Stage Door Canteen

The Stage Door Canteen was an entertainment venue for American and Allied servicemen that operated in the Broadway theatre district of New York City throughout World War II.
With actress Nedda Harrigan leading the effort, the canteen opened March 2, 1942, by the American Theatre Wing, and operated seven nights a week in the previously unoccupied Little Club under the 44th Street Theatre at 216 West 44th Street in Manhattan.
The official estimate of attendance on the canteen's opening night was 1,250, with 200 "actresses of varying importance" as hostesses and 75 "'name' actors" as busboys.
The canteen's popularity led to the establishment of other canteens throughout the United States as well as London and Paris.
Services.
In addition to shows, the canteen offered off-duty military personnel opportunities to unwind in various ways, including dancing with hostesses and female entertainers, eating, and writing letters home. Food was provided free. Between 5 p.m. and midnight daily, the canteen served 200 gallons of coffee, and 5,000 cigarettes were smoked.
In media.
The original Stage Door Canteen inspired a CBS Radio series (1942–45) and a 1943 film. The film was made by RKO Pathe Studios, using a replica of the New York venue on the studio's Culver City, California, site.
The film "This Is the Army" (1943) and the Broadway play from which it was adapted include a scene set at the Stage Door Canteen. During that scene, Earl Oxford sang the song "I Left My Heart at the Stage Door Canteen" in both versions. The song "speaks of the fleeting love that many of the men felt when they had to leave the canteen, never to see these beautiful women again." The most popular recorded version of the song was made by Sammy Kaye and his orchestra, with Don Cornell singing. It reached No. 2 on the "Billboard" chart.


Lieutenant Dan Taylor


William Henry Donald

William Henry Donald (22 June 1875, Lithgow, New South Wales – 9 November 1946, Shanghai) was an Australian newspaperman who worked in China from 1903 until World War II. He had considerable direct and indirect influence on events in China, as expressed in a biography.
Early life in Australia.
WH Donald began his career as a journalist at the "Lithgow Mercury", the local paper of his hometown. He then worked as journalist/editor at the Bathurst "National Advocate", the Sydney "Daily Telegraph" and the Melbourne "Argus". In 1901, he was recruited to Hong Kong to work for "The China Mail".
The Donald of China.
He became a successful journalist at "The China Mail", culminating in his resignation as managing editor in 1908 to write about the history of the press in China and Hong Kong.
He influenced a short war between Russia and Japan over China in Japan's favour, but later initiated—through a deliberately provocative newspaper article—an uprising against Japanese imperialism.
In 1911, he moved to Shanghai, where he became a key editor to the economics monthly "Far Eastern Review". At the same time he befriended Charlie Soong, the wealthy publisher and father of the Soong sisters, and had known "the present Mesdames Kung, Sun and Chiang [when they] were small children." He resigned from the "Far Eastern Review" after the managing editor, George Rea, pushed for a more pro-Japanese line for the journal. While in Hong Kong, he made the decision not to learn the Chinese language, and found this to his advantage for the Chinese knew that with him they were assured of the privacy of their conversations. He became a friend and advisor to Sun Yat-Sen and to Generalissimo and Mme. Chiang Kai-shek. He was also an advisor to the "Young Marshal" Zhang Xueliang, the general who kidnapped Chiang Kai-shek at Xi'an in December 1936; some years before the kidnapping, Donald had arranged a cure for Zhang's drug addiction. Emily Hahn described him as having "what is probably the only non-irritating bedside manner in the world. He has vigorous health, vigorous principles and vigorous plans. He does not drink, smoke or tell lies."
Xi'an Incident.
In order to force the issue to establish a united front against the Japanese invasion, Young Marshall Zhang Xueliang kidnapped Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek in the infamous Xi'an Incident. Donald was the special envoy to Xi'an sent by Madame Chiang to negotiate for Chiang's release. He played a pivotal role in convincing his old friend Zhang Xueliang and the CCP to release Chiang. After several rounds of negotiations, Chiang was released to a plane bound for Nanjing escorted by Zhang. When the plane arrived in Nanjing, Zhang was immediately arrested and was incarcerated, staying in prison in China and, later, Taiwan, for more than fifty years. Chiang Kai-shek recorded in his diary that Zhang Xueliang "denied having known beforehand of the revolt and tried soothingly to argue with his chief".
Later life.
Donald left Chiang Kai-shek's headquarters at Chungking in May 1940, after a disagreement with the generalissimo over Chinese policy towards Germany. At this time, the British ambassador described him as a "garrulous old man". However, in early 1942, after touring the Pacific in 1940–41, he set out, at Madame Chiang's request, to return to China.
The Japanese invaders in China had dubbed Donald "the evil spirit of China" for his role in advising the Chinese government in their efforts against the invasion. They had offered growing rewards for his capture, dead or alive. Once they had almost got him, when Zero fighters attacked his plane over China—but his pilot escaped into a cloud bank. In February 1945, it turned out that they had held him for more than three years, without knowing it was him, in one of the Manila prison camps. Donald had been a prisoner since February 1942, when the Japanese arrested him at Manila when he was on his way back to China from New Zealand via the Philippines. During his captivity, he had used a false name.
After a brief visit to New York City in 1945, Donald returned to Shanghai, where he died in 1946. He was farewelled in a state funeral by the government of the Republic of China. As he lay dying in 1946, Donald dictated his recollections to Earl Albert Selle, who produced a biography called "Donald of China".
A collection of his correspondence between 1942 and 1946 is held by Columbia University Library.
Donald Place, in the Canberra suburb of Gilmore, is named in his honour.


Helmut Koch (conductor)

Helmut Koch (5 April 190826 January 1975) was a German conductor, choir leader, composer, and academic teacher. He was recording manager for the Berliner Rundfunk from 1945, where he founded the Solistenvereinigung Berlin, the Kammerorchester Berlin and the Großer Chor des Berliner Rundfunks. He conducted a recording of Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo" in 1949, and later also contemporary music by composers including Hanns Eisler, Fritz Geißler, Ernst Hermann Meyer and Ruth Zechlin. He was professor at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" from its beginning. After working as a regular guest conductor at the Staatsoper Berlin, he became Generalmusikdirektor. He was the first conductor of the Berliner Singakademie in East Berlin, and held the position until his death.
Life and career.
Koch was born in Barmen, now part of Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. As buying a piano was unaffordable for his parents, Koch learned to play the violin from the age of twelve. When he was age 16 the family moved to Essen. The violin lessons were continued, and Koch also took lessons in music theory and composition after leaving the Realgymnasium. He studied at the in Cologne and stayed there until the founding of the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen. Although he had plans for a career as a conductor, he fulfilled his parents' wish to focus on pedagogy, and took a private music teacher's examination in 1928.
In 1928, Koch met Hermann Scherchen as a participant in a conducting course. The latter suggested that he participate in a four-week music festival in Winterthur (Switzerland) as a violinist and viola player in order to broaden his knowledge of orchestral playing. During this time, Scherchen decided to train Koch as a private student and also helped him to find work work as a sound engineer and assistant with conducting duties at the then in Königsberg. In 1931, he moved to Berlin where he took over the direction of workers' choirs, including the Berliner Schubertchor.
In 1938, Koch became recording manager ("Aufnahmeleiter") for the record company Schallplatten AG Carl Lindström. He was a member of the Nazi party. He was drafted to the Volkssturm in February 1945.
Immediately after the war, Koch became recording manager for the Berliner Rundfunk, where he founded the Solistenvereinigung des Berliner Rundfunks and the Kammerorchester Berlin. He founded the Großer Chor des Berliner Rundfunks in 1948. Koch was a candidate for the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED) in 1950, and a member from 1954. In the 1950s, he was appointed professor of conducting at the new Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler". Koch was a regular guest conductor at the Staatsoper Berlin from 1960 where he led Handel's "Giulio Cesare" and "Ezio", among others. He was instrumental in a revival of Handel's oratorios which he also conducted at the Halle Handel Festival. Koch was appointed Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) in 1963.
Koch, committed to the close cooperation of professional and amateur artists, became the first conductor of the Berliner Singakademie in 1963 after the Berlin Wall was built, founded then to continue the tradition of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin also in the East. He held the position until his death.
Koch died in Berlin aged 66.
Recordings.
Koch's recordings of Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo" in 1949, with the Solistenvereinigung and the Kammerochester, and of "Folk songs and madrigals of the 17th and 18th centuries" were awarded the Grand Prix du Disque. He conducted "Ein deutsches Requiem" by Brahms in the 1950s, with soloists Anna Tomowa-Sintow and Günther Leib. Beginning in the 1960s, he recorded Mozart works, including the "Great Mass in C minor" and the operas "Bastien und Bastienne" and "Der Schauspieldirektor". He recorded Haydn's "Die Schöpfung", concertos by Telemann and Vivaldi, and Bach's "Brandenburg Concertos". His repertoire also included works by Mendelssohn and contemporary music. In particular, he promoted the works Hanns Eisler, Fritz Geißler, Ernst Hermann Meyer, and Ruth Zechlin.
For VEB Deutsche Schallplatten: Eterna
Awards.
Koch was twice awarded the National Prize of the GDR for art and literature, in 1949 third class, and in 1959 second class. In 1959, he was awarded the Handel Prize. In 1965, he was elected a full member of the Academy of Arts of the German Democratic Republic. In 1968, he was awarded the Vaterländischer Verdienstorden in silver and 1973 in gold.
View of music.
For Koch, music old and new was a medium able to transform people; therefore composers and performers should handle it responsibly. He rejected a division of old and new music, saying: "Everything we do, we do for the people who live now, and who think and feel as today's. ("Alles, was wir machen, machen wir für die Menschen, die jetzt leben, als Heutige denken und empfinden.")


Beyond the Call

Beyond the Call is a 2006 documentary film about three middle-aged men who are former soldiers and modern-day knights. They travel the world delivering life-saving humanitarian aid directly into the hands of civilians and doctors in some of the most dangerous places on Earth, the front lines of war. It is the directorial debut of Adrian Belic.
PBS aired a 60-minute version of "Beyond the Call" on January 23, 2007 as part of its "Independent Lens" series.
Synopsis.
Ed Artis, Jim Laws, and Walt Ratterman are former soldiers and modern-day knights. They travel the world delivering life-saving humanitarian aid directly into the hands of civilians and doctors on the front lines of war.
They are self-styled Knights of Malta. In 1995, they formed Knightsbridge International, a humanitarian aid organization, whose motto is "High Adventure and Service to Humanity." They have traveled to places such as Afghanistan, Albania, Chechnya, Cambodia, Burma, Thailand, Rwanda, and the southern Philippines.
Walt Ratterman died afterwards in the 2010 Haiti earthquake.


Huang Ching-cheng

Huang Ching-cheng (; 1912–1943) was a Taiwanese sculptor. He is counted among the important pioneers of Taiwanese modern art. Lai Hsien-tsung mentions him in one breath with Ju Ming. Huang's sculpture "Study of a Head" (頭像 ‘tóuxiàng’) was the first modern work of art in Taiwan that was declared a part of the island's cultural heritage that is protected by a new law passed in 2009. It is exhibited in the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts.
Life and career.
Early life.
Huang was born in Chidong Village (池東村), Xiyu, Hōko Prefecture. This island group had been ceded to Japan by the Chinese government in 1895, like the rest of Taiwan and the Ryu-Kyo Islands, after the First Sino-Japanese War.
Huang's father owned a pharmacy. Huang, who was raised in a fairly wealthy family, showed an interest in creative activity at an early age. As a boy, he already did small figures made of clay, his elder brother later remembered. He also painted, showing considerable talent which prompted a teacher to encourage him. Because the pharmacy was located in Kaohsiung, a major location in South Taiwan which was already a fairly big city, he was sent there in 1925, to attend Kaohsiung Senior High School. He dropped out, however, because he dedicated too much time to painting. Therefore, his father had him educated by a private teacher. Because his father wanted him to become a pharmacist, he was sent to a teacher of pharmacology in 1933. Then, he went on to Tokyo, for advanced studies in pharmacology.
Study of art in Tokyo.
Huang's desire was to be an artist, however. In 1936, being just 24, Huang was admitted to a Japanese art academy, the "Tōkyō Bijutsu Gakkō" (東京美術学校) or Tokyo School of Fine Arts, an art academy that had a good reputation.
When Huang Ching-cheng had departed for Tokyo in 1936, the Second Sino-Japanese war was less than a year away, and the terrible Nanking massacre would happen in November 1937. Chauvinism and militarist sentiments were on the rise. The situation deteriorated with the outbreak of the war against China (1937), and even more so since 1939/40 when the democracy that still had existed up to a point in the late 1930s, was rapidly suspended.
Huang Ching-cheng was violating the dominant ethical code that required filial piety when he was not studying pharmacology. This had consequences. "When his father became aware of this matter, in anger he stopped sending him money for his living expenses and tuition. (…) His brother Huang Qingshun (Ching-Shuan Huang) secretly lent him money, however, and this aid helped him, in part, to complete his studies."
Early work and the influence of Beethoven.
The fact that in an expensive city like Tokyo, his brother's financial support proved insufficient had a good side effect. The young man was compelled to work professionally as an artist while still in art school. In these highly productive years, he created a considerable number of art works, among them various busts. He also did “full body sculptures” and “seated sculptures.”
Among the works created by Huang Ching-cheng, there were a number of sculptures of Beethoven. Beethoven was a composer whom the artist greatly admired, as his elder brother confirmed later on.
Huang's interest in music and more specifically, in music from the West, is partly explained by his close relationship with a young pianist, "Guixiang Li" (李桂香, also: Kwei-Hsiang Lee). There was more to it, however. Generally speaking, Ludwig van Beethoven and Auguste Rodin stood for modernism at the time, as Y.-L. Hsueh points out. More specifically, under the conditions that existed in Tokyo in the 1930s and 40s, Beethoven and his music stood for cosmopolitanism and a thirst for freedom.
David B. Dennis has pointed out that Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" was always interpreted as an "Ode to Freedom" by progressives around the world. "Beethoven's enthusiasm about the French Revolution" is well known. As a Rhinelander, Beethoven had cherished Napoleonic reforms that increased civil liberties and introduced a progressive legal frame of reference, the Napoleonic Code or "Code civil". In Chinese art, literature, and music, criticism of rulers has often been allusive and indirect. Huang's choice of Beethoven turns out to be in line with this tradition, that “certain cultural heroes often find favor with Chinese artists (…)" because it allows them to take a stand.
Sculpture.
Huang's relationship with "Guixiang Li" (with whom he shared a passion for Beethoven) is not only revealed indirectly in his Beethoven sculptures. Among the few sculptures of Huang Ching-cheng that are known to have survived World War II and that are exhibited in museums in Taiwan, there is a bust that is titled "My Girlfriend Guei-shiang". It is part of the collection of the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in Taichung (Guólì Táiwān měishùguǎn/ Táizhōng shì 國立台灣美術館 / 台中市).
MOUVE.
In 1937, Huang Ching-cheng teamed up with graduate students at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts to form an artist group that would organize joint exhibitions. According to G. Huang (Huáng Guāngnán 黃光男) and X. Liao (Liào Xīntián 廖新田), these young artists "seceded from the Tai Yang artists’ association" when they formed their own group. Huang and Liao notice the group's "non-mainstream atmosphere."
The anti-mainstream artists soon called their group MOUVE (derived from the French word "mouvement"). Lai mentions another term by which the artists referred to their group, writing that the name chosen was “Action Art Group (or MOUVE painting group).” “Action Art Group” in Chinese is “xíngdòng měishù jítuán 行動美術集團.”
According to Chin-hsien Li, it was “Lán Yùn-dēng who recommended the name MOUVE.” Chin-hsien Li points out that at first, the young artists only wrote MOUVE “in Japanese katakana" which emphasized the term's French origin. No Chinese equivalent of the name existed initially. It was a symbolic choice that indicated a turn to the ‘new,’ away from the traditional art embraced by scholars and artists educated during the Qing dynasty and away from the academic Western-style painting practiced by many artists in Tokyo.
The rules that were drawn up by the group stressed research or studies: “1. Our goal is to study from each other frequently. 2. Each year, exhibitions of our studies shall not be fixed in numbers but shall be held when and where suitable (…)”
Hsien-tsung Lai refers to the group as “anti-establishment.” Jen-yi Lai specifically refers to the “Bohemian spirit” revealed in the works of one painter of this group, Jui-Lin Hung (Hóng Ruìlín 洪瑞麟), whom she singles out. But the Bohemian attitude was symptomatic of all members of this group.
Indeed, “MOUVE, at the time, was free. Works were exhibited every year, no works were excluded. Regardless of how often they would take part, regardless of how many works they wanted to show, every member could participate anytime, anywhere in the joint exhibition. This was the so-called MOUVE spirit.” Clearly, “the name was a symbol of avant-garde and of youth.”
On 19 March 1938, the artists who had formed the new group, Wan-chuan Chang (Zhāng Wànchuán 張萬傳), Jui-Lin Hung (Hóng Ruìlín 洪瑞麟), Dewang Chen (Chén Déwàng 陳德旺), Chi-ch’eng Lu (Lǚ Jīzhèng 呂基正), Chunde Chen (Chén Chūndé 陳春德), Huang Ching-cheng, and Liu-jen Teng (Děng Liùrén 等六人) had their first group exhibition. Except for Huang, who was a sculptor and painter, they were all painters.
Painting.
Critics at the time saw Huang Ching-cheng not only as a remarkable sculptor but also as a gifted painter. It has been emphasized that “(d)uring his study in Japan, he (…) specialized in oil painting and held a solo exhibition." Oil on canvas was preferred to ink and to water color techniques by a majority of modernist East Asian artists. In this, Huang was not different from other Taiwan-born painters who studied in the ‘Western painting’ division of a Japanese art academy.
Chun-hsien Li (李俊賢 Li Jùnxián), art historian at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, has noted the distinctive traits and the novelty of Huang's paintings. He writes, “If we look at Huang Ching-cheng’s work – "Black Woman" 黑衣女人 (hēi yī nǚrén), we get what may be described as a very direct sense of his use of color, which is very different from that found in the artistic environment of that era.” Lai also praises Huang when he speaks of “the mysterious painting, ‘Black Woman’ (...).”
Exhibitions.
In 1939, sculptures by Huang Ching-cheng and by another Taiwanese artist, Hsia-yu Chen 陳夏雨, were accepted by a jury and “included in the Imperial Exhibition” (Teiten Empire Exhibition or Imperial Exhibition, in Japanese: 帝展.) of that year.
A year later, in May 1940, the ‘MOUVE’ group organized “a ‘MOUVE Exhibition’ of three artists” – Wan-chuan Chang (張萬傳), ( Yong Xie 謝國庸), and Huang Ching-cheng – in the Tainan Public Hall (Táinán gōnghuì táng 台南公會堂.), Tainan (台南), South Taiwan.
In the same year (1940), Huang received an award of the Japanese Sculptors’ Association and it was “recommended” that he should “become a member of the association.”
MOUVE versus Tayang.
MOUVE, which Huang Ching-cheng had been founding together with several young Taiwan-born artists in Tokyo, was now, “at first glance, avant-garde, fresh air, so to speak, and the group’s members were painting in a new way. But it was a small group after all, no match for the power of the mainstream, especially the ‘Taiyang Art Association.’ Lu Chi-cheng and Chen Chunde soon took refuge to ‘Taiyang,’ and thus in the following year (1941) there was a pause in the group's activities.” Another reason for this ‘pause’ may have been Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and thus, the outbreak of the Pacific War. "At the end of 1940", the group – and that meant: the majority of its members – had already left Japan. “With the advent of the Pacific war” when “MOUVE was taken to be an English name” by the authorities, the artists were forced “to change its name.” The name was now changed to “Sculpture and Painting Association” (zàoxíng měishù xiéhuì 造型美術協會). Because some old members had left, it was a smaller group now. Under the new name Sculpture and Painting Association, the group soon “made a come-back with another exhibition,” however. Those who participated in this group exhibition (in Taiwan rather than Tokyo) were “Yün-teng Lan (Lán Yùndēng藍 運燈), Yen Shui-long (Yán Shuǐlóng顏水龍) and Cho-sao Fan (Fàn Zhuōzào范倬造), in addition to the remaining original members."
A year later, "MOUVE ran (…) out of steam, winding things up in a frenzy like a whirlwind, and it soon disappeared without a trace, after having recorded the flowering and frustration of the opposition faction of Taiwan's art world."
Work in Tainan.
Whereas other MOUVE artists like Jui-lin Hung had already returned to Taiwan for good, Huang Ching-cheng remained based in Tokyo. But "every summer, he would return to Taiwan for vacation," as the curator of the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (KMFA) notes. "Most of the time, he would live in the Tainan house of Kuo-Jong Hsieh (Xiè Guó-yōng 謝國鏞)." During these stays in Tainan, he "made a lot of sculptures for renowned officials of the Tainan district and had the support of local people in Tainan." In Tokyo, Huang did not only complete his studies at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. Soon recognized for his outstanding talent and accomplishment, he was honored by being invited to participate in several important exhibitions, among them the Bunten Art Exhibition of the Japanese Ministry of Education.
Death.
In 1943, Huang Ching-cheng was offered a teaching position at the Beiping Art School in Peking which was then a city occupied by the Japanese army. Planning to go to Taiwan first, the artist boarded “the passenger liner Takachiho Maru in Kobe, Japan" together with Guixiang Li. The ship was torpedoed by an American submarine as it approached Kīrun. About 1,000 passengers died. Few survived. Huang Ching-cheng was 31 when he died. Huang's premature death was a considerable loss that was felt in the art world of Taiwan.
Taiwanese art after Huang (1940s–1950s).
The fact that Huang Ching-cheng died prematurely may have saved him from suffering the fate of artists and writers who became victims of political repression. Death at age 31 meant that he could not produce a full-fledged, mature oeuvre. Huang's death was a considerable loss that was felt in the art world of Taiwan. But there were more blows to come that would hurt the development of modern art anchored in the socio-culture of the island.
The rebellious Jui-lin Hung, a leading figure of the MOUVE group, who had returned before 1943, became a miner and for several years could not afford oil colors and canvas. The painter Chen Cheng-po was shot by the KMT army in Chiayi in 1947, becoming one of the many victims of the so-called February 28 Incident. Under these conditions, “(t)he development of new art movement(s) was in fact not a smooth one,” as Chiung-jui Hsiao writes.
By the mid-1950, martial law came into effect. Now, Huang Jung-ts’an (Huang Rong-tsan / Huáng Róngcàn 黃榮燦), an artist who did realist woodcuts and who was a friend of the painter Chun-chen Li (Li Zhòngshēng 李仲生), was arrested. He was accused of “espionage in 1951 and (…) executed the next year.” According to Hsiao, this
“event influenced avant-garde artists who were promoting modern art at that time. (…) In 1955, Chao Chung-Hsiang left for Spain because he got the scholarship to study, while Chu Teh-Chun went to France. (…) The school supporting Ho Tieh-hua was on the downside on account of political tensions. His art fairs started to be oppressed. Chuang Shih-ho was admonished and forced to move back to Ping-Tung (i.e., Pingtung City or Píng dōng 屏東) (…) Ho Tieh-hua, on the other hand, (…) left for America in 1959 for good. In the same year, Lin Shen-yang attended the Sao Paulo Exhibition in Brazil as a judge and never returned."
On the other hand, there were those who tried to work. Thus, several of Huang Ching-cheng's colleagues who had participated in the MOUVE artists’ group founded a new group, the Era Art Association, in 1954.
Legacy.
Today, many art historians and artists in Taiwan agree on Huang's pioneering role, as a modernist Taiwan-born sculptor. Together with two other sculptors, Tien-shen Pu (Pú Tiānshēng蒲添生) who was born in 1912 like Huang, and Hsia-yu Chen (Chen Xiayu 陳夏雨) who was five years younger, Huang Ching-cheng belongs to the young generation of early Taiwan modernists who followed in the footsteps of Tu-shui Huang and who surpassed him in a way. Insofar, few would disagree with Ya-li Chen that “Huang Tu-shui(黃土水), Huang Ching-cheng, Chen Hsia-yu(陳夏雨) and Pu Tien-sheng(蒲添生) were the most important sculptors in Taiwan” during the Colonial era that came to an end in 1945. Huang's creative role as one of the few Taiwan-born pioneers of early modern sculpture assures him a permanent place in the history of modern art in Taiwan.
Huang in film.
In 2005, Huang Ching-cheng's life and work became the theme of a feature film by the Taiwanese film director Huang Yu-shan. The film, released in 2005 and titled The Strait Story, was discussed in two academic publications.
Huang Ching-cheng's life and work is also at the center of a documentary, “The Forgotten: Reflections on Eastern Pond” (2008) by Yu-Shan Huang.


Dorje Tseten

Dorje Tseten ( Tibetan: རྡོ་ རྗེ་ ཚེ་ བརྟན་, Wylie: rdo rje tshe brtan, Tibetan pinyin: Doje Cedain ), also Duojie Caidan (); November 1926, Huangzhong - July 6, 2013, Beijing) is a scholar, historian and Chinese politician of Tibetan ethnicity. He was chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) before becoming the first director of the China Tibetology Research Center.
Early life.
Tseten was born in November, 1926 in Huangzhong County, Qinhai Province.
In September 1948, Tseten graduated from Beijing Normal University with a degree in education.
Career.
He was one of the few Tibetan communists, a group of scientists and teachers, who were sent to Tibet to extol the benefits of Marxism-Leninism. The group arrived Chamdo early in the winter of 1951.
On 28 March 1959, he was appointed as a member of the preparatory committee for establishing the TAR. During the Cultural Revolution, he went into hiding.
In 1981, he became Vice President of the People's Congress of the TAR. From March 1983 to June 1985, he was one of the secretaries of the Communist Party in Tibet. From April 1983 to 1985, he was chairman of the People's Committee of TAR.
In 1986, he was removed from his post in Tibet, following a change in the Communist Party's position on Tibet after the 1987-1989 protests. He was appointed as the director of China Tibetology Research Center in Beijing, and he remained in this position until 2000.
He retired in April 2004, at the age of 78.
He died on 6 July 2013 in Beijing.
Views on Tibetan education.
In 1991, he published his book on education in Tibet, describing Tibetan language education as a crucial issue given "strong differences of opinion". He attributed the absence of Tibetan education during the Cultural Revolution to the rapid expansion of education, the shortage of teachers and textbooks, and the influence of leftist ideology. It emphasized the importance of Tibetan in the development of education and economy.
He reported that in a 1982 pilot project in three high schools in Lhasa, Gyantse, and Lhokha to compare the respective merits of Tibetan vs Chinese, classes taught in Tibetan at Gyantsé averaged twice as many exam marks as the classes taught in Chinese. The project was discontinued due to lack of books, qualified teachers and mismanagement. He recommended that Chinese not be taught in primary schools in rural areas and the use of Tibetan in education gradually be applied to middle school.


Wartime perception of the Chinese Communists

The Wartime perception of the Chinese Communists in the United States and other Western nations before and during World War II varied widely in both the public and government circles. The Soviet Union, whose support had been crucial to the Party from its founding, also supported the Nationalist government in order to defeat Japan and protect Russian territory.
Founded in 1921, the Communist Party was initially allied with the Kuomintang until the second half of the 1920s, when it was purged from membership within the unified national government under Chiang Kai-shek. In 1934, the party nearly annihilated, the remnants under the guidance of future Chairman Mao Zedong launched an ambitious retreat to escape destruction by the Kuomintang, known as The Long March. The Second Sino-Japanese War began in August 1937, and the Communists soon joined the United Front with the Nationalists, but by the time the United States was brought into the war by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the United Front had broken down.
During the war, there was much debate over the role of the Communist armies in fighting Japan, the nature of the Communist regime, and especially its intentions for cooperation or opposition after the war.
Perceptions in the West.
Much of the Western world was introduced to Communism in China on the eve war in 1937 through "Red Star Over China", a narrative of the Long March and introductory biography for several Communist leaders, by the American journalist, Edgar Snow. Snow reported that Mao was not a radical revolutionary, downplaying his calls for class struggle and highlighting his anti-imperialist rhetoric, He later described Mao and the Communist as a progressive force who desired a democratic, free China. Writing for "The Nation", Snow stated that the Chinese Communists "happen to have renounced, years ago now, any intention of establishing communism [in China] in the near future."
In 1944, when the invasion of Japan was still expected to launch from China, Washington sent the Dixie Mission to the Communist base in Yan'an. John Service, a Foreign Service Officer, visited in order to communicate and coordinate use of Communist armies against the Japanese. He praised the strength of their armies, urged communication with them to support the proposed invastion, and claimed that they were democratic reformers, likening them to European socialists rather than Soviet Communists and claimed that they were less corrupt and chaotic than the Nationalists, and that they would preserve levels of capitalism for an extended time until a peaceful transition to a fully realized communist society.
The US discussed with Chiang's government whether to send aid to the Chinese Communists during the war. Frustrated with Nationalist disorganization and corruption, Ambassador to China Clarence Gauss recommended the United States "pull up the plug and let the whole Chinese Government go down the drain". General Patrick Hurley accepted Stalin's assurance that the Chinese Communists were "radish Communists," red on the outside, white on the inside, and insisted that the differences between the Communists and Nationalists were no greater than those between the Republican and Democratic parties in the United States. China Burma India Theater Commander Joseph Stilwell repeatedly claimed (in contradiction to Comintern statistics) that Communists were doing more than the KMT against Japan, and sought to cut off all US aid to Chiang.
Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov told General Hurley that Mao and the rest of the Chinese Communists were not really Communists and that the Kremlin had no connections with them. The claims were accepted by Hurley at face value.
Perceptions in the Soviet Union.
Stalin privately underestimated the Chinese Communists and their ability to win a civil war, instead encouraging them to make peace with the KMT. Stalin was worried that Mao would become an independent rival force in world communism, preferring a divided China with Mao subordinate to the KMT.
Perceptions in China.
During the war, the CCP avoided any radical class-related policies of wealth or land redistribution so as to maximise national unity against the Japanese. This was highly successful at raising the CCP's popularity which reached its highest ever level. In addition, the peasants only joined the communists en masse after the Japanese invaded, rather than cooperate with the invaders. Hence it is demonstrable that Communist popularity did not come from their land reform proposals or rural poverty.
The Japanese puppet government of China produced extensive propaganda claiming that their main purpose was anti-communism, which backfired and helped to bolster the legitimacy of Communists further among the peasant victims of Japanese reprisals.
When the KMT right wing objected to CCP expansion of influence as part of guerilla campaigns, they were attacked on patriotic grounds. The Communists were able to gain popular legitimacy for their actions as long as they were carrying out resistance against Japan with greater aggressiveness than the KMT government, and this advantage was utilized by the Communists as seen in the New Fourth Army Incident.
Perceptions in Japan.
The Japanese described the communist guerillas of New Fourth Army as inferior in weapons to the KMT, but superior in training and discipline. One report noted that local residents in Fuan and Anfeng welcomed the orderly Communist troops due to good treatment of the locals.
The Japanese military treated the Chinese Communists with contempt, dismissed their own intelligence officers' reports of communist strength and insisted that the Communists were nothing more than bandits, which led to the Hundred Regiments Offensive coming as an absolute shock for the Imperial Japanese Army.


Georgios Rallis

Georgios Ioannou Rallis (; 26 December 1918 – 15 March 2006), anglicised to George Rallis, was a Greek conservative politician and Prime Minister of Greece from 1980 to 1981.
Ancestors in politics.
Georgios has descended from an old, noble and political Rallis family. Before Greek independence, Alexandros Rallis was a prominent Phanariote (Greek from Constantinople). In 1849 his son became Chief Justice of the Greek Supreme Court. Dimitrios Rallis (1844–1921), paternal grandfather of Georgios Rallis, was five times Prime Minister of Greece, for short periods in 1897, 1903, 1905, 1909 and 1921. His son, Ioannis Rallis (1878–1946), was collaborationist Prime Minister from 1943 to 1944, during the German occupation. After the liberation of Greece he was sentenced to life imprisonment for collaboration and died in jail in 1946. His maternal grandfather, Georgios Theotokis, was four times Prime Minister of Greece, between 1901 and 1907.
Early life.
Georgios Rallis was born on 26 December 1918 in the prestigious Kolonaki district of Athens.
After schooling he studied law and political sciences at the University of Athens. Shortly after graduating he joined the fight against fascist Italy after the invasion on 28 October 1940 as a cavalry Second Lieutenant of the Reserve. He was recalled to active service during the Greek Civil War of 1946–49, during which he served in the armoured corps.
Political career.
Rallis was first elected to the Greek Parliament as a member of the People's Party in the 1950 general election, and was re-elected in all subsequent elections until the end of his political career in 1993, except the 1958 election and the June 1989 election, where he did not run. He was first appointed a cabinet minister on 11 April 1954 in the government of Alexander Papagos, as Minister for the Presidency of the Government.
A close collaborator of Constantine Karamanlis, he retained the position under the first Karamanlis cabinet (6 October 1955 – 29 February 1956), and went on to serve as Minister for Transport and Public Works in the 1956–58 Karamanlis cabinet, and as Minister for the Interior in the 1961–1963 Karamanlis cabinet. He was also among the founding members of the National Radical Union (ERE) in 1956. In 1958, he quarrelled with Karamanlis over the latter's adoption of a new electoral law, on which he had not been consulted, and for a few years left ERE, before returning to the fold in 1961.
Rallis was appointed to the post of Minister for Public Order in the caretaker cabinet of Panagiotis Kanellopoulos on 3 April 1967. It was in this position that the coup d'état of the Colonels found him on 21 April 1967. Rallis managed to evade capture by the putschists and go to the command centre of the Greek Gendarmerie, from where by radio he tried in vain to get in contact with the III Army Corps and order it to descend onto Athens and suppress the coup. Following the establishment of the Junta of the Colonels, he was arrested thrice, imprisoned and sent to internal exile to the island of Kasos. Among his anti-regime activities were his campaigning against the Junta-sponsored Republic referendum of 1973, and his criticism of the regime through his editorship of the magazine "Politika Themata".
In 1974, following the fall of the dictatorship, Rallis became briefly Minister for the Interior and then again Minister to the Prime Minister in the national unity government under Karamanlis, and held on to the post (from 2 January 1975 as Minister for the Presidency of the Government) under the government formed by Karamanlis' new party, New Democracy, after the November 1974 election. On 5 January 1976 he also assumed the post of Minister for National Education and Religious Affairs, which he held in tandem with the former post until the end of the cabinet term on 28 November 1977. From the post of Minister for Education he oversaw the educational reform, the institution of the Demotic Greek as the formal language in schools and the administration, replacing the Katharevousa, and the reform of the school curricula.
Following the 1977 election, he served first as Minister for Coordination, before becoming Minister for Foreign Affairs in May 1978. He was the first Greek Foreign Minister to visit the Soviet Union, in October 1978, and negotiated Greece's accession to the EEC, signing Greece's accession agreement in May 1979. He also worked to restore relations with Bulgaria and Yugoslavia.
After Karamanlis was elected to the post of President of the Republic, on 8 May 1980 Rallis was elected by New Democracy's parliamentary group as the new party chairman, and was sworn in as Prime Minister on 10 May. During his tenure Greece rejoined the military wing of NATO.
He led the government until his defeat by Andreas Papandreou's PASOK in the 18 October 1981 election, resigning on 21 October. Shortly after, in early December, having lost the confidence of his party's MPs, he resigned from the chairmanship of New Democracy.
In May 1987 he split from New Democracy and became an independent MP. He did not participate in the June 1989 election, but after a personal invitation by the new New Democracy chairman, Konstantinos Mitsotakis, he rejoined the party and was elected an MP for Corfu. After a renewed dispute with Mitsotakis, now Prime Minister, over the handling of the Macedonia naming dispute, he resigned from his post and retired from politics in March 1993. During his retirement, Rallis established and cultivated organically-farmed vineyards and olive groves at his family estate on Corfu.
Although Rallis became Prime Minister at a time when the fortunes of his party were in decline, he remained a popular figure because of his well-liked personal attributes of mildness, modesty and straightforwardness. A wealthy patrician by birth, he always made a point of living modestly, walking to work (even as a Prime Minister, much to the frustration of his security detail), and taking the time to greet and talk with those he met on the street. He died of heart failure at his home on 15 March 2006. He is survived by his wife, Lena Rallis ("née" Voultsou) and their two daughters, Zaira Papaligouras and Joanna Farmakidis.
Rallis spoke English, French, and German, and wrote 14 books.
A bust of Rallis in Corfu was stolen in April 2019.


Lester Freamon

Lester Freamon is a fictional character on the HBO drama "The Wire", played by actor Clarke Peters. Freamon is a detective in the Baltimore Police Department's Major Crimes Unit. He is a wise, methodical detective, whose intelligence and experience are often central to investigations throughout the series, particularly with respect to uncovering networks of money laundering and corruption. He sometimes serves as an avuncular figure to several of the characters.
Character background and plot relations.
Freamon is a veteran of the Baltimore Police who establishes a positive reputation for his instincts, tenacity and intelligence. He served in the military and fought in the Vietnam War before joining the force. He was assigned to Homicide until he charged a politically connected fence to coerce his testimony in a homicide case, against the orders of the Deputy Commissioner. Though the case was successfully closed, Freamon transferred to the pawn shop unit as a punishment. Freamon spent thirteen years and four months in the assignment, until he had been completely forgotten by management. A deskbound Freamon took a hobby of making dollhouse furniture, which provides him with a substantial supplemental income and contributes to his eccentric reputation among fellow police. At the end of the series, it was revealed that Freamon had joined the department in the early 1970s, around the same time as Bill Rawls, Ervin Burrell and Howard "Bunny" Colvin, yet focused solely on police work and never obtained rank.
Season 1.
Freamon, along with other detectives viewed as useless by the BPD higher-ups, is transferred to initial Barksdale detail under Lieutenant Cedric Daniels. When Polk and Mahon fail to find a good photo of Avon Barksdale, Freamon takes a cue from an offhand comment from Kima Greggs and tracks down a photo of Avon at a boxing gym. He further impresses his colleagues when he locates D'Angelo Barksdale's pager number at an abandoned stash house. Impressed by Freamon's abilities, Jimmy McNulty inquires about him in a conversation with Bunk Moreland, who tells him Freamon is an ex-homicide detective. Later, Freamon tells McNulty he was sent to the pawn shop unit after angering the then-Deputy Ops. Freamon warns that McNulty will probably suffer a similar fate at the conclusion of the case.
Freamon proves himself adept at building the Barksdale case through the use of a wiretap; he recognizes patterns of pager messages and telephone calls, which lead to several breakthroughs, most notably finding the main stash house in Pimlico. He also leads the investigation into the Barksdales' financial records and uncovers their various political connections, instructing Leander Sydnor and Roland Pryzbylewski in the mechanics of following the paper trail. He also recruits Shardene Innes, one of the dancers in the Barksdales' strip club, as an informant, beginning a romantic relationship with her in the process.
After Greggs gets shot, Freamon tracks a page made by Wee-Bey Brice, one of the shooters, to a payphone where he finds evidence implicating the other shooter, Little Man. He then uses a contact in the phone company to trace call patterns and pinpoint Wee-Bey's whereabouts, leading to his arrest and conviction. Following the dissolution of the detail, Rawls notes Freamon's competence as a detective and transfers him back into Homicide; he makes room for Freamon by dumping McNulty to the Marine Unit in the fashion that Freamon had predicted.
Season 2.
Freamon is now partnered with Bunk, and they are quickly recognized as the best detectives in Homicide. Sergeant Jay Landsman has them assigned to take on the case of fourteen Jane Does found in a shipping container at the Port of Baltimore. They get detailed Beadie Russell, the officer from the Port Authority who initially found the bodies, as a liaison for the investigation. They determine that the women in the container suffocated after an air pipe was deliberately closed off, and that a fourteenth victim whose body was picked up by McNulty, is tied to the case.
Freamon and Bunk travel to the Philadelphia port and detain the vessel that had delivered the container to Baltimore. They attempt to question the crew, but none of them can speak English. They eventually let the ship go after learning that two crewmen had jumped ship after Baltimore. Based on the few facts they have, Freamon and Bunk deduce that the women were prostitutes being smuggled in from overseas, that one of the girls was murdered by a sailor after refusing sex, and that the rest were killed for witnessing the crime. The killer is one of the crewmen who fled, leaving the investigation at a dead end. Freamon and Bunk are severely rebuked by a frustrated Rawls for releasing the ship without getting statements.
Freamon is relieved to be assigned, at Daniels' request, to the detail investigating Frank Sobotka and the stevedore union. Though he continues to assist Bunk and Russell in the Jane Does, he becomes focused on the investigation of smuggling through the Baltimore ports. On Beadie's advice, Freamon convinces Daniels to clone the port's computers to track container movements. They are able to follow containers being moved illegally to a warehouse, ultimately linking Sobotka to the criminal activities of The Greek. The investigation closes with several arrests and, in the process, Freamon identifies a dismembered body killed by The Greek's crew as being one of the crewmen who jumped ship. Bunk and Freamon solve the Jane Doe homicides after Sergei Malatov, facing a possible death sentence, gives them the details they needed. Landsman and Rawls are again content with the Homicide unit's clearance rate.
Season 3.
Freamon stays with Daniels in the now-permanent Major Crimes Unit, building a case against their assigned target, a drug dealer named Kintel Williamson. He acts as a mediator between Daniels and McNulty, reminding the latter that Daniels had gotten him out of the marine unit. When the unit's focus is returned to the Barksdales, Freamon is stumped by the new strategy of using disposable cell phones, finishing their pre-paid minutes before a wiretap can be approved. He masterminds a scheme wherein he goes undercover as a con artist selling illegally recharged (and wiretapped) disposable phones to Bernard, a Barksdale soldier that Bubbles is acquainted with. Avon gets caught in a safehouse filled with illegal weapons and returned to prison, though an also-implicated Stringer Bell is killed before he can be arrested.
Season 4.
Freamon is now the guiding force behind the MCU, now led (at least on paper) by Lieutenant Jimmy Asher. The MCU continues running the wiretap on the Stanfield Organization, though Freamon is disappointed that Marlo Stanfield's lack of discipline is making the investigation too easy. Meanwhile, he continues to follow the Barksdale money trail, subpoenaing the financial records of State Senator Clay Davis and property developer Andy Krawczyk.
Freamon wrongly believes that Mayor Clarence Royce would not risk interfering with a criminal investigation to help Davis and Krawczyk due to an upcoming election. Feeling pressure from both, Royce angrily goes to Burrell and Rawls and forces them to deal with it. In order to appease Royce, Rawls concludes that "proper supervision" will keep the MCU under control and prevent them from moving forward. He installs a new commander, Lieutenant Charles Marimow, who immediately butts heads with Freamon by attempting to bring down the wiretap. Freamon is sent to Rawls, who subtly threatens Greggs and Sydnor if Freamon goes to a judge to keep the wiretap running. Freamon concedes, but refuses to work under Marimow.
Out of respect for his shrewd investigative tactics, Rawls transfers Freamon back to Homicide, where Bunk has been investigating the murder of Stanfield drug dealer Fruit and the disappearance of suspect Curtis "Lex" Anderson. They both recognize that Stanfield likely had Lex killed in retribution, but are unable to find the body, which has been sealed up in a vacant row house. Freamon further observes that Stanfield is not tied to any murders since the Barksdale gang war ended, and begins to scour Baltimore for any trace of the bodies he knows must be hidden somewhere.
Herc unwittingly provides Freamon with a key clue in the form of a nail gun he noticed when he pulled over Chris Partlow and Snoop. Pryzbylewski, now a teacher, provides second-hand information through one of his students, Randy Wagstaff, who knows where Lex was killed. While checking abandoned row houses in that immediate area, Freamon notices that one of the doors was nailed in while the others were screwed shut, and realizes that Lex's body must be inside. He further concludes that the Stanfield Organization is leaving bodies in row houses all throughout Baltimore. With the nails identifying which houses are doubling as tombs, more than twenty bodies are found. Daniels, now a colonel gaining political traction, allows Freamon to assemble his team to begin investigating Stanfield again.
Season 5.
Freamon reconstitutes the MCU under the command of Asher, which includes McNulty, Greggs, Sydnor and Kenneth Dozerman. Initial investigations into the vacant murders fails to provide enough evidence to bring charges against the Stanfield Organization. Freamon elects to begin daily surveillance of Stanfield, who becomes aware of the ongoing investigation and limits his violent activity and communications. The MCU becomes dissatisfied when fiscal problems at City Hall lead to the withholding of overtime pay. The unit is eventually shut down to save funds. Freamon is detailed to the State's Attorney's office to prepare a corruption case against Davis. Sydnor joins him in the detail and they report to Assistant State's Attorney Rhonda Pearlman.
Freamon heralds the Davis investigation as a career case, but is unable to let go of his work on Stanfield. Freamon continues surveillance of Stanfield in his own time and is pleased to find Stanfield "dropping his guard" now that he is no longer under observation. Freamon and McNulty meet with FBI agent Terrence Fitzhugh, unsuccessfully seeking federal support against Stanfield. McNulty resorts to creating the illusion of a serial killer to draw media attention to the BPD and elicit funding for the Stanfield investigation. Bunk is outraged that McNulty is interfering with crime scenes and falsifying case notes as part of his plan, and enlists Freamon to talk sense into him. However, this backfires when Freamon decides that McNulty hasn't gone far enough and suggests that he should find a way to sensationalize the killer.
Sydnor uncovers evidence that Davis lied on a mortgage application, and Freamon realizes it is significant enough to file federal charges. Rupert Bond decides not to file the new charge, as passing the case over to federal prosecutors would cost him the opportunity to raise his political profile. After Davis is acquitted following an incredible performance on the witness stand, Freamon tries to get the U.S. Attorney to prosecute Davis for lying on his mortgage application. While the office declines because Davis' heightened profile, Freamon uses the information to blackmail Davis for information about a leak at the courthouse.
McNulty and Freamon collaborate on raising the profile of their fake serial killer, resulting in Freamon adding a sexual motive and supplying a set of dentures to create bite marks on the "victims". They conduct actual canvassing among the homeless as a cover. Freamon also recruits his old patrol partner Oscar Requer to look out for recently deceased bodies of homeless men. They soon have their next fake victim and McNulty mocks up the crime scene and mutilates the body to imply another murder. When Freamon gets a hold of Stanfield's cell phone, he sets up an illegal wiretap on the phone but is initially surprised to find no conversations are taking place on it. Freamon learns Stanfield's phone is transmitting pictures of clocks and tries to break the code. When money is provided for investigation into the "serial killer," which McNulty redirects to the Stanfield investigation, more surveillance officers are added and Sydnor works out that the code is relaying location information for face-to-face meetings. In Freamon's resulting bust, most of the Stanfield Organization is arrested and a large quantity of heroin is confiscated.
Freamon is upset when McNulty tells Greggs about the fake serial-killer plan. After Daniels and Pearlman look into the matter and discover the illegal wiretap, and the subsequent damage it will do to the Stanfield case, they inform Mayor Tommy Carcetti. Pearlman tells McNulty and Freamon that they will not face jail but are finished as police officers. Freamon laments the loss of tracking Stanfield's money trail, but takes the retirement, makes peace with Greggs, and is last seen in the end-of-season montage putting together dollhouse furniture in the company of Shardene.
Critical response.
"Entertainment Weekly" named Freamon one of the five most interesting characters in season 4.


Four Days in September

Four Days in September () is a 1997 Brazilian thriller film directed by Bruno Barreto and produced by his parents Lucy and Luiz Carlos Barreto. It is a fictional version of the 1969 kidnapping of the United States Ambassador to Brazil, Charles Burke Elbrick, by members of Revolutionary Movement 8th October (MR-8) and Ação Libertadora Nacional (ALN).
It was nominated as Best Foreign Language Film at the 1998 Academy Awards.
Background.
The film is "loosely based" on the 1979 memoir "O Que É Isso Companheiro?" (in English: "What's This, Comrade?"), written by politician Fernando Gabeira. In 1969, as a member of Revolutionary Movement 8th October (MR-8), a student guerrilla group, he participated in the abduction of the United States ambassador to Brazil, negotiating to gain release of leftist political prisoners. MR-8 was protesting the recent takeover of Brazil by a military government and seeking the release of political prisoners. But, the military increased its repression of dissent, MR-8 and ALN members were tortured by the police, and democracy was not re-established in Brazil until 1985.
Gabeira later became a journalist and politician, elected as congressman from the Green Party.
Plot.
The film is a fictional version of the dramatic events of the 1969 abduction of the American ambassador Charles Burke Elbrick (played by Alan Arkin) in 1969. Elbrick was taken in Rio de Janeiro by the Revolutionary Movement 8th October (MR-8) with help of Ação Libertadora Nacional (ALN). Gabeira (played by Pedro Cardoso and named Paulo in the film) as a student joins the radical movement after the military takeover of the Brazilian government. He and his comrades, led by Andréia, gradually decided to kidnap the ambassador as a protest, and are shown mostly planning and executing the kidnapping. Paulo is portrayed as "the most intelligent and uncertain of the kidnappers."
The film explores Paulo's love affair with Andréia, the guerrilla leader. It suggests a kind of friendship developing between Paulo and Elbrick. The ambassador is portrayed as a decent man who shares some of his kidnappers' frustrations regarding the Brazilian military dictatorship, but who feels obligated to follow orders he might disagree with.
Cast.
The main characters include:
Reception.
The film had mixed reviews, in part because of its fictionalizing Brazilian history, and its uneasy portrayal of terrorist activities by student radicals. Stephen Holden of "The New York Times" wrote, ""Four Days in September" is an uneasy hybrid of political thriller and high-minded meditation on terrorism, its psychology and its consequences." He noted that the film suggests the kidnapping was followed by worse political events, with increased repression, and torture of MR-8 members. He describes Cardoso as the most complex character.
Roger Ebert gave it two stars, saying the film was marked by a "quiet sadness" and the "film examines the way that naive idealists took on more than they could handle." He suggests that the film tries to humanize both sides but seems muddled. Ebert writes, "The point of view is that of a middle-age man who no longer quite understands why, as a youth, he was so sure of things that now seem so puzzling."
Awards.
Internationally, the film was nominated for many awards, including Best Foreign Language Film by the Academy Awards. Brazil entered it into the 47th Berlin International Film Festival.


Garrick Theatre fire

In 1916, at the Garrick Theatre in Hereford, England, eight child performers were killed by a fire during a fund-raising concert. One of the group's costumes caught light when they were leaving the stage.
Theatre.
The theatre was built in 1882 and renamed in 1909 after David Garrick, the actor and theatrical manager, who was born in Hereford in 1717.
Concert.
In 1916, during World War I, a fund-raising concert was held "for the benefit of the Herefords and Shropshires" (two local county regiments, the former being the Herefordshire Light Infantry, the latter the King's Shropshire Light Infantry) at the Garrick Theatre, Hereford. One of the turns was provided by more than forty local school-children, wearing snow maiden and Eskimo costumes made in part from cotton wool, even though its use was prohibited in theatres, due to the risk of fire.
As a group of 13 children were leaving the stage, one of their costumes caught fire: within moments, all 13 were alight.
By the end of the night, despite rescue efforts by members of the cast and audience, six children had died. Two more died subsequently from their burns.
Inquest.
The subsequent inquest heard conflicting claims. Faith Mailes, the concert organiser, whose daughter died, said that she had seen a smoker, backstage, discard a match. Theatre staff and others present denied that anyone had been smoking. Verdicts of accidental death were returned.
Funerals and legacy.
A joint funeral for five of the victims was held at Hereford Cathedral. The public stood "ten deep" in parts of nearby Broad Street as the funeral corteges passed. Soldiers served as pall-bearers. The girls were buried at Hereford Cemetery, but the precise location of their graves is lost.
At a meeting held in Hereford Town Hall in September 1916, it was decided to raise £500 with which to endow a memorial cot on the Children's Ward of Herefordshire General Hospital (since demolished). That target was exceeded, and the cot was unveiled there, together with a memorial plaque, in April 1917.
The theatre was rebuilt later in 1916, but subsequently demolished. Another plaque, mentioning the fire, marks its former location, on Widemarsh Street.
Local residents campaigned for a "lasting memorial" near the site. This campaign inspired Hereford Cathedral and architect Robert Kilgour to commission a memorial plaque, cast in lead. The commission was accepted by Carey Lead Ltd. and installation was carried out on 15 March 2018. The plaque is on permanent display below the SAS memorial window in the cathedral's Lady Arbour Cloister.


Military Vicariate of Austria


Something Nice from London

Something Nice from London is a 2013 Zimbabwean British drama film written by Petina Gappah and directed by Nick Marcq. The film stars Munya Chidzonga, Tonderai Munyebvu and Lovewell Chisango in the lead roles while Memory Busoso, Rambidzai Karize and Lauren Marshall play supportive roles. The film is titled ironically as its climax is linked with the untimely death of Peter who dies in London under mysterious circumstances. The film is a joint collaboration of Britain based Latimer Films and British Council. The movie is inspired and adapted from Petina Gappah's short story with the same title which was a part of the award-winning anthology "An Elergy For Easterly". The film had its theatrical release on 1 April 2015 coinciding the April Fools' Day but it was screened in few film festivals in late 2013.
Plot.
Tensions rise in Harare as the Chikwiro family await the arrival of their dead son Peter from London. Conflict arises on burying of Peter's body which turns out to be a chaos. Peter's mother insists to bury on a local cemetery but Matyaya and Jonathan are persuading other ideas to consider Shurugwi, the place where Peter's father was buried. Mary's cousin Lisa who is in England then informs the relatives of Peter in Harare that it could take another week to send the body.
Filming.
The film was mostly shot and set in Zimbabwe and few portions of the film were set in London.


Maung Maung Kyaw

General Maung Maung Kyaw (, born 23 July 1964) is a Burmese military officer who is currently serving as Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar Air Force and a member of Myanmar's State Administration Council.
Career.
He was promoted to Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar Air Force on 2 January 2018, after his predecessor Khin Maung Myint reached the mandatory retirement age.
Subsequently, he was appointed as a members of the SAC on 2 February 2021, in the aftermath of the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état.
Sanctions.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury has imposed sanctions on "Maung Maung Kyaw" since 22 February 2021, pursuant to Executive Order 14014, for he is an official of the military or security forces of Burma and a member of the State Administration Council responsible for killing of peaceful protestors. The US sanctions include freezing of assets under the US and ban on transactions with US person.
The Government of Canada has imposed sanctions on him since 18 February 2021, pursuant to Special Economic Measures Act and Special Economic Measures (Burma) Regulations, in response to the gravity of the human rights and humanitarian situation in Myanmar (formerly Burma). Canadian sanctions include freezing of assets under Canada and ban on transactions with Canadian person.
The British Government placed sanctions on him on 25 February 2021, following the coup. The UK sanctions include freezing of assets under the UK and ban on traveling or transiting to the UK.
Furthermore, the Council of the European Union has imposed sanctions on him since 22 March 2021, pursuant to Council Regulation (EU) 2021/479 and Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/480 which amended Council Regulation (EU) No 401/2013, for his responsibility for the military coup and the subsequent military and police repression against peaceful demonstrators. The EU sanctions include freezing of assets under member countries of the EU and ban on traveling or transiting to the countries.
Personal life.
He is the youngest son of General Thura Kyaw Htin. His elder brother Thant Kyaw is a former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Maung Maung Kyaw is married to Aung Mar Myint, and has two sons, Hein Htet and Kaung Htet.


Shaya FM

Shaya FM is a community internet radio station which focuses on Mthwakazi (i.e. Matabeleland regions of Zimbabwe) and Southern Africa. This is a mixed speech and music station and the music policy includes the following genres: Kwaito, House, Jazz, Gospel, Mbaqanga, Imbube, Isitshikitsha, Kalanga Rumba, and many more music styles.
Shaya FM serves Mthwakazi and Southern African people in the Diaspora. They play authentic music and air talk programming which is informative and reflects the culture and the heritage of the people of Mthwakazi.
This station also provides balanced news. The broadcasters also carry news items and current affairs during their programmes.
This station's listeners are from different backgrounds and all ages.
The presenters/broadcasters on Shaya FM are volunteering individuals from diverse disciplines with in depth information knowledge of their programmes and have a tolerance of different views.
Shaya FM is run by Inkundla Community Interest Company.


All Through the Night (film)

All Through the Night is a 1942 American comedy-gangster-spy thriller film directed by Vincent Sherman and starring Humphrey Bogart, Conrad Veidt and Kaaren Verne, and featuring many of the Warner Bros. company of character actors. It was released by Warner Brothers. The supporting cast features Peter Lorre, Frank McHugh, Jackie Gleason, Phil Silvers, Barton MacLane, and William Demarest.
Plot.
Alfred "Gloves" Donahue (Humphrey Bogart), a big-shot Broadway gambler, is alerted by his mother, "Ma" Donahue (Jane Darwell), that her neighbor, Mr. Miller (Ludwig Stossel), a baker who makes Gloves' favorite cheesecake, is missing and she's "got a feeling" something sinister has happened. Gloves searches the bakery and finds Miller's dead body. A young singer, Leda Hamilton (Kaaren Verne), quickly leaves the shop upon hearing about Miller's demise. Mrs. Donahue believes that the girl knows something and tracks her down to a night club, where she creates a racket by "crabbing" about Miller's death. Marty Callahan (Barton MacLane), co-owner of the club, calls Gloves, insisting that he come down and take care of the situation. While at the club, Gloves has a drink with Leda that is interrupted by her piano player, Pepi (Peter Lorre), who takes her away to a back room, where he shoots Marty's partner, Joe Denning (Edward Brophy). Leda and Pepi then disappear in a taxi as Gloves stumbles upon Joe. Before dying, Joe raises up five fingers to indicate who took Leda. Gloves quickly leaves to search for Leda, inadvertently leaving one of his gloves at the murder scene.
While being suspected of Joe's murder by Marty and the police, Gloves traces the taxi to an antiques auction house operated by Hall Ebbing (Conrad Veidt) and his assistant, Madame (Judith Anderson). Gloves poses as a bidder but is recognized by Pepi. He subsequently gets knocked out by Leda, tied up, and left in a storage room with one of his boys, Sunshine (William Demarest), who was captured earlier. Later, Leda visits them and helps them break free before they can be shipped out in crates. While escaping, Gloves and Sunshine walk into a room with maps, charts, a short-wave radio, and a portrait of Adolf Hitler. They realize what Joe was indicating before he died: their captors are "fivers" or Nazi fifth columnists. Gloves finds a notebook and reads Miller's name in it as well as that of "Leda Hamilton", her Jewish name "Uda Hammel", and the death of her father in Dachau concentration camp.
With Leda in tow, they escape. They are chased by Ebbing and his cronies into Central Park. Here, Leda explains that she works with Ebbing only to save her father's life. While Gloves fights with a Nazi, Leda reads the torn-out page that states her father is already dead. Gloves and Leda go to the police, who search the antique house, but find it empty. Not believing Gloves's story, they attempt to arrest him, but he escapes by diving into the East River. He arrives at his lawyer's (Wallace Ford) apartment, only to have Marty and his mob break in, eager to avenge Joe's murder. After Gloves convinces them of his innocence, the two gangs join forces against the Nazi spies.
Gloves, Sunshine, and Barney (Frank McHugh) go to the police station where Leda is being held. Ebbing, however, has bailed her out, and they arrive as she is being forced into a car. Following the car, they find a large underground Nazi meeting. Gloves and Sunshine capture two Nazis and impersonate them to get in, but the explosives expert Gloves is impersonating is asked to report on his work. Gloves and Sunshine stall the meeting using a double talk ruse until the combined gangs arrive to break it up. Ebbing escapes, asking Pepi to join him in a suicide attack to blow up a battleship in New York harbor. Pepi refuses, so Ebbing kills him and proceeds alone. Gloves follows him to the docks, but Ebbing surprises him and forces him into a motorboat containing high explosives. At gunpoint, Ebbing forces Gloves to steer the boat toward the battleship. Gloves suddenly steers the boat off course and jumps into the water, while the boat with Ebbing still on board crashes into a barge and explodes.
Back at the police station, Gloves and Leda find out that all charges have been dropped and that the mayor is going to honor him at city hall. Ma Donahue enters complaining that the milkman has disappeared, and as before, she's "got a feeling" about it.
Cast.
Cast notes
Production.
Production was completed in early October 1941, two months before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The film was released in New York on January 23, 1942.
Producer Hal B. Wallis made "All Through the Night" as a "companion piece" to his earlier anti-Nazi melodrama, "Underground", despite the poor box office of the prior film.
Humphrey Bogart was not the first person considered for the lead in the film: it was originally supposed to be played by Walter Winchell, the gossip columnist who would later be the narrator for the TV series "The Untouchables". When Winchell could not get the time off to make the film, Wallis offered it to George Raft, and then, when Raft turned it down, to Bogart. It was one of several parts Bogart played which had originally been offered to Raft.
Olivia De Havilland and Marlene Dietrich were considered for the female lead.
On TCM.com, Mark Frankel reports that the scene in which Bogart and William Demarest confuse a room full of Nazi sympathizers with doubletalk was not part of the original script, “Sherman thought the idea up himself and presented it to producer Hal Wallis. Wallis hated the idea, but Sherman was so convinced that the film needed it, that he shot it anyway. When Wallis saw the scene in the rough cut, he angrily told Sherman to take it out. Sherman, however, left a bit of it in and when the film had a sneak preview, the audience ‘exploded with laughter' at the double-talk. Wallis told Sherman to put it all back in.”
Reception.
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 100% rating based on ten contemporary reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10.
Leonard Maltin gives it 3 out of 4 stars: "Interesting blend of spy, gangster, and comedy genres, with memorable double-talk and auction scenes."
Bosley Crowther of "The New York Times" gave the film a mostly positive review, writing: "In spite of its slap-bang construction and its hour-and-three-quarters length, the picture does move with precision and steadily maintained suspense ... "All Through the Night" is not exactly a melodrama out of the top drawer, but it is a super-duper action picture — mostly duper, when you stop to think."
On Dec. 3, 1941, before the attack on Pearl Harbor, a reviewer for "Variety" wrote: "Somewhat on the lurid side and with the Nazi menace motif of familiar timber, shortcomings are compensated for by fast-moving continuity which smartly builds suspense and hold (sic) attention." By December 31, "Variety" had changed its tune: “Chase and gunbattle in Central Park, scraps in the warehouse district, the mystery girl in distress, emphasis on danger to American institutions from foreign conspirators add up to elementary but surefire audience appeal.”
"Film Daily" called it a "fast-moving and exciting melodrama." Russell Maloney of "The New Yorker" panned the film, writing that "Hitchcock himself couldn't have asked for a better plot," but claiming that it was brought down by "the feebleness of invention, the wordiness of the dialogue, [and] the sluggishly paced direction."
Box office.
According to Warner Bros records the film earned $1,009,000 domestically and $959,000 foreign during its initial run.
"Variety" estimated the film had earned $1.1 million domestically by the end of 1942.


Defense Commissary Agency

The Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA), headquartered at Fort Lee (Virginia), is an agency of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) that operates nearly 240 commissaries worldwide. American military commissaries sell groceries and household goods to active-duty, Guard, Reserve, and retired members of all eight uniformed services of the United States and eligible members of their families at cost plus surcharge, saving authorized patrons thousands of dollars compared to civilian supermarkets.
History.
The commissary benefit is not a recent innovation. Sales of goods from commissary department storehouses to military personnel began in 1825, when U.S. Army officers at specified posts could make purchases at cost for their personal use; by 1841, officers could also purchase items for members of their immediate families.
However, the modern era of sales commissaries is considered to have actually begun in 1867, when enlisted men received the same at-cost purchasing privileges officers had already enjoyed for four decades. No geographic restrictions were placed upon these sales; the commissary warehouse at every Army post could become a sales location, whether they were located on the frontier or near a large city. From the start, commissaries were meant to take on-post retail functions out of the hands of civilian vendors and post traders and allow the Army to "care for its own." The stores provided food beyond what was supplied in the official rations, and the savings they provided supplemented military pay. The modern concept of commissary sales stores, which were established to benefit military personnel of all ranks by providing healthful foods at cost, reached its 150th anniversary on July 1, 2017.
The commissary retail function developed and grew, roughly parallel to the development of the retail grocery industry. The commissaries’ 82-item stock list of 1868 was comparable to the stock assortment in a typical civilian dry goods grocery store at that time. Commissaries kept pace with developments in civilian supermarkets, and the average commissary today has more than 12,000 line items; the largest stores have several thousand more.
The list of eligible shoppers has also grown. Originally, only active-duty Army personnel could shop. Today, personnel in all services, including the Coast Guard and National Guard and Reserves, may shop in the commissary on any U.S. military installation, around the world. Military retirees – those who have served in uniform 20 years or more – were first allowed to make commissary purchases in 1878, and they continue to have shopping privileges. Spouses and dependent children of service personnel are authorized commissary privileges, as are recipients of the Medal of Honor, and veterans honorably discharged from service with 100% disability in connection with military service also have authorized commissary privileges.
As the role of the American military grew larger, commissaries began to spread around the world. The first overseas stores opened in Cuba, the Philippines and in China between 1898 and 1904. They were soon followed by commissaries in Panama and Puerto Rico. Eventually, all the services adopted the Army's concept of commissary sales stores and tailored the concept to their own needs. The Navy and Marine Corps opened their first commissaries in 1909 and 1910, and the Air Force inherited its stores from the Army Air Forces in 1947 and 1948. By the mid-1970s, each of the services ran its own commissary agency, with differing procedures and systems: the Army Troop Support Agency (TSA), the Navy Resale System Support Office (NAVRESSO), the Commissary Section of the Marine Corps Services Command, and the Air Force Commissary Service (AFCOMS).
Separate systems combined.
In 1989, Congress directed DoD to conduct a study of the separate military commissary systems. The ensuing report by the Jones Commission (headed by Army Lt. Gen. Donald E. Jones) recommended consolidating the service systems into one agency to improve service and save money. The Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) was established May 15, 1990, by a memorandum from the deputy secretary of defense; this was the first DoD functional agency consolidation during the post-Cold War cutbacks and downsizing.
DoD appointed Army Maj. Gen. John P. Dreska as the agency's first director in June 1990. Shortly afterward, a transition team of commissary functional experts managed the consolidation of all the service systems into a single agency, and DeCA assumed full control of all commissaries on Oct. 1, 1991, at its headquarters in Fort Lee, Va.
After leading DeCA through its initial year of operation, Dreska retired in 1992, and Army Maj. Gen. Richard E. Beale Jr. became the new director. Beale retired from the military Sept. 30, 1996, but stayed on the job as the first civilian director of the agency. He was succeeded by Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert J. Courter Jr. (November 1999 to August 2002) and Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael P. Wiedemer (August 2002 to October 2004). Patrick B. Nixon, who served as director and CEO from October 2004 to October 2007, was the first person in U.S. history to become director of any commissary agency after beginning his career at store level and steadily rising through the commissaries' civilian career field. Following Nixon's retirement, Richard S. Page served as acting director until the arrival of director and CEO, Philip E. Sakowitz Jr., in June 2008. Thomas E. Milks was acting director and CEO, from Sakowitz's June 2010 retirement until Joseph H. Jeu succeeded Sakowitz 3 June 2011.
Joseph H. Jeu subsequently served as the director and CEO from January 2011 until his retirement in June 2017. Michael Dowling served as acting director and CEO following Jeu’s retirement. On Oct. 24, DOD announced retired Rear Adm. Robert J. Bianchi as the interim director and CEO. Bianchi is also the CEO of the Navy Exchange Service Command.
Authorized commissary patrons.
Authority to shop at Commissaries is normally determined by presentation of the U.S. Uniformed Services Privilege and Identification Card or a Common Access Card. At some military bases authorized patrons are allowed to bring guests into the commissaries. Guests are not authorized to make commissary purchases, and patrons are not permitted to make commissary purchases for guests. Base commanders can order the restriction of guests to the commissaries.
Commissary privileges overseas are covered under Status of Forces Agreements (SOFA), Visiting Forces agreements, treaties, etc. Since products sold in overseas commissaries pass across international borders and are customs, duty, and tax free; there are shopping restrictions.
Personal agent.
Authorized Commissary patron may designate an agent or representative, on a temporary basis not to exceed one year, to accompany and assist an authorized patron to the commissary under the following conditions:
The personal agent will be provided official agent credentials or an approval letter, and then may enter any commissary to shop on behalf of the authorized patron. Only an installation commander can authorize agent privileges.
Guard/Reserve On-Site Sales.
Guard/Reserve On-Site Sales is a program that allows Guard/Reserve members and their families, and any authorized shopper living long distances from a commissary store. The sales which provide patrons significant savings; the same as active duty military personnel that shop regularly at the commissaries. Guard/Reserve On-Site Sales are held at Reserve Centers, National Guard armories and Air National Guard bases.
Commissaries today.
Today's customers also pay a surcharge on their purchases, which was mandated by Congress in 1952 to make commissaries more self-sustaining. The surcharge, which has been set at 5 percent since April 1983, provides modern shopping facilities for service members at a reduced cost to taxpayers. Unlike a tax, surcharge funds go right back into the commissary to work for commissary customers, paying for the cost of building new stores, renovating and repairing existing ones and purchasing equipment and store-level information technology systems such as cash registers.
Commissary patrons worldwide save thousands of dollars annually on their grocery bills. Customers can use manufacturer's coupons to save even more on their commissary purchases. Annual sales now are nearly $5 billion.
Surveys consistently rate the commissaries as one of the military's top non-pay benefits. Many young service families, particularly those stationed in high cost-of-living urban areas, simply could not make ends meet without the price savings provided by the commissaries. DeCA has delivered more than $2 in savings to customers for every taxpayer dollar used to support the commissary system. In other words, preserving this level of compensation in direct dollar payments to military personnel would cost the government more than twice the current fund appropriation.


Chekiang Province, Republic of China

Zhejiang or Chekiang was the former province in the Republic of China administering Zhejiang. Founded after the collapse of the Qing dynasty, it was abolished after the ROC Forces, ROC government officials and local residents were evacuated from Dachen to Taiwan in 1955 following the military defeat of the ROC by People's Liberation Army forces of the newly-founded People's Republic of China during the Battle of Dachen Archipelago.
After the Chinese Civil War, the Kuomintang-led Republic of China government lost its control in Mainland China and only held several east coast islands off Mainland Chekiang Province, including Dachen, Yijiangshan, Pishan, Toumenshan, Yushan Island and Nanji. After losing the mainland, the Nationalists used the islands to stage commando raids into Zhejiang, occasionally penetrating as far as the area around Shanghai. The county governments withdrawn to the islands from the mainland included seven counties, namely Wenling, Linhai, Huangyan, Pinyang, Sanmen, Leqing and Yuhuan. Chiang Kai-shek, the late President of the Republic of China, appointed Hu Zongnan, the general of the ROC Armed Forces, to establish the "Government of Chekiang Province" on the Dachen Islands in September 1951. Its purpose was to fight against the mainland which was controlled by the Communist Party of China.
In 1952, the Chekiang Government reorganized the seven counties into four counties, which were Wenling, Linhai, Pinyang and Yuhuan. Sanmen county was reorganised as "Yushan Administrative Bureau", and "Zhuyu Administrative Bureau" was also established. These administrative bureaus were originally intended to be used as the "special region" for direct economic trading with Mainland China, however they were abolished one year later. In 1953, the Chekiang Government office moved to Taiwan. In 1955, the People's Liberation Army conquered Yijiangshan Island during the Battle of Yijiangshan Islands. The Republic of China evacuated the military garrison and civil residents from Dachen and Nanji to the island of Taiwan with the assistance of the United States Seventh Fleet. The Chekiang Government in Taiwan was abolished soon afterwards, and the People's Republic of China successfully occupied the offshore islands, establishing control over the whole of Zhejiang Province.


Cecilia Thackaberry

Sister Cecilia Thackaberry, PBVM ("née" Sarah Agnes Thackaberry; 7 July 1909 – September 1969) was an Irish nun with the Presentation Sisters who was killed in Nigeria while performing relief work during the Nigerian Civil War.
Born in Dublin, she attended the Presentation Sisters school in Warrenmount and later studied with the Loreto Sisters in St Stephen's Green. In November 1933, she entered the Presentation Order in Buxton. In the intervening years up to 1965, she taught and acted as Novice Mistress in various locations throughout England, including Presentation Convent, Stapenhill, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire. In 1939, she was living and teaching in the Isle of Axholme, Lincolnshire.
In September 1965, Sister Cecilia led a group of two other sisters who embarked on the 26-day journey to Port Harcourt in Nigeria. The Presentations Sisters had been invited by the local Bishop to minister in his Diocese. On her arrival in Nigeria, the sisters took charge of the Sancta Marian nursery and primary schools. Sister Cecilia started evening classes for a girl who could not afford school fees. Nigeria began experiencing upheaval after gaining its independence from the UK in 1960. The eastern region became independent in 1967 under the name Republic of Biafra. Federal troops invaded Biafra that year and the Presentation community moved from Port Harcourt to Owerri.
Sister Cecilia helped in refugee camps aided by world agencies and in Umuahia she and another nun organised relief work and medical care for refugees facing famine who flocked to Owerri. A sick bay was established in Owerri, Nigeria. Gradually she was able to reach out to more and more people.
On the day of her death in September 1969, she and another nun were taking a nurse out to look after one of their newest sick bays. They had only travelled three miles when their vehicle was hit by fire from a low flying Nigerian aircraft. Sister Cecilia and the driver were killed in the attack. Bishop Okoye, who had invited the sisters to Port Harcourt said: "[S]he was our first martyr of charity..." Her remains were laid to rest on the grounds of the parish church at Emekuku, Nigeria.


Those Kids from Town

Those Kids from Town is a 1942 British, black-and-white, comedy-drama propaganda film war film, directed by Lance Comfort and starring George Cole, Harry Fowler, Percy Marmont, Ronald Shiner as Mr. Bert Burns and Charles Victor as Harry, the Vicar. It was produced by Richard Vernon and presented by British National Films and Anglo-American Film Corporation. The film is adapted for the screen, by Adrian Alington, from his own, topical novel "These Our Strangers", dealing with the experiences of a group of wartime evacuee children from London, sent to safety in a rural village, and their interaction with the host community. Of the juvenile actors involved, Fowler (making his screen debut here aged 15) and Cole (then 16) would go on to very successful adult careers, while Angela Glynne and Stanley Escane had more modest careers for the next decade or so.
Synopsis.
On the outbreak of the Second World War, a group of six children from the East End of London are evacuated to the village of Payling Green. The boisterous pair Charlie and Ern are lodged with the local vicar and proceed to torment, mock and terrorise his sensitive and delicate son. They then get involved in petty-thieving and vandalism, before being taken under the protective wing of a local female novelist with progressive social views.
Sisters Liz and Maud are placed with a pair of old-fashioned and stern spinster sisters and chafe under the constrictions of the discipline imposed on them. They become increasingly unhappy until they are taken in by the local Earl, who discovers Liz's singing talent and proposes to sponsor her to train professionally. Liz's parents are called to visit and her father at first bridles at the interference of a member of the gentry in his daughter's life, before being brought round to the view that her talent should be nurtured.
Reception.
No print of "Those Kids from Town" is known to survive and it is currently classified as "missing, believed lost". Contemporary reviews commended the film for exploring a timely subject which had not previously been tackled on screen, and gave it a generally sympathetic reception. However comments suggest that rather than aiming for a documentary-realism feel, Comfort fell back on an uneasy mixture of obvious pathos and broad comedy. "Kine Weekly" said it had "some good moments and a certain amount of child psychology, but it hardly presents a good case for evacuation". The "Daily Film Renter" labelled it "commendable popular entertainment", while "Cinema" praised "sympathetic direction...(which) cleverly sets wartime atmosphere and..a convincing picture of reactions of parents, children and hosts", but felt the film faltered badly in its later stages by "resorting to frank slapstick". Another trade reviewer complimented the film as a whole, but felt that it "made no attempt to solve the problems with any profound searchings" and its overall tone was "more burlesque than life".


Zhengtai Campaign

Zhengtai Campaign was a series of battles fought between the nationalists and the communists during Chinese Civil War in the post World War II era, and resulted in the communist victory.
Strategies.
After the Campaign to the South of Baoding, nationalist redeployed their forces totaling 26 divisions in 9 armies. The nationalist forces in North China concentrated on protecting important regions including: the Beijing – Shijiazhuang section of Beijing – Hankou Railway, the Beijing – Zhangjiakou section of Beijing – Suiyuan Railway, Northern section of Tatong – Fengling Crossing Railway, Beijing – Shanhaiguan section of Beijing – Shenyang Railway, and the iron triangular region of Beijing – Baoding – Tianjin region.
However, the nationalist strategy was seriously flawed in that in order to strengthen the northern defense in the regions mentioned above, it sacrificed the southern defense: the vast region along Zhengding – Taiyuan Railway in the south were only guarded by three divisions and local militia garrisons, and this flaw was to be exploited to the maximum by the Communists. The commander-in-chief and political commissar of the communist Shanxi – Chahar – Hebei Military Region, Nie Rongzhen, decided to concentrate his force to first clear the nationalists from their strongholds outside Shijiazhuang, and then annihilate any nationalist reinforcement sent along the Zhengding – Taiyuan Railway.
Order of battle.
Nationalist order of battle: 15 divisions totaling 100,000 troops, commanded by Yan Xishan, including those from:
Communists order of battle: 100,000 troops commanded by Nie Rongzhen, including those from:
Campaign.
On 8 April 1947, communists begun their 1st stage offensive by attacking nationalist strongholds outside Shijiazhuang in a pincer movement. The outnumbered nationalist garrisons had no choice but to abandon over 90 strongholds and quickly withdrew into the major cities. By 12 April 1947, all nationalist strongholds fell into the communist hands and in addition, two major counties, Zhengding and Luancheng, also fell into the enemy. However, the rapid nationalist retreat had prevented the major loss of troops: only two nationalist regiments were lost during the first stage.
On 14 April 1947, communist forces launched their second-stage offensive by taking Niangzi (娘子) Pass and Jingin (井陉). Important nationalist strongholds to the north of Yangquan including White Earth Slope (Baitupo, 白土坡), Upper Yinying (Shangyinying 上荫莹), and Lower Yinying (Xiayinying, 下荫莹) subsequently fell in a domino effect. After losing nearly four dozen local strongholds, Pingding County and Yangquan were both seriously threatened by the communists, who besieged the last two remaining nationalist strongholds on 25 April 1947. On 24 April 1947, Yan Xishan ordered the nationalist 33rd Army stationed in Taiyuan and Qi (祁) County eastward to reinforce the local nationalist garrison via railway, and reached Yangquan the next day. The defense of Yangquan was further enhanced by the arrival of the nationalist 8th and 10th Division on 28 April 1947. In response, the communists redeployed part of their force to the west to surround the nationalists by taking regions including Qinquan (芹泉), Yu (盂) County, and Ceshiyi (测石驿), thus completely sealing off the retreating routes of the nationalist reinforcement. On 29 April 1947, the main force of the nationalist 33rd Army retreated westward, but they were stopped by the communist forces at the Ceshiyi (测石驿) region.
Meanwhile, on the northern bank of Great Clearity River (Da Qin He 大清河) in Shengfang (胜芳) region, the Independent 7th Brigade of communist Central Hebei Military District and local garrison of the communist 10th Military Sub-district successfully beat back repeated attacks of the nationalist reinforcement. However, the communist victory was largely due to the lack of cooperation among nationalists themselves: out of a total of seven divisions, only 13 regiments actually participated in the assaults on the communist positions, less than half of the total. The reason was that Yan Xishan, the nationalist commander-in-chief and the warlord of Shanxi, was not willing to sacrifice his own troops for Chiang Kai-shek and other warlords allied with Chiang, which resulted in further disasters for the nationalists: after beating back the nationalist attacks, the Independent 7th Brigade of communist Central Hebei Military Sub-region and local garrison of the communist 10th Military Sub-district further expanded their victories by taken nationalist strongholds including Tang'erli (堂二里) township of Ba (霸) County, Anci (安次) county, and the region of Xushengkou (徐胜口) on 27 April 1947.
By 1 May 1947, it was obvious to the nationalists that Yangquan could not be held any longer. Yan Xishan ordered most of the defenders, including the 46th Division of the 33rd Army and the Independent 10th Division to retreat westward, while the 5th Group, consisted of 500 former Japanese troops enlisted in Yan's army were ordered to stay behind to guard Lion Brain Mountain (Shi Nao Shan, 狮脑山) to cover the general retreat. However, the retreating nationalist main force met stubborn enemy resistance and was stopped surrounded by the enemy at the regions of Zhaiyu (寨鱼) and Ceshiyi (测石驿). On 3 May 1947, under the communist's overwhelming political offensive, the 500 member strong nationalist 5th Group surrendered to the communists. On 4 May 1947, nationalist defenders at Zhaiyu (寨鱼) and Ceshiyi (测石驿) region could no longer holdout and attempted to breakout, but unfortunately, they were ambushed on their retreat and most were killed. On the same day, nationalist defenders at Shouyang (寿阳) abandoned their posts under communist's overwhelming pressure and fled to Yuci. The communists did not end the campaign until they chased the retreating nationalist force all the way to the suburb of Yuci.
Outcome.
The internal power struggle and the lack of cooperation contributed to the nationalist defeat at least as much as the enemy pressure if not greater. Yan Xishan, the nationalist commander-in-chief and the warlord of Shanxi was not willing to sacrifice his own troops to help Fu Zuoyi, the nationalist commander and warlord who controlled Hebei. The personal relationship between the two nationalist commanders were strained due to history: prior to the Second Sino-Japanese War, Fu Zuoyi was originally a trusted officer of Yan Xishan but later defected from Yan's clique in the wars among warlords, and eventually became a rival of Yan. Although both came under Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist government's rule after World War II, the distrust among the two still ran deep. As a more capable commander, Fu Zuoyi was not happy to see the overall command was given to Yan Xishan, who, in turn, was not willing to make a full commitment to fight communists outside his own turf for somebody else, especially somebody who betrayed him before, so the cooperation between the two was half-hearted at best. The result was that, although an impressive force totaling more than 100,000 with technical superiority was deployed, they were not concentrated in offensives against communist forces and thus was not effective at all in thwarting the enemy's advance, which inevitably led to the loss of more than a third of troops deployed in the campaign, as well as territories, and initiatives on the battlefield.
For the communists, their victory included taking seven cities / town, three important mineral rich regions including Huangdangou (黄丹沟), Jingin (井陉) and Yangquan. A vast region along the 180 km stretch railway from Huolu (获鹿) to Yuci had fallen under Reds' control, and Shijiazhuang, the provincial capital of Hebei was isolated. The Zhengtai Campaign proved to be pivotal for Reds because it turned the tide in North China: after the defeat, the nationalists were forced to be on the defensive and were never able to launch large offensives against the communists like they used to do, and a stalemate was reached. The initiatives changed hands to the communist side, which changed their defensive posture to an offensive posture by gradually stepped up their own offensives against the nationalists as time goes by.