title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: To capitalize on Brody's quickness and speed, the coach abandoned the team's formerly slow pace, in favor of a fast-paced motion game, built around fast breaks. Brody was the most dominant player in the European-wide second tier level FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup (FIBA Saporta Cup) in the 1966–67 season. In 1967, he was named Israel's Sportsman of the Year. The team made it through the first, second, and third rounds of the European Cup Winners' Cup's (Saporta Cup) playoffs, and reached the Finals, finishing second in the league.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: For the first time, the Israeli Prime Minister (Levi Eshkol), the Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff, and Knesset members came to games. Demand for tickets to games in the team's 5,000-seat stadium was so high that they became exceedingly difficult to obtain.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: The rise to the top in Europe. The first EuroLeague championship in 1977 was soon followed by another finals appearance in 1980. Tal Brody was the captain of that Maccabi Tel Aviv team.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: The year 1977 was the apex of the Cold War, and the Soviet Union was boycotting Israel. In the first round of the FIBA European Champions Cup (EuroLeague) Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Real Madrid, 94–85. In the second round, it beat BC Brno, Czechoslovakian League, for the first time, 91–76, on 15 February 1977.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: In the FIBA European Champions Cup semifinals, Maccabi Tel Aviv was matched against CSKA Moscow – the Red Army team. CSKA Moscow was a powerhouse. The Soviet Army team had won the prior USSR League championship. Six of its players had played on the Soviet national team that had defeated the United States in the 1972 Summer Olympics, and their captain was Sergei Belov. And the Communists were well known for using sports to glorify what they billed as their supremacy over the West.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: The Soviet Union had broken off diplomatic relations with Israel a decade earlier, and politically and militarily backed Israel's Arab enemies. For political reasons, therefore, CSKA Moscow refused to play in Tel Aviv. And the Soviets also refused to grant visas to the Israelis, to allow them to come play in Moscow. In the end, Maccabi Tel Aviv's "home game" was played in the small, neutral town of Virton, Belgium.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: The game took place in an emotional atmosphere. It was of huge symbolic value for Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, and for many Israelis who ordinarily had no interest in basketball. The game pitted the capitalist West against the Communist East, and Israel against the country that was supplying its enemies with weapons. The game also matched the country of Israel, with a total of a mere 4 million inhabitants, against the Soviets, with their 290 million people. The newspaper "Maariv" billed the 17 February 1977, game as "the fight between David and Goliath." Most of Israel's population watched the game, which was broadcast on Israel's only TV channel at the time.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: Maccabi Tel Aviv upset the heavily favored Soviets, 91–79. The feeling among Israelis was not only that CSKA Moscow had been defeated, but that a victory – albeit small – had been achieved against the mighty Soviet Union. The game has for decades been recognized as a key event in the forging of Israel's national identity. Even decades later, it was being replayed repeatedly on Israeli television.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: ""We are on the map!"" proclaimed a euphoric Tal Brody, in his heavily American-accented Hebrew, as a TV announcer pushed a microphone in front of him for a post-game quote, while people danced the hora around, him in excitement and celebration. ""And we are staying on the map – not only in sports, but in everything."" The phrase "We are on the map!" (""anachnu al hamapa, ve'anahnu nisharim al hamapa!""), a literal translation of an English phrase into his adopted language, but a novel saying in Hebrew, became a new, popular phrase in Israel. It reflected a physical victory by the nascent Jewish Zionist idea, and national pride. It became Israel's most famous quote, and a staple of Israeli speech.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: Back home, hundreds of thousands of Israelis celebrated spontaneously in the streets, and 150,000 in Tel Aviv congregated in celebration in what is now Rabin Square. Many jumped into its fountain, splashing in water and champagne. Recalling the moment, an Israeli quoted in the book "From Beirut to Jerusalem" told author Thomas Friedman that on one level it was Brody the star basketball player and his teammates beating the Russians, but on another level it was "my grandfather beating them. It was our retroactive victory over the Cossacks."


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: The FIBA European Champions Cup Finals were played in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, on 7 April 1977. Yugoslavia was a Non-Aligned country that supported Palestine, and with which Israel did not have diplomatic relations, and the El Al plane that brought the Maccabi Tel Aviv players over to it for the game, was the first Israeli plane ever allowed to land there.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: The Israelis were pitted against the highly favored Mobilgirgi Varese, the champions of Italy's top league. Mobilgirgi Varese had beaten the Israelis twice that year, and had beaten them in the European-wide second-tier level FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup (FIBA Saporta Cup) Finals, ten years earlier, when Brody first started playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv. Back in Israel, the entire country watched the game on television.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: Maccabi Tel Aviv went on to defeat Mobilgirgi Varese by one point, 78–77, in the FIBA European Champions Cup Finals. Brody, as the team's captain, received the FIBA European Cup trophy from FIBA's Secretary General, and lifted it over his head. Jim Boatwright was the game's leading scorer, with 26 points.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: It was Israel's first FIBA European Champions Cup title, in the 23-nation league. It was also the first time that Israel had won a championship of that caliber in any sport, and was, at the time, Israel's greatest achievement in international sports. The victory greatly lifted the spirit and morale of the country. In Israel, 200,000 people gathered to celebrate in Israel's National Park, and the event was celebrated as a national holiday. When the team returned home, it found 150,000 Israelis waiting for it.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: 1 FIBA European Champions Cup (EuroLeague), 1 FIBA Intercontinental Cup, 10 Israeli League championships, 8 Israeli Cups.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: A golden era of the Maccabi Tel Aviv ball club. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Maccabi dominated the Israeli Basketball Super League, winning all 20 league championships in a row. Winning the FIBA European Champions Cup (EuroLeague) title in 1981, and reaching the FIBA European Champions Cup Finals for four more times, in 1982, 1987, 1988, and 1989. Miki Berkovich 1971–75, and 1976–88, Motti Aroesti 1974–88, Doron Jamchi 1985–96 and 1999–2000, Kevin Magee 1984–90, Lou Silver 1975–85, Ken Barlow 1987–90, Aulcie Perry 1976–85, and LaVon Mercer 1988–95 were the superstars of that Maccabi run.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: Maccabi Tel Aviv beat Sinudyne Bologna, 80–79, in the Finals game, in Strasbourg, under head coach Rudy D'Amico. It was proof that Maccabi was at the top of European professional club basketball for good.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: For Maccabi Tel Aviv there was no European-wide title in the decade, and the team had struggles in European competitions. However, the club was still considered to be one of the European powerhouses of that era, as the club then featured European All-Stars such as Doron Jamchy and Oded Kattash, as well LaVon Mercer. With the exception of 1993, Maccabi absolutely dominated the Israel League, winning every championship.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: The "second golden era" of Maccabi Tel Aviv, making it the second most successful European basketball club of that decade. Maccabi made it to the FIBA EuroLeague's title game in 2000, which marked the start of Maccabi's second "golden era", the most successful of the club to date. During this decade, the club won three EuroLeague championships, in 2001 (FIBA SuproLeague), 2004, and 2005 respectively. They also reached the European title game on two more occasions, in 2006 and 2008. Ariel McDonald 1999–2002, Anthony Parker 2000–02 and 2003–06, Nate Huffman 1999–2002, Šarūnas Jasikevičius 2003–05, Maceo Baston 2003–06, Derrick Sharp 1996–2011, Nikola Vujčić 2002–08, and Tal Burstein 2000–09 and 2010–12 were the top players of Maccabi during this era.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: The return to European glory for the club. This was the only year in European-wide professional club basketball history, with two recognized top-tier level European-wide champions, from two different organizations. Maccabi Tel Aviv was recognized as the winner of the traditional FIBA tournament, which had been renamed from the FIBA EuroLeague, to the FIBA SuproLeague; and Kinder Bologna, which was recognized as the champions of the newly established EuroLeague, which was organized by EuroLeague Basketball.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: Maccabi Tel Aviv fans did not have to wait too much for another big title, as it all clicked in the 2003–04 season. Sharp's miracle three-pointer to survive the EuroLeague Top 16 that year has become one of the classic shots in European basketball history, and is unforgettable for any Maccabi fan. Once in the 2004 EuroLeague Final Four, Maccabi turned in a record breaking performance, with an outstanding 118-point title game performance. Maccabi won back-to-back EuroLeague titles in 2005, becoming the first team to do so since 1991. The players Šarūnas Jasikevičius, Anthony Parker, Tal Burstein, Maceo Baston, and Nikola Vujčić, coached by Pini Gershon, became a classic lineup in European basketball history. This team of 2003–04 and 2004–05 is generally considered one of the best basketball teams in European club history, and certainly one of the most fun to watch ever in basketball history. After starting point guard "Saras" Jasikevičius left the team, to fulfill his lifelong dream and play in the NBA, Maccabi went back to the EuroLeague Final, in the 2005–06 season, but CSKA Moscow stood in the way of a three-peat. Anthony Parker and Maceo Baston left after that year, and returned home, signing multi-million dollar contracts with NBA teams. Center Nikola Vujčić stayed with Maccabi for two more years, playing in one more final, in the 2007–08 season, before leaving the team, and signing a multi-million dollar deal with Olympiacos. Israeli Super League legends Derrick Sharp and Tal Burstein, remained with Maccabi, and continued to play for the team until 2011 and 2012, respectively. Maccabi also dominated the Israel League, winning every tournament from 1993 to 2007, and winning multiple Cup tournaments.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: 1 EuroLeague Championship, 5 Israeli League championships, 8 Israeli Cups, 6 Israeli League Cups, 1 Adriatic League championship.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: For the 2010–11 season, management brought back head coach David Blatt, and added new premier players. Maccabi Tel Aviv reeled off nine consecutive wins to finish the EuroLeague regular season. Highlights included David Blu's game-winning triple against Khmki, Sofoklis Schortsanitis's dominance inside, and the defense of steals leaders Chuck Eidson and Doron Perkins. The momentum ended with a road loss at Regal FC Barcelona, at the start of the EuroLeague Top 16, but Maccabi surged again with three straight wins to reach the EuroLeague playoffs. Barca handed Maccabi another loss, this time in Tel Aviv – the only home defeat of the season – and ended Blatt's hopes for home-court advantage, in the next stage against Caja Laboral.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: Maccabi Tel Aviv prevailed in the EuroLeague playoff series, as the injured Perkins' replacement in the starting lineup, Guy Pnini, set a single-game-career-high in scoring, along the way, and the team moved on to the 2011 Final Four. Jeremy Pargo finished with the best performance index rating, and the second-most points per game, among all playoffs participants. He also ranked among the top five players in three-pointers made, assists, and steals. Backup center Richard Hendrix was named MVP of the first round of the EuroLeague Playoffs, and finished as the overall playoff leader in rebounds and blocks. Maccabi Tel Aviv beat Real Madrid in the EuroLeague semifinals, 82–63, advancing to the EuroLeague Final game. On 8 May 2011, Maccabi lost the final game, 70–78, to Panathinaikos. With the exception of 2008 and 2010, Maccabi, up to 2011, also won every Israeli League from 1993.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: Maccabi announced that it would join the Adriatic League for the 2011–12 season, joining the league for the second time, as it had also joined the league for the 2002–03 season, when it reached the League's finals game. This was supposed to bridge the gap between the highest basketball level Maccabi engages in, in the EuroLeague, and the low-level Israeli league.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: On 3 August 2011, NBA point guard Jordan Farmar of the New Jersey Nets signed a one-year contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv, in the wake of the 2011 NBA lockout. He played for the team during the lockout. It was reported on 14 November 2011, that Maccabi also agreed to terms with Israeli NBA small forward Omri Casspi, to join the team in several weeks. However, the end of the NBA lockout, and the 25 December 2011 start date for the 2011–12 season, brought Casspi and Farmar back from Tel Aviv, to join their NBA teams (Cleveland and Brooklyn, respectively).


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: Maccabi Tel Aviv ended the season winning four titles: the Israeli League Cup, the Israeli State Cup, the Israeli Super League, and the Adriatic League. In the 2012–13 season, Maccabi won the Israeli League Cup and the Israeli State Cup, and reached the EuroLeague playoffs, losing to Real Madrid 0:3. In the Israeli Super League, Maccabi suffered a huge disappointment, as they lost to Maccabi Haifa 79:86 in the finals.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: In the 2013–14 EuroLeague season, Maccabi Tel Aviv finished first in their regular season group. The team went on to finish third in their top 16 group, leading to a best-of-5 playoff series against Emporio Armani Milano, without the home-court advantage.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: In the first game, Maccabi stunned the hosts from Milano, by turning a 7-point deficit, with 30 seconds remaining on the clock, into a 101–99 overtime victory. Maccabi then won two home games, to win the series 3–1, and to secure its place in the 2014 EuroLeague Final Four.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: In the EuroLeague semifinals, Maccabi came from behind to defeat the heavily favored CSKA Moscow, with a last-second basket, after CSKA had been up by 15 points late in the game. Tyrese Rice scored the game-winning lay-up, with 5.5 seconds to go.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: Maccabi Tel Aviv head coach David Blatt admitted after the semifinal that Maccabi had overshot every possible expectation during the season. When asked if the sky was the limit, Blatt said that "in this storm of a season, Maccabi long ago touched the sky, and reached the moon".


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: On 18 May 2014, Maccabi Tel Aviv won its sixth EuroLeague championship, after it defeated Real Madrid, by a score of 98–86, in overtime, to win the EuroLeague championship. Tyrese Rice was named the EuroLeague Final Four MVP. The game received worldwide media attention, after in response to Real Madrid's loss to Maccabi, over 18,000 anti-Semitic messages were posted on Twitter, in an outpouring of hatred against Jews. Maccabi entered the EuroLeague Finals as an underdog, with few expecting the team to even make it into the EuroLeague Final Four, let alone to go all the way and win the championship.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: Following the success of winning the EuroLeague championship, Maccabi Tel Aviv's head coach David Blatt was hired to be the head coach of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers. Blatt's assistant, Guy Goodes was then appointed as his replacement at Maccabi.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: After winning the 2014 Euroleague Championship, Maccabi Tel Aviv was invited by FIBA to play 2014 FIBA Intercontinental Cup against Brazil's Flamengo, who won the 2014 FIBA Americas League. The two-game aggregate score tournament took place at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 26–28 September 2014, to determine the champion. After beating Flamengo at the first game by 69–66, Maccabi lost the second game by 90–77. The aggregate score was 156–146, which made Flamengo the 2014 FIBA International Cup champion. Guy Goodes was Maccabi's coach at these two games.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: Head coach David Blatt left Maccabi to coach the Cleveland Cavaliers. Assistant coach Guy Goodes was promoted to head coach. In the 2014–15 season, Maccabi Tel Aviv was defeated 2–3 in the Super League Semifinals by Hapoel Eilat. It was the first time in 22 years that Maccabi would not play in the Finals. In the EuroLeague, Maccabi lost in the playoffs to Fenerbahçe Ülker 0:3.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: Starting from the 2015–16 season, the team was named Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv, referring to the new main fashion line sponsor. New players were signed, including some proven players such as Taylor Rochestie and Vítor Faverani. Jordan Farmar returned, and prospect Dragan Bender gained more playing time as well.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: After a slow start in the EuroLeague (1–3) and Israeli League (3–2), head coach Goodes was sacked on 9 November 2015. On 14 November, Žan Tabak signed a deal to become the head coach of Maccabi. Tabak lead the team to an Israeli Cup victory. Maccabi Tel Aviv was eventually eliminated from the EuroLeague after the regular season, and played in the 2015–16 Eurocup Basketball Last 32 phase, but failed to qualify for the playoffs after a loss at home to BC Nizhny Novgorod. The Israeli League season proved to be a disaster, when Maccabi was eliminated in the semifinal for the second season in a row, this time by the eventual champions in Maccabi Rishon LeZion. This started a three-year spell of not doing well in either league.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: The 2016–17 season was even worse for Maccabi Tel Aviv. During the summer, solid players such as Sonny Weems and Andrew Goudelock were signed, in hopes that they would lead Maccabi back to glory. Erez Edelstein was named the head coach. However, the season began with difficulties in both the Israeli League, and with losses in the EuroLeague, and Edelstein was fired. Assistant Rami Hadar briefly served as coach, before resigning after a series of losses, and Maccabi hired Ainars Bagatskis, who served as David Blatt's assistant in Darüşşafaka, as the new head coach. While Maccabi won the Israeli Cup with a win over rival Hapoel Jerusalem, in the EuroLeague, Maccabi finished in 14th place in the new format, while only finishing in 4th place in the Israeli League regular season. Bagatskis was fired just before the playoffs, with Arik Shivek becoming the new head coach for Maccabi. Maccabi made the 2017 Israeli Basketball Super League Final Four, but suffered a shocking loss to Maccabi Haifa in the semifinals, on the home Menora Mivtachim Arena floor. After the season, longtime player Devin Smith, with the team since the 2011–12 season, announced his retirement.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: Neven Spahija returned to Maccabi Tel Aviv as the new head coach, having coached the team in the 2006–07 season. Forming a completely new team, Maccabi had a successful season – in the Euroleague, Maccabi fought for most of the season for a place in the playoffs, falling short only in the end, but finishing in 10th place, a huge improvement from the previous Euroleague seasons. In Israel, while Maccabi lost the Israeli State Cup for the first time since 2008, to Hapoel Holon, Maccabi won the Israel League Cup. In the Israeli League, Maccabi finished in 1st place in the regular season, and dominated in the playoffs, finishing by winning the 2018 Israeli Basketball Premier League Final Four, defeating Hapoel Tel Aviv 98:74 in the semifinals, and crushing Cup winner Hapoel Holon 95:75 in the finals, winning their first Israeli League since 2014. Alex Tyus was named the MVP.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: For the 2018-19 season Maccabi Tel Aviv had high hopes. Coach Spahija started the season, but after four consecutive losses and a 1–6 start to the 2018–19 EuroLeague Season, Maccabi fired Spahija and hired Ioannis Sfairopoulos as the head coach. Maccabi improved, and nearly qualified for the Euroleague playoffs, though a few losses in the end prevented the team from qualification. Maccabi finished 10th. While Maccabi lost both Cup tournaments, they dominated the Israeli League – winning both 1st place in the regular season, and the 2019 Israeli Basketball Premier League Final Four tournament, held in Tel Aviv, to win the Israeli League for the second consecutive season, with John DiBartolomeo winning the MVP award.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: In the 2020–21 season, Maccabi Tel Aviv started off with no fans in attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel, and got off to a rocky start, winning 14 out of 34 Euroleague games. In the Winners League, Maccabi beat Hapoel Gilboa Galil to win the Israeli finals series 2–1, to win its 55th championship.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: Through the summer of 2021, Maccabi signed Jalen Reynolds who had already played for the club, alongside James Nunnally and Derrick Williams.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the records of all regular season matches against Russian teams were annulled, and team won-loss records adjusted accordingly, dramatically affecting league standings. In the case of Maccabi Tel Aviv, it had lost three of four games against the Russian teams.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: Maccabi Tel Aviv is widely recognised as "The State Club" for representing the State of Israel and the Jewish People around Europe and around the world, attracting huge crowds of local Jews at every away game.


title: Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.

text: In Yad Eliyahu Arena Maccabi is followed by one organised group: "The GATE" which was founded in 2017 after the merger of two organized groups, the first one is "Gate 11" and the second one is "Gate 7".


title: Classic Chinese Novels

text: Classic Chinese Novels () are the best-known novels of pre-modern Chinese literature. These are among the world's longest and oldest novels. They represented a new complexity in structure and sophistication in language that helped to establish the novel as a respected form among later popular audiences and sophisticated critics.


title: Classic Chinese Novels

text: They include the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Water Margin", "Journey to the West", and "The Plum in the Golden Vase" of the Ming dynasty and "Dream of the Red Chamber (Story of the Stone)" and "The Scholars" of the Qing dynasty. The scholar C. T. Hsia wrote that these six "remain the most beloved novels among the Chinese."


title: Classic Chinese Novels

text: The scholar Andrew H. Plaks writes that the term "classic novels" in reference to these six titles is a "neologism of twentieth-century scholarship" that seems to have come into common use under the influence of C. T. Hsia's "The Classic Chinese Novel". He adds that he is not sure at what point in the Qing or early twentieth century this became a "fixed critical category" but the grouping appears in a wide range of critical writing. Paul Ropp notes that "an almost universal consensus affirms six works as truly great". Hsia views them as "historically the most important landmarks" of the novels of China.


title: Classic Chinese Novels

text: There have been a number of groupings. "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Journey to the West", "Water Margin" and "The Plum in the Golden Vase" were grouped by publishers in the early Qing and promoted as Four Masterworks (). Because of its explicit descriptions of sex, "Jin Ping Mei" was banned for most of its existence. Despite this, Lu Xun, like many if not most scholars and writers, place it among the top Chinese novels. Several Western reference works consider "Water Margin", "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Journey to the West", and "Dream of the Red Chamber" as China's Four Great Classical Novels.


title: Classic Chinese Novels

text: None of the six were published in the author's lifetime. "Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin" appeared in many variants and forms long before being edited in their classic form in the late Ming. There is considerable debate on their authorship. Since the novel, unlike poetry or painting, had little prestige, authorship was of little interest in any case. While tradition attributes "Water Margin" to Shi Nai'an, there is little or no reliable information on him or even confidence that he existed. The novel, or portions of it, may have been written by Luo Guanzhong, perhaps Shi's student, who was the reputed author of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", or by Shi Hui ( or Guo Xun (. "Journey to the West" is the first to show signs of a single author who composed all or most of the text, which became more common in later novels.


title: Classic Chinese Novels

text: In the late Ming and early Qing, new commercial publishing houses found it profitable to issue novels that claimed specific authors and authentic texts. They commissioned scholars to edit texts and supply commentaries to interpret them. Mao Zonggang, for instance, and his father Mao Lun, edited "Three Kingdoms" and Jin Shengtan edited "Water Margin", supplying an introduction to which he signed Shi Nai'an's name. In each case the editor made cuts, additions, and basic alterations to the text, misrepresenting them as restoring the original. They also supplied commentaries with literary and political points that modern scholars find strained or clearly wrong. Their editions, however, became standard for centuries, and most modern translations are based on them. Zhang Zhupo likewise edited "Plum in the Golden Vase". Zhang worked on an abridged and rewritten text of 1695; the 1610 text, however, was a more coherent and presumably closer to the author's intent.


title: Classic Chinese Novels

text: From early times, Chinese writers preferred history as the genre for telling stories about people, while poetry was preferred for personal expression of emotion. Confucian literati, who dominated cultural life, looked down on other forms as "xiao shuo" (lit. “little talk” or “minor writings”), the term that in later times came to be used for fiction. Early examples of narrative classics include "A New Account of the Tales of the World", "Soushen Ji", "Wenyuan Yinghua", "Great Tang Records on the Western Regions", "Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang" and "Taiping Guangji". The novel as an extended prose narrative that realistically creates a believable world evolved in China and in Europe from the 14th to 18th centuries, though a little earlier in China. Chinese audiences were more interested in history and were more historically minded. They appreciated relative optimism, moral humanism, and relative emphasis on collective behavior and the welfare of the society.


title: Classic Chinese Novels

text: The rise of a money economy and urbanization under the Song Dynasty led to a professionalization of entertainment which was further encouraged by the spread of printing, the rise of literacy, and education. In both China and Western Europe, the novel gradually became more autobiographical and serious in exploration of social, moral, and philosophical problems. Chinese fiction of the late Ming dynasty and early Qing dynasty was varied, self-conscious, and experimental. In China, however, there was no counterpart to the 19th-century European explosion of novels. The novels of the Ming and early Qing dynasties represented a pinnacle of classic Chinese fiction.


title: Classic Chinese Novels

text: Until World War II, the dominant sinological scholarship considered all fiction popular and therefore directly reflective of the creative imagination of the masses. C.T. Hsia, however, established the role of the scholar-literati in the creation of vernacular fiction, though not denying the popular subject matter of some texts. Scholars then examined traditional fiction for sophisticated techniques.


title: Classic Chinese Novels

text: The scholar and literary critic Andrew H. Plaks argues that "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Water Margin", "Journey to the West" as well as "Jin Ping Mei" (not considered one of the four classic novels but discussed by him as one of the four masterworks of the Ming dynasty) collectively constituted a technical breakthrough reflecting new cultural values and intellectual concerns. Their educated editors, authors, and commentators used the narrative conventions developed from earlier storytellers, such as the episodic structure, interspersed songs and folk sayings, or speaking directly to the reader, but they fashioned self-consciously ironic narratives whose seeming familiarity camouflaged a Neo-Confucian moral critique of late Ming decadence. Plaks explores the textual history of the novels (all published after their author's deaths, usually anonymously) and how the ironic and satirical devices of these novels paved the way for the great novels of the 18th century.


title: Classic Chinese Novels

text: Plaks further shows these Ming novels share formal characteristics. They almost all contain more than 100 chapters; are divided into ten-chapter narrative blocks, each broken into two- to three-chapter episodes; are arranged in symmetrical halves; and arrange their events in patterns that follow seasons and geography. They manipulated the conventions of popular storytelling in an ironic way in order to go against the surface meanings of the story. "Three Kingdoms", he argues, presents a contrast between the ideal—that is, dynastic order—and the reality of political collapse and near-anarchy; "Water Margin" likewise presents heroic stories from the popular tradition in a way that exposes the heroism as brutal and selfish; "Journey to the West" is an outwardly serious spiritual quest undercut by comic and sometimes bawdy tone. "Jin Ping Mei" is the clearest and most sophisticated example: the action is sometimes grossly sexual, but in the end emphasizes conventional morality.


title: Classic Chinese Novels

text: These novels influenced the development of vernacular fiction in later Chinese literary history. Traditionally, fiction and drama were not held in high regard in the Chinese or East Asian literary culture, and they were generally not seen as true "literature" by the literati who dominated intellectual life. Writers in these popular forms did not have the same level of prestige as poets or scholars of Chinese classics. The late Ming and early Qing dynasty versions of these novels, however, included commentaries that were printed between the lines, so that the reader saw them as part of the text. These commentaries interpreted the text in often strained ways, but established critical and aesthetic criteria, modeled on those of poetry and painting, that gave fiction a new legitimacy.


title: Classic Chinese Novels

text: These novels were written in a mixture of vernacular and classical Chinese, though some were more completely vernacular. For instance, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is known for its mix of classical prose with folklore and popular narratives, while the "Dream of the Red Chamber" is known for the use of poetry within its mostly vernacular style. These novels popularized and legitimatized the role of vernacular literature in literary circles.


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester ( ) is a cathedral city in Worcestershire, England, of which it is the county town. It is south-west of Birmingham, north-west of London, north of Gloucester and north-east of Hereford. The population was 103,872 in the 2021 Census.


title: Worcester, England

text: The River Severn flanks the western side of the city centre. It is overlooked by Worcester Cathedral. Worcester is the home of Royal Worcester Porcelain, composer Edward Elgar, Lea & Perrins, makers of traditional Worcestershire sauce, the University of Worcester, and "Berrow's Worcester Journal", claimed as the world's oldest newspaper.


title: Worcester, England

text: The Battle of Worcester in 1651 was the final battle of the English Civil War, during which Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army defeated King Charles II's Royalists.


title: Worcester, England

text: The trade route past Worcester, later part of the Roman Ryknild Street, dates from Neolithic times. It commanded a ford crossing over the River Severn, which was tidal below Worcester, and fortified by the Britons about 400 BC.


title: Worcester, England

text: Charcoal from the Forest of Dean enabled Romans to operate pottery kilns and ironworks. They may have built a small fort. There is no sign of municipal buildings to indicate an administrative role.


title: Worcester, England

text: In the 3rd century AD, Roman Worcester occupied a larger area than the subsequent medieval city, but silting caused the abandonment of Sidbury. Industrial production ceased and the settlement contracted to a defended position along the lines of the old British fort at the river terrace's southern end.


title: Worcester, England

text: The form of the place name varied over time. At its settlement in the 7th century by the Angles of Mercia it was "Weogorna". After centuries of warfare against the Vikings and Danelaw it had become a centre for the Anglo-Saxon army or "here" known as "Weogorna ceastre" (Worcester Camp) including Saxons Lode station. The Weorgoran were probably a sub-tribe of the larger kingdom of the Hwicce, which occupied present-day Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and western Wiltshire. In 680, Worcester was chosen as their fort over the larger Gloucester, and the royal court at Winchcombe as the episcopal see of a new bishopric, suggesting there was already an established and powerful Christian community.


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester became a centre of monastic learning and church power. Oswald of Worcester, appointed Bishop in 961, was an important reformer alongside the Archbishop of York. The last Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Worcester, St Wulfstan or Wulstan, was a reformer, who remained in office until he died in 1095.


title: Worcester, England

text: The city also became a focus of violent tax resistance against the Danish Harthacanute in 1041. The townspeople tried to defend themselves by occupying the Severn island of Bevere, two miles up river. After Harthacnut's men had sacked the city and set it alight, agreement was reached and the populace returned to rebuild.


title: Worcester, England

text: The first Norman Sheriff of Worcestershire, Urse d'Abetot oversaw the construction of a new castle at Worcester, although nothing now remains of the castle. Worcester Castle was in place by 1069, its outer bailey built on land that had previously been the cemetery for the monks of the Worcester cathedral chapter. The motte of the castle overlooked the river, just south of the cathedral.


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester's growth and position as a market town for goods and produce rested on its river crossing and bridge and its position on the road network. The nearest Severn bridges in the 14th century were at Gloucester and Bridgnorth. The main road from London to mid-Wales ran through Worcester, then north-west to Kidderminster, Bridgnorth and Shrewsbury, and via Bromsgrove to Coventry and on to Derby. Southward it connected with Tewkesbury and Gloucester.


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester was a centre of religious life. The several monasteries up to the dissolution included Greyfriars, Blackfriars, the Penitent Sisters, and the Benedictine Priory, now Worcester Cathedral. Monastic houses provided hospital and educational services, including Worcester School.


title: Worcester, England

text: The 12th-century town (then better defended) was attacked in 1139, 1150 and 1151 during the civil war between King Stephen and Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I. The 1139 attack again resulted in a fire that destroyed part of the city, with citizens being held for ransom. Another fire in 1189 destroyed much of the city for the fourth time that century.


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester received its first royal charter in 1189. In 1227 under a new charter allowed a guild of merchants was created, with a trading monopoly for those admitted. Worcester's institutions grew more slowly than those of most county towns.


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester had a small Jewish population by the late 12th century. Jewish life probably centred round what is now Copenhagen Street.


title: Worcester, England

text: The Diocese was hostile to the Jewish community. Peter of Blois was commissioned by a Bishop of Worcester, probably John of Coutances, to write an anti-Judaic treatise around 1190.


title: Worcester, England

text: William de Blois as Bishop of Worcester imposed strict rules on Jews within the diocese in 1219. As elsewhere in England, Jews had to wear square white badges, supposedly representing "tabulae". Blois wrote to Pope Gregory IX in 1229 to request further powers of enforcement.


title: Worcester, England

text: In 1263 Worcester's Jewish residents were attacked by a baronial force under Robert Earl Ferrers and Henry de Montfort. Most were killed. The Worcester massacre was part of a wider campaign by allies of Simon de Montfort at the start of the Second Barons' War. In 1275, Jews still in Worcester were expelled to Hereford.


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester elected its Member of Parliament at the Guildhall, by the loudest shout rather than the raising of hands. Members of Parliament had to own freehold property worth 40 shillings a year. Their wages were levied by the Constable.


title: Worcester, England

text: The city council was organised by a system of co-option, with 24 members of the high chamber and 48 of the lower. Committees appointed two bailiffs and made financial decisions; the two chambers agreed the city's rules or ordinances.


title: Worcester, England

text: By late medieval times the population had reached 1,025 families, excluding the cathedral quarter, so that it probably stood under 10,000. Worcester's suburbs extended beyond the limits of its walls


title: Worcester, England

text: Medieval and early modern Worcester developed a system of craft guilds to regulate who could work in a trade, lay down trade practices and training, and provide social support for members. The city's late medieval ordinances banned tilers from forming a guild and encouraged tilers to settle in Worcester to trade freely. Roofs of thatch and wooden chimneys were banned to reduce risks of fire.


title: Worcester, England

text: The Dissolution saw the Priory's status change, as it lost its Benedictine monks. As elsewhere, Worcester had to set up "public" schools to replace monastic education. This led to the establishment of King's School. Worcester School continued to teach. St Oswald's Hospital survived the dissolution, later providing almshouses; the charity and its housing survives to the present day.


title: Worcester, England

text: The city gained the right to elect a Mayor, and was designated a county corporate in 1621, giving it autonomy from local government. Thereafter Worcester was governed by a mayor, recorder and six aldermen. Councillors were selected by co-option.


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester contained green spaces such as orchards and fields between its main streets, within the city wall, as appears on Speed's map of 1610. The walls were still more or less complete at the time, but suburbs had been established beyond them.


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester equivocated, but eventually sided with Parliament before the outbreak of civil war in 1642 but swiftly occupied by the Royalists. Parliament briefly retook the city for Parliament after the Battle of Powick Bridge, and ransacked the cathedral. Stained glass was smashed and the organ destroyed, along with library books and monuments.


title: Worcester, England

text: Essex was soon forced to withdraw, and the city spent the rest of the war under Royalist occupation. Worcester was a garrison town and had to sustain and billet a large number of Royalist troops. During the Royalist occupation, the suburbs were destroyed to make defence easier. High taxation was imposed, and many male residents pressed into the army.


title: Worcester, England

text: As Royalist power collapsed in May 1646, Worcester was placed under siege. Worcester had some 5,000 civilians and a Royalist garrison of about 1,500 men facing a New Model Army force of 2,500–5,000. The city surrendered on 23 July.


title: Worcester, England

text: In 1651 a Scottish army, 16,000 strong, marched south along the west coast in support of Charles II's attempt to regain the Crown. As the army approached, Worcester Council voted to surrender, fearing further violence and destruction. The Parliamentary garrison withdrew to Evesham in the face of the overwhelming numbers against them. The Scots were billeted in and around the city, joined by very limited local forces.


title: Worcester, England

text: The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651. Charles II was easily defeated by Cromwell's forces of 30,000 men. Charles II returned to his headquarters in what is now known as King Charles House in the Cornmarket, before fleeing in disguise with Talbot's help to Boscobel House in Shropshire, from where he eventually escaped to France. Worcester was then heavily looted by the Parliamentarian army. The city council estimated £80,000 of damage was done and subsequent debts were still not recovered in the 1670s.


title: Worcester, England

text: After the Restoration in 1660, Worcester cleverly used its location as the site of the final battles of the First Civil War (1646) and Third Civil War (1651) to mount an appeal for compensation from Charles II. Though not based on historical fact, it invented the epithet "Fidelis Civitas" (The Faithful City), since included in the city's coat of arms.


title: Worcester, England

text: The Guildhall rebuilt in 1721 to replace an earlier one on the site is a Grade I listed Queen Anne-style building described by Pevsner as a town hall "as splendid as any of C18 England".


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester's historic bridge was replaced in 1781. As the city population expanded, the green areas between the main streets filled with housing and back streets, so that the extent of the city and suburbs remained much the same as in the early 1600s. Large stretches of the city walls had been removed by 1796. Meanwhile, the Royal Worcester Porcelain Company factory was founded by Dr John Wall in 1751.


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester in the late 18th and early 19th centuries was a major centre for glove-making, employing nearly half the glovers in England at its peak (over 30,000 people). In 1815 the Worcester and Birmingham Canal opened.


title: Worcester, England

text: Riots took place in 1831, in response to the defeat of the Reform Bill, reflecting discontent with the city administration and the lack of democratic representation. Citizens petitioned the House of Lords for permission to build a County Hall. Local government reform took place in 1835, which for the first time created election procedures for councillors, but also restricted the ability of the city to buy and sell property.


title: Worcester, England

text: The British Medical Association (BMA) was founded in the Board Room of the old Worcester Royal Infirmary building in Castle Street in 1832.


title: Worcester, England

text: Railways reached Worcester in 1850, with Shrub Hill, initially only running to Birmingham. Foregate Street was opened in 1860. The WMR lines became part of the Great Western Railway after 1 August 1863. The railways also gave Worcester thousands of jobs building passenger coaches and signalling.


title: Worcester, England

text: In 1882 Worcester hosted the Worcestershire Exhibition with sections for fine arts, historical manuscripts and industrial items, receiving over 222,000 visitors.


title: Worcester, England

text: Rail reorganisation in 1922 saw the Midland Railway's routes from Shrub Hill absorbed into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.


title: Worcester, England

text: During the Second World War, the city was chosen to be the seat of an evacuated government in case of mass German invasion. The War Cabinet, along with Winston Churchill and some 16,000 state workers, would have moved to Hindlip Hall (now part of the complex forming the Headquarters of West Mercia Police), north of Worcester and Parliament would have temporarily met in Stratford-upon-Avon. The former RAF station RAF Worcester was located north-east of Worcester.


title: Worcester, England

text: A fuel-storage depot was built for the government in 1941/1942 by Shell Mex & BP (later operated by Texaco) on the eastern bank of the River Severn, about a mile south of Worcester. There were six 4,000 ton semi-buried tanks for the storage of white oils. It had no rail or road loading facilities, but distribution could be carried out by barge through the Diglis basin and the depot could receive fuel either by barge or by the GPSS pipeline network. It was at one time used as a civil reserve storing gas oil and then aviation kerosene for USAFE. In the early 1990s it was closed, and then sold for housing in the 2000s.


title: Worcester, England

text: In the 1950s and 1960s large areas of the medieval centre of Worcester were demolished and rebuilt. This was condemned by many such as Nikolaus Pevsner who described it as a "totally incomprehensible... act of self-mutilation". There is however still a significant area of medieval Worcester remaining, examples of which can be seen along City Walls Road, Friar Street and New Street.


title: Worcester, England

text: The current city boundaries date from 1974, when the Local Government Act 1972 created the non-metropolitan district of Worcester, comprising the former county borough with the parishes of Warndon and St. Peter the Great County. City status transferred from the county borough to the new district.


title: Worcester, England

text: There is currently no overall control of the council. It is led by Conservative councillor Marc Bayliss. Local political parties represented are the Conservatives, Labour, Greens and Liberal Democrats.


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester's one Member of Parliament (MP) is Robin Walker of the Conservative Party, who has represented the constituency since the May 2010 general election.


title: Worcester, England

text: The County of Worcestershire's local-government arrangement is formed of a non-metropolitan county council (Worcestershire County Council) and six non-metropolitan district councils, with Worcester City Council being the district council for most of Worcester with a small area of the St Peters suburb falling under the jurisdiction of the neighbouring Wychavon District council. The Worcester City Council area includes two parish councils, Warndon Parish Council and St Peter the Great Parish Council, while the village of Claines, located to the north of the city, also falls within the administrative area of Worcester City Council.


title: Worcester, England

text: The city of Worcester is unusual among English cities in having an arms of alliance as the main part of its coat of arms. The shield on the dexter side is the "ancient" arms: "Quarterly sable and gules, a castle triple-towered argent". First recorded in 1569 but probably older, there is little doubt that it refers to Worcester Castle, now vanished. The shield on the sinister side is the "modern" arms: "Argent, a fess between three pears sable". Despite its name, the modern arms goes back to 1634. It is said to represent a visit of Queen Elizabeth I to the city in 1575, when according to folklore, she saw a tree with black pears on Foregate and was so impressed with it that she allowed Worcester to have pears on its coat of arms. The city has used several mottos: one is "Floreat semper fidelis civitas", Latin for "Let the faithful city ever flourish", while the one currently used is "Civitas in bello et pace fidelis" (A city faithful in peace and war). Both refer to Worcester's support for Royalists in the English Civil War.


title: Worcester, England

text: Notable suburbs include Barbourne, Blackpole, Cherry Orchard, Claines, Diglis, Dines Green, Henwick, Northwick, Red Hill, Ronkswood, St Peter the Great (also known as St Peter's), Tolladine, Warndon and Warndon Villages (once the largest housing development in the country when the area was being constructed in the late 1980s/very early 1990s). Most of Worcester is on the eastern side of the River Severn, including Saxons Lode. However, Henwick, Lower Wick, St John's and Dines Green are on the western side.


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester enjoys a temperate climate with generally warm summers and mild winters. However, it can experience more extreme weather and flooding is often a problem. In 1670, the River Severn burst its banks in the worst flood ever seen by the city. The closest flood height to the Flood of 1670 was when torrential rains caused the Severn to flood in July 2007, which is recorded in the Diglis Basin. This recurred in 2014.


title: Worcester, England

text: During the winters of 2009–2010 and 2010–2011, the city underwent long periods of sub-freezing temperatures and heavy snowfalls. In December 2010 the temperature dropped to in nearby Pershore. The Severn and the River Teme partly froze over in Worcester during this cold period. By contrast, Worcester recorded a temperature on 2 August 1990. Between 1990 and 2003, weather data for the area was collected at Barbourne, Worcester. Since the closure of this weather station, the nearest is located at Pershore.


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester is in a regional green belt that extends into the surrounding counties. It is set to reduce urban sprawl between the cities and towns in the nearby West Midlands conurbations centred round Birmingham and Coventry, to discourage further convergence, protect the identity of outlying communities, encourage brownfield reuse, and preserve nearby countryside. This is done by restricting inappropriate development within the designated areas and imposing strict conditions on permitted building.


title: Worcester, England

text: Within the city boundary, there is a small area of green belt north of the Worcester and Birmingham canal and of the Perdiswell and Northwick suburbs. This is part of a larger isolated tract south of the main green belt that extends into the adjacent Wychavon district, minimising urban sprawl between Fernhill Heath and Droitwich Spa, and keeping them separate. The green belt was first drawn up under Worcestershire County Council in 1975; the size within the borough in 2017 amounted to some .


title: Worcester, England

text: The 2011 census put Worcester's population at 98,768. About 93.4 per cent were classed as white, of whom 89.1 percentage points were White British – higher than the national average. The largest religious group consists of Christians, with 63.7 per cent of the city's population. Those reporting no religion or declining to state an allegiance make up 32.3 per cent. The next largest religious group, Muslims, makes up 2.9 per cent. The ethnic minorities include people of Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese, Indian, Italian and Polish origin, the largest single group being British Pakistanis, numbering around 1,900: 1.95 per cent of the population. This has led to Worcester containing a small but diverse range of religious groups; as well as the prominent Anglican Worcester Cathedral, there are also Catholic, United Reformed and Baptist churches, a large centre for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a small number of Islamic mosques and a number of smaller groups for oriental religions such as Buddhism and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester is the seat of a Church of England bishop, whose official signature is the personal Christian name followed by "Wigorn". (abbreviating the Latin "Wigorniensis", meaning "of Worcester"). This is also used occasionally to abbreviate the name of the county. The Archdeacon of Worcester, inducted in November 2014, had been Rector of St Barnabas with Christ Church in Worcester for eight years.


title: Worcester, England

text: The city of Worcester, located on the River Severn and with transport links to Birmingham and other parts of the Midlands through the vast canal network, became a centre for many light industries. The late Victorian period saw the growth of iron-founders like Heenan & Froude, Hardy & Padmore and McKenzie & Holland.


title: Worcester, England

text: One flourishing industry was glove-making, which peaked between 1790 and 1820, when about 30,000 were employed by 150 firms. At this time nearly half the glove makers in Britain could be found in Worcestershire.


title: Worcester, England

text: In the 19th century, the industry declined as import taxes on foreign competitors, mainly French, were much reduced. By the mid-20th century, only a few Worcester glove firms survived, as gloves became less fashionable and free trade enabled cheaper imports from the Far East. Nevertheless, at least three glove manufacturers survived into the late 20th century: Dent Allcroft, Fownes and Milore. Queen Elizabeth II's coronation gloves were designed by Emil Rich and manufactured in the Worcester Milore factory.


title: Worcester, England

text: The inter-war years saw rapid growth in engineering and machine-tool manufacturing firms such as James Archdale and H. W. Ward, castings for the motor industry from Worcester Windshields and Casements, valve design and manufacture from Alley & MacLellan, Sentinel Valve Works, mining machinery from Mining Engineering Company (MECO) – later part of Joy Mining Machinery – and open-top cans from Williamsons, although G. H. Williamson and Sons had become part of the Metal Box Co in 1930. Later the company became Carnaud Metal Box PLC.


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester Porcelain operated in Worcester until 2009, when the factory closed due to the recession. The site still houses the Museum of Royal Worcester, which is open daily to visitors.


title: Worcester, England

text: One of Worcester's famous products, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce, is made and bottled at a Midland Road factory, its home since 16 October 1897. Messrs Lea and Perrins originally partnered a chemist's shop on the site of the Debenhams's store in Crowngate Shopping Centre.


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester has what is claimed to be the oldest newspaper in the world still in publication: "Berrow's Worcester Journal". It traces its descent from a news-sheet started in 1690.


title: Worcester, England

text: The surprising foundry heritage of the city is represented by Morganite Crucible at Norton which produces graphitic shaped products and cements for use in the modern industry. The city is home to the European manufacturing plant of Yamazaki Mazak Corporation, a global Japanese machine tool builder established here in 1980.


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester Heating Systems was started in the city in 1962 by Cecil Duckworth. The company was bought by Bosch and renamed Worcester Bosch in 1996.


title: Worcester, England

text: The Kays mail-order business was founded in Worcester in the 1880s and operated from various premises in the city until 2007. It was then bought out by Reality, owner of the Grattan catalogue. The Kays warehouse was demolished in 2008 and replaced by housing.


title: Worcester, England

text: The city is a major retail centre, with several covered shopping centres to accommodate the major chains and many independent shops and restaurants, particularly in Friar Street and New Street.


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester's main shopping centre is the High Street, with several major retail chains. The High Street was partly modernised in 2005 amid controversy and further modernised in 2015, with current redevelopment of Cathedral Plaza and Lychgate Shopping Centre. Much of the protest came at the felling of old trees, the duration of the work (caused by weather and an archaeological find) and removal of flagstones outside the city's 18th-century Guildhall.


title: Worcester, England

text: The other main thoroughfares are the Shambles and Broad Street. The Cross and its immediate surrounding area are the city's financial centre for most of Worcester's main bank branches.


title: Worcester, England

text: There are three main covered shopping centres in the city centre: CrownGate Shopping Centre, Cathedral Plaza and Reindeer Court. There is also an unenclosed shopping area immediately east of the city centre called St Martin's Quarter. There are three retail parks, the Elgar and Blackpole retail parks located in the inner suburb of Blackpole, and the Shrub Hill Retail Park in neighbouring St. Martin's Quarter. Retailers such as ASDA, B & M and Aldi are all located close to St Martin's Quarter.


title: Worcester, England

text: The most famous landmark in Worcester is the Anglican Worcester Cathedral. Officially the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, it was known as Worcester Priory before the English Reformation. Construction began in 1084. Its crypt dates from the 11th century. It includes the only circular chapter house in the country. It houses the tombs of King John and Prince Arthur.


title: Worcester, England

text: Near the cathedral is the spire of St Andrew's Church, known as Glover's Needle. The rest of the church was demolished in 1949.


title: Worcester, England

text: The Parish Church of St Helen, on the north side of the High Street, is mainly medieval, with a west tower rebuilt in 1813. The east end, re-fenestration and porch were completed by Frederick Preedy in 1857–1863. There was further restoration, by Aston Webb in 1879–1880. It is a Grade II* listed building.


title: Worcester, England

text: The high-water marks from the flood of 1670 and more recent flood levels are shown on a brass plate on a wall adjacent to the path along the river that leads to the cathedral.


title: Worcester, England

text: The Hive, on the north side of the River Severn at the former cattle market site, is Worcester's joint public and university library and archive centre, heralded as "the first of its kind in Europe", and a prominent feature on the skyline. With seven towers and a golden rooftop, it has gained recognition, winning two international awards for building design and sustainability.


title: Worcester, England

text: The city's three main open spaces Cripplegate Park, Gheluvelt Park and Fort Royal Park, the last on the site of an English Civil War battle. In addition, there is an open area known as Pitchcroft to the north of the city centre on the east bank of the River Severn, which is a public space except on days when it is used for horse racing. Gheluvelt Park commemorates the part played by Worcestershire Regiment's 2nd Battalion in the Battle of Gheluvelt in the First World War.


title: Worcester, England

text: A statue of Sir Edward Elgar, commissioned from Kenneth Potts and unveiled in 1981, stands at the end of Worcester High Street facing the cathedral, yards from the original location of his father's music shop, which was demolished in the 1960s. Elgar's birthplace was the nearby village of Broadheath.


title: Worcester, England

text: There are also two large wooded areas in the city, Perry Wood and Nunnery Wood, covering 12 and 21 hectares. Perry Wood is often said to be where Oliver Cromwell met and made a pact with the Devil. Nunnery Wood is integral to the adjacent Worcester Woods Country Park, itself next door to County Hall on the east side of the city.


title: Worcester, England

text: The M5 Motorway runs north–south immediately to the east of the city. It is accessed by junction 6 (Worcester North) and junction 7 (Worcester South). It connects Worcester to most parts of the country, including London, which is only using the A44 via the Cotswolds and M40. A faster journey to London is possible via the M5, M42 and M40, but with an increased distance of .


title: Worcester, England

text: The main roads through the city include the A449 road south-west to Malvern and north to Kidderminster. The A44 runs south-east to Evesham and west to Leominster and Aberystwyth and crosses Worcester Bridge. The A38 trunk road runs south to Tewkesbury and Gloucester and north-north-east to Droitwich and Bromsgrove and Birmingham. The A4103 goes west-south-west to Hereford. The A422 heads east to Alcester, branching from the A44 a mile east of the M5. The city is partly ringed by A4440.


title: Worcester, England

text: Carrington Bridge on the A4440 is the second road bridge across the Severn, linking the A38 from Worcester towards Gloucester with the A449 to Malvern. It is one of Worcestershire's busiest roads. The single-carriageway bridge is due to be doubled by 2021, making the Southern Link Road dual between junction 7 of the M5 and Powick Roundabout.


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester has three train stations. Worcester Foregate Street and Worcester Shrub Hill are in the city centre. A third station on the edge of the city, Worcestershire Parkway, opened in 2020.


title: Worcester, England

text: The Cotswold line towards Great Malvern and Hereford crosses Foregate Street on an arched cast-iron bridge, remodelled by the Great Western Railway in 1908 with a decorative cast-iron exterior serving no structural purpose. Between Foregate Street and the St John's area of the city, heading towards Malvern and Hereford, the line crosses the Worcester viaduct over the River Severn.


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester Shrub Hill lies about a mile east of the city centre on Shrub Hill Road. It is on part of today's Cross Country Route, looping off the Birmingham to Gloucester railway.


title: Worcester, England

text: Alongside Worcester Shrub Hill station in Shrub Hill Road were the Worcester Engine Works. Their polychrome brick building was erected about 1864 and probably designed by Thomas Dickson. However, only 84 locomotives were built there and the works closed in 1871. The chairman was Alexander Clunes Sheriff.


title: Worcester, England

text: Both stations have frequent trains to Birmingham via Droitwich Spa, through Kidderminster and Stourbridge into Birmingham Snow Hill and Birmingham Moor Street then onwards usually to Dorridge or Whitlocks End, or via Bromsgrove and University and Birmingham New Street. These services are run by West Midlands Trains. From both stations, trains run to Pershore, Evesham and onto the Cotswolds, Oxford and London.


title: Worcester, England

text: The main operator in and around the city is First Midland Red. A few smaller operators provide services in Worcester, including Astons, DRM and LMS Travel. Diamond Bus operates a service from Kidderminster to communities along the A449. The terminus and interchange for many bus services is Crowngate bus station in the city centre.


title: Worcester, England

text: The city had two park and ride sites: off the A38 in Perdiswell and at Sixways Stadium next to the M5. Worcestershire County Council voted to close both in 2014 as part of a package of cutbacks. The service at Sixways Stadium has since been reinstated, with LMS Travel operating the W3 route to Worcestershire Royal Hospital, but avoiding the city centre bus station.


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester's nearest major airport is Birmingham, which is accessible by road and rail. Gloucestershire Airport is about 25 miles away and provided general aviation connections and scheduled services with Citywing to Jersey, the Isle of Man and Belfast. Citywing ceased trading in 2017 after entering administration.


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester is on routes 45 and 46 of the National Cycle Network. There are various routes around the city. Diglis Bridge, a pedestrian and Cycle bridge across the Severn, opened in 2010 to St Peter's with Lower Wick.


title: Worcester, England

text: The River Severn is navigable through Worcester, and here it links to the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, which connects Worcester with Birmingham and the rest of the national canal network. Historically used for the transport of goods, the canal network is now mostly used for leisure boating.


title: Worcester, England

text: The University of Worcester was awarded university status in 2005 by the Privy Council, having been known since 1997 as University College Worcester (UCW) and before that as Worcester College of Higher Education. From 2005 to 2010 it was the fastest growing university in the UK, more than doubling its student population. The university has an independent Worcester Students Union institution. The city is also home to two colleges, Worcester Sixth Form College and Heart of Worcestershire College.


title: Worcester, England

text: The high schools located in the city are Bishop Perowne CofE College, Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College, Christopher Whitehead Language College, Tudor Grange Academy Worcester, Nunnery Wood High School and New College Worcester. The last caters for blind and partially sighted pupils aged 11–18.


title: Worcester, England

text: Worcester is the seat of three independent schools. The Royal Grammar School, founded in 1291 and Alice Ottley School merged in 2007. The King's School was re-founded in 1541 under King Henry VIII, and is a co-educational day school standing next to Worcester Cathedral. St Mary's School, a girls' Catholic school, was the one remaining single-sex independent school, but closed in July 2014. Other independent schools include the Independent Christian School, the River School in Fernhill Heath and New College Worcester.


title: Worcester, England

text: The Worcestershire Royal Hospital is the principal NHS hospital serving the city and county of Worcester. It opened in 2002, replacing the Worcester Royal Infirmary.


title: Worcester, England

text: The former Worcester Eye Hospital was based in the Grade II listed Thornloe House, Barbourne Road, from 1940 to 1995.


title: Worcester, England

text: Every three years Worcester becomes home to the Three Choirs Festival, which dates from the 18th century and is credited with being the oldest music festival in the British Isles. The location rotates between the cathedral cities of Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester. Famous for championing English music, especially that of Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst, Worcester hosted the festival in July 2017, but had to postpone its 2020 festival until 2021.


title: Worcester, England

text: The Worcester Festival established in 2003 by Chris Jaeger MBE occurs in August and consists of music, theatre, cinema and workshop events, along with a beer festival. It ends with a free firework display on the banks of the River Severn on the Monday of the August bank holiday. The artistic director is now actor, director and writer, Ben Humphrey.


title: Worcester, England

text: For one weekend a year the city plays host to the Worcester Music Festival – a weekend of original music performed by predominantly local bands and musicians. All performances are free and take place around the city centre in bars, clubs, community buildings, churches and the central library.


title: Worcester, England

text: Founded in 2012, the Worcester Film Festival, places Worcestershire on the film-making map and encourages local people to get involved in making film. The first festival took place at and including screenings, workshops and talks.


title: Worcester, England

text: The Victorian-themed Christmas Fayre is a busy event in late November/early December, with over 200 stalls lining the streets, and over 100,000 visitors.


title: Worcester, England

text: The CAMRA Worcester Beer, Cider and Perry Festival takes place for three days each August on Pitchcroft Race Course. It is the largest beer festival in the West Midlands and in the UK top ten with attendances of around 14,000.


title: Worcester, England

text: The Worcester Vegan Market began in 2021 and takes place in late spring and fall. The Vegan Market fills High Street and Cathedral Square with vegan vendors, vegan food sellers, and vegan food trucks.


title: Worcester, England

text: The famous 18th-century actress Sarah Siddons made her acting début at the Theatre Royal in Angel Street. Her sister, the novelist Ann Julia Kemble Hatton, otherwise Ann of Swansea, was born in the city. Also born in Worcester was Matilda Alice Powles, better known as Vesta Tilley, a leading male impersonator and music hall artiste.


title: Worcester, England

text: In present-day Worcester, the Swan Theatre stages professional touring and local amateur productions and is the base for the Worcester Repertory Company. Past heads have included John Doyle and David Wood OBE. The current artistic director of the company and the theatre is Chris Jaeger MBE.


title: Worcester, England

text: Stars who started their careers in the Worcester Repertory Company and the Swan Theatre include Imelda Staunton, Sean Pertwee, Celia Imrie, Rufus Norris, Kevin Whately and Bonnie Langford. Directors too have made a name for themselves: Phyllida Lloyd starting her career as an associate under John Doyle.


title: Worcester, England

text: Huntingdon Hall is a historic church now used as venue for an eclectic range of musical and comedy performances. Recent acts have included Van Morrison, Eddie Izzard, Jack Dee, Omid Djalili and Jason Manford. The Marrs Bar is a venue for gigs and stand-up comedy. Worcester has two multi-screen cinemas; the Vue Cinema complex is located in Friar Street and the Odeon in Foregate Street – both were 3D-equipped by March 2010.


title: Worcester, England

text: The northern suburb of Northwick has the Art Deco Northwick Cinema. Built in 1938, it contains one of only two remaining interiors in Britain designed by John Alexander. The original perspective drawings are held by RIBA. It was a bingo hall from 1966 to 1982, then empty until 1991, a music venue until 1996, and empty again until autumn 2006, when it became an antiques and lifestyle centre, owned by Grey's Interiors, which was previously located in the Tything. Worcester was home to the electronic music producer and collaborator Mike Paradinas and his record label Planet Mu, until the label moved to London in 2007.


title: Worcester, England

text: The depression that hit the Worcester glove industry in the 1820s and 1830s is the background to a three-volume novel, "Mildred Arkell", by the Victorian novelist Ellen Wood (then Mrs Henry Wood).


title: Worcester, England

text: The well-researched historical novel "The Virgin in the Ice", part of Ellis Peters' "The Cadfael Chronicles" series, depicts Worcester at the time of the Anarchy. It begins with the words:


title: Worcester, England

text: "It was early in November of 1139 that the tide of civil war, lately so sluggish and inactive, rose suddenly to wash over the city of Worcester, wash away half of its livestock, property and women and send all those of its inhabitants who could get away in time scurrying for their lives northwards away from the marauders." (These are mentioned as arriving from Gloucester, leaving a long lasting legacy of bitterness between the two cities.)


title: Worcester, England

text: In February 2009 Worcester City Council's Twinning Association began discussing an application to twin Worcester with the Palestinian city of Gaza. Councillor Alan Amos introduced the application, which was passed at its first stage by a majority of 35–6, but later rejected by the executive committee of the City of Worcester Twinning Association for lack of funding.


title: Sloop

text: A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sails fore and aft, or as a gaff-rig with triangular foresail(s) and a gaff rigged mainsail. Sailboats can be classified according to type of rig, and so a sailboat may be a sloop, catboat, cutter, ketch, yawl, or schooner. A sloop usually has only one headsail, although an exception is the Friendship sloop, which is usually gaff-rigged with a bowsprit and multiple headsails. If the vessel has two or more headsails, the term cutter may be used, especially if the mast is stepped further towards the back of the boat.


title: Sloop

text: When going before the wind, a sloop may carry a square-rigged topsail which will be hung from a topsail yard and be supported from below by a crossjack. This sail often has a large hollow foot, and this foot is sometimes filled with yet another quadrilateral square rigged sail called a "save-all topsail."


title: Sloop

text: The name originates from the Dutch "sloep", which is related to the Old English "slūpan", to glide. In naval terminology, "sloop-of-war" refers to the purpose of the craft, rather than to the specific size or sail-plan, and thus a sloop should not be confused with a sloop-of-war.


title: Sloop

text: After the cat rig which has only a single sail, the Bermuda rig is the simplest sailing rig configurations. It is the most popular yacht rigging because it is easier to sail with a smaller crew or even single-handed, it is cheaper since it has less hardware than more complex rigs, and it sails well into the wind. A limitation is that when a boat gets over 45 feet in length (approximately 13.7 meters), the sails become so large that they are difficult to handle, although modern technology is helping with this through the use of electric winches and furling systems.


title: Sloop

text: The headsail can be masthead-rigged or fractional-rigged. On a masthead-rigged sloop, the forestay (on which the headsail is carried) attaches at the top of the mast. On a fractional-rigged sloop, the forestay attaches to the mast at a point below the top. A sloop may use a bowsprit, a spar that projects forward from the bow.


title: Mitsubishi Pajero Sport

text: The Mitsubishi Pajero Sport is a mid-size SUV produced by the Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi Motors using the Pajero nameplate since 1996 that has spanned over three generations and based on the Triton pickup truck. Mitsubishi has formerly used the name in Japan and some international markets, but since the third generation, the Pajero Sport/Montero Sport/Shogun Sport was the name used instead.


title: Mitsubishi Pajero Sport

text: Production began in Japan in 1996, and was available for most export markets by 1997, where it was variously known as the Challenger, Pajero Sport in Europe, Montero Sport in North America, South America , Spain and the Philippines, Nativa in parts of Latin America, the Caribbean and the Middle East, Shogun Sport in the United Kingdom, and Strada G-Wagon in Thailand. Based on the Strada pickup truck of the same vintage, sharing many components and some body panels (i.e. front doors), the first-generation Challenger was also built on the second-generation Pajero wheelbase, and served as a smaller model to the larger Pajero.


title: Mitsubishi Pajero Sport

text: Like the Pajero, it featured independent front suspension with torsion bars and a live rear axle. In addition to numerous facelifts over the years, there was a major suspension change from rear leaf to coil springs in late 2000. As its popularity increased, local assembly for foreign markets was introduced in China in 2003, and Brazil in 2006. Sales were discontinued in Japan in 2003, in North America in 2004 (excluding Canada) where it was sold alongside the Endeavor, where it was superseded by the Endeavor, and central and western Europe in 2008. In Japan, it was sold at a specific retail chain called "Car Plaza".


title: Mitsubishi Pajero Sport

text: The 3-liter V6 is the most commonly used engine; it produces at 5,000 rpm. The North American market received petrol V6 engines during all years of production while a petrol 2.4-liter engine was offered on base models from 1997 through 1999. Markets outside of North America also had a variety of turbo-diesel four-cylinder engines (excluding Canada, where four-cylinder engines were also available) to choose between.


title: Mitsubishi Pajero Sport

text: The second-generation of the vehicle, based on the ladder frame chassis of the Triton, was gradually introduced to selected markets (Russia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East) through the autumn of 2008, following its debut at the Moscow International Automobile Salon. The design is partially influenced from the 4.7-litre V8 powered 2001 Pajero Evolution concept car. 2.5- or 3.2-litre diesel and 3.0- or 3.5-litre V6 petrol engines are available as before, while five- or seven-seat interior configurations are offered. As with the Triton pickup on which it is based, production of the new Pajero Sport for all markets is concentrated in Thailand.


title: Mitsubishi Pajero Sport

text: In the Philippines and Mexico, the Pajero Sport is officially named as Montero Sport. The Montero Sport mainly competes with the Toyota Fortuner and Chevrolet Trailblazer in the Philippines and several other markets.


title: Mitsubishi Pajero Sport

text: In India, the Pajero Sport was imported in CKD kits, and assembled by Hindustan Motors-Mitsubishi joint venture. It is equipped with a 4D56-T 2.5-litre turbo-diesel. It was discontinued in 2019.


title: Mitsubishi Pajero Sport

text: In 2011, Montero Sport owners in the Philippines reported that their vehicles suffered from sudden unintended acceleration. Mitsubishi Motors Philippines later responded with a statement saying that they conducted tests on the Montero Sport's electrical systems and found no problems; furthermore, they stated that the accidents related to the issue were more likely caused by human error. Owners of Montero Sport affected by the sudden unintended acceleration issue plan to file a class action lawsuit against Mitsubishi Motors Philippines. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) opened an investigation panel to probe the accidents and complaints from 2010 to 2015, and will recommend either a product recall or a total sales ban on the Montero Sport in the country.


title: Mitsubishi Pajero Sport

text: On 1 August 2015, Mitsubishi Motors unveiled the third-generation Pajero Sport in Thailand and would be released as the 2016 model and would be powered by the new 4N15 2.4L MIVEC engine. Since the third-generation model was unveiled, it has no longer used the Challenger name, and used Pajero Sport/Montero Sport name instead.


title: Mitsubishi Pajero Sport

text: One of the highlighted features of the third-generation Pajero Sport is the Toyota-derived "Aisin TL-80SN/TL-80NF" 8-speed automatic transmission replacing the predecessor's 5-speed INVECS-II automatic. It vastly improves fuel efficiency compared to the 5-speed without sacrificing in-gear acceleration. The Pajero Sport is also available with a 6-speed manual for some variants. All variants come with 6" two-piston ventilated disc brakes in the front and 6” solid disc brakes in the rear and Mitsubishi's S-AWC all-wheel drive system for 4x4 variants. Other features include a sunroof, dual-zone climate control system, power-adjustable leather-contoured seats with multi-layer cushioning, optional 7-seating capacity (vary by market), and a 7-inch infotainment system.


title: Mitsubishi Pajero Sport

text: It is also has a lighter body compared to the predecessor because of the usage of CF plastics which are tough and lightweight and with the help of the 4N15 lightweight alloy block, the whole body has a low center of gravity.


title: Mitsubishi Pajero Sport

text: For the Indonesian market, the third-generation Pajero Sport was launched on 29 January 2016 in Jakarta. It was initially built in and imported from Thailand. Since April 2017, it is built and assembled at the Cikarang plant in Bekasi, West Java.


title: Mitsubishi Pajero Sport

text: The Pajero Sport/Montero Sport has three engine options. The 4D56 DI-D common rail produces and (GLX and Exceed trims in Indonesia) mated to a 5-speed manual transmission (GLX/Exceed) or 5-speed automatic transmission (Exceed) and 4N15 MIVEC with Variable Geometry Turbo producing and (Dakar trim in Indonesia and all variants in the Philippines and Thailand) mated to a 6-speed manual transmission or an 8-speed automatic transmission and the 3.0L 6B31 MIVEC V6 petrol engine mated with an 8-speed automatic transmission.


title: Mitsubishi Pajero Sport

text: In the Philippines, it is marketed as the Montero Sport. As a mass market vehicle, it has added a lot of features compared to its predecessor. The Montero Sport is available in 4 variants: GLX 4x2 (6-speed manual), GLS 4x2 (8-speed automatic), Black Series 4x2 (8-speed automatic), and GT 4x4 (8-speed automatic). All variants are powered by the 2.4L 4N15 MIVEC VGT clean diesel engine.


title: Mitsubishi Pajero Sport

text: In Bangladesh, it is marketed as the Pajero Sport and assembled by Pragoti in Chittagong. It also manufactured the car.


title: Mitsubishi Pajero Sport

text: In Australia, the Pajero Sport is available as a five-seater for the base model GLX or GLS variant or a seven-seater in the GLS and Exceed. The Pajero Sport only comes in an automatic transmission due to low sales of the manual transmission in the previous generation.


title: Mitsubishi Pajero Sport

text: In the United Kingdom, the Pajero Sport was released as the Shogun Sport and it is also available as a commercial variant without the second- and third-row seats.


title: Mitsubishi Pajero Sport

text: The facelifted third-generation Pajero Sport was launched in Thailand on 25 July 2019. The updated Pajero Sport gets a new front fascia with dual-layer headlight configuration. Tail lights were made shorter, following customer feedback. Engine and transmission remained the same as the outgoing model. Other notable improvements including Auto Hold parking brake, a new 8-inch digital instrument cluster and an 8-inch infotainment system with navigation, 360-degree surround cameras and support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and hands-free powered tailgate. It was released to overseas markets from October 2019, including Indonesia on 16 February 2021.


title: Mitsubishi Pajero Sport

text: The Thai-made Montero Sport in its most basic Latin American configuration received 5 stars for adult occupants and 3 stars for toddlers from Latin NCAP in 2015.


title: Mitsubishi Pajero Sport

text: "(Sources: Facts & Figures 2000, Facts & Figures 2005, Facts & Figures 2008, Facts & Figures 2010, Facts & Figures 2013, Facts & Figures 2018, Facts & Figures 2019, Mitsubishi Motors website)"


title: Delusional disorder

text: Delusional disorder is a mental illness in which a person has delusions, but with no accompanying prominent hallucinations, thought disorder, mood disorder, or significant flattening of affect. Delusions are a specific symptom of psychosis. Delusions can be bizarre or non-bizarre in content; non-bizarre delusions are fixed false beliefs that involve situations that could occur in real life, such as being harmed or poisoned. Apart from their delusion or delusions, people with delusional disorder may continue to socialize and function in a normal manner and their behavior does not necessarily generally seem odd. However, the preoccupation with delusional ideas can be disruptive to their overall lives.


title: Delusional disorder

text: For the diagnosis to be made, auditory and visual hallucinations cannot be prominent, though olfactory or tactile hallucinations related to the content of the delusion may be present. The delusions cannot be due to the effects of a drug, medication, or general medical condition, and delusional disorder cannot be diagnosed in an individual previously properly diagnosed with schizophrenia. A person with delusional disorder may be high functioning in daily life. Recent and comprehensive meta-analyses of scientific studies point to an association between a deterioration in aspects of IQ in psychotic patients, in particular perceptual reasoning, although, the between-group differences were small.


title: Delusional disorder

text: According to German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin, patients with delusional disorder remain coherent, sensible and reasonable. The "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (DSM) defines six subtypes of the disorder characterized as erotomanic (belief that someone is in love with one), grandiose (belief that one is the greatest, strongest, fastest, richest, or most intelligent person ever), jealous (belief that one is being cheated on), persecutory (delusions that the person or someone to whom the person is close is being malevolently treated in some way), somatic (belief that one has a disease or medical condition), and mixed, i.e., having features of more than one subtype.


title: Delusional disorder

text: Delusions also occur as symptoms of many other mental disorders, especially the other psychotic disorders.


title: Delusional disorder

text: The DSM-IV and psychologists agree that personal beliefs should be evaluated with great respect to cultural and religious differences, since some cultures have widely accepted beliefs that may be considered delusional in other cultures.


title: Delusional disorder

text: The International Classification of Diseases classifies delusional disorder as a mental and behavioural disorder.


title: Delusional disorder

text: Diagnosis of a specific type of delusional disorder can sometimes be made based on the content of the delusions, to wit, the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (DSM) enumerates seven types:


title: Delusional disorder

text: However this should not be confused with gaslighting, where a person denies the truth, and causes the one being gaslit to think that they are being delusional.


title: Delusional disorder

text: The cause of delusional disorder is unknown, but genetic, biochemical, and environmental factors may play a significant role in its development. Some people with delusional disorders may have an imbalance in neurotransmitters, the chemicals that send and receive messages to the brain. There does seem to be some familial component, and immigration (generally for persecutory reasons), drug abuse, excessive stress, being married, being employed, low socioeconomic status, celibacy among men, and widowhood among women may also be risk factors. Delusional disorder is currently thought to be on the same spectrum or dimension as schizophrenia, but people with delusional disorder, in general, may have less symptomatology and functional disability.


title: Delusional disorder

text: Differential diagnosis includes ruling out other causes such as drug-induced conditions, dementia, infections, metabolic disorders, and endocrine disorders. Other psychiatric disorders must then be ruled out. In delusional disorder, mood symptoms tend to be brief or absent, and unlike schizophrenia, delusions are non-bizarre and hallucinations are minimal or absent.


title: Delusional disorder

text: Interviews are important tools to obtain information about the patient's life situation and history to help make a diagnosis. Clinicians generally review earlier medical records to gather a full history. Clinicians also try to interview the patient's immediate family, as this can be helpful in determining the presence of delusions. The mental status examination is used to assess the patient's current mental condition.


title: Delusional disorder

text: A psychological questionnaire used in the diagnosis of the delusional disorder is the Peters Delusion Inventory (PDI) which focuses on identifying and understanding delusional thinking. However, this questionnaire is more likely used in research than in clinical practice.


title: Delusional disorder

text: In terms of diagnosing a non-bizarre delusion as a delusion, ample support should be provided through fact checking. In case of non-bizarre delusions, Psych Central notes, "All of these situations could be true or possible, but the person suffering from this disorder knows them not to be (e.g., through fact-checking, third-person confirmation, etc.)."


title: Delusional disorder

text: A challenge in the treatment of delusional disorders is that most patients have limited insight, and do not acknowledge that there is a problem. Most patients are treated as out-patients, although hospitalization may be required in some cases if there is a risk of harm to self or others. Individual psychotherapy is recommended rather than group psychotherapy, as patients are often quite suspicious and sensitive. Antipsychotics are not well tested in delusional disorder, but they do not seem to work very well, and often have no effect on the core delusional belief. Antipsychotics may be more useful in managing agitation that can accompany delusional disorder. Until further evidence is found, it seems reasonable to offer treatments which have efficacy in other psychotic disorders.


title: Delusional disorder

text: Psychotherapy for patients with delusional disorder can include cognitive therapy which is conducted with the use of empathy. During the process, the therapist can ask hypothetical questions in a form of therapeutic Socratic questioning. This therapy has been mostly studied in patients with the persecutory type. The combination of pharmacotherapy with cognitive therapy integrates treating the possible underlying biological problems and decreasing the symptoms with psychotherapy as well. Psychotherapy has been said to be the most useful form of treatment because of the trust formed in a patient and therapist relationship.


title: Delusional disorder

text: Supportive therapy has also been shown to be helpful. Its goal is to facilitate treatment adherence and provide education about the illness and its treatment.


title: Delusional disorder

text: Furthermore, providing social skills training has been found to be helpful for many people. It can promote interpersonal competence as well as confidence and comfort when interacting with those individuals perceived as a threat.


title: Delusional disorder

text: Insight-oriented therapy is rarely indicated or contraindicated; yet there are reports of successful treatment. Its goals are to develop therapeutic alliance, containment of projected feelings of hatred, powerlessness, and badness; measured interpretation as well as the development of a sense of creative doubt in the internal perception of the world. The latter requires empathy with the patient's defensive position.


title: Delusional disorder

text: Delusional disorders are uncommon in psychiatric practice, though this may be an underestimation due to the fact that those with the condition lack insight and thus avoid psychiatric assessment. The prevalence of this condition stands at about 24 to 30 cases per 100,000 people while 0.7 to 3.0 new cases per 100,000 people are reported every year. Delusional disorder accounts for 1–2% of admissions to inpatient mental health facilities. The incidence of first admissions for delusional disorder is lower, from 0.001 to 0.003%.


title: Delusional disorder

text: Delusional disorder tends to appear in middle to late adult life, and for the most part first admissions to hospital for delusional disorder occur between age 33 and 55. It is more common in women than men, and immigrants seem to be at higher risk.


title: Delusional disorder

text: In some situations the delusion may turn out to be true belief. For example, in delusional jealousy, where a person believes that the partner is being unfaithful (in extreme cases perhaps going so far as to follow the partner into the bathroom, believing the other to be seeing a lover even during the briefest of separations), it may actually be true that the partner is having sexual relations with another person. In this case, the delusion does not cease to be a delusion because the content later turns out to be verified as true or the partner actually chose to engage in the behavior of which they were being accused.


title: Delusional disorder

text: In other cases, the delusion may be mistakenly assumed to be false by a doctor or psychiatrist assessing the belief, just because it "seems" to be unlikely, bizarre or held with excessive conviction. Psychiatrists rarely have the time or resources to check the validity of a person's claims leading to some true beliefs to be erroneously classified as delusional. This is known as the Martha Mitchell effect, after the wife of the attorney general who alleged that illegal activity was taking place in the White House. At the time, her claims were thought to be signs of mental illness, and only after the Watergate scandal broke was she proved right (and hence sane).


title: Delusional disorder

text: Similar factors have led to criticisms of Jaspers' definition of true delusions as being ultimately 'un-understandable'. Critics (such as R. D. Laing) have argued that this leads to the diagnosis of delusions being based on the subjective understanding of a particular psychiatrist, who may not have access to all the information that might make a belief otherwise interpretable.


title: Delusional disorder

text: Another difficulty with the diagnosis of delusions is that almost all of these features can be found in "normal" beliefs. Many religious beliefs hold exactly the same features, yet are not universally considered delusional. For instance, if a person was holding a true belief then they will of course persist with it. This can cause the disorder to be misdiagnosed by psychiatrists. These factors have led the psychiatrist Anthony David to write that "there is no acceptable (rather than accepted) definition of a delusion."


title: Delusional disorder

text: In the 2010 psychological thriller "Shutter Island", directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, delusional disorder is portrayed along with other disorders. An Indian movie "Anantaram" (Thereafter) directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan also portrays the complex nature of delusions. The plot of the French movie "He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not" revolves around a case of erotomania, as does the plot of the Ian McEwan novel, "Enduring Love".


title: 1983 NFL Draft

text: The 1983 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 26–27, 1983, at the New York Sheraton Hotel in New York City, New York. No teams elected to claim any players in the supplemental draft that year.


title: 1983 NFL Draft

text: The draft is frequently referred to as the quarterback class of 1983, because six quarterbacks were taken in the first round—John Elway, Todd Blackledge, Jim Kelly, Tony Eason, Ken O'Brien, and Dan Marino—the highest number of first round picks for the position. Of these quarterbacks, Elway, Kelly, Eason, and Marino played in the Super Bowl, Elway, Kelly, O'Brien, and Marino were selected to play in the Pro Bowl, and Elway, Kelly, and Marino have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. All six quarterbacks were drafted by American Football Conference (AFC) teams, with every member of the five-team AFC East (the Baltimore Colts, Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets, and New England Patriots) selecting a quarterback. In eleven of the sixteen years following this draft, the AFC was represented in the Super Bowl by a team led by one of these quarterbacks: five with the Denver Broncos and Elway, four with the Bills and Kelly, one with the Dolphins and Marino, and one with the Patriots and Eason.


title: 1983 NFL Draft

text: They met with little success in the Super Bowl, however, compiling a 2–9 record among them, with an 0–9 record for their first 14 years in the league. The only two wins were by Elway in XXXII and XXXIII during his final two seasons in 1997 and 1998. Three of the most lopsided Super Bowl losses in history also came at the hands of quarterbacks from the Class of '83: Elway, a 55–10 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in XXIV; Eason, a 46–10 loss to the Chicago Bears in XX; and Kelly, a 52–17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in XXVII. Marino would only reach the Super Bowl once in a 38–16 loss to San Francisco in XIX following the end of Marino's second season. Kelly and the Bills would appear in the Super Bowl for a record four consecutive years, from 1990 to 1993, but lost all four.


title: 1983 NFL Draft

text: Of the six first round quarterbacks drafted, Hall of Famers Elway and Kelly did not sign with the teams that selected them for the 1983 season. Elway, who had made his antipathy towards the Colts known long before the draft, was also a promising baseball player in the New York Yankees organization. With Yankees owner George Steinbrenner aggressively pursuing a commitment from Elway to play baseball full-time, Elway and his agent, Marvin Demoff, successfully leveraged the threat of Elway abandoning football altogether to compel the Colts to trade Elway to the Broncos a few days after selecting him with the first overall pick of the draft.


title: 1983 NFL Draft

text: Kelly, the other holdout, instead signed with the Houston Gamblers of the United States Football League (USFL), where he led the springtime circuit in passing in both 1984 and 1985. Kelly was set to play for the New Jersey Generals when the USFL planned to switch to a fall season in 1986, but when the USFL won only $1 (trebled to $3) from its antitrust lawsuit vs. the NFL on July 29, 1986, Kelly finally signed with the Bills three weeks later.