him and I devised my own investigation system. The first thing was to make sure I always stayed at the same hotel for a race, and to have the room next to his so I could mount a surveillance. I would watch him leave with his mates, then I would tiptoe into the room which ten seconds earlier had been his headquarters. I would rush to the waste bin and the bedside table, go through the bottles, flasks, phials, tubes, cartons, boxes, suppositories – I swept up everything. I had become so expert in interpreting all these pharmaceuticals that I could predict how Fausto would behave during the course of the stage. I would work out, according to the traces of the product I found, how and when he would attack me.

Personal life.

Bartali grew up in a religious family in Tuscany, and his belief earned him the nickname "Gino the Pious". He prayed before meals and resented when teammates swore. In contrast, Coppi grew up in Piedmont in the north and was not religious at all. Bartali was proud that Pope John XXIII had asked him to teach him to ride a bicycle. He made no secret that he supported the Catholic-leaning Christian Democratic Party but his personality ensured that he was forgiven by the rival communists. Tim Hilton wrote: "Bartali was a genuinely religious man, making his devotions public and, in return, becoming the Vatican's favourite sportsman – he was personally blessed by three popes. He would set up shrines in his hotel bedrooms when he rode the Giro and the Tour de France, and, on some mountains, children from summer camps sang canticles as he pedalled past, a priest conducting their infant worship."  Bartali was frequently pessimistic. One of his customary phrases was "Everything's wrong; we'll have to start all over again." The best the historian Pierre Chany could say of him was that while he often boasted of what he had done on mountains when nobody was there to see him, he had the grace never to tell the story differently.  Bartali lived at 173 via Chiantigiana, Florence in a home full of souvenirs. His wife died in 2014 aged 94.

Later life and death.

Bartali stopped racing when he was 40, after being injured in a road accident. By then he had lost much of his money. His wealth was "uncertain", said René de Latour.  Bartali had a heart bypass operation and then died of a heart attack in May 2000, having received the last rites 10 days earlier. He left behind his wife, Adriana, two sons and a daughter. The prime minister, Giuliano Amato, sent condolences. Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission, called him "a symbol of the most noble sportsmanship." The Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) called for two days of mourning and silence was observed before sports events.

Career achievements.

Major results.

Sources:

Grand Tour results timeline.

Sources:

Monuments results timeline.

Sources:

Gino Bartali (; 18 July 1914 – 5 May 2000), nicknamed Gino the Pious and (in Italy) Ginettaccio, was a champion road cyclist. He was the most renowned Italian cyclist before the Second World War, having won the Giro d'Italia twice, in 1936 and 1937, and the Tour de France in 1938. After the war he added one more victory in each event: the Giro d'Italia in 1946 and the Tour de France in 1948. His second and last Tour de France victory in 1948 gave him the largest gap between victories in the race.

Gino Bartali, né le à Ponte a Ema, près de Florence, et mort le dans la même ville, est un coureur cycliste italien. Professionnel de 1935 à 1954, il est considéré comme l'un des meilleurs coureurs de tous les temps.


Oracles.

Oracles were individuals committed to and capable of practice.  Amongst others, there were oracles at Delphi and Dodona, although Greek divination had less of an institutional facet.

Tiresias.

Of all oracles of ancient Hellenic culture and society, a man named Tiresias was thought as the most vital and important.

Oracular deities.

Zeus.

Zeus was known as Zeus Moiragetes, which is to refer to the power of Zeus to know the fate of mortals. The newly-born Zeus himself learnt his fate by the night and, accordingly, by Phanes, while within a dark cave.  Herodotus stated the earliest oracle was the oracle of Zeus located at Dodona, although archaeological remains at Delphi date to earlier. There was an oracle at Dodona from the 5th century BCE, although the oracle of Zeus might have still have had a practice at the same locus earlier, prior to construction of the temple, a possibility which seems probable since the temple remains show an oak tree at the location.

Apollo.

Apollo, the most important oracular deity, is most closely associated with the supreme knowledge of future events which is the possession of Zeus. Apollo was known as Apollo Moiragetes, referring to Apollo as the god of fate. The oracle at Delphi gave oracles from Apollo.  Apollo in an oracular function is associated with both, purification and truth. Even though the prophecies given by him were ambiguous, he is said to have never uttered a lie.  Apollo's oracle at Delphi is the most famous and was the most important oracular site of ancient Greece.  According to Homer and Callimachus, Apollo was born with prophetic abilities and the power of reading the will of Zeus. However, a less popular belief is that he was instructed by Pan in divination as found within myth.

Apollo and Hermes.

Apollo transfers to Hermes a skill in cleromancy, upon the request of Hermes. Speaking within the hymn, Apollo expounds on the difficulty he experiences with his own divination, and then proceeds to provide the gift of divination to his brother Hermes, though a lesser skill, because the mantic dice are not under the control and influence of the will of Zeus. Hermes' skill at divination, though inferior to the skill of Apollo, is still of a divine nature.  The gift of Apollo is bee maidens with oracular abilities.

Hermes.

Hermes is associated with divination by lottery, otherwise known as cleromancy.  The triad of bee maidens are prophetic via Hermes.

Pan and the nymphs.

In Arcadia Pan was the principal oracular deity, instead of Apollo. Prophecy is associated with caves and grottoes within Greek divination, and the Nymphs and Pan were associated variously with caves. Panolepsy is a cause of inspirational states of mind, including abilities of a mantic nature.

Prometheus.

The god Prometheus gave the gift of divination to humanity.  Aeschylus wrote Prometheus Bound during the 5th century BCE in which Prometheus founded all the art of civilization including divination. This he did by stealing fire from the gods and gifting this fire to humankind. The 5th century BCE telling is a re-telling of a story told by Hesiod within the 8th century BCE

Methodologies.

Greek practice made use of various techniques for divination, which are classified as direct or indirect, spontaneous or artificial.

Classifications.

Direct.

In direct divination, a divinater might experience dreams, temporary madness, or "phrensy" (frenzy); all these things being states in which an "inspired" recognition of truth is attained. The divinator must take steps to produce a state of being and mind which allow for the experience of divination. Attested techniques include, sleeping in conditions whereby dreams might be more likely to occur, inhaling mephitic vapour, chewing leaves from the bay plant, and drinking of blood.

Indirect.

This is divination whereby a divinator observes natural conditions and phenomenon

Augury.

Augury, or divination by omens, is a practice which still survives to the modern era (circa 2013).

Cleromancy.

This is divination by throwing of lots, stones, or dice. Cleromancy was practiced at places including Dodona, and by "the Pythia" at Delphi.  Astragalomancy is a type of cleromancy performed by throwing the knuckle-bones of sheep or other ruminants (astragaloi) to be able to tell the future. As each face of the astragalos is assigned a numerical value, astragaloi can be rolled like dice and the resultant roll matched to a table of possible outcomes. A number of these tables were engraved on public monuments in southern Anatolia.

Extispicy.

Divination by way of the making of a sacrifice took the form of examination of entrails, by which is meant the bowels and viscera.

Enthusiastic.

Enthusiastic prophecy is when a god speaks through the mouth of a diviner.  Pan was able to dwell within people, which is known as panolepsy. A degree of possession of an individual by a nymph is known as nympholepsy.  Greek thinkers thought epileptic fitting and thus epilepsy had an origin with a divinity, and the means of making this association is thought through divination. This conclusion on the consciousnesses of ancient Greek thinkers is drawn by the fact of the sheer number of divine signs observed within society of the time, and the propensity of people to know a variety things as all having divine causes.

Hydromancy.

Hydromancy, or divination by water, is a Hellenic practice which still survives in the modern era (circa 2013).

Necromancy.

Necromancy is a divinatory practice of consulting the dead.

Pyromancy.

Pyromancy, divination by fire is a practice that has survived to the modern era (circa 2013).

Stikhomanteia.

Divination of this type utilizes writings, either by scraps of paper with writing upon them chosen from within a vessel, or by opening a book at random. The first of these two type was practiced by the Sibylline oracles.

Thriai.

This is divination by using pebbles. The Thriai were personification of this type of divination.

Ancient sources.

Democritus advocated divination. Herodotus provided a record of the prophetic productions resulting from Delphi. Dicaearchus dismissed any notion of the trueness of divination by any means other than dreams and frenzy. Aristophanes mentions an oracle in his comedy "Knights". Aristotle wrote On Divination in Sleep, written 350 BCE. Posidonius attempted to elaborate a theory of divination; he envisioned the sight of the future, as a cable might unwind, so insight into the future unfolds within the mind. Chrysippus claimed empirical evidence for the truthfulness of divination. Plutarch advocated the divination at the Oracle of Delphi; he considered enthusiastic prophecy to be possible when the soul of the Pythia becomes incorporated with Apollo in an inner vortex internal to the Pythia. Cicero wrote a book "On Divination". Xenophon recorded his own meeting with a diviner named Eucleides, in chapter 7 of his work "Anabasis".  Pythagoras was said to have practiced divination. Socrates both practiced and advocated divination. Xenophon was thought to be skilled at foretelling from sacrifices, and attributed much of his knowledge to Socrates in "The Cavalry Commander".

Greek divination is the divination practiced by ancient Greek culture as it is known from ancient Greek literature, supplemented by epigraphic and pictorial evidence. Divination is a traditional set of methods of consulting divinity to obtain prophecies (theopropia) about specific circumstances defined beforehand. As it is a form of compelling divinity to reveal its will by the application of method, it is, and has been since classical times, considered a type of magic. Cicero condemns it as superstition. It depends on a presumed "sympathy" (Greek sumpatheia) between the mantic event and the real circumstance, which he denies as contrary to the laws of nature. If there were any sympathy, and the diviner could discover it, then "men may approach very near to the power of gods."

La divination constitue un aspect fondamental de la religion et de la culture de la Grèce antique. L’oracle est la réponse donnée par un dieu à une question personnelle, concernant généralement le futur. De tels oracles ne peuvent être rendus que par certains dieux, dans des lieux précis, sur des sujets déterminés et dans le respect de rites rigoureusement respectés : la prise d'oracle s'apparente à un culte. L'interprétation des réponses du dieu, qui s'exprime de diverses manières, demande parfois un apprentissage et l'oracle nécessite, en général, une interprétation heuristique, il s'agit souvent d'une parole énigmatique, "sibylline" (Sibylle était une prêtresse d'Apollon et une oracle, dans la mythologie grecque).


History.

The practice of drinking tea has a long history in China, having originated there. Although tea originated in China, during the Tang Dynasty, Chinese tea generally represents tea leaves which have been processed using methods inherited from ancient China. According to legend, tea was discovered by Chinese Emperor Shen Nong in 2737 BC when a leaf from a nearby shrub fell into water the emperor was boiling. Tea is deeply woven into the history and culture of China. The beverage is considered one of the seven necessities of Chinese life, along with firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce and vinegar.  Chinese tea can be classified into six distinctive categories: white, green, yellow, oolong, black and post-fermented. Others add categories for scented and compressed teas. All of these come from varieties of the "Camellia sinensis" plant. Most Chinese teas are cultivated and consumed in China, but are also exported internationally due to a rise of Chinese cuisine worldwide. It is commonly available in Chinese restaurants and grocery shops worldwide. Green tea is the most common type of tea consumed in China.  Within these main categories of tea are vast varieties of individual beverages. Some researchers have counted more than 700 of these beverages. Others put the number at more than 1,000. Some of the variations are due to different strains of the Camillia plant. The Tieguanyin, for example, is traced back to a single plant discovered in Anxi in Fujian province. Other teas draw some of their characteristics from local growing conditions. However, the largest factor in the wide variations comes from differences in tea processing after the tea leaves are harvested. White and green teas are heat-treated () soon after picking to prevent oxidization, often called fermentation, caused by natural enzymes in the leaves. Oolong teas are partially oxidized. Black teas are fully oxidized. Other differences come from variations in the processing steps.

Song Dynasty.

Tea was an important crop during the Song dynasty. Tea farms covered 242 counties during this time. This included expensive tribute tea, which was tea from Zhejiang and Fujian provinces that was exported to Southeast Asian and Arab countries.  In the Song dynasty, tea started to be pressed into tea cakes. Some were embossed with patterns of the Chinese dragon and the Phoenix, and were called exotic names including:  Large Dragon tea cake, Small Dragon tea cake, Surpassing Snow Dragon ball cake, Fine Silver Sprout, Cloud Leaf, Gold Money, Jade Flower, Inch of Gold, Longevity Sprout, Eternal Spring Jade Leaf, Dragon in the Clouds, Longevity Dragon Sprout, Dragon Phoenix and Flower, and Eternal Spring Silver Sprout.

Ming Dynasty.

The Ming dynasty scholar Wen Zhenheng's encyclopedic book "Zhang Wu Zhi" (; Treatise on Superfluous Things), volume 12, contains the following descriptions of several famous Ming Dynasty teas:

Huqiu and Tianchi tea.

During this time, Huqiu tea (; lit. "Tiger Hill tea"), not to be confused with the black tea of the same name from the Nilgiris District in what is now Tamil Nadu, India) was purportedly developed as the finest tea in the world; however, the production quantity was rather small, and the production is regulated by the Chinese government. Some, however, consider its taste to be second to Tianchi tea (; lit. "Heaven Pool").

Jie tea.

Jie tea from Changxing County in Zhejiang Province is regarded highly by connoisseurs, although it is rather expensive.  NB: "Jie" is the short name for "Luo Jie" (). Luo Jie is the name of a mountain bordering Zhejiang and Jing Qi where, during the Ming dynasty, "jie" meant boundary. Chang Xin lay to the south of Luo Jie mountain while Jing Qi lay to the north of it. Chang Xin still retains its name today.  Luo Jie tea from Gu Chu Mountain in Changxing County in Zhejiang Province was also known as Gu Chu Violet Shoot. Gu Zhu Violet Shoot had been an imperial tribute tea since the Tang dynasty for nearly nine hundred years until the middle of the Qin dynasty. Gu Zhu Violet Shoot was revived again in the 1970s as a top grade tea in China.  NB. Jin Qi is now called Yi Xin township. Jin Qi tea was also known as Yang Xian tea. Ruo leaves are leaves from Indocalamus tessellatus bamboo. The leaf is about 45 cm long.

Lu'an tea.

Lu'an tea (), which is also called Lu'an Melon Seed tea, is used for Chinese medicine. It cannot release its aroma and has a bitter taste if it is not baked right. The inherent quality of this tea is considered quite good. This type of tea is especially suitable for people who are suffering from gastric problems.  Lu'an tea is still produced in China, Anhui Province, China. The Lu'an tea from the Bat Cave of Jinzhai County is considered of superior quality, as thousand of bats in the cave can provide an ideal fertilizer for the tea plants.

Songluo tea.

Songluo tea is manufactured at Songluo Mountain located north of Xiuning County in Anhui Province, China. The tea plantations are scattered at an elevation of six to seven hundred meters on the mountain.  There is no real Songluo tea grown outside an area of a dozen "mu" (one "mu" = 667 square meters) and only few families possess the refined full to prepare Songluo tea. The tea hand-baked recently by mountain monks is even better.  Genuine Songluo tea is produced at the foot of the Dongshan (Cave Hill) and on top of the Tianchi (; lit. "Heaven Pool"), highly treasured by people in Xin'an County. It is also a favorite for the people of Nandu and Quzong counties, due to its ease in brewing and intense aroma.

Longjing and Tianmu tea.

Longjing tea and Tianmu tea may match Heaven Pool tea due to the weather in their growing regions. Because the cold season comes earlier to the mountains, there is abundant snow in the winter, hence the tea plants germinate later. [Wen Zhenheng]  Longjing tea is manufactured in the West Lake district of Hangzhou, China. The Longjing, literally "Dragon Well", is located at Fenghuang Mountain. Tianmu Mountain is located at Lin'an County in the north west of Zhejiang Province. There are two 1500-meter peaks, each with a pond on top filled with crystal clear water looking like an eye, hence the name "Tianmu" (, lit. "heaven eye").

Tea as tribute.

During Ming, tea was a form of currency also used to pay imperials tribute. Ming Dynasty founder Zhu Yuanzhang (also known as the Hongwu emperor) was born to a poor family and understood the difficulties of the lives of farmers. He abolished the compressed tea brick style and replaced it with the whole, loose-leaf tea style, and also declared people instead pay tribute with tea buds. This amendment especially helped relieve tea farmers of some of the pressures of the laborious and complicated tea production processes. These complex processes for farmers included: steaming tea leaves, breaking them down into fine remnants, mixing the powder with plum juice, then baking them with molds to shape into tea bricks.

Tea in Ming literature.

Literature during this time also largely focused on tea pickers, with writings and artwork regarding aspects such as tea picking and processing.  Tea-picking Poem - Gao Qi  It is getting warm after the spring rain and thunder,  New tea leaves start sprouting among branches.  Girls with silver hairpins sing folk songs to each other,  Competing to pick the most tea leaves in the shortest time.  They get home with the fresh scent of tea leaves on their hands,  The highest qualities will be sent to the Prefecture first.  The newly baked tea leaves are not tasted yet,  They are packed into baskets and will be sold to Hunan merchants.  Satirical poems and songs were also created and reflected struggles of tea farmers and ridiculed greedy officials. After Mid Ming, the amount of tribute tea soared due to an increased pressure upon citizens by higher bureaucrats. Officials demanded higher taxation and escalation of the requirement of tribute tea. Some citizens began to grow angry with these demands, including poets Gao Qi and Han Bangqi. Although their main occupations were government officials, they were also generally acknowledged writers who voiced their complaints through poems that became widespread folk ballads. Through their writings they requested the reduction of taxation and tributes. However, Gao was accused by the government of "involvement in a rebellion conspiracy” and was executed, while Han was imprisoned by officials wanting to hide their written works.  Fuyang Ballad - Han Bangqi  Tea-picking women and fish-catching men  Feudal officials torture them so they don't even have unscathed skin  How come the Heaven is not humane?  Have people here done anything wrong?

Tea farmers.

Tea households were normally small, family-based operations for tea cultivation. There were also tea merchants who set up tea firms to create their own tea plantations and/or to process tea leaves after buying from local tea farming families. Different from tea households, seasonal workers were often employed by tea firms. Seeking work during the harvesting seasons, they often took boats to Tunxi, Anhui and other places where tea leaves were abundant.

Tea production process.

Harvesting tea was heavily dependent on weather conditions, so tea could not usually be produced throughout the entire year. Various weather conditions throughout different areas limited tea to be grown in a few specific regions: Jiangnan, Jiangbei, Hunan and Xinan. These areas provided stable warm weather and rainfall- two essential components of growing tea plants. The general production of loose, whole-leaf teas mainly included: tea seedling plantation, fertilization/weeding/spraying, tea picking, sunning/firing/rolling, and sorting and packaging.

Tea picking.

Tea picking was a central component of the entire tea production process. Time spent working and the intensity of labor fluctuated due to the inability to accurately predict weather conditions. This created uncertainties regarding ideal tea picking times. However, generally “the ideal time for picking tea leaves was early morning before sunrise.” Tea pickers would usually leave their homes early and do work using careful techniques efficiently to ensure the leaves were gently picked in whole. To do so, pickers used one or both hands to nip the green stems with their index fingers and thumbs, then held the leaves until they had palms-full before tossing the leaves into their baskets. Women were preferred for this occupation because of their ability to more gently and carefully pick off the whole tea leaves. No matter the age or marital status, women were expected to be capable of performing this duty. However, there were also limitations on women during this time. According to Luo Lin's "Explanation of" "Tea", women were not allowed to participate in any aspect of tea making during their menstrual periods. They were to avoid “female pollution” from their “unclean” bodies.

Sunning, firing and rolling.

After picking tea leaves, families first sorted out the damaged or rotten leaves then began the sunning process. This process inhibited water evaporation within tea leaves to promote oxidation. Over-oxidation can alter the taste of the tea to become "grass-like" or thick and bitter, so farmers heated the leaves to stop the oxidation once the desired level was reached- a process known as 'firing'. Then, leaf cells were broken down by gently rubbing the tea leaves- this process helped volatilize the scents and tastes when brewing. Tea leaves were damped then rolled into shapes, making its storage convenient while also allowing sap to squeeze out and provide additional flavoring.

Sorting and packaging.

Once the leaves were dried again, they were sorted and packaged and sold. Tea was usually "transported by a train of porters who used carrying poles to transport multiple chests of tea to the shippers", as the tea was largely sold to merchants and also largely produced to be exported.

Culture.

Customs and etiquette.

In some places of China, in restaurants, it is common for customers to clean their bowls and utensils at the table by rinsing them with tea from the pot. Tea may be poured over utensils into one of their bowls, or a larger bowl is may be provided as a waste receptacle for tea used to rinse bowls. In restaurants in China, tea is usually served in lieu of water, and hence tends to be a light drink flavoured.  However, when sipped as a daily beverage, Chinese people tend to use a special personal tea bottle, in which water is allowed to infuse with tea leaves for hours, and sipped continuously. This method, which is more prevalent in day-to-day Chinese life, involves the repeated use of the same tea leaves throughout the day.

Utensils.

A traditional Chinese tea set consists of special clay or porcelain teapots, teacups, tea spoons, tea strainers, draining trays, tea forceps (for the leaves), a large forceps (for the tea cups) and occasionally, tea caddies. All of these are kept on a special wooden tea tray with an inbuilt draining arrangement and a holder for the drained water. however, in more modern times, specially built electric hotplates for tea sets are used by some Chinese people.

Location.

Chinese Tea Culture Research Institute.

Chinese Tea Culture Research Institute is directly under the central authority China Federation China ADPL approved the establishment of subordinate units, the Association issued document No. 20 [2016], by the Central Propaganda Department guidance.  China tea culture research institute office, compiled in the SASAC of the State Council, the Central Organization Department, the Central Propaganda Department, the National Federation of trade unions, People's Republic of China Ministry of education, Ministry of culture, People's Republic of China China Federation of literary and art circles, the Ministry of civil affairs and other party, government and military departments and the leadership of the care and concern, from dozens of universities and national research institutions, organizations, tea experts, university professors, Ph.D., researchers, scholars and industrialists as members of the legitimacy and authority of the media, research Ancient Chinese Literature Search non-profit organization.  China Tea Culture Research Institute official website is: www.chinateayjy.org

Tea garden.

A tea house which features a Chinese garden or a domestic Chinese garden in which people enjoy their tea.

Tea house.

Chinese tea houses refer to the public place where people gathered to drink tea and spend their spare time. Chinese tea houses have a long history. It first took shape during the Tang dynasty Kaiyuan era (713–714) and became common during the Song Dynasty. From the Ming and Qing dynasties, tea house culture became integral to regional culture.  Drinking morning tea is a custom within various provinces regardless of what status or identity people are. People often go to tea house in twos to threes to relax, be entertained, and gather information all while sipping tea. One could find old folks reminiscing over their joys and sorrows, or youth discussing their ambitions.  In 1970s, Chinese tea houses spread to Hong Kong. Some notable ones include “Yen Yen”, “Tsui Heung Yuen”, “Pak Cheuk”, “Yin Bun Lau”, and “Wun Tin”, among others. Merchants would use tea houses as a place for exchanging information and business. For example, a jade merchant might complete a transaction in a tea house.

Ba-Shu culture and Sichuan teahouses.

Sichuan teahouses have various sizes. The large ones have hundreds of seats, while the small ones, only a few. They also have excellent services. Traditional Sichuan teahouses use red copper teapots, tin saucers, teacups with covers made of Jingdezhen porcelain, tuocha- a bowl-shaped compressed tea leaves- and tearoom keepers expert at all manner of work. What's more, Sichuan teahouses have social functions. They play an important role in spreading the state affairs information. People can chat with each other there. They also serve as unofficial courts.

Wu-Yue culture and Hangzhou teahouses.

Wu-Yue area is famous for tea producing and green tea produced in Zhejiang province play a decisive role. In Hangzhou, most tearooms are elegant, simple and unsophisticated. They emphasize making tea with good-quality water and tasting tea in an excellent environment in order to achieve the true meaning of tea art.

Tianjin teahouses, Shanghai Fuchaguan teahouses and Guangdong tearooms.

Most of the Tianjin teahouses meet the needs of business people from different parts of China. People of various trades drink tea while eating refreshments and appreciating performances which include singing of opera arias, storytelling and dagu (a versified story sung to the accompaniment of a small drum and other instruments).  In the past, Shanghai teahouses are regarded as learned and refined places in Shanghai. Shanghai people called teahouses fuchaguan to express their longing for leisure. The most typical teahouse with local features was situated in the old Chenghuangmiao area.  The old Guangdong tearooms were inexpensive. Regular customers would be served with a cup of tea, and two steamed buns stuffed with diced grilled pork, steamed dumplings with the dough gathered at the top, or dumplings with shrimp stuffing. However, teahouses become different now. Nowadays, customers are provided with a pot of strong tea as soon as they arrive, and have many choices from a great variety of refreshments on the food cart.

Beijing teahouse culture.

Beijing teahouses show most of the advantages of other local teahouses. They are known for their various functions, and rich and profound cultural aims.  There are many kinds of Beijing teahouses, which include Shuchaguan, Qingchaguan, Qichaguan, Yechaguan, Dachaguan, and Erhunpu.

Shuchaguan.

Teahouse culture made a special contribution to the development of the novel, and shuchaguan was the best evidence to explain. At shuchaguan, tea is only acted as a medium and supplement because people came mainly to listen to storytelling. Storytelling was performed two times a day and a long story would last two or three months. Famous shuchaguan were exquisitely furnished with cane or wooden tables and chairs, and decorated with works of calligraphy and painting in order to build an atmosphere for storytelling. The purpose of drinking tea in shuchaguan is increasing their historical knowledge, killing time and amusing themselves. So shuchaguan were best suited to old people.

Qingchaguan.

Qingchaguan provides places for people from all walks of life to entertain themselves elegantly. In the past, most of the Qingchaguan were simply furnished with square tables and wooden chairs. Teacups with covers were used to serve tea. However, tea was served without refreshment in Qingchaguan.

Qichaguan.

Qichaguan provides places for customers to play chess. Qichaguan were simply furnished with timber or lumps of wood painted with chess boards, which were partly buried in the ground, or chessboards with benches on both sides. When people played chess while drinking tea, they will feel that the chessboards was like a battlefield of life. Usually they would temporarily forget about their sufferings, and that's why tea was also called wangyoujun (Mr. Worry-free).

Yechaguan.

People went to Yechaguan to appreciate beautiful gardens. People of Beijing in old times were keen on enjoying beautiful scenes in different seasons. So yechaguan were mostly built in those places with beautiful gardens and nice views.

Dachaguan.

Dachaguan provided tea, food and services to people in various trades such as business men and scholars. In terms of service, it includes Hongluguan, Wowoguan and Banhuguan.

Hongluguan.

Hongluguan were installed with red stoves which baked Manchurian and Chinese pastries. They served all kinds of pastries, which were smaller and more exquisite than those made by pastry shops. Customers could drink tea while sampling these pastries.

Wowoguan.

Wowoguan served various refreshment, including aiwowo, steamed sponge cakes, paicha, pengao and sesame seed cakes.

Banhuguan.

Characterized by a large copper pot, banhuguan suited varied tastes.

Erhunpu.

Erhunpu served tea without refreshments but provided dining and wining facilities. It supplied customers with food cooked from in-house ingredients or ingredients brought by customers.

Symbolism and significance.

The "China famous tea" () or "The Ten Great Chinese Teas" () are the ten most notable Chinese teas. Below is a list of ten common teas in China.

Economics.

Production.

The highest grades of white tea, yellow tea, and green tea are made from tender tea shoots picked early spring. These young tea shoots may consist of a single terminal bud, a bud with an adjacent leaf or a bud with two adjacent slightly unfurled leaves. It is generally required that the leaves are equal in length or shorter than the buds.  The more-oxidized tea—such as red or oolong tea—are made from more mature leaves. For example, the Anxi Tieguanyin (grown in the tea region of Anxi in Fujian), is made from one bud with two to four leaves.  Not all high grade green tea is made from tender tea shoots. The highly regarded green tea Lu An Gua Pian is made from more matured leaves.  Traditionally these tender tea shoots are picked before 5 April, or Qingming Festival. The standard practice is to start picking when 5% of the garden is ready, or when the tea buds reach certain size. In some tea gardens, tea shoots are picked daily, or every 2 days.

Trade.

One of the event happened in before 1980s is that The trade missions of European countries in Shanghai that imported and carry out china tea to European countries, which will raise the export of Chinese tea.  China has experienced declining trends in tea export growth rate since the mid-1990s. Compare to 1980s that the export volume is decreased 232 tons to 170 tons, is around 26.7%, because the coverage of tea safety standards and Maximum Residual Limit of pesticides negatively affected China's exports.  The increase in export of green tea from China has not been commensurate with production. During 2010, China exported 234 M kg of green tea as against 163 metric kg in 2001. Its share of export in the global market has been found to fall from 87% to 78% between 2003 and 2007. However, in 2010, China contributed 79% of the total green tea exported worldwide.

Varieties.

Spelling of varieties often reflects English usage, and historical or southern-Chinese pronunciation rather than official modern pinyin, for example; Bohea (武夷茶 wǔyí chá), Congou (工夫 gōngfu), Hyson (熙春茶 xīchūn chá), Souchong (拉普山小種 lāpǔshān xiǎozhǒng), Chunmee (珍眉 zhēnméi), Sowmee (秀眉 xiùméi), Pekoe (白毫 báiháo), Keemun (祁門紅茶 qímén hóngchá).

Tea is a beverage made from the leaves of tea plants ("Camellia sinensis") and boiled water. Tea leaves are processed using traditional Chinese methods. Chinese tea is consumed throughout the day, including during meals, as a substitute for plain water or for simple pleasure.

Le thé (sinogramme 茶), bien plus qu'une simple boisson d'agrément, représente en Chine une véritable institution sociale et culinaire, riche d'une histoire de plusieurs millénaires.


Description.

The Amaryllidaceae are mainly terrestrial (rarely aquatic) flowering plants that are herbaceous or succulent geophytes (occasionally epiphytes) that are perennial, with the exception of four species. Most genera grow from bulbs, but a few such as "Agapanthus", "Clivia" and "Scadoxus" develop from rhizomes (underground stems).  The leaves are simple rather fleshy and two-ranked with parallel veins. Leaf shape may be linear, strap like, oblong, elliptic, lanceolate (lance shaped) or filiform (threadlike). The leaves which are either grouped at the base or arranged alternatively on the stem may be sessile or petiolate and possess a meristem.  The flowers, which are hermaphroditic (bisexual), are actinomorphic (radially symmetrical), rarely zygomorphic, pedicellate or sessile, and are typically arranged in umbels at the apex of leafless flowering stems, or scapes and associated with a filiform (thread like) bract. The perianth (perigonium) consists of six undifferentiated tepals arranged in two whorls of three. The tepals are similar in shape and size, and may be free from each other or fused at the base (connate) to form a floral tube (hypanthium). In some genera, such as Narcissus, this may be surmounted by cup or trumpet shaped projection, the corona (paraperigonium or false corolla). This may be reduced to a mere disc in some species.  The position of the ovary varies by subfamily, the Agapanthoideae and Allioideae have superior ovaries, while the Amaryllidoideae have inferior ovaries. The six stamens are arranged in two whorls of three, occasionally more as in "Gethyllis" (Amaryllidoideae, 9–18).  The fruit is dry and capsule-shaped, or fleshy and berry-like.  The Allioideae produce allyl sulfide compounds which give them their characteristic smell.

Taxonomy.

History.

Pre-Darwinian.

Linnaeus described the type genus "Amaryllis", from which the family derives its name, in his "Species Plantarum" in 1753, with nine species, in the "Hexandria monogynia" (i.e. six stamens and one pistil) containing 51 genera in all in his sexual classification scheme. The name "Amaryllis" had been applied to a number of plants over the course of history.  "Hexandria monogynia" has come to be treated as either liliaceous or amaryllidaceaous (see Taxonomy of Liliaceae) over time. From 1763, when Adanson conceived of these genera as 'Liliaceae' it was included in this family, placing "Amaryllis" in Section VII, Narcissi. of his scheme, in which the Liliaceae had eight sections.  With de Jussieu came the formal establishment of organising genera into families ("ordo") in 1789. De Jussieu established the hierarchical system of taxonomy (phylogeny), placing "Amaryllis" and 15 related genera within a division of monocotyledons, a class (III) of "Stamina Perigynia" and 'order' Narcisse, divided into three subfamilies. This system also formally described the Liliaceae, which were a separate order within the "Stamina perigynia" (Lilia). The use of the term "Ordo" (order) at that time was closer to what we now understand as family, rather than order. In creating his scheme, De Jussieu used a modified form of Linnaeus' sexual classification, but with the respective topography of stamens to carpels rather than just their numbers.  The family Amaryllidaceae was formally named as 'Amaryllidées' (Amaryllideae) in 1805, by Jean Henri Jaume Saint-Hilaire. In 1810 Brown proposed that a subgroup of Liliaceae be distinguished on the basis of the position of their ovaries (inferior) and be referred to as Amaryllideae and in 1813 de Candolle described Liliacées Juss. and Amaryllidées Brown as two quite separate families. The literature on the organisation of genera into families and higher ranks became available in the English language with Samuel Frederick Gray's "A natural arrangement of British plants" (1821). Gray used a combination of Linnaeus' sexual classification and Jussieu's natural classification to group together a number of families having in common six equal stamens, a single style and a perianth that was simple and petaloid, but did not use formal names for these higher ranks. Within the grouping, he separated families by the characteristics of their fruit and seed. He treated groups of genera with these characteristics as separate families, such as Amaryllideae, Liliaceae, Asphodeleae, and Asparageae.  John Lindley (1830, 1846) was the other important British taxonomist of the early 19th century. In his first taxonomic work, "An Introduction to the Natural System of Botany" (1830) he partly followed De Jussieu by describing a subclass he called 'Endogenae, or Monocotyledonous Plants' (preserving de Candolle's "Endogenæ phanerogamæ") divided into two tribes, the Petaloidea and Glumaceae. He divided the former, often referred to as petaloid monocots, into 32 orders, including the Amaryllideae. He defined the latter as "Hexapetaloideous bulbous hexandrous monocotyledons, with an inferior ovarium, a six-parted perianthium with equitant sepals, and flat, spongy seeds" and included "Amaryllis", "Phycella", "Nerine", "Vallota", and "Calostemma".  By 1846, in his final scheme Lindley had greatly expanded and refined the treatment of the monocots, introducing both an intermediate ranking (Alliances) and tribes within families. Lindley placed the Liliaceae within the Liliales, but saw it as a paraphyletic ("catch-all") family, being all Liliales not included in the other orders, but hoped that the future would reveal some characteristic that would group them better. This kept the Liliaceae separate from the Amaryllidaceae (Narcissales Alliance). Of these Liliaceae was divided into eleven tribes (with 133 genera) and Amaryllidaceae into four tribes (with 68 genera), yet both contained many genera that would eventually segregate to each other's contemporary orders (Liliales and Asparagales respectively). The Liliaceae would be reduced to a small 'core' represented by the tribe Tulipeae (18 genera), while large groups such Scilleae and Asparagae would become part of Asparagales either as part of the Amaryllidaceae or as separate families. While of the four tribes of the Amaryllidaceae, the Amaryllideae and Narcissea would remain as core amaryllids while the Agaveae would be part of Asparagaceae, but the Alstroemeriae would become a family within the Liliales. Since then, seven of Linnaeus' "Hexandria monogynia" genera have consistently been placed in a common taxonomic unit of amaryllids, based on the inferior position of the ovaries (whether this be as an order, suborder, family, subfamily, tribe or section). Thus, much of what we now consider Amaryllidaceae remained in Liliaceae because the ovary was superior, till 1926 when John Hutchinson transferred them to Amaryllidaceae. This usage of the family entered the English language literature through the work of Samuel Frederick Gray (1821), William Herbert (1837) and John Lindley (1830, 1846). Meanwhile, Lindley had described two Chilean genera which for which he created a new family, Gilliesieae.  The number of known genera within these families continued to grow, and by the time of the Bentham and Hooker classification (1883), the Amaryllidaceae (Amaryllideae) were divided into four tribes, of which only one (Amarylleae) is still included. The Liliaceae were becoming one of the largest families, and Bentham and Hooker divided it into 20 tribes, of which one was the Allieae, which as Allioideae would eventually become part of Amaryllidaceae as two of its three subfamilies. The Allieae included both Agapantheae, the third of the current subfamilies, and Lindley's Gilliesieae as two of its four subtribes. Bentham and Hooker's scheme was the last major classification using the natural approach.

Post-Darwinian.

Although Charles Darwin's "Origin of Species" (1859) preceded Bentham and Hooker's publication, the latter project was commenced much earlier and Bentham was initially sceptical of Darwinism. The new phyletic approach changed the way that taxonomists considered plant classification, incorporating evolutionary information into their schemata. The major works in the late 19th and early 20th centuries employing this approach were German, those of Eichler (1875–1886), Engler, Prantl (1886–1924), and Wettstein (1901–1935).  The Amaryllidaceae were treated similarly in the German-language literature to the manner they had been in English. August Eichler (1886) was the first phyletic taxonomist and positioned the Amaryllidaceae and Liliaceae within the Liliiflorae, one of the seven orders of monocotyledons. Liliaceae included both "Allium" and "Ornithogalum" (modern Allioideae). Adolf Engler developed Eichler's ideas much further, into much more elaborate schemes that evolved over time, from his 1888 scheme, contributed by Pax to his 1903 version In the latter, the Liliineae were a suborder of Liliiflorae, including both families Liliaceae and Amaryllidaceae. Within the Liliaceae, the core liliids were segregated in subfamily Lilioideae from the alliaceous subfamily, Allioideae. Allieae, Agapantheae, and Gilliesieae were the three tribes within this subfamily. A somewhat similar approach to Liliiflorae was adopted by Wettstein (without suborders or tribes), and with Alliodeae ("Allium") and Lilioideae ("Ornithogalum") as subfamilies of Liliaceae. Wettstein's Amaryllidaceae contained three subfamilies., including Amaryllidoideae and Agavoideae.  The early 20th century was marked by increasing doubts about the placement of the alliaceous genera within Liliaceae. Lotsy was the first taxonomist to propose separating them, and in his system he describes Agapanthaceae, Alliaceae, and Gilliesiaceae as new and separate families from Liliaceae. This approach was adopted by a number of other authorities, such as Dahlgren (1985) and Rahn (1998).  Another approach was that of John Hutchinson (1926), who performed the first major recircumscription of the family in over a century. He doubted Brown's dictum that the position of the ovary was the distinguishing feature that separated Amaryllidaceae and Liliaceae. He treated Amaryllidaceae as bulbous plants with umbellate inflorescences, the latter characteristic being the defining feature: "an umbellate inflorescence subtended by an involucre of one or more spathaceous bracts". His work on this has been upheld by subsequent research and his definition remains valid today. Using this criterion, he removed a number of taxa (Agavaceae, Hypoxidaceae, Alstroemeriaceae) and transferred the Agapantheae, Allieae, and Gilliesieae from Liliaceae to Amaryllidaceae.  Other writers proposed reuniting Amaryllidaceae with Liliaceae. Thorne (1976) and Cronquist (1988) both included Amaryllidaceae within a broad concept of Liliaceae (although Thorne later separated them again, but keep Alliaceae as a third family). Thus 'Alliaceae' were variously included in either Liliaceae, Amaryllidaceae, or as a separate entity. This uncertainty of circumscription reflected a wider problem with the petaloid monocots in general. Over the course of time, widely differing views as to the limits of the family have been expressed, so much of the literature dealing with this family requires careful inspection to determine which sense of the Amaryllidaceae the work treats.

Phylogenetic era.

The current phylogenetic era of understanding the taxonomic relationships of Amaryllidaceae began with the work of Fay and Chase (1996) who used the plastid gene rubisco "rbcL" to identify the close relationship between "Agapanthus", Alliaceae, and Amaryllidaceae. "Agapanthus" had variously been included in Alliaceae or was placed in a separate family, Agapanthaceae. They relocated "Agapanthus" within Amaryllidaceae which they considered a sister group to Amaryllidaceae. Nevertheless, the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) classification (1998) still considered these three separate families within Asparagales. The close relationship was confirmed in a more detailed study by Meerow (1999) who confirmed the monophyly of Amaryllidaceae, with Agapanthaceae as its sister family and Alliaceae in turn as sister to the Amaryllidaceae/Agapanthaceae clade.  In its second iteration (2003), the APG proposed simplifying the higher (core) Asparagales by reducing them to two more broadly circumscribed families, and provisionally proposed the name Alliaceae "sensu lato" ("s.l.") to include the three sister families (Agapanthaceae, Alliaceae "sensu stricto", "s.s.", and Amaryllidaceae), since together they form a monophyletic group. In this respect, they were following Hutchinson's system (see above). Under this proposal, the three families became reduced to subfamilies (and by extension the subfamilies of Alliaceae "s.s." being reduced to tribes.) At the same time, they appreciated an argument existed for making Amaryllidaceae "s.l." the formal name of the new and larger family, a position subsequently strongly supported by Meerow and colleagues.  The 2009 version of the APG formally adopted this broad view and the conserved name Amaryllidaceae. To distinguish this broader family from the older, narrower family, it has become customary to refer to Amaryllidaceae "sensu" APG, or as used by APG, Amaryllidaceae "s.l.". as opposed to Amaryllidaceae "s.s.".  This phylogenetic tree (cladogram) shows the placement of Amaryllidaceae "s.l." within the order Asparagales.

Subdivision.

As reconstituted by the APG, Amaryllidaceae "s.l." consists of three subfamilies, Agapanthoideae, Allioideae, and Amaryllidoideae, corresponding to the three families that were subsumed into it:  Of these, one (Agapanthoideae) is monogeneric for "Agapanthus" (see Cladogram I).  Of the other two subfamilies, Allioideae was resolved into three subdivisions by the initial phylogenetic studies of Fay and Chase (1996). Since they treated Allioideae as family Alliaceae, these were subfamilies Allioideae, Tulbaghioideae, and Gilliesioideae. When family Alliaceae was reduced to subfamily Allioideae, they were reduced to tribes, namely Allieae, Tulbaghieae and Gilliesieae (see Cladogram II).  Complete resolution of infrafamilial (suprageneric) relationships within subfamily Amaryllidoideae (Amaryllidaceae "s.s.") has proven more difficult. Fay and Chase's study lacked sufficient resolution for further elucidation of this group. Historically a wide variety of infrafamilial classification systems have been proposed for the Amaryllidaceae. In the latter twentieth century there were at least six schemes, including Hutchinson (1926), Traub (1963), Dahlgren (1985), Müller-Doblies and Müller-Doblies (1996), Hickey and King (1997) and Meerow and Snijman (1998). Hutchinson was an early proponent of the larger Amaryllidaceae, transferring taxa from Liliaceae and had three tribes, Agapantheae, Allieae and Gilliesieae. Traub (who provides a brief history of the family) largely followed Hutchinson, but with four subfamilies (Allioideae, Hemerocalloideae, Ixiolirioideae and Amaryllidoideae), the Amaryllidoideae he then divided further into two "infrafamilies", Amarylloidinae and Pancratioidinae, an arrangement with 23 tribes in total. In Dahlgren's system, a "splitter" who favoured larger numbers of smaller families, he adopted a narrower circumscription than Traub, using only the latter's Amaryllidoideae which he treated as eight tribes. Müller-Doblies described ten tribes (and 19 subtribes). Hickey and King described ten tribes by which the family were divided, such as the Zephyrantheae. Meerow and Snijder considered thirteen tribes, one (Amaryllideae) with two subtribes (For a comparison of these schemes see Meerow et al. 1999, Table I).  The further application of molecular phylogenetics produced a complex picture that only partially related to the tribal structure considered up to that date, which had been based on morphology alone. RAther Amaryllidaceae resolved along biogeographical lines. A predominantly South African clade identified as Amaryllideae was a sister group to the rest of the family. The two other African tribes were Haemantheae and Cyrtantheae, and an Australasian tribe Calostemmateae was also identified, but a large clade could only be described as Eurasian and American, each of which were monophyletic sister clades to each other. The Eurasian clade was poorly resolved with the exception of Lycorideae (Central and East Asian). The American clade was better resolved identifying both Hippeastreae as a tribe (and Zephyranthinae as a subtribe within it). The American clade also included an Andean clade  Further investigation of the American clade suggested the presence of two groups, the Andean clade and a further "Hippeastroid" clade, in which Griffineae was sister to the rest of the clade (Hippeastreae). Similarly within the Andean clade Eustephieae appeared as sister to the remaining clade, including Hymenocallideae. A new tribe, Clinantheae was also identified in this group.  The Eurasian clade was also further resolved (for historical treatment, see Table I Meerow "et al." 2006) into four tribes, Pancratieae, Narcisseae, Galantheae and Lycorideae. This positioned Lycorideae as sister to the remaining Mediterranean tribes.  These relationships are summarised in the following cladogram:

Angiosperm Phylogeny Group.

Publication of the third version of the APG classification and acceptance of Amaryllidaceae "s.l." was accompanied by a listing of accepted subfamily and tribal names, since the change in rank from family to subfamily necessitated a revision of other lower ranks, as follows:  Family: Amaryllidaceae, Expos. Fam. Nat. 1: 134. Feb–Apr 1805, "nom. cons."  This circumscription differs from the phylogenetic descriptions of Meerow and colleagues in several respects. Griffineae is recognised as a distinct tribe within the Hippeastroid clade, and Stenomesseae is recognised as polyphyletic with two distinct types based on leaf shape (lorate-leafed and petiolate-leafed). The lorate-leafed species of the type genus of Stenomesseae, "Stemomesson", were transferred to a new tribe, Clinantheae as sister to Hymenocallideae in the Andean clade. The remnants of "Stemomesson" then formed a distinct clade with "Eucharis" (Eucharidae) and Eucharidae renamed as Stenomesseae (see Cladogram III).

Genera.

The Angiosperm Phylogeny Website lists 73 genera and 1,605 species within Amaryllidaceae "s.l.", while The Plant List (2013) gives 80 genera and 2,258 species.

Distribution.

Amaryllidaceae are a cosmopolitan family, whose distribution is pantropical to subtropical, but infrafamilial relationships are related to geographical considerations. The tribe Amaryllideae is primarily South African, and Haemantheae and Cyrtantheae are also African, while the Calostemmateae are Australasian. Other elements are Eurasian and American, including an Andean subclade without necessarily following strictly tribal delimitations. This leads to discussions of, for instance American Amaryllidaceae. The Eurasian clade includes Lycorideae. The American clade includes the Hippeastreae, Eustephieae and Zephyranthinae.

Cultivation and uses.

The Amaryllidaceae include many ornamental garden plants such as daffodils, snowdrops and snowflake, pot plants such as amaryllis and "Clivia", and vegetables, such as onions, chives, leeks and garlic. A number of tropical lily-like plants are also sold, such as the belladonna lily, Amazon lily, blood lily (Cape tulip), Cornish lily (Nerine), and the Eurasian winter daffodil, "Sternbergia".  Their economic importance lies in floriculture for cut flowers and bulbs, and commercial vegetable production.

The Amaryllidaceae are a family of herbaceous, mainly perennial and bulbous (rarely rhizomatous) flowering plants in the monocot order Asparagales. The family takes its name from the genus "Amaryllis" and is commonly known as the amaryllis family. The leaves are usually linear, and the flowers are usually bisexual and symmetrical, arranged in umbels on the stem. The petals and sepals are undifferentiated as tepals, which may be fused at the base into a floral tube. Some also display a corona. Allyl sulfide compounds produce the characteristic odour of the onion subfamily (Allioideae).

Les Amaryllidaceae (Amaryllidacées) forment une famille de plantes monocotylédones appartenant à l'ordre des "Asparagales". Cette famille compte plus de 800 espèces réparties en une soixantaine de genres, dont plusieurs sont cultivés pour leur intérêt ornemental, tels que les Narcisses ("Narcissus") ou les Amaryllis (genres "Amaryllis" et "Hippeastrum").