document_title: Olivia Benson

question_text: who played calvin on law and order svu

question_tokens: who played calvin on law and order svu

text: Olivia Benson

text: Character overview[edit]

text: Series creator Dick Wolf named his two lead detectives after his son, Elliot, and his daughter, Olivia.[2] Wolf conceived Benson as a detective in the Manhattan Special Victims Unit, which investigates sex crimes. For the first twelve seasons of the show, she is partnered with Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni); after he resigns (offscreen) at the beginning of season 13, she is partnered with Nick Amaro (Danny Pino). She is tough, empathetic,[3] and gets emotionally involved in cases.[4] Executive producer and head writer Neal Baer has explained that she is "the empathetic, passionate voice for these victims",[5] in contrast to Stabler, who embodies "the rage we feel, the 'How can this happen?' feeling".[5] Of their partnership, Baer assessed that: "They both represent the feelings that we feel simultaneously when we hear about these cases. That's why they work so well together."[5]

text: In the episode "Paranoia", Benson described how, despite the difficulty she faced in dealing with a two-year-old female rape victim on her second case, Karen Smythe (Khandi Alexander), who trained her, praised her for displaying a talent in dealing with victims.[6] Benson herself is a child of her mother's rape. Her mother’s rapist, Joseph Hollister, later committed suicide.[7] Benson's mother Serena (Elizabeth Ashley), an English professor, was an alcoholic who emotionally and physically abused Olivia. In the season 2 episode "Taken", Serena Benson dies falling down a flight of subway stairs outside the entrance to a bar. In a later episode, "Intoxicated", Olivia mentions being engaged briefly when she was 16 to one of her mother's students; when her mother found out, she broke a bottle of vodka and went after Olivia with it. Olivia fought back, kicked her mother twice, and ran out of the house.

text: Benson is a graduate of Siena College.[8] While there, she held a membership in a sorority.[9] In addition to English, Benson speaks Italian,[10] some Spanish and French, and is able to read the Miranda warnings in at least two other languages.[11] She owns a black 1965 Ford Mustang convertible but rarely drives it.[12]

text: She has a younger half-brother named Simon Marsden (Michael Weston). Simon, whom she found by illegally running her DNA through the system, was thought to be a rapist. However, his name was cleared after it is revealed that he was framed by Captain Julia Millfield (Kim Delaney).[13]

text: Benson's life is further complicated when she is named the legal guardian of a young boy named Calvin Arliss (Charlie Tahan). Calvin's mother, Vivian (Maria Bello), abandons him and flees when Benson's investigation uncovers that Vivian (also a child of rape) may have killed her mother's rapist. Vivian names Benson as Calvin's legal guardian.[14] Calvin lives with her for a while, until she finds Vivian and her lover Sara have relapsed into drug use. Sara confesses to murdering Vivian's father and is then shot dead. Vivian revokes Benson's parental rights and sends Calvin to live with his grandparents. Both Calvin and Benson are devastated by the separation.[15] In season 13, she is seen with Calvin and his grandparents during or right before Halloween.[16]

text: In the season 13 episode "Child's Welfare", Simon reveals to Benson that she has a niece and a step-nephew named Olivia and Ty, and that he is planning to marry a woman named Tracy. When the children are taken by the City because of Simon's criminal background, Benson calls Defense Attorney Bayard Ellis (Andre Braugher), with whom she has become good friends, to help Simon and Tracy get the children back. When a judge denies the Marsdens their children back, Simon kidnaps them. Ellis makes a deal to have Simon serve a 60-day sentence, knocking his charge down from kidnapping to a misdemeanor, custodial interference. One of the conditions of the reduced charges is that he must give up his custody petition and agree to visit his daughter only in a supervised setting for the next three years. Simon is reluctant, but Benson tells him it's better than his daughter visiting him in jail.[17]

text: At the conclusion of the season 15 finale, Benson becomes the court-appointed custodial guardian of Noah Porter, an orphaned baby. The appointment is for a trial period of one year, with the option to apply for legal adoption at the end of that period.[18] Although the year is rocky due to Noah's health issues and the demands of her job, Benson formally adopts Noah a year later.[19]

text: At the end of season 17, Sergeant Mike Dodds (Andy Karl) is taken hostage by Corrections Officer Gary Munson (Brad Garrett), who ultimately kills him. As a result of the incident, Benson blames herself for not checking Munson for weapons before leaving him alone with Dodds.

text: Towards the end of the 18th season episode "Next Chapter", Benson has her first on-duty kill when a rape suspect, former police sergeant Tom Cole (Chris Bauer), becomes dangerously close to shooting Detective Dominick “Sonny” Carisi (Peter Scanavino).

text: At the end of season 19 premiere "Gone Fishin'", her ex-boyfriend and former SVU colleague, Brian Cassidy (Dean Winters), now a DA Investigator, tells her that she is being investigated by the DA's office on suspicions of child abuse against Noah. The investigation was dropped in "Mood". In "Contrapasso", her lawyer Trevor Langan (Peter Hermann) returns to tell her that Ellie Porter had lied about having relatives and discovers that Noah has a grandmother, Sheila Porter (Brooke Shields), Ellie's mother. In "No Good Reason", she brings Benson to family court, accusing her of being an unfit parent; the case is dismissed, but Benson agrees that it's in Noah's best interest that they stop fighting. In "Unintended Consequences", Benson lets her visit and spend time with Noah. At the end of "Intent", she gets a call from Sheila telling her that Noah had been kidnapped in the mall. In "Gone Baby Gone", it is revealed that Sheila was behind the kidnapping, and that she intends to take Noah to live with her in Manchester, New Hampshire. Benson goes to Sheila's cabin in Vermont to rescue Noah, where Sheila attacks her; Benson manages to subdue and arrest her, however, and takes Noah back home with her.

text: Relationships[edit]

text: Hargitay has characterized Benson and Stabler's relationship as "very complicated".[5] Her assessment is that:

text:
“
Sometimes it's very much like brother and sister, and I think the reason that they're so close is that they share a passion for their jobs and for the people. They have a mutual respect for one another. I think that the average lifespan of an SVU detective is four years because of the difficulty and stress involved. They've been doing it for longer than that, so they feel like they're in their own world almost. There's also sexual chemistry between them, it's so loaded and layered. People ask me if they'll ever get together—and people want that, and sometimes I think even Olivia wants that—but I don't think that will ever happen.[5]
”

text: Baer agrees that a romantic relationship between the two is unlikely, though commented: "You never can say never".[5]

text: Hargitay has stated that her favorite SVU scene occurs in the season 7 episode "Fault", when Benson is faced with the possibility of losing Stabler: "Lou Diamond Phillips [who played a child killer] has a gun to Elliot's head. I'm negotiating [with him to drop the gun]. It was a painful, high-stakes scene. Elliot and I have to admit what we mean to each other... He is everything that [my character] Olivia has. So this was where we really got that to pay off."[20] In an episode where Stabler goes undercover, Benson tries to talk him into coming back; but they are interrupted by Stabler's targets, and she undresses and pretends to be a prostitute.[21]

text: Benson takes it hard when Stabler resigns from the NYPD in the 13th season opener, "Scorched Earth", and takes a while to warm up to her new partner, Nick Amaro. While Stabler has yet to appear again in the series, Benson frequently mentions him in both a professional and personal context; she tells the squad's newer detectives what Stabler would do in a given situation, and says more than once that she is "getting over someone".[22]

text: In season 1, Benson has a sexual relationship with one of her SVU colleagues, Detective Brian Cassidy (Dean Winters). In the episode "Closure", Benson refers to it as a drunken one-night stand. It is implied that the relationship continued based on comments in the episode "Disrobed". Cassidy leaves the precinct at the end of that episode. In the season 5 episode "Lowdown", it is revealed Benson had a relationship with a murder victim who turned out to be homosexual and HIV positive. Medical Examiner Melinda Warner (Tamara Tunie) immediately tests Benson and the results come back negative. In the season 9 episode "Closet", the SVU squad are surprised to find out that Benson has been in a relationship with journalist Kurt Moss (Bill Pullman) for several months. It comes out only because Internal Affairs is investigating Benson and Stabler in a case in which the department accidentally outed a professional football player. By the end of the episode, she breaks up with Moss.

text: While Benson has only been portrayed in relationships with men, she has, according to lesbian entertainment website AfterEllen.com, "attracted a large lesbian following". Fan speculation exists over alleged sexual tension between Benson and Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March), which Baer admits to indulging: "We read the fan sites. We know that people are into the Alex-Olivia thing. All the codes are in there."[23]

text: In the middle of season 13, Benson enters into a relationship with a new prosecutor to the District Attorney's Office, Executive ADA David Haden (Harry Connick Jr.). Hargitay has said that Connick, who is a friend of hers, improved the show to a more romantic advanced stance. "This is a home run on so many levels," she said. "The show is very fortunate to have Harry's extraordinary talent, and I'm lucky because I get to work with my friend. I think Olivia couldn't have asked for a better companion to take her through a new stage in her life and career." Haden and Benson begin their relationship at the end of the episode, "Official Story". In the episode "Hunting Ground", she decides to take it slow with Haden, claiming she needs time to see if their relationship will last. That night, they end up sleeping together in her apartment. This makes her late for a case, which is frowned upon in the NYPD.[24][25][26] In the episode "Justice Denied", Benson and Haden end their relationship due to a conflict of interest.

text: In the season 14 premiere, Benson shares a kiss with Cassidy after she tells him she is not the same person from 13 years before, when they had a brief sexual relationship. Later that season, in the episode "Undercover Blue", it is revealed that Cassidy and Benson had been seeing each other for quite some time. Their relationship hits a rough patch in the episode when Cassidy is accused of rape, which results in their relationship becoming public. The charges against Cassidy are later dropped when the SVU detectives discover that he was being set up. In season 15, Benson stays with Cassidy as she recovers from her imprisonment by a serial rapist. A few months after she returns to work, they get a new apartment together. They break up in the episode "Downloaded Child", however.

text: In "Chicago Crossover" and "They'll Have to Go Through Me", Benson strikes up a friendship with Sergeant Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) of the Chicago Police Department, despite their differing methodologies when it comes to solving crime. Upon the conclusion of their joint operation, the two share drinks before Benson returns to New York.

text: It is suggested throughout season 17 that Benson is in a relationship with Capt. Ed Tucker (Robert John Burke) of Internal Affairs. In "Manhattan Transfer", they are forced to confirm their relationship when Tucker is accused – by his own cousin, a priest – of being complicit with a sex trafficking ring that has ties to Vice and the Catholic Church. Tucker is eventually cleared, and he continues his relationship with Benson. In season 18, Tucker tries to convince Benson to retire with him, though at the conclusion of the episode "Next Chapter", Benson realizes she is not ready to do so as being a cop is part of who she is. As a result, Benson breaks it off with Tucker at the end of the episode "Chasing Theo".

text: Sexual assault storylines[edit]

text: In the season 9 episode "Undercover", Benson poses as an inmate in a women's prison to investigate an alleged rape by a corrections officer. While there, the corrections officer in question, Captain Lowell Harris (Johnny Messner), attacks her and attempts to force her to perform oral sex on him. She is rescued by SVU colleague Fin Tutuola (Ice-T), who gets there just in time to stop the rape. Later, Benson helps convict the rapist by questioning his earlier victim about distinguishing features on his penis, prompting the victim to recall a mole on it, which Benson later explains to Warner that she had also seen. When Warner asks Benson if she had been raped, she replies, "It was the closest I've ever come."

text: In season 10, Benson is seen struggling with now being a victim of sexual assault herself. She is attending group therapy, something she has not shared with anyone but Tutuola. In the episode "PTSD," while investigating the rape of a Marine, she is pushed against a wall while trying to break up a fight between a suspected rapist and another Marine. She subsequently breaks up the fight by holding her gun to the back of the suspect's head. Later, while in questioning, the other Marine tells Tutuola that, "She [Benson] has PTSD, I would recognize that glassy-eyed look anywhere." At the end of the episode, the original suspect is cleared, and Benson apologizes to him, admitting that she was a victim of sexual assault.

text: In the season 11 episode "Perverted," Benson becomes the prime suspect in the sexual mutilation and murder of a biker gang member. As more evidence is found linking her to the crime, an Internal Affairs detective insinuates that she may have committed it while suffering from a flashback to the assault. The other detectives eventually discover that Benson has been framed by a man she sent to prison years earlier.

text: William Lewis storyline[edit]

text: At the end of the season 14 finale "Her Negotiation", Benson is kidnapped by serial rapist/murderer William Lewis (Pablo Schreiber). During the season 15 premiere "Surrender Benson", Lewis makes her watch while he rapes and tortures the mother of his own attorney and kills a police officer who attempted to pull him over. He then beats and tortures her, burning her with cigarettes and wire hangers, and holds her hostage for four days. Just as he is about to rape her, she breaks free, handcuffs him, and holds him at gunpoint. When he taunts her, she loses control and beats him within an inch of his life with an iron rod. She is rescued by her fellow detectives moments later, and Cragen puts her on mandatory leave so she can recover.[27] She returns to work in the following episode, "Imprisoned Lives", which takes place two months later, but is still haunted by the experience. She begins seeing a therapist (Bill Irwin) to cope with the trauma. It is later revealed that Lewis survived and is in prison awaiting trial.

text: In "Psycho/Therapist", a visibly injured and still-recovering Lewis fires his new attorney and chooses to represent himself. He calls Benson as a witness and accuses her of assaulting him because he rejected her sexual advances. She vehemently denies it, and lies under oath that he had broken free of his restraints and lunged at her. Lewis is found guilty of kidnapping and assaulting a police officer, but the jury voices doubts about Benson's story and acquits him of attempted rape. The episode closes with Benson weeping on the courthouse stairs and, four months later, Lewis being wheeled away on a stretcher.

text: In "Beast's Obsession", Lewis uses the distraction caused by his (self-induced) cardiac incident to escape from prison. He then rapes a teenaged girl, kidnaps her younger sister, and threatens to kill her unless Benson tells the truth about her testimony. Benson holds a press conference and admits that she lied on the witness stand. When Lewis does not release the girl, Benson tracks him down and surrenders to him. With his hostage watching, Lewis at first attempts to rape Benson, but changes his mind when she refuses to show him fear; instead, he forces her to play Russian roulette with him. As a police squad closes in, Lewis taunts her one last time before committing suicide right in front of her. In "Post-Mortem Blues", she is brought before a grand jury to explain her admission and Lewis' death. Her career is threatened until SVU's temporary commanding officer, Lt. Declan Murphy (Donal Logue), tells the grand jury that he instructed Benson to lie in her press conference, thus clearing her of Lewis' death and possible perjury charges. Murphy then makes Benson his second-in-command.

text: In subsequent seasons, Lewis' name becomes a kind of code for an intensely dangerous situation and Benson reveals that her trauma and ordeal with him will always be a part of her. During a heated exchange with Amaro, he pointedly asks her whether she can ever forgive Lewis; she does not answer and he apologizes.

text: Character development[edit]

text: Hargitay has deemed the storyline which saw Benson find her paternal family "probably the biggest thing that's ever happened to Olivia".[28] She feels her character is a role model for teenage girls, revealing:

text:
“
I get letters saying, 'I want to do the right thing like Olivia. I want to be strong like Olivia. My friend did this, but I didn't do it because of Olivia.' For me, when a television show has that kind of positive effect on young people, it is great. I think it is a good thing that we are shedding light on darkness. I think it is a good thing to make teenage girls aware.[29]
”

text: Service[edit]

text: Benson joined the NYPD in 1992, and was trained by Sergeant Karen Smythe (Khandi Alexander) at the 55th Precinct in the Bronx. After completing her probationary period, Smythe recommended that Benson be transferred to the Sex Crimes Unit (later renamed the Special Victims Unit). From 1993 to 1998, she was partnered with Detective Patrick Griffin (Anthony Edwards), who in 1992 testified on her behalf when she was accused of taking money and drugs during her first bust. However, he lied for her, as he had not actually been with her in the same room at the time.[30] By 1998, she had received her detective's shield and was assigned to the 16th Precinct as a Detective 3rd Grade, where she was partnered with Detective Elliot Stabler. She is promoted to Detective 2nd Grade in 2001, and Detective 1st Grade in 2011. In 2006, she is temporarily reassigned to the Computer Crimes Unit; later that year, she does a stint undercover for the FBI's Domestic Terrorism Unit at the request of her friend, Special Agent Dana Lewis (Marcia Gay Harden).

text: Benson and Stabler work together for over 12 years, until Stabler retires in 2011 after he kills an 18-year-old girl who shot up the SVU squad room.[31] Following Stabler's resignation, she is partnered with Det. Nick Amaro.[10]

text: Cragen asks Benson to take the Sergeant's exam following the retirement of Sgt. John Munch (Richard Belzer),[32] and she gets the promotion soon afterward; Cragen congratulates her for placing 48th out of 8,000 applicants.[33] Cragen announces at another dinner party that Benson has been approved to remain at SVU (it was feared she would be reassigned); at the end of the episode, Cragen reveals his impending retirement from the NYPD, making Benson SVU's acting commanding officer.[34] Benson remains in command until Lieutenant Declan Murphy (Donal Logue) takes over the squad; he makes her his second-in-command.[35] When Murphy returns to undercover work, he appoints her acting commander.[18]

text: Lt. Ed Tucker (Robert John Burke), representing 1 Police Plaza, asks Benson to take the Lieutenant's exam in order to officially take command of SVU before the NYPD appoints another officer to the position.[36] She passes the Lieutenant's exam with flying colors, and is officially promoted to Lieutenant after some politicking by her boss, Deputy Chief William Dodds (Peter Gallagher). Benson had wanted Fin as her second-in-command, but Chief Dodds arranges for the politically unsavvy Benson to be assigned a Sergeant who does know how to play the game – his own son, Mike (Andy Karl).[37]

text: Following the events of "Manhattan Transfer", Benson is relieved of her duties as Commanding Officer of SVU, largely due to her (personal) involvement with now-Captain Tucker, who becomes a person of interest in a complex corruption case SVU stumbled upon. Mike Dodds is made Acting Commanding Officer.[38] In spite of this, Benson quietly continues to call the shots at SVU since Dodds disagrees with her suspension and continues to seek her advice in secret. Benson is reinstated after SVU managed to bust the sex trafficking ring and Tucker is cleared.[38]

text: Sometime after Tucker is cleared, Benson and Dodds, on the latter's last day at SVU, are involved in a hostage situation involving corrupt Rikers Island corrections officer Gary Munson (Brad Garrett) holding his wife hostage. Benson takes Munson's children out of the house and Dodds tried to resolve the situation, but while trying to get the gun from the officer, he ends up being shot. He suffers a stroke during surgery and dies. Benson blames herself for Dodds' death because they did not initially search Munson for a weapon.[39]

text: As commanding officer, Benson has worked cases frequently with each of the detectives under her command: Fin, Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish) and Dominick "Sonny" Carisi, Jr. (Peter Scanavino).

text: List of assignments[edit]

text:
Probationary Patrol Officer, NYPD 55th Precinct (1992–93)[6]
Patrol Officer, NYPD 55th Precinct (1993–98)
Junior Detective, NYPD 16th Precinct (Special Victims Unit) (1998 – May 18, 2011)
Senior Detective, NYPD 16th Precinct (Special Victims Unit) (September 21, 2011 – January 15, 2014)
Acting Commanding Officer (Sergeant), NYPD 16th Precinct (Special Victims Unit) (January 22, 2014 – April 9, 2014)
Sergeant—Supervisor Detective Squad, NYPD 16th Precinct (Special Victims Unit) (April 9, 2014 – May 21, 2014)
Acting Commanding Officer (Sergeant), NYPD 16th Precinct (Special Victims Unit) (May 21, 2014 – October 7, 2015)
Lieutenant—Commander Detective Squad, NYPD 16th Precinct (Special Victims Unit) (October 7, 2015 – Present)

text: Temporary assignments[edit]

text:
Detective, NYPD Computer Crimes Unit (May 2, 2006 – May 9, 2006)[40][41]
Undercover operative, FBI Domestic Terrorism Unit (September 19, 2006 – October 31, 2006)[42][43]
Special Deputy United States Marshal for the Eastern District of New York (October 6, 2010)[44]
Public Relations Officer, NYPD One Police Plaza (Public Relations) (March 2, 2016 – March 23, 2016)

text: Ranks[edit]

text:
Officer
Detective 3rd Grade[45]
Detective 2nd Grade[46]
Detective 1st Grade (Shield number 40115)[10]
 Sergeant (Shield number 01139)[47]
 Lieutenant[37]

text: Partners[edit]

text:
Sergeant Karen Smythe, NYPD (Khandi Alexander) – Training officer (1992–1993)[6]
Detective Patrick Griffin, NYPD (Anthony Edwards) – First partner (1993–98)
Detective Elliot Stabler, NYPD Special Victims Unit (Christopher Meloni) (1998–2011)
Detective Nick Amaro, NYPD Special Victims Unit (Danny Pino) (2011–2014)
None (Squad Supervisor) (2014–15)
None (Commanding Officer) (2015–present)

text: Awards and decorations[edit]

text: As a Sergeant[edit]

text: The following are the medals and service awards worn by then-Sergeant Benson, as seen in "Betrayal's Climax" and "Beast's Obsession".

text:
American Flag Breast Bar

World Trade Center Breast Bar

NYPD Commendation—Integrity

text: As a Lieutenant[edit]

text: The following are the medals and service awards worn by Lieutenant Benson, as seen in "Heartfelt Passages".

text:
American Flag Breast Bar

World Trade Center Breast Bar

NYPD Combat Cross

NYPD Medal for Valor

NYPD Meritorious Police Duty, w/numeral "2"

NYPD Meritorious Police Duty

text: Development and casting[edit]

text: Casting for the lead characters on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit occurred in the spring of 1999. Dick Wolf, along with officials from NBC and Studios USA, were at the final auditions for the two leads at Rockefeller Center. The last round had been narrowed down to six finalists. For the female lead –Benson– Samantha Mathis, Reiko Aylesworth, and Hargitay were being considered. For the male role – Stabler – the finalists were Tim Matheson, John Slattery, and Christopher Meloni. Meloni and Hargitay had auditioned in the final round together and after the actors left, there was a moment of dead silence, after which Wolf blurted out, "Oh well. There's no doubt who we should choose – Hargitay and Meloni." The duo, who Wolf believed had the perfect chemistry from the first time he saw them together, were his first choice. Garth Ancier, then head of NBC Entertainment, agreed, and the rest of the panel assembled voiced their assent.[48] Hargitay trained as a rape crisis advocate to prepare for the role of Benson.[49]

text: During the last months of her pregnancy in 2006, Hargitay took maternity leave from SVU, and was temporarily replaced by Connie Nielsen.[50][51]

text: In May 2009, after the show's tenth season, Hargitay and Meloni's contracts expired when they were reportedly making $375,000[52]–$385,000 per episode.[53] During negotiations in April for a new contract, the duo attempted to receive a percentage of the show's profits as other high-profile Law & Order actors had done in the past. It was rumored that NBC threatened to replace Hargitay and Meloni if they persisted in their demands.[54] However, two months later it was officially reported that both their contracts had been renewed for two more years.[53] When the thirteenth season was about to air, initial reports indicated that Hargitay would appear in only the first 13 episodes.[55] However, NBC chairman Bob Greenblatt later clarified that she would be in every episode of the season.[56]

text: Since 2012, Hargitay earns approximately $400,000[57] to $500,000 per episode.[58]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Hargitay has won a number of awards for her role as Benson: 'Individual Achievement for Best Female Lead' and 'Outstanding Female Lead' Gracie Awards in 2004 and 2009 respectively, an Emmy for 'Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series' in 2006, a Prism Award for 'Performance in a Drama Series Episode' in 2006, and a Golden Globe for 'Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series' in 2005. Of her Emmy win, Hargitay commented: "It makes me only want to be better. Now I'm an Emmy winner. I have to step it up."[28]

text: The San Francisco Chronicle's John Carman called Hargitay "the show's weakest performer" when the series originally premiered in 1999.[4] In 2006, however, fellow San Francisco Chronicle writer Jean Gonick, deemed Benson a suitable role model for teenage girls, calling her "courageous and strong, and unspeakably gorgeous",[59] and writing that "Olivia Benson is our own special hero. She battles evil, avenges her mother, faces her demons but refuses to date them."[59] In 2001, Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker criticized Benson and Stabler as "the most naive, bleeding heart molester busters in America."[60]

text: A poll on the Hallmark Channel voted her second-greatest detective in the Law & Order franchise, only being beaten by Law & Order: Criminal Intent's Robert Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio). Benson appeared in Comcast's list of TV's Most Intriguing Characters and also in the website's list of TV's Top Cops.[61][62] She was included in TV Guide's list of "TV's Sexiest Crime Fighters".[63] UGO Networks placed "the hard-charging detective" among the "fifty greatest fictional detectives of all time".[64] A 2015 poll released by Trailer Park, Inc. in conjunction with QC Strategy ranked Benson as the No. 1 "favourite female television character".[65][66]

text: Appearances on other shows[edit]

text: Benson appears on three episodes of Law & Order, one episode of Law & Order: Trial by Jury, three episodes of Chicago P.D. and one episode of Chicago Fire.

text:
Law & Order: "Entitled: Part 2" (February 18, 2000)
Law & Order: "Fools for Love" (February 23, 2000)
Law & Order: Trial by Jury: "Day" (May 3, 2005)
Law & Order: "Flaw" (September 28, 2005)
Chicago P.D.: "They'll Have to Go Through Me" (November 12, 2014)
Chicago Fire: "We Called Her Jellybean" (April 28, 2015)
Chicago P.D.: "The Number of Rats" (April 29, 2015)
Chicago P.D.: "The Song of Gregory William Yates" (February 10, 2016)


document_title: Horn OK Please

question_text: what do you mean by horn ok please

question_tokens: what do you mean by horn ok please

root

text: Horn OK Please

text: Horn OK Please is a phrase commonly painted on commercial vehicles like trucks, buses or local taxis in India.[1][2] The purpose of the phrase is to alert a driver of a vehicle approaching from behind to sound their horn in case they wish to overtake.[3]

tag: p

text: On April 30, 2015, the Government of Maharashtra banned the use of "Horn OK Please" on the rear side of commercial vehicles, on the grounds that it encourages motorists to honk unnecessarily and leads to noise pollution. Signage on the rear side of commercial vehicles, such as trucks and tempos, across Maharashtra is a gross violation of Section 134 (1) of the Maharashtra Motor Vehicle Rules, which deals with signage to be used on the rear and sides of vehicles.[4]

text: Bal Malkit Singh, a former president of the All India Motor Transport Congress, welcomed the ban stating that the phrase was required in the past when the roads were narrow; on modern wide roads and multi-lane highways, the drivers could use lights and indicators to overtake other vehicles.[5]


document_title: Imperial examination

question_text: when were the confucian classics first implemented by the chinese government

text: Imperial examination

text: General history[edit]

text: Although, in a general way, the formative ideas behind the imperial exams can be traced back at least to Zhou dynasty times (or, more mythologically, Yao),[1] such as imperial promotion for displaying skill in archery contests, the imperial examination system in its classical manifestation is historically attested to have been established in 605, during the Sui dynasty; which in the quickly succeeding Tang dynasty was used only on a relatively small scale, especially in its early phase. However, the structure of the examination system was extensively expanded during the reign of Wu Zetian:[2] the impact of Wu's use of the testing system is still a matter for scholarly debate. During the Song dynasty the emperors expanded both examinations and the government school system, in part to counter the influence of military aristocrats, increasing the number of those who passed the exams to more than four to five times that of the Tang. Thus the system played a key role in the selection of the scholar-officials, who formed the elite members of society. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the system contributed to the narrowness of intellectual life and the autocratic power of the emperor. The system continued with some modifications until its 1905 abolition under the Qing dynasty. Other brief interruptions to the system occurred, such as at the beginning of the Yuan dynasty in the 13th century. The modern examination system for selecting civil servants also indirectly evolved from the imperial one.[3]

text: The operations of the examination system were part of the imperial record keeping system, and the date of receiving the jinshi degree is often a key biographical datum: sometimes the date of achieving jinshi is the only firm date known for even some of the most historically prominent persons in Chinese history.

text: History by dynasty[edit]

text: Tests had a lengthy historical background in Chinese thought, including evaluating the potential of possible people to fill positions through various contests, competitions, or interviews: even as early as the Zhou dynasty promotions might be won through winning archery competitions. Much of the development of the imperial bureaucracy in the Confucian form in which it was known in later times had much of its origin in the Han dynasty rule of Han Wudi (Emperor Wu of Han). Through the Three Kingdoms and the Sui dynasty recruitment would be viewed as basically a bottom-up process: promotions being generally through preferment from the local and lower levels of government up to each successively higher level until recommendations finally might be offered to the emperor himself, in continuation of the Zhou idea that the lower levels of government were responsible for finding recruits for the higher ones.

text: In the modern sense of an open examination system, the imperial civil service examinations did not take place until the Sui dynasty, when they then began to recognizably take on the form of standardized tests, though under the perogrative of the Emperor. The Tang dynasty saw most of the recruitment into central government bureaucrat offices performed by the bureaucracy itself, at least nominally by the reigning emperor. However, the historical dynamics of the official recruitment system involved changes in the balances of the various means used for appointments (all theoretically under the direction of the emperor); including, the civil service examinations, direct appointments (especially of members of the ruling dynastic family), nominations by quotas allotted to favored important families, recommendations, clerical promotions, direct sale of official rank, and special induction procedures for eunuchs. The regular higher level degree examination cycle was nominally decreed in 1067 to be 3 years. In practice both before and after this, the examinations were irregularly implemented for significant periods of time: thus, the calculated statistical averages for the number of degrees conferred annually should be understood in this context. The jinshi tests were not a yearly event and should not be considered so; the annual average figures are a necessary artifact of quantitative analysis.[4]

text: Han dynasty[edit]

text: From the time of the Han dynasty (206 BC – AD 220) until the later, fuller implementation of the imperial examination system, most appointments in the imperial bureaucracy were based on recommendations from prominent aristocrats and local officials whilst recommended individuals were predominantly of aristocratic rank. Their names were sent by local officials to the central government based on reputations and abilities, which were sometimes judged subjectively. Oral examination on policy issues were sometimes conducted personally by the emperor himself, during Western Han.[5]

text: In a move of lasting importance in 165 BC, Emperor Wen introduced recruitment to the civil service through examinations, though these were not Confucian oriented. Previously, potential officials never sat for any sort of academic examinations. Wen was said by Liu Xiang to have been fond of reading Shen Buhai, using his method, Xing-Ming, a form of personnel examination, to control his subordinates and devoting much time to legal cases.[6]

text: Emperor Wu of Han early reign saw the creation of a series of posts for academicians was created in 136BC.[7] Ardently promoted by Dong Zhongshu, the national academy and Imperial examination came into existence by recommendation of Gongsun Hong, chancellor under Wu.[8] Its establishment set a precedent that would last into the twentieth century.[9] Officials would select candidates to take part in an examination of the Confucian classics, from which Emperor Wu would select officials to serve by his side.[10]

text: Gongsun intended its graduates to become imperial officials, but they usually only started off as clerks and attendants,[11] and mastery of only one canonical text was required upon its founding, changing to all five in the Eastern Han.[12][13] Starting with 50 students; Han Emperors Emperor Zhao expanded it to 100, Emperor Xuan to 200, and Emperor Yuan to 1000.[14]

text: While connections and recommendations remained much more meaningful than the exams in terms of advancing people to higher positions, the initiation of the examination system by emperor Wu had a cultural significance, as the state determined what the most important Confucianist texts were. During the Han dynasty, these examinations were primarily used for the purpose of classifying candidates who had been specifically recommended; and, through the Tang dynasty the quantity of placement into government service through the examination system was only averaged about 9 persons per year, with the known maximum being less than 25 in any given year.[15]

text: Three Kingdoms era through the Sui dynasty[edit]

text: Beginning in the Three Kingdoms period (with the nine-rank system in the Kingdom of Wei), imperial officials were responsible for assessing the quality of the talents recommended by the local elites. This system continued until Emperor Yang of Sui established a new category of recommended candidates for the mandarinate (进士科) in AD 605. For the first time, an examination system was explicitly instituted for a category of local talents. However, the Sui dynasty was short-lived, and the system did not reach its mature development until afterwards.

text: Tang dynasty and Wu interregnum[edit]

text: Over the course of the Tang dynasty (唐朝) and during the Zhou dynasty of the Wu Zetian interregnum, the examination system developed into a more comprehensive system, developing beyond the basic Sui process of qualifying candidates based on questions on policy matters and then followed by an interview.[16] Oral interviews as part of the examination and selection system were theoretically supposed to be an unbiased process, but in practice favored candidates from elite clans based in the capitals of Chang'an and Luoyang (speakers of solely non-elite dialects could not succeed).[17][18]

text: A pivotal point in the development of imperial examinations arose with the rise of Wu Zetian.[19] Up until that point, the rulers of the Tang dynasty were all male members of the Li family (李氏). Wu Zetian was exceptional: a woman not of the Li family, she came to occupy the seat of the emperor in an official manner in the year of 690, and even beforehand she had already begun to stretch her power within the imperial courts behind the scenes. Reform of the imperial examinations to include a new class of elite bureaucrats derived from humbler origins became a keystone of Wu's gamble to retain power.

text: In 655, Wu Zetian graduated 44 candidates with the jìnshì degree (進士), and during one 7-year period the annual average of exam takers graduated with a jinshi degree was greater than 58 persons per year. Wu lavished favors on the newly graduated jinshi degree-holders, increasing the prestige associated with this path of attaining a government career, and clearly began a process of opening up opportunities to success for a wider population pool, including inhabitants of China's less prestigious southeast area.[20] Most of the Li family supporters were located to the northwest, particularly around the capital city of Chang'an. Wu's progressive accumulation of political power through enhancement of the examination system involved attaining the allegiance of previously under-represented regions, alleviating frustrations of the literati, and encouraging education in various locales so even people in the remote corners of the empire would work on their studies in order to pass the imperial exams, and thus developed a nucleus of elite bureaucrats useful from the perspective of control by the central government.[21]

text: In 681, a written test on knowledge of the Confucian classics was introduced, meaning that candidates were required to memorize these works and fill in the blanks on the test.[22]

text: In 693, Wu Zetian's government further expanded the civil service examination system,[23] part of a policy to reform society and to consolidate power for her self-proclaimed "Zhou dynasty". Examples of officials whom she recruited through her reformed examination system include Zhang Yue, Li Jiao, and Shen Quanqi. She introduced major changes in regard to the Tang system, increasing the pool of candidates permitted to take the test by allowing commoners and gentry previously disqualified by their non-elite backgrounds to attempt the tests. Successful candidates then became an elite nucleus of bureaucrats within her government.[24]

text: Sometime between 730 and 740, after the Tang restoration, a section requiring the composition of original poetry (including both shi and fu) was added to the tests, with rather specific set requirements: this was for the jinshi degree, as well as certain other tests. The less-esteemed examinations tested for skills such as mathematics, law, and calligraphy. The success rate on these tests of knowledge on the classics was between 10 and 20 percent, but for the thousand or more candidates going for a jinshi degree each year in which it was offered, the success rate for the examinees was only between 1 and 2 percent: a total of 6504 jinshi were created during course of the Tang dynasty (an average of only about 23 jinshi awarded per year).[25]

text: During the early years of the Tang restoration, the following emperors expanded on Wu's policies since they found them politically useful, and the annual averages of degrees conferred continued to rise; however with the upheavals which later developed and the disintegration of the Tang empire into the "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period", the examination system gave ground to other traditional routes to government positions and favoritism in grading reduced the opportunities of those taking the tests who lacked political patronage.[26] Ironically this period of fragmentation resulted in the utter destruction of old networks established by elite families that had ruled China throughout its various dynasties since its very conception. With the disappearance of the old aristocracy, Wu's system of bureaucrat recruitment once more became the dominant model in China, and eventually coalesced into the class of nonhereditary elites who would become known to the West as "mandarins," in reference to Mandarin, the dialect of Chinese employed in the imperial court.[27]

text: Song dynasty[edit]

text: In the Song dynasty (960–1279) more than a hundred higher level examinations were held. Officials selected through the exams became dominant in the bureaucracy. Theoretically, the examinations were open to adult (at least in terms of literacy) Chinese males, with some restrictions. This included even individuals from the occupied northern territories.[28] Many individuals moved from a low social status to political prominence through success in imperial examination. Examples include Wang Anshi, who proposed reforms to make the exams more practical, and Zhu Xi, whose interpretations of the Four Classics became the orthodox Neo-Confucianism which dominated later dynasties. Two other prominent successful entries into politics through the examination system were Su Shi and his brother Su Zhe: both of whom became political opponents of Wang Anshi. Indeed, one of the major objectives of the examination system was to promote diversity of viewpoints and to avoid over-filling of offices with individuals of particular political or partisan alignment, as might occur with alternative, more biased methods, which could allow for active recruitment.[29] Yet the process of studying for the examination tended to be time-consuming and costly, requiring time to spare and tutors. Most of the candidates came from the numerically small but relatively wealthy land-owning scholar-official class.[30]

text: Since 937, by the decision of the Taizu Emperor of Song, the palace examination was supervised by the emperor himself. In 992, the practice of anonymous submission of papers during the palace examination was introduced; it was spread to the departmental examinations in 1007, and to the prefectural level in 1032. The practice of recopying the papers in order not to allow biases by revealing the candidate by his calligraphy was introduced at the capital and departmental level in 1105, and in the prefectures in 1037.[31] Statistics indicate that the Song imperial government degree-awards eventually more than doubled the highest annual averages of those awarded during the Tang dynasty, with 200 or more per year on average being common, and at times reaching a per annum figure of almost 240.[32]

text: Various reforms or attempts to reform the examination system were made during the Song dynasty, including by Fan Zhongyan and those by Wang Anshi. Fan's memorial to the throne actually initiated a process which lead to major educational reform through the establishment of a comprehensive public school system.[33]

text: Yuan dynasty (the Mongols)[edit]

text: Governmental examinations ended with the defeat of the Song in 1279 by a disintegrating Mongol empire. After a period of turmoil, the part of the Mongol empire that was led by Kublai Khan established itself in China as the Yuan dynasty. Kublai ended the imperial examination system, as he believed that Confucian learning was not needed for government jobs.[34]

text: The examination system was revived in 1315, with significant changes, during the reign of Emperor Renzong. The new examination system was one of regionalism with Mongol characteristics. The northern areas of Mongolia and its vicinity were favored, and a quota system (both for number of candidates and number of degrees awarded) which was based on the classification of the imperial population into four racially-based groups (or castes and/or ethnicities) was instituted, the groups being Mongols, their non-Han allies (Semu-ren), Northern Chinese, and Southern Chinese, with further restrictions by province.[35] Under the revived and revised system the yearly averages for examination degrees awarded was about 21.[36] As the degrees were arithmetically divided between the four "races" (although with further modification), rather than being proportionally based on either population or number of qualified candidates, this tended to favor the Mongols, Semu-ren, and North Chinese: the South Chinese were by far the greatest part of the population, the 1290 census figures recording some 12,000,000 households (about 48% of the total Yuan population), versus 2,000,000 North Chinese households, and the populations of Mongols and Semu-ren were both less.[37] The restrictions on candidates by the new quota system allowed only 300 candidates for each testing session of the three year examination cycle. The provincial restrictions resulted in a greater effect; for example, only 28 Han Chinese from South China were included among the 300 candidates, the rest of the South China slots (47) being occupied by resident Mongols or Semu-ren, although 47 "racial South Chinese" who were not residents of South China were approved as candidates.[38]

text: Ming dynasty[edit]

text: The Ming dynasty (1368-1644) retained and expanded the system it inherited. Shortly after the inauguration of the dynasty, the Hongwu Emperor in 1370 declared that the exams should cover the Four Books, discourses, and political analysis, accepting the Neo-Confucian canon put forth by Zhuxi in the Song dynasty. But he firmly insisted on including the martial arts. The curriculum at the National Academy emphasized law, mathematics, calligraphy, horse riding, and archery in addition to Confucian classics required in the exams.[39] The emperor especially emphasized archery.[40]

text: The Ming established Neo-Confucian interpretations as the orthodoxy guidelines and created what the historian Benjamin Elman called a "single-minded and monocular political ideology" that "affected politically and socially how literati learning would be interpreted and used." The imperial civil service system adopted this rigid orthodoxy at a time when commercialization and population growth meant that there was an inflation in the number of degree candidates at the lower levels. As a result, the higher and more prestigious offices were dominated by jinshi (Palace) degree-holders, who tended to come from elite families. The Ming thus started a process in which access to government office became harder and harder and officials became more and more orthodox in their thought. Near the end of the Ming dynasty, in 1600, there were roughly half a million licentiates in a population of 150 million, that is, one per 300 people; by the mid-19th century the ratio had shrunk to one civil licentiate for each 1,000 people.[41]

text: The social background of metropolitan graduates also narrowed as time went on. In the early years of the Ming dynasty only 14 percent of metropolitan graduates came from families that had a history of providing officials, while in the last years of the Ming roughly 60 percent of metropolitan exam graduates came from established elite families.

text: Qing dynasty[edit]

text: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which attempted to overthrow the Qing dynasty in the middle of the 19th century, in 1853 admitted for the first time women as examination candidates. The exams administered by the Heavenly Kingdom differed from those administered by the Qing dynasty, in that they required knowledge of the Bible. Fu Shanxiang took the exam and became the first female zhuangyuan in Chinese history.[42]

text: The end of the imperial examination system[edit]

text: With the military defeats in the 1890s and pressure to develop a national school system, reformers such as Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao called for abolition of the exams, and the Hundred Days' Reform of 1898 proposed a set of modernizations. After the Boxer Rebellion, the government drew up plans to reform under the name of New Policies, then abolish the exams. On 2 September 1905, the throne endorsed a memorial which ordered that the old examination system be discontinued at all levels in the following years. The new system provided equivalents to the old degrees; a bachelor's degree, for instance, would be considered equivalent to the xiu cai. The details of the new system remained to be worked out by the fall of the dynasty in 1911, but the end of the system meant the end of Confucianism as an official state ideology and of the scholar official as a legal group.[43]

text: General discussion of late imperial system[edit]

text: Yet the system also promoted resistance to change. Reformers charged that the set format of the "Eight-legged essay" stifled original thought and satirists portrayed the rigidity of the system in novels such as The Scholars. In the twentieth century, the New Culture Movement portrayed the examination system as a cause for China's weakness in such stories as Lu Xun's "Kong Yiji." Some have suggested that limiting the topics prescribed in examination system removed the incentives for Chinese intellectuals to learn mathematics or to conduct experimentation, perhaps contributing to the Great Divergence, in which China's scientific and economic development fell behind Europe.[44]

text: In late imperial China, the examination system was the major mechanism by which the central government captured and held the loyalty of local-level elites. Their loyalty, in turn, ensured the integration of the Chinese state, and countered tendencies toward regional autonomy and the breakup of the centralized system. The examination system distributed its prizes according to provincial and prefectural quotas, which meant that imperial officials were recruited from the whole country, in numbers roughly proportional to each province's population. Elite individuals all over China, even in the disadvantaged peripheral regions, had a chance at succeeding in the examinations and achieving the rewards and emoluments office brought.[45]

text: The examination based civil service thus promoted stability and social mobility. The Confucian-based examinations meant that the local elites and ambitious would-be members of those elites across the whole of China were taught with similar values. Even though only a small fraction (about 5 percent) of those who attempted the examinations actually passed them and even fewer received titles, the hope of eventual success sustained their commitment. Those who failed to pass did not lose wealth or local social standing; as dedicated believers in Confucian orthodoxy, they served, without the benefit of state appointments, as teachers, patrons of the arts, and managers of local projects, such as irrigation works, schools, or charitable foundations.[46]

text: Republic of China[edit]

text: After the fall of the Qing in 1911, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the leader of the newly risen Republic of China, developed similar procedures for the new political system through an institution called the Examination Yuan, one of the five branches of government, although this was quickly suspended due to the turmoil in China between the two world wars, such as the warlord period and the Japanese invasion. The Kuomintang administration revived the Examination Yuan in 1947 after the defeat of Japan. This system continues into present times in Taiwan along with the government itself after loss of the mainland to the Communist Party of China.

text: Taking the exams[edit]

text: The examinations consisted of tests administered at the district, provincial, and metropolitan levels. Tight quotas restricted the number of successful candidates at each level — for example, only three hundred students could pass the metropolitan examinations. Students often took the examinations several times before earning a degree.

text:
Entry-level examinations were held annually and accessible to educated individuals from their early teenage years. These were held locally and were collectively called Háizi kǎoshì (孩子考試, "Child Exam"). Háizi kǎoshì was broken down hierarchically into the Xiàn kǎoshì (縣考試, "County Exam"), the Fǔfǔ kǎoshì (府府試, "Prefectural exam") and Yuànshì (院試, "college exam").
Provincial exams: Xiāngshì (鄉試, "township exam") were held every three years in provincial capitals.
Metropolitan exams: Huìshì (會試, "conference exam") were held every three years in the national capital.
Palace exams: Diànshì (殿試, "court exam") were held every three years in the Imperial palace and often supervised by the emperor himself.

tag: ul

text: Each candidate arrived at an examination compound with only a few amenities: a water pitcher, a chamber pot, bedding, food (which he had to prepare himself), an inkstone, ink and brushes. Guards verified a student's identity and searched for hidden printed materials. In the Ming and Qing periods, each exam taker spent three days and two nights writing "eight-legged essays" — literary compositions with eight distinct sections — in a tiny room with a makeshift bed, desk and bench. There were no interruptions during those three days, nor were candidates allowed any communication. If a candidate died, officials wrapped his body in a straw mat and tossed it over the high walls that ringed the compound.[47]

text: Intense pressure to succeed meant that cheating and corruption were rampant, often outrunning strenuous attempts to prevent or defeat them. In order to discourage favoritism which might occur if an examiner recognized a student's calligraphy, each exam was recopied by an official copyist. Exact quotes from the classics were required; misquoting even one character or writing it in the wrong form meant failure, so candidates went to great lengths to bring hidden copies of these texts with them, sometimes written on their underwear.[48] The Minneapolis Institute of Arts holds an example of a Qing dynasty cheatsheet, a handkerchief with 10,000 characters of Confucian classics in microscopically small handwriting.

text: Details of the imperial examination[edit]

text: Curriculum[edit]

text: By 115 AD, a set curriculum had become established for the so-called First Generation of examination takers. They were tested on their proficiency in the "Six Arts":

text:
Scholastic arts: music, arithmetic, writing, and knowledge of the rituals and ceremonies in both public and private life.
Militaristic: archery and horsemanship

text: The curriculum was then expanded to cover the "Five Studies": military strategy, civil law, revenue and taxation, agriculture and geography, and the Confucian classics. In this form, the examinations were institutionalized during the sixth century AD, under the Sui dynasty. These examinations are regarded by most historians as the first standardized tests based on merit.

text: Degree types[edit]

text: The examinations and degrees formed a "ladder of success", with success generally being equated with being graduated as jinshi, which is a degree similar to a modern Doctor of Literature degree, or PhD. Modifications to the basic jinshi or other degree were made for higher-placing graduates, similar to the modern Summa cum laude. The examination process extended down to the county level, and included examinations at the provincial and national levels. The highest level tests would be at the imperial court or palace level, of which the jinshi was the highest regular level, although special purpose tests were occasionally offered, by imperial decree:

text:
Tongsheng (童生, lit. "child student"), an entry-level examinee who had passed the county/prefecture exams.
Shengyuan (生員, lit. "student member"), also commonly called xiucai (秀才, lit. "distinguished talent"), an entry-level licentiate who had passed the college exam. Xiucai enjoyed officially sanctioned social privileges such as exemption from statute labour, access into local government facilities and limited immunity against corporal punishments. They were further divided into three classes according to exam performance.

Linsheng (廩生, lit. "granary student"), the first class of shengyuan, who were the best performers in the college exam, and got to receive government-issued rations and pay for their academic achievements. The top performers within this class would get accepted into the Imperial Academy as gongsheng (貢生, lit. "tribute student"), who will then be eligible to sit the provincial or even the national exam directly.

Anshou (案首, lit. "first on the desk"), the highest ranking linsheng, and thus the top shengyuan who ranked first in college exam.

Zengsheng (增生, lit. "expanded student"), the second class of shengyuan, who performed less well than linsheng and enjoyed similar legal perks, but not the material allowance.
Fusheng (附生, lit. "attached student"), the third class of shengyuan and considered substitute recruits outside the official quota of enrollment. They were considered passable in exams but needed more improvements.

 Juren (舉人, lit. "recommended man"), a qualified graduate who passed the triennial provincial exam.

Jieyuan (解元, lit. "top escorted examinee"), the juren who ranked first in provincial exam.

Gongshi (貢士, lit. "tribute scholar"), a recognized scholarly achiever who passed the triennial national exam.

Huiyuan (會元, lit. "top conference examinee"), the gongshi who ranked first in national exam.

Jinshi (進士, lit. "advanced scholar"), a graduate who passed the triennial court exam.

Jinshi Jidi (進士及第, lit. "distinguished jinshi"), graduates ranked first class in the court exam, usually only the top three individuals were qualified for this title.

Zhuangyuan (狀元, lit. "top thesis author"), the jinshi who ranked first overall nationwide.
Bangyan (榜眼, lit. "eyes positioned alongside"), the jinshi who ranked second overall just below zhuangyuan.
Tanhua (探花, lit. "flower snatcher"), the jinshi ranked third overall.

Jinshi Chushen (進士出身, lit. "jinshi background"), the graduates who ranked second class in court exam, ranking immediately after the tanhua.
Tong Jinshi Chushen (同進士出身, lit. "along with jinshi background"), graduates ranked third class in the court exam.

text: Degree examinations[edit]

text: Besides the regular tests for the jinshi and other degrees, there were also occasionally special purpose examinations, by imperial decree (zhiju). These decree examinations were for the purpose of particular promotions or to identify talented men for dealing with certain, specific, especially difficult assignments. During the Song dynasty, in 1061, Emperor Renzong of Song decreed special examinations for the purpose of finding men capable of "direct speech and full remonstrance" (zhiyan jijian): the testing procedure required the examinees to submit 50 previously prepared essays, 25 on particular contemporary problems, 25 on more general historical governmental themes. In the examination room, the examinees then had a day to write essays on six topics chosen by the test officials, and finally were required to write a 3,000 character essay on a complex policy problem, personally chosen by the emperor, Renzong. Among the few successful candidates were the Su brothers, Su Shi and Su Zhe (who had already attained their jinshi degrees, in 1057), with Su Shi scoring exceptionally high in the examinations, and subsequently having copies of his examination essays widely circulated.[49]

text: Military examinations[edit]

text:
Imperial Military Examinations

Traditional Chinese
武舉

Simplified Chinese
武举

Literal meaning
Military Examination

Hanyu Pinyin
Wǔjǔ

tag: table

text: During the reign of Wu Zetian the imperial government created specialized military examinations for the selection of army officers as a response to the breakdown of garrison militias known as the Fubing system.[50] The first formal military examinations were introduced in 702. Before the military exams, the participants who were from military families studied at military schools.[51] Successful candidates were awarded military versions of Jinshi and Juren degrees: Wujinshi (武進士) and Wujuren (武舉人), and so on.[52] Military degrees were considered inferior to civil degrees and never held the same prestige until the end of the examinations during the Qing dynasty. The names of civil jinshi were carved in marble whereas military jinshi were not. Nevertheless, the civil and military elements of government were in Chinese political theory sometimes compared to the two wheels of a chariot; if either were neglected, government would not run smoothly.[53] Thus, the military examinations had the same general arrangement as the regular exams, with provincial, metropolitan and palace versions of the exams. The ideal candidate was expected to master the same Confucian texts as the civilians, in addition to martial skills such as archery and horsemanship as well as Chinese military texts, especially Sun Tzu.[54] At the entry level exam, for instance, which was conducted by the district magistrate, the candidate had to shoot three arrows while riding his horse toward the target, which was the shape of a person. A perfect score was three hits, a good score two, and one hit earned a pass. The candidate failed if he made no hits or fell from his horse. The higher levels were made up of more and more challenging exams until the highest level, conducted at the palace in the presence of the emperor, which included not only mounted archery, but bow bending, halberd brandishing, and weight lifting.[55][56]

text: Despite the intention of raising more military officers through these examinations, rarely did famous generals and strategists ever arise from military degree holders. With some exceptions such as the Tang general Guo Ziyi, the father of the founder of the Song dynasty Zhao Hongyin, Ming generals Yu Dayou and Qi Jiguang, and Qing general Wu Sangui, graduates of the official military examinations have left few traces. Even in desperate times, the majority of distinguished military figures in Chinese history have come from civil degree holders. In total, 282 military metropolitan exams were held between their inception in 702 and abolishment in 1901. The practices of the Qing and Ming military exams was incorporated into physical education during the Republic of China.[57]

text: Besides China, the military examinations were also a practice of certain Korean and Vietnamese dynasties.

text: Examination procedures[edit]

text: By 1370, the examinations lasted between 24 and 72 hours, and were conducted in spare, isolated examination rooms; sometimes, however, it was held within cubicles. The small rooms featured two boards which could be placed together to form a bed or placed on different levels to serve as a desk and chair. In order to obtain objectivity in evaluation, candidates were identified by number rather than name, and examination answers were recopied by a third party before being evaluated to prevent the candidate's handwriting from being recognized.

text: In the main hall of the imperial palace during the Tang and Song Dynasties there stood two stone statues. One was of a dragon and the other of Ao (鳌), the mythical turtle whose chopped-off legs serve as pillars for the sky in Chinese legend. The statues were erected on stone plinths in the center of a flight of stairs where successful candidates (jinshi) in the palace examination lined up to await the reading of their rankings from a scroll known as the jinbang (金榜). The first ranked scholar received the title of Zhuàngyuán (狀元/状元), and the honor of standing in front of the statue of Ao. This gave rise to the use of the phrases "to have stood at Ao's head" (占鳌头 [Zhàn ào tóu]), or "to have stood alone at Ao's head" (独占鳌头 [Dú zhàn ào tóu]) to describe a Zhuàngyuán, and more generally to refer to someone who excels in a certain field.[58]

text: Restrictions[edit]

text: Some people were banned from taking the imperial exam, although this varied to some extent over history. Traditionally, Chinese society was divided into officials/nobility and commoners. The commoners were divided by class or status into 4 groups by occupation, ranked in order of prestige: scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants.[59] Beneath these in terms of prestige were the so-called "mean" people, with various regional names and attributes; but, boat-people, beggars, sex-workers, entertainers, slaves, and low-level government employees were all people included among the "mean" class: among other forms of discrimination, "mean" people were forbidden to serve as government officials or to take the imperial exam.[60][61] This was the case for the caste of "degraded" outcasts in Ningbo city, where around 3,000 people, said to be Jin dynasty descendants, were barred from taking the Imperial Exams, among numerous other restrictions.[62] Women were generally excluded from taking the exams. Butchers and sorcerers were also excluded at times.[63] Merchants were generally restricted from taking the exams until the Ming and Qing dynasties.[64] During Sui and Tang artisans were also restricted from official service; during the Song dynasty artisans and merchants were specifically excluded from the jinshi exam; and, in the Liao dynasty, physicians, diviners, butchers, and merchants were all prohibited from taking the examinations.[65] At times, quota systems were also used to restrict the number of candidates allowed to take or to pass the imperial civil service examinations, by region or by other criteria.

text: Cultural context[edit]

text: Chinese traditional religion responded to concerns about the imperial examination system. The examination system was also influential on the contemporary literary tradition.[66]

text: Confucian rationalism[edit]

text: From a certain viewpoint, the examination system represented the Confucian system in its most rationalist aspect. The system of testing was designed according to the principle of a society ruled by men of merit, and to achieve this by objectively measuring various candidates' knowledge and intelligence. However, in actual operation, the examination system also included various aspects of religious and mythical or irrational beliefs which made the actual reality of the examination structure more complex than the Confucian ideal.[67]

text: Fate[edit]

text: A less scientifically rational idea which had a significant role in the cultural context of the examination system involved traditional beliefs about fate; that is, that cosmic forces predestine the certain results of certain human affairs, and particularly that individual success or failure was subject to the will of Heaven, or that the results of taking the tests could be influenced by the intervention of various deities.[68]

text: Zhong Kui[edit]

text: Zhong Kui, also known as Chung-kuei, was a deity associated with the examination system. The story is that a certain scholar took the tests, and, despite his most excellent performance, which should have won him first place, he was unfairly deprived of the first place prize by a corrupt system: in response, he killed himself, the act of suicide condemning him to be a ghost. Many people afraid of traveling on roads and paths that may be haunted by evil spirits have worshiped Zhong Kui as an efficacious protective deity.[69]

text: Strange Stories from the Examination Halls[edit]

text: Also known as Kechang Yiwen Lu, the Strange Stories from the Examination Halls was a collection of stories popular at least among Confucian scholars of the Qing dynasty. The theme of many of the stories is that the good or bad deeds of individual persons during the course of their lives are causally rewarded or punished according to karmic principles, by which good deeds are cosmically rewarded by success in the examination halls, often by Heavenly-inspired deities; and, bad deeds result in failure, often resulting from the actions of the ghosts of the victims of those deeds.[70]

text: Naming taboo[edit]

text: Some individuals were discriminated against because of their names, due to a naming taboo. For example, because the Tang dynasty poet Li He's father's name sounded like the jin, in jinshi, he was discouraged from taking the tests.[71] The claim was that if Li He was called a jinshi, it would be against the rule of etiquette that a son not be called by his father's name.

text: Influence[edit]

text: Other countries[edit]

text: East[edit]

text: The Chinese imperial examination system had extensive influence throughout East Asia. It was used as a model by both the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties in Korea (see Gwageo) until the country's annexation by Japan. The examination was technically opened to everyone, except Nobi who are not required to pay taxes and are not drafted to serve in army. In Vietnam, the system provided the framework for the Confucian examination system in Vietnam, from the reign of the Lý dynasty's Emperor Lý Nhân Tông (1075), until that of the Nguyễn dynasty's Emperor Khải Định (1919). Japan also used the Chinese imperial examination system as a model in the Heian period; however, the influence affected only the minor nobility and was replaced by the hereditary system during the Samurai era.[72]

text: West[edit]

text: The imperial examination system attracted much attention and greatly inspired political theorists in the Western World, and as a Chinese institution was one of the earliest to receive such foreign attention.[73] One example is the important influence in this regard on the Northcote–Trevelyan Report and hence on the reform of the Civil Service in British India and later in the United Kingdom.[74] After Great Britain's successful implementation of systematic, open, and competitive examinations in India, in the 19th century, other implementations were undertaken in other Western nations.[75]

text: Poetry[edit]

text: Some of the main outstanding questions regarding the imperial examinations are in regard to poetry. To what extent did the inclusion of poetry in the examinations influence the writing of poetry, for instance the proliferation of poetry during the Tang dynasty?[76] There is a long history of debate on the usefulness of the procedure of testing the ability of the candidates to write poetry.[77] During the Tang dynasty, a poetry section was added to the examinations, requiring the examinee to compose a shi poem in the five-character, 12-line regulated verse form and a fu composition of 300 to 400 characters[78] The poetry requirement remained standard for many decades, despite some controversy, although briefly abolished for the examination year 833−834 (by order of Li Deyu).[79] During the Song dynasty, in the late 1060s Wang Anshi removed the traditional poetry composition sections (regulated verse and fu), on the grounds of irrelevancy to the official functions of bureaucratic office: on the other side of the debate, Su Shi (Dongpo) pointed out that the selection of great ministers of the past had not been obstructed by the poetry requirements, that the study and practice of poetry encouraged careful writing, and that the evaluation and grading of poetry was more objective than for the prose essays, due to the strict and detailed rules for writing verse according to the formal requirements.[80]


document_title: Cascade Range

question_text: where does the cascade range start and end

text: Cascade Range

text: Geography[edit]

text: The Cascades extend northward from Lassen Peak (also known as Mount Lassen) in northern California to the confluence of the Nicola and Thompson rivers in British Columbia. The Fraser River separates the Cascades from the Coast Mountains in Canada [2], as does the Willamette Valley from the upper portion of the Oregon Coast Range. The highest volcanoes of the Cascades, known as the High Cascades,[3] dominate their surroundings, often standing twice the height of the nearby mountains. They often have a visual height (height above nearby crestlines) of one mile or more. The highest peaks, such as the 14,411-foot (4,392 m) Mount Rainier, dominate their surroundings for 50 to 100 miles (80 to 161 km).

text: The northern part of the range, north of Mount Rainier, is known as the North Cascades in the United States but is formally named the Cascade Mountains north of the Canada–United States border, reaching to the northern extremity of the Cascades at Lytton Mountain.[4] Overall, the North Cascades and Canadian Cascades are extremely rugged; even the lesser peaks are steep and glaciated, and valleys are quite low relative to peaks and ridges, so there is great local relief.[5] The southern part of the Canadian Cascades, particularly the Skagit Range, is geologically and topographically similar to the North Cascades, while the northern and northeastern parts are less glaciated and more plateau-like, resembling nearby areas of the Thompson Plateau.[2]

text: Because of the range's proximity to the Pacific Ocean and the region's prevailing westerly winds, precipitation is substantial, especially on the western slopes due to orographic lift, with annual snow accumulations of up to 1,000 inches (25,000 mm) in some areas. Mount Baker in Washington recorded a world-record single-season snowfall in the winter of 1998–99 with 1,140 inches (29,000 mm).[6] Prior to that year, Mount Rainier held the world record for snow accumulation at Paradise in 1978. It is not uncommon for some places in the Cascades to have over 500 inches (13,000 mm) of annual snow accumulation, such as at Lake Helen, near Lassen Peak.[7] Most of the High Cascades are therefore white with snow and ice year-round. The western slopes are densely covered with Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) and red alder (Alnus rubra),[8] while the drier eastern slopes feature mostly ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), with some western larch (Larix occidentalis), mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana) and subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) and subalpine larch (Larix lyallii) at higher elevations.[9] Annual rainfall is as low as 9 inches (230 mm) on the eastern foothills due to a rain shadow effect.[10]

text: Beyond the eastern foothills is an arid plateau that was largely created 17 to 14 million years ago by the many flows of the Columbia River Basalt Group. Together, these sequences of fluid volcanic rock form the 200,000-square-mile (520,000 km2) Columbia Plateau in eastern Washington, Oregon, and parts of western Idaho.[11]

text: The Columbia River Gorge is the only major break of the range in the United States. When the Cascades began to rise 7 million years ago in the Pliocene, the Columbia River drained the relatively low Columbia Plateau. As the range grew, erosion from the Columbia River was able to keep pace, creating the gorge and major pass seen today. The gorge also exposes uplifted and warped layers of basalt from the plateau.[12][13]

text: History[edit]

text:
Indigenous peoples have inhabited the area for thousands of years and developed their own myths and legends about the Cascades. In these legends, St. Helens with its pre-1980 graceful appearance, was regarded as a beautiful maiden for whom Hood and Adams feuded.[14]
Native tribes also developed their own names for the High Cascades and many of the smaller peaks, including "Tahoma", the Lushootseed name for Mount Rainier,[15], "Koma Kulshan" or simply "Kulshan" for Mount Baker,[16] and "Louwala-Clough", meaning "smoking mountain" for Mount St. Helens.[14]

text: In early 1792, British navigator George Vancouver explored Puget Sound and gave English names to the high mountains he saw. Mount Baker was named for Vancouver's third lieutenant, Joseph Baker, although the first European to see it was Manuel Quimper, who named it la gran montaña del Carmelo ("Great Mount Carmel") in 1790.[17] Mount Rainier was named after Admiral Peter Rainier. Later in 1792, Vancouver had his lieutenant William Robert Broughton explore the lower Columbia River. He named Mount Hood after Lord Samuel Hood, an admiral of the Royal Navy. Mount St. Helens was sighted by Vancouver in May 1792, from near the mouth of the Columbia River. It was named for Alleyne FitzHerbert, 1st Baron St Helens, a British diplomat.[18] Vancouver's expedition did not, however, name the mountain range which contained these peaks. He referred to it simply as the "eastern snowy range". Earlier Spanish explorers called it sierra nevadas, meaning "snowy mountains".[17]

text: In 1805, the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through the Cascades on the Columbia River, which for many years was the only practical way to pass that part of the range. They were the first non-indigenous people to see Mount Adams, but they thought it was Mount St. Helens. When they later saw Mount St. Helens they thought it was Mount Rainier.[19] On their return trip, Lewis and Clark spotted a high but distant snowy pinnacle that they named for the sponsor of the expedition, U.S. President Thomas Jefferson.[20] Lewis and Clark called the Cascade Range the "Western Mountains".[21]

text: The Lewis and Clark expedition, and the many settlers and traders that followed, met their last obstacle to their journey at the Cascades Rapids in the Columbia River Gorge, a feature on the river now submerged beneath the Bonneville Reservoir. Before long, the great white-capped mountains that loomed above the rapids were called the "mountains by the cascades" and later simply as the "Cascades". The earliest attested use of the name "Cascade Range" is in the writings of botanist David Douglas.[22]

text: In 1814, Alexander Ross, a fur trader with the North West Company, seeking a viable route across the mountains, explored and crossed the northern Cascades between Fort Okanogan and Puget Sound. His report of the journey is vague about the route taken. He followed the lower Methow River into the mountains. He might have used Cascade Pass to reach the Skagit River. Ross was the first European-American to explore the Methow River area and likely the first to explore the Stehekin River and Bridge Creek region. Due to the difficulty of crossing the northern Cascades and the paucity of beaver, fur-trading companies made only a few explorations into the mountains north of the Columbia River after Ross.[23]

text: Exploration and settlement of the Cascades region by Europeans and Americans was accelerated by the establishment of a major trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) at Fort Vancouver near today's Portland, Oregon. From this base HBC trapping parties traveled throughout the Cascades in search of beaver and other fur-bearing animals. For example, using what became known as the Siskiyou Trail, Hudson's Bay Company trappers were the first non-natives to explore the southern Cascades in the 1820s and 1830s, establishing trails which passed near Crater Lake, Mount McLoughlin, Medicine Lake Volcano, Mount Shasta, and Lassen Peak.[24]

text: The course of political history in the Pacific Northwest saw the spine of the Cascade Range being proposed as a boundary settlement during the Oregon Dispute of 1846. The United States rejected the proposal and insisted on the 49th parallel north, which cuts across the range just north of Mount Baker. Throughout the period of dispute and up to the creation of the Crown Colony of British Columbia in 1858, the Hudson's Bay Company's York Factory Express route, as well the route of fur brigades, followed the Okanogan River along the east edge of the Cascades and the Columbia River through the range. Passes across the range were not well known and little used. Naches Pass was used for driving cattle and horses to Fort Nisqually. Yakima Pass was also used by the Hudson's Bay Company.[25]

text: American settlement of the flanks of the Coast Range did not occur until the early 1840s, at first only marginally. Following the Oregon Treaty the inward flux of migration from the Oregon Trail intensified and the passes and back-valleys of what is now the state of Washington were explored and populated, and it was not long after that railways followed. Despite its being traversed by several major freeways and rail lines, and its lower flanks subjected to major logging in recent decades, large parts of the range remain intense and forbidding alpine wilderness. Much of the northern half of the Cascades, from Rainier north, have been preserved by U.S. national or British Columbia provincial parks (such as E.C. Manning Provincial Park), or other forms of protected area.[26]

text: The Canadian side of the range has a history that includes the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush of 1858–60 and its famous Cariboo Road, as well as the older Hudson's Bay Company Brigade Trail from the Canyon to the Interior, the Dewdney Trail, and older routes which connected east to the Similkameen and Okanagan valleys.

text: The southern mainline of the Canadian Pacific Railway penetrated the range via the passes of the Coquihalla River, along one of the steepest and snowiest routes in the entire Pacific Cordillera. Near Hope, B.C., the railway roadbed and the Othello Tunnels, now decommissioned, are popular tourist recreation destinations for hiking and bicycling.  The pass is used by the Coquihalla Highway, a government megaproject built as part of the Expo 86 spending boom of the 1980s, which is now the main route from the Coast to the British Columbia interior. Traffic formerly went via the Fraser Canyon, to the west, or via Allison Pass and Manning Park along Highway 3 to the south, near the border.

text: The Barlow Road was the first established land path for U.S. settlers through the Cascade Range in 1845, and formed the final overland link for the Oregon Trail (previously, settlers had to raft down the treacherous rapids of the Columbia River). The Road left the Columbia at what is now Hood River and passed along the south side of Mount Hood at what is now Government Camp, terminating in Oregon City. There is an interpretive site there now at "The End of The Oregon Trail". The road was constructed as a toll road — $5 per wagon — and was very successful.

text: In addition, the Applegate Trail was created to allow settlers to avoid rafting down the Columbia River.  The Trail used the path of the California Trail to north-central Nevada.  From there, the Trail headed northwest into northern California, and continued northwest towards today's Ashland, Oregon.  From there, settlers would head north along the established Siskiyou Trail into the Willamette Valley.

text: With the exception of the 1915 eruption of remote Lassen Peak in Northern California, the range was quiet for more than a century. Then, on May 18, 1980, the dramatic eruption of little-known Mount St. Helens shattered the quiet and brought the world's attention to the range. Geologists were also concerned that the St. Helens eruption was a sign that long-dormant Cascade volcanoes might become active once more, as in the period from 1800 to 1857 when a total of eight erupted. None have erupted since St. Helens, but precautions are being taken nevertheless, such as the Mount Rainier Volcano Lahar Warning System in Pierce County, Washington.[27]

text: Geology[edit]

text: The Cascade range is made up of a band of thousands of very small, short-lived volcanoes that have built a platform of lava and volcanic debris. Rising above this volcanic platform are a few strikingly large volcanoes, like Mount St. Helens, that dominate the landscape.[28]

text: The Cascade volcanoes define the Pacific Northwest section of the Ring of Fire, an array of volcanoes that rim the Pacific Ocean. The Ring of Fire is also known for its frequent earthquakes. The volcanoes and earthquakes arise from a common source: subduction, where the dense Juan de Fuca oceanic plate plunges beneath the North American Plate.[29] As the oceanic slab sinks deep into the Earth's interior beneath the continental plate, high temperatures and pressures allow water molecules locked in the minerals of solid rock to escape. The water vapor rises into the pliable mantle above the subducting plate, causing some of the mantle to melt. This newly formed magma rises toward the Earth's surface to erupt, forming a chain of volcanoes (the Cascade Volcanic Arc) above the subduction zone.[29]

text: Human uses[edit]

text: Soil conditions for farming are generally good, especially downwind of volcanoes. This is largely because volcanic rocks are often rich in potassium bearing minerals such as orthoclase and decay easily. Volcanic debris, especially lahars, also have a leveling effect and the storage of water in the form of snow and ice is also important. These snow-capped mountains such as Mt. Hood and Mt. Bachelor are used as ski resorts in the late winter. Much of that water eventually flows into reservoirs, where it is used for recreation before its potential energy is captured to generate hydroelectric power before being used to irrigate crops.

text: Because of the abundance of powerful streams, many of the major westward rivers off the Cascades have been dammed to provide hydroelectric power.  One of these, Ross Dam on the Skagit River, created a reservoir which spans the border southeast of Hope, British Columbia, extending 2 miles (3.2 km) into Canada.  At the foot of the southeast flank of Mount Baker, at Concrete, Washington, the Baker River is dammed to form Lake Shannon and Baker Lake.

text: In addition, there is a largely untapped amount of geothermal power that can be generated from the Cascades. The U.S. Geological Survey Geothermal Research Program has been investigating this potential. Some of this energy is already being used in places like Klamath Falls, Oregon, where volcanic steam is used to heat public buildings.[30] The highest recorded temperature found in the range is 510 °F (266 °C) at 3,075 feet (937 m) below Newberry Volcano's caldera floor.

text: Ecology[edit]

text: Forests of large, coniferous trees (Western red cedars, Douglas-firs, Western hemlocks, firs, pines, spruces, and  others) dominate most of the Cascade Range. Cool, wet winters and warm, dry summers (largely  a  result  of  oceanic  influence)  favor  evergreen  species, whereas  mild  temperatures and rich soils promote fast and prolonged growth.[31][32]

text: As a traveler passes through the Cascade Range, the climate first gets colder, then warmer and drier east of the crest.[33] Most of the Cascades' lower and middle elevations are covered in coniferous forest; the higher altitudes have extensive meadows as well as alpine tundra and glaciers. The southern part of the Cascades are within the California Floristic Province, an area of high biodiversity.

text: Black bears, coyotes, bobcats, cougars, beavers, deer, elk, moose, mountain goats and a few wolf packs returning from Canada live in the Cascades. Fewer than 50 grizzly bears reside in the Cascades of Canada and Washington.[34]


document_title: Alveolar process

question_text: of what mineral are the hard tissues of the teeth and alveolar bone composed

text: Alveolar process

text: Structure[edit]

text: On the maxillae, the alveolar process is a ridge on the inferior surface, and on the mandible it is a ridge on the superior surface. It makes up the thickest part of the maxillae.

text: The alveolar process contains a region of compact bone adjacent to the periodontal ligament (PDL), which is called the lamina dura when viewed on radiographs. It is this part which is attached to the cementum of the roots by the periodontal ligament. It is uniformly radiopaque (or lighter). Integrity of the lamina dura is important when studying radiographs for pathological lesions.

text: The alveolar bone or process is divided into the alveolar bone proper and the supporting alveolar bone. Microscopically, both the alveolar bone proper and the supporting alveolar bone have the same components: fibers, cells, intercellular substances, nerves, blood vessels, and lymphatics.

text: The alveolar bone proper is the lining of the tooth socket or alveolus (plural, alveoli). Although the alveolar bone proper is composed of compact bone, it may be called the cribriform plate because it contains numerous holes where Volkmann canals pass from the alveolar bone into the PDL. The alveolar bone proper is also called bundle bone[citation needed] because Sharpey fibers, a part of the fibers of the PDL, are inserted here. Similar to those of the cemental surface, Sharpey fibers in alveolar bone proper are each inserted at 90 degrees, or at a right angle, but are fewer in number, although thicker in diameter than those present in cementum. As in cellular cementum, Sharpey fibers in bone are generally mineralized only partially at their periphery.

text: The alveolar crest is the most cervical rim of the alveolar bone proper. In a healthy situation, the alveolar crest is slightly apical to the cementoenamel junction (CEJ) by approximately 1.5 to 2 mm.[3] The alveolar crests of neighboring teeth are also uniform in height along the jaw in healthy situation.[4]

text: The supporting alveolar bone consists of both cortical bone and trabecular bone. The cortical bone, or cortical plates, consists of plates of compact bone on the facial and lingual surfaces of the alveolar bone. These cortical plates are usually about 1.5 to 3 mm thick over posterior teeth, but the thickness is highly variable around anterior teeth.[3] The trabecular bone consists of cancellous bone that is located between the alveolar bone proper and the plates of cortical bone. The alveolar bone between two neighboring teeth is the interdental septum (or interdental bone).[4]

text: Features[edit]

text: The mineral content of alveolar bone is mostly calcium hydroxyapatite, which is similar to that found in higher percentages in both enamel and dentin, but is most similar to the levels in cementum (50%). Like all bone, mature alveolar bone is by weight 60% mineralized or inorganic material, 25% organic material, and 15% water. The minerals of potassium, manganese, magnesium, silica, iron, zinc, selenium, boron, phosphorus, sulfur, chromium, and others are also present but in smaller amounts. Alveolar bone is more easily remodeled than cementum, thus allowing orthodontic tooth movement. When viewing a stained histological section, the remodeled alveolar bone shows arrest lines and reversal lines, as does all bone tissue.[4]

text: Clinical significance[edit]

text: Developmental disturbances[edit]

text: The developmental disturbance of anodontia (or hypodontia, if only one tooth), in which tooth germs are congenitally absent, may affect the development of the alveolar processes. This occurrence can prevent the alveolar processes of either the maxillae or the mandible from developing. Proper development is impossible because the alveolar unit of each dental arch must form in response to the tooth germs in the area.[4]

text: Pathology[edit]

text: After extraction of a tooth, the clot in the alveolus fills in with immature bone, which later is remodeled into mature secondary bone. However, with the loss of teeth, a patient becomes edentulous, either partially or completely, and the alveolar bone undergoes resorption. The underlying basal bone of the body of the maxilla or mandible remains less affected, however, because it does not need the presence of teeth to remain viable. The loss of alveolar bone, coupled with attrition of the teeth, causes a loss of height of the lower third of the vertical dimension of the face when the teeth are in maximum intercuspation. The extent of this loss is determined based on clinical judgment using the Golden Proportions.[4]

text: The density of the alveolar bone in a given area also determines the route that dental infection takes with abscess formation, as well as the efficacy of local infiltration during the use of local anesthesia. In addition, the differences in alveolar process density determine the easiest and most convenient areas of bony fracture to be used, if needed during tooth extraction of impacted teeth.[4]

text: During chronic periodontal disease that has affected the periodontium (periodontitis), localized bone tissue is also lost.

text: Additional images[edit]

text:
This X-ray film reveals some bone loss on the right side of the mandible. The associated teeth exhibit poor crown-to-root ratios and may be subject to secondary occlusal trauma.

Alveolar process

Alveolar process of maxilla

Alveolar process of mandible