Did you know...

...that the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China (pictured) was the first constitution in China?
...that the Red Turban Rebellion was the essential cause for the downfall of the Yuan Dynasty?
...that China was finally reunited in 1928 since the turmoil and separations created by the death of Yuan Shikai in 1916?
...that after the Xinhai Revolution, the Kuomintang unfolded another revolution, which they named "The Second Revolution", against Yuan Shikai's ambition on abolishing the newly established Republic of China?
...that the Huanghuagang Uprising was the last uprising that failed in the eleven uprising attempts by Sun Yat-sen before the successful attempt in Wuchang?
...that the Qiandao Lake Incident in 1994 created a considerable crisis in Taiwan-China relations?
...that the Four Lords of the Warring States dominated the politcs in the Warring States period?
...that China National Ethnic Song and Dance Ensemble is the only national-level performance group representing China's ethnic minorities?
...that Macau was returned to China in 1998 through the transfer of the sovereignty of Macau?
...that the Battle of Wanjialing was one of the greatest success of the Chinese Army in the Second Sino-Japanese War?
...that the 2002 FIFA World Cup was the first time that the Chinese national football team made it to FIFA World Cup?
... that the href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wall_of_China" title="Great Wall of China">Great Wall of China is an ancient Chinese fortification built from the 3rd century BC, during the Qin Dynasty, until the beginning of the 17th century, during the Ming Dynasty, in order to protect China from raids by the Mongols and Turkic tribes?
... that Qin Shi Huang was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 247 BC to 221 BC, and then the first emperor of a unified China from 221 BC to 210 BC, ruling under the name First Emperor?
... that T'ai Chi Ch'üan（太极拳） is an art applied with as complete a relaxation or "softness" in the musculature as possible, to distinguish its theory and application from that of the hard styles which use a degree of tension in the muscles?
... that the Giant Panda is a mammal that is native to central China?
... that Göran Malmqvist is a Swedish sinologist who in 1974 published a popular book called Chinese is not difficult?

Did you know that the Münster Cathedral in Berne boasts the highest church spire in Switzerland? The gothic construction has 344 steps that takes visitors more than 100 metres over the city and offers splendid views of the Alps. Building work began in 1421 although the spire, which has always been home to two maintenance workers over the centuries, was not completed until 1893. It is no surprise that the city's old town was given UNESCO world heritage status in 1983.

FIFA

The History of Football (Soccer)

A sport similar to football was played 3000 years ago in Japan. Chinese text from 50 BC mentions football-type games between teams from Japan and China. A text dating from 611 AD confirms that football was played in Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan.

Ancient Greeks and Romans also played a game that resembled football - although the Greeks permitted carrying of the ball. Olympic games in ancient Rome featured a 50-minute football game with twenty-seven men on a side.

The early days
How the sport spread from the East to Europe is not clear but England became the home of modern football. At first the game had a bad reputation among English royalty - possibly because of the noise the fans made - by whose insistence the government passed laws against it. King Edward (1307-1327) proclaimed, "For as much as there is a great noise in the city caused by hustling over large balls, from which many evils may arise, which God forbid, we forbid on behalf of the King, on pain of imprisonment, such game to be used in the city." In 1314, the mayor of London banned football. In 1365, King Edward III banned football nationally because of its excessive violence and for military reasons playing took time away from archery practice the game had become too popular to be curtailed. King Henry IV and Henry VIII passed laws against the sport, and Queen Elizabeth I "had football players jailed for a week, with follow-up church penance"

Laws failed to slow the popularity of football and by 1681 it received official sanction in England. The games were still ruff and noisy, with players hardly ever leaving the field without broken bones or even being spiked. There was no standard set for the size of teams or the field; the earliest organized games, usually bitter confrontations between teams from two or three parishes, had goals as far as 5 km (3 miles) apart. It was only by 1801 that it was (somewhat) agreed that teams should have an equal number of players and that the playing area should be about 91 metres (100 yards). Records show that Eton college drew up the first written rules of football in 1815. (The modern standardized rules are known as the Cambridge rules.)

Until the mid-1800s football rules still varied across regions. Team sizes ranged from 15 to 21. The 11-player team was standardized in 1870. The crossbar between two goal posts became mandatory in 1875. The goalkeeper was formally distinguished in the 1880s.

FIFA
The first football club was formed in Sheffield, England in 1857. The Football Association was founded on 26 October 1863 by 11 clubs meeting in London. (The word association was abbreviated to assoc., which became "soccer.")

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in the rear of the headquarters of the Union Française de Sports Athlétiques at the rue Saint Honoré 229 in Paris on 21 May 1904. The first World Cup was held in 1930 in Uruguay.

Where does the word "soccer" come from?

In the 1880s students of Oxford university abbreviated words by adding "er" to the end; for instance, breakfast became "brekkers" and "rugby rules" was referred to as "rugger." When one student, Charles Wreford Brown, was asked if he'd like to play rugger, he was the first to abbreviate "association rules" (Football Association rules) by answering, "No, soccer." Brown later became an England international and Football Association vice-president.

"The Beautiful Game"

Football is the biggest spectator sport in the world, with angling as the world's biggest participant sport. While Formula 1 is the sport most watched on television, the World Cup is, after the Olympics, the most watched sporting event on television.

FIFA

Did You Know USA is Doing Well in Women's Soccer World Cup? No? No Surprise.

The FIFA Women's World Cup is taking place in China during the month of September. Here's the official website - http://www.fifa.com/womenworldcup/index.html - which will tell you all you need to know about the standing of different teams in the competition. At the time of writing, USA ties top of Group B, England is second in Group A, Australia ties with Norway at top of Group C, and Brazil is top of Group D.

With this big event going on, you might expect to see some news coverage of the US team's success thus far. I had no idea it was happening till I was chatting with a "Soccer Mom" at a match this weekend. So I checked out some internet sites. Not on Fox News. To give credit to CNN, it includes the World Cup on its soccer landing page (though below and smaller than a story about a men's soccer tournament that hasn't even started yet). New York Times also features it, below a story about (men's) college football. In contrast, the Guardian newspaper (UK) features a story about the England team's success in the competition on its homepage as its leading sport headline; though the Times of London buries it on the sports page. (And that when the story is about England beating Argentina which, just a few years ago, in the post-Falklands War world, would have been a leading headline). (All pages accessed on 9/17/07.)

This highly unscientific sampling suggests that we can't conclude that the failure to highlight the women's soccer competition is just cultural: that the US media outlets aren't interested because soccer is still a young sport in the USA, whereas the UK media outlets are accustomed to covering soccer as one of the main national games. Alas, it seems that our media outlets are still inclined to neglect the achievements of our professional sportswomen.

Well, now you know about the competition, you can look out for the coverage!

It is a well-researched fact that involvement in sports is good for girls' self-esteem and all-round success - hence the passionate support that Title IX gets from women in the sporting world. I've recently become aware of a new media outlet which aims to promote a greater presence of healthy images of women and girls, aimed mainly at middle and high school girls: Athletic Girl Productions. Check out their website at www.girlsarechampions.org. Founder and President Lisa Izzi, a former gymnast and Stanford Coach, has created this organization with the aim of presenting healthy, positive images and role models to counterbalance the prevailing "be thin", "get your appearance fixed", "skinny is glamorous" culture.