Symbolics 3600

Symbolics refers to two companies: now-defunct computer manufacturer Symbolics, Inc., and a privately held company that acquired the assets of the former company and continues to sell and maintain the Open Genera Lisp system and the Macsyma computer algebra system.

The symbolics.com domain was originally registered on 15 March 1985, making it the first .com-domain in the world. However, on 27 August 2009, it was sold to XF.com Investments.^[1] The current Symbolics web site is available at symbolics-dks.com.

History[link]

Symbolics, Inc.^[2] was a computer manufacturer headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and later in Concord, Massachusetts, with manufacturing facilities in Chatsworth, California (a suburban section of Los Angeles). Its first CEO, chairman, and founder was Russell Noftsker.^[3] Symbolics designed and manufactured a line of Lisp machines, single-user computers optimized to run the Lisp programming language. Symbolics also made significant advances in software technology, and offered one of the premier software development environments of the 1980s and 1990s, now sold commercially as Open Genera for Tru64 UNIX on the HP Alpha. The Lisp Machine was the first commercially available "workstation" (although that word had not yet been coined).

Symbolics was a spinoff from the MIT AI Lab, one of two companies to be founded by AI Lab staffers and associated hackers for the purpose of manufacturing Lisp machines. The other was Lisp Machines, Inc., although Symbolics attracted most of the hackers, and more funding.

Symbolics' initial product, the LM-2 (introduced in 1981), was a repackaged version of the MIT CADR Lisp machine design. The operating system and software development environment, over 500,000 lines, was written in Lisp from the microcode up, based on MIT's Lisp Machine Lisp.

The software bundle was later renamed ZetaLisp, to distinguish the Symbolics' product from other vendors who had also licensed the MIT software. Symbolics' Zmacs text editor, a variant of Emacs, was implemented in a text-processing package named "ZWEI", an acronym for "Zwei was Eine initially" — "Eine" being an acronym for "Eine Is Not Emacs" (both recursive acronyms and puns on the German words for "One" ("Eins", "Eine") and "Two" ("Zwei")).

The Lisp Machine system software was then copyrighted by MIT, and was licensed to Symbolics. Until 1981, they shared all the source code with MIT and kept it on an MIT server. According to a Symbolics employee,^[who?] the reason for the change in policy was Richard Stallman's making changes with which they disagreed, such as removing Symbolics' copyright notices on Symbolics' produced enhancements and transferring the resulting enhancements to the other commercial licensees, and at one point leaving the software in a state where it would not compile.^{[citation needed]} Richard Stallman's account claims Symbolics engaged in a business tactic in which it forced MIT to make all fixes and improvements to the Lisp Machine OS available only to it, and thereby choke off its competitor LMI, which at that time had insufficient resources to independently maintain or develop the OS and environment.^[4]

Symbolics felt that they no longer had sufficient control over their product. At that point, Symbolics began using their own copy of the software, located on their company servers — while Stallman says that Symbolics did that to prevent its Lisp improvements from flowing to Lisp Machines, Inc. From that base, Symbolics made extensive improvements to every part of the software, and continued to deliver almost all the source code to their customers (including MIT). However, the policy prohibited MIT staff from distributing the Symbolics version of the software to others. With the end of open collaboration came the end of the MIT hacker community. As a reaction to this, Stallman initiated the GNU project to make a new community. Eventually, Copyleft and the GNU General Public License would ensure that a hacker's software could remain free software. In this way Symbolics played a key, albeit adversarial, role in instigating the free software movement.

The 3600 Series[link]

Symbolics 3640

Symbolics 3600 Front Panel

Symbolics Boards

In 1983, a year later than planned, Symbolics introduced the 3600 family of Lisp machines. Code-named the "L-machine" internally, the 3600 family was an innovative new design, inspired by the CADR architecture but sharing few of its implementation details. The main processor had a 36 bit word (divided up as 4 or 8 bits of tags, and 32 bits of data or 28 bits of memory address). Memory words were 44 bits, the additional 8 bits being used for error-correcting code (ECC). The instruction set was that of a stack machine. The 3600 architecture provided 4,096 hardware registers, of which half were used as a cache for the top of the control stack; the rest were used by the microcode and time-critical routines of the operating system and Lisp run-time environment. Hardware support was provided for virtual memory, which was common for machines in its class, and for garbage collection, which was unique.

The original 3600 processor was a microprogrammed design like the CADR, and was built on several large circuit boards from standard TTL integrated circuits, both features being common for commercial computers in its class at the time. CPU clock speed varied depending on the particular instruction being executed, but was typically around 5 MHz. Many Lisp primitives could be executed in a single clock cycle. Disk I/O was handled by multitasking at the microcode level. A 68000 processor (known as the "Front-End Processor", or FEP) started the main computer up, and handled the slower peripherals during normal operation. An Ethernet interface was standard equipment, replacing the Chaosnet interface of the LM-2.

The 3600 was roughly the size of a household refrigerator. This was partly due to the size of the processor — the cards were widely spaced to allow wire-wrap prototype cards to fit without interference — and partly due to the limitations of the disk drive technology in the early 1980s. At the 3600's introduction, the smallest disk drive that could support the ZetaLisp software was 14 inches (356 mm) across (most 3600s shipped with the Fujitsu Eagle). The 3670 and 3675 were slightly shorter in height, but were essentially the same machine packed a little tighter. The advent of 8 inch (203 mm), and later 5¼ inch (133 mm), disk drives that could hold hundreds of megabytes led to the introduction of the 3640 and 3645, which were roughly the size of a two-drawer file cabinet.

Later versions of the 3600 architecture were implemented on custom integrated circuits, reducing the 5 cards of the original processor design to 2, at a large manufacturing cost savings but with performance slightly better than the old design. The 3650, first of the "G machines" (as they were known within the company), was housed in a cabinet derived from the 3640s. Denser memory and smaller disk drives enabled the introduction of the 3620, about the size of a modern full-size tower PC. The 3630 was a "fat 3620" with room for more memory and video interface cards. The 3610 was a lower priced variant of the 3620, essentially identical in every way except that it was licensed for application deployment rather than general development.

Symbolics Keyboard

The various models of the 3600 family were popular for AI research and commercial applications throughout the 1980s. The AI commercialization boom of the 1980s led directly to Symbolics' success during the decade. Symbolics computers were widely believed to be the best platform available for developing AI software.

Also contributing to the 3600 series' success was a line of bit-mapped graphics color video interfaces, combined with extremely powerful animation software. Symbolics' Graphics Division, headquartered in Westwood, California, a stone's throw from the major Hollywood movie and TV studios, made its S-Render and S-Paint software into industry leaders in the animation business.

Symbolics developed the first workstations capable of processing HDTV quality video, which enjoyed a popular following in Japan. A 3600 — with the standard black-and-white monitor — made a cameo appearance in the movie Real Genius. The company was also referenced in Michael Crichton's novel Jurassic Park.

Symbolics' Graphics Division was sold to Nichimen Trading Company in the early 90s, and the S-Graphics software suite (S-Paint, S-Geometry, S-Dynamics, S-Render) ported to Franz Allegro Common Lisp on SGI and PC computers running Windows NT. Today it is sold as Mirai by Izware LLC, and continues to be used in major motion pictures (most famously in New Line Cinema's Lord of the Rings), video games, and military simulations.

3600 ports, with Connection Machine interface

Symbolic's 3600 series computers were also used as the first front end "controller" computers for the Connection Machine massively parallel computers manufactured by Thinking Machines Inc., another MIT spinoff based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Connection Machine ran a parallel variant of Lisp and, initially, was used primarily by the AI community, so the Symbolics Lisp machine was a particularly good fit as a front-end machine.

For a long time, the operating system didn't have a name, but was finally named "Genera" around 1984. The system included a number of advanced dialects of Lisp. Its heritage was MACLISP on the PDP-10, but it included more data types, and multiple-inheritance object-oriented programming features.

Initially called Lisp Machine Lisp, then ZetaLisp, it finally acquired the name "Symbolics Common Lisp" during the creation of Common Lisp in 1987. Common Lisp is a subset of the dialect available on the Lisp Machine.

Ivory and Open Genera[link]

In the late 1980s (2 years later than planned), the Ivory family of single-chip Lisp Machine processors superseded the G-Machine 3650, 3620, and 3630 systems. The Ivory 390k transistor VLSI implementation designed in Symbolics Common Lisp using NS, a custom Symbolics Hardware Design Language (HDL), addressed a 40-bit word (8 bits tag, 32 bits data/address). Since it only addressed full words and not bytes or half-words, this allowed addressing of 4 Gigawords (GW) or 16 gigabytes (GB) of memory; the increase in address space reflected the growth of programs and data as semiconductor memory and disk space became cheaper. The Ivory processor had 8 bits of ECC attached to each word, so each word fetched from external memory to the chip was actually 48 bits wide. Each Ivory instruction was 18 bits wide and two instructions plus a 2-bit CDR code and 2-bit Data Type were in each instruction word fetched from memory. Fetching two instruction words at a time from memory enhanced the Ivory's performance. Unlike the 3600's microprogrammed architecture, the Ivory instruction set was still microcoded, but was stored in a 1200 x 180 bit ROM inside the Ivory chip. The initial Ivory processors were fabricated by VLSI Technology Inc in San Jose, California on a 2 µm CMOS process, with later generations fabricated by Hewlett Packard in Corvallis, Oregon on a 1.25 µm and 1 µm CMOS processes. The Ivory had a stack architecture and operated a 4 stage pipeline: Fetch, Decode, Execute and Write Back. Ivory processors were marketed in stand-alone Lisp Machines (the XL400, XL1200, and XL1201), headless Lisp Machines (NXP1000), and on add-in cards for Sun Microsystems (UX400, UX1200) and Apple Macintosh (MacIvory I, II, III) computers. The Lisp Machines with Ivory processors operated at speeds that were between two and six times faster than a 3600 depending on the model and the revision of the Ivory chip.

The Ivory instruction set was later emulated in software for microprocessors implementing the 64-bit Alpha architecture. The "Virtual Lisp Machine" emulator, combined with the operating system and software development environment from the XL machines, is sold as Open Genera.

Sunstone[link]

Sunstone was a RISC-like processor that was to be released shortly after the Ivory. It was designed by Ron Lebel's group at the Symbolics Westwood office. However, the project was canceled the day it was supposed to tape out.

Endgame[link]

As quickly as the commercial AI boom of the mid 1980s had propelled Symbolics to success, the "AI Winter" of the late 1980s and early 1990s, combined with the slow down of Reagan's "Star Wars" missile defense program, for which DARPA had invested heavily in AI solutions, severely damaged Symbolics. An internal war between Noftsker and the CEO the board had hired in 1986, Brian Sear, over whether to follow Sun's suggested lead and focus on selling their software, or to re-emphasize their superior hardware, and the ensuing lack of focus when both Noftsker and Sear were fired from the company caused sales to plummet. This fact, combined with some ill-advised real estate deals by company management during the boom years (they had entered into large long-term lease obligations in California), drove Symbolics into bankruptcy. Rapid evolution in mass-market microprocessor technology (the "PC revolution"), advances in Lisp compiler technology, and the economics of manufacturing custom microprocessors severely diminished the commercial advantages of purpose-built Lisp machines. By 1995, the Lisp machine era had ended, and with it Symbolics' hopes for success.

Symbolics continues as an enterprise with very limited revenues, supported mainly by service contracts on the remaining MacIvory, UX-1200, UX-1201, and other machines still used by commercial customers. Symbolics also sells Virtual Lisp Machine (VLM) software for DEC, Compaq and HP Alpha-based workstations (AlphaStation) and servers (AlphaServer), refurbished MacIvory IIs and Symbolics keyboards.

In July 2005, Symbolics closed its Chatsworth, California maintenance facility. The reclusive owner of the company, Andrew Topping, died that same year. The current legal status of Symbolics software is uncertain.^[5] An assortment of Symbolics hardware was still available for purchase as of August 2007.^[6]

First .com domain[link]

On March 15, 1985 symbolics.com became the first (and currently, since it is still registered, the oldest) registered .com domain of the Internet.^[7] The symbolics.com domain was purchased by XF.com in 2009.

Networking[link]

Genera also featured the most extensive networking interoperability software seen to that point. A local area network system called Chaosnet had been invented for the Lisp Machine (predating the commercial availability of Ethernet). The Symbolics system supported Chaosnet, but also had one of the first TCP/IP implementations. It also supported DECNET and IBM's SNA network protocols. A Dialnet protocol used phone lines and modems. Genera would, using hints from its distributed "namespace" database (somewhat similar to DNS, but more comprehensive, like parts of Xerox's Grapevine), automatically select the best protocol combination to use when connecting to network service. An application program (or a user command) would only specify the name of the host and the desired service. For example, a host name and a request for "Terminal Connection" might yield a connection over TCP/IP using the TELNET protocol (although there were many other possibilities). Likewise, requesting a file operation (such as a Copy File command) might pick NFS, FTP, NFILE (the Symbolics network file access protocol), or one of several others, and it might execute the request over TCP/IP, Chaosnet, or whatever other network was most suitable.

Contributions to computer science[link]

Symbolics' research and development staff (first at MIT, and then later at the company) produced a number of major innovations in software technology:

• Flavors, one of the earliest object-oriented extensions to Lisp, was a message-passing object system patterned after Smalltalk, but with multiple inheritance and a number of other enhancements. The Symbolics operating system made heavy use of Flavors objects. The experience gained with Flavors led to the design of New Flavors, a short-lived successor based on generic functions rather than message passing. Many of the concepts in New Flavors formed the basis of the CLOS (Common Lisp Object System) standard.
• Advances in garbage collection techniques by Henry Baker, David Moon and others, particularly the first commercial use of generational scavenging, allowed Symbolics computers to run large Lisp programs for months at a time.
• Symbolics staffers Dan Weinreb, David Moon, Neal Feinberg, Kent Pitman, Scott McKay, Sonya Keene and others made significant contributions to the emerging Common Lisp language standard from the mid-1980s through the release of the ANSI Common Lisp standard in 1994.
• Symbolics introduced one of the first commercial object-oriented databases, Statice, in 1989. The developers of Statice later went on to found Object Design, Inc. and create ObjectStore.
• Symbolics introduced in 1987 one of the first commercial microprocessors designed to support the execution of Lisp programs: the Symbolics Ivory.^[8] Symbolics also used its own CAD system (NS, New Schematic) for the development of the Ivory chip.
• Under contract from AT&T, Symbolics developed Minima, a real-time Lisp run-time environment and operating system for the Ivory processor. This was delivered in a small hardware configuration featuring lots of RAM (no disk) and dual network ports. It was used as the basis for a next-generation carrier class long-distance telephone switch.
• The Graphics Division's Craig Reynolds devised an algorithm that simulated the flocking behavior of birds in flight. "Boids" made their first appearance at SIGGRAPH in the 1987 animated short "Stanley and Stella in: Breaking the Ice", produced by the Graphics Division. Reynolds went on to win the Scientific And Engineering Award from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1998.
• The Symbolics Document Examiner hypertext system originally used for the Symbolics manuals- it was based on Zmacs following a design by Janet Walker, and proved influential in the evolution of hypertext.
• Symbolics was very active in the design and development of the Common Lisp Interface Manager (CLIM) presentation-based User Interface Management System. CLIM is a descendant of Dynamic Windows, Symbolics' own window system. CLIM was the result of the collaboration of several Lisp companies.
• Symbolics produced the first workstation which could genlock, the first to have real time video I/O, the first to support digital video I/O and the first to do HDTV.^[9]

Symbolics Graphics Division[link]

The Symbolics Graphics Division (SGD, founded in 1982, sold to Nichimen Graphics in 1992) developed the S-Graphics software suite (S-Paint, S-Geometry, S-Dynamics, S-Render) for Symbolics Genera.

Movies[link]

This software was also used to create a few computer animated movies and was used for some popular movies.

• 1984, graphics for the little screens about the bridges of the Enterprise and the Klingon ship in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
• 1985, 3D animations for Real Genius
• 1987, Symbolics, Stanley and Stella in: Breaking the Ice
• 1989, Symbolics, The Little Death
• 1990, Symbolics, Ductile Flow, presented at SIGGRAPH 1990
• 1990, 3D animations for Jetsons: The Movie
• 1991, Symbolics, Virtually Yours
• 1993, 3D animation of the Orca for Free Willy

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (December 2011)

• new Symbolics, Inc. domain
• "Symbolics Technical Summary"
• The Symbolics Museum
• Archives from the Symbolics Lisp Users Group (SLUG) Mailing List, 1986-1993
• Archives from the Symbolics Lisp Users Group (SLUG) Mailing List, 1990-1999
• Ralf Möller's Symbolics Lisp Machine Museum
  • A page of screenshots of Genera
  • "Genera Concepts" — (Web copy of Symbolic's introduction to Genera)
• "Symbolics, Inc.: A failure of Heterogenous engineering" — (PDF file)
• Literature on Symbolics and Lisp machines — (from the Symbolics Lisp Machine)
• A collection of press releases from Symbolics
  • "Symbolics announces the first true Single-Chip Lisp CPU" — (Symbolics press release announcing the Ivory chip)
• Entry for Symbolics on WikiWikiWeb
• Lisp machines timeline -(a timeline of Symbolics' and others' Lisp machines)
• "Why Did Symbolics Fail?" -(by Daniel Weinreb)

Cao Cao
Ming Dynasty block print portrait of Cao Cao from Sancai Tuhui
King of Wei
Born	155 Bozhou, Anhui, China
Died	March 15, 220 (aged 64–65) Luoyang, Henan, China
Successor	Cao Pi
Names
Simplified Chinese	曹操
Traditional Chinese	曹操
Pinyin	Cáo Cāo
Wade-Giles	Ts'ao2 Ts'ao1
Style name	Mengde (孟德)
Posthumous name	King Wu (武王) Emperor Wu (武帝)
Temple name	Taizu (太祖)
Other names	Infant names A'man (阿瞞) Jili (吉利)

Cao Cao (Mandarin pronunciation: [tsʰɑ̌ʊ tsʰɑ́ʊ]; 155 – March 15, 220)^[1] was a warlord and the penultimate chancellor of the Eastern Han Dynasty who rose to great power during the dynasty's final years. As one of the central figures of the Three Kingdoms period, he laid the foundations for what was to become the state of Cao Wei and was posthumously titled Emperor Wu of Wei. Although often portrayed as a cruel and merciless tyrant, Cao Cao has also been praised as a brilliant ruler and military genius who treated his subordinates like his family. He was also skilled in poetry and martial arts and wrote many war journals.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Cao was born in the county of Qiao (present day Bozhou, Anhui) in 155. His father Cao Song was a foster son of Cao Teng, who in turn was one of the favorite eunuchs of Emperor Huan. Some historical records, including the Biography of Cao Man, claim that Cao Song's original family name was Xiahou.

Cao was known for his craftiness as an adolescent. According to the Biography of Cao Man, Cao's uncle complained to Cao Song about Cao Cao's indulgence in hunting and music with Yuan Shao. In retaliation, Cao Cao feigned a fit before his uncle, who immediately rushed to inform Cao Song. When Cao Song went to see his son, Cao Cao behaved normally. When asked, Cao Cao replied, "I have never had a fit, but I lost the love of my uncle, and therefore he deceived you." Afterwards, Cao Song ceased to believe his brother regarding Cao Cao, and thus Cao Cao became even more blatant and perseverant in his wayward pursuits.

At that time, a man living in Runan named Xu Shao was famed for his ability to evaluate one's potentials and talents. Cao paid him a visit in hopes of receiving an evaluation that would help him politically. At first, Xu refused to make a statement; however, under persistent questioning, he finally said, "You would be a capable minister in peaceful times and an unscrupulous hero in chaotic times."^[2] Cao laughed and left. It is worth noting that there are two other versions of the comment in other unofficial historical records: "capable minister in peaceful times, unrighteous hero in chaotic times" and "sinister foe in peaceful times, great hero in chaotic times."^{[citation needed]}

Statue of Cao Cao

At the age of 20, Cao was appointed district captain of Luoyang. Upon taking up the post, Cao placed rows of multicolored stakes outside his office and ordered his deputies to flog those who violated the law, regardless of their status. An uncle of Jian Shuo, one of the most powerful and influential eunuchs under Emperor Ling, was caught walking in the city after the evening curfew by Cao's men and was flogged. This prompted Jian Shuo and other higher authorities to ostensibly promote Cao to the post of governor of Dunqiu County while actually moving him out of the imperial capital. Cao remained in this position for little more than a year, being dismissed from office in 178 for his distant family ties with the disgraced Empress Song.^[3] Around 180, Cao Cao returned to court as a Consultant (議郎) and presented two memoranda against the eunuchs' influence in court and government corruption during his tenure, to limited effect.^[4]

When the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out in 184, Cao was recalled to Luoyang and appointed "Captain of the Cavalry" (騎都尉) and sent to Yingchuan to suppress the rebels. He was successful and was sent to Ji'nan (濟南) as Chancellor (相) to prevent the spread of Yellow Turban influence there. In Ji'nan, Cao Cao aggressively enforced the ban on unorthodox cults, destroyed shrines, and supported state Confucianism. He offended the local leading families in the process, and resigned on grounds of poor health around 187, fearing that he had put his family in danger.^[5] He was offered the post of Administrator of Dong Commandery (東郡), but he declined and returned to his home in Pei county. Around that time, Wang Fen (王芬) tried to recruit Cao Cao to join his coup to replace Emperor Ling with the Marquis of Hefei, but Cao Cao refused. The plot came to nothing, and Wang Fen killed himself.^[6]

Alliance against Dong Zhuo[link]

After eighteen months in retirement, Cao Cao returned to the imperial capital in 188. That year, he was appointed Colonel Who Arranges the Army (典軍校尉), fourth of eight heads of a newly established imperial army, the corps of the Western Garden (西園軍). The effectiveness of this new force never became known, since it was disbanded the next year.^[7]

In 189, Emperor Ling died and was succeeded by his eldest son (Emperor Shao), although state power was mainly in the hands of Empress Dowager He and others. The empress dowager's brother, General-in-Chief He Jin, plotted with Yuan Shao to eliminate the Ten Attendants (a group of influential eunuchs in the imperial court). He Jin summoned Dong Zhuo, a seasoned general of Liang Province, to lead his army into Luoyang to pressure the empress dowager to surrender power, despite accusations of Dong's "infamy". Before Dong arrived, He Jin was assassinated by the eunuchs and Luoyang was thrown into chaos as Yuan Shao's supporters fought the eunuchs. Dong's army easily rid the palace grounds of opposition. After he deposed Emperor Shao, Dong placed the puppet Emperor Xian on the throne, as he deemed that Emperor Xian was more capable than the original puppet Emperor Shao.

After rejecting Dong Zhuo's appointment, Cao left Luoyang for Chenliu (southeast of present day Kaifeng, Henan, Cao's hometown), where he built his army. The next year, regional warlords formed a military alliance under Yuan Shao against Dong. Cao joined them, becoming one of the few actively fighting members of the coalition. The coalition fell apart after months of inactivity, and China fell into civil war while Dong was killed in 192 by Lü Bu.

Securing the emperor[link]

Through short-term and regional-scale wars, Cao continued to expand his power. In 193, Cao massacred thousands of civilians in Xu Province to avenge his father's death.

In 196, Cao joined Emperor Xian and convinced him to move the capital to Xuchang as suggested by Xun Yu and other advisors, as Luoyang was ruined by war and Chang'an was not under Cao's military control, and he was appointed chancellor. Cao became commander-in-chief (大將軍) and Marquis of Wuping (武平侯), though both titles had little practical implication. While some viewed the emperor as a puppet under Cao's control, Cao adhered to a strict personal rule to his death that he would not usurp the throne. Later, when he was approached by his advisors to overthrow the Han Dynasty and start his own dynasty, he replied, "If heaven bestows such a fate upon me, let me be King Wen of Zhou."^[8]

To maintain a good relationship with Yuan Shao, who had become the most powerful warlord in China when he united the northern four provinces, Cao lobbied to have Yuan appointed Minister of Works. However, this had the opposite effect, as Yuan believed that Cao was trying to humiliate him, since Minister of Works technically ranked lower than Commander-in-chief, and thus refused to accept the title. To pacify Yuan, Cao offered his own position to him, while becoming Minister of Works himself. While this temporarily resolved the conflict, it was the catalyst for the Battle of Guandu later.

Uniting the North[link]

In 200, Yuan Shao amassed more than 100,000 troops and marched southwards on Xuchang in the name of rescuing the emperor. Cao gathered 20,000 men in Guandu, a strategic point on the Yellow River. The two armies came to a standstill as neither side was able to make much progress. Cao's lack of men did not allow him to make significant attacks, and Yuan's pride forced him to meet Cao's force head-on. Despite his overwhelming advantage in terms of manpower, Yuan was unable to make full use of his resources because of his indecisive leadership and Cao's position.

Besides the middle battleground of Guandu, two lines of battle were present. The eastern line with Yuan Tan of Yuan Shao's army against Zang Ba of Cao's army was a one-sided battle in favor of Cao, as Yuan Tan's poor leadership was no match for Zang's local knowledge of the landscape and his hit-and-run tactics. On the western front, Yuan Shao's nephew, Gao Gan, performed better against Cao's army and forced several reinforcements from Cao's main camp to maintain the western battle. Liu Bei, then a guest in Yuan Shao's army, suggested that he instigate rebellion in Cao's territories as many followers of Yuan were in Cao's lands. The tactic was initially successful but Man Chong's diplomatic skills helped to resolve the conflict almost immediately. Man had been placed as an official there for this specific reason, as Cao had foreseen the possibility of insurrection prior to the battle.

Finally, a defector from Yuan Shao's army, Xu You, informed Cao of the location of Yuan's supply depot. Cao broke the stalemate by sending a special group of soldiers to burn all the supplies of Yuan's army, thus winning a decisive and seemingly impossible victory. Yuan Shao fell ill and died shortly after the defeat, leaving two sons – the eldest son, Yuan Tan and the youngest son, Yuan Shang. As he had designated the youngest son, Yuan Shang, as his successor, rather than the eldest as tradition dictated, the two brothers fought each other, as they fought Cao. Cao used the internal conflict within the Yuan clan to his advantage and defeated the Yuans easily. Cao assumed effective rule over all of northern China. He sent armies further out and expanded his control across the Great Wall into present-day Korea, and southward to the Han River.

The Three Kingdoms[link]

Traditional site of the Red Cliffs, north of Wulin

However, Cao's attempt to extend his domination south of the Yangtze River was unsuccessful. He received an initial success when Liu Biao, Governor of Jing Province, died, and his successor, Liu Cong surrendered to Cao without resistance. Delighted by this, he pressed on despite objections from his military advisors and hoped the same would happen again. His forces were defeated by a coalition of his arch-rivals Liu Bei and Sun Quan (who later founded the states of Shu Han and Eastern Wu respectively) at the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208.

In 213, Cao was titled "Duke of Wei" (魏公), given the nine bestowments, and given a fief of ten cities under his domain, known as Wei. In 216, Cao was promoted to "King of Wei" (魏王). Over the years, Cao, as well as Liu Bei and Sun Quan, continued to consolidate their power in their respective regions. Through many wars, China became divided into three powers – Wei, Shu and Wu, which fought sporadic battles without the balance tipping significantly in anyone's favor.

In 220, Cao died in Luoyang at the age of 65, having failed to unify China under his rule. His will instructed that he be buried near Ximen Bao's tomb in Ye without gold and jade treasures, and that his subjects on duty at the frontier were to stay in their posts and not attend the funeral as, in his own words, "the country is still unstable".

Cao's eldest surviving son Cao Pi succeeded him. Within a year, Cao Pi forced Emperor Xian to abdicate and proclaimed himself the first emperor of Cao Wei. Cao Cao was then posthumously titled "Grand Ancestor Emperor Wu of Wei" (魏太祖武皇帝)

Cultural legacy[link]

A mask of Cao Cao in Chinese opera.

While historical records indicate Cao as a brilliant ruler, he was represented as a cunning and deceitful man in Chinese opera, where the character of Cao is given a white facial makeup to reflect his treacherous personality. When writing the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Luo Guanzhong took much of his inspiration from the opera.

As a result, unscrupulous depictions of Cao have become much more popular among the common people than his real image. There have been attempts to revise this depiction.^[9][10]

As the Romance of the Three Kingdoms has been adapted to modern forms of entertainment, so has its portrayal of Cao. Given the source material upon which these adaptations are founded, Cao continues to be characterised as a prominent villain.

Through to modern times, the Chinese equivalent of the English idiom "speak of the Devil" is "Speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives." (Chinese: 說曹操，曹操到; pinyin: Shuō Cáo Cāo, Cáo Cāo dào).

After the Communists won the Chinese Civil War in 1949, many people in China began to believe that there were many similarities between Cao Cao and the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, Mao Zedong. Because of this perceived similarity, Party propagandists began a long-term, sustained effort to improve the image of Cao Cao in Chinese popular culture. In 1959, Marshal Peng Dehuai wrote a letter to Mao in which he compared himself to Zhang Fei: because of Mao's popular association with Cao, Peng's comparison implied that he had an intuitively confrontational relationship with Mao. Mao had the letter widely circulated in order to make Peng's attitude clear to other Party members, and proceeded to purge Peng, eventually ending Peng's career.^[11]

Agriculture and education[link]

While waging military campaigns against his enemies, Cao did not forget the bases of society – agriculture and education.

In 194, a locust plague caused a major famine across China. According to the Records of the Three Kingdoms, the people ate each other out of desperation. Without food, many armies were defeated without fighting. From this experience, Cao saw the importance of an ample food supply in building a strong military. He began a series of agricultural programs in cities such as Xuchang and Chenliu. Refugees were recruited and given wasteland to cultivate. Later, encampments not faced with imminent danger of war were also made to farm. This system was continued and spread to all regions under Cao as his realm expanded. Although Cao's primary intention was to build a powerful army, the agricultural program also improved the living standards of the people, especially war refugees.

By 203, Cao had eliminated most of Yuan Shao's force. This afforded him more attention on construction within his realm. In autumn of that year, Cao passed an order decreeing the promotion of education throughout the counties and cities within his jurisdiction. An official in charge of education was assigned to each county with at least 500 households. Youngsters with potential and talents were selected for schooling. This prevented a lapse in the output of intellectuals in those warring years and, in Cao's words, would benefit the people.

Poetry[link]

Cao Cao was an accomplished poet, as were his sons Cao Pi and Cao Zhi. Cao Cao was also a patron of poets such as Xu Gan.^[12] Of Cao's works only a remnant remain today. His verses, unpretentious yet profound, helped to reshape the poetic style of his time and beyond, eventually contributing to the poetry styles associated with Tang Dynasty poetry. Cao Cao and his sons Cao Pi and Cao Zhi are collectively known as the "Three Caos". Together with certain other poets, their poetry formed the backbone of what is known as the Jian'an style. Jian'an is the era name for the period from 196 to 220, the final era of the Han Dynasty; however, poets, such as of the Cao family continued to write and develop poetry in this style after the end of the Han and after the founding of the Cao Wei dynasty: these are the "Jian'an" poets. Poetry was affected by civil strife towards the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, contributing to the Jian'an poems' often solemn yet heart-stirring tone, frequently lamenting the ephemeral nature of life. From the early folk songs characteristic of Han poetry, the Jian'an poetry represents a transition towards a more scholarly poetry characteristic of Six Dynasties poetry. Cao Cao and other Jian'an poets were specifically noted for developments to the characteristic Han fu (or yuefu), while keeping some features, the uneven line lengths derived from the folksong or ballad tradition were eliminated, or changed into a regular five-character line-length style—very similar and inspirational to the regular five-character line shi poetry of the Tang Dynasty. Cao Cao himself also was noted for his ballad style verse, which he apparently set to music.^[13]

Cao Cao also wrote verse in the older four-character per line style characteristic of the Shijing "Classic Odes". Burton Watson describes Cao Cao as: "the only writer of the period who succeeded in infusing the old four-character meter with any vitality, mainly because he discarded the archaic diction associated with it and employed the ordinary poetic language of his time."^[14] One of Cao's most celebrated poems is in the old four-character line style: written during the Battle of White Wolf Mountain against the northern Wuhuan in 207, it is titled Though the Tortoise Lives Long (龜雖壽).

Another of Cao Cao's most well known poems, written right before the Battle of Red Cliffs in the winter of 208 AD, is Short Song Style. (短歌行)

Purported discovery of Cao Cao's tomb[link]

The discovery of Cao's tomb in Xigaoxue Village (西高穴村) in Anyang County, Henan was reported by archaeologists in December 2009. Legends tell that the tomb was protected by 72 decoys to keep its location secret, though the recent discovery casts doubt on that legend.^[15] The tomb was unearthed by workers of a nearby kiln when they were digging mud for making bricks, but the discovery was not initially reported to the authorities. Tomb raiding had been carried on since the tomb's initial discovery, until local authorities seized stone tablets carrying inscriptions of "King Wu of Wei" (魏武王) — Cao's posthumous reference — from tomb raiders and brought the tomb to light. Archaeologists began excavating the tomb in December 2008.^[16]

The 740-square-meter tomb, a size appropriate for a king, was determined to have been built at the time of Wei and to be that of Cao. Within the tomb were stone tablets identifying Cao as the owner of the tomb, 250 artifacts including weapons, armour, and pottery,^[17] the remains of a man in his 60s, and the bones of two women in their 50s and 20s.^[15] No luxury items were found in the tomb, which is in accordance to Cao's will that he should be buried simply.^[17] The bodies are believed to be Cao and his wife, along with her female servant.^[15]

Since its discovery, there have been many skeptics and experts who pointed out problems with the discovery and doubt about the tomb's authenticity. For instance, Professor Yuan Jixi of Renmin University's Faculty of Ancient Chinese Study suggests that because this tomb had been greatly disturbed by tomb raiders, the items found in the tomb cannot be guaranteed as original, and the most important evidence carrying inscriptions of "King Wu of Wei" may have been created by modern antique traders.^[18] A total of 23 experts and scholars from across China presented evidence at the National High-Level Forum on Culture of the Three Kingdoms Period held in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province in August 2010 to argue that the findings and the artifacts of the tomb were faked.^[19]

In fiction[link]

Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a historical novel by Luo Guanzhong, was a romanticization of the events that occurred during the Three Kingdoms period. While adhering to historical facts most of the time, the novel inevitably re-shaped Cao dramatically to some extent, so as to portray him as a cruel and suspicious villain. In some chapters, Luo created fictional or semi-fictional events involving Cao. They include:

Planned assassination of Dong Zhuo[link]

While in reality Cao did leave Dong Zhuo, the tyrannical warlord who held Emperor Xian hostage in 190 to consolidate power, Luo Guanzhong took a step further in describing Cao's attempted assassination on Dong:

Dong deposed Emperor Shao, the successor of the late Emperor Ling, and placed Emperor Xian on the throne. His autocratic behavior and acts of brutality against his political opponents and the common people incurred the anger of various court officials. One of them, Wang Yun, called for a secret meeting of the officials under the pretext of his birthday celebration. During the feast, Wang cried upon recalling the cruel deeds of Dong. His colleagues felt the same anguish and joined him in tears.

Cao, however, laughed and said, "All the officials of the court – crying from dusk till dawn and from dawn till dusk – can you make Dong Zhuo die by crying?" Wang met him in private later and lent him the Seven Gems Sword (七星劍) after Cao promised to assassinate Dong Zhuo personally.

The next day, Cao brought the precious sword to see Dong. Having much trust in Cao, Dong received the guest in his bedroom. Lü Bu, Dong's foster son, left the room for the stable to select a better horse for Cao, who complained about his slow ride. When Dong turned away, Cao prepared to unsheathe the sword. However, Dong saw Cao's action through a reflection in the mirror and hastily turned to question Cao's intention. Coincidentally, Lü Bu returned at that moment as well. In desperation, Cao knelt down and claimed that he wanted to present the sword to Dong. Cao seized the opportunity to escape from Luoyang under the pretext of trying a ride on the new horse. Dong realized later that Cao had intended to assassinate him and sent his men to summon Cao back to see him. However, Cao had already escaped and Dong issued an order for Cao's arrest.

Murder of Lü Boshe[link]

Following the escape from Dong Zhuo is a legendary episode aimed at illustrating Cao's near-Machiavellian tendencies for later characterizations of him as a villain. Though never exactly proven, it is said that Cao escaped with Chen Gong, a county magistrate who arrested him earlier and released him out of admiration for Cao's sense of righteousness later. They sought shelter at the home of Lü Boshe, a close friend of Cao's father. Lü promised to protect him and left to purchase some materials in preparation for a feast. Cao and Chen overheard a conversation between Lü's servants about a murder plot. Cao's suspicious nature caused him to jump to the conclusion that Lü Boshe had deceived him and intended to kill him and hand over his corpse to Dong Zhuo for a reward. Cao and Chen burst in and killed everyone in the house, including Lü's wife and children. They discovered later that the servants were actually discussing how to "murder" (slaughter) a pig for the feast.

Cao and Chen fled immediately and ran into Lü Boshe, who had just returned from his errand. When questioned, Cao provided an excuse, saying that he was afraid of being followed, as the reason for his abrupt departure. Cao then asked Lü, "Who's that behind you?" When Lü turned around, Cao stabbed and killed him from behind. Chen was shocked and asked him why he committed that atrocity. Cao explained that it was for their safety, because if Lü went home and saw the ghastly sight, he would report the murder to the authorities and hence create serious trouble for them. Cao then raised his sword and famously said, "I'd rather let the world down than to allow the world to let me down." (寧教我負天下人，休教天下人負我). According to Cao's biography in Records of the Three Kingdoms, Cao said "I'd rather let others down than to allow others to let me down." (寧我負人，毋人負我) with a sense of regret and remorse.^[20] The exact quote was altered in Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms, with "world" (天下人; literally: people under Heaven) replacing "others" (人; literally: people). Historian Yi Zhongtian speculated that Cao was probably trying to console himself after mistakenly killing Lü Boshe, by speaking with a sense of remorse. Yi believed that Luo had changed the quote to reflect that Cao had no sense of remorse (because "world" carries greater weight than "others"), so as to enhance Cao's image as a villain in his novel.^[21]

Portrait of Cao Cao from a Qing Dynasty edition of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the hunched figure clearly portraying him as a villain

Strict disciplinarian[link]

Du Mu's account of Cao's life states that he was such a strict disciplinarian. He cited the example of an incident, in which Cao condemned himself to death for having allowed his horse to stray into a field of grain, violating a military law that dictates any soldier who damages commoners' crops would be executed. However, in lieu of losing his head, he was persuaded to satisfy his sense of justice by cutting off a lock of his hair. "When you pass a law, see that it is not disobeyed; if it is disobeyed, the offender must be punished."^{[citation needed]}

Death of Cao Cao and Hua Tuo[link]

In 220, Cao died in Luoyang due to an unknown illness. Legends contain explanations for the cause of his death. Romance of the Three Kingdoms included some of these legends, as well as Luo Guanzhong's own story about the involvement of Hua Tuo, a renowned Chinese physician.

When Cao started complaining about splitting headaches in the last days of his life, his subjects recommended Hua Tuo, a physician with remarkable healing skills. Upon examination, Hua diagnosed Cao's illness to be a form of rheumatism in the skull. He suggested giving Cao a dose of hashish and then splitting open his skull with a sharp axe to extract the pus within.

Due to an earlier incident with another physician called Ji Ping, who attempted to poison him, Cao grew suspicious of any physician. Cao believed that Hua intended to kill him to avenge the death of Guan Yu. He had Hua imprisoned and Hua died a few days later. Without proper treatment, Cao died soon as well. In another account of Cao's cause of death, it was said that a curse befell him when he tried to cut down a sacred tree and use its wood to build a lavish villa.

Family[link]

• Foster grandfather: Cao Teng, eunuch official, descendant of Cao Shen

• Father: Cao Song, served as Grand Commandant during the reign of Emperor Ling

• Spouses:
  • Lady Bian, Cao Cao's official spouse, bore Cao Pi, Cao Zhang, Cao Zhi, Cao Xiong and Cao Jie
  • Lady Ding (丁夫人), Cao Cao's first wife, fell out with him after Cao Ang's death
  • Lady Liu (劉夫人), Lady Ding's servant, later became Cao Cao's concubine, died of illness at a young age, bore Cao Ang and Cao Shuo
  • Lady Huan (環夫人), bore Cao Chong, Cao Ju (曹據) and Cao Yu
  • Lady Du (杜夫人), bore Cao Lin, Cao Gun and Princess Jinxiang
  • Lady Qin (秦夫人), bore Cao Xuan and Cao Jun (曹峻)
  • Lady Yin (尹夫人), bore Cao Ju (曹矩)
  • Lady Wang (王昭儀), bore Cao Gan
  • Consort Sun (孫姬), bore Cao Shang, Cao Biao and Cao Qin
  • Consort Li (李姬), bore Cao Cheng, Cao Zheng and Cao Jing
  • Consort Zhou (周姬), bore Cao Jun (曹均)
  • Consort Liu (劉姬), bore Cao Ji
  • Consort Song (宋姬), bore Cao Hui
  • Consort Zhao (趙姬), bore Cao Mao
  • Laiying'er (來鶯兒), a prostitute from Luoyang, later fell in love with Cao Cao's bodyguard Wang Tu (王圖)
  • Consort Chen (陳妾)

• Children:
  • Sons:
    • Cao Ang, raised by Lady Ding, killed in action at the Battle of Wancheng
    • Cao Pi, became the first emperor of Cao Wei after forcing Emperor Xian of Han to abdicate. See Cao Pi#Family for details on Cao Pi's family.
    • Cao Zhang, instated as Prince of Rencheng in 223. Fathered Cao Kai (曹楷).
    • Cao Zhi, instated as Prince of Chen in 225. See Cao Zhi#Family for details on Cao Zhi's family.
    • Cao Xiong, died at a young age. Fathered Cao Bing (曹炳).
    • Cao Shuo (曹鑠), died at a young age, posthumously granted title of Prince of Shang by Cao Rui. Fathered Cao Qian (曹潛). Cao Qian fathered Cao Yan (曹偃).
    • Cao Chong, died at a young age
    • Cao Ju (曹據), instated as Prince of Pengcheng in 232. Fathered Cao Cong (曹琮), Cao Fan (曹范) and Cao Chan (曹闡).
    • Cao Yu (曹宇), instated as Prince of Yan in 232. Fathered Cao Huan.
    • Cao Lin (曹林), instated as Prince of Pei in 232. Fathered Cao Wei (曹緯).
    • Cao Gun (曹袞), instated as Prince of Zhongshan in 232. Fathered Cao Fu (曹孚).
    • Cao Xuan (曹玹), instated as Marquis of Xixiang in 211. Fathered Cao Heng (曹恒).
    • Cao Jun (曹峻), instated as Prince of Chenliu in 232. Fathered Cao Ao (曹澳).
    • Cao Ju (曹矩), died at a young age
    • Cao Gan (曹幹), instated as Prince of Zhao in 232
    • Cao Shang (曹上), died at a young age
    • Cao Biao (曹彪), instated as Prince of Chu in 232. Forced to commit suicide in 251 after staging a rebellion with Wang Ling. Fathered Cao Jia (曹嘉).
    • Cao Qin (曹勤), died at a young age
    • Cao Cheng (曹乘), died at a young age
    • Cao Zheng (曹整), instated as Marquis of Mei in 217
    • Cao Jing (曹京), died at a young age
    • Cao Jun (曹均), instated as Marquis of Fan in 217. Fathered Cao Wan (曹琬), Cao Min (曹敏) and Cao Kang (曹抗). Cao Wan fathered Cao Lian (曹廉); Cao Min fathered Cao Kun (曹焜); Cao Kang fathered Cao Chen (曹諶).
    • Cao Ji (曹棘), died at a young age
    • Cao Hui (曹徽), instated as Prince of Dongping in 232. Fathered Cao Xi (曹翕).
    • Cao Mao (曹茂), instated as Prince of Quyang in 232
    • Cao Ping (曹平), instated as Marquis of Wu in 232
  • Daughters:
    • Cao Jie (曹節), empress of Emperor Xian
    • Cao Hua (曹華), concubine of Emperor Xian
    • Princess Anyang (安陽公主), personal name unknown, married Xun Yu's son Xun Yun (荀惲)
    • Princess Jinxiang (金鄉公主), personal name unknown, married He Yan
    • Princess Qinghe (清河公主), personal name unknown, married Xiahou Mao
    • Princess Linfen (臨汾公主), personal name unknown
  • Foster children:
    • Cao Zhen, distant nephew
    • Cao Xian (曹憲), daughter of Lady Huan and her ex-husband Bian Rang (邊讓), concubine of Emperor Xian
    • Qin Lang, son of Lady Du and her ex-husband Qin Yilu (秦宜祿)
    • He Yan (何晏), son of Lady Yin and her ex-husband He Wei (何威)

Appointments and titles held[link]

• Filial and Incorrupt (孝廉) - nominated candidate to be a Gentleman Cadet
• Gentleman Cadet (郎)
• Captain of the North District of Luoyang (洛陽北部尉)
• Prefect of Dunqiu (頓丘令)
• Consultant (議郎)
• Commandant of Cavalry (騎都尉)
• Chancellor of Jinan (濟南相)
• Colonel Who Arranges the Army (典軍校尉)
• Colonel of Valiant Cavalry (驍騎校尉)
• General Who Uplifts the Military (奮武將軍)
• Governor of Yan Province (兗州牧)
• General Who Builds Virtue (建德將軍)
• General Who Guards the East (鎮東將軍)
• Marquis of Fei Village (費亭侯)
• General-in-Chief (大將軍)
• Marquis of Wuping (武平侯)
• Excellency of Works (司空)
• General of Chariots and Cavalry (車騎將軍)
• Imperial Chancellor (丞相)
• Duke of Wei (魏公)
• King of Wei (魏王)

The following two titles were granted to Cao Cao posthumously

• King Wu (武王)
• Grand Ancestor Emperor Wu (太祖武皇帝) - sometimes shortened to "Emperor Wu"

Modern references[link]

Film and television[link]

The "Father of Hong Kong cinema", Lai Man-Wai, played Cao Cao in The Witty Sorcerer, a 1931 comedy film based on the story of Zuo Ci playing tricks on Cao Cao. In the Shaw Brothers film The Weird Man, Cao Cao was seen in the beginning of the film with Zuo Ci. Zuo Ci was playing tricks on him by giving him a tangerine with no fruit inside. This was later referenced in another film titled Five Element Ninjas. Other notable actors who have portrayed Cao Cao in film and television include Bao Guo'an (Romance of the Three Kingdoms), Damian Lau (Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon), Zhang Fengyi (Red Cliff), Chen Jianbin (Three Kingdoms), Jiang Wen (The Lost Bladesman), and Chow Yun-fat (The Assassins).

Video games[link]

Cao Cao appears in all 11 installments of Koei's Romance of the Three Kingdoms video game series. He is also featured as a playable character in Koei's Dynasty Warriors and Warriors Orochi series. He also features in Koei's Kessen II as a playable main character.

Other appearances[link]

As with most of the other relevant generals of the period, Cao is portrayed as a young female character in the Koihime Musō franchise. He is also the central character in the Japanese manga series Sōten Kōro. Barry Hughart's novel The Story of the Stone mentions the Seven Sacrileges of Tsao Tsao, most of which involve family.^[22]

See also[link]

Poetry portal

• List of Dynasty Warriors characters
• List of people of the Three Kingdoms

Notes[link]

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (August 2010)

References[link]

• Chen Shou (2002). Records of Three Kingdoms. Yue Lu Shu She. ISBN 7-80665-198-5. 
• Domes, Jurgen. Peng Te-huai: The Man and the Image, London: C. Hurst & Company. 1985. ISBN 0-905838-99-8.
• A. R. (Albert Richard) Davis, Editor and Introduction (1970). The Penguin Book of Chinese Verse. Penguin Books. 
• de Crespigny, Rafe (2010). Imperial warlord : a biography of Cao Cao 155-220 AD. Leiden Boston: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-18522-7. 
• Luo Guanzhong (1986). Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Yue Lu Shu She. ISBN 7-80520-013-0. 
• Lo Kuan-chung; tr. C.H. Brewitt-Taylor (2002). Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 0-8048-3467-9. 
• Sun Tzu (1983). The Art of War. Delta. ISBN 0-440-55005-X. 
• Burton Watson (1971). CHINESE LYRICISM: Shih Poetry from the Second to the Twelfth Century. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-03464-4. 
• Yi Zhongtian (2006). Pin San Guo (品三國; Analysis of the Three Kingdoms). Joint Publishing (H.K.) Co., Ltd.. ISBN 978-962-04-2609-4. 

External links[link]

• Cao Cao and the Three Kingdoms: A George Ernest Morrison lecture in Ethnology

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Steve Coleman
Steve Coleman in Paris, July 2004
Background information
Born	(1956-09-20) September 20, 1956 (age 55)
Origin	Chicago, IL, USA
Genres	Jazz, M-Base
Occupations	Saxophonist, composer, bandleader
Instruments	Saxaphone
Labels	JMT, Pangaea, Novus, BMG, Label Bleu, Pi
Associated acts	Steve Coleman and Five Elements, M-Base Collective, Strata Institute
Website	http://www.m-base.com/

Steve Coleman, born (1956-09-20) September 20, 1956 (age 55), is an African American saxophone player, spontaneous composer, composer and band leader. His music and concepts have been a heavy influence on contemporary jazz.^[1]

Background, influences, and activities[link]

Chicago[link]

Steve Coleman grew up in one of the large African American neighbourhoods of the northern American big cities, the South Side of Chicago, where music (African American music) was "around all the time", just "part of the community" and "the sound of everything else".^[2] As a child, he was "in these little singing groups, imitating the Jackson 5, singing in church or something like that"^[2] and he started playing Alto-saxophone at the age of 14. About three years later he began to study the music of Charlie Parker (of whom his father was a fan), Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane and other masters of this music tradition. After spending two years at Illinois Wesleyan University, Coleman transferred to Roosevelt University (Chicago Music College) in downtown Chicago in order to concentrate on Chicago's musical nightlife. Specifically Coleman had been introduced to Chicago premier saxophonists Von Freeman, Bunky Green and others from whom he learned. He told: "When I was growing up and playing in Von Freeman's sessions, there were certain things that were important: Your sound, your groove, and how you express yourself. … There was always this criticism for not having a sound, not having a good groove, a lot of criticism on rhythm: This cat can't swing, he has no feel, etc. So, it's … a matter of learning this particular idiom from these masters who came before you. You have to get with what it is they're good at expressing. How to make it feel a certain way, how to blend, how to swing? You get cats talking about floating the rhythm, swinging the rhythm, and all these different terms".^[3] - Steve Coleman also was in contact with Sonny Stitt whom he regards as one of the "cats like Sonny Rollins, Coltrane, Bird [Charlie Parker] … on that same level".^[3] In addition to Freeman and others, Stitt was Coleman’s connection to the era of great players like Charlie Parker.^[3]

New York[link]

In order to open up new opportunities for further developments, Coleman moved to New York in 1978 where he got, among other things, the experience of playing in big bands (in Thad Jones/Mel Lewis big band, Slide Hampton's big band, Sam Rivers’ Studio Rivbea Orchestra, briefly in Cecil Taylor's big band, and in several other big bands).^[4] He found out that "there is a certain discipline that you get, especially a phrasing thing and learning how to play with large groups of people in a group. That carries over to what you do with a smaller group".^[4] Soon he began cutting records as a sideman with well known figures like David Murray, Doug Hammond, Dave Holland, Mike Brecker, and Abbey Lincoln. For the first four years in New York Coleman spent a good deal of time playing in the streets and in tiny clubs with a band that he put together with trumpeter Graham Haynes, the group that would evolve into the ensemble Steve Coleman and Five Elements that would serve as the main ensemble for Coleman's activities. In this group, he developed his concept of improvisation within nested looping structures. Coleman joined some other young African American musicians like Cassandra Wilson and Greg Osby and they found the so-called M-Base movement.

Influences[link]

Steve Coleman said that Charlie Parker has been "probably my biggest influence".^[4] John Coltrane became a prototype to him too, in terms of his music as well as his approach and his further development. Coleman explained: “Charlie Parker, for me, was a extremely sophisticated blues player. He had a very sophisticated way of expressing the blues. It was like a … ‘space blues’ … very high science. And John Coltrane, for me, carried this more foreword into … I want to use the word “world music” but [not in terms of music from “third world countries”]. … John Coltrane wanted to do a kind of universal music, a music of all the people. And this idea influenced me a lot.”^[5] - Among the living musicians in Coleman’s early days, Von Freeman influenced him most as an improviser, Sam Rivers influenced him most compositionally, and Doug Hammond was especially important to his conceptual thinking. But many other musicians influenced him too. – West African music (from Guinea coast; with its complex interlocked patterns) has been another huge influence on him since the late 1970s. This interest brought him in contact with ways of thinking in traditional non-western cultures which he began to study in the 1980s. - Coleman was also inspired by natural things like flight patterns of bees^[6] and certainly there was the influence from the African American popular music Coleman heard in his youth, especially from James Brown.^[7] – In the course of his career, many more influences have been added.

Recordings and tours[link]

In 1985 Steve Coleman got the chance for his first recording as a leader (released by the German label JMT) and from then on he has recorded extensively (until 2003, since then less frequently). He also had a rather tight touring schedule that included mainly tours through Europe (e.g. averagely about 50 concerts per year in Europe in the time from 1995 to 1999).^[8]

Research trips[link]

Coleman regards the music tradition he is coming from as African Diasporan culture with essential African retentions, especially a certain kind of sensibility. He searched for these roots and their connections of contemporary African American music. For that purpose, he travelled to Ghana at the end of 1993 and came in contact with (among others) the Dagomba (Dagbon) people whose traditional drum music uses very complex polyrhythm and a drum language that allows sophisticated speaking through music (described and recorded by John Miller Chernoff^[9]). Thus, Coleman was animated to think about the role of music and the transmission of information in non-western cultures. He wanted to collaborate with musicians who were involved in traditions which come out of West Africa. One of his main interests was the Yoruba tradition (predominantly out of western Nigeria) which is one of the Ancient African Religions underlying Santeria (Cuba and Puerto Rico), Candomble (Bahia, Brazil) and Vodun (Haiti). In Cuba, Coleman found the group Afrocuba de Matanzas who specialized in preserving various styles of Rumba as well as all in Cuba persisting African traditions which are mixed together under the general title of Santeria (Abakua, Arara, Congo, Yoruba). In 1996 Coleman along with a group of 10 musicians as well as dancers and the group Afrocuba de Matanzas worked together for 12 days, performed at the Havana Jazz Festival, and recorded the CD The Sign and The Seal. In 1997 Coleman took a group of musicians from America and Cuba to Senegal to collaborate and participate in musical and cultural exchanges with the musicians of the local Senegalese group Sing Sing Rhythm. He also led his group Five Elements to the south of India in 1998 to participate in a cultural exchange with different musicians in the Karnatic music tradition.

Computer-music[link]

The French computer-music research centre IRCAM offered Coleman to further develop his ideas in the form of interactive computer software at the IRCAM facilities in Paris with the aid of programmers and IRCAM technology. A concert in June 1999 featuring Coleman’s group interacting with what he calls his Rameses 2000 computer software program was the public result of this commission. However, there are no official recordings of this singular project available.

More research trips, professorship and workshops[link]

In 2000 Steve Coleman withdrew from performing and recording in order to travel extensively to India, Indonesia, Cuba and Brazil and he continued his research as an associate professor at the University of California at Berkeley in the years 2000 to 2002. He has conducted a lot of workshops^[10] and he thinks of himself like a West African Griot, like a person that’s “documenting something in music, telling a story and passing information down” (Steve Coleman).^[11] Trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson said about Coleman: “He’s a born teacher … he’s absolutely full of information.”^[11]

Music[link]

Characteristics[link]

[edit] Overlapping Cycles

The rhythms of Coleman's music of the 1990s were described in the literature as "circular and highly complex polymetric patterns which preserve their danceable character of popular funk rhythms despite their internal complexity and asymmetries. … On the scale of things, this is a very intelligent … music, a music which is hipper than any other music has been in a long time, a music which processes manifold stylistically experiences without abandoning its African American identity."^[12] These rhythms are generated by overlapping rhythmic(-tonal) cycles of various, often “odd” (5, 7, 9 … beats) lengths interlocking like gear wheels in a very complex way.^[13] The cycles are so long and their interaction is so complex that they appear unpredictable nevertheless well organized and grooving to the listener.^[14] In order to communicate freely and expressively within these textures, the musicians must be able to hear these contrasting rhythms simultaneously^[15] and that is challenging.^[16] But the multilayered rhythmic-tonal textures heighten the possibilities for improvised interactivity^[15] and their “odd” character is effective in the sense of the following statement of drummer Elvin Jones: „Some parts of Latin music are very rigid, as are some aspects of African rhythms. The flexibility comes from the number of people that are playing the rhythm. It is not always synchronized, so that gives it a certain movement that makes it more fluid. When I applied it, I opted for the fluidity rather than the static portion of the rhythms.”^[17] Steve Coleman’s overlapping cycles of various, often “odd” lengths provide a very fluid (multilayered) basis for improvisation.

[edit] Timbre, structure

Trumpeter Graham Haynes said about Steve Coleman: “He ‘sings’ (on the saxophone) in his way. He’s got his own sound. He’s got a very particular kind of vibrato”.^[18] Coleman prefers a subtle expression of timbre and concentrates more on the rhythmic, melodic, structural aspects of music versus timbral considerations using timbral elements as aids for expressing sophisticated rhythm-melodies. He wrote: “I feel strongly that the younger generation that is involved in creative music today are foregoing the detailed rhythmic and melodic developments demonstrated by the older masters (which take an incredible amount of concentration to develop) in favour of more ‘effects’. These trends tend to pendulum back and forth, as each generation reacts to the excesses of the previous generation by moving in the opposite direction.”^[19]

[edit] Balance, symmetry, change

One of the main principles at work in Coleman’s music is “balance and form”.^[20] As an obvious kind of balance, he realizes symmetry through melody, rhythm, tonality, form, harmony and instrumentation. However, he works with these structures from a dynamic point of view, i.e. as they progress through time.^[21] The process represented by the change between the various musical structures is a central aspect of his music.^[22]

[edit] Intellect, intuition, embodiment

Though Coleman’s music is a highly structured, complex, “very intelligent music”^[12] it is performed in a spontaneous, groove based way similar to dance and sports. Coleman wrote about these similarities between improvising in music and sports in an essay.^[23] Among other things, there he described the art of varying the rhythms in subtle ways and seamlessly flowing from one rhythmic form to the next without any break in the forms as “can be observed in the most forms of dance of the people of the African Diaspora as well as sports like boxing, basketball, football, Capoeira, etc. where there is a smoothness to the shifts of direction that is based on timing”. He mentioned the necessity of a lot of specific preparation: “The various 'paths of possibilities' have been studied, worked out, analyzed and internalized, after which the mind and body have been trained to respond by reflex to the dynamic configurations as they develop in real time. … A finely tuned and constantly adjusting balance needs to be developed where one can respond in reflex to the changing musical conditions. … In the African Diaspora this balancing act is as much about style (i.e. how it is done) as it is about what is being done.”

[edit] Tonalities, further development

Already in his first recordings, Coleman’s solos sounded somehow “other-worldly and yet familiar at the same time” due to the use of unconventional tones as “belonging to an alternate tonality”.^[24] Since the second half of the 1990s he has used complex sounds based on an expanded, nevertheless not “free” but elaborated^[25] tonality in his music. Coleman has constantly developed his music further. In 2009 he said: “What we (he with his band members) work on is the language itself. How things fit together, how to answer. It's just like church. … It's call and response, which has been going on since Africa, since forever. It's just that we have our own call and response patterns."^[26]

Categorizations[link]

Coleman has stated that he does not agree with “using categories to describe music today, in particular I don’t use the term Jazz. Preferring a more organic approach to music I use the term Spontaneous Composition.”^[22] “I have never considered the music of people like Duke Ellington, Don Byas, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, John Coltrane, Muhal Richard Abrams, Henry Threadgill – I have never considered this creative tradition ‘Jazz’.”^[27]

Inspirations and the Music's Meaning[link]

Steve Coleman has been described as an indefatigable person who “constantly learns, studies, observes”, searches to “learn from others, from the world, from nature, and to transmit that knowledge, share his discoveries, his quest”, with an “incredible vitality that he generates on the music scene”.^[28] – Coleman said: “The main thing that I consciously try to follow is things I find in nature, in universe. Basically I see the universe as sort of giant palette of forms within forms. So there are forms within forms, within forms, within forms … infinitely - apparent forms because these things are really continuums that approach something definable but never quite exactly become that (like an amoeba where there is an approximate shape with things like dropping and changing). … To me the beauty is the interaction of these forms. … I try to imitate that in my music pretty much. In trying to go for that I think a lot of different things from a lot of different perspectives. There is spiritual stuff, dreams, logic, figure-stuff … I use everything at my disposal … wild analogy whatever.”^[29] “I listen to music all over the world and everywhere inside of my world … I use all these tools, imagination, feeling, dreams, intellect ….”^[5]

Furthermore, Steve Coleman has stated that his main concern is the “use of music as a language of sonic symbols used to express the nature of man's existence. There extends back into ancient times musicians who have attempted to express through music the various visions and realities that they perceive, and for me this is the driving force behind many of the ‘so-called’ innovations in music (and indeed in other fields as well). I feel that the various tools and fields of inquiry that people have used (physics and metaphysics, number, language, music, dance, astronomy, etc.) are all related and present one holistic body of work. The various forms that my music assumes are not only intuitively inspired by but intuitively and logically determined by the human perception of ‘The Great Work’ (i.e. the creation of all Nature by the Universal Mind).

“One of the primary methods that I use to create my music is linked to two concepts: Sacred Geometry (the use of shapes to symbolically express natural principles), and Energy (the potential for change and change itself in physical, metaphysical and psychic phenomena, including Life, Growth, etc.). I use various kinds of musical structures to symbolize the Sacred Geometry and specific kinds of musical movement to reference the various states of Energy. In any event the concept of Change is central to my theory. It is the Change between the various musical structures that represents process, with the structures themselves being symbolic of various principles. I believe that it is through the Spontaneous Composition of forms that these ideas can be most readily expressed, regardless of external stylistic appearances. It is the movement that is important.

“These ideas, although rare, are not new in music. There have been musicians from virtually every culture that have worked in this areas as is documented in the earliest writings on music. Musicians as diverse as Johann Sebastian Bach, Bela Bartok and John Coltrane have stated similar ideas.”^[22]

Reception[link]

Already at the beginning of the 1990s Clarinettist and composer Don Byron regarded Steve Coleman as an exceptional personality of American music history.^[30] In 2010 pianist Vijay Iyer (who was chosen as "Jazz Musician of the Year 2010" by the Jazz Journalists Association) said: “To me, Steve [Coleman] is as important as [John] Coltrane. He has contributed an equal amount to the history of the music. He deserves to be placed in the pantheon of pioneering artists.”^[11] "It's hard to overstate Steve’s influence. He's affected more than one generation, as much as anyone since John Coltrane. It's not just that you can connect the dots by playing seven or 11 beats. What sits behind his influence is this global perspective on music and life. He has a point of view of what he does and why he does it."^[31]

Recordings, free downloads[link]

Many older CDs can be downloaded for free from Steve Coleman’s web site. There are also a lot of private concert-recordings distributed among aficionados.

Discography[link]

As leader[link]

• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Motherland Pulse (JMT, 1985) Debut as a leader and first recording of Cassandra Wilson
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: On the Edge of Tomorrow (JMT, 1986) There was a 7" EP lifted with "Little One, I'll Miss You" and "I'm Going Home"
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: World Expansion (JMT, 1986)
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Sine Die (Pangaea, 1987)
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Rhythm People (Novus/BMG, 1990)
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Black Science (Novus/BMG, 1991)
• Steve Coleman:^[32] Rhythm in Mind (Novus/BMG, 1991) among others with Von Freeman and Tommy Flanagan
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Drop Kick (Novus/BMG, 1992)
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: The Tao of Mad Phat <Fringe Zones> (Novus/BMG, 1993) With Roy Hargrove on one track
• Steve Coleman and Metrics: A Tale of 3 Cities (The EP) (Novus/BMG, 1994) With rappers Kokayi, Shahliek, Utasi, Sub Zero, Black Thought and Najma Akhtar
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Def Trance Beat (Novus/BMG, 1994)
• Steve Coleman and the Mystic Rhythm Society: Myths, Modes and Means (Live at the Hot Brass, Paris) (Novus/BMG, 1995) Forms a trilogy with the following two recordings and released as 3 cd set in 1996
• Steve Coleman and Metrics: The Way of the Cipher (Live at the Hot Brass) (Novus/BMG, 1995)
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Curves of Life (Live at the Hot Brass)(Novus/BMG, 1995) With David Murray on two tracks
• Steve Coleman and the Mystic Rhythm Society in collaboration with AfroCuba de Mantanzas: The Sign and the Seal (BMG, 1996)
• Steve Coleman and the Council of Balance: Genesis (BMG, 1997) Large ensemble with strings; released together with the following
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: The Opening of the Way (BMG, 1997)
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: The Sonic Language of Myth (BMG, 1998) Large ensemble with strings and vocals
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: The Ascension to Light (BMG France, 2001)
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Resistance Is Futile (Label Bleu, 2001)
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Alternate Dimension Series I (Free download, 2002)
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: On the Rising of the 64 Paths (Label Bleu, 2002)
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Lucidarium (Label Bleu, 2003) Large ensemble with vocals and percussion, among others with Gregoire Maret, Mat Maneri and introducing Jen Shyu
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Weaving Symbolics (Double CD with DVD) (2006)
• Steve Coleman: Invisible Paths: First Scattering (Tzadik, 2007) Solo album
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Harvesting Semblances and Affinities (Pi, 2010)
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: The Mancy of Sound (Pi, 2011)

Collaborations[link]

• Strata Institute (Double Trio with Greg Osby): Cipher Syntax (JMT/Polydor Japan, 1989)
• Strata Institute: Transmigration (Rebel-X/Columbia, 1991) With Von Freeman
• Steve Coleman & Dave Holland Duo: Phase-Space (Rebel-X/DIW, 1991)
• M-Base Collective: Anatomy of a Groove (Rebel-X/DIW/Columbia, 1992)

As sideman[link]

With Sam Rivers

• Colours (Black Saint, 1982)
• Rivbea All-Star Orchestra: Inspiration (BMG France, 1999)
• Rivbea All-Star Orchestra: Culmination (BMG France, 1999)

With Doug Hammond

• Perspicuity (L+R Records, 1991, rec. 1981/82)
• Spaces (Idibib, 1982; Rebel-X, 1991)

With Abbey Lincoln

• Talking to the Sun (Enja, 1984)
• Who Used to Dance (Gitanes/Verve, 1997)

With Dave Holland

• Jumpin' In (ECM, 1984)
• Seeds of Time (ECM, 1985)
• The Razor's Edge (ECM, 1987)
• Triplicate (ECM, 1988)
• Extensions (ECM, 1990)

With Chico Freeman

• Tangents (Elektra Musician, 1984)

With Billy Hart

• Oshumare (Gramavision, 1985)

With The Errol Parker Tentet

• Live at the Wollman Auditorium (Sahara Records, 1985)

With David Murray

• David Murray Big Band Live at "Sweet Basil" Vol. 1 (Black Saint, 1985)
• David Murray Big Band Live at "Sweet Basil" Vol. 2 (Black Saint, 1986)

With Cassandra Wilson

• Point of View (JMT, 1986)
• Days Aweigh (JMT, 1987)
• Jump World (JMT, 1990)

With Geri Allen

• Open on All Sides in the Middle (Minor Music, 1987)

With Michele Rosewoman

• Quintessence (Enja, 1987)

With Lonnie Plaxico

• Plaxico (Muse, 1990)

With The Roots

• Do You Want More?!!!??! (DGC/Geffen, 1995)
• Illadelph Halflife (DGC/Geffen, 1996)

With Ravi Coltrane

• Moving Pictures (BMG France, 1998)

With Anthony Tidd’s Quite Sane

• Child of Troubled Times (CoolHunter Music, 2002)

Documentary film[link]

The DVD „Elements of One“ by Eve-Marie Breglia shows Steve Coleman (and his band) in the years from 1996 to 2003 encountering: Von Freeman, Afro-Cuban musicians in Cuba, West-African and Afro-Cuban musicians in Senegal, rappers in the United States, Indian musicians in India, ancient Egyptian philosophy in Egypt, and a computer-music research centre in Paris. The DVD contains the 98 minutes long documentary and additional scenes (60 minutes).

Writings[link]

The Dozens: Steve Coleman on Charlie Parker and several other essays can be found on Coleman’s web site.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Steve Coleman’s web site
• Steve Coleman's Blog
• 2008 Interview with Anil Prasad of Innerviews
• Download Free Music Files
• Descriptions of many CDs
• Steve Coleman interviews at Allaboutjazz.com

Cheryl Burke
Born	(1984-05-03) May 3, 1984 (age 28) San Francisco, California, U.S.
Occupation	Dancer
Years active	1988–present
Height	5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)

Cheryl Stephanie Bautista Burke (born May 3, 1984) is a professional dancer. She is best known for being one of the professional dancers on ABC's Dancing with the Stars, where she was the first female professional to win the show and the first professional to win twice and consecutively.

Early life[link]

Burke grew up in Atherton, California. Her father is of Irish and Russian descent and her mother is Filipina.^[1] Her family dances for recreation and has a dance floor at home. At age four, she began taking ballet lessons and performing locally. She then began ballroom dancing and decided to change her focus. She trained in both standard ballroom and Latin dances. She began competing at age 13. Cheryl attended Menlo-Atherton High School, graduated in 2002. In fall of 2007 Cheryl was awarded the key to the city from the mayor of Atherton at her old high school.

[edit] Dancing with the Stars

Burke won her first championship with 98 Degrees member Drew Lachey in the second season. She won her second championship with retired football star Emmitt Smith in the third season. Cheryl returned to the ballroom on March 19, 2007 for Season 4, partnered with actor Ian Ziering. She and Ziering were eliminated in the semi-finals on May 15, 2007.

Burke in 2008

Cheryl Burke participated in a 38-city Dancing with the Stars tour from December 19, 2006 to February 11, 2007. She also joined the second summer tour, which visited 24 cities between June 20, 2007 in Austin, Texas and July 24, 2007 in Vancouver, Canada. Her celebrity partner for both tours was Drew Lachey. Burke competed on Season 5. Her partner was Las Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton. They were the third couple eliminated from the competition on October 9, 2007.^[2]

Burke participated with both Lachey & Newton in the Dancing with the Stars winter tour that kicked off December 18, 2007 in Seattle, Washington. The tour wrapped in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on February 10, 2008.^[3] Cheryl competed on Season 6 and was partnered with actor Cristián de la Fuente. They trained at Palm Beach, Florida's "Paramount Ballroom," which is owned by former U.S. Nine-Dance Champion Alec Lazo.^[4] They made it to the finals and on May 20, 2008, Cheryl and Cristián placed 3rd in the Season 6 competition.

The dancer returned to the show for Season 7 with partner Maurice Greene. They were eliminated in Week 8 on November 11, 2008 and came in 5th place. She returned to the show's eighth season, in which she was paired with actor Gilles Marini. They were the runners-up for the season, losing to Shawn Johnson and Mark Ballas. On August 17, 2009, it was announced that Burke would compete on the ninth season of Dancing with the Stars with partner Tom DeLay (former U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader). On October 6, 2009, Cheryl and DeLay withdrew from the competition because DeLay had stress fractures in both feet.^[5]

In season ten she was partnered with Chad Ochocinco. They were eliminated in the semi-finals and came in fourth place. Rick Fox was partnered with Burke in the show's eleventh season. They were voted off in the seventh week of the competition and came in 6th place. For the twelfth Season, she was partnered with wrestler Chris Jericho. They were voted off in the sixth week of the competition. In the thirteenth season, Cheryl Burke was partnered with reality star Rob Kardashian. They came in second place, losing to J.R. Martinez & Karina Smirnoff. In the fourteenth season, Cheryl Burke was partnered with actor William Levy.

Since her start in the second season of the show, Burke has achieved 15 perfect scores. Additional feats include making it into the final stage of the show six times and her eight appearances in the show's semi-final stage.

As of season 13, Cheryl has 14 perfect scores and 69 perfect 10s from the judges.

Performances[link]

Season 2: Celebrity Partner Drew Lachey Average: 27.7 Placed: 1st:

Season 3: Celebrity Partner Emmitt Smith Average: 26.8 Placed: 1st:

Week #	Dance/Song	Judges' score			Result
		Inaba	Goodman	Tonioli
1	Cha-cha-cha/ "Son of a Preacher Man"	8	8	8	Safe
2	Quickstep/ "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree"	8	8	8	Safe
3	Tango/ "Simply Irresistible"	7	6	6	Safe
4	Paso Doble/ "España Cañí"	8	8	8	Safe
5	Samba/ "Cha Cha[disambiguation needed ]"	9	9	9	Safe
6	Jive/ "Lewis Boogie Blues" Disco/ "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough"	8 No	8 Scores	9 Given	No Elimination
7	Waltz/ "Hushabye Mountain" Mambo/ "Que Bueno Baila Usted"	10 10	9 10	9 9	Safe
8	Foxtrot/ "Witchcraft" Rumba/ "Spooky"	8 9	8 10	9 10	Safe
9 Semi-finals	Waltz/ "At This Moment" Cha-Cha-Cha/ "Dance to the Music"	9 10	10 10	10 10	Bottom Two
10 Finals	Samba/ "Sir Duke" Mambo/ "Que Bueno Baila Usted" Freestyle/ "U Can't Touch This"	10 10 10	10 10 10	10 10 9	WON

Season 4: Celebrity Partner Ian Ziering Average: 24.8 Placed: 4th:

Season 5: Celebrity Partner Wayne Newton Average: 17.3 Placed: 10th:

Season 6: Celebrity Partner Cristián de la Fuente Average: 25.2 Placed: 3rd:

Season 7: Celebrity Partner Maurice Greene Average: 22.9 Placed: 5th:

• Score was awarded by stand in judge Michael Flatley.

Season 8: Celebrity Partner Gilles Marini Average: 28.1 Placed: 2nd:

Season 9: Celebrity Partner Tom DeLay Average: 16.3 Placed: 13th:

• Score was awarded by stand in judge Baz Luhrmann.

Season 10: Celebrity Partner Chad Ochocinco Average: 22.2 Placed: 4th

Season 11: Celebrity Partner Rick Fox Average: 22.3 (as of October 4, 2010) Placed: 6th: Week 4 – Double Score Showdown – Technique/Performance score

Season 12: Celebrity Partner Chris Jericho Average: 22.3 Placed: 7th

Season 13: Celebrity Partner Rob Kardashian Average: 25.1 Placed: 2nd

Season 14: Celebrity Partner William Levy Average: 27.5 Placed: 3rd

Acting[link]

Burke had a guest role on the Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, in the episode "Loosely Ballroom" along with fellow Dancing professionals Louis van Amstel, Ashly DelGrosso, and Lacey Schwimmer. She portrays Shannon, a nurse attending to the ensemble cast during a dance contest at the series setting, The Tipton Hotel. In the final round of the competition, Burke's character volunteers to replace an ill competitor. She and her partner go on to win the competition.

In November 2009, US Magazine magazine announced that Burke is in talks to star as Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway during the hiatus from Dancing With the Stars.^[6]

Awards and honors[link]

• 2005 World Cup Professional Rising Star Latin Champion
• 2005 San Francisco Latin Champion
• 2005 Ohio Star Ball Rising Star Latin Champion
• UK Championships
• 4th in U.S. in the "Under 21s."
• Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 2) champion with Drew Lachey
• Dancing with the Stars champion Season 3 with Emmitt Smith
• Two-time nominee: Prime Time Emmy 2006, Outstanding Choreography for Paso Doble and Outstanding Choreography for Freestyle; Burke is the youngest nominee to ever receive nominations in that category. ⁽¹⁾
• On October 20, 2007, Cheryl won the Role Model Award at the 7th Annual Filipino/American Library Gala.
• On the 2008 Asian Excellence Awards, she won the Viewer's Choice award for Favorite T.V. Personality.

Molestation[link]

In 2011, she released her autobiography, Dancing Lessons, describing how she, at age 6, was molested by a handyman helping her family, who repeatedly fondled her. She believed it was wrong but wanted to gain the affection of the person. The molester was sentenced to 22 years in prison and was recently released. Burke said that she is fearful of the person.^[7]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cheryl Burke

• Official web site for Cheryl Burke Dance
• Official web site for Cheryl Burke
• Dancing with the Stars biography
• My Ox Is Broken Interview (2006)
• Cheryl Burke at the Internet Movie Database
• Cheryl Burke interview