title: Chen Shui-bian

text: Chen won the 2000 presidential election on March 18 with 39% of the vote as a result of a split of factions within the Kuomintang, when James Soong ran for the presidency as an independent against the party nominee Lien Chan, becoming the first non-member of the Kuomintang to hold the office of president. Although Chen received high approval ratings during the first few weeks of his term, his popularity sharply dropped due to alleged corruption within his administration and the inability to pass legislation against the opposition KMT, who controlled the Legislative Yuan. In 2004, he won reelection by a narrow margin after surviving a shooting while campaigning the day before the election. Opponents suspected him of staging the incident for political purposes. However, the case was officially closed in 2005 with all evidence pointing to a single deceased suspect, Chen Yi-hsiung.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: In 2009, Chen and his wife Wu Shu-chen were convicted on two bribery charges. Chen was sentenced to 19 years in Taipei Prison, reduced from a life sentence on appeal, but was granted medical parole on January 5, 2015. Chen's supporters have claimed that his trial and sentencing were politically motivated retribution by the Kuomintang for his years in power.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: Chen was born to an impoverished tenant farming family of Zhao'an Bân-lâm ethnicity in Koaⁿ-tiān Township of Tainan County (now part of Tainan City) on the second day of the ninth lunar month in 1950 but was not formally issued a birth certificate until February 18, 1951, because of doubts that he would survive.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: Chen was educated in Mandarin Chinese, which had replaced Japanese as the national language following the end of the Japanese administration of Taiwan. Academically bright from a young age, he graduated from the prestigious National Tainan First Senior High School with honors. In June 1969, he was admitted to National Taiwan University. Initially a business administration major, he switched to law in his first year and became editor of the school's law review. He passed the bar exams before the completion of his junior year with the highest score, becoming Taiwan's youngest lawyer. He graduated in 1974 with an LL.B. in commercial law.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: In 1975, he married Wu Shu-chen, the daughter of a physician. The couple have a daughter, Chen Hsing-yu, who is a dentist; and a son, Chen Chih-chung, who, having received a law degree in Taiwan, gained a Master of Laws from the University of California, Berkeley in 2005.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: From 1976 to 1989, Chen was a partner in Formosa International Marine and Commercial Law, specializing in maritime insurance. He held the firm's portfolio for Evergreen Marine Corporation.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: Chen became involved in politics in 1980 when he defended the participants of the Kaohsiung Incident in a military court. While his client Huang Hsin-chieh, the leading opposition dissident, and seven co-defendants, including his future Vice President Annette Lu, were found guilty, Chen came to be known for his forceful and colorful arguments. He has stated that it was during this period that he realized the unfairness of the political system in Taiwan and became politically active as a member of the Tangwai movement.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: Chen won a seat in the Taipei City Council as a Tangwai candidate in 1981 and served until 1985. In 1984, he founded the pro-opposition Civil Servant Public Policy Research Association, which published a magazine called "Neo-Formosa". On January 12, 1985, Chen was sentenced to a year in prison for libel as a result of his editorship of "Neo-Formosa," following the publication of an article which claimed that the doctoral dissertation of Elmer Fung, a college philosophy professor (who would later become a New Party legislator), was plagiarized.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: While appealing the sentence, he returned to Tainan to run for county magistrate in November 1985. Three days after losing the election, his wife, Wu Shu-chen was hit twice by a hand tractor driven by Chang Jong-tsai as Chen and Wu were thanking their supporters. She was left paralyzed from the waist down. His supporters believed this was part of a government campaign to intimidate him, although another theory says it was a simple traffic accident.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: Chen lost his appeal in May 1986 and began serving eight months in the Tucheng Penitentiary (土城看守所) along with Huang Tien-fu and Lee I-yang, two other defendants in the case. Whilst in Tucheng the 3 prisoners were also joined for a period of time by Chi Chia-wei a prominent gay rights activist in Taiwan. While he was in prison, his wife campaigned and was elected to the Legislative Yuan. Upon his release in 1987, Chen served as her chief counsel. In May 2022, the Transitional Justice Commission overturned Chen, Huang and Lee's libel charges.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: In 1989, Chen was elected to the Legislative Yuan and served as the executive director of the Democratic Progressive Party caucus. With the support of some KMT colleagues, Chen was also elected convener of the National Defense Committee. He was instrumental in laying out and moderating many of the DPP's positions on Taiwan independence, including the four ifs. He was reelected to another three-year term in 1992, but resigned in two years to become mayor.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: Chen was elected as the mayor of Taipei in 1994, largely as the result of a vote split between the KMT incumbent Huang Ta-chou and the KMT-spin-off New Party (NP) candidate Jaw Shaw-kong. Unable to find experienced bureaucrats from his own party, Chen and his inner circle of young law school graduates retained many of the KMT administrators and delegated considerable authority.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: During his term, Chen received accolades for his campaigns to drive illegal gambling and prostitution rackets out of Taipei. He levied large fines on polluters and reformed public works contracts. Chen renamed many of the roads in Taipei, most notably the road which runs between KMT headquarters to the Presidential Palace from Chieh-shou Road (, "Jièshòu Lù"; "Longevity for Chiang Kai-shek Road") to Ketagalan Boulevard () in an effort to acknowledge the aboriginal people of the Taipei basin. Chen also made highly publicized evictions of longtime KMT squatters on municipal land, and ordered Chiang Wei-kuo's estate demolished. Chen was also named one of Asia's rising stars, and Taipei became one of the top 50 cities in Asia according to "Time Asia" magazine.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: Despite receiving more votes both in absolute and in percentage terms than his 1994 campaign, Chen lost the mayoral election of 1998 to the KMT's candidate and future president Ma Ying-jeou in large part because the KMT was able to gain the support of New Party supporters. In his first autobiography, "The Son of Taiwan", Chen wrote that he was not entirely upset about losing the re-election as it gave him opportunity to find out what areas in his political career he could improve. For example, he wrote that Mainlanders generally approved of his social and economic improvements in Taipei, but they ultimately voted for Ma because of ethnic tensions.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: He also traveled extensively nationwide and abroad. In South Korea, he met with president Kim Dae-jung, who presented him with an award. He also met with Japanese prime minister Yoshiro Mori, who promised that he would celebrate if he won the 2000 presidential elections. Due to political complications, this promise was not fulfilled until late 2003.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: In an election similar to Taipei's in 1994, Chen won the 2000 presidential election on March 18, 2000, with 39% of the vote as a result of a split of factions within the Kuomintang, when James Soong ran for the presidency as an independent against the party nominee Lien Chan.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: Lacking a clear mandate and inheriting a bureaucracy largely loyal to the KMT, Chen tried to reach out to his opposition. He appointed the KMT conservative mainlander Tang Fei, a former general and the incumbent defense minister, as his first premier. Only about half of Chen's original cabinet were DPP members, as few DPP politicians had risen above the local level. Although a supporter of Taiwan independence, Chen moderated his stance during his campaign and pledged the Four Noes and One Without in his inaugural address—that as long as the People's Republic of China has no intention to use military force against Taiwan, he would not declare independence nor change the national symbols of the Republic of China. He also promised to be, "president of all the people" and resigned his chairmanship from the DPP. His approval rating reached around 70%.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: Chen's administration ran into many problems, and its policies were constantly blocked by the pan-Blue coalition-controlled legislature. The stock market lost over half its value within a year and unemployment reached 4.5% in part because of the Asian stock market crash. While Chen's detractors blamed Chen's poor leadership for the economic crisis, the administration blamed the legislature for blocking its relief efforts.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: More troublesome for Chen was the political showdown over the construction of the Number Four Nuclear Power Facility. This multibillion-dollar project in Gongliao District was already one-third completed and favored by the pro-business KMT as a means of avoiding an energy shortage. However, the environmentalist DPP strongly objected to the expansion of nuclear power. Premier Tang had threatened to resign if the project were canceled, and Chen accepted his resignation on October 3, 2000, only four and a half months after both had taken office. Chen appointed his political ally Chang Chun-hsiung as Tang's replacement. On October 27, Chang announced that the government would halt construction. But less than an hour earlier, Chen had met with Lien Chan to reconcile differences. Lien had asked Chen to leave the matter for the Legislative Yuan to decide and Chen seemed receptive to the suggestion. When Chang's announcement came out, Lien was furious and the KMT began an effort to recall the president. The Council of Grand Justices intervened and declared that it was the legislature and not the cabinet that had the power to decide on the issue. This was widely seen as the end of Chen's attempts to face the pan-Blue groups head on. By the end of his first year in office, Chen's approval ratings had dropped to 25%.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: During summer of 2001, Chen flew to Los Angeles, Houston, and New York City, where he met with members of the U.S. Congress. The mayor of Houston presented Chen with a key to the city and gave him cowboy clothing. His trip to New York was a first for a head of state from Taiwan as there was unwritten agreement between the US and China that no head of state from Taiwan would be permitted to visit either New York or Washington, D.C.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: After his first year in office, Chen moved away from sending conciliatory gestures. In the summer of 2002, Chen again became the chairman of the DPP. During his tenure, images of Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo disappeared from public buildings. The word "TAIWAN" is now printed on new ROC passports. Also continuing a trend from the previous administration, the Education Ministry revised the school curriculum to be more Taiwan-centered. Government websites have also tended to promote the notion that China is synonymous with the PRC instead of the ROC as was mandated by the KMT. The "Free China Review" was renamed the Taiwan Review and Who's Who in the ROC was renamed Who's Who in Taiwan. In January 2003, a new Taiwan-Tibet Exchange Foundation was formed but the Cabinet-level Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission was not abolished. Though Chen has proposed talks with the PRC, relations remain deadlocked as Chen refused to pledge to the One-China policy, as required by the PRC for talks to begin. Such a pledge seemed unlikely for Chen since there remained strong opposition within his own party. Despite these symbolic gestures, Chen moved away from "no haste, be patient" policy and opened the three mini links.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: In late 2003, he signed a controversial referendum bill, which he had supported but was heavily watered down by the pan-Blue majority legislature. One concession that the legislature made was to include a provision for an emergency defensive referendum and during the legislative debates it was widely believed that this clause would only be invoked if Taiwan was under imminent threat of attack from China as has been so often threatened. Within a day of the passage of the referendum bill, Chen stated his intention to invoke this provision, citing PRC's over 450 missiles aimed directly at the Taiwanese. Pan-Blue believed that his bill was only intended to benefit Chen in the coming election, as whether PRC removes the missiles would not be pressured or decided by referendum result.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: In October 2003, Chen flew to New York City for a second time. At the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, he was presented with the Human Rights Award by the International League of Human Rights. In the subsequent leg of the trip to Panama, he met with US Secretary of State Colin Powell and shook hands with him. This high-profile trip raised Chen's standing in opinion polls ahead of his opponent Lien Chan for the first time at 35%, according to Agence France-Presse.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: His use of the referendum in combination with his talk of a new constitution lead many among his reunification critics to believe that he would attempt to achieve Taiwan independence in his second term by invoking a referendum to create a new constitution that would formally separate Taiwan from any interpretation of China. This caused the government of the United States to follow the lead of Chen's political critics and issue a rare rebuke of Chen's actions.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: Chen was shot in the stomach while campaigning in the city of Tainan on Friday, March 19, 2004, the day before polls opened on Saturday. His vice-president Annette Lu was also reportedly shot in the leg in the same incident. The following day, Chen narrowly won the election with a margin of less than 30,000 votes out of 12.9 million votes counted. Both of his referendum proposals were rejected due to insufficient turnout, in part by the pan-Blue boycott. Those that did vote for the referendum overwhelmingly favored it. Pan-Blue candidate Lien Chan refused to concede and sued both for a recount and for a nullification of the outcome while supporters held a week-long protest led by the pan-Blues front of the presidential office in Taipei. He also claimed that the shooting was staged by Chen to win sympathy votes.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: Throughout the election, Chen planned to hold a referendum in 2006 on a new constitution to be enacted upon the accession of the 12th-term president in May 2008. After the election, he sought to reassure critics and moderate supporters that the new constitution would not address the issue of sovereignty, and that the current constitution was in need of comprehensive reform after more than a decade of patchwork revision.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: On May 20, 2004, Chen was sworn in for his second term as president amid continued mass protests by the pan-blue alliance over the validity of his re-election. Having heard protests from pro-independence figures in Taiwan, he did not explicitly re-state the Four Noes and One Without but did state that he reaffirmed the commitments made in his first inaugural. He defended his proposals to change the constitution, but asked for constitutional reform to be undertaken through existing procedures instead of calling for a referendum for an entirely new constitution which was proposed by former president Lee Teng-hui. This would require approval by a three-fourths majority of the National Assembly which could authorize a referendum. This has two major implications. First, by going through existing constitutional amendment procedures, this has the symbolic effect of maintaining continuity with the existing constitution which was originally written in China. Second, this has the practical effect of requiring the Chen administration to get the consent of the opposition pan-Blue coalition to pass any amendments, and while the opposition is willing to consider constitutional reforms that would increase governmental efficiency, they are unlikely to support anything that would imply a "de jure" declaration of independence.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: However, even these seemingly conciliatory gestures did not quell unease by his critics at his election. Some have pointed out that he qualified his statements on the constitution with the statement that this is a personal suggestion. Furthermore, it is widely believed in Taiwan that some of these gestures were essentially forced on him again by pressure from the United States and the PRC. The PRC has stated many times that it cares little about what Chen says, but will watch closely in the next few months to see what he does, a standard sentence that Communist China continues to quote.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: Three days before Chen's inauguration, the Taiwan Affairs Office of the PRC issued what has become known as the May 17 Declaration. In that declaration, China accused Chen of continuing with a creep toward independence, having merely paid lip service to his commitments in his first term of office, and reiterated that there would be consequences if Chen did not halt policies toward Taiwan independence, but at the same time offered major concessions if Chen would accept the One China Principle.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: In late 2004, in effort to maintain the balance of power in the region, Chen began eagerly pushing for a US$18 billion arms purchase from the United States, but the Pan-Blue Coalition repeatedly blocked the deal in the legislature. Criticism has been made of this, citing contradictory arguments used, such as that the weapons were not what Taiwan needed, or that the weapons were a good idea but too expensive. By late 2006, the KMT had signalled it would support some of the arms sale being approved, but failed to pass a revised arms bill by the end of the legislative session in early 2007, despite promises by then KMT chairman, Ma Ying-jeou, to do that.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: Chen announced on December 5 that state-owned or private enterprises and foreign offices bearing the name "China", such as China Airlines, the China Steel Corporation, and Chinese Petroleum Corporation, would be renamed to bear the name "Taiwan." On December 14, 2004, following the failure of the Pan-Green coalition to gain a majority of seats in the 2004 ROC legislative election (as many had expected to occur), Chen resigned as chairman of the DPP. This dashed hopes that the stalemate that plagued Chen's first term would end.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: In 2005 Chen became the first ROC president to visit Europe, when he attended the funeral of Pope John Paul II in the Vatican City (the Holy See continues to maintain diplomatic relations with the ROC). In order to shore up diplomatic support, it is common for the ROC president to visit the ROC's remaining diplomatic allies; however, past presidents had been prevented from visiting the Vatican because such a visit would require passage through Italy, which maintains relations with the PRC. Under agreement with the Vatican, Italy permitted all guests to the funeral passage without hindrance and Chen was received at the airport in his capacity as a foreign head of state. In this religious ceremony where U.S. president George W. Bush greeted Iranian president Khatami, Chen did not seem to attempt to a high profile of himself by reaching out to other heads of states such as Bush or British prime minister Tony Blair. Chen was named one of the "Time" 100 for 2005.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: Later in the year, Chen traveled to Miami in stopover for a forum in the Caribbean. He met with members of the U.S. Congress through video conference and was invited to visit Washington, D.C. On his way back, he was originally scheduled to fly through San Francisco. However, he changed course and stopped-over at the United Arab Emirates. The head of state greeted him and hosted a formal state dinner, infuriating the Chinese officials. Chen made his way back after making a stopover at Jakarta. His request for a pitstop at Singapore was denied; authorities cited weather problems.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: On February 28, 2006, Chen announced that the National Unification Council, which was set up in 1990 to create guidelines for unification with China if it adopted democracy, would "cease to function". He took care to use this phrase rather than "abolish" because he had promised during his 2000 campaign that he would not abolish the council or its guidelines. Adam Ereli, deputy spokesman of the US State Department, issued a statement on March 2, 2006, that the understanding of the United States was that the difference between "abolish" and "ceasing activity" implied no change in the status quo.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: On May 3, 2006, Chen canceled plans to pass through the United States on his way to Latin America. He was hoping to stop by either San Francisco or New York City to refuel and stay overnight, but the US refused his request instead limiting him to a brief refuelling stopover in Anchorage, Alaska, where Chen would not be allowed to step off the plane. Chen and Taiwan saw this as a snub and led to Chen's cancellation. The trip to Latin America continued, however, without a US stopover. The US State Department claimed that the Alaska stopover offer was consistent with its previous accommodations. However, former Taiwan president Lee Teng-hui was granted a visit to Cornell University eleven years earlier. More recently, in addition, Taiwan's leaders have in general been granted permission to stopover in the United States for brief periods before continuing on to other countries. This recent American stance is interpreted by Taiwan to be an expression of the increasing irritation the United States feels towards Taiwan and Chen's seemingly pro-independence gestures. Chen attended the inauguration of Óscar Arias, the president of Costa Rica, one of the few countries that recognized the Republic of China at that time. Laura Bush was also present to represent U.S. president George W. Bush. Chen seized the opportunity, approached her and shook her hands, while Chen's aide produced a camera immediately for an impromptu photo-op. Chen's supporters saw this act as a step forward in Taiwan's struggle for diplomatic recognition, while his detractors claimed that it was a grave breach of international etiquette and put Taiwan to shame.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: On May 12, 2007, Premier Su Tseng-Chang resigned his position, and Chen soon appointed Chang Chun-hsiung to fill the vacant premiership. During Chen's tenure, beginning in 2000, the country has seen six different premiers in the past seven years. During the same period of time, from 2000 onward, the Democratic Progressive Party has also seen seven different chairmen.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: Chen's tenure as president expired on May 20, 2008, yielding to successor Ma Ying-Jeou. From his election to his first term to his last days as president, Chen's approval ratings fell from 79% to just 21%.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: In May 2006, his approval rating fell to around 20% after a series of scandals centered on his wife and son-in-law. Support from his own party had also dropped with a few prominent members, such as Shih Ming-teh, calling for his resignation in the Million Voices Against Corruption, President Chen Must Go campaign. On May 24, 2006, his son-in-law, Chao Chien-ming, was taken into custody by the Taipei police on charges of insider trading and embezzlement by the opposition party. This was a setback for the Chen Shui-bian administration. In related charges, there were accusations from the opposition party that Chen Shui-bian's wife was involved in trading stocks and obtaining Pacific Sogo Department Store's gift certificates illegally in exchange for settling the disputed ownership.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: On June 1, 2006, Chen declared that he was handing control of governmental matters to Premier of the Republic of China, Su Tseng-chang, and announced he would not be involved in campaigning. He also stated that he was retaining authority on matters that the constitution required him to retain authority over, presumably foreign affairs and defense policy, as well as relations with the PRC.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: On July 20, 2006, opposition politicians accused that Chen had used a total of NT$10.2 million (US$310,000) worth of "fake invoices" to claim expenses after the National Audit Office found irregularities in presidential office accounts. The Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office investigated over this accusation. In a press release, the presidential office responded that the president assured the investigators that he did not pocket a single cent of the fund. During questioning at the presidential Office on the afternoon of August 7, 2006, the president detailed to the prosecutor how he spent the fund and presented relevant receipts and bank remittance statements.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: Chen also lost a libel case brought on successfully by PFP chairman James Soong. Soong sued the president after Chen repeatedly accused him of secretly meeting the director of the People's Republic of China's Taiwan Affairs Office. Soong successfully sued Chen for NT$3 million.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: On November 3, 2006, Chen's wife Wu Shu-chen and three other high-ranking officials of the Presidential Office were indicted of corruption of NT$14.8 million (US$450,000) of government funds using faked documents. Due to the protection from the constitution against prosecution of the sitting president, Chen could not be prosecuted until he left office, and he was not indicted, but was alleged to be an accomplice on his wife's indictment. The prosecutor of the case indicated that once Chen left office, his office would start the procedures to press charges against Chen. The indictment filed by prosecutors states that the indicted persons obtained government funds earmarked for secret foreign affairs, yet of six supposed secret diplomatic missions, there was sufficient evidence presented for only two. Of the remaining four, it was concluded that one did not exist, and in the case of the other three, the invoices presented were not found to be related to the secret missions.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: The pan-Blue coalition, after receiving the news, demanded to call for another recall motion unless Chen resigned immediately. Another small party that backed Chen previously, Taiwan Solidarity Union, said they would likely to support the upcoming recall measure. If the recall had passed, it would have been up to the voters to decide Chen's fate in a referendum.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: Leaders of the Democratic Progressive Party met together to discuss the unfavorable charges. The meeting ended when party leaders demanded Chen to explain the accusation within three days. There had long been crumbling inside the DPP that Chen has become their liability and should recall him before the presidential election. If Chen had resigned, he would have been the first Taiwanese president to step down and the vice-president, Annette Lu, would likely have taken power.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: After the prosecutor announced the indictment, the campaign leader Shih proclaimed that the indictment was the historical high point in Taiwan and the month-long campaign was a success.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: In a press conference November 5, 2006, Chen rebutted the charges against his wife and members of his presidential office. He said that Taiwan government offices advised him to prepare the receipts in such a fashion, and that after six years of doing so, it is strange that they would never mention an irregularity if it was not the right way to do it. He promised that all of the money actually went to diplomatic missions and did not go into any private pockets. Furthermore, he mentioned that when he took office, he thought his salary was so excessive that he cut his own salary in half, and that reduction is more than the amount he is accused of embezzling, so there is no need for him to take that money. In addition, he said that if the charges against his wife were proven in a court of law just as they were charged, then he would at that time step down as President of the Republic of China.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: In defense of Chen, journalist Therese Shaheen of "The Wall Street Journal Asia" pointed out that controversy surrounding Chen can be in part attributed to the radical reforms he has tried to implement since stepping into power.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: In mid-June 2007, opposition pan-blue camp lawmakers initiated a recall motion that would allow the voters to remove Chen from power via a public referendum. On June 20, Chen addressed the nation by television, denying any involvement of the first family or himself (other than his son-in-law) in any of the alleged scandals, or "directly" accepting the department's gift certificates. The motion was not passed. Of 221 lawmakers in the legislature, all 119 pan-blue and independent legislators voted in favor of the measure, 29 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass the motion. Pan-Green legislators from the president's own party, the DPP, refused to receive ballots. Pan-Green legislators from the allied TSU cast abstaining ballots. No legislator voted against the recall motion.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: After Wu was indicted, the Pan-Blue parties renewed calls to recall Chen, and TSU at first indicated that it would support the recall this time, but then said it would only support the new recall motion if "concrete evidence concerning corruption is presented".


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: On September 1, 2006, political activist Shih Ming-te launched an anti-corruption campaign. The movement accused Chen of corruption and asked for his resignation. By September 7, more than one million signatures were collected, each with a donation of NT$100 (approximately US$3.00). On September 9, tens of thousands of people demonstrated in the streets of Taiwan, wearing red. According to organisers, around 200,000 to 300,000 people joined the protest outside the presidential offices, but the police used aerial photography crowd counting techniques to put the number at about 90,000. Shih Ming-teh confirmed that most of his supporters are from the pan-Blue coalition in a September interview in "The New York Times".


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: In the legislative election in 2008, Chen's party suffered a clear defeat, and Chen subsequently resigned as party chairman. With Chen's resignation and Frank Hsieh's ascension as the party's new chairman, the DPP has changed chairmen seven times since Chen took office in 2000.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: In the presidential election on March 22, 2008, Kuomintang candidate Ma Ying-jeou defeated DPP candidate Frank Hsieh.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: Chen stepped down on May 20, 2008, the same day that Ma Ying-jeou took office as the new president of the Republic of China. No longer bearing the title of president, Chen left the Presidential Office Building, and his presidential immunity was removed. He was placed under restrictions, such as confinement to Taiwan, by prosecutors as a result of allegations of corruption and abuse of authority, both of which he was later charged guilty of. One fraud case involved the handling of a special presidential fund used to pursue Taiwan's foreign diplomacy.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: President Ma Ying-jeou declassified government documents which aided the investigation into Chen's usage of special government funds. Chen's lawyers responded by suing Ma, on August 6, 2008, alleging Ma's declassification of the documents that were initially classified by Chen to be "politically motivated". The documents consisted mainly of receipts and other records of special expenses, which according to Ma's chief aide assured pose no danger to the country's interests once declassified.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: After two years of investigation, it was found that Chen Shui-bian received millions from the owners of the TCC Company after the government bought the Longtan land, which was then integrated into the Science Park project. There were several other incidences of corruption, which became the subject of a graft trial that also included the former president's wife and 11 other co-defendants. The trial revealed that Chen and his wife amassed a total of NT$800 million and some were laundered overseas. The former president was found guilty by the Taipei District Courts of violating Punishment of Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法), and Criminal Code (刑法).


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: On September 11, 2009, Chen received a life sentence and was fined NT$200 million (US$6.13 million) for embezzlement, bribery and money laundering involving a total of US$15 million (NT$490 million) in funds while in office from 2000 to 2008. Supporters of Chen contended that the prosecution was politically motivated. Chen is the first ROC president to receive a prison sentence.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: On June 8, 2010, the Taipei District Court found Chen not guilty of embezzling diplomatic funds. On June 11, 2010, the High Court decided to reduce Chen's life sentence to 20 years. Through several court cases and pleads for bail, the High Court rejected his request for bail and continued to detain him in jail for another 5 months. The detention led Chen's supporters to protest that the detention of Chen for more than 600 days without proving him guilty was illegal, inhumane and unjust, and a result of political revenge by the part of the Kuomintang (KMT). The Yellow Ribbon Movement took to demonstration over alleged exploitation of justice and political revenge.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: Meanwhile, on August 17, 2010, both the Taipei District Court and the High Court found ex-deputy military minister, Ke Cheng-Hen (柯承亨), not guilty of revealing non-military secrets to former president Chen Shui-Bian.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: The parliament with a KMT and pan-Blue coalition majority passed an amendment to the "preferential treatment for retired presidents and vice presidents act" (卸任總統副總統禮遇條例) on August 19, 2010. Introduced by the KMT, the amendment stipulated that former presidents and vice presidents will be stripped of courtesy treatment, including their monthly allowance and annual expenses, if convicted by a court of grave offense(s), such as sedition and graft. The number of bodyguards assigned to former presidents and vice presidents who are convicted of corruption in a first trial will also be reduced. Former president Chen's son stated the act was created to target the now imprisoned former president.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: In 2016, the United States Department of Justice stated it will return "approximately $1.5 million to Taiwan, the proceeds of the sale of a forfeited New York condominium and a Virginia residence that the United States alleged in its complaint were purchased with the proceeds of bribes."


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: In September 2012, Chen was admitted to Taoyuan General Hospital after complaints of having difficulty urinating, where it was concluded that he had suffered from a minor stroke. He was subsequently transferred to the Taipei Veterans General Hospital for further testing, where he was diagnosed with sleep apnea, severe depression and other cognitive disorders. His symptoms included stuttering and memory loss.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: He attempted suicide on Sunday, June 2, 2013. In January 2015, Chen was released from prison on medical parole due to his ailing (but undiagnosed) condition.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: His time spent under medical parole does not count toward his prison sentence. Part of the terms of his medical parole stipulate that he cannot participate in public political discussions. In January 2021, he started a radio show of non-political nature.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: In 1999, the Democratic Progressive Party amended its charter to regard Taiwan as already independent as the ROC, and therefore it was unnecessary to declare independence. In his 2000 inauguration speech, Chen struck a more moderate tone and pledged to the Four Noes and One Without: that as long as the PRC did not intend to use military force against Taiwan, he would not declare independence, change the name of the country to "Republic of Taiwan", push for the inclusion of "special state-to-state relations" in the Constitution, or promote a referendum on independence. In addition, he pledged not to abolish the National Unification Council. However, in August 2002, frustrated by a lack of reciprocation from the PRC, he described the relationship as "one country on each side" and initiated a referendum on cross-strait relations in 2004, returning to a more confrontational stance.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: In a 2007 interview with the New York Times, Chen reiterated the DPP stance that the Taiwan was already independent.


title: Chen Shui-bian

text: Post-presidency, Chen has expressed his wishes to one day visit the village in Fujian which his ancestors migrated from in the 18th century. In 2018, Chen, along with Lee Teng-hui, expressed support for a Formosa Alliance plan to amend the referendum act to allow for a 2019 referendum on "de jure" independence, though neither goal was realized by the planned date.


title: Cellulose acetate

text: In biochemistry, cellulose acetate refers to any acetate ester of cellulose, usually cellulose diacetate. It was first prepared in 1865. A bioplastic, cellulose acetate is used as a film base in photography, as a component in some coatings, and as a frame material for eyeglasses; it is also used as a synthetic fiber in the manufacture of cigarette filters and playing cards. In photographic film, cellulose acetate film replaced nitrate film in the 1950s, being far less flammable and cheaper to produce.


title: Cellulose acetate

text: In 1865, French chemist Paul Schützenberger discovered that cellulose reacts with acetic anhydride to form cellulose acetate. The German chemists Arthur Eichengrün and Theodore Becker invented the first soluble forms of cellulose acetate in 1903.


title: Cellulose acetate

text: In 1904, Camille Dreyfus and his younger brother Henri performed chemical research and development on cellulose acetate in a shed in their father's garden in Basel, Switzerland, which was then a center of the dye industry. For five years, the Dreyfus brothers studied and experimented in a systematic manner in Switzerland and France. By 1910, they were producing film for the motion picture industry, and a small but constantly growing amount of acetate lacquer, called "dope", was sold to the expanding aircraft industry to coat the fabric covering wings and fuselage.


title: Cellulose acetate

text: In 1913, after some twenty thousand separate experiments, they produced excellent laboratory samples of continuous filament yarn, something that had eluded the cellulose acetate industry to this time. Unfortunately, the outbreak of World War I postponed commercial development of this process.


title: Cellulose acetate

text: In November 1914, the British Government invited Dr. Camille Dreyfus to come to England to manufacture acetate dope, and the "British Cellulose and Chemical Manufacturing Co" was set up. In 1917, after the United States had entered the war, the U.S. War Department invited Dr. Dreyfus to establish a similar factory in the U.S. Both operations were run successfully throughout the war.


title: Cellulose acetate

text: After the war, attention returned to the production of acetate fibers. The first yarn was of fair quality, but sales resistance was heavy, and silk associates worked zealously to discredit acetate and discourage its use. However, the thermoplastic nature of acetate made it an excellent fiber for moiré because the pattern was permanent and did not wash away. The same characteristic also made permanent pleating a commercial fact for the first time, and gave great style impetus to the whole dress industry.


title: Cellulose acetate

text: The mixing of silk and acetate in fabrics was accomplished at the beginning, and almost at once cotton was also blended, thus making possible low-cost fabrics by means of a fiber which then was cheaper than silk or acetate. Today, acetate is blended with silk, cotton, wool, nylon, etc. to give fabrics excellent wrinkle recovery, good heft, handle, draping quality, quick drying, proper dimensional stability, cross-dye pattern potential, at a very competitive price.


title: Cellulose acetate

text: Cellulose acetate fiber, one of the earliest synthetic fibers, is based on cotton or tree pulp cellulose ("biopolymers"). These "cellulosic fibers" have been replaced in many applications by cheaper petro-based fibers (nylon and polyester) in recent decades.


title: Cellulose acetate

text: Acetate shares many similarities with rayon, and was formerly considered as the same textile. Acetate differs from rayon in the employment of acetic acid in production. The two fabrics are now required to be listed distinctly on garment labels.


title: Cellulose acetate

text: Rayon resists heat while acetate is prone to melting. Acetate must be laundered with care either by hand-washing or dry cleaning.


title: Cellulose acetate

text: The breathable nature of the fabric suits it for use as a lining. Acetate fabric is used frequently in wedding gowns and other bridal attire. Its lustrous sheen and smooth, satiny texture make it a good alternative to silk.


title: Cellulose acetate

text: Acetate is a very valuable manufactured fiber that is low in cost and has good draping qualities. Acetate is used in fabrics such as satins, brocades, knit fabrics, and taffetas to accentuate luster, body, drape, and beauty.


title: Cellulose acetate

text: Cellulose acetate and cellulose triacetate are mistakenly referred to as the same fiber; although they are similar, their chemical identities differ. Triacetate is known as a generic description or primary acetate containing no hydroxyl group. Acetate fiber is known as modified or secondary acetate having two or more hydroxyl groups. Triacetate fibers, although no longer produced in the United States, contain a higher ratio of acetate-to-cellulose than do acetate fibers.


title: Cellulose acetate

text: Cellulose acetate film, made from cellulose diacetate and later cellulose triacetate, was introduced in 1934 as a replacement for the cellulose nitrate film stock that had previously been standard. When exposed to heat or moisture, acids in the film base begin to deteriorate to an unusable state, releasing acetic acid with a characteristic vinegary smell, causing the process to be known as "vinegar syndrome". Acetate film stock is still used in some applications, such as camera negative for motion pictures. Since the 1980s, polyester film stock (sometimes referred to under Kodak's trade name "ESTAR Base") has become more commonplace, particularly for archival applications. Acetate film was also used as the base for magnetic tape, prior to the advent of polyester film.


title: Cellulose acetate

text: Cellulose acetate magnetic tape was introduced by IBM in 1952 for use on their IBM 726 tape drive in the IBM 701 computer. It was much lighter and easier to handle than the metal tape introduced by UNIVAC in 1951 for use on their UNISERVO tape drive in the UNIVAC I computer. In 1956, cellulose acetate magnetic tape was replaced by the more stable PET film magnetic tape for use on their IBM 727 tape drive.


title: Cellulose acetate

text: The Federal Trade Commission definition for acetate fiber is: "A manufactured fiber in which the fiber-forming substance is cellulose acetate. Where not less than 92 percent of the hydroxyl groups are acetylated, the term triacetate may be used as a generic description of the fiber."


title: Cellulose acetate

text: Acetate is derived from cellulose by initially deconstructing wood pulp into a purified fluffy white cellulose. To manufacture a good product, special qualities of pulps, such as dissolving pulps, are used. The uneven reactivity of cellulose presents a common problem affecting the quality of the cellulose acetate product. The cellulose is reacted with acetic acid and acetic anhydride in the presence of sulfuric acid. It is subjected to a controlled, partial hydrolysis to remove the sulfate and a sufficient number of acetate groups to give the product the desired properties. The anhydroglucose unit is the fundamental repeating structure of cellulose and has three hydroxyl groups which can react to form acetate esters. The most common form of cellulose acetate fiber has an acetate group on approximately two of every three hydroxyls. This cellulose diacetate is known as secondary acetate, or simply as "acetate".


title: Cellulose acetate

text: After it is formed, cellulose acetate is dissolved in acetone, forming a viscous solution for extrusion through spinnerets (which resemble a shower head). As the filaments emerge, the solvent is evaporated in warm air via dry spinning, producing fine cellulose acetate fibers.


title: Cellulose acetate

text: The first U.S. commercial acetate fiber was produced by the Celanese Corporation in 1924. Current U.S. acetate fiber producers are Celanese, and Eastman Chemical Company.


title: Cellulose acetate

text: To this day, no process for the direct production of cellulose acetates has been discovered. As attempts to produce a partial esterification of cellulose result only in a mixture of non-acetylated and fully acetylated cellulose, a two-step synthesis is applied: Cellulose is always completely converted first to cellulose triacetate and then by hydrolysis into cellulose acetates with low degrees of esterification.


title: Cellulose acetate

text: Purified cellulose from wood pulp or cotton linters is mixed with glacial acetic acid, acetic anhydride, and a catalyst. The mixture is aged 20 hours during which partial hydrolysis occurs and acid resin precipitates as flakes. These are dissolved in acetone and the solution is purified by filtering. The solution is extruded by spinning in a column of warm air. Solvent is recovered. Filaments are stretched and wound onto beams, cones, or bobbins ready for use. Filaments are finally spun into fiber.


title: Cellulose acetate

text: The global production of CA materials was over per year in 2008. While it was initially believed that CA was virtually non-biodegradable, it has been shown that after initial partial deacetylation, the polymer's cellulose backbone is readily biodegraded by cellulase enzymes. In biologically highly active soil, CA fibers are completely destroyed after 4–9 months. Photodegradation is optimal with 280 nm or shorter wavelength UV-irradiation and enhanced by TiO pigment. CA cigarette filters take years to be broken down in the open.


title: Cellulose acetate

text: Cellulose acetate is marketed under various trade names, such as Tenite by the Eastman Chemical Company, zyl and zylonite, Cellon, manufactured by "Deutsche Celluloid Fabrik", Eilenburg, Germany, and Rhodoid, manufactured by "Soc. des Usines Chim. Rhone-Poulenc", Paris, France, and "May & Baker Ltd.", London, UK. Cast film of cellulose acetate is manufactured in Spondon (Derbyshire, UK) by Celanese, and sold as Clarifoil.


title: Cellulose acetate

text: Cellulose acetate butyrate ("CAB", "Tenite II") and cellulose acetate propionate are related derivatives of cellulose, which are both used in inks and coatings. The chief difference between these and cellulose acetate is their solubility in a wider range of solvents.


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: French Kiss is a 1995 romantic comedy film directed by Lawrence Kasdan and starring Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline. Written by Adam Brooks, the film is about a woman who flies to France to confront her straying fiancé and gets into trouble when the charming crook seated next to her uses her to smuggle a stolen diamond necklace. "French Kiss" was filmed on location in Paris, the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur région of southeastern France, and Cannes. The film was released in the United States on May 5, 1995, and received mixed reviews. The film was a success and went on to earn a total worldwide gross of $101,982,854.


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: A Hindi remake of the film named "Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha" was released on July 24, 1998. The 2004 Malayalam comedy film "Vettam" was also based on "French Kiss".


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: Kate, a fastidious, wholesome American, history teacher, lives in Canada with her fiancé, Charlie, a doctor. While waiting for her Canadian citizenship to come through, Kate has been planning their wedding and the purchase of their first house, complete with a white picket fence.


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: When Charlie urges her to accompany him to Paris for an upcoming conference, she declines due to her fear of flying and her general intolerance for cheese, secondhand smoke, and the stereotypical idea she has about the French.


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: A few days later, Kate's plans for the future are crushed when she receives a phone call from Charlie, who tells her he has fallen in love with a French "goddess" named Juliette and he will not be returning. Determined to win him back, Kate boards an Air Canada flight to Paris and is seated next to a Frenchman, Luc Teyssier, whose every word annoys her.


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: Unknown to Kate, Luc is smuggling a vine cutting and a stolen diamond necklace into France, hoping to use both to start his own vineyard. With the help of a few drinks, Kate is able to tolerate her "rude" and "nicotine saturated and hygiene-deficient" seating partner long enough to arrive safely in Paris. Before deboarding, Luc sneaks the vine and necklace into Kate's bag, knowing she will not be searched at customs.


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: At the terminal, Luc is spotted by Inspector Jean-Paul Cardon, who insists on giving him a ride during which he searches his bag. Jean-Paul knows of Luc's vocation, but feels "protective" of him as Luc once saved his life. Meanwhile, Kate arrives at the Hôtel George V, where she encounters new levels of French sarcasm and rudeness from the concierge.


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: While waiting in the lobby with petty thief Bob, Kate sees Charlie and Juliette kissing passionately in a descending elevator and faints. Bob steals her bag and leaves just as Luc arrives. After reviving Kate, Luc realizes who has the necklace, goes with Kate to Bob's apartment, and recovers the bag, absent her money and passport.


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: Upset with Luc, Kate heads off on her own, and learns that Charlie is traveling south to Cannes to meet Juliette's parents. Luc, meanwhile, realizes the necklace must still be in Kate's bag. He tracks her down to the train station, offers to help her "win back Charlie", and together they board a train to Cannes. That evening, Luc sees Charlie's picture from Kate's locket before she falls asleep. While she sleeps, he tries to check Kate's bag during which she, thinking it's Charlie, kisses him.


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: The next morning during breakfast, she describes it as a 'delicious dream' with which she woke up 'transformed,' only to sample some of the 452 official government cheeses of France, despite being lactose intolerant. She gets an upset stomach shortly after and is violently ill, and they get off the train at Luc's hometown of La Ravelle in Paulhaguet, where they stay at his family home and vineyard. Kate learns about Luc's past and how he gambled away his vineyard birthright to his brother in a single hand of poker; she also learns that while he may be a schemer, he knows a lot about wine, and dreams of someday buying land for his own winery. As they board the train to Cannes, Kate shows him that she, in fact, has the necklace.


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: At Cannes, they check into a room at the Carlton Hotel using a stolen credit card. Following Luc's advice, Kate confronts Charlie in front of Juliette on the beach, pretending to be indifferent to him. To make him jealous, Luc pretends to be Kate's lover, and it works. Later that afternoon, Jean-Paul approaches Kate, urging her to convince Luc to return the necklace anonymously to avoid jail. Luc was planning to sell the necklace at Cartier, but agrees to Kate's "new plan" to have her sell the necklace, as that would be safer.


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: At dinner, Charlie apologizes to Kate and accompanies her to her room, where he tries to seduce her. Rejecting his advances, Kate realizes she no longer wants him, as she has fallen in love with Luc. Meanwhile, in an effort to "ensure victory" for her, Luc takes an all-too-willing Juliette to bed, seducing her, but his plan fails when he calls her "Kate".


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: The following morning, Kate tells Luc that Charlie wants her back, but quickly leaves the room, saying, "Cartier is waiting". She returns the necklace to Jean-Paul and purchases a Cartier check for $45,782 with her own savings to create the illusion that she sold it. After giving the check to Luc, she leaves for the airport pretending to meet Charlie. Soon after, Jean-Paul approaches Luc and reveals the charade and all that Kate has done for him. Luc rushes to the airport, boards the plane, and confesses his love for her and wants her to stay with him. Sometime later, Kate and he kiss and embrace in their beautiful new vineyard.


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: The lead role of Luc was originally written for Gérard Depardieu, but Kevin Kline accepted the role when Depardieu was not available for the film.


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: Principal photography took place from September 17 to December 22, 1994. "French Kiss" was filmed primarily in Paris, the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France, and Cannes.


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: In Paris, scenes were shot at the Hotel George V, where Kate has her encounters with the supercilious concierge. The hotel lobby was used for the scene where the petty thief Bob steals Kate's bag after she faints. Several scenes show the Eiffel Tower in the background—the one site Kate longs to see most but keeps on missing. A phonebooth on Champs-Élysées near the Arc de Triomphe was used for the scene where Kate calls Charlie's mother. Scenes were also filmed at the American Embassy at 2 Avenue Gabriel, and the Canadian Embassy at 35 Avenue Montaigne. The scene where Luc throws money on the sidewalk was filmed at the corner of rue Paul-Albert and rue Feutrier in Montmartre.


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: Driving scenes in Paris were filmed in front of the Louvre near the Louvre Pyramid, along the Rive Droite, and on Rue des Rosiers, where Luc drives down a narrow, winding cobblestoned street. Additional Paris scenes were filmed at the Sacré-Cœur in Montmartre, the Grande Pharmacie de la Place Blanche at 5 Place Blanche, the Palais de Chaillot, and Place des Abbesses, where Kate and Luc discuss his "little problem". The final scene filmed in Paris was at the Gare Saint-Lazare train station, where Luc is chased by Inspector Jean-Paul Cardon while trying to board a train south to Cannes.


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: In the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, the small village of Valbonne, about fifteen minutes north of Cannes, was used for several scenes, including the scene where Luc fights with his brother in the main village square in front of the Hotel les Armoiries, an old seventeenth century building. Other scenes were filmed at the train station and nearby vineyards around La Ravelle, 84240 La Tour-d'Aigues, The train station near Meyrargues, Bouches-du-Rhône, was also used in one scene.


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: In Cannes, several exterior shots of the Carlton Hotel were used to represent where the four main characters stay. There are interior scenes of the lobby and the brasserie used for morning breakfasts. Other scenes filmed here include the beach in front of the hotel along with the adjacent waterfront—in particular the Cartier boutique on the next corner. The grape harvest scenes were filmed at Château Val Joanis in Pertuis, Vaucluse. Studio scenes were shot at Paris Studios Cinéma.


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: The film was originally titled "Paris Match", a play on the name of the famous French newsmagazine. However, the title had to be changed after Billy Crystal challenged it with the MPAA as being too close to that of his own Paris-set romantic comedy "Forget Paris", released just two weeks later.


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: The "French Kiss Original Soundtrack" album was released by Mercury Records on CD on May 9, 1995. It peaked at 170 on the "Billboard" 200.


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: "French Kiss" was released in United States on May 5, 1995, and received mixed reviews. In his review in the "San Francisco Chronicle", Mick LaSalle wrote that director Lawrence Kasdan "takes what could have been a fluffy comedy with lots of plot complications and picturesque scenery and instead puts his focus on the important things: on the characters played by Ryan and Kline and how they happen to be feeling." LaSalle also applauded Kasdan's sense of subtle comedy:


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: LaSalle found Kline's performance "extraordinary" and that he not only perfected the accent but the "speech rhythms and the manner as well." LaSalle also praised Ryan's comic timing, which "continues to delight."


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: In her review in "The Washington Post", Rita Kempley, giving it a mixed review, wrote that the film "isn't as passionate as the title suggests—in fact, it's facile—but Ryan and Kevin Kline, as her attractive opposite, are irresistible together." Kempley applauded the acting performances:


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: In his review in the "Chicago Sun-Times", a disappointed Roger Ebert wrote, "The characters in this movie may look like adults, but they think like teenagers." Although he acknowledged that the film was not without its charms—Paris and Cannes being "two of the most photogenic cities on earth"—Ebert concluded, "Kline's Frenchman is somehow not worldly enough, and Ryan's heroine never convinces us she ever loved her fiancé in the first place."


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: In her review in "The New York Times", Janet Maslin called the film a "romantic comedy with barely a laugh or a spark, and with a pace that makes it feel longer than Mr. Kasdan's previous work, "Wyatt Earp"."


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: Review aggregation website "Rotten Tomatoes" gave the film a score of 48% based on reviews from 27 critics with a weighted average of 5.6/10. The consensus summarizes: ""French Kiss" is effervescent like good champagne but its spirit fizzles in a film that isn't as intoxicating as its stars."


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: The film earned $38,896,854 in the United States and an additional $63,086,000 in international markets for a total worldwide gross of $101,982,854.


title: French Kiss (1995 film)

text: "French Kiss" was released in United States on video on February 6, 1996. It was released in DVD format by 20th Century Fox on January 18, 2000, and in Blu-ray format by 20th Century Fox on January 8, 2013.


title: Spanish omelette

text: Spanish omelette or Spanish tortilla is a traditional dish from Spain. Celebrated as a national dish by Spaniards, it is an essential part of the Spanish cuisine. It is an omelette made with eggs and potatoes, optionally including onion. It is often served at room temperature as a tapa.


title: Spanish omelette

text: The first reference to the tortilla in Spanish is found in a Navarrese document, as an anonymous "mousehole memorial" addressed to the court of Navarre in 1817. It explains the sparse conditions of Navarre's farmers in contrast with those in Pamplona (the capital) and la Ribera (in southern Navarre). After listing the sparse food eaten by highlanders, the next quote follows: "…two to three eggs in tortilla for 5 or 6 [people] as our women know how to make it big and thick with fewer eggs, mixing potatoes, breadcrumbs or whatever."


title: Spanish omelette

text: According to legend, during the siege of Bilbao, Carlist general Tomás de Zumalacárregui invented the ""tortilla de patatas"" as an easy, fast and nutritious dish to satisfy the scarcities of the Carlist army. Although it remains unknown whether this is true, it appears the tortilla started to spread during the early Carlist Wars.


title: Spanish omelette

text: Another tale is that the recipe was learnt by Spanish prisoners captured after the Battle of Montes Claros during the Portuguese Restoration War in 1665. After the Portuguese victory, more than 6,000 Spanish soldiers were kept in captivity for 3 years until the 1668 Treaty of Lisbon was signed. Upon their release, these prisoners brought part of the culture of Alentejo to Spain, including many recipes, which featured a potato egg pie that evolved into the modern version of "tortilla".


title: Spanish omelette

text: The word "tortilla", in European Spanish as well as in some variants of Latin American Spanish, means omelette. As such, a potato omelette is a "tortilla de patatas" or "papas."


title: Spanish omelette

text: As the dish has gained international popularity, and perhaps to avoid being confused with the thin flatbread made out of wheat or maize popular in Mexico and Central America, the "española" or Spanish naming gained traction. As such, 'Spanish omelette' or 'Spanish tortilla' are its common names in English, while "tortilla española" is the formally accepted name even within the peninsula. In Spain, an omelette (made of beaten eggs fried with olive oil) is conversely known as "tortilla francesa" ().


title: Spanish omelette

text: The Spanish omelette is one of the most widely available dishes in Spain, also prepared in some Spanish-speaking countries.


title: Spanish omelette

text: The two main options are either with or without onion in it, with consumers almost always having a preference. The addition of onion is the cause of an unresolved dispute, pitting "concebollistas" (those advocating for the tortilla with onion) against "sincebollistas" (those considering the onion an attack against the dish's authenticity). It may be related to the tenderness of the local varieties of potato. The indication of whether a tortilla includes onion or not is expected from restaurateurs, and industrial producers market both options.


title: Spanish omelette

text: The omelette may be eaten hot, at room temperature, or cold; it is commonly served as a "tapa". As a tapa, it may be cut into bite-size pieces and served on cocktail sticks; a large tortilla can be cut into triangular portions ("pincho de tortilla") to be eaten as a finger food.


title: Spanish omelette

text: ("Tortilla Day") is a popular festivity celebrated in many towns in southern and western Spain. Its date varies depending on the town; however, it normally coincides with the Thursday before Lent, the first day of Carnival, also known as "Jueves Lardero" (Fat Thursday). Many towns in eastern Spain have a similar celebration on that day. Traditionally, the inhabitants of each town go to a nearby rural area where they spend the day among family members and friends, eating Spanish tortillas and other foods, and playing games.


title: Karine Vanasse

text: Karine Vanasse (born 24 November 1983) is a French-Canadian actress, who had roles in the films "Polytechnique", " (Séraphin: un homme et son péché)", "Switch" and "Set Me Free (Emporte-moi)". Internationally she is best known for her roles as Colette Valois in "Pan Am", Margaux LeMarchal in "Revenge" and Lise Delorme in "Cardinal".


title: Karine Vanasse

text: Vanasse was born in Drummondville, Quebec, the daughter of Conrad Vanasse, a council worker, and Renée (née Gamache), who was her manager at the beginning of her career. At the age of nine, Vanasse expressed her desire to sing or to act and she fulfilled that wish when she appeared in the teen show "Club des 100 watts" after winning a "lip sync" competition. It was then, with the help of her mother, that Vanasse began to audition for, and take part in, TV commercials and to play minor and supporting roles in various French Canadian TV movies.


title: Karine Vanasse

text: In 1998, the production company now known as Motion International asked Vanasse to co-host a Québec-based children's science show, "Les Débrouillards". Producer Lorraine Richard and director Léa Pool spotted her there, and offered Vanasse her first big break in the role of Hanna in "Set Me Free (Emporte-moi)" (1999), a story of a teenager trying to find her identity in a tormented family environment. The film was presented at forty festivals, and shown in twenty countries. Her performance was highly acclaimed both nationally and internationally and earned her the 2000 Best Actress Jutra Award.


title: Karine Vanasse

text: Vanasse then played Lucie (the teenage love interest of Benoit Langlais's main character, Zac) in the controversial Québec TV series "Deux frères" () (1999). Her character became very prominent in 2000–2001, and the debate stirred by the violent realism led her to become, together with Langlais, a spokesperson for the government-funded TV program "Parler, c'est grandir", a broadcast aimed at youngsters from unstable backgrounds. In 2001, she applied for the ITHAKA program and took a six-month break in Greece to devote herself to travel and academics, after which she played Donalda in Charles Binamé's epic, " (Séraphin: un homme et son péché)" (2002). She was cast as an FLQ terrorist in the 2006 miniseries "October 1970" on CBC's English network. Vanasse appeared in such Canadian productions as "Sans Elle", "Ma fille, mon ange", and the Canadian/American/British mini-series "Killer Wave".


title: Karine Vanasse

text: In 2009, Vanasse was a producer and a cast member of the film "Polytechnique", directed by Denis Villeneuve, which portrays the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre in Montréal. She won the Genie Award for Best Actress for her performance.


title: Karine Vanasse

text: In 2011, Vanasse was cast as the French stewardess, Colette Valois, in the American-produced television series "Pan Am", which was later cancelled after one season.


title: Karine Vanasse

text: From January to April 2013, Vanasse was cast on the Quebec television series "30 Vies". In July 2013, "Deadline Hollywood" announced that Vanasse had joined the cast of ABC's "Revenge" as French businesswoman Margaux LeMarchal in the third season of the popular drama. During 2012 and 2013, Vanasse filmed the movies "All the Wrong Reasons", "Buddha's Little Finger" and "En solitaire".


title: Karine Vanasse

text: From 2017 to 2020, Vanasse starred in the television series "Cardinal", as detective Lise Delorme. It was the first time she had played a Québécoise character on English-language TV, rather than a character from France. At the 7th Canadian Screen Awards she won the award for Best Lead Actress in a Drama Program or Limited Series.


title: Karine Vanasse

text: On 21 April 2018, Vanasse announced via Instagram that she had given birth to her first child, a boy, with her ex-boyfriend Hugues Harvey.


title: Alastair Sim

text: Alastair George Bell Sim, CBE (9 October 1900 – 19 August 1976) was a Scottish character actor who began his theatrical career at the age of thirty and quickly became established as a popular West End performer, remaining so until his death in 1976. Starting in 1935, he also appeared in more than fifty British films, including an iconic adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novella "A Christmas Carol", released in 1951 as "Scrooge" in Great Britain and as "A Christmas Carol" in the United States. Though an accomplished dramatic actor, he is often remembered for his comically sinister performances.


title: Alastair Sim

text: After a series of false starts, including a spell as a jobbing labourer and another as a clerk in a local government office, Sim's love of and talent for poetry reading won him several prizes and led to his appointment as a lecturer in elocution at the University of Edinburgh in 1925. He also ran his own private elocution and drama school, from which, with the help of the playwright John Drinkwater, he made the transition to the professional stage in 1930.


title: Alastair Sim

text: Despite his late start, Sim soon became well known on the London stage. A period of more than a year as a member of the Old Vic company brought him wide experience of playing Shakespeare and other classics, to which he returned throughout his career. In the modern repertoire, he formed a close professional association with the author James Bridie, which lasted from 1939 until the dramatist's death in 1951. Sim not only acted in Bridie's works but also directed them.


title: Alastair Sim

text: In the later 1940s and for most of the 1950s, Sim was a leading star of British cinema. They included "Green for Danger" (1946), "Hue and Cry" (1947), "The Happiest Days of Your Life" (1950), "Scrooge" (1951), "The Belles of St. Trinian's" (1954) and "An Inspector Calls" (1954). Later, he made fewer films and generally concentrated on stage work, including successful productions at the Chichester Festival and regular appearances in new and old works in the West End.


title: Alastair Sim

text: Sim was born in Edinburgh, the youngest child and second son of Isabella (née McIntyre) and Alexander Sim. His mother moved to Edinburgh as a teenager from Eigg, one of the Small Isles in the Hebrides, and was a native Gaelic speaker. His father was a Justice of the Peace and a successful tailor with a business on Lothian Road. Sim was educated at Bruntsfield Primary school, James Gillespie's High School and George Heriot's School. He worked—probably part time—in his father's shop and then for the men's outfitters Gieve's, displaying no talent for the retail trade. In 1918 he was admitted to the University of Edinburgh to study analytical chemistry, but was called up for army training.


title: Alastair Sim

text: After the end of the First World War in November 1918, Sim was released from military service. On his return home, he told his family that he did not intend to resume his studies at the university but instead would become an actor. His announcement was so badly received that he left the parental home and spent about a year in the Scottish Highlands with a group of itinerant jobbing workers. Returning to Edinburgh, he took a post in the burgh assessor's office. In his spare time, he joined poetry reading classes, winning the gold medal for verse speaking at the Edinburgh Music Festival. This led to his engagement to teach elocution at a further education college in Dalry, Edinburgh. He held this post from 1922 to 1924. After taking an advanced training course in his subject, in 1925 he successfully applied to the University of Edinburgh for the post of Fulton Lecturer in Elocution, which he held for five years.


title: Alastair Sim

text: While maintaining his university position, Sim also taught private pupils and later founded and ran his own drama school for children in Edinburgh. This developed his skills as a director and occasional actor. One of his pupils, Naomi Merlith Plaskitt, aged 12 when they met, became his wife six years later. The dramatist John Drinkwater saw one of Sim's productions for the school and encouraged him to become a professional actor. Through Drinkwater's influence, Sim was cast in his first professional production, "Othello" at the Savoy Theatre, London, in 1930; he understudied the three principal male roles (played by Paul Robeson, Maurice Browne and Ralph Richardson) and played the small role of the messenger.


title: Alastair Sim

text: Sim followed "Othello" with productions ranging from a musical revue to a medieval costume drama by Clifford Bax, in whose "The Venetian" he made his Broadway debut in October 1931. In 1932–33 he was engaged for sixteen months as a member of the Old Vic company, headed by Peggy Ashcroft. He performed in ten plays by Shakespeare, two each by Shaw and Drinkwater, and one by Sheridan. He began to attract the attention of reviewers. "The Times" said that in "As You Like It" Sim as Duke Senior and George Devine as Duke Frederick "endowed the dukes with the properly fabulous touch of fairyland". In "The Observer", Ivor Brown wrote that Sim's Claudius in "Hamlet" had "a sly roguishness that was immensely alive." During the Old Vic season, Sim married his former pupil, Naomi Plaskitt, on 2 August 1932. They had one daughter, Merlith Naomi.


title: Alastair Sim

text: For several months in 1934, Sim was incapacitated by a slipped disc, which was successfully treated by osteopathy. When he recovered, he made a strong impression on West End audiences as Ponsonby, a sycophantic bank director in the comedy "Youth at the Helm". Ivor Brown called his performance "a joy … a marvellous mixture of soap and vinegar". On the strength of this success Sim was cast in his first film, "The Riverside Murder" (1935), in the role of the earnest but dim Sergeant McKay. There followed a sequence of films, a mixture of comedies and detective stories, including "Wedding Group" (1936), in which Sim and his wife both appeared, he as a Scottish minister, she as the maid; Edgar Wallace's "The Squeaker" (1937), after a stage production of the same piece; "Alf's Button Afloat" (1938) with the Crazy Gang; also in 1938 he played a revengeful ex-con Soapy Marks in the Associated British Picture film "The Terror", and the "Inspector Hornleigh" series (1939–41), as the bumbling assistant of Gordon Harker.


title: Alastair Sim

text: Sim returned to substantial stage roles at the last Malvern Festival; in James Bridie's comedy "What Say They?" he played Professor Hayman, making him, as "The Manchester Guardian" put it, "baleful as a shaven John Knox and lean as a buzzard… a grand performance". This was the start of an association between Sim and Bridie that lasted until the latter's death in 1951, with Sim starring in, and directing, "Mr Bolfry" (1943), "The Forrigan Reel" (1945), "Dr Angelus" (1947) and "Mr Gillie" (1950).


title: Alastair Sim

text: By the mid-1940s, Sim was being cast in starring roles in films. His earliest successes as a leading man included the police detective in the thriller "Green for Danger" (1946); the headmaster of Nutbourne College, co-starring with Margaret Rutherford, in the farcical comedy "The Happiest Days of Your Life" (1950); and a writer of lurid crime fiction in the comedy "Laughter in Paradise" (1951). His other films included "Waterloo Road" (1944), "London Belongs to Me" (1948), Alfred Hitchcock's "Stage Fright" (1950), "Scrooge (A Christmas Carol)" (1951), "Folly to Be Wise" (1953) and "An Inspector Calls" (1954).


title: Alastair Sim

text: Sim turned down the role of Joseph Macroon in "Whisky Galore!" (1949), saying, "I can't bear professional Scotsmen". An even more central role for which he was intended was the mad criminal mastermind Professor Marcus in "The Ladykillers" (1955). The role was written with him in mind but was finally taken by Alec Guinness, who, in the words of Mark Duguid of the British Film Institute, played it "with more than a hint of Sim about him", to the extent that according to Simpson many people thought then and still think that Sim played the part.


title: Alastair Sim

text: Sim's performance in "Scrooge" (1951) is considered by many to be the best portrayal of the title character on screen, and it is among his best-known film roles, particularly in the U.S. In the farcical "The Belles of St. Trinian's" (1954) he played the dual roles of Millicent and Clarence Fritton, the headmistress of St Trinian's and her shady brother. Having originally accepted the part of Clarence, Sim agreed to play in drag as Miss Fritton when Margaret Rutherford proved unavailable, and the director and co-producer, Frank Launder could find no suitable actress as an alternative. His "Burke and Hare" film "The Anatomist" debuted on British television (on "International Theatre") on 6 February 1956, and was later released theatrically in the U.S. in 1961, leading some reference sources to list it as a 1961 movie.


title: Alastair Sim

text: Sim was among the top British film stars of the early and mid 1950s, but his films of the late 1950s are considered by the critic Michael Brooke to be of lesser quality, because of poor scripts or lack of innovative direction. Sim made no films in the decade between 1961 and 1971; it is not clear whether this was, as Brooke suggests, because he found the scripts offered to him unacceptable or, as Simpson proposes, because film makers in the 1960s thought him unsuited to the kitchen sink dramas then fashionable.


title: Alastair Sim

text: After Bridie's death in 1951, Sim appeared in only two stage productions during the rest of the decade. The first was a revival of Bridie's "Mr  Bolfry" in 1956, in which Sim moved from the role of the puritanical clergyman to that of the Devil. The second was William Golding's "The Brass Butterfly", a 1958 comedy described by "The Times" as portraying the relations between an urbane Roman emperor (Sim) and a Greek inventor with wildly anachronistic scientific ideas (George Cole).


title: Alastair Sim

text: In 1959, Sim sued the food company H J Heinz over a television advertisement for its baked beans; the advertisement had a voiceover sounding remarkably like him, and he insisted that he would not "prostitute his art" by advertising anything. He lost the case and attracted some ridicule for his action, but he was conscious of the importance of his highly recognisable voice to his professional success. Brooke comments on Sim's "crowning glory: that extraordinary voice. Only Gielgud rivalled his tonal control and sensitivity to the musicality of the English language."


title: Alastair Sim

text: After doing little stage work in the 1950s, Sim resumed his theatre career in earnest in the 1960s. His range was wide, from Prospero in "The Tempest" (1962) and Shylock in "The Merchant of Venice" (1964), to the villainous Captain Hook in Barrie's "Peter Pan" (1963, 1964 and 1968) and the hapless Mr Posket in Pinero's farce "The Magistrate" (1969). The new plays in which Sim appeared were Michael Gilbert's "Windfall" (1963), William Trevor's "The Elephant's Foot" (1965) and Ronald Millar's "Number Ten" (1967); he directed all three productions. The first was dismissed by "The Times" as a tepid comedy about a progressive young headmaster thwarted by a reactionary member of his staff; the second, billed as a pre-London tour, started and finished in the provinces; the last was castigated by Philip Hope-Wallace in "The Guardian" as "maladroit playmaking" with a tedious plot about political machinations. Sim's performances provided some consolation: in the first, "The Times" said, his "treacherously sweet smiles, triple takes and unheralded spasms of apoplectic fury almost make the evening worth while".


title: Alastair Sim

text: Much more successful among Sim's 1960s appearances were two productions at the Chichester Festival: Colman and Garrick's 1766 comedy "The Clandestine Marriage" (1966) and "The Magistrate". In the former he co-starred once more with Rutherford, whom J. C. Trewin in "The Illustrated London News" praised for her "irresistible comic effect"; he thought Sim "enchantingly right". In the Pinero farce three years later, Trewin was equally approving of Sim and his co-star Patricia Routledge.


title: Alastair Sim

text: On television, Sim's best remembered performance was probably as Mr Justice Swallow in the comedy series "Misleading Cases" (1967–71), written by A. P. Herbert, with Roy Dotrice as the litigious Mr Haddock over whose court cases Swallow presided with benign shrewdness. Sim returned to the cinema in 1971 as the voice of Scrooge in an animated adaptation of "A Christmas Carol". The following year he appeared as the Bishop in Peter Medak's "The Ruling Class" (1972) with Peter O'Toole, and in 1975 he played a cameo in Richard Lester's "Royal Flash" (1975) with Malcolm McDowell. After playing Lord Harrogate in the 1976 Disney film "Escape from the Dark", his last role was as the Earl in the 1976 remake of "Rogue Male" opposite Peter O'Toole, a role for which he literally climbed out of his sick bed, saying, "Peter needs me."


title: Alastair Sim

text: On stage Sim returned to Pinero farce, playing Augustin Jedd in "Dandy Dick" at Chichester and then in the West End. Once again he co-starred with Patricia Routledge. His last stage appearance was in a return to the role of Lord Ogleby in a new production of "The Clandestine Marriage" at the Savoy in April 1975.


title: Alastair Sim

text: Sim and his family guarded their privacy carefully. He seldom gave press interviews and refused to sign autographs. In his view, the public's interest in him should be solely confined to his stage or screen performances. In a rare interview with the magazine "Focus on Film" he said, "I stand or fall in my profession by the public's judgment of my performances. No amount of publicity can dampen a good one or gloss over a bad one."


title: Alastair Sim

text: Sim and his wife Naomi promoted and encouraged young acting talent. Among their "protégés" was George Cole, who lived with them on and off from 1940, when he was 15 years old, until 1952, when he married and bought a house nearby. Cole appeared with Sim in eight films from "Cottage to Let" (1941), to "Blue Murder at St Trinian's" (1957). An obituary of Naomi Sim noted in 1999: "Cole wasn't the only youngster to benefit from the Sims' generosity and love of youthful spirits. At least half a dozen others – 'our boys' as Naomi called them – mostly unhappy at home, have cherished memories of life at Forrigan, the welcoming woodland retreat built by the couple near Henley-on-Thames in 1947. They also found time to have a child of their own, Merlith, who lives [in 1999] at Forrigan with her family and next door to George Cole, who remained close to Naomi Sim to the end."


title: Alastair Sim

text: In 1948, Sim was elected Rector of the University of Edinburgh. He held the post until 1951; when he stood down he was made an honorary Doctor of Law. He was appointed CBE in 1953, and refused a knighthood in the early 1970s. An English Heritage blue plaque was unveiled in July 2008 at his former home at 8 Frognal Gardens, Hampstead, by his daughter Merlith McKendrick at a ceremony attended by George Cole. There is a plaque commemorating Sim's birth outside the Filmhouse Cinema in Lothian Road, Edinburgh.


title: Alastair Sim

text: Sim died in 1976, aged 75, in London, from lung cancer. His widow Naomi died on 3 August 1999. She published a memoir, "Skylark: Fifty Years with Alastair Sim" in 1987.


title: UV mapping

text: UV mapping is the 3D modeling process of projecting a 3D model's surface to a 2D image for texture mapping. The letters "U" and "V" denote the axes of the 2D texture because "X", "Y", and "Z" are already used to denote the axes of the 3D object in model space, while "W" (in addition to XYZ) is used in calculating quaternion rotations, a common operation in computer graphics.


title: UV mapping

text: UV texturing permits polygons that make up a 3D object to be painted with color (and other surface attributes) from an ordinary image. The image is called a UV texture map. The UV mapping process involves assigning pixels in the image to surface mappings on the polygon, usually done by "programmatically" copying a triangular piece of the image map and pasting it onto a triangle on the object. UV texturing is an alternative to projection mapping (e.g., using any pair of the model's X, Y, Z coordinates or any transformation of the position); it only maps into a texture space rather than into the geometric space of the object. The rendering computation uses the UV texture coordinates to determine how to paint the three-dimensional surface.


title: UV mapping

text: In the example to the right, a sphere is given a checkered texture in two ways. On the left, without UV mapping, the sphere is carved out of three-dimensional checkers tiling Euclidean space. With UV mapping, the checkers tile the two-dimensional UV space, and points on the sphere map to this space according to their latitude and longitude.


title: UV mapping

text: When a model is created as a polygon mesh using a 3D modeller, UV coordinates (also known as texture coordinates) can be generated for each vertex in the mesh. One way is for the 3D modeller to unfold the triangle mesh at the seams, automatically laying out the triangles on a flat page. If the mesh is a UV sphere, for example, the modeller might transform it into an equirectangular projection. Once the model is unwrapped, the artist can paint a texture on each triangle individually, using the unwrapped mesh as a template. When the scene is rendered, each triangle will map to the appropriate texture from the "decal sheet".


title: UV mapping

text: A UV map can either be generated automatically by the software application, made manually by the artist, or some combination of both. Often a UV map will be generated, and then the artist will adjust and optimize it to minimize seams and overlaps. If the model is symmetric, the artist might overlap opposite triangles to allow painting both sides simultaneously.


title: UV mapping

text: UV coordinates are optionally applied per face. This means a shared spatial vertex position can have different UV coordinates for each of its triangles, so adjacent triangles can be cut apart and positioned on different areas of the texture map.


title: UV mapping

text: The UV mapping process at its simplest requires three steps: unwrapping the mesh, creating the texture, and applying the texture to a respective face of polygon.


title: UV mapping

text: UV mapping may use repeating textures, or an injective 'unique' mapping as a prerequisite for baking.


title: UV mapping

text: For any point formula_1 on the sphere, calculate formula_2, that being the unit vector from formula_1 to the sphere's origin.


title: UV mapping

text: Assuming that the sphere's poles are aligned with the Y axis, UV coordinates in the range formula_4 can then be calculated as follows:


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: The Klein–Gordon equation (Klein–Fock–Gordon equation or sometimes Klein–Gordon–Fock equation) is a relativistic wave equation, related to the Schrödinger equation. It is second-order in space and time and manifestly Lorentz-covariant. It is a quantized version of the relativistic energy–momentum relation formula_1. Its solutions include a quantum scalar or pseudoscalar field, a field whose quanta are spinless particles. Its theoretical relevance is similar to that of the Dirac equation. Electromagnetic interactions can be incorporated, forming the topic of scalar electrodynamics, but because common spinless particles like the pions are unstable and also experience the strong interaction (with unknown interaction term in the Hamiltonian,) the practical utility is limited.


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: The equation can be put into the form of a Schrödinger equation. In this form it is expressed as two coupled differential equations, each of first order in time. The solutions have two components, reflecting the charge degree of freedom in relativity. It admits a conserved quantity, but this is not positive definite. The wave function cannot therefore be interpreted as a probability amplitude. The conserved quantity is instead interpreted as electric charge, and the norm squared of the wave function is interpreted as a charge density. The equation describes all spinless particles with positive, negative, and zero charge.


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: Any solution of the free Dirac equation is, for each of its four components, a solution of the free Klein–Gordon equation. The Klein–Gordon equation does not form the basis of a consistent quantum relativistic "one-particle" theory. There is no known such theory for particles of any spin. For full reconciliation of quantum mechanics with special relativity, quantum field theory is needed, in which the Klein–Gordon equation reemerges as the equation obeyed by the components of all free quantum fields. In quantum field theory, the solutions of the free (noninteracting) versions of the original equations still play a role. They are needed to build the Hilbert space (Fock space) and to express quantum fields by using complete sets (spanning sets of Hilbert space) of wave functions.


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: The Klein–Gordon equation can be written in different ways. The equation itself usually refers to the position space form, where it can be written in terms of separated space and time components formula_2 or by combining them into a four-vector formula_3. By Fourier transforming the field into momentum space, the solution is usually written in terms of a superposition of plane waves whose energy and momentum obey the energy-momentum dispersion relation from special relativity. Here, the Klein–Gordon equation is given for both of the two common metric signature conventions formula_4.


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: Here, formula_5 is the wave operator and formula_6 is the Laplace operator. The speed of light formula_7 and Planck constant formula_8 are often seen to clutter the equations, so they are therefore often expressed in natural units where formula_9.


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: Unlike the Schrödinger equation, the Klein–Gordon equation admits two values of for each : one positive and one negative. Only by separating out the positive and negative frequency parts does one obtain an equation describing a relativistic wavefunction. For the time-independent case, the Klein–Gordon equation becomes


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: Here, the Klein–Gordon equation in natural units, formula_11, with the metric signature formula_12 is solved by Fourier transformation. Inserting the Fourier transformationformula_13and using orthogonality of the complex exponentials gives the dispersion relationformula_14This restricts the momenta to those that lie on shell, giving positive and negative energy solutionsformula_15For a new set of constants formula_16, the solution then becomesformula_17It is common to handle the positive and negative energy solutions by separating out the negative energies and work only with positive formula_18:formula_19In the last step, formula_20 was renamed. Now we can perform the formula_18-integration, picking up the positive frequency part from the delta function only:


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: This is commonly taken as a general solution to the Klein–Gordon equation. Note that because the initial Fourier transformation contained Lorentz invariant quantities like formula_23 only, the last expression is also a Lorentz invariant solution to the Klein–Gordon equation. If one does not require Lorentz invariance, one can absorb the formula_24-factor into the coefficients formula_25 and formula_26.


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: The equation was named after the physicists Oskar Klein and Walter Gordon, who in 1926 proposed that it describes relativistic electrons. Vladimir Fock also discovered the equation independently in 1926 slightly after Klein's work, in that Klein's paper was received on 28 April 1926, Fock's paper was received on 30 July 1926 and Gordon's paper on 29 September 1926. Other authors making similar claims in that same year Johann Kudar, Théophile de Donder and Frans-H. van den Dungen, and Louis de Broglie. Although it turned out that modeling the electron's spin required the Dirac equation, the Klein–Gordon equation correctly describes the spinless relativistic composite particles, like the pion. On 4 July 2012, European Organization for Nuclear Research CERN announced the discovery of the Higgs boson. Since the Higgs boson is a spin-zero particle, it is the first observed ostensibly elementary particle to be described by the Klein–Gordon equation. Further experimentation and analysis is required to discern whether the Higgs boson observed is that of the Standard Model or a more exotic, possibly composite, form.


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: The Klein–Gordon equation was first considered as a quantum wave equation by Schrödinger in his search for an equation describing de Broglie waves. The equation is found in his notebooks from late 1925, and he appears to have prepared a manuscript applying it to the hydrogen atom. Yet, because it fails to take into account the electron's spin, the equation predicts the hydrogen atom's fine structure incorrectly, including overestimating the overall magnitude of the splitting pattern by a factor of for the -th energy level. The Dirac equation relativistic spectrum is, however, easily recovered if the orbital-momentum quantum number is replaced by total angular-momentum quantum number . In January 1926, Schrödinger submitted for publication instead "his" equation, a non-relativistic approximation that predicts the Bohr energy levels of hydrogen without fine structure.


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: In 1926, soon after the Schrödinger equation was introduced, Vladimir Fock wrote an article about its generalization for the case of magnetic fields, where forces were dependent on velocity, and independently derived this equation. Both Klein and Fock used Kaluza and Klein's method. Fock also determined the gauge theory for the wave equation. The Klein–Gordon equation for a free particle has a simple plane-wave solution.


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: The Schrödinger equation suffers from not being relativistically invariant, meaning that it is inconsistent with special relativity.


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: The square root of a differential operator can be defined with the help of Fourier transformations, but due to the asymmetry of space and time derivatives, Dirac found it impossible to include external electromagnetic fields in a relativistically invariant way. So he looked for another equation that can be modified in order to describe the action of electromagnetic forces. In addition, this equation, as it stands, is nonlocal (see also Introduction to nonlocal equations).


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: Since all reference to imaginary numbers has been eliminated from this equation, it can be applied to fields that are real-valued, as well as those that have complex values.


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: Rewriting the first two terms using the inverse of the Minkowski metric , and writing the Einstein summation convention explicitly we get


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: Thus the Klein–Gordon equation can be written in a covariant notation. This often means an abbreviation in the form of


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: Today this form is interpreted as the relativistic field equation for spin-0 particles. Furthermore, any "component" of any solution to the free Dirac equation (for a spin-1/2 particle) is automatically a solution to the free Klein–Gordon equation. This generalizes to particles of any spin due to the Bargmann–Wigner equations. Furthermore, in quantum field theory, every component of every quantum field must satisfy the free Klein–Gordon equation, making the equation a generic expression of quantum fields.


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: Another common choice of potential which arises in interacting theories is the formula_44 potential for a real scalar field formula_45


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: The pure Higgs boson sector of the Standard model is modelled by a Klein–Gordon field with a potential, denoted formula_47 for this section. The Standard model is a gauge theory and so while the field transforms trivially under the Lorentz group, it transforms as a formula_48-valued vector under the action of the formula_49 part of the gauge group. Therefore while it is a vector field formula_50, it is still referred to as a scalar field, as scalar describes its transformation (formally, representation) under the Lorentz group. This is also discussed below in the scalar chromodynamics section.


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: which can be viewed as a generalization of the formula_44 potential, but has an important difference: it has a circle of minima. This observation is an important one in the theory of spontaneous symmetry breaking in the Standard model.


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: The Klein–Gordon equation (and action) for a complex field formula_53 admits a formula_54 symmetry. That is, under the transformations


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: the Klein–Gordon equation is invariant, as is the action (see below). By Noether's theorem for fields, corresponding to this symmetry there is a current formula_57 defined as


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: The form of the conserved current can be derived systematically by applying Noether's theorem to the formula_54 symmetry. We will not do so here, but simply verify that this current is conserved.


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: From the Klein–Gordon equation for a complex field formula_61 of mass formula_62, written in covariant notation and "mostly plus" signature,


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: Multiplying by the left respectively by formula_65 and formula_61 (and omitting for brevity the explicit formula_67 dependence),


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: This formula_54 symmetry is a global symmetry, but it can also be gauged to create a local or gauge symmetry: see below scalar QED. The name of gauge symmetry is somewhat misleading: it is really a redundancy, while the global symmetry is a genuine symmetry.


title: Klein–Gordon equation

text: The Klein–Gordon equation can also be derived by a variational method, arising as the Euler–Lagrange equation of the action