Huang Shengyi (Chinese: 黄圣依, born 11 February 1983), also known as Eva Huang, is a Chinese actress and singer.
Contents 1 Biography 2 Career 3 Filmography 3.1 Film 3.2 Television series 4 Discography 4.1 Albums 4.2 Singles 5 Awards 6 Gallery
Biography
Huang was born and raised in Shanghai. Her father was educated in the United States and lived there in the early 1990s, while her mother worked as an editor in a newspaper agency in Shanghai. She graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in 2001.
Career
Eva Huang rose to fame after starring in Stephen Chow’s action comedy film Kung Fu Hustle (2004). Kung Fu Hustle took a record 155 million Yuan at box offices across the Chinese mainland, making it China’s top grossing film in 2004. In August the following year, she ended her contract with Chow’s company after appearing in a magazine photo shoot without their consent.
Huang then starred in Dragon Squad (2005), which received critical acclaim and was among the first films to be listed in the permanent collection by the National Museum of China.
Starting in 2006, Huang worked with China Juli Group on a number of television series, including Fairy Couple (2007) and The Shadow of Empress Wu (2007). Fairy Couple was the highest rated drama of the year, and led to increased recognition for Huang. She also starred in the television adaptation of Louis Cha’s novel Sword Stained with Royal Blood.
In 2008, Huang released her first solo album, titled Huang Shengyi.
In 2009, Huang became the CEO of China Juli Group’s Entertainment Media Co., Ltd, drawing a six-figure salary annually. The same year, she appeared in a minor role in th Hollywood science fiction film Race to Witch Mountain.
In 2011, Huang starred alongside Jet Li and Raymond Lam in The Sorcerer and the White Snake where she played the White Snake Demon. She then starred in The Locked Door (2012), a film which tells about the life story of a girl from noble family, who was raped at young age. The film won the Best Feature at the Monaco Charity Film Festival.
In 2013, Huang starred in the romance drama Marriage Rules. This is the first production created by Huang’s own studio, and it was a commercial and ratings success.
In 2014, Huang starred alongside Donnie Yen in the action comedy film Iceman, which won her the Best Actress award at the Huading Awards for her performance.
In 2015, Huang was cast in the war epic film The Bombing.
Stephen Chow Sing-chi (Chinese: 周星馳, born 22 June 1962) is a Chinese film director, actor, producer, political adviser of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and martial artist.
Eva Huang, also known as Huang Shengyi, plays a mute girl whom Sing tries to help when they were both children.
Contents 1 Film career 2 Filmography 3 Awards
Film Career
Chow began his career as a temporary actor on television. He graduated from TVB’s acting classes in 1982. Chow began to find some success with the children’s programme 430 Space Shuttle. In 1987, Chow entered the movie industry through the film Final Justice, which won him the Taiwan Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Chow shot to stardom in The Final Combat (1989) and All for the Winner (1990). Fight Back to School (1991) became Hong Kong’s top-grossing film of all time. In 1994, he began directing films, starting with From Beijing with Love. In the later half of the 1990s, China began to warm to Chow’s films and he became a pop-culture phenomenon.
In 2001, his film Shaolin Soccer grossed over US$50 million worldwide. Chow won Best Director and Best Actor at the 2002 Hong Kong Film Awards, and the film went on to garner additional awards including a Blue Ribbon Awards for Best Foreign Language Film and the Golden Bauhinia Award for Best Picture and Best Director.
In 2004, his film Kung Fu Hustle grossed over US$106 million worldwide. Chow also won Best Director at the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards and Best Picture of Imagine Film Festival as well as twenty international awards.
Chow’s film CJ7 began filming in July 2006 in the eastern Chinese port of Ningbo. In August 2007 the film was given the title CJ7, a play on China’s successful Shenzhou manned space missions—Shenzhou 5 and Shenzhou 6. CJ7 became the highest-grossing film of all time in Malaysia.
In 2013, Chow’s film Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons became the highest-grossing Chinese film of all time.
In 2016, his new film The Mermaid broke numerous box office records: Biggest opening day, biggest single day gross after its seventh day of release, biggest opening week of all time in China. On February 19th, it became the highest grossing film of all time in China.
The Mermaid was released in Vietnam on February 10th, 2016. On March 14th, it became the 3rd highest grossing film of all time in Vietnam. It has now grossed over US$555 million worldwide and is the highest grossing movie of all time in Asia.
Stephen Chow became the ninth top-grossing Hollywood Director of 2016.
Filmography
Awards
Unknown Facts About Kung Fu Hustle
While casting Sing’s love interest Fong, Chow stated that he wanted an innocent-looking girl for the role. Eva Huang was chosen from a pool of 8,000 girls.
Eva Huang, also known as Huang Shengyi, plays a mute girl whom Sing tries to help when they were both children. Huang was a TV actress until then and Kung Fu Hustle was her film debut. When Chow was asked why he cast her, he replied that he enjoyed working with new actors and he “just had a feeling about her.” Huang chose not to have any dialogue so that her character could stand out through her gestures and body language.
The name “Pig Sty Alley” is a play on the name of the Walled City of Kowloon in Chinese. The city was a Chinese enclave in Hong Kong and well-known as a breeding ground of crime, slums, and disorder through most of the 20th century.
The Walled City was originally a Chinese military fort and became an enclave when China leased the New Territories to Britain in 1898. During World War II following the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, the city’s population dramatically rose, becoming 50,000 residents within 2.6 hectares (6.4 acres) by 1990. From the 1950s to 1970s, the Walled City had high rates of prostitution, drug abuse, and gambling and was controlled by local triads. The Hong Kong government announced plans to demolish it in January 1987. Following a laborious eviction process, demolition began in March 1993 and ended in April 1994. It was turned into Kowloon Walled City Park which opened in December 1995.
Kung Fu Hustle surpassed Chow’s previous film, Shaolin Soccer, becoming the highest-grossing movie made in Hong Kong in 2005. It was also the highest-grossing foreign language film in North America, even gaining a cult following.
After opening in Hong Kong on December 23, 2004, Kung Fu Hustle earned HK$ 4,990,000 on its opening day. It stayed on top until early 2005 grossing a total of HK$ 61.27 million. In the US, it initially released as a two-week theatrical run in New York City and Los Angeles. After its success, it was soon released in 2,503 cinemas, the highest number of cinemas ever for a foreign language movie. Though not a blockbuster, Kung Fu Hustle became the highest-grossing foreign language movie in North America in 2005.
“Pig Sty Alley” was inspired by Chow’s own childhood memory of crowded apartment complexes in a Hong Kong slum neighborhood where he lived.
In the movie, the “Pig Sty Alley” is an impoverished place where you find all kinds of characters including retired Kung Fu masters who took up humble jobs to get on with life. Designing the alley was Stephen Chow’s first priority as it was the main location in the film. In an interview with the Observer, he stated that he was inspired by his own childhood memories of crowded, Hong Kong, slum neighborhoods.
Stephen Chow is a self-trained Kung Fu practitioner. He is a great fan of Bruce Lee and learned martial arts by imitating what he saw in the movies.
Stephen Chow credits Bruce Lee for inspiring him to become a martial arts practitioner and an actor. Though he did attend Kung Fu classes in school for a short time, he couldn’t continue it because of his financial situation. So, instead, he would watch Bruce Lee’s movies and imitate the moves and exercises. Like Bruce Lee, he picked Wing Chun style.
Internet users per 100 population members and GDP per capita for selected countries.
The Internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks that use the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to link devices worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope, linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries a vast range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents and applications of the World Wide Web (WWW), electronic mail, telephony, and file sharing.
The origins of the Internet date back to research commissioned by the United States Federal Government in the 1960s to build robust, fault-tolerant communication via computer networks. The linking of commercial networks and enterprises in the early 1990s marked the beginning of the transition to the modern Internet, and generated rapid growth as institutional, personal, and mobile computers were connected to the network. By the late 2000s, its services and technologies had been incorporated into virtually every aspect of everyday life.
Most traditional communications media, including telephony, radio, television, paper mail and newspapers are being reshaped, redefined, or even bypassed by the Internet, giving birth to new services such as email, Internet telephony, Internet television, online music, digital newspapers, and video streaming websites. Newspaper, book, and other print publishing are adapting to website technology, or are reshaped into blogging, web feeds and online news aggregators. The Internet has enabled and accelerated new forms of personal interactions through instant messaging, Internet forums, and social networking. Online shopping has grown exponentially both for major retailers and small businesses and entrepreneurs, as it enables firms to extend their “brick and mortar” presence to serve a larger market or even sell goods and services entirely online. Business-to-business and financial services on the Internet affect supply chains across entire industries.
The Internet has no centralized governance in either technological implementation or policies for access and usage; each constituent network sets its own policies. Only the overreaching definitions of the two principal name spaces in the Internet, the Internet Protocol address (IP address) space and the Domain Name System (DNS), are directed by a maintainer organization, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The technical underpinning and standardization of the core protocols is an activity of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), a non-profit organization of loosely affiliated international participants that anyone may associate with by contributing technical expertise.
Contents 1 Terminology 2 History 3 Governance 4 Infrastructure 4.1 Routing and service tiers 4.2 Access 5 Protocols 6 Services 6.1 World Wide Web 6.2 Communication 6.3 Data transfer 7 Social impact 7.1 Users 7.2 Usage 7.3 Social networking and entertainment 7.4 Electronic business 7.5 Telecommuting 7.6 Collaborative publishing 7.7 Politics and political revolutions 7.8 Philanthropy 8 Security 8.1 Malware 8.2 Surveillance 8.3 Censorship 9 Performance 9.1 Outages 9.2 Energy use
Terminology
The Internet Messenger by Buky Schwartz, located in Holon, Israel
When the term Internet is used to refer to the specific global system of interconnected Internet Protocol (IP) networks, the word is a proper noun that should be written with an initial capital letter. In common use and the media, it is often erroneously not capitalized, viz. the internet. Some guides specify that the word should be capitalized when used as a noun, but not capitalized when used as an adjective. The Internet is also often referred to as the Net, as a short form of network. Historically, as early as 1849, the word internetted was used uncapitalized as an adjective, meaning interconnected or interwoven. The designers of early computer networks used internet both as a noun and as a verb in shorthand form of internetwork or internetworking, meaning interconnecting computer networks.
The terms Internet and World Wide Web are often used interchangeably in everyday speech; it is common to speak of “going on the Internet” when using a web browser to view web pages. However, the World Wide Web or the Web is only one of a large number of Internet services. The Web is a collection of interconnected documents (web pages) and other web resources, linked by hyperlinks and URLs. As another point of comparison, Hypertext Transfer Protocol, or HTTP, is the language used on the Web for information transfer, yet it is just one of many languages or protocols that can be used for communication on the Internet. The term Interweb is a portmanteau of Internet and World Wide Web typically used sarcastically to parody a technically unsavvy user.
History
Research into packet switching by Paul Baran and Donald Davies emerged in the early to mid-1960s, and packet switched networks such as the NPL network, ARPANET, Tymnet, the Merit Network, Telenet, and CYCLADES, were developed in the late 1960s and 1970s using a variety of protocols. The ARPANET project led to the development of protocols for internetworking, by which multiple separate networks could be joined into a single network of networks. ARPANET development began with two network nodes which were interconnected between the Network Measurement Center at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science directed by Leonard Kleinrock, and the NLS system at SRI International (SRI) by Douglas Engelbart in Menlo Park, California, on 29 October 1969. The third site was the Culler-Fried Interactive Mathematics Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara, followed by the University of Utah Graphics Department. In an early sign of future growth, fifteen sites were connected to the young ARPANET by the end of 1971. These early years were documented in the 1972 film Computer Networks: The Heralds of Resource Sharing.
Early international collaborations on the ARPANET were rare. European developers were concerned with developing the X.25 networks. Notable exceptions were the Norwegian Seismic Array (NORSAR) in June 1973, followed in 1973 by Sweden with satellite links to the Tanum Earth Station and Peter T. Kirstein’s research group in the United Kingdom, initially at the Institute of Computer Science, University of London and later at University College London. In December 1974, RFC 675 (Specification of Internet Transmission Control Program), by Vinton Cerf, Yogen Dalal, and Carl Sunshine, used the term internet as a shorthand for internetworking and later RFCs repeated this use. Access to the ARPANET was expanded in 1981 when the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded the Computer Science Network (CSNET). In 1982, the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) was standardized, which permitted worldwide proliferation of interconnected networks.
T3 NSFNET Backbone, c. 1992.
TCP/IP network access expanded again in 1986 when the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNet) provided access to supercomputer sites in the United States for researchers, first at speeds of 56 kbit/s and later at 1.5 Mbit/s and 45 Mbit/s. Commercial Internet service providers (ISPs) emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The ARPANET was decommissioned in 1990. By 1995, the Internet was fully commercialized in the U.S. when the NSFNet was decommissioned, removing the last restrictions on use of the Internet to carry commercial traffic. The Internet rapidly expanded in Europe and Australia in the mid to late 1980s and to Asia in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The beginning of dedicated transatlantic communication between the NSFNET and networks in Europe was established with a low-speed satellite relay between Princeton University and Stockholm, Sweden in December 1988. Although other network protocols such as UUCP had global reach well before this time, this marked the beginning of the Internet as an intercontinental network.
Public commercial use of the Internet began in mid-1989 with the connection of MCI Mail and Compuserve’s email capabilities to the 500,000 users of the Internet. Just months later on 1 January 1990, PSInet launched an alternate Internet backbone for commercial use; one of the networks that would grow into the commercial Internet we know today. In March 1990, the first high-speed T1 (1.5 Mbit/s) link between the NSFNET and Europe was installed between Cornell University and CERN, allowing much more robust communications than were capable with satellites. Six months later Tim Berners-Lee would begin writing WorldWideWeb, the first web browser after two years of lobbying CERN management. By Christmas 1990, Berners-Lee had built all the tools necessary for a working Web: the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) 0.9, the HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the first Web browser (which was also a HTML editor and could access Usenet newsgroups and FTP files), the first HTTP server software (later known as CERN httpd), the first web server, and the first Web pages that described the project itself. In 1991 the Commercial Internet eXchange was founded, allowing PSInet to communicate with the other commercial networks CERFnet and Alternet. Since 1995 the Internet has tremendously impacted culture and commerce, including the rise of near instant communication by email, instant messaging, telephony (Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP), two-way interactive video calls, and the World Wide Web with its discussion forums, blogs, social networking, and online shopping sites. Increasing amounts of data are transmitted at higher and higher speeds over fiber optic networks operating at 1-Gbit/s, 10-Gbit/s, or more.
The Internet continues to grow, driven by ever greater amounts of online information and knowledge, commerce, entertainment and social networking. During the late 1990s, it was estimated that traffic on the public Internet grew by 100 percent per year, while the mean annual growth in the number of Internet users was thought to be between 20% and 50%. This growth is often attributed to the lack of central administration, which allows organic growth of the network, as well as the non-proprietary nature of the Internet protocols, which encourages vendor interoperability and prevents any one company from exerting too much control over the network. As of 31 March 2011, the estimated total number of Internet users was 2.095 billion (30.2% of world population). It is estimated that in 1993 the Internet carried only 1% of the information flowing through two-way telecommunication, by 2000 this figure had grown to 51%, and by 2007 more than 97% of all telecommunicated information was carried over the Internet.
Governance
ICANN headquarters in the Playa Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States.
The Internet is a global network that comprises many voluntarily interconnected autonomous networks. It operates without a central governing body. The technical underpinning and standardization of the core protocols (IPv4 and IPv6) is an activity of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), a non-profit organization of loosely affiliated international participants that anyone may associate with by contributing technical expertise. To maintain interoperability, the principal name spaces of the Internet are administered by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). ICANN is governed by an international board of directors drawn from across the Internet technical, business, academic, and other non-commercial communities. ICANN coordinates the assignment of unique identifiers for use on the Internet, including domain names, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, application port numbers in the transport protocols, and many other parameters. Globally unified name spaces are essential for maintaining the global reach of the Internet. This role of ICANN distinguishes it as perhaps the only central coordinating body for the global Internet.
Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) allocate IP addresses:
African Network Information Center (AfriNIC) for Africa
American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) for North America
Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) for Asia and the Pacific region
Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry (LACNIC) for Latin America and the Caribbean region
Réseaux IP Européens – Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC) for Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, an agency of the United States Department of Commerce, had final approval over changes to the DNS root zone until the IANA stewardship transition on 1 October 2016. The Internet Society (ISOC) was founded in 1992 with a mission to “assure the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people throughout the world”. Its members include individuals (anyone may join) as well as corporations, organizations, governments, and universities. Among other activities ISOC provides an administrative home for a number of less formally organized groups that are involved in developing and managing the Internet, including: the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), Internet Architecture Board (IAB), Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG), Internet Research Task Force (IRTF), and Internet Research Steering Group (IRSG). On 16 November 2005, the United Nations-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis established the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) to discuss Internet-related issues.
Infrastructure
2007 map showing submarine fiberoptic telecommunication cables around the world.
The communications infrastructure of the Internet consists of its hardware components and a system of software layers that control various aspects of the architecture.
Routing and Service Tiers
Packet routing across the Internet involves several tiers of Internet service providers.
Internet service providers establish the worldwide connectivity between individual networks at various levels of scope. End-users who only access the Internet when needed to perform a function or obtain information, represent the bottom of the routing hierarchy. At the top of the routing hierarchy are the tier 1 networks, large telecommunication companies that exchange traffic directly with each other via peering agreements. Tier 2 and lower level networks buy Internet transit from other providers to reach at least some parties on the global Internet, though they may also engage in peering. An ISP may use a single upstream provider for connectivity, or implement multihoming to achieve redundancy and load balancing. Internet exchange points are major traffic exchanges with physical connections to multiple ISPs. Large organizations, such as academic institutions, large enterprises, and governments, may perform the same function as ISPs, engaging in peering and purchasing transit on behalf of their internal networks. Research networks tend to interconnect with large subnetworks such as GEANT, GLORIAD, Internet2, and the UK’s national research and education network, JANET. Both the Internet IP routing structure and hypertext links of the World Wide Web are examples of scale-free networks. Computers and routers use routing tables in their operating system to direct IP packets to the next-hop router or destination. Routing tables are maintained by manual configuration or automatically by routing protocols. End-nodes typically use a default route that points toward an ISP providing transit, while ISP routers use the Border Gateway Protocol to establish the most efficient routing across the complex connections of the global Internet.
Access
Common methods of Internet access by users include dial-up with a computer modem via telephone circuits, broadband over coaxial cable, fiber optics or copper wires, Wi-Fi, satellite and cellular telephone technology (3G, 4G). The Internet may often be accessed from computers in libraries and Internet cafes. Internet access points exist in many public places such as airport halls and coffee shops. Various terms are used, such as public Internet kiosk, public access terminal, and Web payphone. Many hotels also have public terminals, though these are usually fee-based. These terminals are widely accessed for various usages, such as ticket booking, bank deposit, or online payment. Wi-Fi provides wireless access to the Internet via local computer networks. Hotspots providing such access include Wi-Fi cafes, where users need to bring their own wireless devices such as a laptop or PDA. These services may be free to all, free to customers only, or fee-based.
Grassroots efforts have led to wireless community networks. Commercial Wi-Fi services covering large city areas are in place in New York, London, Vienna, Toronto, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago and Pittsburgh. The Internet can then be accessed from such places as a park bench. Apart from Wi-Fi, there have been experiments with proprietary mobile wireless networks like Ricochet, various high-speed data services over cellular phone networks, and fixed wireless services. High-end mobile phones such as smartphones in general come with Internet access through the phone network. Web browsers such as Opera are available on these advanced handsets, which can also run a wide variety of other Internet software. More mobile phones have Internet access than PCs, though this is not as widely used. An Internet access provider and protocol matrix differentiates the methods used to get online.
Protocols
While the hardware components in the Internet infrastructure can often be used to support other software systems, it is the design and the standardization process of the software that characterizes the Internet and provides the foundation for its scalability and success. The responsibility for the architectural design of the Internet software systems has been assumed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The IETF conducts standard-setting work groups, open to any individual, about the various aspects of Internet architecture. Resulting contributions and standards are published as Request for Comments (RFC) documents on the IETF web site. The principal methods of networking that enable the Internet are contained in specially designated RFCs that constitute the Internet Standards. Other less rigorous documents are simply informative, experimental, or historical, or document the best current practices (BCP) when implementing Internet technologies.
The Internet standards describe a framework known as the Internet protocol suite. This is a model architecture that divides methods into a layered system of protocols, originally documented in RFC 1122 and RFC 1123. The layers correspond to the environment or scope in which their services operate. At the top is the application layer, space for the application-specific networking methods used in software applications. For example, a web browser program uses the client-server application model and a specific protocol of interaction between servers and clients, while many file-sharing systems use a peer-to-peer paradigm. Below this top layer, the transport layer connects applications on different hosts with a logical channel through the network with appropriate data exchange methods.
Underlying these layers are the networking technologies that interconnect networks at their borders and exchange traffic across them. The Internet layer enables computers to identify and locate each other via Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, and routes their traffic via intermediate (transit) networks. Last, at the bottom of the architecture is the link layer, which provides logical connectivity between hosts on the same network link, such as a local area network (LAN) or a dial-up connection. The model, also known as TCP/IP, is designed to be independent of the underlying hardware used for the physical connections, which the model does not concern itself with in any detail. Other models have been developed, such as the OSI model, that attempt to be comprehensive in every aspect of communications. While many similarities exist between the models, they are not compatible in the details of description or implementation. Yet, TCP/IP protocols are usually included in the discussion of OSI networking.
As user data is processed through the protocol stack, each abstraction layer adds encapsulation information at the sending host. Data is transmitted over the wire at the link level between hosts and routers. Encapsulation is removed by the receiving host. Intermediate relays update link encapsulation at each hop, and inspect the IP layer for routing purposes.
The most prominent component of the Internet model is the Internet Protocol (IP), which provides addressing systems, including IP addresses, for computers on the network. IP enables internetworking and, in essence, establishes the Internet itself. Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) is the initial version used on the first generation of the Internet and is still in dominant use. It was designed to address up to ~4.3 billion (109) hosts. However, the explosive growth of the Internet has led to IPv4 address exhaustion, which entered its final stage in 2011, when the global address allocation pool was exhausted. A new protocol version, IPv6, was developed in the mid-1990s, which provides vastly larger addressing capabilities and more efficient routing of Internet traffic. IPv6 is currently in growing deployment around the world, since Internet address registries (RIRs) began to urge all resource managers to plan rapid adoption and conversion.
IPv6 is not directly interoperable by design with IPv4. In essence, it establishes a parallel version of the Internet not directly accessible with IPv4 software. Thus, translation facilities must exist for internetworking or nodes must have duplicate networking software for both networks. Essentially all modern computer operating systems support both versions of the Internet Protocol. Network infrastructure, however, has been lagging in this development. Aside from the complex array of physical connections that make up its infrastructure, the Internet is facilitated by bi- or multi-lateral commercial contracts, e.g., peering agreements, and by technical specifications or protocols that describe the exchange of data over the network. Indeed, the Internet is defined by its interconnections and routing policies.
Services
The Internet carries many network services, most prominently mobile apps such as social media apps, the World Wide Web, electronic mail, multiplayer online games, Internet telephony, and file sharing services.
World Wide Web
This NeXT Computer was used by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN and became the world’s first Web server.
Many people use the terms Internet and World Wide Web, or just the Web, interchangeably, but the two terms are not synonymous. The World Wide Web is the primary application program that billions of people use on the Internet, and it has changed their lives immeasurably. However, the Internet provides many other services. The Web is a global set of documents, images and other resources, logically interrelated by hyperlinks and referenced with Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). URIs symbolically identify services, servers, and other databases, and the documents and resources that they can provide. Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the main access protocol of the World Wide Web. Web services also use HTTP to allow software systems to communicate in order to share and exchange business logic and data.
World Wide Web browser software, such as Microsoft’s Internet Explorer/Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Apple’s Safari, and Google Chrome, lets users navigate from one web page to another via hyperlinks embedded in the documents. These documents may also contain any combination of computer data, including graphics, sounds, text, video, multimedia and interactive content that runs while the user is interacting with the page. Client-side software can include animations, games, office applications and scientific demonstrations. Through keyword-driven Internet research using search engines like Yahoo!, Bing and Google, users worldwide have easy, instant access to a vast and diverse amount of online information. Compared to printed media, books, encyclopedias and traditional libraries, the World Wide Web has enabled the decentralization of information on a large scale.
The Web has also enabled individuals and organizations to publish ideas and information to a potentially large audience online at greatly reduced expense and time delay. Publishing a web page, a blog, or building a website involves little initial cost and many cost-free services are available. However, publishing and maintaining large, professional web sites with attractive, diverse and up-to-date information is still a difficult and expensive proposition. Many individuals and some companies and groups use web logs or blogs, which are largely used as easily updatable online diaries. Some commercial organizations encourage staff to communicate advice in their areas of specialization in the hope that visitors will be impressed by the expert knowledge and free information, and be attracted to the corporation as a result.
Advertising on popular web pages can be lucrative, and e-commerce, which is the sale of products and services directly via the Web, continues to grow. Online advertising is a form of marketing and advertising which uses the Internet to deliver promotional marketing messages to consumers. It includes email marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing, many types of display advertising (including web banner advertising), and mobile advertising. In 2011, Internet advertising revenues in the United States surpassed those of cable television and nearly exceeded those of broadcast television. Many common online advertising practices are controversial and increasingly subject to regulation.
When the Web developed in the 1990s, a typical web page was stored in completed form on a web server, formatted in HTML, complete for transmission to a web browser in response to a request. Over time, the process of creating and serving web pages has become dynamic, creating a flexible design, layout, and content. Websites are often created using content management software with, initially, very little content. Contributors to these systems, who may be paid staff, members of an organization or the public, fill underlying databases with content using editing pages designed for that purpose while casual visitors view and read this content in HTML form. There may or may not be editorial, approval and security systems built into the process of taking newly entered content and making it available to the target visitors.
Communication
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Email is an important communications service available on the Internet. The concept of sending electronic text messages between parties in a way analogous to mailing letters or memos predates the creation of the Internet. Pictures, documents, and other files are sent as email attachments. Emails can be cc-ed to multiple email addresses.
Internet telephony is another common communications service made possible by the creation of the Internet. VoIP stands for Voice-over-Internet Protocol, referring to the protocol that underlies all Internet communication. The idea began in the early 1990s with walkie-talkie-like voice applications for personal computers. In recent years many VoIP systems have become as easy to use and as convenient as a normal telephone. The benefit is that, as the Internet carries the voice traffic, VoIP can be free or cost much less than a traditional telephone call, especially over long distances and especially for those with always-on Internet connections such as cable or ADSL. VoIP is maturing into a competitive alternative to traditional telephone service. Interoperability between different providers has improved and the ability to call or receive a call from a traditional telephone is available. Simple, inexpensive VoIP network adapters are available that eliminate the need for a personal computer.
Voice quality can still vary from call to call, but is often equal to and can even exceed that of traditional calls. Remaining problems for VoIP include emergency telephone number dialing and reliability. Currently, a few VoIP providers provide an emergency service, but it is not universally available. Older traditional phones with no “extra features” may be line-powered only and operate during a power failure; VoIP can never do so without a backup power source for the phone equipment and the Internet access devices. VoIP has also become increasingly popular for gaming applications, as a form of communication between players. Popular VoIP clients for gaming include Ventrilo and Teamspeak. Modern video game consoles also offer VoIP chat features.
Data Transfer
File sharing is an example of transferring large amounts of data across the Internet. A computer file can be emailed to customers, colleagues and friends as an attachment. It can be uploaded to a website or File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server for easy download by others. It can be put into a “shared location” or onto a file server for instant use by colleagues. The load of bulk downloads to many users can be eased by the use of “mirror” servers or peer-to-peer networks. In any of these cases, access to the file may be controlled by user authentication, the transit of the file over the Internet may be obscured by encryption, and money may change hands for access to the file. The price can be paid by the remote charging of funds from, for example, a credit card whose details are also passed – usually fully encrypted – across the Internet. The origin and authenticity of the file received may be checked by digital signatures or by MD5 or other message digests. These simple features of the Internet, over a worldwide basis, are changing the production, sale, and distribution of anything that can be reduced to a computer file for transmission. This includes all manner of print publications, software products, news, music, film, video, photography, graphics and the other arts. This in turn has caused seismic shifts in each of the existing industries that previously controlled the production and distribution of these products.
Streaming media is the real-time delivery of digital media for the immediate consumption or enjoyment by end users. Many radio and television broadcasters provide Internet feeds of their live audio and video productions. They may also allow time-shift viewing or listening such as Preview, Classic Clips and Listen Again features. These providers have been joined by a range of pure Internet “broadcasters” who never had on-air licenses. This means that an Internet-connected device, such as a computer or something more specific, can be used to access on-line media in much the same way as was previously possible only with a television or radio receiver. The range of available types of content is much wider, from specialized technical webcasts to on-demand popular multimedia services. Podcasting is a variation on this theme, where – usually audio – material is downloaded and played back on a computer or shifted to a portable media player to be listened to on the move. These techniques using simple equipment allow anybody, with little censorship or licensing control, to broadcast audio-visual material worldwide.
Digital media streaming increases the demand for network bandwidth. For example, standard image quality needs 1 Mbit/s link speed for SD 480p, HD 720p quality requires 2.5 Mbit/s, and the top-of-the-line HDX quality needs 4.5 Mbit/s for 1080p.
Webcams are a low-cost extension of this phenomenon. While some webcams can give full-frame-rate video, the picture either is usually small or updates slowly. Internet users can watch animals around an African waterhole, ships in the Panama Canal, traffic at a local roundabout or monitor their own premises, live and in real time. Video chat rooms and video conferencing are also popular with many uses being found for personal webcams, with and without two-way sound. YouTube was founded on 15 February 2005 and is now the leading website for free streaming video with a vast number of users. It uses a flash-based web player to stream and show video files. Registered users may upload an unlimited amount of video and build their own personal profile. YouTube claims that its users watch hundreds of millions, and upload hundreds of thousands of videos daily. Currently, YouTube also uses an HTML5 player.
Social Impact
The Internet has enabled new forms of social interaction, activities, and social associations. This phenomenon has given rise to the scholarly study of the sociology of the Internet.
Users
Internet users per 100 inhabitants
Internet users by language
Website content languages
Internet usage has seen tremendous growth. From 2000 to 2009, the number of Internet users globally rose from 394 million to 1.858 billion. By 2010, 22 percent of the world’s population had access to computers with 1 billion Google searches every day, 300 million Internet users reading blogs, and 2 billion videos viewed daily on YouTube. In 2014 the world’s Internet users surpassed 3 billion or 43.6 percent of world population, but two-thirds of the users came from richest countries, with 78.0 percent of Europe countries population using the Internet, followed by 57.4 percent of the Americas.
The prevalent language for communication on the Internet has been English. This may be a result of the origin of the Internet, as well as the language’s role as a lingua franca. Early computer systems were limited to the characters in the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII), a subset of the Latin alphabet.
After English (27%), the most requested languages on the World Wide Web are Chinese (25%), Spanish (8%), Japanese (5%), Portuguese and German (4% each), Arabic, French and Russian (3% each), and Korean (2%). By region, 42% of the world’s Internet users are based in Asia, 24% in Europe, 14% in North America, 10% in Latin America and the Caribbean taken together, 6% in Africa, 3% in the Middle East and 1% in Australia/Oceania. The Internet’s technologies have developed enough in recent years, especially in the use of Unicode, that good facilities are available for development and communication in the world’s widely used languages. However, some glitches such as mojibake (incorrect display of some languages’ characters) still remain.
In an American study in 2005, the percentage of men using the Internet was very slightly ahead of the percentage of women, although this difference reversed in those under 30. Men logged on more often, spent more time online, and were more likely to be broadband users, whereas women tended to make more use of opportunities to communicate (such as email). Men were more likely to use the Internet to pay bills, participate in auctions, and for recreation such as downloading music and videos. Men and women were equally likely to use the Internet for shopping and banking. More recent studies indicate that in 2008, women significantly outnumbered men on most social networking sites, such as Facebook and Myspace, although the ratios varied with age. In addition, women watched more streaming content, whereas men downloaded more. In terms of blogs, men were more likely to blog in the first place; among those who blog, men were more likely to have a professional blog, whereas women were more likely to have a personal blog.
According to forecasts by Euromonitor International, 44% of the world’s population will be users of the Internet by 2020. Splitting by country, in 2012 Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Denmark had the highest Internet penetration by the number of users, with 93% or more of the population with access.
Several neologisms exist that refer to Internet users: Netizen (as in as in “citizen of the net”) refers to those actively involved in improving online communities, the Internet in general or surrounding political affairs and rights such as free speech, Internaut refers to operators or technically highly capable users of the Internet, digital citizen refers to a person using the Internet in order to engage in society, politics, and government participation.
Usage
The Internet allows greater flexibility in working hours and location, especially with the spread of unmetered high-speed connections. The Internet can be accessed almost anywhere by numerous means, including through mobile Internet devices. Mobile phones, datacards, handheld game consoles and cellular routers allow users to connect to the Internet wirelessly. Within the limitations imposed by small screens and other limited facilities of such pocket-sized devices, the services of the Internet, including email and the web, may be available. Service providers may restrict the services offered and mobile data charges may be significantly higher than other access methods.
Educational material at all levels from pre-school to post-doctoral is available from websites. Examples range from CBeebies, through school and high-school revision guides and virtual universities, to access to top-end scholarly literature through the likes of Google Scholar. For distance education, help with homework and other assignments, self-guided learning, whiling away spare time, or just looking up more detail on an interesting fact, it has never been easier for people to access educational information at any level from anywhere. The Internet in general and the World Wide Web in particular are important enablers of both formal and informal education. Further, the Internet allows universities, in particular, researchers from the social and behavioral sciences, to conduct research remotely via virtual laboratories, with profound changes in reach and generalizability of findings as well as in communication between scientists and in the publication of results.
The low cost and nearly instantaneous sharing of ideas, knowledge, and skills have made collaborative work dramatically easier, with the help of collaborative software. Not only can a group cheaply communicate and share ideas but the wide reach of the Internet allows such groups more easily to form. An example of this is the free software movement, which has produced, among other things, Linux, Mozilla Firefox, and OpenOffice.org (later forked into LibreOffice). Internet chat, whether using an IRC chat room, an instant messaging system, or a social networking website, allows colleagues to stay in touch in a very convenient way while working at their computers during the day. Messages can be exchanged even more quickly and conveniently than via email. These systems may allow files to be exchanged, drawings and images to be shared, or voice and video contact between team members.
Content management systems allow collaborating teams to work on shared sets of documents simultaneously without accidentally destroying each other’s work. Business and project teams can share calendars as well as documents and other information. Such collaboration occurs in a wide variety of areas including scientific research, software development, conference planning, political activism and creative writing. Social and political collaboration is also becoming more widespread as both Internet access and computer literacy spread.
The Internet allows computer users to remotely access other computers and information stores easily from any access point. Access may be with computer security, i.e. authentication and encryption technologies, depending on the requirements. This is encouraging new ways of working from home, collaboration and information sharing in many industries. An accountant sitting at home can audit the books of a company based in another country, on a server situated in a third country that is remotely maintained by IT specialists in a fourth. These accounts could have been created by home-working bookkeepers, in other remote locations, based on information emailed to them from offices all over the world. Some of these things were possible before the widespread use of the Internet, but the cost of private leased lines would have made many of them infeasible in practice. An office worker away from their desk, perhaps on the other side of the world on a business trip or a holiday, can access their emails, access their data using cloud computing, or open a remote desktop session into their office PC using a secure virtual private network (VPN) connection on the Internet. This can give the worker complete access to all of their normal files and data, including email and other applications, while away from the office. It has been referred to among system administrators as the Virtual Private Nightmare, because it extends the secure perimeter of a corporate network into remote locations and its employees’ homes.
Social Networking and Entertainment
Many people use the World Wide Web to access news, weather and sports reports, to plan and book vacations and to pursue their personal interests. People use chat, messaging and email to make and stay in touch with friends worldwide, sometimes in the same way as some previously had pen pals. Social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace have created new ways to socialize and interact. Users of these sites are able to add a wide variety of information to pages, to pursue common interests, and to connect with others. It is also possible to find existing acquaintances, to allow communication among existing groups of people. Sites like LinkedIn foster commercial and business connections. YouTube and Flickr specialize in users’ videos and photographs. While social networking sites were initially for individuals only, today they are widely used by businesses and other organizations to promote their brands, to market to their customers and to encourage posts to “go viral”. “Black hat” social media techniques are also employed by some organizations, such as spam accounts and astroturfing.
A risk for both individuals and organizations writing posts (especially public posts) on social networking websites, is that especially foolish or controversial posts occasionally lead to an unexpected and possibly large-scale backlash on social media from other Internet users. This is also a risk in relation to controversial offline behavior, if it is widely made known. The nature of this backlash can range widely from counter-arguments and public mockery, through insults and hate speech, to, in extreme cases, rape and death threats. The online disinhibition effect describes the tendency of many individuals to behave more stridently or offensively online than they would in person. A significant number of feminist women have been the target of various forms of harassment in response to posts they have made on social media, and Twitter in particular has been criticised in the past for not doing enough to aid victims of online abuse.
For organizations, such a backlash can cause overall brand damage, especially if reported by the media. However, this is not always the case, as any brand damage in the eyes of people with an opposing opinion to that presented by the organization could sometimes be outweighed by strengthening the brand in the eyes of others. Furthermore, if an organization or individual gives in to demands that others perceive as wrong-headed, that can then provoke a counter-backlash.
Some websites, such as Reddit, have rules forbidding the posting of personal information of individuals (also known as doxxing), due to concerns about such postings leading to mobs of large numbers of Internet users directing harassment at the specific individuals thereby identified. In particular, the Reddit rule forbidding the posting of personal information is widely understood to imply that all identifying photos and names must be censored in Facebook screenshots posted to Reddit. However, the interpretation of this rule in relation to public Twitter posts is less clear, and in any case, like-minded people online have many other ways they can use to direct each other’s attention to public social media posts they disagree with.
Children also face dangers online such as cyberbullying and approaches by sexual predators, who sometimes pose as children themselves. Children may also encounter material which they may find upsetting, or material which their parents consider to be not age-appropriate. Due to naivety, they may also post personal information about themselves online, which could put them or their families at risk unless warned not to do so. Many parents choose to enable Internet filtering, and/or supervise their children’s online activities, in an attempt to protect their children from inappropriate material on the Internet. The most popular social networking websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, commonly forbid users under the age of 13. However, these policies are typically trivial to circumvent by registering an account with a false birth date, and a significant number of children aged under 13 join such sites anyway. Social networking sites for younger children, which claim to provide better levels of protection for children, also exist.
The Internet has been a major outlet for leisure activity since its inception, with entertaining social experiments such as MUDs and MOOs being conducted on university servers, and humor-related Usenet groups receiving much traffic. Many Internet forums have sections devoted to games and funny videos. The Internet pornography and online gambling industries have taken advantage of the World Wide Web, and often provide a significant source of advertising revenue for other websites. Although many governments have attempted to restrict both industries’ use of the Internet, in general, this has failed to stop their widespread popularity.
Another area of leisure activity on the Internet is multiplayer gaming. This form of recreation creates communities, where people of all ages and origins enjoy the fast-paced world of multiplayer games. These range from MMORPG to first-person shooters, from role-playing video games to online gambling. While online gaming has been around since the 1970s, modern modes of online gaming began with subscription services such as GameSpy and MPlayer. Non-subscribers were limited to certain types of game play or certain games. Many people use the Internet to access and download music, movies and other works for their enjoyment and relaxation. Free and fee-based services exist for all of these activities, using centralized servers and distributed peer-to-peer technologies. Some of these sources exercise more care with respect to the original artists’ copyrights than others.
Internet usage has been correlated to users’ loneliness. Lonely people tend to use the Internet as an outlet for their feelings and to share their stories with others, such as in the “I am lonely will anyone speak to me” thread.
Cybersectarianism is a new organizational form which involves: “highly dispersed small groups of practitioners that may remain largely anonymous within the larger social context and operate in relative secrecy, while still linked remotely to a larger network of believers who share a set of practices and texts, and often a common devotion to a particular leader. Overseas supporters provide funding and support; domestic practitioners distribute tracts, participate in acts of resistance, and share information on the internal situation with outsiders. Collectively, members and practitioners of such sects construct viable virtual communities of faith, exchanging personal testimonies and engaging in the collective study via email, on-line chat rooms, and web-based message boards.” In particular, the British government has raised concerns about the prospect of young British Muslims being indoctrinated into Islamic extremism by material on the Internet, being persuaded to join terrorist groups such as the so-called “Islamic State”, and then potentially committing acts of terrorism on returning to Britain after fighting in Syria or Iraq.
Cyberslacking can become a drain on corporate resources; the average UK employee spent 57 minutes a day surfing the Web while at work, according to a 2003 study by Peninsula Business Services. Internet addiction disorder is excessive computer use that interferes with daily life. Nicholas G. Carr believes that Internet use has other effects on individuals, for instance improving skills of scan-reading and interfering with the deep thinking that leads to true creativity.
Electronic Business
Electronic business (e-business) encompasses business processes spanning the entire value chain: purchasing, supply chain management, marketing, sales, customer service, and business relationship. E-commerce seeks to add revenue streams using the Internet to build and enhance relationships with clients and partners. According to International Data Corporation, the size of worldwide e-commerce, when global business-to-business and -consumer transactions are combined, equate to $16 trillion for 2013. A report by Oxford Economics adds those two together to estimate the total size of the digital economy at $20.4 trillion, equivalent to roughly 13.8% of global sales.
While much has been written of the economic advantages of Internet-enabled commerce, there is also evidence that some aspects of the Internet such as maps and location-aware services may serve to reinforce economic inequality and the digital divide. Electronic commerce may be responsible for consolidation and the decline of mom-and-pop, brick and mortar businesses resulting in increases in income inequality.
Author Andrew Keen, a long-time critic of the social transformations caused by the Internet, has recently focused on the economic effects of consolidation from Internet businesses. Keen cites a 2013 Institute for Local Self-Reliance report saying brick-and-mortar retailers employ 47 people for every $10 million in sales while Amazon employs only 14. Similarly, the 700-employee room rental start-up Airbnb was valued at $10 billion in 2014, about half as much as Hilton Hotels, which employs 152,000 people. And car-sharing Internet startup Uber employs 1,000 full-time employees and is valued at $18.2 billion, about the same valuation as Avis and Hertz combined, which together employ almost 60,000 people.
Telecommuting
Telecommuting is the performance within a traditional worker and employer relationship when it is facilitated by tools such as groupware, virtual private networks, conference calling, videoconferencing, and voice over IP (VOIP) so that work may be performed from any location, most conveniently the worker’s home. It can be efficient and useful for companies as it allows workers to communicate over long distances, saving significant amounts of travel time and cost. As broadband Internet connections become commonplace, more workers have adequate bandwidth at home to use these tools to link their home to their corporate intranet and internal communication networks.
Collaborative Publishing
Wikis have also been used in the academic community for sharing and dissemination of information across institutional and international boundaries. In those settings, they have been found useful for collaboration on grant writing, strategic planning, departmental documentation, and committee work. The United States Patent and Trademark Office uses a wiki to allow the public to collaborate on finding prior art relevant to examination of pending patent applications. Queens, New York has used a wiki to allow citizens to collaborate on the design and planning of a local park. The English Wikipedia has the largest user base among wikis on the World Wide Web and ranks in the top 10 among all Web sites in terms of traffic.
Politics and Political Revolutions
Banner in Bangkok during the 2014 Thai coup d’état, informing the Thai public that ‘like’ or ‘share’ activities on social media could result in imprisonment (observed June 30, 2014).
The Internet has achieved new relevance as a political tool. The presidential campaign of Howard Dean in 2004 in the United States was notable for its success in soliciting donation via the Internet. Many political groups use the Internet to achieve a new method of organizing for carrying out their mission, having given rise to Internet activism, most notably practiced by rebels in the Arab Spring. The New York Times suggested that social media websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, helped people organize the political revolutions in Egypt, by helping activists organize protests, communicate grievances, and disseminate information.
The potential of the Internet as a civic tool of communicative power was explored by Simon R. B. Berdal in his 2004 thesis:
As the globally evolving Internet provides ever new access points to virtual discourse forums, it also promotes new civic relations and associations within which communicative power may flow and accumulate. Thus, traditionally … national-embedded peripheries get entangled into greater, international peripheries, with stronger combined powers… The Internet, as a consequence, changes the topology of the “centre-periphery” model, by stimulating conventional peripheries to interlink into “super-periphery” structures, which enclose and “besiege” several centres at once.
Berdal, therefore, extends the Habermasian notion of the public sphere to the Internet, and underlines the inherent global and civic nature that interwoven Internet technologies provide. To limit the growing civic potential of the Internet, Berdal also notes how “self-protective measures” are put in place by those threatened by it:
If we consider China’s attempts to filter “unsuitable material” from the Internet, most of us would agree that this resembles a self-protective measure by the system against the growing civic potentials of the Internet. Nevertheless, both types represent limitations to “peripheral capacities”. Thus, the Chinese government tries to prevent communicative power to build up and unleash (as the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising suggests, the government may find it wise to install “upstream measures”). Even though limited, the Internet is proving to be an empowering tool also to the Chinese periphery: Analysts believe that Internet petitions have influenced policy implementation in favour of the public’s online-articulated will …
Incidents of politically motivated Internet censorship have now been recorded in many countries, including western democracies.
Philanthropy
The spread of low-cost Internet access in developing countries has opened up new possibilities for peer-to-peer charities, which allow individuals to contribute small amounts to charitable projects for other individuals. Websites, such as DonorsChoose and GlobalGiving, allow small-scale donors to direct funds to individual projects of their choice. A popular twist on Internet-based philanthropy is the use of peer-to-peer lending for charitable purposes. Kiva pioneered this concept in 2005, offering the first web-based service to publish individual loan profiles for funding. Kiva raises funds for local intermediary microfinance organizations which post stories and updates on behalf of the borrowers. Lenders can contribute as little as $25 to loans of their choice, and receive their money back as borrowers repay. Kiva falls short of being a pure peer-to-peer charity, in that loans are disbursed before being funded by lenders and borrowers do not communicate with lenders themselves.
However, the recent spread of low-cost Internet access in developing countries has made genuine international person-to-person philanthropy increasingly feasible. In 2009, the US-based nonprofit Zidisha tapped into this trend to offer the first person-to-person microfinance platform to link lenders and borrowers across international borders without intermediaries. Members can fund loans for as little as a dollar, which the borrowers then use to develop business activities that improve their families’ incomes while repaying loans to the members with interest. Borrowers access the Internet via public cybercafes, donated laptops in village schools, and even smart phones, then create their own profile pages through which they share photos and information about themselves and their businesses. As they repay their loans, borrowers continue to share updates and dialogue with lenders via their profile pages. This direct web-based connection allows members themselves to take on many of the communication and recording tasks traditionally performed by local organizations, bypassing geographic barriers and dramatically reducing the cost of microfinance services to the entrepreneurs.
Security
Internet resources, hardware, and software components are the target of criminal or malicious attempts to gain unauthorized control to cause interruptions, commit fraud, engage in blackmail or access private information.
Malware
Malicious software used and spread on the Internet includes computer viruses which copy with the help of humans, computer worms which copy themselves automatically, software for denial of service attacks, ransomware, botnets, and spyware that reports on the activity and typing of users. Usually, these activities constitute cybercrime. Defense theorists have also speculated about the possibilities of cyber warfare using similar methods on a large scale.
Surveillance
The vast majority of computer surveillance involves the monitoring of data and traffic on the Internet. In the United States for example, under the Communications Assistance For Law Enforcement Act, all phone calls and broadband Internet traffic (emails, web traffic, instant messaging, etc.) are required to be available for unimpeded real-time monitoring by Federal law enforcement agencies. Packet capture is the monitoring of data traffic on a computer network. Computers communicate over the Internet by breaking up messages (emails, images, videos, web pages, files, etc.) into small chunks called “packets”, which are routed through a network of computers, until they reach their destination, where they are assembled back into a complete “message” again. Packet Capture Appliance intercepts these packets as they are traveling through the network, in order to examine their contents using other programs. A packet capture is an information gathering tool, but not an analysis tool. That is it gathers “messages” but it does not analyze them and figure out what they mean. Other programs are needed to perform traffic analysis and sift through intercepted data looking for important/useful information. Under the Communications Assistance For Law Enforcement Act all U.S. telecommunications providers are required to install packet sniffing technology to allow Federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies to intercept all of their customers’ broadband Internet and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) traffic.
The large amount of data gathered from packet capturing requires surveillance software that filters and reports relevant information, such as the use of certain words or phrases, the access of certain types of web sites, or communicating via email or chat with certain parties. Agencies, such as the Information Awareness Office, NSA, GCHQ and the FBI, spend billions of dollars per year to develop, purchase, implement, and operate systems for interception and analysis of data. Similar systems are operated by Iranian secret police to identify and suppress dissidents. The required hardware and software was allegedly installed by German Siemens AG and Finnish Nokia.
Censorship
Some governments, such as those of Burma, Iran, North Korea, the Mainland China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates restrict access to content on the Internet within their territories, especially to political and religious content, with domain name and keyword filters.
In Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden, major Internet service providers have voluntarily agreed to restrict access to sites listed by authorities. While this list of forbidden resources is supposed to contain only known child pornography sites, the content of the list is secret. Many countries, including the United States, have enacted laws against the possession or distribution of certain material, such as child pornography, via the Internet, but do not mandate filter software. Many free or commercially available software programs, called content-control software are available to users to block offensive websites on individual computers or networks, in order to limit access by children to pornographic material or depiction of violence.
Performance
As the Internet is a heterogeneous network, the physical characteristics, including for example the data transfer rates of connections, vary widely. It exhibits emergent phenomena that depend on its large-scale organization.
Outages
An Internet blackout or outage can be caused by local signalling interruptions. Disruptions of submarine communications cables may cause blackouts or slowdowns to large areas, such as in the 2008 submarine cable disruption. Less-developed countries are more vulnerable due to a small number of high-capacity links. Land cables are also vulnerable, as in 2011 when a woman digging for scrap metal severed most connectivity for the nation of Armenia. Internet blackouts affecting almost entire countries can be achieved by governments as a form of Internet censorship, as in the blockage of the Internet in Egypt, whereby approximately 93% of networks were without access in 2011 in an attempt to stop mobilization for anti-government protests.
Energy Use
In 2011, researchers estimated the energy used by the Internet to be between 170 and 307 GW, less than two percent of the energy used by humanity. This estimate included the energy needed to build, operate, and periodically replace the estimated 750 million laptops, a billion smart phones and 100 million servers worldwide as well as the energy that routers, cell towers, optical switches, Wi-Fi transmitters and cloud storage devices use when transmitting Internet traffic.
Tommy Tam Fu-Wing (born 19 August 1946), better known by his stage name Ti Lung, is a Hong Kong actor, known for his numerous starring roles in a string of Shaw Brothers Studio’s films, particularly The Blood Brothers,The Avenging Eagle, Clans of Intrigue, The Duel, The Sentimental Swordsman and its sequel, and in the classic A Better Tomorrow.
Contents 1 Background 2 Career 3 Personal life 4 The origin of the stage name “Ti Lung” 5 Filmography 5.1 Television
Background
Tam Fu Wing (Ti Lung) was born on 19 August in 1946 in a family with 4 members including parents, a younger sister and him in Guangdong Province, China . When he was 4 years old, the whole family moved to live in Hong Kong. He educated at Eton school in Hong Kong. But after his father’s dead, he had to terminate his study at the age of 18 to support his family.Initially, he was a deliver boy at a grocery shop where he often delivered milk, newspapers and groceries. At 24 years old,he trained as a tailor and studied Wing Chun of the master Jiu Wan to protect himself against street gangs.
Career
In 1968 Ti Lung responded to an advertisement placed by the Shaw Brothers after college, and applied at Shaw Acting Course, and upon completion was awarded a minor role in Chang Cheh’s Return of the One-Armed Swordsman starring Jimmy Wang Yu. Chang Cheh immediately recognized his potential and offered him the lead in his next production Dead End opposite Golden Chan Hung-lit, a role which would launch his career as one of the best known faces in classic Wuxia film. At that time, he continued to study Wing Chun under the martial arts master Jiu Wan who described him as having advantages of a strong body, intelligent, good footwork, and he also practices diligently. Besides, he was also taught other techniques such as: Judo, Muya Thai, Takewondo, Wushu… and riding horse. He became a common face associated with David Chiang, Alexander Fu Sheng, Ku Feng, Chen Kuan-Tai, the Venom Mob, and other Shaw Bros stars at the time, often cast as a dashing, noble hero as well as a capable martial artist.
Especially, he collaborated with the most revered Shaw director – Chang Cheh who gave him his explosive start along with fellow actor and frequent co-star David Chiang in over 20 films: Dead End (1969), Have Sword, Will Travel (1969), Vengeance (1970), The Heroic Ones (1970), The Duel (1971), Duel of Fists (1971), The Deadly Duo (1971), Angry Guest (1972), Four Riders (1972), The Blood Brothers (1973), The Pirate (1973)…. .Due to their success, the trio were known as “The Iron Triangle”. In this period time, one of the most feature films of Ti Lung is “The Blood Brothers” (1973) which helped him win The Special Award for Outstanding Performance at 11th Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan and the Special Jury Award at the Asian Film Awards in 1973. Soon after, Ti Lung moved forward teaming up with Lar Kar-Leung, Chu Yuan, Sun Chung, and Tong Gai to produce movies still loved today such as: The Magic blade (1976), Clans of Intrigue (1977), The Sentimental Swordsman (1977), The Avenging Eagle (1978), Shaolin Prince (1983)…In 1979, he won Best Actor Award at 25th Asian Film Awards as Black eagle Chik Ming-Sing in The Avenging Eagle in 1978.
After he left Shaw Brothers Studios in the 1980s, Ti Lung’s career took a turn for the worse until 1986, when John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow cast him opposite Chow Yun-fat in the role of a Triad member. The movie was a box office success and placed Ti Lung back in the public consciousness, although it changed his image from the handsome martial youth to the tortured, would-be hero gangster. It also helped him gain Best Actor Award at 23th Golden Horse Awards in 1986. After that role, Ti Lung’s next most recognisable appearance would be with Jackie Chan in Drunken Master II, in which he co-starred as Wong Kei-Ying, father of Chinese folk hero Wong Fei Hung. In 1994-95, Ti Lung lead-starred as Bao Zheng in a Hong Kong version of Justice Pao TV series for TVB. At the time this series was viewing on Hong Kong television, many fans in Mainland China and Hong Kong has compared Ti Lung/TVB’s Bao Zheng with Jin Chao-chun/Mainland China’s Bao Zheng. Ti Lung also worked with Andy Lau in Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon as the legendary Guan Yu. From there, he has continued to work in television in a variety of roles.
In 1999, Ti Lung had a comeback in movies in the role of Sir Lung in “The kid” film which enabled him achieve Best Supporting actor at 19th Hong Kong Film Awards in 2000. In 2007, he received Life Achievement Award at Golden Bauhinia Awards. Until 2015, he played as Master Lam in an associated film between Hong Kong and Malaysia called “The Kid from the Big Apple”. The role made him gain Best Actor Award at 7th Macau International Movie Festival.The sequel of the film will premiere in Malaysia in November 2017.
Personal Life
Ti Lung got married with the beauty queen and actress Tao Man Ming in 1975. In 1980, she gave birth to a son, the actor Shaun Tam (his only child). He is also the uncle of Jerry Lamb and Jan Lamb.
The origin of the stage name “Ti Lung”
When he was a child, he admired the actor Alain Delon so much. Until 1968, he was at Shaw Brothers Studio, he asked the production to choose him a name which would be close to Alain Delon’s in the hope of being as good an actor as him . One day a secretary from the production (Mona Fong) found the name of Ti Lung for him, ‘Ti’ is a lucky name and ‘Lung’ means dragon.
David Chiang Da-wei (born Chiang Wei-nien on 29 June 1947 in Shanghai, Republic of China) is a Hong Kong actor, director and producer. A martial arts superstar in the 1970s under the Shaw Brothers Studio, he has appeared in over 130 films and over 30 television series.
Born in a thespian family, he is the younger brother of Paul Chun and an older half-brother of Derek Yee.
Contents 1 Biography 2 Filmography 2.1 Film (as actor) 2.2 Film (as director) 2.3 Television
Biography
David Chiang’s hand prints and autograph on the Avenue of Stars, Hong Kong
David Chiang’s mother Hung Wei (real name: Lo Chen) and father Yen Hua (real name: Chiang Ko-chi) were popular Chinese movie stars who arrived in Hong Kong in the late 1940s during the Chinese Civil War. Chiang began his acting career at a very early age, appearing in black and white films when he was only four years old.
In 1966 after diploma 2nd year and quit from school, while working as a stuntman and fight instructor for the Shaw Brothers Studio, he was spotted by director Chang Cheh, who immediately saw his potential and screen presence and became his mentor. Chang gave him the stage name David Chiang, even though his real English name was John.
With Wang Yu’s sudden departure in 1969, Run Run Shaw and his senior executives were looking for a new leading man and made Chiang an offer. With the guidance of Chang Cheh, Chiang won the Best Actor award at the 16th Asian Film Festival in 1970 for his role in Vengeance. In 1972, at the 18th Asian Film Festival, he won the Golden Horse Award for Best Actor for his role in Blood Brothers. In 1973, at the 19th Asian Film Festival, he won the Most Contemporary award for his role in The Generation Gap.
In 1973 Chiang left Hong Kong with his mentor Chang Cheh and set up an independent production company called Chang’s Scope Company. With the backing and encouragement of Run Run Shaw, their films continued to be distributed through Shaw’s channels. At Chang’s Scope Company, Chiang was able to try his hand at directing, producing and script writing. As the 1970s came to an end and the 1980s approached, Chiang continued acting, working with directors Lee Han Chiang, Hsueh Li Pao, Ho Meng-hua and Chia-Liang Liu. 1980 was also the start of his first television series, The Green Dragon Conspiracy, and this was followed by Princess Chang Ping and Dynasty. In the mid-1980s, Chiang worked with his two brothers, Paul Chun and Derek Yee, directing, producing and acting in the comedy Legend of the Owl. Chiang also acted in comedy movies The Challenger and The Loot, directed by Eric Tseng. In late 1980s into the 1990s Chiang directed the movies Heaven Can Help, Silent Love, The Wrong Couples, Mr. Handsome, Double Fattiness, My Dear Son, Will of Iron and Mother of a Different Kind. Since 2000 he has continued to work in movies and TV series, including Election, Daisy, Revolving Doors Of Vengeance, Lethal Weapons of Love and Passion, Land of Wealth, The Family Link and the 2007 television series The Gem of Life. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 2006 for his role in the TVB series Revolving Doors of Vengeance.
In 2004, Chiang was inducted into The Avenue of Stars, which honours celebrities of the Hong Kong film industry. It is located along the Victoria Harbour waterfront in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong and modeled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Park Min-young (Hangul: 박민영; born March 4, 1986) is a South Korean actress. She rose to fame in the historical coming-of-age drama Sungkyunkwan Scandal (2010) and has since starred in television series City Hunter (2011), Glory Jane (2011), Dr. Jin (2012), Healer (2014-2015), Remember: War of the Son (2015-2016) and Queen for Seven Days (2017).
Contents 1 Education 2 Career 2.1 2005–2009: Beginnings 2.2 2010–2011: Breakthrough 2.3 2011–2014: Leading roles 2.4 2015–present: Overseas ventures and continued success 3 Filmography 3.1 Film 3.2 Television series 3.3 Reality show 3.4 Music video appearances 4 Awards and nominations
Education
In February 2013, Park graduated from Dongguk University with a degree in Theatre.
Career
2005–2009: Beginnings
Park made her entertainment debut in an SK Telecom commercial in 2005. She launched her acting career a year later in the hit sitcom Unstoppable High Kick! (2006). She continued to appear in television dramas, in roles such as the only daughter of a notorious gangster in I Am Sam (2007), and a gumiho (nine-tailed fox in Korean mythology) in an episode of horror-themed drama Hometown of Legends (2008), She played a villainous princess in the period drama Ja Myung Go (2009), and a girl caught between two marathon runners in Running, Gu (2010).
2010–2011: Breakthrough
Park’s breakthrough came with the 2010 drama Sungkyunkwan Scandal, a coming-of-age drama in which her character, an intelligent and resourceful young woman, disguises herself as a boy in order to enter the most prestigious learning institution in Joseon. This was followed in 2011 by another success with City Hunter, based on the titular Japanese manga. Park starred opposite Lee Min-ho in a story about a vigilante out for revenge and justice, and the secret service agent he falls for. Park’s success on the small screen resulted in increased advertising offers for the actress.
2011–2014: Leading roles
Later that year, she made her big screen debut in the horror film The Cat, about a woman who becomes consumed by fear after she adopts a cat found at the site of a mysterious death. Park next appeared in the melodrama Glory Jane, in the role of a nurse’s aide who becomes involved with a former baseball player (played by Chun Jung-myung).
In June 2011
She starred in another manga screen adaptation in 2012; in Dr. Jin, a neurosurgeon (played by Song Seung-heon) travels back in time to 1860. Park played dual roles as the protagonist’s girlfriend in the present-day (a comatose doctor), and her doppelgänger in the Joseon era (a sheltered noblewoman).
She next played an idealistic intern in the legal drama A New Leaf (2014), who clashes with her brilliant but cynical lawyer boss until he becomes an amnesiac (played by Kim Myung-min). This was followed by a role as a tabloid reporter in Healer, a series written by Song Ji-na that also starred Ji Chang-wook and Yoo Ji-tae. Healer was popular in China and resulted in increased recognition for Park.
2015–present: Overseas ventures and continued success
In 2015, Park was cast in her first Chinese television drama Braveness of the Ming, a period drama based on the novel Silk Night by Yue Guan.
Park next starred as a lawyer in the Korean drama Remember: War of the Son on SBS from late 2015 to early 2016. She was also cast in her second Chinese drama, City of Time alongside Chinese actor Zhang Zhehan.
In 2017, Park starred in KBS2’s historical drama, Queen for Seven Days.
Wang Lap Tat (June 29, 1939 – November 2, 2002), better known by his stage name Lo Lieh, was an Indonesian-born Hong Kong actor. Lo was perhaps best known as Chao Chih-Hao in the 1972 film King Boxer (a.k.a. Five Fingers of Death), Miyamoto in the 1977 film Fist of Fury II and General Tien Ta in the 1978 film The 36th Chamber of Shaolin.
Contents 1 Early life 2 Acting 3 Personal life 4 Death 5 Filmography
Early Life
Lo Born in Pematangsiantar in June 29, 1939, spent his early life in Indonesia and then his parents sent him back to China and attended acting school in Hong Kong, he began his martial arts training in 1962 and joined the Shaw Brothers Studio in the same year and went on to become one of the most famous actors in Hong Kong kung fu films in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Acting
In the 1970s, Lo played Kao Hsia in the 1970 film Brothers Five, alongside Cheng Pei-pei. Lo played Ho Chiang in the 1974 film The Stranger and the Gunfighter, alongside Lee Van Cleef. Lo starred in the 1972 cult classic King Boxer a.k.a. Five Fingers of Death . In 1977, Lo portrayed Pai Mei in the Executioners from Shaolin and Miyamoto in Fist of Fury II, along with Bruce Li. Lo played General Tien Ta in the 1978 film The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, alongside Gordon Liu and Lee Hoi San.
In the 1980s, Lo directed and starred in the 1980 film Clan of the White Lotus, along with Gordon Liu. Lo played Triad Gangster Boss in the 1988 film Dragons Forever, alongside Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. Lo played Fei in the 1989 film Miracles along with Jackie Chan, Richard Ng and Billy Chow.
In the 1990s, Lo played Chor Kun-lun in the 1991 film Sex and Zen alongside Lawrence Ng, Kent Cheng and Elvis Tsu. Lo played The General in the 1992 film Police Story 3: Super Cop alongside Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh.
In the 2000s, Lo played Wei Tung’s Uncle in the 2001 film The Vampire Combat, with Collin Chou and Valerie Chow. Lo’s last film was 2001’s Glass Tears, before retiring from acting at the age of 62.
Personal Life
Lo married Grace Tang Chia-li on April 15, 1976. Lo and his wife later divorced.
Death
On November 2, 2002, Lo died of heart attack, he was 63 years old.
Aaron Kwok Fu-shing (born 26 October 1965) is a Hong Kong singer, dancer and actor. Active since the 1980s, Kwok is considered one of the “Four Heavenly Kings” of Hong Kong. Kwok’s onstage dancing and displays is influenced by Michael Jackson. While most of his songs are in the dance-pop genre, he has experimented with rock and roll, ballad, rock, R&B, soul, electronica and traditional Chinese music.
Kwok earned 130 million HKD in 2014. He received the “Ten Most Outstanding Young Persons Award” in 2003.
Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 Early years 2.2 Music 2.3 Dancer 2.4 Acting 3 Personal life 3.1 Hobbies 3.2 Image 4 Discography 5 Filmography
Early Life
Kwok graduated from St. Joseph’s College in Hong Kong. After graduating from secondary school, Kwok worked as a junior staff in King Fook Gold & Jewellery Co. Ltd. His father, who owns a small gold retail store, desired that he gain experience in the business with the view of eventually handing the family business over to him. If not for one of Kwok’s brothers taking over the gold business, his father would not have allowed him to join the entertainment industry. In 1984, he was fired for prolonged absenteeism (sick leave) caused by a foot muscle injury from trying the splits at a party.
Career
Early years
After being fired from the jewellery company in 1984, at the age of 19, Kwok joined a dancer training course at TVB, where his talent for dancing was immediately recognised. Kwok then performed in music videos and variety shows for other singers. In 1987 he was transferred to the acting department of the talent training course and became a TV actor, where he played minor parts in TVB dramas. In 1990 he did a TV commercial in Taiwan for the Honda motorcycle DJ-1RR. The commercial gained him instant popularity with Taiwanese girls, and he immediately burst onto the music scene.
Music
Aaron performing in San Franscisco
Kwok then began his music career with three mandopop albums including the famous song “Loving You Forever” (對你愛不完) to accompany his dance moves. After his success in Taiwan, he returned to Hong Kong in 1991 to do Cantopop. The next few years saw his popularity reach fever-pitch, and he was soon ranked as one of the “Four Heavenly Kings”. Kwok became one of Hong Kong and Asia’s most prominent pop stars. He won his first major awards with the 1991 Jade Solid Gold Top 10 Awards and 1991 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards. He would then win a major award every year until 2001. As a solo performer, his sell-out concerts in Hong Kong, mainland China, United States, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia and other countries total over 200 to date. In 1999 he won his first “Asia Pacific most popular artist” award. Aaron Kwok will begin his 2011 tour on 16 April and his first stop is in Shanghai. Aaron Kwok has also created the choreography with Sunny Wong for the group As One.
Janet Jackson collaborated with Aaron Kwok and Ricky Martin for international versions of “Ask for More”, a promotional single and commercial released as part of an advertising campaign for Pepsi. A full-length music video of the version with Kwok was also released in Asian markets.
Dancer
As soon as Kwok entered the music industry in 1991, he started a fast-dancing trend (勁歌熱舞). Kwok’s onstage dancing and displays has been known to be influenced by Michael Jackson. Later in his career, he is known to have won a prestigious “Top ten Hong Kong dance award” (十大舞蹈家年獎). Of all the performing arts at which Kwok excels, stage appearances remain his perennial favourite. His dance accomplishments are also matched with stage displays. On 17 February 2008, he held an “Aaron Kwok De Show Reel Extension Live” concert at the Hong Kong AsiaWorld Arena with the largest revolving stage measured at 10m x 9.44m and created a new entry for the Guinness Book of World Records.
Acting
Over the years, Kwok has also been active in other media such as TV commercials and acting. He began his acting career with the TVB series Rise of Genghis Khan, and the 1988 series Twilight of a Nation about the Taiping Rebellion. One of his more noticeable role was for the 1996 TVB drama series Wars of Bribery where he plays an ICAC special-agent with Athena Chu.
He also starred in various movies. At the Taiwan’s 42nd Golden Horse Awards ceremony on 13 November 2005, Kwok was the surprise winner of Best Leading Actor award for his role in the film Divergence. It was Kwok’s first Golden Horse nomination and beat veteran Hong Kong star Tony Leung Ka-fai to win the honour. He won the Best Actor Award again at the 43rd Golden Horse Awards on 24 November 2006 for his role in the film After This Our Exile. He became only the second actor in the history of the Golden Horse Awards to win the Best Actor Award consecutively. Jackie Chan first accomplished this back in the 1992-3.
Along with Zhang Ziyi, Kwok stars in an AIDS-themed film Love for Life, which premiered on 10 May 2010.
In 2016, Kwok won his first Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor for his role in the crime thriller film, Port of Call, at the 35th Hong Kong Film Awards. He has also starred in such movies as The Monkey King and Storm Riders
Personal Life
Hobbies
Aaron Kwok’s 2010 Clio Cup China race car.
Kwok has been known as a collector of sports cars as well as an amateur of motor racing. He participated in a Ferrari F355 race at the Macau Grand Prix, a Formula Campus charity race. Other notable participations include the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia, where he raced with a Porsche 911 GT3.
He is known as a car fanatic and has a large collection of notable cars. Some of his collection include the Audi R8 GT Spyder, Ferrari F50, F512M, F355 GTS, F360 Modena, Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, Ferrari California, Ferrari F430 Spider, Lamborghini Diablo SE30, Mercedes-Benz SL600, Mercedes CLK DTM AMG, Porsche 911 Turbo. Porsche 911 GT3 RS mk2 Other cars include the Enzo Ferrari, a Carbon version Pagani Zonda F, Lamborghini Murciélago, Gallardo, Lamborghini Aventador 50th Anniversario Roadster, Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera, Porsche 996 GT3, Nissan GT-R.
Image
He was famous for popularising a new type of “center-split hair style” that widely imitated during the 1990s. Throughout his career he did change his hair style numerous times including styles such as the five-five split or the four-six split.
Discography
1990
Loving You Never Stop
1991
Should I Leave Quietly? [Single]
Who Can Tell Me Finally? [Single]
1992
Please Bring My Affection Home (1st Mandarin Collection)
Loving You
Dancing Never Stop, Loving Never Stop, Singing Never Stop (1st Cantonese Album)
Marlboro Red Hot Hits: Heat Moves Lalala
1993
Deep Loving You – Aaron Kwok (2nd Mandarin Collection)
Leaving All My Love To You
Without Your Love
Dream Can’t Be Kept
Merry X-Mas [Single]
1994
AK-47 (4 cantonese new songs + cantonese & mandarin collection)
Starts From Zero (Cantonese & Mandarin Collection)
The Wild City (1st Album released by Warner Music)
The Horizon
A Moment Of Romance II OST
Desire [Single]
Desire (Japanese Version) [Single]
Temptation of the Iron Mask
Elution/Good Gal (Remix)
Lover For A Whole Life (Mandarin Collection)
Romance Iron Mask Moving Temptation (Remix)
1995
My Starting Point Is Here
You Are My Everything (EP)
Pure Legend
Wind Can’t Stop
Memorandum
Memorandum (Photo Album)
1996
Aaron Kwok Golden Songs : Memorandum Collection
Love Dove
The GIG Kingdom (EP)
Listen to the Wind’s Song
1997
Listen to the Wind (karaoke remix)
Warner MasterSonic Vol 1: Aaron Kwok
Aaron Kwok Live in Concert 1996
Who Will Remember Me?
Love Call
Duplicate Soul – Duplicate Again (Remix)
Devoted
Generation Next
1998
Code In The Wind
Warner MasterSonic Vol 2: Aaron Kwok
Best To Sing Mandarin 1998
Aaron Kwok The Best Remix
A Magic To City
Best Hits of Aaron (songs from his previous label)
1999
Pepsi Aaron Kwok Live in Concert 1998
Ask For More (EP)
Amazing Dream [Album]
Amazing Dream(Version 2)
Amazing Dream (Big Box)
So Afraid
So Afraid (Happy New Year Version)
Hip Hip Hurray Greatest 16 Hits 1999
Hip Hip Hurray Greatest 16 Hits 1999 (Singapore Version, with 2 mandarin songs)
2000
Journey, Cheer
And I Hate You So OST
Fascinating
China Strike Force OST
Fearless vs Future (EP)
2001
Pepsi Aaron Kwok Live On Stage 2000/01
34 Best Choice of Aaron Kwok HDCD (Combination of Warner MasterSonic 1&2)
Xin Tian Di + Para Para Sakura OST
Pure Energy Collection
Absolute
2002
Aaron Kwok & Friends in Concert 251101
Beyblade (3″CD,EP)
Aaron Kwok Nicam Greatest Hits 2002 (Love.Stage)
Aaron Kwok AA+ Best Hits! (Taiwan Version of Nicam Greatest Hits)
Burning Flame 2 OST
The Power Of Love 2002
2003
In The Still Of The Night
In The Still of The Night (Special Version)
Romancing Hong Kong OST
2004
AK Trilogy Yours Truly Greatest Hits I II III
2005
Thematic (AVCD, EP)
2006
My Nation
My Nation Plus [1 additional single (Kid of Wind)]
Lucy Liu (born December 2, 1968) is an American actress, voice actress, director, producer, singer and artist. She became known for playing the role of the vicious and ill-mannered Ling Woo in the television series Ally McBeal (1998–2002), for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series. Liu’s film work includes starring as one of the heroines (Alex Munday) in Charlie’s Angels (2000), portraying O-Ren Ishii in Kill Bill (2003) and starring roles in the main casts of Payback (as Pearl; 1999), Chicago (as Kitty Baxter; 2002) and the animated film series Kung Fu Panda (2008–present) portraying the character Master Viper.
In 2008, she starred in an ABC comedy-drama, Cashmere Mafia, as Mia Mason, which ended after one abbreviated season. The show was one of only a few American television shows to have an Asian American series lead. In 2012, Liu joined the cast of the TNT series Southland in the recurring role of Jessica Tang, for which she won the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Drama Guest Actress. She is currently co-starring in the Sherlock Holmes–inspired crime drama series Elementary as Joan Watson for which she won the Seoul International Drama Award for Best Actress and voicing Silvermist in Disney’s Tinker Bell film series.
Contents 1 Early life 2 Acting career 2.1 1991–99 2.2 2000–06 2.3 2007–present 3 Directing career 4 Career as visual artist 5 Charity 6 Personal life 7 Filmography 7.1 As actress 7.2 As director 8 Art exhibitions 9 Awards and nominations
Early life
Lucy Liu as a high school senior in 1986
Lucy Liu was born on December 2, 1968 in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City, New York. In high school, she adopted a middle name, Alexis. She is the youngest of three children born to Cecilia, who worked as a biochemist, and Tom Liu, a trained civil engineer who sold digital clock pens. Liu’s parents originally came from Beijing and Shanghai and emigrated to Taiwan as adults before meeting in New York. She has an older brother, Alex, and an older sister, Jenny. Her parents worked many jobs while Lucy and her siblings were growing up.
Liu has stated that she grew up in a diverse neighborhood. She learned to speak Mandarin at home and began studying English when she was 5. She studied the martial art kali-eskrima-silat as a hobby when she was young. Liu attended Joseph Pulitzer Middle School (I.S.145), and graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1986. She later enrolled at New York University and transferred to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she was a member of the Chi Omega sorority. Liu earned a bachelor’s degree in Asian languages and cultures. Liu worked as a waitress at the Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase club circa 1988–89.
Acting Career
1991–1999
Liu was discovered by an agent at the age of 21 while traveling on the subway. She did one commercial. As a member of the Basement Arts student-run theater group, she auditioned in 1989 for the University of Michigan’s production of Alice in Wonderland during her senior year of college. Although she had originally tried out for only a supporting part, Liu was cast in the lead role. While queuing up to audition for the musical Miss Saigon in 1990, she told The New York Times, “There aren’t many Asian roles, and it’s very difficult to get your foot in the door.” In May 1992, Liu made her New York stage debut in Fairy Bones, directed by Tina Chen.
Liu at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival
Liu had small roles in films and TV, marking her debut. In 1993, she appeared in an episode of L.A. Law as a Chinese widow giving her evidence in Mandarin She was cast in both The X-Files in “Hell Money” and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys in “The March to Freedom,” before landing a role on Ally McBeal. Liu originally auditioned for the role of Nelle Porter (played by Portia de Rossi), and the character Ling Woo was later created specifically for her. Liu’s part on the series was originally temporary, but high audience ratings secured Liu as a permanent cast member. Additionally, she earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series. In Payback (1999), Liu portrayed Pearl, a high-class BDSM prostitute with links to the Chinese mafia.
2000–2006
Liu was cast as Alex Munday in the film Charlie’s Angels, alongside Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz. The film opened in November 2000 and earned more than $125 million in the United States. Charlie’s Angels earned a worldwide total of more than $264 million. The sequel, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, opened in June 2003 and also did well at the box office, earning $100 million in the U.S. and a worldwide total of more than $259 million. Liu also starred with Antonio Banderas in Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, a critical and box office failure.
In 2000, she hosted Saturday Night Live with Jay-Z. In a 2001 episode of Sex and the City entitled “Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda” she guest starred as herself, playing Samantha Jones’ new client. She starred in the Sex and the City–inspired TV show Cashmere Mafia on ABC. Liu also made a cameo appearance on Futurama (as herself and robot duplicates) in the episodes “I Dated a Robot” and “Love and Rocket”, and on The Simpsons in the season 16 episode “Goo Goo Gai Pan.”
In 2002, Liu played Rita Foster in Vincenzo Natali’s Brainstorm (a k a Cypher). Soon thereafter, she appeared as O-Ren Ishii in Quentin Tarantino’s 2003 film, Kill Bill. She won an MTV Award for Best Movie Villain for the part. Subsequently, Liu appeared on several episodes of Joey with Matt LeBlanc, who played her love interest in the Charlie’s Angels films. She also had minor roles as Kitty Baxter in the film Chicago and as a psychologist opposite Keira Knightley in the thriller Domino. In Lucky Number Slevin, she played the leading love interest to Josh Hartnett. 3 Needles was released on December 1, 2006, Liu portrayed Jin Ping, an HIV-positive Chinese woman.
2007–Present
Liu speaking at the USAID Human Trafficking Symposium in September 2009.
In 2007 Liu appeared in Code Name: The Cleaner; Rise, a supernatural thriller co-starring Michael Chiklis in which Liu plays an undead reporter (for which she was ranked number 41 on “Top 50 Sexiest Vampires”); and Watching the Detectives, an independent romantic comedy co-starring Cillian Murphy. She made her producer debut and also starred in a remake of Charlie Chan, which had been planned as early as 2000. Liu guest-starred as lawyer Grace Chin on Ugly Betty in the 2007 episodes “Derailed” and “Icing on the Cake.”
In 2007 Empire named Liu number 96 of their “100 Sexiest Movie Stars.” The producers of Dirty Sexy Money created a role for Liu as a series regular. Liu played Nola Lyons, a powerful attorney who faced Nick George (Peter Krause). Liu voiced Silvermist in Disney Fairies and Viper in Kung Fu Panda.
In March 2010, Liu made her Broadway debut in the Tony Award–winning play God of Carnage as Annette on the second replacement cast alongside Jeff Daniels, Janet McTeer, and Dylan Baker.
In March 2012, she was cast as Joan Watson for Elementary. Elementary is an American Sherlock Holmes adaptation, and the role Liu was offered is traditionally played by men. She has gained praise for her role as Watson, including 3 consecutive nominations for the People’s Choice Awards for Favorite TV Crime Drama Actress.
She also has played police officer Jessica Tang on Southland, a television show focusing on the lives of police officers and detectives in Los Angeles as a recurring guest actor during the fourth season. She received the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Drama Guest Actress for this role.
In August 2011, Liu became a narrator for the musical group The Bullitts.
In 2013, Liu was invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Liu was named Harvard’s 2016 Artist of the Year. She was awarded the Harvard Foundation’s arts medal at the annual Harvard Foundation Award ceremony, during the Cultural Rhythms Festival in Sanders Theatre.
She is also part of the cast in the upcoming post-apocalyptic thriller Future World, directed by James Franco and Bruce Thierry Cheung.
Directing Career
Lucy Liu kicked off her directing career in 2011. The movie, titled Meena, was based on a true story, about an eight-year-old Indian girl who is sold to a brothel. The movie was screened in New York City in 2014.
Lucy Liu’s other directorial credits include 4 episodes of Elementary and an episode of Graceland. She is set to direct the second season premiere of Luke Cage.
Career as Visual Artist
Liu had previously presented her artwork under a pseudonym, Yu Ling (which is her Chinese name). Liu, who is an artist in several media, has had several gallery shows showcasing her collage, paintings, and photography. She began doing collage mixed media when she was 16 years old, and became a photographer and painter. Liu attended the New York Studio School for drawing, painting, and sculpture from 2004 to 2006.
In September 2006, Liu held an art show and donated her share of the profits to UNICEF. She also had another show in 2008 in Munich. Her painting, “Escape”, was incorporated into Montblanc’s Cutting Edge Art Collection and was shown during Art Basel Miami 2008, which showed works by contemporary American artists. Liu has stated that she donated her share of the profits from the NYC Milk Gallery gallery show to UNICEF. In London, a portion of the proceeds from her book Seventy Two went to UNICEF.
Charity
In 2001, Liu was the spokeswoman for the Lee National Denim Day fundraiser, which raises money for breast cancer research and education. In 2004 Liu was appointed an ambassador for U.S. Fund for UNICEF. She traveled to Pakistan and Lesotho, among several other countries.
Early in 2006, Liu received an “Asian Excellence Award” for Visibility. She also hosted an MTV documentary, Traffic, for the MTV EXIT campaign in 2007. In 2008, she produced and narrated the short film The Road to Traffik, about the Cambodian author and human rights advocate Somaly Mam. The film was directed by Kerry Girvin and co-produced by photographer Norman Jean Roy. This led to a partnership with producers on the documentary film Redlight.
Liu is a supporter of marriage equality for gays and lesbians, and became a spokeswoman for the Human Rights Campaign in 2011. She has teamed up with Heinz to combat the widespread global health threat of iron deficiency anemia and vitamin and mineral malnutrition among infants and children in the developing world.
Personal Life
In 1991, Liu underwent surgery after a breast cancer scare. “The doctor sort of felt and said it was cancer and it needs to come out. I went into shell-shock. It was pretty traumatizing.” The lump was removed just two days after the doctor’s examination and was found to be benign.
Liu has studied various religions, such as Buddhism, Taoism and Jewish mysticism. She has stated, “I’m into all things spiritual—anything to do with meditation or chants or any of that stuff. I studied Chinese philosophy in school. There’s something in the metaphysical that I find very fascinating.”
She has been a member of the Chinese-American organization Committee of 100 since 2004.
Liu announced the birth of her son, Rockwell Lloyd Liu, who had been born via a gestational surrogate, on August 27, 2015; the father is unknown.
Since the birth of Rockwell, Liu has been heavily involved in celebrating diversity in modern families. One major campaign she was involved in was the Tylenol’s #HowWeFamily Mother’s Day Campaign.
Barbara Yung Mei-ling (Chinese: 翁美玲, 7 May 1959 – 14 May 1985) was a Hong Kong actress during the early 1980s. She died as a result of a suicide at the age of 26 while at the peak of her career.
Contents 1 Education 2 Beginning of career 3 Rise to fame 4 Death 5 TV dramas
Education
Yung was born in Hong Kong to a civil service family as an only child. Her childhood was relatively uneventful until the death of her father when she was aged 7.
Yung left Hong Kong for England at age 15 (in late 1974) to rejoin her mother who had immigrated to the United Kingdom (TVB K100 Feature Interview, 1985). Yung, her mother and a family friend whom Yung considered as her “uncle” first moved to Barkingside, Ilford near London. Together as a family, they later settled in Histon, a small village in Cambridge, England. Yung’s mother and family friend operated a small fish and chips store at Histon where Yung helped out during the weekends. While in Hong Kong, Yung attended Rosaryhill School (located at Stubbs Road in Hong Kong), where she had completed her primary and some of her secondary education through Form 4 (TVB K100, 1985). She continued with her GCE O levels at a secondary school in Cambridge. After the completion of her ‘O’ levels, she was admitted to a 2-year foundations program at the Anglia Ruskin University (CCAT). Upon the completion of this program, she went to London to study textile design at the Central School of Art and Design. She spent 4 years at this school (TVB K100 Feature Interview, 1985).
Beginning of Career
Yung returned to Hong Kong and joined the Miss Hong Kong pageant in 1982, in which she was awarded 9th place. After the pageant, she was offered an acting contract by TVB. She made her acting debut in 1982, in a Cantonese wuxia series named Sup Sam Mui also known as The Legend of the Unknowns set in the Qing dynasty, co-starring Kent Tong and Simon Yam in which Yung played a Manchu princess, Princess Sheung (TVB K100 Feature Interview, 1985). This was the TV drama that shot her into the limelight. Although Yung played a relatively minor role in this drama, she managed to gain TVB’s confidence to cast her in what would become the drama (The Legend of the Condor Heroes) that would make her a household name in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam in the 1980s. Her popularity persists through present day due to her lead role in The Legend of the Condor Heroes (TVB K100 Feature Interview, 1985).
Rise to Fame
Yung’s most famous TVB swordplay series was The Legend of the Condor Heroes in which she portrayed the character Wong Yung. TVB made several costumed/period dramas in the 1980s based on famous martial arts swordplay novels by Louis Cha. Cha’s The Legend of the Condor Heroes, has been adapted numerous times to TV dramas and film, but none has attained a popularity as the one made by TVB in 1983. The innocent swordsman, Kwok Ching was played by Felix Wong. The cast in this edition also featured Michael Miu, Sharon Yeung, Patrick Tse and Louise Lee.
Yung’s other TV dramas included: The Foundation, The Man in the Middle, The Fearless Duo, United We Stand, The New Adventures of Chor Lau-heung, The Rough Ride and The Battlefield.
Death
Yung was found unconscious due to gas inhalation in her apartment on Broadcast Drive, Kowloon on the morning of 14 May 1985 (Spiritus Temporis, 2007). According to her friend and actor (who was rumoured to have begun courting Yung), Stephen Chow Sai-lung, Yung had called him on the night of 13 May 1985. Chow asserted that she was troubled by her failing relationship with Kent Tong. After hanging up, Chow was concerned and he went to her home. However, he could not gain entrance to her apartment. He then thought that nobody was home and subsequently left.
Chow returned to Yung’s apartment on the morning of 14 May 1985. He knocked on Yung’s door again but no one answered. Chow said he smelled gas fumes through Yung’s apartment door. He then climbed up the exterior apartment building wall to her second floor apartment and prised open her front window. He entered Yung’s apartment (from the window) and discovered her unconscious and sprawled on the living room floor. Chow immediately alerted the building’s security and police. Yung was rushed to the nearby Baptist Hospital, Kowloon where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
There were many rumours regarding the cause of her death. Some had attributed it to an accident, suicide or perhaps even foul play. One of the most widely circulated rumours was that her suicide was the result of her depression over her supposed broken relationship with then TVB actor, Kent Tong Chun-yip. (It is to be noted that in an interview conducted by a Hong Kong radio station on 14 March 1985, when asked about rumours regarding her relationship with Kent Tong, Yung had explained that he was merely a friend and respected colleague.) The rumours concerning the association of her death with Kent Tong were largely based on Stephen Chow’s account of her last 24 hours. There were also rumours which claimed that Stephen Chow was Yung’s boyfriend. According to Yung’s TVB colleagues, she had not behaved abnormally in the days before the incident and there was no hint that she was depressed or suicidal. Yung also sounded very optimistic about her future in her radio interviews both on 14 March 1985 and one conducted two weeks before her death. Yung did not leave a suicide note. At the time of her death, Yung was involved in filming the final chapters of the TVB drama, The Battlefield. Filming was due to conclude in June 1985. TVB had also cast Barbara Yung and Kent Tong in another period drama, Kings of Ideas (橋王之王). Her role in this drama was later taken by Maggie Cheung.
Yung’s funeral was a big event and was attended by throngs of fans and many prominent Hong Kong celebrities. Her remains were placed in the World Funeral Parlor, Hung Hom, Kowloon for fans and friends to pay their final respect. Her friends and co-stars in her TV dramas such as Michael Miu, Felix Wong, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Andy Lau were pallbearers for her casket. Yung had a Catholic funeral. She was cremated in Hong Kong on 19 May 1985 and her ashes were laid to rest at the Cambridge City Cemetery in Cambridge, England (YouTube, Fan Video, 2007).
Andhika's Blog 