title: Carla Sands

text: Struwe wrote to Sloan that "we believe that freedom of speech is paramount in every democracy" and that the think tank saw no conflict between Sloan's criticism of Trump and his participation as a speaker at a conference. The U.S. Embassy posted a Twitter message saying that the "proposed last-minute inclusion" of Sloan into the conference did not comply with the "agreement that we followed when recruiting all other speakers." The Embassy offered no proof of that allegation, however, and Struwe said that the process alluded to by the U.S. Embassy for recruiting speakers did not exist. According to Struwe, the U.S. Embassy did not play a role in choosing any of the conference's other speakers or in confirming whether they would attend the conference.


title: Carla Sands

text: In June 2020, Sands participated in re-opening the United States consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.


title: Carla Sands

text: The independent, non-partisan Office of Special Counsel ruled in February 2021 that Sands violated the Hatch Act of 1939 multiple times while serving as Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark by using her official Twitter account to tweet about political matters, including criticisms of Joe Biden and endorsing conspiracy theories about Kamala Harris.


title: Carla Sands

text: During Trump's last month in office, Sands received the Medal for Distinguished Public Service from the Department of Defense for her tenure as Ambassador.


title: Carla Sands

text: In June 2022, Sands was widely ridiculed for tweeting, in reference to high fuel prices, that "In Denmark, middle class people can’t afford to drive a car. They have a bike and take the train for long trips. My embassy driver would bike an hour in the snow to get to work. That’s the future team Biden wants for Americans”, she wrote and continued: “Is this what you want?"


title: Carla Sands

text: In July 2021, Sands announced she was entering the Republican primary for the Senate seat of Pat Toomey. As of January 2022, Sands had put $3 million of her own money into her U.S. Senate campaign and had spent $1 million on television advertisements. Sands came fourth in the primary, behind Mehmet Oz, David McCormick, and Kathy Barnette.


title: Carla Sands

text: Sands served on the boards of Pepperdine University, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Arts, the Library Foundation of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She was also named by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to be on the board of the California Cultural and Historical Endowment. Sands served as the President and Chairman of Blue Ribbon, an organization that supports the Los Angeles Music Center and also as a Director of the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County.


title: Wolf-whistling

text: A wolf whistle is a distinctive two-note glissando whistled sound made to show high interest in or approval of something or someone, especially at someone viewed as physically or sexually attractive. Today, a wolf whistle directed at a person is sometimes considered a precursor to sexual harassment, or a form of sexual harassment in itself.


title: Wolf-whistling

text: The name comes from the Wolf character in the popular 1943 Tex Avery cartoon "Red Hot Riding Hood" who whistles in this way at the sexy female character Red. He whistles at her in several other subsequent cartoons. The term appears in North American newspapers as early as 1943. It appears in British newspapers from 1949 onwards.


title: Wolf-whistling

text: According to Adam Edwards of "Daily Express", the wolf whistle originates from the navy General Call made with a boatswain's pipe. The General Call is made on a ship to get the attention of all hands for an announcement. Sailors in harbour would whistle the General Call upon seeing an attractive woman to draw fellow sailors' attention to her. It was eventually picked up by passers-by, not knowing the real meaning of the whistle, and passed on. During a 2015 broadcast of "A Way with Words", doubt was cast upon this explanation by lexicographer Grant Barrett, who noted that it was very thinly supported. The Turn To Call is far closer to the wolf whistle than the General Call.


title: Wolf-whistling

text: The standard sound for a coin insertion for the Bally Manufacturing pinball machine "Playboy" (featuring iconography from "Playboy" magazine) is the wolf whistle.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. Action films from Hong Kong have roots in Chinese and Hong Kong cultures including Chinese opera, storytelling and aesthetic traditions, which Hong Kong filmmakers combined with elements from Hollywood and Japanese cinema along with new action choreography and filmmaking techniques, to create a culturally distinctive form that went on to have wide transcultural appeal. In turn, Hollywood action films have been heavily influenced by Hong Kong genre conventions, from the 1970s onwards.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: The first Hong Kong action films favoured the "wuxia" style, emphasizing mysticism and swordplay, but this trend was politically suppressed in the 1930s and replaced by kung fu films that depicted more down-to-earth unarmed martial arts, often featuring folk heroes such as Wong Fei Hung. Post-war cultural upheavals led to a second wave of wuxia films with highly acrobatic violence, followed by the emergence of the grittier kung fu films for which the Shaw Brothers studio became best known.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: Hong Kong action cinema peaked from the 1970s to the 1990s. The 1970s saw a resurgence in kung fu films during the rise and sudden death of Bruce Lee. He was succeeded in the 1980s by Jackie Chan—who popularized the use of comedy, dangerous stunts, and modern urban settings in action films—and Jet Li, whose authentic "wushu" skills appealed to both eastern and western audiences. The innovative work of directors and producers like Tsui Hark and John Woo introduced further variety, with genres such as heroic bloodshed and gun fu films, and themes such as triads and the supernatural. However, an exodus by many leading figures to Hollywood in the 1990s coincided with a downturn in the industry.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: The signature contribution to action cinema from the Chinese-speaking world is the martial arts film, the most famous of which were developed in Hong Kong. The genre emerged first in Chinese popular literature. The early 20th century saw an explosion of what were called "wuxia" novels (often translated as "martial chivalry"), generally published in serialized form in newspapers. These were tales of heroic, sword-wielding warriors, often featuring mystical or fantasy elements. This genre was quickly seized on by early Chinese films, particularly in the movie capital of the time, Shanghai. Starting in the 1920s, "wuxia" titles, often adapted from novels (for example, 1928's "The Burning of the Red Lotus Monastery" and its eighteen sequels) were hugely popular and the genre dominated Chinese film for several years.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: The boom came to an end in the 1930s, caused by official opposition from cultural and political elites, especially the Kuomintang government, who saw it as promoting superstition and violent anarchy. "Wuxia" filmmaking was picked up in Hong Kong, at the time a British colony with a highly liberal economy and culture and a developing film industry. The first martial arts film in Cantonese, the dominant Chinese spoken language of Hong Kong, was "The Adorned Pavilion" (1938).


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: By the late 1940s, upheavals in mainland China—the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese Civil War, and the victory of the Chinese Communist Party—had shifted the centre of Chinese language filmmaking to Hong Kong. The industry continued the wuxia tradition in Cantonese B movies and serials, although the more prestigious Mandarin-language cinema generally ignored the genre. Animation and special effects drawn directly on the film by hand were used to simulate the flying abilities and other preternatural powers of characters; later titles in the cycle included "The Six-Fingered Lord of the Lute" (1965) and "Sacred Fire, Heroic Wind" (1966).


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: A counter-tradition to the wuxia films emerged in the kung fu movies that were also produced at this time. These movies emphasized more "authentic", down-to-earth and unarmed combat over the swordplay and mysticism of "wuxia". The most famous exemplar was real-life martial artist Kwan Tak Hing; he became an avuncular hero figure to at least a couple of generations of Hong Kongers by playing historical folk hero Wong Fei Hung in a series of roughly one hundred movies, from "The True Story of Wong Fei Hung" (1949) through to "Wong Fei Hung Bravely Crushing the Fire Formation" (1970). A number of enduring elements were introduced or solidified by these films: the still-popular character of "Master Wong"; the influence of Chinese opera with its stylized martial arts and acrobatics; and the concept of martial arts heroes as exponents of Confucian ethics.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: In the second half of the 1960s, the era's biggest studio, Shaw Brothers, inaugurated a new generation of wuxia films, starting with Xu Zenghong's "Temple of the Red Lotus" (1965), a remake of the 1928 classic. These Mandarin productions were more lavish and in colour; their style was less fantastical and more intense, with stronger and more acrobatic violence. They were influenced by imported samurai movies from Japan and by the wave of "New School" wuxia novels by authors like Jin Yong and Liang Yusheng that started in the 1950s.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: The New School "wuxia" wave marked the move of male-oriented action films to the centre of Hong Kong cinema, which had long been dominated by female stars and genres aimed at female audiences, such as romances and musicals. Even so, during the 1960s female action stars like Cheng Pei-pei and Connie Chan Po-chu were prominent alongside male stars, such as former swimming champion Jimmy Wang Yu, and they continued an old tradition of female warriors in "wuxia" storyte directors of the period were Chang Cheh with "One-Armed Swordsman" (1967) and "Golden Swallow" (1968) and King Hu with "Come Drink with Me" (1966). Hu soon left Shaw Brothers to pursue his own vision of "wuxia" with independent productions in Taiwan, such as the enormously successful "Dragon Inn" (1967, a.k.a. "Dragon Gate Inn") and "A Touch of Zen" which was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival. Chang stayed on and remained the Shaws' prolific star director into the early 1980s.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: The early 1970s saw "wuxia" giving way to a new, grittier and more graphic (and Mandarin-speaking) iteration of the kung fu movie, which came to dominate through the decade and into the early 1980s. Seriously trained martial artists such as Ti Lung and Gordon Liu became some of the top stars as increasing proportions of running times were devoted to combat set-pieces. "Chinese Boxer" (1970), starring and directed by Jimmy Wang Yu, is widely credited with launching the kung fu boom. But remaining at the vanguard, at least initially, were Shaw Brothers and director Chang Cheh. Chang's "Vengeance" (1970) was another of the first trendsetters and his dozens of contributions included "The Boxer from Shantung" (1972), "Heroes Two" (1974), "Five Deadly Venoms" (1978) and "Crippled Avengers" (1979). Kung fu cinema was particularly influenced by Chang's concern with his vision of masculine values and male friendship; the female warrior figures who had been prominent in late 1960s wuxia work were sidelined, with prominent exceptions such as the popular Angela Mao.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: Chang's only competitor as the genre's most influential filmmaker was his long-time action choreographer, Lau Kar Leung (a.k.a. Liu Chia Liang in Mandarin). Lau began directing his own movies for the Shaw brothers in 1975 with "The Spiritual Boxer", a progenitor of the kung fu comedy. In subsequent titles like "Executioners from Shaolin" (1977), "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin" (1978), and "Legendary Weapons of China" (1982), Lau emphasized the traditions and philosophy of the martial arts and strove to give onscreen fighting greater authenticity and ever greater speed and intricacy.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: The kung fu boom was partly fueled by enormous international popularity, and not just in East Asia. In the West, kung fu imports, dubbed and often recut and retitled, shown as "B" films in urban theaters and on television, made Hong Kong film widely noticed, although not widely respected, for the first time. African-Americans particularly embraced the genre (as exemplified by the popular hip-hop group, the Wu-Tang Clan) perhaps as an almost unprecedented source of adventure stories with non-white heroes, who furthermore often displayed a strong streak of racial and/or nationalistic pride.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: The popularity of these movies in North America would continue into the 1980s when ninja movies were introduced. In popular culture, the films of this era were colloquially known as "Kung Fu Theater" or "Black Belt Theater", names that many independent stations used for their weekly airing slot.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: "The Brothers" (1979), a Shaw Brothers production, was a significant departure from the kung fu films the studio was known for. "The Brothers" was an action crime-drama, about two brothers on opposing sides of the law. It was a remake of the Indian crime drama "Deewaar" (1975), written by Salim–Javed. In turn, "The Brothers" laid the foundations for the heroic bloodshed genre of 1980s Hong Kong cinema, inspiring John Woo's breakthrough film "A Better Tomorrow" (1986).


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: No single figure was more responsible for this international profile than Bruce Lee, an American-born, Hong Kong-raised martial artist and actor. Lee completed just four movies before his death at the age of 32: "The Big Boss" (1971), "Fist of Fury" and "Way of the Dragon" (both 1972), and "Enter the Dragon" (1973). Eastern film historian Patrick Macias ascribes his success to "(bringing) the warrior spirit of old into the present day... developing his own fighting style... and possessing superhuman charisma". His first three movies broke local box office records and were successful in much of the world. "Fist of Fury" and "Way of the Dragon" went on to gross an estimated and worldwide, respectively.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: The English-language "Enter the Dragon", the first-ever US-Hong Kong co-production, grossed an estimated worldwide, making it the most internationally successful film from the region. Furthermore, his decision at the outset to work for young, upstart studio Golden Harvest, rather than accept the Shaws' notoriously tightfisted standard contract, was a factor in Golden Harvest's meteoric rise and Shaw's eventual decline.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: The only Chinese performer who has ever rivalled Bruce Lee's global fame is Jackie Chan. Like many kung fu performers of the day, Chan came out of training in Peking opera and started in film as a stuntman, notably in some of Lee's vehicles. He was groomed for a while by "The Big Boss" and "Fist of Fury" director Lo Wei as another Lee clone, in several movies including "New Fist of Fury" (1976), with little success. But in 1978, Chan teamed up with action choreographer Yuen Woo Ping on Yuen's directorial debut, "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow". The resulting blend of physical comedy and kung fu action provided Chan with his first hit and the rudiments of what would become his signature style. Chan's follow-up movie with Yuen, "Drunken Master" (also 1978), and his directorial debut, "The Fearless Hyena" (1979), were also giant hits and cemented his popularity.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: Although these films were not the first kung fu comedies, they launched a vogue that helped reinvigorate the waning kung fu genre. Especially notable in this regard were two of Chan's childhood Peking Opera School classmates, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, who also made careers of this specialty, sometimes co-starring with Chan. Hung, noted for the seeming paradox of his overweight physique and physical agility, also made a name for himself as a director and action choreographer from early on, with titles like "Enter the Fat Dragon" (1978).


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: Chan's clowning may have helped extend the life of the kung fu wave for several years. Nevertheless, he became a star towards the end of the boom, and would soon help move the colony towards a new type of action. In the 1980s, he and many colleagues would forge a slicker, more spectacular Hong Kong pop cinema that would successfully compete with the post-"Star Wars" summer blockbusters from America.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: In the early 1980s, Jackie Chan began experimenting with elaborate stunt action sequences in films such as "The Young Master" (1980) and especially "Dragon Lord" (1982), which featured a pyramid fight scene that holds the record for the most takes required for a single scene, with 2900 takes, and the final fight scene in which he performs various stunts, including one where he does a back flip off a loft and falls to the lower ground. By 1983, Chan branched out into action films which, though they still used martial arts, were less limited in scope, setting and plot, with an emphasis on elaborate yet dangerous stunt sequences. His first film in this vein, "Project A" (1983), saw the official formation of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team and added elaborate, dangerous stunts to the fights and typical slapstick humor (at one point, Chan falls from the top of a clock tower through a series of fabric canopies). The new formula helped "Project A" gross over in Hong Kong, and significantly more in other Asian countries such as Japan, where it grossed and became one of the highest-grossing films of 1984. "Winners and Sinners" (1983) also featured an elaborate action sequence that involves Chan skating along a busy high road, including a risky stunt where he slides under a truck.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: Chan continued to take the approach – and the budgets – to new heights in hits like "Police Story" (1985), which is considered one of the greatest action films of all time. Here was Chan dangling from a speeding bus, destroying large parts of a hillside shantytown, fighting in a shopping mall while breaking many glass panes, and sliding down a pole covered with exploding light bulbs. The latter is considered one of the greatest stunts in the history of action cinema. The 1988 sequel called for explosions on a scale similar to many Hollywood movies and seriously injured leading lady Maggie Cheung – an occupational risk Chan had already grown used to. Thus Jackie Chan created the template for the contemporary urban action-comedy of the 1980s, combining cops, kung fu and all the body-breaking potential of the modern city with its glass, metal and speeding vehicles.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: Chan's move towards larger-scale action films was paralleled by work coming out of Cinema City, the production company established in 1980 by comedians Raymond Wong, Karl Maka and Dean Shek. With movies like the spy spoof "Aces Go Places" (1982) and its sequels, Cinema City helped make modern special effects, James Bond-type gadgets and big vehicular stunts part of the industry vernacular. Director/producer Tsui Hark had a hand in shaping the Cinema City style while employed there from 1981–1983 but went on to make an even bigger impact after leaving. In such movies as "Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain" (1983) and "A Chinese Ghost Story" (1987, directed by Ching Siu-tung), he kept pushing back the boundaries of Hong Kong special effects. He led the way in replacing the rough and ready camera style of 1970s kung fu with glossier and more sophisticated visuals and ever more furious editing.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: As a producer, Tsui Hark facilitated the creation of John Woo's epoch-making heroic bloodshed movie "A Better Tomorrow" (1986). Woo's saga of cops and the triads (Chinese gangsters) combined fancifully choreographed (and extremely violent) gunplay (called "gun fu") with heightened emotional melodrama, sometimes resembling a modern-dress version of 1970s kung fu films by Woo's mentor Chang Cheh. The formula broke another all-time box office record. It also jump-started the faltering career of co-star Chow Yun-fat, who overnight became one of the colony's most popular idols and Woo's favorite leading man.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: For the remainder of the 1980s and into the early 1990s, a deluge of films by Woo and others explored similar territory, often with a similar visual style and thematic bent. They were usually marked by an emphasis on the fraternal bonds of duty and affection among the criminal protagonists. The most notable other "auteur" of these themes was Ringo Lam, who offered a less romanticized take in such films as "City on Fire", "Prison on Fire" (both 1987), and "Full Contact" (1992), all starring Chow Yun-Fat. The genre and its creators were accused in some quarters of cravenly glorifying real-life triads, whose involvement in the film business was notorious.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: As the triad films petered out in the early 1990s, period martial arts returned as the favored action genre. But this was a new martial arts cinema that took full advantage of technical strides as well the higher budgets that came with Hong Kong's dominance of the region's screens. These lavish productions were often adapted from the more fantastical wuxia novels, which featured flying warriors in mid-air combat. Performers were trussed up on ultrathin wires to allow them to conduct gravity-defying action sequences, a technique known by Western fans, sometimes disparagingly, as wire fu.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: As so often, Tsui Hark led the way. He produced "Swordsman" (1990), which reestablished the wuxia novels of Jin Yong as favorite big-screen sources (television adaptations had long been ubiquitous). He directed "Once Upon a Time in China" (1991), which resurrected oft-filmed folk hero Wong Fei Hung. Both films were followed by sequels and a raft of imitations, often starring Mainland wushu champion Jet Li. He went on to receive a special award for a mainland China person at the 1995 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival. The other signature star of the subgenre was Taiwanese-born actress Brigitte Lin. She made an unlikely specialty of androgynous woman-warrior types, such as the villainous, sex-changing eunuch in "The Swordsman 2" (1992), epitomizing martial arts fantasy's often-noted fascination with gender instability.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: Hong Kong's international impact initially came in the form of martial arts films, especially 1970s kung fu films and most notably those of Bruce Lee. His earliest attempts at introducing his brand of Hong Kong martial arts cinema to the West came in the form of American television shows, such as "The Green Hornet" (1966 debut) and "Kung Fu" (1972 debut). The "kung fu craze" began in 1973, with the unprecedented success of Hong Kong martial arts films at the North American box office. "King Boxer" ("Five Fingers of Death") starring Indonesian-born actor Lo Lieh was the first Hong Kong film to top the US box office, paving the way for Bruce Lee's breakthrough with "The Big Boss" ("Fists of Fury") topping the US box office. In May 1973, Hong Kong action cinema made US box office history, with three foreign films holding the top three spots for the first time: "Fists of Fury", "Lady Whirlwind" ("Deep Thrust"), and "Five Fingers of Death". Lee continued his success with "Fist of Fury" ("The Chinese Connection"), which also topped the US box office the following month.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: Kung fu film releases in the United States initially targeted Asian American audiences, before becoming a breakout success among larger African-American and Hispanic audiences, and then among white working-class Americans. Kung fu films also became a global success, across Asia, Europe and the third world. This eventually paved the way for Lee's posthumous Hollywood film breakthrough with the Hong Kong and US co-production "Enter the Dragon" (1973). Hong Kong martial arts cinema subsequently inspired a wave of Western martial arts films and television shows throughout the 1970s–1990s (launching the careers of Western martial arts stars such as Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal and Chuck Norris), as well as the more general integration of Asian martial arts into Western action films and television shows by the 1990s.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: Sascha Matuszak of "Vice" said "Enter the Dragon" "is referenced in all manner of media, the plot line and characters continue to influence storytellers today, and the impact was particularly felt in the revolutionizing way the film portrayed African-Americans, Asians and traditional martial arts." Kuan-Hsing Chen and Beng Huat Chua cited fight scenes in Hong Kong films such as "Enter the Dragon" as being influential for the way they pitched "an elemental story of good against evil in such a spectacle-saturated way".


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: In Japan, the manga and anime franchises "Fist of the North Star" (1983–1988) and "Dragon Ball" (1984–1995) were influenced by Hong Kong martial arts films, particularly 1970s kung fu films such as Bruce Lee's "Enter the Dragon" and Jackie Chan's "Drunken Master" (1978). In turn, "Fist of the North Star" and especially "Dragon Ball" are credited with setting the trends for popular shōnen manga and anime from the 1980s onwards.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: Similarly in India, Hong Kong martial arts films had an influence on Bollywood masala films. After the success of Bruce Lee films (such as "Enter the Dragon") in India, "Deewaar" (1975) and later Bollywood films incorporated fight scenes inspired by 1970s Hong Kong martial arts films up until the 1990s. Bollywood action scenes emulated Hong Kong rather than Hollywood, emphasising acrobatics and stunts and combining kung fu (as perceived by Indians) with Indian martial arts such as pehlwani.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: Hong Kong martial arts films such as "Enter the Dragon" were the foundation for fighting games. The "Street Fighter" video game franchise (1987 debut) was inspired by "Enter the Dragon", with the gameplay centered around an international fighting tournament, and each character having a unique combination of ethnicity, nationality and fighting style. "Street Fighter" went on to set the template for all fighting games that followed. The early beat 'em up game "Kung-Fu Master" (1984) was also based on Bruce Lee's "Game of Death" (1972) and Jackie Chan's "Wheels on Meals" (1984).


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: The success of Bruce Lee's films helped popularize the concept of mixed martial arts (MMA) in the West via his Jeet Kune Do system. In 2004, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) founder Dana White called Lee the "father of mixed martial arts". Parkour was also influenced by the acrobatic antics of Jackie Chan in his Hong Kong action films, as well as the philosophy of Bruce Lee.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: Hong Kong action cinema's innovative developments in the 1980s had not only established Hong Kong as the dominant cinema in East Asia, but reawakened Western interest. By the 1990s, there was a second "Asian invasion" from Hong Kong action cinema, heavily influencing and revitalizing Hollywood action cinema. There was a significant crossover of Hong Kong stars, filmmakers and action choreographers from Hong Kong to Hollywood, in addition to the wide adoption of Hong Kong action filmmaking techniques in Hollywood. The wide adoption of Hong Kong action film conventions was referred to as the "Hong Kongification" of Hollywood.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: Building on the reduced but enduring kung fu movie subculture, Jackie Chan and films like Tsui Hark's "Peking Opera Blues" (1986) were already building a cult following when Woo's "The Killer" (1989) had a limited but successful release in the U.S. and opened the floodgates. In the 1990s, Westerners with an eye on "alternative" culture became common sights in Chinatown video shops and theaters, and gradually the films became more available in the mainstream video market and even occasionally in mainstream theaters. Western critics and film scholars also began to take Hong Kong action cinema seriously and made many key figures and films part of their canon of world cinema.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: From here, Hong Kong came to define a new vocabulary for worldwide action cinema, with the aid of a new generation of North American filmmakers. Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" (1992) drew inspiration from "City on Fire" and his two-part "Kill Bill" (2003–04) was in large part a martial arts homage, borrowing Yuen Woo-Ping as fight choreographer and actor. Robert Rodriguez's "Desperado" (1995) and its 2003 sequel "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" aped Woo's visual mannerisms. The Wachowski sisters' "The Matrix" trilogy (1999–2003) of science-fiction-action blockbusters borrowed from Woo and wire fu movies, and also employed Yuen behind the scenes. A number of Hollywood action stars also adopted the Hong Kong practice of training in martial arts and performing their own stunts, such as Keanu Reeves, Uma Thurman and Jason Statham. Martin Scorsese's crime film "The Departed" (2006) was a remake of the "Infernal Affairs" trilogy (2002–2003) by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: The heroic bloodshed genre had a considerable impact on world cinema, especially Hollywood. The action, style, tropes and mannerisms established in 1980s Hong Kong heroic bloodshed films were later widely adopted by Hollywood in the 1990s, reshaping the way Hollywood action films were made. Lam's "City on Fire" (1987) inspired Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" (1992); Tarantino was an admirer of the heroic bloodshed genre. "The Killer" also heavily influenced Luc Besson's "" (1994). Eventually, John Woo himself introduced his brand of heroic bloodshed to Hollywood in the 1990s. By the late 1990s, Woo's style of cinema had become firmly established in Hollywood.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: Due to the new-found international awareness of Hong Kong films during the 1980s and early 1990s and a downturn in the industry as the 1990s progressed, many of the leading lights of Hong Kong cinema left for Hollywood, which offered budgets and pay which could not be equalled by Hong Kong production companies.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: John Woo left for Hollywood after his 1992 film "Hard Boiled". His 1997 film "Face/Off" was the breakthrough that established his unique style in Hollywood. This effort was immensely popular with both critics and public alike (it grossed over US$240 million worldwide). "" (2000) grossed over US$560 million worldwide. Since these two films, Woo has struggled to revisit his successes of the 1980s and early 1990s.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: After over fifteen years of success in Hong Kong cinema and a couple of attempts to crack the U.S. market, Jackie Chan's 1995 film "Rumble in the Bronx" finally brought him recognition in the U.S. Since then, he has made several highly successful films for U.S. studios including "Rush Hour" (1998), "Shanghai Noon" (2000), and their respective sequels "Rush Hour 2" (2001), "Shanghai Knights" (2003), and "Rush Hour 3" (2007). Between his films for U.S. studios, he still makes films for Hong Kong studios, sometimes in English ("Mr. Nice Guy" and "Who Am I?"), often set in western countries like Australia or the Netherlands, and sometimes in Cantonese (2004's "New Police Story" and 2006's "Rob-B-Hood"). Because of his enormous U.S. popularity, these films are usually released in the U.S., a rarity for Hong Kong films, and generally attract respectable audience numbers.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: Jet Li has reduced his Hong Kong output since 1998's "Hitman" concentrating on Hollywood instead. After a minor role in "Lethal Weapon 4" (1998), he has gone on to star in several Hollywood films which have performed respectably and made a name for him with American audiences. So far, he has returned to Chinese cinema for only two films: "Hero" (2002) and "Fearless" (2006). He claimed "Fearless" would be his last traditional kung fu film. Chow Yun-fat has also moved to Hollywood. After his 1995 film "Peace Hotel", he has made a handful of films in Hollywood which have not seen as much success as Jet Li's: these include "The Replacement Killers" (1998), "The Corruptor" (1999), "Anna and the King" (1999) and "Bulletproof Monk" (2003). He returned to China for 2000's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and 2006's "Curse of the Golden Flower".


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: The Hong Kong film industry has been in a severe slump since the mid-1990s. The number of local films produced, and their box office takings, are dramatically reduced; American imports now dominate in a way they had not for decades, or perhaps ever. This crisis and increased contact with Western cinema have probably been the biggest recent influences on Hong Kong action cinema.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: Luring local and regional youth audiences away from Hollywood is a constant concern. Action movies are now generally headlined by babyfaced Cantonese pop music idols, such as Ekin Cheng and Nicholas Tse, enhanced with wires and digital effects – a trend also driven by the waning of a previous generation of martial arts-trained stars. The late 1990s witnessed a fad for Cantopop stars in high-tech, more American-styled action pictures such as "Downtown Torpedoes" (1997), "Gen-X Cops" and "Purple Storm" (both 1999).


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: Andrew Lau's wuxia comic-book adaptation "The Storm Riders" (1998) earned a record-breaking gross and ushered in an era of computer-generated imagery, previously little used in Hong Kong film. Tsui Hark's lavish CGI-enhanced efforts "Time and Tide" (2000) and "The Legend of Zu" (2001), however, were surprisingly unsuccessful. Comedy megastar and director Stephen Chow used digital effects to push his typical affectionate parody of martial arts conventions to cartoonish levels in "Shaolin Soccer" (2001) and "Kung Fu Hustle" (2004), each of which also set a new box office record.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: Striking a different note were a series of crime films more restrained and actor-driven than the earlier, John Woo-inspired examples. The Milkyway Image production company was at the vanguard with examples like Patrick Yau's "Expect the Unexpected" (1998), Johnnie To's "The Mission" (1999) and "Running Out of Time" (1999). Andrew Lau and Alan Mak's blockbuster "Infernal Affairs" trilogy (2002–2003) has set off a mini-trend of brooding police thrillers.


title: Hong Kong action cinema

text: Collaboration with other industries, particularly that of Mainland China, is another increasingly common survival and recovery strategy. Hong Kong stars and other personnel have been involved in international wuxia successes like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000), "Hero" (2002) and "House of Flying Daggers" (2004).


title: Multilevel model

text: Multilevel models (also known as hierarchical linear models, linear mixed-effect model, mixed models, nested data models, random coefficient, random-effects models, random parameter models, or split-plot designs) are statistical models of parameters that vary at more than one level. An example could be a model of student performance that contains measures for individual students as well as measures for classrooms within which the students are grouped. These models can be seen as generalizations of linear models (in particular, linear regression), although they can also extend to non-linear models. These models became much more popular after sufficient computing power and software became available.


title: Multilevel model

text: Multilevel models are particularly appropriate for research designs where data for participants are organized at more than one level (i.e., nested data). The units of analysis are usually individuals (at a lower level) who are nested within contextual/aggregate units (at a higher level). While the lowest level of data in multilevel models is usually an individual, repeated measurements of individuals may also be examined. As such, multilevel models provide an alternative type of analysis for univariate or multivariate analysis of repeated measures. Individual differences in growth curves may be examined. Furthermore, multilevel models can be used as an alternative to ANCOVA, where scores on the dependent variable are adjusted for covariates (e.g. individual differences) before testing treatment differences. Multilevel models are able to analyze these experiments without the assumptions of homogeneity-of-regression slopes that is required by ANCOVA.


title: Multilevel model

text: Multilevel models can be used on data with many levels, although 2-level models are the most common and the rest of this article deals only with these. The dependent variable must be examined at the lowest level of analysis.


title: Multilevel model

text: At Level 1, both the intercepts and slopes in the groups can be either fixed (meaning that all groups have the same values, although in the real world this would be a rare occurrence), non-randomly varying (meaning that the intercepts and/or slopes are predictable from an independent variable at Level 2), or randomly varying (meaning that the intercepts and/or slopes are different in the different groups, and that each have their own overall mean and variance).


title: Multilevel model

text: When there are multiple level 1 independent variables, the model can be expanded by substituting vectors and matrices in the equation.


title: Multilevel model

text: When the relationship between the response formula_9 and predictor formula_10 can not be described by the linear relationship, then one can find some non linear functional relationship between the response and predictor, and extend the model to nonlinear mixed-effects model. For example, when the response formula_2 is the cumulative infection trajectory of the formula_12-th country, and formula_10 represents the formula_14-th time points, then the ordered pair formula_15 for each country may show a shape similar to logistic function.


title: Multilevel model

text: The dependent variables are the intercepts and the slopes for the independent variables at Level 1 in the groups of Level 2.


title: Multilevel model

text: Before conducting a multilevel model analysis, a researcher must decide on several aspects, including which predictors are to be included in the analysis, if any. Second, the researcher must decide whether parameter values (i.e., the elements that will be estimated) will be fixed or random. Fixed parameters are composed of a constant over all the groups, whereas a random parameter has a different value for each of the groups. Additionally, the researcher must decide whether to employ a maximum likelihood estimation or a restricted maximum likelihood estimation type.


title: Multilevel model

text: A random intercepts model is a model in which intercepts are allowed to vary, and therefore, the scores on the dependent variable for each individual observation are predicted by the intercept that varies across groups. This model assumes that slopes are fixed (the same across different contexts). In addition, this model provides information about intraclass correlations, which are helpful in determining whether multilevel models are required in the first place.


title: Multilevel model

text: A random slopes model is a model in which slopes are allowed to vary according to a correlation matrix, and therefore, the slopes are different across grouping variable such as time or individuals. This model assumes that intercepts are fixed (the same across different contexts).


title: Multilevel model

text: A model that includes both random intercepts and random slopes is likely the most realistic type of model, although it is also the most complex. In this model, both intercepts and slopes are allowed to vary across groups, meaning that they are different in different contexts.


title: Multilevel model

text: In order to conduct a multilevel model analysis, one would start with fixed coefficients (slopes and intercepts). One aspect would be allowed to vary at a time (that is, would be changed), and compared with the previous model in order to assess better model fit. There are three different questions that a researcher would ask in assessing a model. First, is it a good model? Second, is a more complex model better? Third, what contribution do individual predictors make to the model?


title: Multilevel model

text: In order to assess models, different model fit statistics would be examined. One such statistic is the chi-square likelihood-ratio test, which assesses the difference between models. The likelihood-ratio test can be employed for model building in general, for examining what happens when effects in a model are allowed to vary, and when testing a dummy-coded categorical variable as a single effect. However, the test can only be used when models are nested (meaning that a more complex model includes all of the effects of a simpler model). When testing non-nested models, comparisons between models can be made using the Akaike information criterion (AIC) or the Bayesian information criterion (BIC), among others. See further Model selection.


title: Multilevel model

text: Multilevel models have the same assumptions as other major general linear models (e.g., ANOVA, regression), but some of the assumptions are modified for the hierarchical nature of the design (i.e., nested data).


title: Multilevel model

text: The assumption of linearity states that there is a rectilinear (straight-line, as opposed to non-linear or U-shaped) relationship between variables. However, the model can be extended to nonlinear relationships. Particularly, when the mean part of the level 1 regression equation is replaced with a non-linear parametric function, then such a model framework is widely called the nonlinear mixed-effects model.


title: Multilevel model

text: The assumption of normality states that the error terms at every level of the model are normally distributed.. However, most statistical software allows one to specify different distributions for the variance terms, such as a Poisson, binomial, logistic. The multilevel modelling approach can be used for all forms of Generalized Linear models.


title: Multilevel model

text: The assumption of homoscedasticity, also known as homogeneity of variance, assumes equality of population variances. However, different variance-correlation matrix can be specified to account for this, and the heterogeneity of variance can itself be modeled.


title: Multilevel model

text: Independence is an assumption of general linear models, which states that cases are random samples from the population and that scores on the dependent variable are independent of each other. One of the main purposes of multilevel models is to deal with cases where the assumption of independence is violated; multilevel models do, however, assume that 1) the level 1 and level 2 residuals are uncorrelated and 2) The errors (as measured by the residuals) at the highest level are uncorrelated.


title: Multilevel model

text: The regressors must not correlate with the random effects, formula_24. This assumption is testable but often ignored, rendering the estimator inconsistent. If this assumption is violated, the random-effect must be modeled explicitly in the fixed part of the model, either by using dummy variables or including cluster means of all formula_3 regressors. This assumption is probably the most important assumption the estimator makes, but one that is misunderstood by most applied researchers using these types of models.


title: Multilevel model

text: The type of statistical tests that are employed in multilevel models depend on whether one is examining fixed effects or variance components. When examining fixed effects, the tests are compared with the standard error of the fixed effect, which results in a Z-test. A t-test can also be computed. When computing a t-test, it is important to keep in mind the degrees of freedom, which will depend on the level of the predictor (e.g., level 1 predictor or level 2 predictor). For a level 1 predictor, the degrees of freedom are based on the number of level 1 predictors, the number of groups and the number of individual observations. For a level 2 predictor, the degrees of freedom are based on the number of level 2 predictors and the number of groups.


title: Multilevel model

text: Statistical power for multilevel models differs depending on whether it is level 1 or level 2 effects that are being examined. Power for level 1 effects is dependent upon the number of individual observations, whereas the power for level 2 effects is dependent upon the number of groups. To conduct research with sufficient power, large sample sizes are required in multilevel models. However, the number of individual observations in groups is not as important as the number of groups in a study. In order to detect cross-level interactions, given that the group sizes are not too small, recommendations have been made that at least 20 groups are needed, although many fewer can be used if one is only interested in inference on the fixed effects and the random effects are control, or "nuisance", variables. The issue of statistical power in multilevel models is complicated by the fact that power varies as a function of effect size and intraclass correlations, it differs for fixed effects versus random effects, and it changes depending on the number of groups and the number of individual observations per group.


title: Multilevel model

text: The concept of level is the keystone of this approach. In an educational research example, the levels for a 2-level model might be:


title: Multilevel model

text: However, if one were studying multiple schools and multiple school districts, a 4-level model could be:


title: Multilevel model

text: The researcher must establish for each variable the level at which it was measured. In this example "test score" might be measured at pupil level, "teacher experience" at class level, "school funding" at school level, and "urban" at district level.


title: Multilevel model

text: As a simple example, consider a basic linear regression model that predicts income as a function of age, class, gender and race. It might then be observed that income levels also vary depending on the city and state of residence. A simple way to incorporate this into the regression model would be to add an additional independent categorical variable to account for the location (i.e. a set of additional binary predictors and associated regression coefficients, one per location). This would have the effect of shifting the mean income up or down—but it would still assume, for example, that the effect of race and gender on income is the same everywhere. In reality, this is unlikely to be the case—different local laws, different retirement policies, differences in level of racial prejudice, etc. are likely to cause all of the predictors to have different sorts of effects in different locales.


title: Multilevel model

text: In other words, a simple linear regression model might, for example, predict that a given randomly sampled person in Seattle would have an average yearly income $10,000 higher than a similar person in Mobile, Alabama. However, it would also predict, for example, that a white person might have an average income $7,000 above a black person, and a 65-year-old might have an income $3,000 below a 45-year-old, in both cases regardless of location. A multilevel model, however, would allow for different regression coefficients for each predictor in each location. Essentially, it would assume that people in a given location have correlated incomes generated by a single set of regression coefficients, whereas people in another location have incomes generated by a different set of coefficients. Meanwhile, the coefficients themselves are assumed to be correlated and generated from a single set of hyperparameters. Additional levels are possible: For example, people might be grouped by cities, and the city-level regression coefficients grouped by state, and the state-level coefficients generated from a single hyper-hyperparameter.


title: Multilevel model

text: Multilevel models are a subclass of hierarchical Bayesian models, which are general models with multiple levels of random variables and arbitrary relationships among the different variables. Multilevel analysis has been extended to include multilevel structural equation modeling, multilevel latent class modeling, and other more general models.


title: Multilevel model

text: Multilevel models have been used in education research or geographical research, to estimate separately the variance between pupils within the same school, and the variance between schools. In psychological applications, the multiple levels are items in an instrument, individuals, and families. In sociological applications, multilevel models are used to examine individuals embedded within regions or countries. In organizational psychology research, data from individuals must often be nested within teams or other functional units. They are often used in ecological research as well under the more general term mixed models.


title: Multilevel model

text: Different covariables may be relevant on different levels. They can be used for longitudinal studies, as with growth studies, to separate changes within one individual and differences between individuals.


title: Multilevel model

text: Cross-level interactions may also be of substantive interest; for example, when a slope is allowed to vary randomly, a level-2 predictor may be included in the slope formula for the level-1 covariate. For example, one may estimate the interaction of race and neighborhood to obtain an estimate of the interaction between an individual's characteristics and the social context.


title: Multilevel model

text: There are several alternative ways of analyzing hierarchical data, although most of them have some problems. First, traditional statistical techniques can be used. One could disaggregate higher-order variables to the individual level, and thus conduct an analysis on this individual level (for example, assign class variables to the individual level). The problem with this approach is that it would violate the assumption of independence, and thus could bias our results. This is known as atomistic fallacy. Another way to analyze the data using traditional statistical approaches is to aggregate individual level variables to higher-order variables and then to conduct an analysis on this higher level. The problem with this approach is that it discards all within-group information (because it takes the average of the individual level variables). As much as 80–90% of the variance could be wasted, and the relationship between aggregated variables is inflated, and thus distorted. This is known as ecological fallacy, and statistically, this type of analysis results in decreased power in addition to the loss of information.


title: Multilevel model

text: Another way to analyze hierarchical data would be through a random-coefficients model. This model assumes that each group has a different regression model—with its own intercept and slope. Because groups are sampled, the model assumes that the intercepts and slopes are also randomly sampled from a population of group intercepts and slopes. This allows for an analysis in which one can assume that slopes are fixed but intercepts are allowed to vary. However this presents a problem, as individual components are independent but group components are independent between groups, but dependent within groups. This also allows for an analysis in which the slopes are random; however, the correlations of the error terms (disturbances) are dependent on the values of the individual-level variables. Thus, the problem with using a random-coefficients model in order to analyze hierarchical data is that it is still not possible to incorporate higher order variables.


title: Multilevel model

text: Multilevel models have two error terms, which are also known as disturbances. The individual components are all independent, but there are also group components, which are independent between groups but correlated within groups. However, variance components can differ, as some groups are more homogeneous than others.


title: Multilevel model

text: Multilevel modeling is frequently used in diverse applications and it can be formulated by the Bayesian framework. Particularly, Bayesian nonlinear mixed-effects models have recently received significant attention. A basic version of the Bayesian nonlinear mixed-effects models is represented as the following three-stage:


title: Multilevel model

text: Here, formula_29 denotes the continuous response of the formula_12-th subject at the time point formula_31, and formula_32 is the formula_33-th covariate of the formula_12-th subject. Parameters involved in the model are written in Greek letters. formula_35 is a known function parameterized by the formula_36-dimensional vector formula_37. Typically, formula_38 is a `nonlinear' function and describes the temporal trajectory of individuals. In the model, formula_39 and formula_40 describe within-individual variability and between-individual variability, respectively. If Stage 3: Prior is not considered, then the model reduces to a frequentist nonlinear mixed-effect model.


title: Multilevel model

text: A central task in the application of the Bayesian nonlinear mixed-effect models is to evaluate the posterior density:


title: Multilevel model

text: The panel on the right displays Bayesian research cycle using Bayesian nonlinear mixed-effects model. A research cycle using the Bayesian nonlinear mixed-effects model comprises two steps: (a) standard research cycle and (b) Bayesian-specific workflow. Standard research cycle involves literature review, defining a problem and specifying the research question and hypothesis. Bayesian-specific workflow comprises three sub-steps: (b)–(i) formalizing prior distributions based on background knowledge and prior elicitation; (b)–(ii) determining the likelihood function based on a nonlinear function formula_44; and (b)–(iii) making a posterior inference. The resulting posterior inference can be used to start a new research cycle.


title: Quentin Bryce

text: Dame Quentin Alice Louise Bryce, (née Strachan; born 23 December 1942) is an Australian academic who served as the 25th governor-general of Australia from 2008 to 2014. She is the first woman to have held the position, and was previously the 24th Governor of Queensland from 2003 to 2008.


title: Quentin Bryce

text: Born in Brisbane, Queensland, Bryce was raised in Ilfracombe, with her family subsequently living in a number of country towns around Australia. She attended the University of Queensland, where she completed a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws, becoming one of the first women accepted to the Queensland Bar.


title: Quentin Bryce

text: In 1968, Bryce became the first woman appointed as a faculty member of the law school where she had studied, and in 1978 she joined the new National Women's Advisory Council (later National Women's Consultative Council and then Australian Council for Women). This was followed by appointment to a number of positions, including the first Director of the Queensland Women's Information Service, the Queensland Director of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner in 1988. Her services to the community saw her appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1988, and a Companion of the Order of Australia and Dame of the Order of St John of Jerusalem in 2003. In 2011, Elizabeth II invested Bryce as a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order at Government House.


title: Quentin Bryce

text: Bryce was appointed Governor of Queensland in 2003. Although concerns were raised by some over her time in the office, her five-year term was going to be extended until 2009. However, on 13 April 2008, it was announced by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd that Bryce was to become the next Governor-General of Australia. The decision was generally well-received and on 5 September 2008 Bryce was sworn in, succeeding Major General Michael Jeffery and becoming the first woman to hold the office. Bryce's tenure was not without criticism. In an unprecedented move for an incumbent governor-general, Bryce made public comments in November 2013 widely interpreted as supporting an Australian republic and same-sex marriage. She was succeeded by General Sir Peter Cosgrove as governor-general on 28 March 2014.


title: Quentin Bryce

text: Quentin Alice Louise Strachan was born in 1942 in Brisbane, the second of four daughters. Her parents, Norman Walter Strachan and Edwina Naida Wetzel, had taken up residence at Ilfracombe in 1940. Bryce—along with all of the children in her family—received home-schooling rather than attending the local State school. Her family left the area in 1949, initially relocating to Launceston, Tasmania, where they remained for approximately a year. Returning to Queensland, her family moved to Belmont. While living in Belmont she attended the Camp Hill State School, and there first met her future husband, Michael Bryce. She was a member of Girl Guides Australia as a Brownie.


title: Quentin Bryce

text: During the period that they were residing in Belmont, her father moved to Tenterfield, New South Wales. In 1956, Quentin Strachan started attending boarding school at Moreton Bay College, Wynnum, Brisbane.


title: Quentin Bryce

text: Upon graduating from high school, Quentin Strachan undertook studies at the University of Queensland, initially enrolling in a social work and arts degree, but transferring to law in her third year at the institution. She graduated from the university with a Bachelor of Arts in 1962 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1965. That year she became one of the first women to be admitted to the Queensland Bar, although she never practised professionally.


title: Quentin Bryce

text: Quentin Strachan married Michael Bryce on 12 December 1964; the couple have two daughters and three sons. Michael Bryce died on 15 January 2021, aged 82 years.


title: Quentin Bryce

text: After spending some time in London, Bryce returned to Australia and accepted a part-time tutoring position at the T. C. Beirne School of Law at the University of Queensland in 1968, thus becoming the first woman to be appointed to the faculty. In 1969 she took up a lecturing position at the law school, and she continued to teach at the university until 1983.


title: Quentin Bryce

text: In 1978 the Fraser government formed the National Women's Advisory Council and Bryce was "vaulted to prominence" with her appointment to the council, taking on the role of convener in 1982. In 1984 she became the first director of the Queensland Women's Information Service under the umbrella of the Office of the Status of Women and was appointed as the "women's representative on the National Committee on Discrimination in Employment and Occupation". In 1987 she became the Queensland director of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC).


title: Quentin Bryce

text: Over a five-year period (1988–1993) Bryce served as Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner during the time of the Hawke Labor government. Her time in the role was a busy one, with around 2,000 complaints being handled by the commission each year and the work difficult and complex. The period was also noted as being one of "galloping legal reform" for the rights of women, yet, as Sandra McLean described it, Bryce kept a firm grip on the "reins of change" during this time. Nevertheless, concerns were raised when, in 1990, Alexander Proudfoot formally complained that the women's health centres in the Australian Capital Territory were operating in breach of the Sex Discrimination Act. This culminated in 1994 when Bryce faced an HREOC hearing after being accused of discriminating against Proudfoot – and ended when the commission found in Bryce's favour and dismissed the complaint, stating that the behaviour in question "did not reflect on the way Ms Bryce discharged her duties".


title: Quentin Bryce

text: After finishing her time as the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Bryce became the founding chair and chief executive officer of the National Childcare Accreditation Council, where she remained for three years before changing direction between 1997 and 2003 when she became the principal and chief executive officer of The Women's College within the University of Sydney, New South Wales. The move was said to have "stunned her political and legal acquaintances", but Bryce saw it as bringing "together all the life skills and attributes" that she had acquired, as well as providing an opportunity to have an influence on the students' futures.


title: Quentin Bryce

text: In other roles, Bryce has been the chair of the National Breast Cancer Advisory Council and sat on the Australian Women's Cricket Board, and has been a member of organisations such as the YWCA, the Australian Children's Television Foundation and the Association for the Welfare of Children in Hospital. Bryce was also a US State Department Visitor in 1978 and a Member of the Australian Delegation to the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Switzerland from 1989 to 1991.


title: Quentin Bryce

text: In 2003, on the recommendation of the Premier of Queensland, Peter Beattie, Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, appointed Bryce as Governor of Queensland, the second woman to occupy the position. Once Bryce's nomination had been accepted by the Queen, Beattie opened it up for debate in the Legislative Assembly—an "unprecedented" move performed by the Premier as the first step in changing the manner by which the nominations are managed. Nevertheless, the outcome was never in doubt, as Beattie had a majority in the Legislative Assembly and had "cleared the vote with the National and Liberal leaders" prior to the debate.


title: Quentin Bryce

text: Bryce's time at Government House, Brisbane, was not always peaceful, but she was considered by some as a "highly respected figure" during her time as governor. Concerns raised in the media included the "substantial" exit of staff at Government House not long after Bryce became governor, as at least eight staff, including the executive office, head chef, house manager and gardener resigned or were fired during her term, and the use of Government House for private parties. In response to the latter, Beattie argued that there was nothing wrong with holding private functions at Government House, especially as Bryce had paid for the events out of her own pocket, while the Queensland Public Sector Union stated in 2008 that the staff disputes were "with the management as a whole, but there wasn't anything specific against the Governor". Staff at Queensland Government House had "not [been] enthusiastic" about Bryce as Queensland governor. A former staff member described Bryce as a "control freak". During this time, Bryce was the Patron of Girl Guides Queensland.


title: Quentin Bryce

text: In January 2008, it was announced her initial five-year term, due to end in late July, was to be extended to cover the period of Queensland's sesquicentennial celebrations in 2009. In making the announcement, Labor Premier Anna Bligh described how Bryce had been an "inspiring leader" while serving as governor, and acknowledged Bryce's willingness to spend a "great deal of time" in regional and remote areas, serving as a "Governor for all of Queensland". The extension did not eventuate, however, as she was appointed governor-general, and she was succeeded as Queensland governor on 29 July 2008 by Penelope Wensley.


title: Quentin Bryce

text: On 13 April 2008 it was announced that, on the recommendation of the Labor Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, Queen Elizabeth II had approved Bryce's appointment as the next Governor-General of Australia. The decision was generally well received: current and previous Labor state premiers supported her selection and both the then Leader of the Opposition, Brendan Nelson, and the leader of the Australian Greens, Bob Brown, spoke in favour of the decision. Patricia Edgar described Bryce's selection as an "inspired choice", while Jill Singer in the "Herald Sun" said that the decision signalled "an important about face for Australia".


title: Quentin Bryce

text: There was some opposition to the appointment, in particular from columnist Des Houghton, who argued that she would bring a "fair bit of baggage" to the role (in reference to the controversies surrounding her time as the Governor of Queensland) and that she had failed to live up to her promise to be outspoken during her time at Government House. Concerns were also raised in August 2008, when it was revealed that Bryce intended to replace Malcolm Hazell, who had been the Official Secretary for both Major General Michael Jeffery and Peter Hollingworth, with Stephen Brady. Kevin Rudd defended Bryce's decision, arguing that she had the right to appoint a new Official Secretary.


title: Quentin Bryce

text: Bryce was sworn in on 5 September 2008. An extension of her term was announced on 24 October 2012, to expire in March 2014. During this time, she served as the Patron of Girl Guides Australia.


title: Quentin Bryce

text: On the election of Bill Shorten as Leader of the Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition in October 2013, Bryce offered her resignation to Prime Minister Tony Abbott, in order to forestall any perception of bias, given that Bryce's daughter Chloe is married to Shorten. While acknowledging her magnanimity, Abbott declined to accept her resignation and asked her to serve the rest of her term. According to him Bryce provided continuity at a time of political turbulence and she should be commended for her dedication to public service.


title: Quentin Bryce

text: Greg Sheridan, in the national newspaper "The Australian", suggested that the governor-general risked "politicising and misusing the office". Sheridan was commenting on Bryce's planned trip to Africa on behalf of the prime minister to lobby for a seat for Australia in the United Nations Security Council. He further stated that Bryce's "feigned interest in Africa will be seen cynically by Africans". Sheridan added that governors-general should travel overseas "only rarely and for ceremonial purposes", and "they have no right to engage in foreign policy debate, at home or abroad".


title: Quentin Bryce

text: Similarly to her time as governor in Queensland, Government House in Canberra witnessed significant staff turnover, with claims that she was very difficult to work for.


title: Quentin Bryce

text: In November 2013, Bryce delivered the annual ABC Boyer Lecture. Bryce stated she would like to see an Australia where: "people are free to love and marry whom they choose [...] And where perhaps, my friends, one day, one young girl or boy may even grow up to be our nation's first head of state". Her comments drew severe criticism, not merely for their support of a republic while still serving as the Queen's representative, but because the role is meant to be strictly non-partisan. Senator Dean Smith called them "a slap in the face to many, many Australians, and a significant breach of trust". Amanda Vanstone accused her of possible grandstanding, and wrote: "In publicly declaring these views, she has brought that high office into a political realm in which it does not belong ... Someone might explain to her that the job is not about her ... it's about us." Then-Prime Minister Tony Abbott supported Bryce's right to comment, saying "It's more than appropriate for the Governor-General, approaching the end of her term, to express a personal view on a number of subjects, and that's what she was doing."


title: Quentin Bryce

text: Bryce is a Life Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law. She was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 2010.


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: Sayyid Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī (Pashto/), also known as Sayyid Jamāl ad-Dīn Asadābādī () and commonly known as Al-Afghani (1838/1839 – 9 March 1897), was a political activist and Islamic ideologist who travelled throughout the Muslim world during the late 19th century. He is one of the founders of Islamic Modernism as well as an advocate of Pan-Islamic unity in Europe and Hindu–Muslim unity in India against the British, he has been described as having been less interested in minor differences in Islamic jurisprudence than he was in organizing a united response to Western pressure. He is also known for his involvement with his follower Mirza Reza Kermani in the successful plot to assassinate Shah Naser-al-Din, whom Al-Afghani considered to be making too many concessions to foreign powers, especially the British Empire.


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: As indicated by his nisba, al-Afghani claimed to be of Afghan origin. His true national and sectarian background have been a subject of controversy. According to one theory and his own account, he was born in Asadābād, near Kabul, in Afghanistan. Another theory, championed by Nikki R. Keddie and accepted by a number of modern scholars, holds that he was born and raised in a Shia family in Asadabad, near Hamadan, in Iran. Supporters of the latter theory view his claim to an Afghan origin as motivated by a desire to gain influence among Sunni Muslims or escape oppression by the Iranian ruler Nāṣer ud-Dīn Shāh. One of his main rivals, the sheikh Abū l-Hudā, called him "Mutaʾafghin" ("the one who claims to be Afghan") and tried to expose his Shia roots. Keddie also asserts that al-Afghānī used and practiced "taqīa" and "ketmān", ideas more prevalent in the Iranian Shiʿite world.


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: He was educated first at home and then taken by his father for further education to Qazvin, to Tehran, and finally, while he was still a youth, to the Shi'a shrine cities in present-day Iraq (then-part of Ottoman Empire). It is thought that followers of Shia revivalist Shaikh Ahmad Ahsa'i had an influence on him. Other names adopted by Al-Afghani were "al-Kābulī" ("[the one] from Kabul") "Asadabadi", "Sadat-e Kunar" ("Sayyids of Kunar") and "Hussain". Especially in his writings published in Afghanistan, he also used the pseudonym "ar-Rūmī" ("the Roman" or "the Anatolian").


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: At the age of 17 or 18 in 1856–57, Al-Afghani travelled to British India and spent a number of years there studying religions. In 1859, a British spy reported that Al-Afghani was a possible Russian agent. The British representatives reported that he wore traditional cloths of Noghai Turks in Central Asia and spoke Persian, Arabic and Turkish fluently. After this first Indian tour, he decided to perform Hajj or pilgrimage at Mecca. His first documents are dated from Autumn of 1865, where he mentions leaving the "revered place" ("makān-i musharraf") and arriving in Tehran around mid-December of the same year. In the spring of 1866 he left Iran for Afghanistan, passing through Mashad and Herat.


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: He traveled to Constantinople, passing through India and Cairo on his way there. He stayed in Cairo long enough to meet a young student who would become a devoted disciple of his, Muhammad 'Abduh. Once at Constantinople, he met with Grand Vizier Mehmed Emin Âli Pasha and secured an appointment to the Council of Education. He spoke at the opening of Istanbul University, giving a speech typifying the Modernist spirit animating the ongoing Tanzimat Reforms. "Are we not going to take an example from the civilized nations? Let us cast a glance at the achievement of others. By effort they have achieved the final degree of knowledge and the peak of elevation. For us too all the means are ready, and there remains no obstacle to our progress. Only laziness, stupidity, and ignorance are obstacles to [our] advance. However, conservative clerics found his views too radical. The university was closed in 1871 and al-Afghani was expelled. He then moved to Egypt and began preaching his ideas of political reform. The Egyptian government originally gave him a stipend, but due to his public attacks on France and England, he was exiled to India in August 1879, where he stayed in Hyderabad and Calcutta. He then traveled to Constantinople, London, Paris, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Munich.


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: While in Egypt, Afghani sought the removal of the ruling regime of Khedive Ismail which he viewed as pro-British and used Freemasonry as an organizational base for his political activities. During this period, Afghani had also considered assassinating Khedive Ismail. He perceived freemasonry as a means of advancing his anti-colonial, anti-imperialist, pan-Islamic causes. Afghani's political activities would play a decisive role in overthrowing Ismail Pasha from the throne and bringing Tawfiq Pasha as the Khedive.


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: However, local Masons asserted that they were not interested in politics and sought reconciliation to the British empire. When Afghani was warned that the lodge was not a political platform, he replied:"I have seen a lot of odd things in this country [Egypt], but I would never have thought that cowardice would infiltrate the ranks of masonry to such an extent". Roughly around 1875-1876, an incident wherein Masons lavishly praised a British imperial visitor was a major reason for Afghani's quitting of Freemasonry. After realising the indifference of the Masons and their political subservience to the British empire, Afghani eventually left Freemasonry.


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: In 1884, he began publishing an Arabic newspaper in Paris entitled "al-Urwah al-Wuthqa" ("The Indissoluble Link") with Muhammad Abduh; the title (Arabic: العروة الوثقى), sometimes translated as "The Strongest Bond", is taken from . The newspaper called for a return to the original principles and ideals of Islam, and for greater unity among Islamic peoples. He argued that this would allow the Islamic community to regain its former strength against European powers.


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: When Al-Afgani was visiting Bushehr in southern Iran in the spring of 1886, planning to pick up books he had shipped there and carry on to Russia, he fell ill. He was invited by Shah Nasser ad-Din's Minister of Press and Publications to come to Tehran, but fell from favor quite quickly and the Shah asked him to be taken to Russia, where Al-Afghani spent 1887 to 1889.


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: From Russia he traveled to Munich and returned to Iran in late 1889. Due to his political activities, the Shah planned to expel him from Iran, but Al-Afghani found out and took sanctuary in the Shah Abdol-Azim shrine near Tehran. After seven months of preaching to admirers from the shrine, he was arrested in 1891, transported to the border with Ottoman Mesopotamia, and evicted from Iran. Although Al-Afghani quarrelled with most of his patrons, it is said he "reserved his strongest hatred for the Shah," whom he accused of weakening Islam by granting concessions to Europeans and squandering the money earned thereby. His agitation against the Shah is thought to have been one of the "fountain-heads" of the successful 1891 protest against the granting a tobacco monopoly to a British company, and the later 1905 Constitutional Revolution.


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: After Iraq, he went to England in 1891 and 1892. He was later invited by a member of Abdulhamid II's court in 1892 to Istanbul. He traveled there with diplomatic immunity from the British Embassy, which raised many eyebrows, but nevertheless was granted a house and salary by the Sultan. Abdulhamid II's aim was to use Al-Afghani for Pan Islamism propagation.


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: While in Istanbul in 1895, Al-Afghani was visited by a Persian ex-prisoner, Mirza Reza Kermani (who had been a servant and disciple of Al-Afghani), and together they planned the assassination of the Shah, Naser-al-Din. They both collaborated with Mirza Malkam Khan, former Qajar envoy to London, in his London-based paper "Qanun" to attack Qajar rule. Kermani later returned to Iran, and assassinated Naser-al-Din at gunpoint on 1 May 1896, while the Shah was visiting the same shrine Al-Afghani had once taken refuge in. Kermani was executed by public hanging in August 1897, but the Iranian government was not successful in extraditing Al-Afghani from Turkey. Al-Afghani himself died of cancer in the same year.


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: Al-Afghani's ideology has been described as a welding of "traditional" religious antipathy toward non-Muslims "to a modern critique of Western imperialism and an appeal for the unity of Islam", urging the adoption of Western sciences and institutions that might strengthen Islam. According to Muhammad Abduh, Al-Afghani’s main struggle in life was to decrease British domination of eastern nations and to minimize its power over Muslims.


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: Al-Afghani's friend, the British poet and Arabophile Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, considered him a liberal, and in some of his writings he equates the parliamentary system to the shura (consultation) system mentioned in the Qur'an. However, his attitude to constitutional government was ambiguous because he doubted that it was viable in the Islamic world. According to his biographer, he envisioned instead "the overthrow of individual rulers who were lax or subservient to foreigners, and their replacement by strong and patriotic men."


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: Blunt, Jane Digby and Sir Richard Burton, were close with Abdul Qadir al Jazairi (1808–1883), an Algerian Islamic scholar, Sufi and military leader. In 1864, the Lodge "Henry IV" extended an invitation to him to join Freemasonry, which he accepted, being initiated at the Lodge of the Pyramids in Alexandria, Egypt. Blunt had supposedly become a convert to Islam under the influence of al-Afghani, and shared his hopes of establishing an Arab Caliphate based in Mecca to replace the Ottoman Sultan in Istanbul. When Blunt visited Abdul Qadir in 1881, he decided that he was the most promising candidate for "Caliphate," an opinion shared by Afghani and his disciple, Mohammed Abduh.


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: According to another source Al-Afghani was greatly disappointed by the failure of the Indian Mutiny and came to three principal conclusions from it:


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: Al-Afghani held that Hindus and Muslims should work together to overthrow British rule in India, a view rehashed by Maulana Syed Husain Ahmad Madani in "Composite Nationalism and Islam" five decades later.


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: He believed that Islam and its revealed law were compatible with rationality and, thus, Muslims could become politically unified while still maintaining their faith based on a religious social morality. These beliefs had a profound effect on Muhammad Abduh, who went on to expand on the notion of using rationality in the human relations aspect of Islam ("mu'amalat") .


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: In 1881 he published a collection of polemics titled "Al-Radd 'ala al-Dahriyyi" (Refutation of the Materialists), agitating for pan-Islamic unity against Western imperialism. It included one of the earliest pieces of Islamic thought arguing against Darwin's then-recent "On the Origin of Species"; however, his arguments allegedly incorrectly caricatured evolution, provoking criticism that he had not read Darwin's writings. In his later work "Khatirat Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani" ("The memoir of Al-Afghani"), he accepted the validity of evolution, asserting that the Islamic world had already known and used it. Although he accepted abiogenesis and the evolution of animals, he rejected the theory that the human species is the product of evolution, arguing that humans have souls.


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: Among the reasons why Al-Afghani was thought to have had a less than deep religious faith was his lack of interest in finding theologically common ground between Shia and Sunni (despite the fact that he was very interested in political unity between the two groups). For example, when he moved to Istanbul he disguised his Shi'i background by labeling himself "the Afghan".


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: Al-Afghani died of cancer of the jaw on 9 March 1897 in Istanbul and was buried there. In late 1944, on the request of the Afghan government, his remains were taken to Afghanistan via British India. His funeral was offered in Peshawar's Qissa Khwani Bazaar in front of the Afghan Consulate building. Thereafter, his remains were laid in Kabul inside the Kabul University; a mausoleum was also erected there in his memory. In October 2002, the American Ambassador to Afghanistan, Robert Finn, pledged a donation of $25000 to restore the mausoleum from damage sustained during the civil war. The repairs were completed in 2010.


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: In Afghanistan, a university is named after him ("Syed Jamaluddin Afghan University") in Kabul. There is also street in the center of Kabul which is called by the name Afghani. In other parts of Afghanistan, there are many places like hospitals, schools, Madrasas, Parks, and roads named Jamaluddin Afghan.


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: In Tehran, the capital of Iran, there is a square and a street named after him ("Asad Abadi Square" and "Asad Abadi Avenue" in Yusef Abad)


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: According to K. Paul Johnson, in "The Masters Revealed", H.P. Blavatsky's masters were actually real people, and "Serapis Bey" was Jamal Afghani, as a purported leader of an order named the "Brotherhood of Luxor". Afghani was introduced to the Star of the East Lodge, of which he became the leader, by its founder Raphael Borg, British consul in Cairo, who was in communication with Blavatsky. Afghani's friend, a Jewish-Italian actor from Cairo named James Sanua, who with his girlfriend Lydia Pashkov and their friend Lady Jane Digby were travel companions of Blavatsky. As concluded by Joscelyn Godwin in "The Theosophical Enlightenment", "If we interpret the 'Brotherhood of Luxor' to refer to the coterie of esotericists and magicians that Blavatsky knew and worked with in Egypt, then we should probably count Sanua and Jamal ad-Din as members."


title: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

text: In the early 1860s, he was in Central Asia and the Caucasus when Blavatsky was in Tbilisi. In the late 1860s he was in Afghanistan until he was expelled and returned to India. He went to Istanbul and was again expelled in 1871, when he proceeded to Cairo, where his circle of disciples was similar to Blavatsky's Brotherhood of Luxor. Afghani was forced to leave Egypt and settled in Hyderabad, India, in 1879, the year the Theosophical Society's founders arrived in Bombay. He then left India and spent a short time in Egypt before arriving in Paris in 1884. The following year he proceeded to London, and then on to Russia where he collaborated with Blavatsky's publisher, Mikhail Katkov.


title: People's Salvation Cathedral

text: The People's Salvation Cathedral (), also known as the National Cathedral (), is an Eastern Orthodox cathedral under construction in Bucharest to serve as the patriarchal cathedral of the Romanian Orthodox Church. It is located in central Bucharest on Spirea's Hill (Arsenal Square), facing the same courtyard as the Palace of Parliament which is the heaviest building in the world, the cathedral having a tenth of its weight and about 24% of its volume. Situated behind the Palace of Parliament, this will make it 50 metres taller than the Palace, and will help to make the cathedral an iconic landmark in the city. The People's Salvation Cathedral is above sea level, and at height (ground-cross), holds a dominant position in Bucharest's cityscape, being visible from all approaches to the city.


title: People's Salvation Cathedral

text: It is the tallest and largest Eastern Orthodox church building by volume, and area, in the world. The People's Salvation Cathedral will have the largest collection of church mosaics in the world (interior decoration) when it is completed, having about 18,000 square meters, including the mosaic of the altar is about 3,000 square meters. The mosaic of the National Cathedral contains glass made in Venice and Florence, as well as Carrara stone. Also the People's Salvation Cathedral has the world's largest Orthodox iconostasis (23.8 meters length and 17.1 meters height) and the world's largest free-swinging church bell.


title: People's Salvation Cathedral

text: The cathedral is dedicated to the Ascension of Christ, which in Romania is celebrated as the Heroes' Day, and to Saint Andrew the Apostle, protector of Romania. The cathedral was consecrated on 25 November 2018 by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I, Patriarch Daniel of Romania and Metropolitan Chrysostomos () of Patras from the Greek Orthodox Church. On the same day as the consecration, the very first church service of the cathedral took place and was led by both Patriarch Bartholomew and Patriarch Daniel. The first patronal feast of the People's Salvation Cathedral was celebrated on 30 November, on the day of Saint Andrew the First Called, and the Liturgy was officiated by Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem and Patriarch Daniel of Romania. The first "Te Deum" of the cathedral was celebrated on 1 December 2018.


title: People's Salvation Cathedral

text: The idea of a national cathedral first emerged following the Romanian War of Independence (1877–1878), which was mainly fought between the Russian and Ottoman Empires. The church was to symbolise the victory of Orthodox Christians over the Ottoman Muslims. The idea was shelved for lack of consensus on design, location and funding. The Unification of the Romanian Principalities in 1859, entailed a unitary organisation of church structures in Moldavia and Wallachia within the Holy Synod (1872), thus the assembly of hierarchs increased to 12 members, including: the Primate Metropolitan (chairman), the Metropolitan of Moldavia and their suffragan bishops of Râmnic, Buzău, Argeș, Roman, Huși and Lower Danube (Galați) and one auxiliary vicar-bishop for every diocese. The old Metropolitan Cathedral had proved overcrowded, especially during the national holidays, such as the Proclamation of the Kingdom of Romania and the crowning of King Carol I of Romania (10 May 1881), when none of the over one hundred churches in Bucharest was able to receive those who would have wanted to participate in the official service. Therefore, at King Carol I's desire, Romania's Assembly of Deputies and the Senate voted in favour of the Law no. 1750 on the construction of the Cathedral Church in Bucharest, promulgated by King Carol I on 5 June 1884.


title: People's Salvation Cathedral

text: On 10 May 1920, King Ferdinand I sent a Royal letter to Archbishop Miron Cristea, the first Metropolitan-Primate of Greater Romania, supporting the project, but this had no effect. In 1925, after the Romanian Orthodox Church became an independent patriarchate, Metropolitan Cristea, now newly enthroned as the first Patriarch of All Romania, suggested Carol Park as a site, but Bibescu Vodă Square ("Unirii Square") was chosen instead. There, in 1929, a cross (calvary) was raised. Lack of funds meant the construction was postponed and later forgotten. The process was stopped due to the economic crisis, World War II, and then the establishment of the communist regime in Romania.


title: People's Salvation Cathedral

text: Patriarch Teoctist was the one who re-launched the project of building a National Cathedral, in this sense sanctifying a cross on 5 February 1999 as the cornerstone of the future cathedral, in the place of Unirii Square that had previously been sanctified by Patriarch Miron Cristea. Meanwhile, there had been an epochal event, which was the visit by Pope John Paul II to Romania (7–9 May 1999).


title: People's Salvation Cathedral

text: On 16 February 2005, the Bucharest City Hall proposed to the Patriarchate "as the most suitable place to be available" for the structure,


title: People's Salvation Cathedral

text: which was the Arsenal Hill, considered the highest place in Bucharest. Following the Patriarchate's approval, the Government of Romania promoted the Ordinance no.19/17 March 2005 for the building of the People's Salvation Cathedral. Then the Chamber of Deputies voted to give the building site of 110,000 m to the Romanian Patriarchate by the protocol of 13 February 2006. The Arsenal Hill was recommended after three other locations were proposed at different stages (Piața Unirii 1999, Alba Iulia Square 2001, Carol Park 2004). Three churches were demolished ("Alba Postăvari", "Spirea Veche", and "Izvorul Tămăduirii"), and two churches had been moved ("Schitul Maicilor" and "Mihai Vodă"), by the communist regime to build Centrul Civic (the Civic Centre) and the Palace of the Parliament (Romanian: "Palatul Parlamentului"), previously known as the House of the People (Romanian: "Casa Poporului"). The cornerstone for the construction of the People's Salvation Cathedral was sanctified on 29 November 2007, being officiated by Patriarch Daniel, the sixth Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church.


title: People's Salvation Cathedral

text: Building began in 2010, and after almost a decade of construction, the cathedral was consecrated on 25 November 2018. The consecration was held in the presence of 100 priests, including 60 bishops. Special guests were the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I and Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Patras. Approximately 55,000 people attended at the Divine Liturgy which took place inside the cathedral just after its consecration.


title: People's Salvation Cathedral

text: The Ascension of God is the first celebration of the day, because it is also the day of the Romanian heroes of all time and of all places, and the second is the celebration of Saint Apostle Andrew the first called, Protector of Romania. Patriarch Daniel said about the first celebration: "The homage to the memory of the Romanian heroes during World War I, who fought for national freedom, unity and dignity, must be today a source of inspiration and renewal for patriotic Romanians. That is why, the main dedication of the People's Salvation Cathedral is the Lord's Ascension when we celebrate the Day of Heroes. Thus, besides the practical necessity of the future National Cathedral, this is also a national spiritual symbol, being dedicated to the worship of those who have sacrificed themselves for the defense of the homeland and the Orthodox ancestral faith and for the freedom of the Romanian people". Patriarch Daniel said about the second celebration: "This building will be a symbol of national unity because the feast of Saint Apostle Andrew, which was placed the day before the National Day on 1 December, shows that the national unity has settled with us on the Romanians primarily on spiritual unity, on unity of faith, thought and sentiment. Our church greatly contributed to the development Romanian language and Romanian culture."


title: People's Salvation Cathedral

text: Romanian Patriarchy launched on 28 December 2009 the tender for the selection of the project of the People's Salvation Cathedral. The design proposal should include the feasibility study (SF) and the technical documentation for the construction authorization (DTAC). The delivery term of the documentation accompanied by the proposed model layout was established on 31 May 2010. In June, the Patriarchal Commission for coordination and verification of design works, together with the technical subcommittees for evaluation on architecture, resilience and facilities specialties analyzed the projects presented and determined the scores obtained by the participants. Later, between 30 June and 1 July (2010), the commission of final evaluation of projects under the chairmanship of Patriarch Daniel met at the Patriarchal Palace. SC WANEL EXIM SRL (Bacău) was declared winner.


title: People's Salvation Cathedral

text: On 10 December 2010, construction of the cathedral began. The wall of the cathedral from outside to inside has the following structure: hollow bricks, flexible reinforcements (metal bars), rigid metal structure (welded sheets metal reinforcement), flexible reinforcements and solid bricks. For the People's Salvation Cathedral were used 145,000 cubic meters of concrete and 35,000 tons of reinforcement. They were also used 6,200 cubic meters of solid bricks produced at Câmpulung Muscel and 7,800 cubic meters hollow bricks produced at Târgu Jiu. For the solid bricks, was used clay from the Grui hill, near Câmpulung Muscel. The total weight of the bricks used for the People's Salvation Cathedral is 22,000 tons. The bricks used are absorbent, so that with the application of the first layer of plaster, due to the porosity of the brick, there is adhesion between the mortar layer and the brick. When the bricks are hit, they make a glass sound.


title: People's Salvation Cathedral

text: Energy efficiency is assured by massive walls of resistance and brick used on the inside and outside of them. The cathedral is designed to withstand earthquakes of 9 on the Richter scale. The plan of the cathedral complex includes a cathedral building; below the cathedral building, a soup kitchen with capacity for 1,000; two hotels; and parking for about 500 cars.


title: People's Salvation Cathedral

text: The cathedral should receive its final touch, the paintwork, by 2025 according to the Romanian Orthodox Church. The chapel of the cathedral was built in 2011, exclusively from sponsorships. In this chapel, there are liturgical services for the good works of the People's Salvation Cathedral, for the workers, but also for the founders and donors. In the chapel is a copy of the Icon Theotokos Acheiropoieta ("Prodromiţa") from the Romanian Skete Prodromos in Mount Athos. Also, here is the reliquary with the relics of Saint John Chrysostom, the 37th archbishop of Constantinople.


title: People's Salvation Cathedral

text: The design of the new cathedral was debated by parties including the Romanian Senate and the Mayor of Bucharest. The winning design featured elements of architectural details from all the Romanian provinces and territories in an area that would make the cathedral complex one of the largest religious sites in the world. The cathedral is projected for over 20,000 people in the main cathedral building and underground galleries. A total of 7,000 worshipers can attend the holy liturgy at the same time, with a 1,000 member choir, clergy and 6,000 pilgrims in the main cathedral building. The underground chapel could accommodate 5,000 pilgrims, and the underground St. Andrew's Cave gallery could accommodate over 10,000 pilgrims. In the whole complex could accommodate 125,000 visitors on an area of 11 hectares, and in the piazza could accommodate 43,000 visitors. The main cathedral has 6,050 square meters (floor nave) and with stairway has 8,400 square meters. The plan of cathedral is long, width, and (ground level) height. The main building is elevated with the basement area extending to below ground level. The basement area which extending below the ground level, has 7,200 square meters. The volume of the cathedral is 323,000 cubic meters, and with the pedestal is 595,000 cubic meters.


title: People's Salvation Cathedral

text: In January 2018, the Patriarchate requested portfolios with mosaics made by painters from all over Romania, throughout their careers, the winner will make the mosaic of the National Cathedral. The iconographer Daniel Codrescu won, and together with his team he started working in February. The team has about 60 people, most are top specialists in iconography and mosaic art, and a few apprentice students. They work in the workshop and on the construction site. After the iconographic scenes are made, painted, and chosen the model of the tesserae by Daniel Codrescu, the drawings are sent to the Romanian Patriarchate for approval, then part of the team makes the mosaic with millions of tesserae according to the drawings, and finally the rest of the team assembles the mosaic on wall.


title: People's Salvation Cathedral

text: Along with the Palace of Parliament, the Romanian Academy, the Ministry of National Defense, the cathedral can be seen as a vertical axis or a unifying pole for these buildings in a unitary and representative urban ensemble. Also, the cathedral located on Spirea's Hill (Arsenal Square) near the Ministry of National Defense, can be considered the Cathedral of Romanian heroes of all times, who sacrificed themselves for the defense of the homeland.


title: People's Salvation Cathedral

text: According to the iconographic plan, the mosaics of the cathedral show the historical basis of the Orthodox Church, thus the iconography of the cathedral includes: the Church of the Apostolic Age rendered by the representation of the twelve Apostles, the Church of the Patristic Age of the holy fathers from the Greek, Syriac, Latin and Slavic Churches, and the Romanian Orthodox Church old and contemporary. In addition to the saints from the universal church, on the walls of the cathedral will be represented the great saints of the Romanian nation. Also, certain spaces inside the cathedral will be dedicated to the confessors saints from the Romanian communist prisons, such as the priests Stăniloae, , Cleopa, Partenie Gherasim and others. The mosaic of the cathedral is made according to the hesychastic tradition and in the Neo-Byzantine style. The architecture of the cathedral is a synthesis between tradition and contemporaneity, through national architectural elements such as Brâncovenesc porches, Transylvanian towers and Moldavian ocnites (niches).