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Photo of a man posing with a Coca-Cola bottle in 1981 symbolized a cultural shift in China

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Photo of a man posing with a Coca-Cola bottle in 1981 symbolized a cultural shift in China

Ayoung man stands grinning in Beijing’s Forbidden City. It’s the dead of winter, and one of his hands is buried deep into the pockets of his long overcoat to protect it from the chill. The other grasps the unmistakable contours of a glass Coca-Cola bottle.

Today, Coke is the world’s most famous soft drink and can be found just about anywhere. But back in 1981, when the image was shot by Pulitzer-Prize winning photographer Liu Heung Shing, it was only just getting into the hands of ordinary Chinese people.

Liu, who was in his late 20s when he began working for Time magazine in Beijing, felt the country was on the cusp of a great cultural shift following the death of Mao Zedong in 1976.

“The changes (at first) were subtle, and unless you lived there, you wouldn’t have noticed,” he recalled during an interview at his home in Hong Kong.

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He had earlier photographed people grieving for Mao along the banks of the Pearl River in Guangzhou. It was here that he was struck by how differently people carried themselves compared to what he had seen in late-1950s China, where he grew up during the disastrous Great Leap Forward campaign — a series of failed industrialization policies — before moving back to Hong Kong as a child.

Under Mao, the country went on to suffer from widespread famine and poverty, and the tumultuous years of the Cultural Revolution. But in the aftermath of the Chinese leader’s death, Liu said, “suddenly, people’s steps looked a little bit lighter, they dropped their shoulders and their faces looked more relaxed.”

It would prove to be a relatively liberal period in Chinese history — politically, economically and in terms of everyday life, which Liu captured in candid shots. One photo from the time showed a plastic surgeon and his client after a cosmetic procedure. Another depicted people gathering at a “Democracy Wall” in Beijing, where they wrote now-unthinkable criticisms of the government.

One of Liu’s most iconic images was captured on his way into the Time bureau after he had the strange feeling that something was “missing.” He turned his car around and, sure enough, a large portrait of Mao that had once hung prominently on a building had been freshly taken down. He quickly shot images of workers gathered around the depiction of the late Chairman, with some of their scaffolding visible in the frame.

This was China “moving out of the shadow of Mao,” he said.

‘It tastes so-so’

In December 1978, Coca-Cola became the first foreign enterprise permitted to enter the mainland Chinese market since the communist revolution. That same month, Beijing and Washington announced the normalization of Sino-American relations and Deng Xiaoping kick-started China’s transformative economic reforms with his “Open Door” policy. (Coca-Cola was first introduced to China in the 1920s but had been forced to leave in 1949, along with other foreign companies, by a government that regarded it as bourgeois).

Liu had photographed the opening of a joint-venture bottling plant in Beijing, capturing Coke chairman Roberto Goizueta and Chinese trade officials drinking Coca Cola and holding bottles aloft to cries of “ganbei” (cheers). He then thought to himself, “Now where do I find a (regular) Chinese person enjoying this (drink)?”

He headed to the Forbidden City, with its heavy flow of tourists, and soon found a man named Zhang Wei purchasing a Coke from a small stand.

“I remember he made a comment when he drank this syrupy Coke: ‘It tastes so-so'” said Liu, who ended up taking a few shots with one of the imperial palace’s picturesque pavilions in the background.

Forbidden City at 600: How China’s imperial palace survived against the odds

The response to Coke itself may have been underwhelming, but the snap perfectly captured the curiosity and openness many Chinese people felt at the time.

“As a photographer, I of course realized the significance. That this man, dressed in a ubiquitous PLA (People’s Liberation Army) coat, was one of the very first people to taste it,” he said, adding: “But I didn’t realize it would become part of the Chinese collective memory.”

The image would be widely published and displayed in the following years, and he later became friends with Zhang. In 1983, it appeared in Liu’s photography book “China after Mao,” a collection of images taken between 1976 and 1982. More recently he included it in his book “Liu Heung Shing: A Life in a Sea of Red.”

Striking photos document the collapse — and evolution — of 20th century communism

The photographer would go on to document other periods and profound events in the country’s modern history, including the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. And just like those pictures of young student activists calling for democracy, Liu’s Coca-Cola photograph feels part of another era altogether.

With its apparent embrace of the new and the foreign — ideas encapsulated in that most American of drinks — the image stands in stark contrast to today’s China, where relations with the US are at an all-time low. Xi Jinping’s nationalist agenda has generated increasingly xenophobic attitudes towards the West.

“I realized that the story I did in the last quarter of the 20th century (would) continue to carry relevance into the 21st century,” Liu said.

“Especially with the story of China, I never doubt that these photographs are in the Chinese people’s collective memory.

“Even though this memory keeps being re-edited… the good thing about a photograph, is you cannot re-edit it. It becomes an image seared in people’s minds.”

Top image: A 1981 photograph of a man with a Coke bottle in Beijing’s Forbidden City, shot by Liu Heung Shing.

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Six Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Secure Web Gateway

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Six Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Secure Web Gateway

A secure web gateway is essential to any security strategy for your business. It enables organizations to protect employees from online threats while also increasing productivity.

A secure web gateway inspects incoming traffic and checks it against its allowed list, allowing only approved sites to pass. It can also prevent data exfiltration, which occurs when unauthorized information leaves an organization’s site.

Increased Security

Whether you are protecting your company’s internal network, data, or reputation, secure web gateways like those from Versa Networks are necessary. They provide a first defense against malware, ransomware, and other threats.

They can also help prevent data exfiltration, preventing unauthorized information from leaving your network and harming your business.

A secure web gateway acts as an intermediary between your users and the Internet, inspecting each request before allowing it to pass through. It can be software or hardware-based, or cloud-based.

It works similarly to firewalls. They use rules and traffic inspection to identify threats.

Reduced Risk of Data Breach

One of the most significant benefits of having secure web gateway is that it can reduce your risk of a data breach. These gateways are designed to stop hackers from accessing your network and potentially leaking sensitive information, such as credit card numbers or personal information, out into the open.

A secure web gateway (SWG) firewall filters internet traffic at the application level and prevents users from accessing malicious websites and links. These gateways inspect and filter traffic in real-time.

As web traffic passes through the secure web gateway, it’s analyzed and blocked based on policies. This includes URL filtering, advanced machine learning, anti-virus scanning, sandboxing, and data loss prevention. In addition, SWGs often incorporate cloud access security brokers (CASB) and other integrated technologies to improve threat detection and control.

Increased Productivity

A secure web gateway provides an organization real-time web traffic monitoring to ensure it complies with security policies. Using a URL category database, the SWG can determine whether to allow or block content based on company policy.

Another critical feature of SWGs is the ability to decrypt SSL and TLS data before sending it to a user or web server. This allows for a thorough traffic inspection, detecting and preventing malware.

In addition, a secure web gateway can also detect and limit applications employees are accessing to improve productivity and network performance. This can include social networking, instant messaging, and file uploads.

Better Customer Service

A secure web gateway is a virtual proxy between your organization and the Internet that acts as a firewall, a web filter and a content-blocking snooper. It can be a hardware, software or virtual appliance.

Aside from protecting you from phishing and malware, an SWG can also improve employee productivity by giving your team granular control over the websites their employees access. For example, you can restrict users from accessing adult content or prevent employees from spending their work hours on social media.

A secureeb gateway can be found in many forms, including a cloud-based solution that uses the latest encryption technologies like SSL and HTTPS to protect your organization from cyber-attacks. It also has the most powerful content-blocking features to guard against malicious sites and applications. The best part? The gateway can be deployed anywhere and in any configuration to fit your unique needs.

Increased Revenue

If your business sells products online, a secure web gateway can help you increase revenue by reducing the number of transactions your customers need to make. Instead of charging your clients a higher fee each time they purchase, you can only charge them a small percentage.

SWGs can also protect data against malware and other types of security threats circulating on the Internet. Because they inspect all incoming data before passing it on to users, they can prevent many phishing attacks and other types of malware from getting into your network.

This includes enabling them to block threats from popular social networks and instant messaging applications. Those features are essential in sectors such as government, healthcare and retail, where data is often sensitive, and many trusts rely on social media interactions.

Reduced Costs

A secure web gateway (SWG) reduces costs by keeping user devices and access to sensitive data protected from malicious attacks. This helps ensure employee productivity and the integrity of company information.

SWGs can be deployed as software, cloud-based services or physical appliances positioned at the edge of your network. They inspect real-time traffic to ensure it aligns with your security policies.

For example, if you don’t want employees accessing adult content while on your network, an SWG can enforce your policy.

SWGs categorize incoming web traffic, including HTTPS and application names, to enable the enforcement of regulatory requirements like the payment card industry data security standard (PCI) and the European Union’s general data protection regulation (GDPR). This granular control allows you to apply policies to specific data per compliance requirements.

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9/11 Timeline Worksheet: A Comprehensive Guide to the Events of September 11, 2001

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9/11 Timeline Worksheet: A Comprehensive Guide to the Events of September 11, 2001

Are you looking for a comprehensive guide to the events of September 11, 2001? Look no further than the 9/11 Timeline Worksheet. This worksheet provides a detailed timeline of the events leading up to and following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Whether you’re a student, teacher, or simply someone interested in learning more about the tragic events of 9/11, this worksheet is an invaluable resource. It provides a chronological account of the events, including the hijacking of four planes, the crashes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the heroic actions of first responders and other individuals who risked their lives to save others.

In addition to the timeline, the worksheet also includes key facts and figures about the attacks, as well as a section for students or learners to reflect on their understanding of the events and their impact on the world.

Table of Contents
Section
Introduction
The Background of the 9/11 Attacks
Timeline of the 9/11 Attacks
Flight 11
Flight 175
Flight 77
Flight 93
The Aftermath of the 9/11 Attacks
Key Facts and Figures
Reflection
The Background of the 9/11 Attacks
On September 11, 2001, four planes were hijacked by members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda. The attacks resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people and caused significant damage to the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The 9/11 attacks were a watershed moment in American history, and they have had far-reaching implications for both domestic and foreign policy. In the years since the attacks, there has been significant debate over the causes and consequences of the attacks, as well as the appropriate response to them.

Timeline of the 9/11 Attacks
The 9/11 Timeline Worksheet provides a detailed timeline of the events of September 11, 2001. The timeline begins at 5:45 a.m. EST, when the hijackers begin to prepare for the attacks, and continues through the day of the attacks and their aftermath.

The timeline is divided into four sections, one for each of the four planes that were hijacked. It includes information about the flights themselves, as well as the actions of the hijackers and the response of authorities and other individuals.

Flight 11
The first section of the timeline covers American Airlines Flight 11, which was hijacked at 8:14 a.m. EST. The section includes information about the flight’s departure from Boston, the hijacking itself, and the crash into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Flight 175
The second section of the timeline covers United Airlines Flight 175, which was hijacked at 8:42 a.m. EST. The section includes information about the flight’s departure from Boston, the hijacking itself, and the crash into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

Flight 77
The third section of the timeline covers American Airlines Flight 77, which was hijacked at 9:37 a.m. EST. The section includes information about the flight’s departure from Dulles International Airport, the hijacking itself, and the crash into the Pentagon.

Flight 93
The fourth and final section of the timeline covers United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked at 10:03 a.m

Flight 93 (continued)

The fourth and final section of the timeline covers United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked at 10:03 a.m. EST. The section includes information about the flight’s departure from Newark International Airport, the hijacking itself, and the heroic actions of the passengers to thwart the hijackers’ plan to crash the plane into a target in Washington, D.C. The plane ultimately crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, killing all on board.

The Aftermath of the 9/11 Attacks

The aftermath of the 9/11 attacks was a period of shock, grief, and uncertainty. The attacks had a profound impact on American society and politics, leading to significant changes in domestic and foreign policy.

The worksheet includes information about the immediate aftermath of the attacks, including the response of emergency services and the federal government. It also covers the long-term consequences of the attacks, such as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.

Key Facts and Figures

The Key Facts and Figures section of the worksheet provides a summary of important statistics related to the 9/11 attacks. This includes information about the number of people killed and injured, the economic impact of the attacks, and the number of first responders who were involved in the response.

Reflection

The Reflection section of the worksheet provides an opportunity for students or learners to reflect on their understanding of the events of September 11, 2001, and their impact on the world. It includes questions about the causes and consequences of the attacks, as well as the appropriate response to them.

FAQs

  1. Who was responsible for the 9/11 attacks?

The 9/11 attacks were carried out by members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda.

  1. How many people were killed in the 9/11 attacks?

Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attacks, including both the passengers and crew members of the planes and individuals in the buildings that were targeted.

  1. How did the 9/11 attacks change American society?

The attacks had a profound impact on American society, leading to significant changes in domestic and foreign policy, including the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the initiation of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

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Peaches and the Presidents of the United States: A Fruitful History

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Peaches and the Presidents of the United States: A Fruitful History

Peaches have been a beloved fruit in the United States for centuries, with a long and storied history. From their introduction by Spanish settlers to their role in presidential politics, peaches have become an iconic symbol of American agriculture and culture.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the history of peaches in the United States and their connection to the country’s presidents. We’ll explore their impact on the economy, agriculture, and cuisine, and examine the ways in which this sweet and juicy fruit has played a significant role in American history.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
1. The History of Peaches in America
2. The Presidential Connection
3. Peaches in Agriculture and the Economy
4. Peaches in American Cuisine
5. The Future of Peaches in America
6. Conclusion

The History of Peaches in America

The history of peaches in America dates back to the early 1600s when Spanish explorers introduced them to the country. They quickly became popular among colonists, who began cultivating them in the Southern states. By the 18th century, peaches had become a staple crop in Georgia, earning the state the nickname “The Peach State.”

Over time, the cultivation and production of peaches spread throughout the United States, with California, South Carolina, and New Jersey emerging as major producers. Today, the United States is one of the largest producers of peaches in the world, second only to China.

The Presidential Connection

Peaches have played a significant role in presidential politics throughout American history. In the late 19th century, Georgia farmers began sending baskets of peaches to President Grover Cleveland as a sign of support. This tradition continued with subsequent presidents, including William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt.

In 1923, President Calvin Coolidge made the first official White House proclamation recognizing the peach as the official state fruit of Georgia. Today, peaches remain an important part of presidential politics, with Georgia politicians often gifting baskets of peaches to visiting dignitaries and politicians.

Peaches in Agriculture and the Economy

Peaches have had a significant impact on American agriculture and the economy. According to the USDA, peaches are the third most valuable fruit crop in the United States, with a value of over $800 million. They also support thousands of jobs across the country, from farmers and farmworkers to processors and distributors.

In addition to their economic impact, peaches have also played a vital role in sustainable agriculture practices. Peaches are often grown using natural pest management techniques, reducing the need for harmful pesticides and preserving the health of the soil and surrounding ecosystem.

Peaches in American Cuisine

Peaches have long been a favorite ingredient in American cuisine, appearing in everything from pies and cobblers to salads and cocktails. They are also a popular ingredient in Southern cuisine, where they are often paired with savory dishes like fried chicken and pork.

Peaches are also celebrated in festivals and events across the country, including the Georgia Peach Festival and the Palisade Peach Festival in Colorado. These events showcase the versatility and deliciousness of this beloved fruit, attracting tourists and locals alike.

The Future of Peaches in America

While peaches remain a beloved fruit in

the United States, they face several challenges in the modern era. Climate change, disease, and other factors are threatening peach crops, and growers are working to find ways to adapt and continue producing this valuable fruit.

Despite these challenges, there is hope for the future of peaches in America. Researchers are developing new varieties that are more resistant to pests and diseases, and farmers are experimenting with sustainable farming practices to preserve the health of the soil and surrounding ecosystem.

Conclusion

Peaches have a long and rich history in the United States, from their introduction by Spanish settlers to their role in presidential politics and American cuisine. As one of the most valuable fruit crops in the country, peaches have had a significant impact on agriculture and the economy, supporting thousands of jobs and contributing millions of dollars to the economy.

As we look to the future, it is important to remember the role that peaches have played in American history and to work together to ensure that this beloved fruit continues to thrive for generations to come.

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