title: MTR

text: The South Island line (West) was part of the same original proposal as the South Island line, and would connect HKU to Wong Chuk Hang around the west coast of Hong Kong Island, however construction has not started .


title: MTR

text: The North Island line is a planned extension of the Tseung Kwan O line that will interchange at the future Tamar station with the Tung Chung line. It will alleviate traffic in the northern part of Hong Kong Island. There will be three new stations: Tamar, Exhibition Centre (which will be an interchange between the North Island line and the North South Corridor), and Causeway Bay North. Construction is expected to begin in 2026 and finish in 2040. The cost is estimated to be HK$20 billion in 2013 prices.


title: MTR

text: Eight types of electric multiple unit rolling stock operate on the MTR network and five generations of light rail vehicles operate on the light rail network. All use either rail gauge (near standard gauge) or (standard gauge). Except for Airport Express trains, all trains are designed to cope with high patronage, for example, through seating arrangements, additional ventilation fans, and additional sets of extra-wide doors. These configurations allow the MTR to run at 101,000 passengers per hour per direction (p/h/d) on its busy suburban East Rail line and 85,000 p/h/d on its urban metro network.


title: MTR

text: Known as M-trains, these are the oldest model of train in operation. M-Trains can be divided into different "stocks". The M-stock (or "CM-stock") of M-Train are the oldest trains on the MTR, built originally by Metro-Cammell (now Alstom) and refurbished by United Goninan. The M-train uses sliding doors, unlike K-stocks and Grupo CAF Trains which use plug doors. They are in service on Kwun Tong line, Tsuen Wan line, Island line and Tseung Kwan O line.


title: MTR

text: The Disneyland Resort line uses driverless M-trains with their appearance overhauled to suit the atmosphere and theme of the line. Windows on each carriage and the handrails inside are made into the shape of Mickey Mouse's head, and there are bronze-made Disney characters decorating the interior of the carriages.


title: MTR

text: The Tung Chung line and the Airport Express use CAF Trains tailored to their respective lines. Initially run in seven-car formations, they have now been lengthened to eight cars. These two variations are built jointly by Adtranz (now Bombardier Transportation) and Grupo CAF (CAF) between 1994 and 1997. Since 2006, K-stock has also been used on the Tung Chung line.


title: MTR

text: The K-stock was built jointly by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Hyundai Rotem and first put into service on the Kwun Tong line. These were eventually transferred to the Tseung Kwan O line in 2009. Subsequently, in 2006, four additional sets joined the Tung Chung line to cope with the increasing passenger traffic. K-Stock trains have come under criticism when they were first put into service due to delays and door safety issues. Along with other service reliability issues, there have been incidents where passengers have been injured by its doors, leading to the MTRCL "minimising the number of Korean trains for passenger service until a higher reliability of the systems concerned is achieved".


title: MTR

text: A contract (C6554-07E) for 10 new sets of trains was awarded to Changchun Railway Vehicles Co. Limited in October 2008 with a further 12 trains ordered in the summer of 2011. These were delivered to Hong Kong between 2011 and 2013 to enhance train frequency on the existing lines to cater for increased patronage on the Island, Kwun Tong, Tsuen Wan and Tseung Kwan O lines.


title: MTR

text: These trains feature new 22" LCD TVs, like their counterparts on former KCR lines, and as a result are equipped with MTR In-Train TV, offering infotainment such as news and announcements. The first of these trains entered revenue service on 7 December 2011 on the Kwun Tong line.


title: MTR

text: The South Island line uses a similar train known as the S-train. Unlike the original C-train, the pantographs are on the "A" cars. All cars are powered, so there are no trailer cars. The S-train is also only three cars long and are driverless, with the driver's cab removed to make standing space for passengers. However, the S-trains can still be operated manually in the event of an emergency.


title: MTR

text: The Tuen Ma line uses the SP1900, also known as the IKK (Itochu-Kinki-Kawasaki) train. The electrification system used on Tuen Ma line is , as opposed to the used on the urban lines. Should the need arise in the future, dual voltage trains such as those used on Oresund Bridge would be required.


title: MTR

text: The rolling stock is from the former KCRC network (KCR East Rail, West Rail and Ma On Shan Rail). They did not receive major changes after the merger of the two companies except for the updated route map, the exterior company logo and such. The capability of this EMU fleet is similar to those on the urban network. Starting from 2015, the West Rail and Ma On Shan line trains have been lengthened to 8 cars while the East Rail line 12 car sets have been withdrawn from the line in 2021. All train sets will receive larger TV displays and dynamic route map displays above every door, and will run on the Tuen Ma line in the future.


title: MTR

text: In December 2012, the MTRC announced that new contracts had been awarded to Hyundai Rotem for 37 new nine-car trains to be used on the Sha Tin to Central Link. These trains are expected to replace the Metro Cammell EMUs that currently run on the East Rail line. The new R-stock trains are wider than existing units and can accommodate more passengers per car; however, the length of each train will be cut from the current 12-car configuration used on the Metro Cammell and SP1900 EMUs to nine cars. This is due to space constraints imposed by new underground platforms on the Sha Tin to Central Link. MTR will also upgrade existing signalling systems used on the East Rail line which will enable trains to operate at two-minute headways on average, instead of the current three-minute interval, which the MTRC expects will be able to compensate for the loss of capacity resulting from the shorter trains. However, there are concerns from local residents that this will not be effective.


title: MTR

text: Light rail rolling stock were ordered from four different manufacturers: Commonwealth Engineering (Comeng), Kawasaki Heavy Industries, United Goninan and CRRC Nanjing Puzhen. They are designed to run on the standard gauge and use 750 V DC delivered through overhead lines. Trains comprise one or two carriages, where the second carriage functions as only a trailer. The arrangement allows each car to carry approximately 300 passengers with 26 seats, while four sets of poach seats provide flexible riding for passengers.


title: MTR

text: The light rail trains are being modernised as part of a 20th anniversary activity. Trains will include better disabled facilities as well as a totally new interior. The MTR will refurbish 69 older trains (revised to 68 as one was scrapped following a traffic incident) and buy 22 new ones. The first trains have been completed and were scheduled to be put into service in November 2009. The whole project is expected to be completed in 2011.


title: MTR

text: Another batch of 40 Phase V trains have been ordered from CRRC Nanjing Puzhen, which will replace 30 Kawasaki Phase II trains which will not be refurbished, and the 10 additional trains will be used for enhancing services. The first pair of trains (leading + trailer car) entered service in 2020.


title: MTR

text: In addition to the passenger electric multiple units as covered above, MTR also uses various types of work trains for maintenance purposes:


title: MTR

text: The architecture of MTR stations is less artistic, instead focusing on structural practicability. With the high level of daily passenger traffic, facilities of the MTR stations are built with durability and accessibility in mind. After extensive retrofitting, the MTR system has become, in general, disabled-friendly—the trains have dedicated wheelchair space, the stations have special floor tiles to guide the blind safely on the platforms, and there are extra wide entry and exit gates for wheelchairs as well. Portable ramp for wheelchair users are available for boarding and alighting trains. On board the rolling stock, there are also flashing system maps on select trains while Active Line Diagrams and traditional route maps are installed on the others. Infopanels as well as on MTR In-Train TV onboard trains display important messages such as next station announcements as well as operational messages.


title: MTR

text: 3G and LTE (4G) mobile phone network is in place throughout the MTR system of stations and tunnels allowing passengers to stay connected underground. Currently, full 3G network coverage in all stations and tunnels (except underground section on East Rail line and Tuen Ma line) for the MTR system has been provided by 3 Hong Kong, SmarTone and PCCW. Passengers are able to use high-speed internet on their mobile phones regardless whether the train is above ground or under ground. The MTR has already extended the Wi-Fi service to all of the Airport Express trains and the expansion of the service to other MTR routes is still under consideration by MTR. All 93 stations on the MTR offer free Wi-Fi service with a limit of 15 minutes per session and a maximum of five sessions per day.


title: MTR

text: In late 2015 it was announced that all 400 payphones in the MTR system would be removed in early 2016. The contract with the service provider, Shinetown Telecom, was expiring, and the MTR Corporation said that no one had tendered a proposal to take over the contract. As a result, the MTR system no longer has payphones.


title: MTR

text: When the system opened, public announcements were made in British English and Cantonese by train captains and station staff. In 1992 the announcements were standardised, pre-recorded by RTHK presenter Cheri Chan Yu-yan (), who is now an assistant professor of English-language education at the University of Hong Kong, and who remains the voice of the MTR today. Since 2004, to accommodate Mainland Chinese visitors under the Individual Visit Scheme, Mandarin Chinese was added to the repertory.


title: MTR

text: Unlike many other metro systems around the world, "main line" MTR stations originally did not have toilet facilities available for public use. Passengers may use MTR staff toilets at all stations on request. In 2006, MTRCL said it would not consider retrofitting existing underground toilets, because of the challenge of installing new piping and toilet facilities. Only stations on the Airport Express and Disneyland Resort line had access to toilet facilities. All former KCR stations (on the East Rail line and Tuen Ma line), merged into the MTR network in 2007, have public toilets.


title: MTR

text: During the Legislative Council rail merger bill discussions, the MTR Corporation was criticised by legislators for their unwillingness to install toilets in main line stations. MTRCL indicated that it would carry out a review of the feasibility of installing public toilets at or in the vicinity of its above-ground railway stations. Discussions between the Government and MTRCL have taken into account LegCo members' request for a stronger commitment by the corporation to the provision of public toilets on new railway lines. This resulted in MTRCL agreeing to include the provision of toilets within, or adjacent to, stations in the overall design parameters for all future new railway lines, subject to planning and regulatory approval and any concerns raised by residents in the vicinity about the location of external ventilation exhausts.


title: MTR

text: Toilets have since been retrofitted into several existing MTR stations, including Sheung Wan station, Ngau Tau Kok station, Quarry Bay station, Mong Kok station, Prince Edward station, and Admiralty station. In addition, newly opened stations such as those of the West Island line have toilets. The MTR plans to install public toilets at all interchange stations by 2020.


title: MTR

text: In late 2017 the MTR introduced breastfeeding rooms at 20 interchange stations. The rooms are located in back of house areas, and are available upon request to MTR staff.


title: MTR

text: Prior to the privatisation of MTRC, MTR stations only had branches of the Hang Seng Bank, Maxim's Cakes stores, and a handful of other shops. Since then, the number and types of shops have increased at stations has increased, turning some of them into miniature shopping centres. ATMs and convenience stores are now commonplace.


title: MTR

text: The MTR has contracted with publishers for the distribution of free magazines and newspapers in MTR stations. "Recruit" was the first free magazine which was solely distributed in stations (before railway merger) since July 1992, but the contract was terminated in July 2002. Another recruitment magazine "Jiu Jik" (招職), published by "South China Morning Post", replaced "Recruit" as the only free recruitment magazine distributed in MTR stations bi-weekly. The "Metropolis Daily" (都市日報), published by Metro International, is the first free newspaper distributed free in MTR stations during weekdays (except public holidays); and in 2005, there is another weekend newspaper "Express Post" (快線週報), distributed every Saturday except public holidays. The "Metropop" (都市流行), a weekly magazine featuring cultural affairs and city trends also published by Metro International, started its distribution in MTR stations every Thursday since 27 April 2006, a few months after the termination of "Hui Kai Guide" (去街 Guide) in 2006. MTR Stations on ex-KCR lines feature two free Chinese-language newspapers, namely "am730" and "Headline Daily". MTR promotes reading of these newspapers by adding special coupons and promotion offers inside the newspapers, for example, a free trip to Lok Ma Chau or a free keyring. On the Kwun Tong line, East Rail line and Tuen Ma line, "MTR In-Train TV" is available.


title: MTR

text: At various stations of the MTR network, the MTRCL (which took over from KCR) operates feeder buses which enhance the convenience of taking the MTR. These bus routes, which normally consist of one to two stops, terminate at housing estates and go past major landmarks. The feeder bus routes on the East Rail line are run under the MTR name but are operated by Kowloon Motor Bus.


title: MTR

text: Throughout its history, MTR has used different signalling systems for its lines. The main Operations Control Centre for the entire network is located at Tsing Yi. Previous control centres were located at Fo Tan and Kam Tin for the East Rail line, Ma On Shan line and West Rail line.


title: MTR

text: On the pre-merger MTR network, wayside signals are simple two-aspect signals whose colours are namely red for "stop" and blue for "proceed according to ATO"; this is made possible by the use of automatic train operation (ATO) which provides the onboard equipment the permitted speeds via undercarriage antennas located underneath the cab whereas the signals having been sent by radio transmitters located between the rails. An automatic train protection (ATP) is also used to enforce safety.


title: MTR

text: In 1998, transmission balise-locomotive (TBL) was implemented on the East Rail line to monitor train safety. Subsequently, in 2002, ATO was also implemented on the East Rail line. However, the original British-style Automatic Warning System is still retained for use by Intercity-Through Trains. On the other hand, the Tuen Ma line uses a SelTrac moving block communications-based train control (CBTC) system from Alcatel Canada (now Thales Group). The SelTrac system is also used by the fully automated Disneyland Resort line, whereas the South Island line uses another signalling supplier, Alstom, Urbalis 400 CBTC system.


title: MTR

text: As part of RailGen 2.0 implemented from 2014 onwards to improve the standards of the rail network, the signalling systems on the older lines are to be replaced with new CBTC systems; the system used for the pre-merger network will be replaced with Alstom-Thales SelTrac whereas that for the East Rail line will be replaced by Siemens Trainguard CBTC. However, the signalling upgrades encountered a serious setback in the form of a train collision outside Central station on 18 March 2019.


title: MTR

text: The MTR Headquarters Building is located at Telford Plaza. It is a part of the larger Telford Garden complex, which was developed as part of a partnership between MTR and private development companies.


title: MTR

text: After the rail merger, there are three different fare classes on the MTR: Adult, Students and Concessionary. Only children below the age of 12 and senior citizens 65 years or older are eligible for the concessionary rate on all lines. Full-time Hong Kong students between the ages of 12 and 25 qualify for the concessionary rate using a personalised Octopus Card on all lines except on Airport Express, or travel to or from cross-border stations (Lo Wu/Lok Ma Chau). Children below the age of 3 travel free (unless they exceed the height range).


title: MTR

text: The fare of MTR between any two particular stations is not calculated using a particular formula, and must be looked up from the fare table. Fares for the Airport Express Line are significantly higher. Services to checkpoint termini are also more expensive than ordinary fares, as are journeys that require a harbour crossing than are journeys that do not. Adult fares range from HK$3.6 to $52.6 (US$0.46–6.74). Concessionary fares are usually half the adult fare, and range from HK$1.50 to $27.00. Student fares are the same as child and elderly fare on the urban lines, but are the same as the Adult fares for journeys to or from checkpoint termini, and range from HK$1.50 to $51.00. The fare is subject to adjustment in June every year.


title: MTR

text: Prior to May 2009, MTR did not provide concessionary fares for the disabled. Legislators such as social welfare constituency legislator Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung and those from Hong Kong's Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood had for years demanded that such concessions be put in place. In May 2009, MTR eventually agreed to offer the disabled concessionary fares with HK$2 million sponsorship from Transport and Housing Bureau and under the condition that Legislative Council amends the "Disability Discrimination Ordinance".


title: MTR

text: Single journey tickets can be purchased at vending machines while tourist passes, Octopus cards and other special tickets must be purchased at the ticket counter. Credit cards are only accepted to purchase Airport Express tickets and tourist Octopus cards from automatic vending machines located within Hong Kong airport.


title: MTR

text: The Octopus card is a reusable contactless stored value smart card for making electronic payments in online or offline systems in Hong Kong developed by Australian company ERG Group.


title: MTR

text: Launched in September 1997 to collect fares for the territory's mass transit system, the Octopus card system became the world's second contactless smart card system, after the Korean Upass, and has since grown into a widely used payment system for all public transport in Hong Kong. Octopus's success has led to the development of the Navigo card in Paris, the Oyster Card in London, the Opal card in New South Wales, NETS FlashPay, EZ-Link in Singapore, and other similar systems.


title: MTR

text: The Octopus card has also evolved for use as payment in many retail shops in Hong Kong, including convenience stores, supermarkets, and fast-food restaurants. Other common Octopus payment applications include parking meters, car parks, petrol stations, vending machines, fee payment at public libraries and swimming pools, and more. The cards are also used for non-payment purposes, such as school attendance and access control for office buildings and housing estates.


title: MTR

text: The Tourist Day Pass gives tourists unlimited MTR rides (with the exception of MTR Bus routes, the First Class section of the East Rail line, the Airport Express, as well as journeys to and from Lo Wu, Lok Ma Chau and Racecourse stations) for 24 hours from the point of first entry . Each pass costs HK$65 and is available at all the MTR Customer Service Centres. Tourist Day Pass must be used within 30 days upon the day of issue. The Airport Express Tourist Octopus Cards are also available. Cardholders may enjoy three days of unlimited rides on the MTR (except Airport Express, East Rail line First Class, and journeys involving Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau stations) refundable deposit of HK$50 and choice of either a single (HK$220) or round trip (HK$300) on the Airport Express.


title: MTR

text: A touchless smart card system is used for single journey tickets. These tickets are pre-paid for between pre-determined stations, and are good for only one trip. There are no return tickets, except on the Airport Express. As of mid-2013, less than five per cent of MTR customers travelled on single journey tickets.


title: MTR

text: Fares for the Airport Express are substantially different from main line fares. Apart from single tickets, same-day return tickets (same price as a single), and one-month return tickets are also available.


title: MTR

text: A one-day pass was able to be purchased for unlimited travel to and from Hong Kong Disneyland within the same day, from 2005 to 2011, and cost HK$50. This pass could be purchased from any MTR Customer Service Centres or Airport Express Customer Service Centres.


title: MTR

text: Ticket Suggestion and Route Suggestion functions are available on the MTR website; based on trip destination and travel pattern, they can recommend the lowest price ticket type for daily and non-daily commuters.


title: MTR

text: Third parties, such as MTR Service Update, have also developed ticket recommendation capabilities, claiming to be more user-friendly and fare-saving. The Checkfare function at MTR Service Update can recommend whether to interchange at Tsim Sha Tsui or East Tsim Sha Tsui, to receive a better discount.


title: MTR

text: Since the merger in 2007, MTR has consistently achieved a 99.9% on-time rate, meaning 999 of every 1,000 passengers arrives at their destination within 5 minutes of scheduled time. In 2013, out of the 5.2 million passengers the MTR averaged each workday, 5.195 million passengers were considered to have arrived "on time". This makes the MTR one of the most efficient major public transport networks on the planet. MTR must report all delays of more than eight minutes to the government. There were 143 reportable incidents in 2013. MTR is fined HK$1 million for having delays of 31 minutes to an hour, with higher fines for longer delays.


title: MTR

text: According to the Mass Transit Railway By-laws, eating, drinking, or smoking are not allowed in the paid area of stations or in trains. Offenders will be fined up to HK$5000.


title: MTR

text: Various campaigns and activities are taken to help ensure that the MTR is a safe system to travel on. Poster campaigns displaying information on topics such as escalator safety are a common sight in all MTR stations, and announcements are made regularly as safety reminders to travelling passengers. By-laws were also introduced to deter potentially dangerous actions on the MTR, such as the ban on flammable goods on the MTR and rushing into trains when the doors are closing. Penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment have been imposed for such offences.


title: MTR

text: Police officers patrol the trains and stations, and police posts are available at some stations. The Hong Kong Police Force has a Railway District responsible for the MTR. Closed-circuit television cameras are installed in stations and on some of the newer trains.


title: MTR

text: The entire Tung Chung line and Airport Express, as well as the stations added by the Tseung Kwan O line, has platform screen doors (PSDs), ordered from Swiss glass door manufacturer Kaba Gilgen AG, installed upon construction. So does the entire Tuen Ma line, inherited from KCR. These doors make platforms safer by preventing people from falling onto the rails, even though MTRCL did not heavily promote it directly. However, the primary motivation was to separate the stations from the tunnels, hence allowing substantial energy savings on station air-conditioning and tunnel ventilation. Automatic platform gates (APGs) have also been installed at the Sunny Bay and Disneyland Resort stations. Their heights are half of the PSDs and only prevent people from falling onto the rails. MTR has finished installing the APGs on all of the above-ground stations of the MTR except on the East Rail line; they will be installed there as part of the Sha Tin to Central Link project.


title: MTR

text: In June 2000, MTRCL proceeded with plans to retrofit 2,960 pairs of platform screen doors at all 30 underground stations on the Kwun Tong, Tsuen Wan, and Island lines in a six-year programme. The programme made MTR the world's first railway to undertake the retrofitting of PSDs on a passenger-carrying system already in operation. A prototype design was first introduced at Choi Hung station in the 3rd quarter of 2001. The scheme was completed in October 2005, ahead of the forecast completion date in 2006. MTRCL said that part of the cost had to be assumed by passengers. HK$0.10 per passenger trip was levied on Octopus card users to help fund the HK$2 billion retrofit programme. This levy was ended in 2013 after raising more than HK$1 billion.


title: MTR

text: The MTR visual identity, which includes logo, vehicle livery, signage, route maps and passenger information, was updated in 1995–1998 by Lloyd Northover, the British design consultancy founded by John Lloyd and Jim Northover.


title: MTR

text: With the objective "not only bring MTR passengers more time for life, but also more time for art", the Art in MTR Initiative has been a success since its reception in 1998, where the Airport Express Artwork Programme was the pioneer project. Thereafter, live performances, art exhibitions, display of artwork by established and emerging artists, students and young children have been brought into the MTR stations. MTRCL have even made art part of the station architecture when building new stations or renovating existing ones. Artworks are exhibited in different forms on the network, including "arttube", open art gallery, community art galleries, roving art, living art, and art in station architecture.


title: MTR

text: MTR and Hong Kong Association of Athletics Affiliates have jointly hosted MTR Hong Kong Race Walking annually in spring since 2005. The race walking competition aims at promoting healthy living in Hong Kong. The race begins and ends on the ground above Central MTR station, namely Chater Garden, Chater Road, Ice House Street and Des Voeux Road Central in Central. There is a fun walk apart from the regular competition. The event attracted over 800 participants in 2005 and 1,500 in 2012. The event is attended not only by Hongkongers, but also athletes from various countries. The race raises fund for Better Health for a Better Hong Kong, a Hospital Authority project for the working population.


title: MTR

text: The MTR Corporation came under fire in June 2011 after their work on the cross-border high-speed railway line encroached on a conservation area in Pat Heung, Yuen Long. 34 trees were felled and an entire slope was concreted over in the conservation area. The Environmental Protection Department issued summonses to the corporation for offences under the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance. In September 2011, a fine of HK$15,000 was imposed by the court. The MTR Corporation admitted that 34 trees were felled by mistake; all were common native woodland species and no rare tree species were affected. The corporation said owing to a technical misalignment of relevant drawings, the plan submitted to the Environmental Protection Department did not include the part of the Conservation Area which was included in the gazettal plan of their works. The corporation became aware that part of the approved tree removal works may have encroached onto the Conservation Area during construction, and proactively reported the situation to the government. Evaluation and measures have been taken to prevent similar incidents from happening again.


title: MTR

text: The MTR Corporation came under fire again in September 2011 after felling dozens of trees in Admiralty as part of construction work for the South Island line. Green activists denounced the tree felling as "unprofessional", and Ken So Kwok-yin, chief executive of the Conservancy Association and a certified tree arborist, said that the explanations offered by the MTR Corporation as to why the trees were felled were "unacceptable". The MTR Corporation is felling approximately 4,000 trees for the construction of the South Island line, raising concerns from environmental groups and the public about its commitment to protecting Hong Kong's natural environment.


title: MTR

text: The corporation has limits on the size of items allowed on trains. The MTR system is facing pressure from increasing numbers of parallel traders who carry oversized baggage onto trains for resale in China. The corporation has been criticised for allowing parallel traders to board trains with massive bags, causing undue congestion and inconvenience to residents of the North District.


title: MTR

text: Furthermore, the corporation accused of double standards in enforcement when images of cross-border smugglers pushing overladen trollies appeared on social network sites on a regular basis, whilst local students carrying large musical instruments were reported to have been stopped and issued with written warnings. Leading musicians joined in the criticism of MTR's stance on large instruments; some citizens invited players of cellos and other large instruments to congregate on 3 October 2015 with their equipment at Tai Wai station, where the majority of these instances occurred.


title: MTR

text: Following the public uproar, MTR issued a press release in the early hours acknowledging discontent and announcing a one-month review of the policy on oversized items to see whether there was room for fine-tuning that would not compromise on passenger safety. The corporation said that staff would continue executing existing policy until any revisions are made.


title: MTR

text: On 16 October 2018, four MTR lines suffered delays simultaneously, an unprecedented disruption to railway services. MTR stated that initial investigations showed that the problems were related to the computers that control the signalling system, and an in-depth investigation would be carried out.


title: MTR

text: In May 2019, the MTR Corporation and the Airport Authority Hong Kong reportedly refused to display a Cathay Pacific advertisement featuring two men holding hands due to its LGBT message.


title: MTR

text: On 21 July 2019, a mob of men dressed in white and carrying wooden sticks and metal pipes entered the MTR's Yuen Long station and assaulted people indiscriminately. The attack is largely believed to have been carried out by pro-Beijing paid thugs. One pregnant woman was hurt and found lying on the floor, and journalists were also attacked. The mob entered the paid area and attacked commuters aboard a train, which was unable to depart. Over 40 people were sent to hospital. After the incident, pro-Beijing legislator Junius Ho was accused of supporting the attack.


title: MTR

text: On 31 August 2019, during the anti-extradition bill protests, Special Tactical Squad officers of the Hong Kong Police Force entered Prince Edward station and attacked people inside. They fired tear gas inside the station and trains, violating guidelines on the use of such products in enclosed spaces. Bystanders were caught in the operation and it has generally been deemed a brutal attempt to stop the protests. Widespread rumours of civilian deaths at the station circulated after discrepancies were noted regarding the number of injuries. The MTR refused to provide CCTV footage filmed during the incident, helping to perpetuate these rumours.


title: MTR

text: On multiple occasions during the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, MTR has sealed off stations close to locations of protest before their starting time. Supporters of the protests have thus criticised MTR of intentionally impeding the public from attending protests and unnecessarily affecting civilians, giving MTR the nickname "CCP railway" (Chinese: ; ).


title: MTR

text: Following a clash between police and protestors in the Yuen Long station on 21 August 2019, the Chinese state media People's Daily published a commentary accusing MTR of "conspiring with protestors" by "arranging special free trains for rioters to escape". In response to the accusation, MTR issued a statement declaring that it will close stations under emergency situations in the future. After that, MTR has on multiple occasions closed off stations close to ongoing protests, for example closing the Lam Tin station, Kwun Tong station and Ngau Tau Kok station on 24 August 2020 before the starting time of a permitted demonstration in Kwun Tong. Similar incidents of varying scale have occurred multiple times later, leading to the criticisms that MTR is cooperating with the government to prevent citizens from attending protests.


title: MTR

text: On 24 August 2019, MTR arranged a special train exclusively to carry riot police to Kowloon Bay station, which was closed to the public at that time due to the demonstration nearby at Kwun Tong. This has led to criticisms that MTR is assisting the government in oppressing the freedom of assembly and the freedom of expression in Hong Kong.


title: Party for Freedom

text: The Party for Freedom (, PVV) is a nationalist, right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands.


title: Party for Freedom

text: Founded in 2006 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man faction in the House of Representatives, it won nine seats in the 2006 general election making it the fifth-largest party in parliament. In the 2010 general election it won 24 seats, making it the third-largest party. At that time the PVV agreed to support the minority government led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte without having PVV ministers in the cabinet. However, the PVV withdrew its support in April 2012 due to differences over budget cuts at the Catshuis. In the following 2012 Dutch general election it won 15 seats, having lost 9 seats in the elections, still being the third-largest party. Following the elections, the party returned to the opposition and in the 2017 election, the Party for Freedom won 20 seats, making it the second-largest party in Parliament. It came third in the 2014 European Parliament election, winning four out of 26 seats.


title: Party for Freedom

text: The PVV calls for items like administrative detention and a strong assimilationist stance on the integration of immigrants into Dutch society, differing from the established centre-right parties in the Netherlands (like the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, VVD). The PVV has also proposed banning the Quran and shutting down all mosques in the Netherlands. In addition, the party is consistently Eurosceptic and since early July 2012, according to the platform it presented prior to elections in September, it strongly advocates withdrawal from the European Union.


title: Party for Freedom

text: Party for Freedom is an association with Geert Wilders as its sole member; thus the party is ineligible for Dutch government funding, and relies on donations.


title: Party for Freedom

text: The party's history began with Geert Wilders' departure from the VVD in September 2004. Wilders could not accept the VVD's positive stance towards Turkey's possible accession to the European Union, and left the party disgruntled.


title: Party for Freedom

text: Although the VVD expected Wilders to return his parliamentary seat to the party, he refused, and continued to sit in parliament as a one-man party, "Groep Wilders" (Wilders Group).


title: Party for Freedom

text: In June 2005, Wilders was one of the leaders in the campaign against the European Constitution, which was rejected by Dutch voters by 62%.


title: Party for Freedom

text: Bart Jan Spruyt, director of the conservative Edmund Burke Foundation, joined Wilders in January 2006 in order to formulate a party programme and to train its prospective representatives for the forthcoming national election (then still scheduled for 2007).


title: Party for Freedom

text: Spruyt left the party in the summer of 2006 after it proved unable to build broad conservative backing, and people like Joost Eerdmans and Marco Pastors proved unwilling to join. After the 2006 elections, Spruyt said he was not surprised that the Party for Freedom had gained seats but maintained that, if the Party for Freedom had sought cooperation with Eerdmans and Pastors, it would have won more, even enough to bring about a CDA-VVD majority government.


title: Party for Freedom

text: Later, Spruyt commented that the PVV had a 'natural tendency' toward fascism. He later qualified the statement, though he didn't withdraw it. Former PVV candidate Lucas Hartong called Spruyt's claims 'a cheap insinuation'.


title: Party for Freedom

text: In an "HP/De Tijd" profile dated December 2006, the party was described as a cult, with an extremely distrustful Wilders only accepting fellow candidates completely loyal to him, and compared the PVV to the Socialist Party led by Jan Marijnissen but without reaching that degree of organisational perfection.


title: Party for Freedom

text: On 10 January 2007, the PVV announced it would not field candidates at the forthcoming Provincial elections. This meant it would be unrepresented in the Senate.


title: Party for Freedom

text: On 13 January 2007, "NRC Handelsblad" reported that a PVV intern had solicited for signatures on the website forums "Dutch Disease Report" and "Polinco", the latter a forum described as far-right by various organisations, among them the Dutch Complaints Bureau for Discrimination on the Internet. Any party participating in this election was required to collect at least 30 signatures from supporters in each of the 19 electoral districts; of the 1500 signatures the PVV received, the Dutch Antifascist group identified 34 known far-right supporters. In a response, Wilders said he regretted that far-right sympathisers had provided signatures, denied any personal responsibility for them and reasserted his dislike of far-right parties like National Front of France and Flemish Interest.


title: Party for Freedom

text: Noted writer and columnist Leon de Winter later declared the affair to be the result of a campaign of demonisation against Geert Wilders led by "NRC Handelsblad" and "de Volkskrant" newspapers, as well as the broadcaster VARA.


title: Party for Freedom

text: Former trade union leader and prominent Christian Democrat Doekle Terpstra proposed an initiative against Geert Wilders and the PVV on 30 November 2007, in the newspaper "Trouw". Terpstra sees Wilders as promoting intolerance, and discrimination against Muslims. He is supported in his cause by the large Dutch trade unions and refugee organisations. Politicians and the public are divided on Terpstra's initiative. The newspaper "De Pers" reported the next day that much of Terpstra's claimed support did not materialise.


title: Party for Freedom

text: In 2008, the Friends of the Party of Freedom commissioned a producer, who acted under the name of "Scarlet Pimpernel Productions", a pseudonym adopted out of fear of reprisal, to produce "Fitna" (), a short film by Geert Wilders. Approximately 17 minutes in length, it shows selected excerpts from Suras of the Qur'an, interspersed with media clips and newspaper cuttings showing or describing acts of violence or hatred by Muslims. The film attempts to demonstrate that the Qur'an motivates its followers to hate all who violate Islamic teachings. Consequently, the film argues that Islam encourages acts of terrorism, antisemitism, violence against women and homosexuals, and Islamic universalism. A large part of the film deals with the influence of Islam on the Netherlands. The film's title, the Arabic word "fitna", means either "disagreement and division among people" or a "test of faith in times of trial". Wilders described the film as "a call to shake off the creeping tyranny of Islamisation".


title: Party for Freedom

text: Polling by Maurice de Hond published in March 2009 indicated that the PVV was the most popular parliamentary party. The polls predicted that the party would take 21 per cent of the national vote, giving it 32 out of 150 seats in the Dutch parliament. If the polling results were to be replicated at a genuine election, Wilders would be a major power broker and could become Prime Minister. However, De Hond's results were not uncontroversial, as they were based on a panel of people who have signed up for the election poll on the Internet and thus were not a random sample. According to Joop van Holsteyn, professor of election research, therefore, De Hond's polls were not representative of the population. Other Dutch polls (Politieke Barometer and TNS NIPO) have shown contrasting results, with the PVV often getting less support, though still remaining very popular.


title: Party for Freedom

text: On 15 May 2009, the PVV asked Balkenende to support the foundation of a Greater Netherlands actively.


title: Party for Freedom

text: By February 2010, the PVV had once more become the most popular party, according to a poll by Maurice de Hond which said it would win 27–32 parliameary seats in the next election, up two from the previous poll in early January.


title: Party for Freedom

text: On 3 March 2010, elections for the local councils were held in the municipalities of the Netherlands. The PVV only contested these in The Hague and Almere, because of a shortage of good candidates. MP Raymond de Roon headed the campaign in his home town of Almere. Fellow MP Sietse Fritsma was appointed head of the local election campaign in The Hague. Both men would continue to serve as MPs as well as local councillors after their election. The PVV made big gains, suggesting that the party and Wilders might dominate the political scene in the run-up to the parliamentary elections scheduled on 9 June 2010. The PVV won in Almere and came second to the Labour Party in The Hague. In Almere, the PVV won 21 percent of the vote to Labour's 18 percent, preliminary results showed. In The Hague, the PVV had 8 seats – second to Labour with 10 seats. The local elections were the first test of public opinion since the collapse of the 4th Balkenende cabinet in February 2010. The municipal elections were overshadowed by the fall of the cabinet and the forthcoming parliamentary elections.


title: Party for Freedom

text: On 8 March 2010, Wilders announced he would take a seat on The Hague city council, after it became clear that he had won 13,000 preference votes. Earlier he had said he would not do so. One week after these local elections, the PVV called for an inquiry into the elections in The Hague, since a YouTube clip allegedly showed irregularities, including more than one person entering polling booths at the same time and a voter not putting the ballot paper into the box. These calls were rejected. The Hague council said the municipal elections had gone well and that any complaint should anyway have been lodged immediately after the results were announced. In Rotterdam, a full recount was held after a protest by Leefbaar Rotterdam, a local party with a programme broadly similar to that of the PVV.


title: Party for Freedom

text: On 18 March 2010, the PVV gave up trying to form a governing coalition in Almere. In a press release, the party said most of the other parties had refused to give ground to PVV demands on what it describes as ""essential issues"". These include what the party calls ‘city commandos’: street patrols to keep order in the face of inadequate proper law enforcement. Other obstacles were the PVV's demands for reduced taxes for Almere residents and its fight against what the party sees as "the increasing influence of Islam in Dutch society". The PVV complained that it was forced to stay in the opposition through the manoeuvring of the political elite.


title: Party for Freedom

text: In the parliamentary elections of 9 June 2010, the PVV went from 9 to 24 seats (of 150), winning over 15% of the votes, making the PVV the third largest party in parliament.


title: Party for Freedom

text: By July 2010, the PVV again became the biggest party in the polls after the parliamentary elections, following difficulties in forming a new coalition and the PVV technically being excluded from the coalition talks because the CDA showed reluctance to cooperate with the PVV. According to the polls, the PVV would get 35 seats in a new election, which is a record high number.


title: Party for Freedom

text: In August 2010, during the difficult cabinet formation following the elections, the PVV emerged as a prominent player in a proposal for a new minority government in the Netherlands. While the party would not gain a ministerial appointment, the PVV would tolerate a centre-right minority government coalition: a proposed deal that would make the party one of the most influential forces. Led by Ivo Opstelten, a former mayor of Rotterdam who was appointed mediator for the next stage of negotiations, the forming of a government of VVD and Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) with support of the PVV was negotiated; the resulting coalition agreement "included elements it pushed for, such as a burqa ban," though the ban was never put in place. The VVD and CDA would have to rely on the PVV to get important legislation through. With this deal the Netherlands would follow the "Danish model", since in Denmark the anti-immigration Danish People's Party also stayed out of government but supported a minority center-right Liberal-Conservative government. The very fact of the participation of the PVV in these coalition negotiations has caused fierce discussions in political circles and was considered very unlikely until recently.


title: Party for Freedom

text: After the elections, CDA parliamentary fraction president Maxime Verhagen first had stated that as a matter of principle he refused to negotiate with VVD and PVV about a centre-right government, saying that the PVV represented views that could not be reconciled with Dutch law. These objections on principle disappeared in five weeks and Verhagen turned out to be willing to negotiate over a cabinet whose fate would (also) lie in the hands of Wilders.


title: Party for Freedom

text: On 20 March 2012, Hero Brinkman quit the party, citing a lack of democratic structure within the PVV among other things; qualifying this with a statement of continued support for the minority Rutte cabinet. Two days later, three members of the States of North Holland representing the PVV followed his example. In July 2012, Marcial Hernandez and Wim Kortenoeven quit the PVV, both citing what they considered to be Wilders' autocratic leadership of the party.


title: Party for Freedom

text: In the parliamentary elections of 12 September 2012, the PVV went from 24 to 15 seats (of 150), winning 10% of the vote.


title: Party for Freedom

text: In October 2013, the party expelled Louis Bontes, but he kept his seat in parliament. In March 2014, Roland van Vliet and Joram van Klaveren left the party and also kept their seats in parliament.


title: Party for Freedom

text: In the European Parliament election on 22 May 2014, the party kept its four seats in the European Parliament. MEP Hans Jansen died on 5 May 2015 and was replaced by Auke Zijlstra on 1 September 2015.


title: Party for Freedom

text: On 16 June 2015, the Party for Freedom and other right-wing nationalist parties in the European Parliament formed the political group Europe of Nations and Freedom. Marcel de Graaff of the PVV and Marine Le Pen of the National Front became the first co-presidents of this group.


title: Party for Freedom

text: For the 2017 Dutch general election, the Party for Freedom had an election platform of a single page. Before the election, all major parties said they would not form a government coalition with the PVV. A typical House of Representatives has a large number of parties represented, since it takes as little as 0.67 percent of the vote to get a seat. With such a fragmented vote, the PVV would have needed the support of other parties in order to make Wilders prime minister, even if it won the most seats in the House of Representatives. Wilders hinted that a "revolution" would occur if the PVV won the most seats and was still locked out of power.


title: Party for Freedom

text: The party won 20 seats (of 150) according to the preliminary results, which is five seats more than in the previous election in 2012, making it the second-largest party in Parliament.


title: Party for Freedom

text: The party performed poorly in the 2019 Dutch provincial elections and reported issues attracting suitable candidates, losing 26 seats, with the Forum for Democracy taking many of its voters. The party saw its best performance in Limburg in which it won seven representatives. The party also saw a setback during the 2019 European Parliament election in which it did not return any MEPs, but was allocated one in post-Brexit appointments which was taken by Marcel de Graaff until 2022 when he defect to FvD. The party finished in third place during the 2021 Dutch general election.


title: Party for Freedom

text: The Party for Freedom combines conservative, liberal, right and left standpoints in a populistic programme. On certain themes like healthcare, social services and elderly care the PVV can be seen as left and social, though selective. Regarding immigration and culture the party is nationalistic. It believes that the Judeo-Christian and humanist traditions should be taken as the dominant culture in the Netherlands, and that immigrants should adapt accordingly. The party wants a halt to immigration especially from non-Western countries. It is hostile towards the EU, is against future EU enlargement to Muslim-majority countries like Turkey and opposes a dominant presence of Islam in the Netherlands. The party campaigns on a strong counter-jihad agenda. More specifically, the party has called for a banning the Quran, and shutting down all mosques in the Netherlands. The party is also opposed to dual citizenship (see below). The Party for Freedom's political platform has sometimes overlapped with that of the assassinated Rotterdam politician Pim Fortuyn and his Pim Fortuyn List. Wilders has been described as positioning himself to inherit Fortuyn's former supporters.


title: Party for Freedom

text: The Parliamentary Documentation Center (Parlementair Documentatie Centrum) of the Leiden University characterises the PVV as "populist, with both conservative, liberal, right-wing and left-wing positions".


title: Party for Freedom

text: In December 2008, the eighth study "Monitor Racism and Extremism", conducted by the Anne Frank Foundation and the Leiden University, has found that the Party for Freedom can be considered far-right, although "with ifs and buts". Economically, they are viewed as a left-wing party. Peter Rodrigues and Jaap van Donselaar, who have academically guided the study, explain this classification with the Islamophobia, nationalism, and "sharp aversion to the strange", subsumed as racism, which they have observed within the party.


title: Party for Freedom

text: In January 2010, the report "Polarisatie en radicalisering in Nederland" (transl. "Polarisation and radicalisation in the Netherlands") by political researchers Moors, Lenke Balogh, Van Donselaar and De Graaff from the Tilburg University research group IVA stated that the PVV was not an extreme right-wing party, but contained some radical right-wing elements. The study claims that the PVV holds xenophobic ideas, but not antisemitic ideas – the PVV describes its culture as Jewish-Christian humanistic. "The PVV statements on Islamisation and non-Western immigrants appear to be discriminatory and the party organisation is authoritarian rather than democratic", said the researchers, who were looking into polarisation and radicalism across the Netherlands. They described the PVV as the "new radical right", a party with a national democratic ideology but without extreme right-wing roots. In particular, the report stated that the party's pro-Israel stance showed that it was not neo-Nazi. It tends however towards a national democratic ideology. Wilders called the report "scandalous"—in particular the link between defending the national interest and the radical right.


title: Party for Freedom

text: An alleged earlier version of the report, leaked to the Dutch daily newspaper "de Volkskrant" in November 2009, said that Wilders' party is an extreme right-wing grouping and a threat to social cohesion and democracy. The paper claimed at the time the researchers were under pressure to water down the conclusions because of their political sensitivity. The Dutch Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations Guusje ter Horst, (2007–2010), Labour (PvdA), who commissioned the research, denied exerting any interference. In response, Wilders accused her of "playing a dirty game".


title: Party for Freedom

text: Some commentators and international scholarly publications have argued that the party is far-right; for example, the ex-prime minister Van Agt regards the party as ultra-right-wing, and Bert de Vries (CDA) draws comparisons with the small Centre Party. The political scientist Lucardie, on the other hand, considers it necessary to reserve the 'far-right' qualification for national socialists and fascists, though PVV is itself widely accused of fascism. International media outlets, similarly, have followed this classification. The party has been regarded by some as anti-Polish, anti-Slavic, anti-Romani and anti-Muslim. Wilders however maintains that he is not anti-Muslim, only anti-Islam, summing up his views by stating "I don't hate Muslims, I hate Islam".


title: Party for Freedom

text: International affairs commentator Marlene Spoerri has opined that while PVV endorses anti-Islam and eurosceptic positions, it also differs from other European populist and nationalist parties such as the Flemish Vlaams Belang or the French National Front, arguing that the PVV has not historically espoused antisemitic rhetoric and does not advocate for a return to "traditional family values," but instead takes a firmly pro-Israel stance and has supported socially liberal positions such women's and gay rights, abortion and euthanasia in its platform.


title: Party for Freedom

text: In February 2007, PVV parliamentarian Fritsma introduced a motion that would have prohibited any parliamentarian or executive branch politician from having dual citizenship. The PVV claimed that dual nationals have unclear loyalty. The motion would have made it difficult, if not impossible for Labour MPs Ahmed Aboutaleb and Nebahat Albayrak to become members of the fourth Balkenende cabinet. The motion had to be withdrawn, however, after objection from the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Gerdi Verbeet (Labour Party). Maastricht University law professor has commented on the risk in executive branch officials having dual citizenship. however the European Convention on Human Rights as reviewed in 2010 ECtHR jurisprudence has reaffirmed that form of discrimination is a violation of a human right. However, in 2007 the PVV planned to call for a vote of no confidence against junior ministers Aboutaleb and Albayrak when the new cabinet had its first meeting with the House of Representatives, claiming that their respectively Moroccan and Turkish passports put their loyalties into question. In the event, the motion was only supported by the PVV itself.


title: Party for Freedom

text: The issue of dual nationality, however, was not over yet. On 2 March 2007, Radio Netherlands Worldwide reported that Labour Party MP Khadija Arib, who had been sworn into parliament the day before, was sitting on a commission appointed by the king of Morocco. The PVV said that this commission work endangers Arib's loyalty to the Netherlands, and that she should choose between being a member of the Dutch parliament or the Moroccan commission. Geert Wilders said that Arib's remark on national television that her loyalty lay neither with the Netherlands nor Morocco was shameful. The liberal VVD party similarly remarked that her "double orientation would hurt Dutch integration." All other parties were appalled by the PVV and VVD's comments.


title: Party for Freedom

text: Perhaps in the light of the "Moldova" ruling, in the first Rutte government in 2010 chaired by the VVD leader, supported by the PVV, Marlies Veldhuijzen van Zanten became the new State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport, having both Dutch and Swedish nationality.


title: Party for Freedom

text: The party fielded a controversial motion in the 2007 "general deliberations" on the immigration budget, calling for a stop to immigration from Muslim countries. The House of Representatives at first declined to bring the motion forward for debate. Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin said it was in violation of the Dutch constitution and international law. Another motion by the PVV, against police officers wearing veils, did gain a parliamentary majority.


title: Party for Freedom

text: In 2012, the PVV party launched a website named "Reporting Centre on Central and East Europeans" to receive complaints about Central and East European immigrants in the Netherlands. 'Do you have problems with people from Central and Eastern Europe? Have you lost your job to a Pole, a Bulgarian, a Romanian or another East European? We want to know,' the website states. It displays newspaper headlines such as 'Wouldn't it be better if you went back home?' and 'East Europeans, increasingly criminal'. The European Commission has condemned the website, and EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding declared, "We call on all citizens of the Netherlands not to join in this intolerance. Citizens should instead clearly state on the PVV's website that Europe is a place of freedom." The website caused a lot of controversy within the European Union.


title: Party for Freedom

text: The PVV has declared that, since it is against state subsidies, it rejects the idea of itself being financially supported by the government and believes the "taxpayers should not pay for political parties they don't support".


title: Party for Freedom

text: In 2012, the Dutch Parliament discussed tightening the financial rules for political parties, forcing them to become more transparent. The PVV indicated that it would use any means available to avoid disclosing the identity of its donors.


title: Party for Freedom

text: The PVV supports the one-state solution and considers Jordan to be 'the only Palestinian state that will ever exist'. In 2010, Geert Wilders voiced his support for Yisrael Beiteinu and held talks with its leader Avigdor Lieberman. Geert Wilders is a frequent visitor to Israel and spent six months on a moshav in the West Bank at the age of 17. The party supports recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and proposed moving the Dutch embassy there.


title: Party for Freedom

text: The name 'Party for Freedom' ("Partij voor de Vrijheid") is a reference to the Freedom Party ("Partij van de Vrijheid"), a Dutch political party founded in 1946, shortly after World War II. In 1948, the Freedom Party went on as the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ("Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie"), which is the party Wilders split from.


title: Party for Freedom

text: The party logo consists of the party name and a gull in red, white, and blue, which are the colors of the Dutch flag. The gull symbolises freedom or liberty. The gull had also been used as a symbol by the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands on propaganda posters and for their youth wing, but Wilders claimed it was not inspired by Nazi usage.


title: Party for Freedom

text: In order to register for elections in the Netherlands, a political party needs to be an association (), which can be founded by two or more members. The Vereniging Groep Wilders (Association Group Wilders) was founded by the natural person Geert Wilders and Stichting Groep Wilders (Foundation Group Wilders), of which Wilders is the only board member. The association was later renamed to Partij voor de Vrijheid (Party for Freedom). After the creation of the association, Wilders disabled new member registration, resulting in his remaining the sole member of the party. The party is considered unique in Dutch politics in that it does not organise public party conferences and does not have local departments, a youth wing, or a research institute. Instead, PVV supporters have the option of financially donating to the party or signing up as unaffiliated volunteers during elections. Candidates are mostly handpicked by Wilders who also writes the PVV's platform. Former PVV politician Hero Brinkman unsuccessfully tried to lobby for the party to adopt a conventional membership system and a youth wing. However, Wilders has defended the party's structure, stating that he does not want extremists to take over the PVV, while others have cited the example of the defunct Pim Fortuyn List party which shared many similar policies to the PVV but succumbed to factional infighting following the murder of its founder. Commentators have also cited Wilders as one of the first party leaders to use web and social media messages to reach voters instead of traditional public campaigning such as public rallies or meet and greets.


title: Party for Freedom

text: Due to the PVV's structure, foreign political journalists have noted that members of the public do not often out themselves as PVV supporters and that it is sometimes difficult to determine who votes for the party despite its generally substantial results in elections. Some media outlets have noted that in line with other European populist parties, its voters tend to either be on the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum or those concerned about immigration and crime. A 2017 study by Dutch polling company "Etnobarometer" found that the PVV also receives support from some ethnic minority communities and that it was the second most voted for party among Surinamese-Dutch voters after the Labour Party, with the PVV doing particularly well among voters of Indo-Surinamese and Indian heritage.


title: Party for Freedom

text: In the Netherlands, a political party needs to have 1,000 members or more to be eligible for government funding, a requirement which the Party for Freedom does not meet with Wilders being the only member.


title: Party for Freedom

text: Financially, the party has been largely relying on donations. The party has not disclosed any of its finances until 2013. According to Hero Brinkman, a former MP for the party, the PVV received most of its finances from certain foreign (American) lobby-groups. According to Reuters, Daniel Pipes' Middle East Forum paid for the trials and security of Geert Wilders and David Horowitz paid Wilders "a good fee" for two speeches given in the US.


title: Party for Freedom

text: Since 2013, Dutch political parties are required by law to disclose all donations of 4,500 euro or more. The Party for Freedom disclosed no donations for 2013. For 2014 to 2016, the party disclosed a total of 148,391.07 euro in donations from the California-based David Horowitz Freedom Center, a total of 18,700 euro in donations from a private donor in the Netherlands, and a donation of 6,853.70 euro from the New York-based company FOL Inc. The 2015 donations of just over 108,244 euro from the Freedom Center was "the largest individual contribution to a Dutch political party that year."


title: Party for Freedom

text: The PVV lost all it seats in the 2019 European Parliament election. However, the party received an MEP appointed in the wake of the re-allocation of UK seats after Brexit, namely Marcel de Graaff, who became an MEP in February 2020 but who defected to Forum for Democracy in January 2022.


title: Srirasmi Suwadee

text: Srirasmi Suwadee (; ; born 9 December 1971), formerly Princess Srirasmi, Royal Consort to the Crown Prince of Thailand, is a former member of the royal family of Thailand. She was the third consort of then-Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn (now Rama X) from February 2001 to December 2014.


title: Srirasmi Suwadee

text: Srirasmi Suwadee was born in Samut Songkhram Province to a family of modest means. She was the third of four children born to Apiruj and Wanthanee Suwadee, and has Mon descent from her mother's side.


title: Srirasmi Suwadee

text: She attended Bangkok Business College and in 1993, at age 22, entered the service of Vajiralongkorn as a "lady-in-waiting." Srirasmi enrolled in Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University in 1997 and graduated in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in management science. Vajiralongkorn personally bestowed her with her diploma. In 2007, she received a Master of Science degree in Family and Child Development from Kasetsart University.


title: Srirasmi Suwadee

text: Srirasmi married the Crown Prince of Thailand on 10 February 2001 in a private ceremony at the prince's Nonthaburi Palace. The public was informed of the event some time afterwards. The prince, who had married twice before and has children with his previous wives, stated it was his intention to settle down: "I am now 50 years old and think I should have a complete family." After the wedding, Srirasmi was styled Mom Srirasmi Mahidol na Ayudhya (Mahidol is the surname of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and King Ananda Mahidol, and the na Ayudhya designation signifies non-titled descendants of the Chakri Dynasty and their spouses).


title: Srirasmi Suwadee

text: On 14 February 2005, it was announced that Srirasmi was pregnant. On 29 April 2005, a son named Dipangkorn Rasmijoti was born via caesarean section at Siriraj Hospital. Because of the birth, she was granted by King Bhumibol Adulyadej the title "Princess of Thailand" and styled "Her Royal Highness" as the royal consort of Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn. A royal ceremony, called "Phra Ratchaphithi Somphot Duean Lae Khuen Phra U," to celebrate the first month of the baby was held on 17 June 2005 at the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall in Bangkok.


title: Srirasmi Suwadee

text: Srirasmi initiated and launched the "Sai Yai Rak Chak Mae Su Luk" (Love and care from mother to children) campaign which promoted breast feeding. The campaign features images of her son.


title: Srirasmi Suwadee

text: Srirasmi came to wider public attention in 2009, when she appeared in a leaked video feeding a birthday cake to her husband's dog Fufu while only wearing a G-string.


title: Srirasmi Suwadee

text: A letter asking for Srirasmi's family to be stripped of their royal name was sent to the interior ministry in November 2014. The letter was sent by her husband, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, after allegations of corruption against seven of her relatives. On 11 December 2014, the "Royal Thai Government Gazette" announced that Srirasmi relinquished her royal title, presumably due to the corruption affairs that involved her family. Srirasmi was granted a payment of 200 million baht (US$6 million) by Maha Vajiralongkorn in exchange for her relinquishment. The money was paid out of the Crown Property Bureau, as confirmed by the Ministry of Finance.


title: Srirasmi Suwadee

text: After Srirasmi's divorce, her parents, father Apiruj Suwadee and mother Wanthanee, were arrested for Lèse-majesté. The two later admitted to misusing their royal connection 12 years prior, which led to a former neighbor being jailed on bogus fraud charges. Both were sentenced to five years in prison, which was reduced to two and a half years.


title: Four Rooms

text: farce black comedy film co-written and co-directed by Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino, loosely based on the adult short fiction writings of Roald Dahl. The story is set in the fictional Hotel Mon Signor in Los Angeles on New Year's Eve. Tim Roth plays Ted, the bellhop and main character in the frame story, whose first night on the job consists of four very different encounters with various hotel guests.


title: Four Rooms

text: The film received mixed reviews from critics who praised the segments directed by Rodriguez and Tarantino, but heavily criticized the segments by Anders and Rockwell.


title: Four Rooms

text: On New Year's Eve, bellhop Sam (Marc Lawrence) of the Hotel Mon Signor briefs his replacement, Ted (Tim Roth).


title: Four Rooms

text: The film's animated opening credits, inspired by the cartoons of "The Pink Panther Show", feature the scat song "Vertigogo" by Combustible Edison.


title: Four Rooms

text: Ted assists a group of unusual women with their luggage, which he brings to the Honeymoon Suite. He learns they are a coven of witches, attempting to reverse a spell cast on their goddess, Diana (Amanda De Cadenet). The ritual requires them each to place an ingredient into a large cauldron; however, one (Ione Skye) has still to retrieve her ingredient – semen – with one hour left. She seduces Ted and they have sex in the cauldron. He leaves and they complete the ritual, and Diana emerges from the cauldron.


title: Four Rooms

text: At Room 404, Ted finds himself in a fantasy hostage situation. Sigfried (David Proval) maniacally accuses Ted, whom he calls Theodore, of having slept with his wife Angela (Jennifer Beals). Ted is forced at gunpoint to participate in the scenario, uncertain what is real. He becomes stuck in the bathroom window as the party guest appears in the window above, uttering the word "ice" and vomiting. Ted escapes, just as another guest (Paul Skemp) arrives, looking for Room 404, and is greeted by Sigfried in the same manner.


title: Four Rooms

text: A husband (Antonio Banderas) and wife (Tamlyn Tomita) leave for a New Year's Eve party, tipping Ted $500 to keep an eye on their children, Sarah and Juancho (Lana McKissack and Danny Verduzco). Ted instructs the children to stay in their room; when he leaves, they vandalize the room, exploding a bottle of champagne. They call Ted for toothbrushes, and he tries unsuccessfully to put them to bed. He leaves but is summoned back to find the room in further chaos: a painting has been turned into a dartboard with lipstick and a syringe, Juancho has a cigarette, Sarah has a bottle of liquor, the television is set to an adult channel, and the children have found a dead prostitute (Patricia Vonne) in the box spring. Sarah stabs Ted in the leg with the syringe when he repeatedly uses the word "whore" and Juancho accidentally sets the room on fire. Their father returns, carrying his passed-out wife, and asks Ted, "Did they misbehave?" The sprinkler system activates while everyone stands still.


title: Four Rooms

text: The penthouse is occupied by famous director Chester Rush (Tarantino) and his friends, including Angela. They request a block of wood, three nails, a ball of twine, a bucket of ice, a doughnut for Chester, a club sandwich for Angela, and a hatchet "as sharp as the Devil himself". Ted is invited to join their challenge: Chester's friend Norman (Paul Calderón) has bet he can light his Zippo cigarette lighter ten times in a row; if Norman succeeds, he will win Chester's car, but if he fails, his pinky will be cut off. Ted, asked to "wield the hatchet" should Norman fail, tries to leave, but Chester offers $100 to hear them out and another $900 to perform this assigned role. Norman's lighter fails on the first try, and Ted immediately chops off his pinky, sweeps up the money, and leaves the penthouse with an energetic step. As the credits roll, Chester and company frantically prepare to take a screaming Norman to the hospital.


title: Four Rooms

text: The four segments are shown chronologically, except for "The Misbehavers", the events of which both precede and succeed the events of "The Wrong Man".


title: Four Rooms

text: Miramax presold Japanese distribution rights to Shochiku along with Gary Fleder’s "Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead", George T. Miller’s "Robinson Crusoe", John Ehle’s "The Journey of August King" and "" in a bulk acquisition deal.


title: Four Rooms

text: James Berardinelli of ReelViews described it as "one of 1995's major disappointments". Hal Hinson of "The Washington Post" said it "asserts itself as a goof so laboriously and aggressively that you almost feel pinned back in your seat". Roger Ebert of the Chicago-Sun Times ranked Rodriguez's segment as the best by far and also best capitalizing on Roth. Tarantino's segment was well-made but undistinguished while Ebert declared Anders's efforts were "disappointing" and Rockwell "unsuccessful".


title: Four Rooms

text: The film holds a 13% "Rotten" rating from Rotten Tomatoes based on 45 reviews. The critical consensus reads: ""Four Rooms" comes stocked with a ton of talent on both sides of the camera, yet only manages to add up to a particularly uneven – and dismayingly uninspired – anthology effort.


title: Four Rooms

text: The soundtrack features a score composed and performed by contemporary lounge music band Combustible Edison, coproduced by Mark Mothersbaugh. Additional music is by Juan García Esquivel.


title: Christ myth theory

text: The Christ myth theory, also known as the Jesus myth theory, Jesus mythicism, or the Jesus ahistoricity theory, is the view that "the story of Jesus is a piece of mythology", possessing no "substantial claims to historical fact". Alternatively, in terms given by Bart Ehrman paraphrasing Earl Doherty, "the historical Jesus did not exist. Or if he did, he had virtually nothing to do with the founding of Christianity."


title: Christ myth theory

text: In contrast, the mainstream scholarly consensus holds that Jesus was a historical figure who lived in 1st-century Roman Judea, and that he was baptized and was crucified. Beyond that, mainstream scholars have no consensus about the historicity of the other major details of the gospel stories, or on the extent to which the Pauline epistles and the gospels replaced the historical human Jesus with a religious narrative of a supernatural "Christ of faith".


title: Christ myth theory

text: Mythicism "goes back to Enlightenment times, when the historical-critical study of the past was born," and was revived in the 1970s. Proponents broadly argue that a historical Jesus never existed, and that a mythological character was later historicized in the gospels. Some authors have argued that the sources on Jesus are so obscured by myths and dogma that "we could no longer be sure there had ever been a real person at the root of the whole thing." A view closer to the mainstream position is that the historical Jesus was the Galilean preacher preserved in the hypothetical Q-source, and that details about him were added to Paul's mythical Jesus.


title: Christ myth theory

text: Most mythicists employ a threefold argument: they question the reliability of the Pauline epistles and the gospels to establish the historicity of Jesus; they argue that there is lack of information on Jesus in non-Christian sources from the first and early second centuries; and they argue that early Christianity had syncretistic and mythological origins, as reflected in both the Pauline epistles and the gospels, with Jesus being a celestial being who was concretized in the gospels.


title: Christ myth theory

text: The Christ myth theory is rejected as a fringe theory by virtually all scholars of antiquity, and mythicist views are criticized in terms of methodologies, conclusions, and outdated comparisons with mythology.


title: Christ myth theory

text: Mainstream scholarship recognizes that there was a historical Jesus. However scholars differ about the accuracy of the biblical accounts about Jesus, with only two events supported by nearly-universal scholarly consensus: Jesus' baptism, and his crucifixion. The mainstream scholarly view is that the Pauline epistles and the gospels describe the "Christ of faith", presenting a religious narrative which replaced the historical Jesus who did live in 1st-century Roman Palestine. Martin Kähler made the famous distinction between the "Jesus of history" and the "Christ of faith", arguing that faith is more important than exact historical knowledge. According to Ehrman, Jesus was a first-century Palestine Jew, who was not like the Jesus preached and proclaimed today, and that the most widely held view by critical scholars is that Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet who was subsequently deified.


title: Christ myth theory

text: The origins and rapid rise of Christianity, as well as the historical Jesus and the historicity of Jesus, are a matter of longstanding debate in theological and historical research. While Christianity may have started with an early nucleus of followers of Jesus, within a few years after the presumed death of Jesus in , at the time Paul started preaching, a number of "Jesus-movements" seem to have existed, which propagated divergent interpretations of Jesus' teachings. A central question is how these communities developed and what their original convictions were, as a wide range of beliefs and ideas can be found in early Christianity, including adoptionism and docetism, and also Gnostic traditions which used Christian imagery, which were all deemed heretical by proto-orthodox Christianity.


title: Christ myth theory

text: A first quest for the historical Jesus took place in the 19th century when hundreds of biographies about Jesus were proposed. German theologian David Strauss (1808–1874) pioneered the search for the "historical Jesus" by rejecting all supernatural events as mythical elaborations. His 1835 work, "Life of Jesus", was one of the first and most influential systematic analyses of the life story of Jesus, aiming to base it on unbiased historical research. The "Religionsgeschichtliche Schule", starting in the 1890s, used the methodologies of higher criticism, a branch of criticism that investigates the origins of ancient texts in order to understand "the world behind the text". It compared Christianity to other religions, regarding it as one religion among others and rejecting its claims to absolute truth, and demonstrating that it shares characteristics with other religions. It argued that Christianity was not simply the continuation of the Old Testament, but syncretistic, and was rooted in and influenced by Hellenistic Judaism (Philo) and Hellenistic religions like the mystery cults and Gnosticism. Martin Kähler questioned the usefulness of the search for the historical Jesus, making the famous distinction between the "Jesus of history" and the "Christ of faith", arguing that faith is more important than exact historical knowledge. Rudolf Bultmann (1884–1976), who was related to the "Religionsgeschichtliche Schule", emphasized theology, and in 1926 argued that historical Jesus research was both futile and unnecessary; however, Bultmann slightly modified that position in a later book. The first quest ended with Albert Schweitzer's 1906 critical review of the history of the search for Jesus' life in "The Quest of the Historical Jesus—From Reimarus to Wrede". The first quest was challenged in the 19th and early 20th centuries by authors who denied the historicity of Jesus, notably Bauer and Drews.


title: Christ myth theory

text: The second quest started in 1953, in a departure from Bultmann. Several criteria, the criterion of dissimilarity and the criterion of embarrassment, were introduced to analyze and evaluate New Testament narratives. This second quest declined in the 1970s due to the diminishing influence of Bultmann, and coinciding with the first publications of George Albert Wells, which marks the onset of the revival of Christ myth theories. According to Paul Zahl, while the second quest made significant contributions at the time, its results are now mostly forgotten, although not disproven.


title: Christ myth theory

text: The third quest started in the 1980s and introduced new criteria. Primary among these are the criterion of historical plausibility, the criterion of rejection and execution, and the criterion of congruence (also called cumulative circumstantial evidence), a special case of the older criterion of coherence. The third quest is interdisciplinary and global, carried out by scholars from multiple disciplines and incorporating the results of archeological research. The third quest primarily yielded new insights into Jesus' Palestinian and Jewish context rather than the person of Jesus himself. It also has made clear that all material on Jesus has been handed down by the emerging Church, raising questions about the criterion of dissimilarity, and the suitability of ascribing material solely to Jesus rather than the emerging Church.


title: Christ myth theory

text: These critical methods have led to a demythologization of Jesus. The mainstream scholarly view is that the Pauline epistles and the gospels describe the "Christ of faith", presenting a religious narrative that replaced the historical Jesus who lived in 1st-century Roman Palestine, but that there is no doubt that a historical Jesus did exist. New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman states that Jesus "certainly existed, as virtually every competent scholar of antiquity, Christian or non-Christian, agrees".


title: Christ myth theory

text: Following the criteria of authenticity-approach, scholars differ on the historicity of specific episodes described in the biblical accounts of Jesus, but the baptism and the crucifixion are two events in the life of Jesus that are subject to "almost universal assent". According to historian Alanna Nobbs,


title: Christ myth theory

text: Historical portraits of Jesus have often differed from each other and from the image portrayed in the gospel accounts. The primary portraits of Jesus resulting from the third quest are: apocalyptic prophet; charismatic healer; cynic philosopher; Jewish Messiah; and prophet of social change. According to Ehrman, the most widely held view is that Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet who was subsequently deified.


title: Christ myth theory

text: According to New Testament scholar James Dunn, it is not possible "to construct (from the available data) a Jesus who will be the real Jesus". According to Philip R. Davies, a biblical minimalist, "what is being affirmed as the Jesus of history is a cipher, not a rounded personality". According to Ehrman, "the real problem with Jesus" is not the mythicist stance that he is "a myth invented by Christians", but that he was "far "too" historical", that is, a first-century Palestine Jew, who was not like the Jesus preached and proclaimed today. According to Ehrman, "Jesus was a first-century Jew, and when we try to make him into a twenty-first century American we distort everything he was and everything he stood for."


title: Christ myth theory

text: Since the late 2000s, concern has grown about the usefulness of the criteria of authenticity. According to Chris Keith, the criteria are literary tools, indebted to form criticism, not historiographic tools. They were meant to discern pre-gospel traditions, not to identify historical facts, but have "substituted the pre-literary tradition with that of the historical Jesus". According to Anthony Le Donne, the usage of such criteria is a form of "positivist historiography".


title: Christ myth theory

text: Keith, Le Donne, and others argue for a "social memory" approach, which states that memories are shaped by the needs of the present and that instead of searching for a historical Jesus, scholarship should investigate how the memories of Jesus were shaped, and how they were reshaped "with the aim of cohesion and the self-understanding (identity) of groups". James D. G. Dunn's 2003 study, "Jesus Remembered", prompted the "increased ... interest in memory theory and eyewitness testimony". Dunn argues that "[t]he only realistic objective for any 'quest of the historical Jesus' is Jesus "remembered"." Dunn argues that Christianity started with the impact Jesus himself had on his followers, who passed on and shaped their memories of him in an oral gospel tradition. According to Dunn, to understand who Jesus was, and what his impact was, scholars have to look at "the broad picture, focusing on the characteristic motifs and emphases of the Jesus tradition, rather than making findings overly dependent on individual items of the tradition".


title: Christ myth theory

text: Le Donne elaborated on Dunn's thesis, basing "his historiography squarely on Dunn's thesis that the historical Jesus is the memory of Jesus recalled by the earliest disciples". According to Le Donne, memories are refactored, and not an exact recalling of the past. He argues that the remembrance of events is facilitated by relating it to a common story or "type", which shapes the way the memories are retained and narrated. He therefore means that the Jesus tradition is not a theological invention of the early Church, but is shaped and refracted by the restraints that the type puts on the narrated memories, due to the mold of the "type".


title: Christ myth theory

text: According to Chris Keith, an alternative to the search for a historical Jesus "posits a historical Jesus who is ultimately unattainable but can be hypothesized on the basis of the interpretations of the early Christians, and as part of a larger process of accounting for how and why early Christians came to view Jesus in the ways that they did". According to Keith, "these two models are methodologically and epistemologically incompatible", calling into question the methods and aim of the first model.


title: Christ myth theory

text: Mythicists variously argue that the accounts of Jesus are completely or mostly of a mythical nature, questioning the mainstream paradigm of a historical Jesus in the beginning of the 1st century who was subsequently deified. Most mythicists note that Christianity developed within Hellenistic Judaism, which was influenced by Hellenism, and that early Christianity and the accounts of Jesus are to be understood in this context. Yet, where contemporary New Testament scholarship has introduced several criteria to evaluate the historicity of New Testament passages and sayings, most Christ myth proponents have relied on comparisons of Christian mythemes with contemporary religious traditions, emphasizing the mythological nature of the Bible accounts.


title: Christ myth theory

text: The most radical mythicists hold, in terms given by Price, the "Jesus atheism" viewpoint, that is, there never was a historical Jesus, only a mythological character, and the mytheme of his incarnation, death, and exaltation. They hold that this character developed out of a syncretistic fusion of Jewish, Hellenistic and Middle Eastern religious thought; was put forward by Paul; and historicised in the gospels, which are also syncretistic. Notable 'Jesus atheists' are Paul-Louis Couchoud, Earl Doherty, Thomas L. Brodie, and Richard Carrier.


title: Christ myth theory

text: Some authors argue for the Jesus agnosticism viewpoint. That is, whether there was a historical Jesus is unknowable and if he did exist, close to nothing can be known about him. Notable 'Jesus agnosticists' are Robert Price and Thomas L. Thompson. According to Thompson, the question of the historicity of Jesus also is not relevant for the understanding of the meaning and function of the Biblical texts in their own times.


title: Christ myth theory

text: Wells in his early works and Alvar Ellegård have argued that "the first Christians had in mind Jesus who had lived as a historical figure, just not of the recent past." Ellegård identified this figure with the Essene Teacher of Righteousness, de facto proposing an historical Jesus. Wells, in his later writings, came to view the gospel stories of Jesus as containing elements of a historical figure "traceable to the activity of a Galilean preacher of the early first century," preserved in the Q-source, who was added to Paul's mythical Jesus in the gospels, arguing for "two originally quite independent streams of tradition," which were fused in the gospels, leaving open the question regarding Paul's Christ "as to whether such a person had in fact existed and lived the obscure life that Paul supposed of him." According to Wells, "There is no means of deciding this issue."


title: Christ myth theory

text: According to New Testament scholar Robert Van Voorst, most Christ mythicists follow a threefold argument first set forward by German historian Bruno Bauer in the 1800s: they question the reliability of the Pauline epistles and the Gospels to postulate a historically existing Jesus; they note the lack of information on Jesus in non-Christian sources from the first and early second century; and they argue that early Christianity had syncretistic and mythological origins. More specifically:


title: Christ myth theory

text: The mainstream view is that the seven undisputed Pauline epistles considered by scholarly consensus to be genuine epistles are generally dated to AD 50–60 and are the earliest surviving Christian texts that include information about Jesus. Most scholars view the Pauline letters as essential elements in the study of the historical Jesus, and the development of early Christianity. Yet, scholars have also argued that Paul was a "mythmaker", who gave his own divergent interpretation of the meaning of Jesus, building a bridge between the Jewish and Hellenistic world, thereby creating the faith that became Christianity.


title: Christ myth theory

text: Mythicists agree on the importance of the Pauline epistles, some agreeing with this early dating, and taking the Pauline epistles as their point of departure from mainstream scholarship. They argue that those letters actually point solely into the direction of a celestial or mythical being, or contain no definitive information on a historical Jesus. Some mythicists, though, have questioned the early dating of the epistles, raising the possibility that they represent a later, more developed strand of early Christian thought.


title: Christ myth theory

text: Theologian Willem Christiaan van Manen of the Dutch school of radical criticism noted various anachronisms in the Pauline epistles. Van Manen claimed that they could not have been written in their final form earlier than the 2nd century. He also noted that the Marcionite school was the first to publish the epistles, and that Marcion ( – ) used them as justification for his gnostic and docetic views that Jesus' incarnation was not in a physical body. Van Manen also studied Marcion's version of Galatians in contrast to the canonical version and argued that the canonical version was a later revision that de-emphasized the Gnostic aspects.


title: Christ myth theory

text: Price also argues for a later dating of the epistles, and sees them as a compilation of fragments (possibly with a Gnostic core), contending that Marcion was responsible for much of the Pauline corpus or even wrote the letters himself. Price criticizes other Christ myth theorists for holding the mid-first-century dating of the epistles for their own apologetical reasons.


title: Christ myth theory

text: According to theologian Gregory A. Boyd and Paul Rhodes Eddy, Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Bethel University, modern biblical scholarship notes that "Paul has relatively little to say on the biographical information of Jesus", viewing Jesus as "a recent contemporary". Yet, according to Christopher Tuckett, "[e]ven if we had no other sources, we could still infer some things about Jesus from Paul's letters."


title: Christ myth theory

text: Robert Price says that Paul does not refer to Jesus' earthly life, also not when that life might have provided convenient examples and justifications for Paul's teachings. Instead, revelation seems to have been a prominent source for Paul's knowledge about Jesus.


title: Christ myth theory

text: Among contemporary scholars, there is consensus that the gospels are a type of ancient biography, a genre which was concerned with providing examples for readers to emulate while preserving and promoting the subject's reputation and memory, as well as including propaganda and "kerygma" (preaching) in their works. Biblical scholarship regards the gospels to be the literary manifestation of oral traditions that originated during the life of a historical Jesus, who according to Dunn had a profound impact on his followers.


title: Christ myth theory

text: Mythicists argue that in the gospels "a fictitious historical narrative" was imposed on the "mythical cosmic savior figure" created by Paul. According to Robert Price, the gospels "smack of fictional composition", arguing that they are a type of legendary fiction and that the story of Jesus portrayed in the gospels fits the mythic hero archetype. The mythic hero archetype, present in many cultures, often has a miraculous conception or virgin births heralded by wise men and marked by a star, is tempted by or fights evil forces, dies on a hill, appears after death and then ascends to heaven. According to Earl Doherty, the gospels are "essentially allegory and fiction".


title: Christ myth theory

text: According to Wells in his later writings, a historical Jesus existed, whose teachings were preserved in the Q source. Wells said the gospels weave together two Jesus narratives, namely the Galilean preacher of the Q document, and Paul's mythical Jesus. Doherty disagrees with Wells regarding the teacher of the Q-document, arguing that he was an allegorical character who personified Wisdom and came to be regarded as the founder of the Q-community. According to Doherty, Q's Jesus and Paul's Christ were combined in the Gospel of Mark by a predominantly Gentile community.


title: Christ myth theory

text: Ehrman notes that the gospels are based on oral sources, which played a decisive role in attracting new converts. Christian theologians have cited the mythic hero archetype as a defense of Christian teaching while completely affirming a historical Jesus. Secular academics Kendrick and McFarland have also pointed out that the teachings of Jesus marked "a radical departure from all the conventions by which heroes had been defined".


title: Christ myth theory

text: Myth proponents claim there is significance in the lack of surviving historic records about Jesus of Nazareth from any non-Jewish author until the second century, adding that Jesus left no writings or other archaeological evidence. They note that Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria did not mention Jesus when he wrote about the cruelty of Pontius Pilate around 40 AD.


title: Christ myth theory

text: Mainstream biblical scholars point out that much of the writings of antiquity have been lost and that there was little written about any Jew or Christian in this period. Ehrman points out that there is no known archaeological or textual evidence for the existence of most people in the ancient world, even famous people like Pontius Pilate, whom the myth theorists agree to have existed. Robert Hutchinson notes that this is also true of Josephus, despite the fact that he was "a personal favorite of the Roman Emperor Vespasian". Hutchinson quotes Ehrman, who notes that Josephus is never mentioned in 1st century Greek or Roman sources, despite being "a personal friend of the emperor". According to Classical historian and popular author Michael Grant, if the same criterion is applied to others, "We can reject the existence of a mass of pagan personages whose reality as historical figures is never questioned."


title: Christ myth theory

text: There are three non-Christian sources that are typically used to study and establish the historicity of Jesus, namely two mentions in Josephus, and one mention in the Roman source Tacitus.


title: Christ myth theory

text: Josephus' "Antiquities of the Jews", written around 93–94 AD, includes two references to the biblical Jesus in Books and . The general scholarly view is that while the longer passage in Book 18, known as the "Testimonium Flavianum", is most likely not authentic in its entirety, it originally consisted of an authentic nucleus, which was then subject to Christian interpolation or forgery. According to Josephus scholar Louis H. Feldman, "few have doubted the genuineness" of Josephus' reference to Jesus in ("the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James") and it is only disputed by a small number of scholars.


title: Christ myth theory

text: Roman historian Tacitus referred to "Christus" and his execution by Pontius Pilate in his "Annals" (written ), The very negative tone of Tacitus' comments on Christians makes most experts believe that the passage is extremely unlikely to have been forged by a Christian scribe. The Tacitus reference is now widely accepted as an independent confirmation of Jesus' crucifixion, although some scholars question the historical value of the passage on various grounds.


title: Christ myth theory

text: Myth proponents note that the "Testimonium Flavianum" is likely a forgery by Christian apologist Eusebius in the 4th century or by others. Richard Carrier further argues that the original text of Antiquities 20 referred to a brother of the high priest Jesus son of Damneus, named James, and not to the Jesus of Christianity. Carrier further argues that the words "the one called Christ" likely resulted from the accidental insertion of a marginal note added by some unknown reader.


title: Christ myth theory

text: Christ myth theory supporters such as Carrier note that sources such as Tacitus and others, which were written decades after the supposed events, include no independent traditions that relate to Jesus, and hence can provide no confirmation of historical facts about him.