Yantai

Yantai ([jɛ́ntʰǎɪ]; Chinese: 烟台), formerly known as Chefoo or Chih-fou (芝罘 Zhīfú), is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Shandong province, China. Located on the Bohai Strait and the southern coast of the Korea Bay, Yantai borders the cities of Qingdao and Weihai to the southwest and east respectively. It is the largest fishing seaport in Shandong. Its population was 6,968,202 at the 2010 census, of whom 2,227,733 lived in the built-up area made up of 4 urban districts (Zhifu, Muping, Fushan and Laishan).

The contemporary name of Yantai came from the watchtowers constructed on Mount Qi in 1398, during the reign of the Hongwu Emperor, founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty (yan—smoke; tai—tower). The towers served to raise alarms against invasions of Japanese pirates.

Administration

The prefecture-level city of Yantai administers 12 county-level divisions, including 4 districts, 7 county-level cities, 1 county and one development zone.

China

China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a sovereign state in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population of over 1.35 billion. The PRC is a one-party state governed by the Communist Party, with its seat of government in the capital city of Beijing. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces; five autonomous regions; four direct-controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing); two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau); and claims sovereignty over Taiwan.

Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometers, China is the world's second-largest country by land area, and either the third or fourth-largest by total area, depending on the method of measurement. China's landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes and the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts in the arid north to subtropical forests in the wetter south. The Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third- and sixth-longest in the world, run from the Tibetan Plateau to the densely populated eastern seaboard. China's coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometres (9,000 mi) long, and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East and South China Seas.

Yantai University

Yantai University (Chinese: 烟台大学) is a public university founded in 1984 with the assistance of Peking University and Tsinghua University in Yantai, Shandong, China.

History

Yantai University was established as a modern comprehensive university along the coast in Yantai, in July 1984, from a generous bequest by Sir Zhang Chengxian (Chinese: 张承先). Zhang Chengxian was appointed the first president.

Overview

Yantai University's motto is 'to be honest, modest and natural'. Its coat of arms is constituted by a dolphin and ocean flows, delegating intellectual and mind opening respectively. The majority of students registering in Yantai University are Shandong natives, and its graduates are best known as honest, diligent, and erudite.

In 2008, the university had 21 faculties and provides 49 programs covering arts, law, science, education, management, medicine, music, engineering, continuing education, international culture.

The university library serves the community with 1,680,000 physical bibliographies and 700,000 electronic items.

Shen Yun Performing Arts

Shen Yun Performing Arts is a performing-arts and entertainment company formed in New York City. It performs classical Chinese dance, ethnic and folk dance, and story-based dance, with orchestral accompaniment and solo performers. The Shen Yun website translates the phrase shen yun as "the beauty of divine beings dancing".

Shen Yun was founded in 2006 by practitioners of the Falun Gong spiritual discipline, with the mission of reviving "the essence of 5000 years of Chinese culture," which it states to have been nearly destroyed by the Chinese Communist Party government. Performances around the world are hosted by local Falun Dafa Associations.

The group is composed of three performing arts companies: The New York Company, The Touring Company, and the International Company, with of a total of over 200 performers. For seven months a year, Shen Yun Performing Arts tours to over 130 cities across Europe, North America, Oceania, and Asia. Shen Yun's shows have been staged in several leading theaters, including New York City's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, London’s Royal Festival Hall, Washington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center, Paris' Le Palais de Congrès. The company has performed extensively in Taiwan, but has yet to perform in Mainland China or Hong Kong. The show's acts and production staff are trained at Shen Yun’s headquarters in Cuddebackville, in Orange County, New York.

Ji Jianye

Ji Jianye (Chinese: 季建业; pinyin: Jì Jiànyè; born January 1957) is a former Chinese politician. He was mayor of Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, from 2010 to 2013. Prior to that Ji held office as mayor, then party secretary of the city of Yangzhou between 2003 and 2010. In October 2013, Ji Jianye was abruptly dismissed from office, and detained for investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China. In January 2014, Ji was expelled from Communist Party. He was tried on charges of bribery and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Career

Ji was born in Shazhou County (present-day Zhangjiagang), Jiangsu province, in January 1957. In September 1974, he joined the Communist Party of China. He worked first as an ordinary editor and propaganda functionary in the local party organization in Suzhou. He then became deputy editor for Suzhou Daily, and a government official in Wu County. He later took on a series of increasingly senior leadership roles in the county-level city of Kunshan. He also headed the administration of the Suzhou Lake Tai tourist area.