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Francois-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 - 30 May 1778), more commonly known by his <i>nom de plume</i> Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment historian, philosopher and writer. He was famous for his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of speech and separation of church and state, often attacking the Catholic Church through his wit and writings.<br/><br/>

Voltaire was a prolific and versatile writer, with more than 20,000 letters and over 2,000 books and pamphlets to his name, as well as plays, poems, essays and historical and scientific works. Despite the strict censorship laws of the time, Voltaire often spoke up in favour of civil liberties, and regularly used satire to criticise intolerance, religious dogma and other pillars of French institutions of his day.
Francois-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 - 30 May 1778), more commonly known by his <i>nom de plume</i> Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment historian, philosopher and writer. He was famous for his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of speech and separation of church and state, often attacking the Catholic Church through his wit and writings.<br/><br/>

Voltaire was a prolific and versatile writer, with more than 20,000 letters and over 2,000 books and pamphlets to his name, as well as plays, poems, essays and historical and scientific works. Despite the strict censorship laws of the time, Voltaire often spoke up in favour of civil liberties, and regularly used satire to criticise intolerance, religious dogma and other pillars of French institutions of his day.
The First Sino-Japanese War (1 August 1894 - 17 April 1895) was waged beween the Qing Dynasty and the Japanese Empire, primarily over control of the Korean peninsula. In China, the war is commonly known as the War of Jiawu, while in Japan it is called the Japan-Qing War, and in Korea, the Qing-Japan War.<br/><br/>

The war lasted 8 months altogether, and saw more than six months of unbroken victories and success by the Japanese land and naval forces against the numerically superior but militarily inferior Chinese army. The Japanese eventually took over the Chinese port city of Weihaiwei and forced the Qing government ot sue for peace in February 1895 CE, though the war would continue until April.<br/><br/>

The Sino-Japanese War highlighted the stark failure of the Qing Empire to modernise and advance its armed forces, and resulted in regional dominance in East Asia shifting for the first time from China to Japan. The Korean peninsula, Joseon, was removed from the Chinese sphere of influence and fell under Japanese vassalage instead.
A satirical head and shoulders portrait of Napoleon. Napoleon's hat is an eagle representing Prussia, which has dug its claws into Napoleon by one interpretation, or is the 'discomfited French Eagle, maimed and crouching'.<br/><br/>

Napoleon's face is formed of the bodies of the dead amassed during his campaigns; his collar is a sea of blood with a vessel below his ear; his jacket shows the Rhineland states, the dissolved Confederation that had been Napoleon's puppets; the order of the Legion of Honour shows the spider's web in which the Confederations' members had been caught; his epaulette is the 'Hand Of God', which will free Germany from the spider, or is 'an Emblem of the Vigilance of the Allies, who have inflicted on that Hand a deadly Sting'.
Francois-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 - 30 May 1778), more commonly known by his <i>nom de plume</i> Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment historian, philosopher and writer. He was famous for his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of speech and separation of church and state, often attacking the Catholic Church through his wit and writings.<br/><br/>

Voltaire was a prolific and versatile writer, with more than 20,000 letters and over 2,000 books and pamphlets to his name, as well as plays, poems, essays and historical and scientific works. Despite the strict censorship laws of the time, Voltaire often spoke up in favour of civil liberties, and regularly used satire to criticise intolerance, religious dogma and other pillars of French institutions of his day.
Between the end of the First World War in 1918 and the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941, Japanese graphic design as represented in advertsing posters, magazine covers and book covers underwent a series of changes characterised by increasing Western influence, a growing middle class, industrialisation and militarisation, as well as (initially) left wing political ideals and (subsequently) right wing nationalism and the influence of European Fascist art forms.
Francois-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 - 30 May 1778), more commonly known by his <i>nom de plume</i> Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment historian, philosopher and writer. He was famous for his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of speech and separation of church and state, often attacking the Catholic Church through his wit and writings.<br/><br/>

Voltaire was a prolific and versatile writer, with more than 20,000 letters and over 2,000 books and pamphlets to his name, as well as plays, poems, essays and historical and scientific works. Despite the strict censorship laws of the time, Voltaire often spoke up in favour of civil liberties, and regularly used satire to criticise intolerance, religious dogma and other pillars of French institutions of his day.
Chang and Eng Bunker (May 11, 1811 – January 17, 1874) were Thai-American conjoined twin brothers whose condition and birthplace became the basis for the term 'Siamese twins'.<br/><br/>

The Bunker brothers were born on May 11, 1811, in the province of Samut Songkram, near Bangkok, in the Kingdom of Siam (today's Thailand). Their fisherman father was a Chinese Thai, while their mother was a Chinese Malaysian. Because of their Chinese heritage, they were known locally as the 'Chinese Twins'. The brothers were joined at the sternum by a small piece of cartilage, and though their livers were fused, they were independently complete.<br/><br/>

In 1829, Robert Hunter, a Scottish merchant who lived in Bangkok, saw the twins swimming and realized their potential. He paid their parents to permit him to exhibit their sons as a curiosity on a world tour. When their contract with Hunter was over, Chang and Eng went into business for themselves. In 1839, while visiting Wilkesboro, North Carolina, the brothers were attracted to the area and purchased a 110-acre (0.45 km2) farm in nearby Traphill.<br/><br/>

Determined to live as normal a life they could, Chang and Eng settled on their small plantation and bought slaves to do the work they could not do themselves. Using their adopted name 'Bunker', they married local women on April 13, 1843. Chang wed Adelaide Yates, while Eng married her sister, Sarah Anne. Chang and Adelaide would become the parents of eleven children. Eng and Sarah had ten. The twins also became naturalized American citizens.<br/><br/>

On January 17, 1874, Chang died while the brothers were asleep. Eng awoke to find his brother dead and cried, 'Then I am going'. A doctor was summoned to perform an emergency separation, but he was too late. Eng died approximately three hours later.
Charles Robert Darwin, FRS (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist and geologist, best known for his contributions to evolutionary theory. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors, and in a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding.<br/><br/>

Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book 'On the Origin of Species', overcoming scientific rejection of earlier concepts of transmutation of species. By the 1870s the scientific community and much of the general public had accepted evolution as a fact. However, many favoured competing explanations and it was not until the emergence of the modern evolutionary synthesis from the 1930s to the 1950s that a broad consensus developed in which natural selection was the basic mechanism of evolution. In modified form, Darwin's scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, explaining the diversity of life.
Francois-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 - 30 May 1778), more commonly known by his <i>nom de plume</i> Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment historian, philosopher and writer. He was famous for his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of speech and separation of church and state, often attacking the Catholic Church through his wit and writings.<br/><br/>

Voltaire was a prolific and versatile writer, with more than 20,000 letters and over 2,000 books and pamphlets to his name, as well as plays, poems, essays and historical and scientific works. Despite the strict censorship laws of the time, Voltaire often spoke up in favour of civil liberties, and regularly used satire to criticise intolerance, religious dogma and other pillars of French institutions of his day.
'Wagon of Fools' ('Flora's mallewagen'). Followed by Haarlem weavers who have abandoned their looms, blown by the wind and flying a flag emblazoned with tulips, Flora, goddess of flowers, her arms laden with tulips, rides to destruction in the sea along with drinkers, money changers and the two-faced goddess Fortuna.<br/><br/>

Tulip mania or tulipomania (Dutch names include: tulpenmanie, tulpomanie, tulpenwoede, tulpengekte and bollengekte) was a period in the Dutch Golden Age during which contract prices for bulbs of the recently introduced tulip reached extraordinarily high levels and then suddenly collapsed.<br/><br/>

At the peak of tulip mania, in February 1637, some single tulip bulbs sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman.
A pie represents 'Chine' (French for China) and is being divided between caricatures of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, William II of Germany (who is squabbling with Queen Victoria over a borderland piece, whilst thrusting a knife into the pie to signify aggressive German intentions), Nicholas II of Russia, who is eyeing a particular piece, the French Marianne (who is diplomatically shown as not participating in the carving, and is depicted as close to Nicholas II, as a reminder of the Franco-Russian Alliance), and the Meiji Emperor of Japan, carefully contemplating which pieces to take.<br/><br/>

A stereotypical Qing official throws up his hands to try and stop them, but is powerless. It is meant to be a figurative representation of the Imperialist tendencies of these nations towards China during the decade.
The preacher is President McKinley. The shotgun is toted by J.P. Morgan, financier. The bride is visibly displeased and would be happy to make a run for it.<br/><br/>

In March 1897, William McKinley succeeded Grover Cleveland as president. He agreed to a treaty of annexation for Hawaii but it failed in the Senate because petitions from the islands indicated lack of popular support and would be in violation of international law. A joint resolution was written by Congressman Francis G. Newlands to annex Hawaii in violation of Hawaii's Sovereign Rights. McKinley signed the Newlands Resolution which illegally annexed Hawaii on July 7, 1898 to become the Territory of Hawaii.<br/><br/>

On February 22, 1900 the Hawaiian Organic Act established a territorial government with Sanford Dole, the former President of the Republic of Hawaii, appointed governor by the US President. The territorial legislature convened for the first time on February 20, 1901. Some Hawaiian people formed the Hawaiian Independent Party, under the leadership of Robert Wilcox, the first congressional delegate from Hawaii.<br/><br/>

The overthrow of the kingdom and the subsequent annexation has been called the first major instance of American imperialism.
Homosexuality in China was traditionally widespread in the region. Historically, homosexual relationships were regarded as a normal facet of life, and the existence of homosexuality in China has been well documented since ancient times. Many early Chinese emperors are speculated to have had homosexual relationships, often accompanied by heterosexual ones. Opposition to homosexuality and the rise of homophobia did not become firmly established in China until the 19th and 20th centuries, through the Westernization efforts of the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China. Homosexuality was banned in the People's Republic of China, until it was legalised in 1997.<br/><br/>

Traditional terms for homosexuality included 'the passion of the cut sleeve' (断袖之癖, Mandarin, Pinyin: duànxiù zhÄ« pÇ), and 'the bitten peach' (分桃 Pinyin: fÄ“ntáo). Other, less literary, terms have included 'male trend' (男風 Pinyin: nánfÄ“ng), 'allied brothers' (香ç«å…„弟 Pinyin: xiÄnghuÇ’ xiÅngdì), and 'the passion of Longyang' (é¾é™½ç™– Pinyin: lóngyángpÇ), referencing a homoerotic anecdote about Lord Long Yang in the Warring States Period. The formal modern word for homosexuality/homosexual is tongxinglian (åŒæ€§æˆ€, Pinyin: tóngxìngliàn, literally same-sex relations/love) or tongxinglian zhe (åŒæ€§æˆ€è€…, Pinyin: tóngxìngliàn zhÄ›, homosexual people). Instead of this formal word, 'tongzhi' (åŒå¿— Pinyin: tóngzhì), simply a head-rhyme word, is more commonly used in the gay community.
Chinese erotic art was a tradition that spanned from antiquity until its apex in the Late Ming Dynasty (early 17th century). This art was not just produced for stimulation. Chinese erotica portrays ideals of feminine beauty, narratives on imperial and vernacular life, humour, tenderness and love. However, traditional Chinese erotic art remains a little known tradition because so much of it was destroyed during the Maoist era.
Abdul Hamid II (Ottoman Turkish: عبد الحميد ثانی, `Abdü’l-ḤamÄ«d-i sânî; Turkish: Ä°kinci Abdülhamit; 22 September 1842 – 10 February 1918) was the 34th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and the last Sultan to exert effective autocratic control over the fracturing state. He oversaw a period of decline in the power and extent of the Empire, including widespread pogroms and government massacres against the minorities of the Empire (named the Hamidian massacres after him) as well as an assassination attempt, ruling from 31 August 1876 until he was deposed shortly after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, on 27 April 1909. He was succeeded by his brother Mehmed V.<br/><br/>

Despite his conservatism and belief in absolute monarchy, Abdul Hamid was responsible for some modest modernization of the Ottoman Empire during his long reign, including reform of the bureaucracy, the ambitious Hijaz Railway project, the establishment of a system for population registration and control over the press, and the founding of the first modern law school in 1898.<br/><br/>

Often known as the Red Sultan or Abdul the Damned due to the atrocities committed against the Empire's minorities under his rule and use of a secret police to silence dissent, Abdul Hamid became more reclusive toward the end of his reign, his worsening paranoia about perceived threats to his personal power and his life leading him to shun public appearances.
The Kiautschou Bay concession was a German colonial concession in Imperial China which existed from 1898 to 1914. It had an area of 552 sq km, and was located around Jiaozhou Bay on the southern coast of the Shandong Peninsula, which lay in the imperial province of Shandong in northern China. Jiaozhou was romanized as Kiaochow, Kiauchau or Kiao-Chau in English and Kiautschou or Kiaochau in German. The administrative center was at Tsingtau - modern Qingdao.
Utagawa Kunisada (1786 – January 12, 1865) (Japanese: æ­Œå· å›½è²ž, also known as Utagawa Toyokuni III 三代歌å·è±Šå›½ ) was the most popular, prolific and financially successful designer of ukiyo-e woodblock prints in 19th-century Japan. In his own time, his reputation far exceeded that of his contemporaries, Hokusai, Hiroshige and Kuniyoshi.<br/><br/>Utagawa Kunisada II (æ­Œå·å›½å®š)(1823–1880) was a Japanese ukiyo-e printmaker, one of three to take the name 'Utagawa Kunisada'.<br/><br/>A pupil of Utagawa Kunisada I, he signed much of his early work 'BaidÅ Kunimasa III'. He took the name Kunisada after marrying his master's eldest daughter in 1846. He changed his name once more following his master's death, to Toyokuni III. However, since there were three artists called Toyokuni before him, Kunisada II is now often known as Toyokuni IV.<br/><br/>Kunisada II is renowned for his prints. His favourite subjects were pleasure-houses and tea ceremonies. These themes are sometimes found together in some of his prints, as geishas usually acted as chaperones at tea-houses.
Opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, is the species of plant from which opium and poppy seeds are extracted. Opium is the source of many opiates, including morphine, thebaine, codeine, papaverine, and noscapine.<br/><br/>

The Latin botanical name means the 'sleep-bringing poppy', referring to the sedative properties of some of these opiates.
The Moustache Brothers are a comedic trio from Mandalay, Burma known for live performances that combine screwball comedy, classic Burmese dance, and sharply satirical criticism of the totalitarian Burmese military regime.
The Second Opium War, the Second Anglo-Chinese War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a war pitting the British Empire and the Second French Empire against the Qing Dynasty of China, lasting from 1856–1860.
Starting with the California Gold Rush in the late 19th century, the United States—particularly the West Coast states—imported large numbers of Chinese migrant laborers. Early Chinese immigrants worked as gold miners, and later on large labor projects, such as the building of the First Transcontinental Railroad.<br/><br/>

Chinese migrant workers encountered considerable prejudice in the United States, especially by the people who occupied the lower layers in white society, because Chinese 'coolies' were used as a scapegoat for depressed wage levels by politicians and labor leaders.<br/><br/>

In the 1870s and 1880s various legal discriminatory measures were taken against the Chinese. These laws, in particular the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, were aimed at restricting further immigration from China. The laws were later repealed by the Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act of 1943.
The Second Opium War, the Second Anglo-Chinese War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a war pitting the British Empire and the Second French Empire against the Qing Dynasty of China, lasting from 1856–1860.
Abdul Hamid II (Ottoman Turkish: عبد الحميد ثانی, `Abdü’l-ḤamÄ«d-i sânî; Turkish: Ä°kinci Abdülhamit; 22 September 1842 – 10 February 1918) was the 34th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and the last Sultan to exert effective autocratic control over the fracturing state. He oversaw a period of decline in the power and extent of the Empire, including widespread pogroms and government massacres against the minorities of the Empire (named the Hamidian massacres after him) as well as an assassination attempt, ruling from 31 August 1876 until he was deposed shortly after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, on 27 April 1909. He was succeeded by his brother Mehmed V.<br/><br/>

Despite his conservatism and belief in absolute monarchy, Abdul Hamid was responsible for some modest modernization of the Ottoman Empire during his long reign, including reform of the bureaucracy, the ambitious Hijaz Railway project, the establishment of a system for population registration and control over the press, and the founding of the first modern law school in 1898.<br/><br/>

Often known as the Red Sultan or Abdul the Damned due to the atrocities committed against the Empire's minorities under his rule and use of a secret police to silence dissent, Abdul Hamid became more reclusive toward the end of his reign, his worsening paranoia about perceived threats to his personal power and his life leading him to shun public appearances.
Sigmund Freud, born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist who became known as the founding father of psychoanalysis.<br/><br/>Freud qualified as a doctor of medicine at the University of Vienna in 1881, and then carried out research into cerebral palsy, aphasia and microscopic neuroanatomy at the Vienna General Hospital. He was appointed a university lecturer in neuropathology in 1885 and became a professor in 1902.
The Jap in a China Shop: 'Now then, you pig-headed old pig-tail  open your shop - and hand me the keys!' At the time of the First Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese were seen by many Westerners as 'plucky' rather than imperialist aggressors.<br/><br/>

The First Sino-Japanese War (1 August 1894 – 17 April 1895) was fought between Qing Dynasty China and Meiji Japan, primarily over control of Korea. After more than six months of continuous successes by Japanese army and naval forces and the loss of the Chinese port of Weihaiwei, the Qing leadership sued for peace in February 1895.<br/><br/>

Direct results of the war showed that the military strength and sovereignty of the Qing Dynasty had been severely weakened during the nineteenth century; and it demonstrated that forced reform had modernized Japan significantly since the Meiji Restoration in 1867, especially as compared with the Self-Strengthening Movement in China. Regional dominance in East Asia shifted from China to Japan; and the Qing Dynasty, along with the classical tradition in China, suffered a major blow. These trends would later manifest in the 1911 Revolution.
'The Real Barbarian', by Edward Linley Sambourne, Illustrated London News, 5 January, 1861.<br/><br/>

Several documents known as the 'Treaty of Tien-tsin' were signed in Tianjin (Tientsin) in June 1858, ending the first part of the Second Opium War (1856–1860). The Second French Empire, United Kingdom, Russian Empire, and the United States were the parties involved. These treaties opened more Chinese ports (see Treaty of Nanking) to the foreigners, permitted foreign legations in the Chinese capital Beijing, allow Christian missionary activity, and legalized the import of opium.<br/><br/>

In addition, China was to pay an indemnity to Britain and France of 2 million taels of silver respectively, and compensation to British merchants of 3 million taels of silver.<br/><br/>

The treaty was ratified by the Emperor of China in the Convention of Peking in 1860, after the end of the war.
'The Open Mouth', by Edward Linley Sambourne, Illustrated London News, 10 May, 1859:<br/><br/>

British Lion: 'It's alright, Johnny Chinaman. We've come to a perfectly friendly arrangement'.<br/><br/>

Russian Bear (pleasantly): 'We're going to invade you'.<br/><br/>

Several documents known as the 'Treaty of Tien-tsin' were signed in Tianjin (Tientsin) in June 1858, ending the first part of the Second Opium War (1856–1860). The Second French Empire, United Kingdom, Russian Empire, and the United States were the parties involved. These treaties opened more Chinese ports (see Treaty of Nanking) to the foreigners, permitted foreign legations in the Chinese capital Beijing, allow Christian missionary activity, and legalized the import of opium.<br/><br/>

The treaty was ratified by the Emperor of China in the Convention of Peking in 1860, after the end of the war.
By 1900 China had signed a number of treaties with the Western Powers (Britain, France, United States, Russia, and also Japan).<br/><br/>

Unequal treaty is the name given by the Chinese to these series of treaties signed with Western Powers during the 19th and early 20th centuries by Qing dynasty China after military attacks or military threats by foreign powers. The term was also applied to treaties signed with Tokugawa Japan and to treaties imposed on Joseon Korea by the post-Meiji Restoration Empire of Japan.
Francois-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 - 30 May 1778), more commonly known by his <i>nom de plume</i> Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment historian, philosopher and writer. He was famous for his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of speech and separation of church and state, often attacking the Catholic Church through his wit and writings.<br/><br/>

Voltaire was a prolific and versatile writer, with more than 20,000 letters and over 2,000 books and pamphlets to his name, as well as plays, poems, essays and historical and scientific works. Despite the strict censorship laws of the time, Voltaire often spoke up in favour of civil liberties, and regularly used satire to criticise intolerance, religious dogma and other pillars of French institutions of his day.
Chinese erotic art was a tradition that spanned from antiquity until its apex in the late Ming Dynasty (early 17th century). This art was not just produced for stimulation. Chinese erotica portrays ideals of feminine beauty, narratives on imperial and vernacular life, humour, tenderness and love. However, traditional Chinese erotic art remains a little known tradition because so much of it was destroyed during the Maoist era.<br/><br/>

Foot binding (pinyin: <i>chanzu</i>, literally 'bound feet') was a custom practiced on young girls and women for approximately one thousand years in China, beginning in the 10th century and ending in the first half of 20th century.<br/><br/>

Qing Dynasty sex manuals listed 48 different ways of playing with women's bound feet. For men, the primary erotic effect was a function of the lotus gait, the tiny steps and swaying walk of a woman whose feet had been bound.