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Thailand: Padaung (Long Neck Karen) women eating noodles in a village near Mae Hong Son, northern Thailand. The Padaung or Kayan Lahwi or Long Necked Karen are a subgroup of the Kayan, a mix of Lawi, Kayan and several other tribes. Kayan are a subgroup of the Red Karen (Karenni) people, a Tibeto-Burman ethnic minority of Burma (Myanmar).
The <i>Anwar-i Suhayli</i> or 'The Lights of Canopus', commonly known as the <i>Fables of Bidpai</i> in the West, is a Persian version of the ancient Indian collection of animal fables, the <i>Panchatantra</i>. It tells a tale of a Persian physician, Burzuyah, and his mission to India, where he stumbles upon a book of stories collected from the animals who reside there.<br/><br/> In a similar vein to the <i>Arabian Nights</i>, the fables in the manuscript are inter-woven as the characters of one story recount the next, leading up to three or four degrees of narrative embedding. Many usually have morals or offer philosophical glimpses into human behaviour, emphasising loyalty and teamwork.
Nimrud is the later Arab name for an ancient Assyrian city located 30 kilometres (20 mi) south of the city of Mosul in the Nineveh plains in northern Mesopotamia. It was a major Assyrian city between approximately 1250 BCE and 610 BCE.
Rudravarna Mahavihara, or Oku Bahal, was built in the mid-17th century. The temple is located around a courtyard which overflows with chaitya and metal figures of all kinds and sizes. There are massive Garudas, elephants, peacocks, figures of praying worshippers and a statue of Juddha Shamsher Rana, who granted the temple generous restoration aid after the earthquake of 1934.<br/><br/> In the corners of the courtyard, which is lined with oil lamp railings, there are bronze figures of the mischievous monkey god Hanuman, which show him variously eating a pumpkin, a banana and something which looks like a chapati, the traditional bread of the Indian subcontinent. Some sources suggest that the kings of Patan were crowned in this most elaborate of courtyards.<br/><br/> The temple complex is of a square design, and the building housing the main shrine is topped with a two-tiered roof. Inside, a profusely decorated figure of the Akshobhya Buddha is kept. Every day at around 3.30 pm a priest will come to open it up and perform some puja. At the beginning of the puja, the priest stands for a few moments on a pair of gilded, richly ornamented paduka, or sandals, the insignia of kings or deities; by standing on the paduka, the priest invokes the spirit of the gods. Then he beats a longish wooden tube, held over his shoulder, to wake up the deity in whose honour the puja is being held. The rite has probably been conducted in this manner for centuries.
The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius.<br/><br/> Together with Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda is the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends.
The Kurds are an ethnic Iranian group in the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a contiguous area spanning adjacent parts of modern-day Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, a geo-cultural region often referred to as 'Kurdistan'. The Kurds have ethnically diverse origins. They are culturally and linguistically closely related to the Iranian peoples and, as a result, are often themselves classified as an Iranian people. The Kurdish languages form a subgroup of the Northwestern Iranian languages.<br/><br/> The Kurds number about 40 million, the majority living in West Asia, including significant Kurdish diaspora communities in the cities of western Turkey outside of Kurdistan. A recent Kurdish diaspora has developed in Western countries, primarily in Germany. The Kurds are in the majority in the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan and in the autonomous region of Syrian Kurdistan and are a significant minority group in the neighboring countries Turkey and Iran, where Kurdish nationalist movements continue to pursue autonomy.
The <i>Anwar-i Suhayli</i> or 'The Lights of Canopus', commonly known as the <i>Fables of Bidpai</i> in the West, is a Persian version of the ancient Indian collection of animal fables, the <i>Panchatantra</i>. It tells a tale of a Persian physician, Burzuyah, and his mission to India, where he stumbles upon a book of stories collected from the animals who reside there.<br/><br/> In a similar vein to the <i>Arabian Nights</i>, the fables in the manuscript are inter-woven as the characters of one story recount the next, leading up to three or four degrees of narrative embedding. Many usually have morals or offer philosophical glimpses into human behaviour, emphasising loyalty and teamwork.
The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a series of battles fought in the Ryukyu Islands, centered on the island of Okinawa, and included the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War.The 82-day-long battle lasted from 1 April until 22 June 1945.<br/><br/> The Battle of Okinawa was remarkable for the ferocity of the fighting, the intensity of kamikaze attacks from the Japanese defenders, and the great number of Allied ships and armored vehicles that assaulted the island. The battle was one of the bloodiest in the Pacific.
Nimrud is the later Arab name for an ancient Assyrian city located 30 kilometres (20 mi) south of the city of Mosul in the Nineveh plains in northern Mesopotamia. It was a major Assyrian city between approximately 1250 BCE and 610 BCE.
Buddhist monks collect alms—food prepared by devotees and laypersons who make merit by donating it—every morning in Burma and most Theravada Buddhist countries. This is their only food for the day. Monks do not eat after 12 noon.<br/><br/> Legend attributes the first Buddhist doctrine in Burma to 228 BC when Sonna and Uttara, two ambassadors of the Emperor Ashoka the Great of India, came to the country with sacred texts. However, the golden era of Buddhism truly began in the 11th century after King Anawrahta of Pagan (Bagan) was converted to Theravada Buddhism. Today, 89% of the population of Burma is Theravada Buddhist.
Buddhist monks collect alms—food prepared by devotees and laypersons who make merit by donating it—every morning in Burma and most Theravada Buddhist countries. This is their only food for the day. Monks do not eat after 12 noon.<br/><br/> Legend attributes the first Buddhist doctrine in Burma to 228 BC when Sonna and Uttara, two ambassadors of the Emperor Ashoka the Great of India, came to the country with sacred texts. However, the golden era of Buddhism truly began in the 11th century after King Anawrahta of Pagan (Bagan) was converted to Theravada Buddhism. Today, 89% of the population of Burma is Theravada Buddhist.
Chopsticks (singular: chopstick) are shaped pairs of equal length sticks used as the traditional eating utensils of various East Asian countries. Chopsticks originated in ancient China, and are traditionally used in China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. They can also be found in some areas of Tibet and Mongolia that are close to Han Chinese populations. In Southeast Asia they are used for eating noodles in countries, such as Thailand, with a substantial Overseas Chinese population.<br/><br/>Chopsticks are smoothed and frequently tapered, and are commonly made of bamboo, plastic, wood, or stainless steel. They are less commonly made from porcelain, silver, ivory or jade. Chopsticks are held in the dominant hand, between the thumb and fingers, and used to pick up pieces of food.
Yahyâ ibn Mahmûd al-Wâsitî was a 13th-century Arab Islamic artist. Al-Wasiti was born in Wasit in southern Iraq. He was noted for his illustrations of the Maqam of al-Hariri.<br/><br/> Maqāma (literally 'assemblies') are an (originally) Arabic literary genre of rhymed prose with intervals of poetry in which rhetorical extravagance is conspicuous. The 10th century author Badī' al-Zaman al-Hamadhāni is said to have invented the form, which was extended by al-Hariri of Basra in the next century. Both authors' maqāmāt center on trickster figures whose wanderings and exploits in speaking to assemblies of the powerful are conveyed by a narrator.<br/><br/> Manuscripts of al-Harīrī's Maqāmāt, anecdotes of a roguish wanderer Abu Zayd from Saruj, were frequently illustrated with miniatures.
The Tacuinum (sometimes Taccuinum) Sanitatis is a medieval handbook on health and wellbeing, based on the Taqwim al‑sihha تقويم الصحة ('Maintenance of Health'), an eleventh-century Arab medical treatise by Ibn Butlan of Baghdad.<br/><br/> Ibn Butlân was a Christian physician born in Baghdad and who died in 1068. He sets forth the six elements necessary to maintain daily health: food and drink, air and the environment, activity and rest, sleep and wakefulness, secretions and excretions of humours, changes or states of mind (happiness, anger, shame, etc). According to Ibn Butlân, illnesses are the result of changes in the balance of some of these elements, therefore he recommended a life in harmony with nature in order to maintain or recover one’s health.<br/><br/> Ibn Butlân also teaches us to enjoy each season of the year, the consequences of each type of climate, wind and snow. He points out the importance of spiritual wellbeing and mentions, for example, the benefits of listening to music, dancing or having a pleasant conversation.<br/><br/> Aimed at a cultured lay audience, the text exists in several variant Latin versions, the manuscripts of which are characteristically profusely illustrated. The short paragraphs of the treatise were freely translated into Latin in mid-thirteenth-century Palermo or Naples, continuing an Italo-Norman tradition as one of the prime sites for peaceable inter-cultural contact between the Islamic and European worlds.<br/><br/> Four handsomely illustrated complete late fourteenth-century manuscripts of the Taccuinum, all produced in Lombardy, survive, in Vienna, Paris, Liège and Rome, as well as scattered illustrations from others, as well as fifteenth-century codices.
This kind of simple, outline sketch was perhaps used by artists as a framework for more detailed paintings on the cave walls at Mogao.
The Great Leap Forward (simplified Chinese: 大跃进; traditional Chinese: 大躍進; pinyin: Dà yuè jìn) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) was an economic and social campaign of the Communist Party of China (CPC), reflected in planning decisions from 1958 to 1961, which aimed to use China's vast population to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a modern communist society through the process of rapid industrialization, and collectivization. Mao Zedong led the campaign based on the Theory of Productive Forces, and intensified it after being informed of the impending disaster from grain shortages.<br/><br/> Chief changes in the lives of rural Chinese included the introduction of a mandatory process of agricultural collectivization, which was introduced incrementally. Private farming was prohibited, and those engaged in it were labeled as counter revolutionaries and persecuted. Restrictions on rural people were enforced through public struggle sessions, and social pressure.<br/><br/> The Great Leap ended in catastrophe, resulting in tens of millions of excess deaths. Estimates of the death toll range from 18 million to at least 45 million.<br/><br/> In subsequent conferences in 1960 and 1962, the negative effects of the Great Leap Forward were studied by the CPC, and Mao was criticized in the party conferences. Moderate Party members like Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping rose to power, and Mao was marginalized within the party, leading him to initiate the Cultural Revolution in 1966.
The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is a museum in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. The site is a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge communist regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. Tuol Sleng means "Hill of the Poisonous Trees" or "Strychnine Hill".
The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is a museum in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. The site is a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge communist regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. Tuol Sleng means 'Hill of the Poisonous Trees' or 'Strychnine Hill'.<br/><br/> The Khmer Rouge, or Communist Party of Kampuchea, ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan. It is remembered primarily for its brutality and policy of social engineering which resulted in millions of deaths. Its attempts at agricultural reform led to widespread famine, while its insistence on absolute self-sufficiency, even in the supply of medicine, led to the deaths of thousands from treatable diseases (such as malaria). Brutal and arbitrary executions and torture carried out by its cadres against perceived subversive elements, or during purges of its own ranks between 1976 and 1978, are considered to have constituted a genocide. Several former Khmer Rouge cadres are currently on trial for war crimes in Phnom Penh.
'An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon together With somewhat Concerning Severall Remarkable passages of my life that hath hapned [sic] since my Deliverance out of Captivity' is a book written by the English trader and sailor Robert Knox in 1681. It describes his experiences some years earlier on the South Asian island now best known as Sri Lanka and provides one of the most important contemporary accounts of 17th century Ceylonese life. Knox spent 19 years on Ceylon after being taken prisoner by King Rajasimha II.
The Great Leap Forward (simplified Chinese: 大跃进; traditional Chinese: 大躍進; pinyin: Dà yuè jìn) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) was an economic and social campaign of the Communist Party of China (CPC), reflected in planning decisions from 1958 to 1961, which aimed to use China's vast population to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a modern communist society through the process of rapid industrialization, and collectivization. Mao Zedong led the campaign based on the Theory of Productive Forces, and intensified it after being informed of the impending disaster from grain shortages.<br/><br/> Chief changes in the lives of rural Chinese included the introduction of a mandatory process of agricultural collectivization, which was introduced incrementally. Private farming was prohibited, and those engaged in it were labeled as counter revolutionaries and persecuted. Restrictions on rural people were enforced through public struggle sessions, and social pressure.<br/><br/> The Great Leap ended in catastrophe, resulting in tens of millions of excess deaths. Estimates of the death toll range from 18 million to at least 45 million.<br/><br/> In subsequent conferences in 1960 and 1962, the negative effects of the Great Leap Forward were studied by the CPC, and Mao was criticized in the party conferences. Moderate Party members like Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping rose to power, and Mao was marginalized within the party, leading him to initiate the Cultural Revolution in 1966.
The Great Leap Forward (simplified Chinese: 大跃进; traditional Chinese: 大躍進; pinyin: Dà yuè jìn) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) was an economic and social campaign of the Communist Party of China (CPC), reflected in planning decisions from 1958 to 1961, which aimed to use China's vast population to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a modern communist society through the process of rapid industrialization, and collectivization. Mao Zedong led the campaign based on the Theory of Productive Forces, and intensified it after being informed of the impending disaster from grain shortages.<br/><br/> Chief changes in the lives of rural Chinese included the introduction of a mandatory process of agricultural collectivization, which was introduced incrementally. Private farming was prohibited, and those engaged in it were labeled as counter revolutionaries and persecuted. Restrictions on rural people were enforced through public struggle sessions, and social pressure.<br/><br/> The Great Leap ended in catastrophe, resulting in tens of millions of excess deaths. Estimates of the death toll range from 18 million to at least 45 million.<br/><br/> In subsequent conferences in 1960 and 1962, the negative effects of the Great Leap Forward were studied by the CPC, and Mao was criticized in the party conferences. Moderate Party members like Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping rose to power, and Mao was marginalized within the party, leading him to initiate the Cultural Revolution in 1966.
In Thai Theravada Buddhism young men are usually expected to ordain into the monkhood at some point in their life. Ordination into the Buddhist monkhood has never implied a lifetime commitment and most men usually only spend a short time in the temple.<br/><br/> Entering the monkhood, even for a short time, is believed to bring great merit to the ordained as well as his parents.
In Thai Theravada Buddhism young men are usually expected to ordain into the monkhood at some point in their life. Ordination into the Buddhist monkhood has never implied a lifetime commitment and most men usually only spend a short time in the temple.<br/><br/> Entering the monkhood, even for a short time, is believed to bring great merit to the ordained as well as his parents.
The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius.<br/><br/> Together with Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda is the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends.
The long and winding road along Vietnam's coastline connecting the country's important cities and towns has borne witness to many twists and turns in her recent history. Built in the 18th century by Vietnamese foot soldiers and mandarins, it was called the Mandarin Road. The most important section ran between Hanoi and Hue, at different times the two imperial capitals.