Bob Jones University (BJU) is a private, non-denominational Evangelical university in Greenville, South Carolina, known for its conservative cultural and religious positions.[5] The college, with approximately 2,500 students, is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) and the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools. The university's athletic teams, the Bruins, compete in Division II of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA). In 2008, the university estimated the number of its graduates at 35,000; in 2017, 40,184.[6]
History

During the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy of the 1920s, Christian evangelist Bob Jones, Sr. grew increasingly concerned about the secularization of higher education and the influence of religious liberalism in denominational colleges. Children of church members were attending college, only to reject the faith of their parents. Jones later recalled that in 1924, his friend William Jennings Bryan had leaned over to him at a Bible conference service in Winona Lake, Indiana, and said, "If schools and colleges do not quit teaching evolution as a fact, we are going to become a nation of atheists."[7] While he himself was not a college graduate, Jones grew determined to found a college, and on September 12, 1927, he opened Bob Jones College in Panama City, Florida, with 88 students. Jones said that although he had been averse to naming the school after himself, his friends overcame his reluctance "with the argument that the school would be called by that name because of my connection with it, and to attempt to give it any other name would confuse the people".[8]
Bob Jones took no salary from the college and helped support the school with personal savings and income from his evangelistic campaigns. Both time and place were inauspicious. The Florida land boom had peaked in 1925, and a hurricane in September 1926 further reduced land values. The Great Depression followed hard on its heels. Bob Jones College barely survived bankruptcy and its move to Cleveland, Tennessee in 1933. In the same year, the college also ended participation in intercollegiate sports. Nevertheless, Jones's move to Cleveland proved extraordinarily advantageous.  Bankrupt at the nadir of the Depression, without a home, and with barely enough money to move its library and office furniture, the college became in thirteen years the largest liberal arts college in Tennessee. With the enactment of the GI Bill at the end of World War II, the need for campus expansion to accommodate increased enrollment led to a relocation to South Carolina.[9][10]
Though he had served as Acting President as early as 1934, Jones' son, Bob Jones, Jr. officially became the school's second president in 1947 just before the college moved to Greenville, South Carolina, and became Bob Jones University.[11] In Greenville, the university more than doubled in size within two years and started its own radio station, film department, and art gallery—the latter of which eventually became one of the largest collections of religious art in the Western Hemisphere.[12]
During the late 1950s, BJU and alumnus Billy Graham, who had attended Bob Jones College for one semester and received an honorary degree from the university in 1948,[13] engaged in a controversy about the propriety of theological conservatives cooperating with theological liberals to support evangelistic campaigns, a controversy that widened an already growing rift between separatist fundamentalists and other evangelicals.[14] Negative publicity caused by the dispute precipitated a decline in BJU enrollment of about 10% in the years 1956–59, and seven members of the university board (of about a hundred) also resigned in support of Graham, including Graham himself and two of his staff members.[15] When, in 1966, Graham held his only American campaign in Greenville,[16] the university forbade any BJU dormitory student from attending under penalty of expulsion.[17] Enrollment quickly rebounded, and by 1970, there were 3,300 students, approximately 60% more than in 1958.
In 1971, Bob Jones III became president at age 32, though his father, with the title of Chancellor, continued to exercise considerable administrative authority into the late 1990s.[18] At the 2005 commencement, Stephen Jones was installed as the fourth president, and Bob Jones III assumed the title of chancellor.[19] Stephen Jones resigned in 2014 for health reasons, and Steve Pettit was named president, the first unrelated to the Jones family.[20]
In December 2011, in response to accusations of mishandling of student reports of sexual abuse (most of which had occurred in their home churches when the students were minors) and a concurrent reporting issue at a church pastored by a university board member,[21] the BJU board of trustees hired an independent ombudsman, GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment), to investigate.[22] Released in December 2014, the GRACE report suggested that BJU had discouraged students from reporting past sexual abuse, and though the University declined to implement many of the report's recommendations, President Steve Pettit formally apologized "to those who felt they did not receive from us genuine love, compassion, understanding, and support after suffering sexual abuse or assault".[22][23][24][25]
In 2011, the university became a member of the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) and reinstated intercollegiate athletics.[26] In March 2017 the university regained its federal tax exemption after a complicated restructuring divided the organization into for-profit and non-profit entities,[27] and in June it was granted accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.[28]
Academics
The university consists of seven colleges and schools that offer more than 60 undergraduate majors, including fourteen associate degree programs.[29] Given that BJU's faculty is untenured, most University employees consider their positions as much ministries as jobs.[30] It is common for retiring professors to have served the university for thirty, forty, and even occasionally, fifty years, a circumstance that has contributed to the stability and conservatism of an institution of higher learning that has virtually no endowment and at which faculty salaries are "sacrificial".[31][32]
Religious education
School of Religion
The School of Religion includes majors for both men and women, although only men train as ministerial students.[33] Many of these students go on to a seminary after completing their undergraduate degree. Others take ministry positions straight from college, and rising juniors participate in a church internship program to prepare them for the pastoral ministry. In 1995 there were 1,290 BJU graduates serving as senior or associate pastors in churches across the United States.[34] In 2017 more than 100 pastors in the Upstate alone were BJU graduates.[35]

Position on the King James Version of the Bible
The university requires use of the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible in its services and classrooms, but it does not hold that the KJV is the only acceptable English translation or that it has the same authority as the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts.[36] The King-James-Only Movement—or more correctly, movements, since it has many variations—became a divisive force in fundamentalism only as conservative modern Bible translations, such as the New American Standard Bible (NASB) and the New International Version (NIV), began to appear in the 1970s. BJU has taken the position that orthodox Christians of the late 19th and early 20th centuries (including fundamentalists) agreed that while the KJV was a substantially accurate translation, only the original manuscripts of the Bible written in Hebrew and Greek were infallible and inerrant.[37] Bob Jones, Jr. called the KJV-only position a "heresy" and "in a very definite sense, a blasphemy".[38]
Fine arts
The Division of Fine Arts has the largest faculty of the university's six undergraduate schools.[39] Each year the university presents an opera in the spring semester and Shakespearean plays in both the fall and spring semesters.[40] A service called "Vespers", presented occasionally throughout the school year, combines music, speech, and drama.[41] The Division of Fine Arts includes an RTV department with a campus radio and television station, WBJU. More than a hundred concerts, recitals, and laboratory theater productions are also presented annually.[42]
Each fall, as a recruiting tool, the university sponsors a "High School Festival" in which students compete in music, art, and speech (including preaching) contests with their peers from around the country.[43] In the spring, a similar competition sponsored by the American Association of Christian Schools, and hosted by BJU since 1977, brings thousands of national finalists to the university from around the country. In 2005, 120 of the finalists from previous years returned to BJU as freshmen.[44]
Science

Bob Jones University supports young-earth creationism,[45] all their biology faculty are young Earth creationists[46] and the university rejects evolution, calling it "at best an unsupportable and unworkable hypothesis".[47]
The school offers undergraduate majors in biology (zoo and wildlife, and cell biology[48]), premed/predent, chemistry, engineering, and physics and also offers courses in astronomy. Between 80% and 100% of the pre-med graduates are accepted to medical school every year.[49] The Department of Biology hosts two research programs on campus, one in cancer research, the other in animal behavior.[50] In 2008 no member of the BJU science faculty held a degree in geology,[51] and the university offered only one introductory course in the subject.[52] Although ten of the sixteen members of the science faculty have undergraduate degrees from BJU, all earned their doctorates from accredited, non-religious institutions of higher learning.[51]
The university's nursing major is approved by the South Carolina State Board of Nursing, and a BJU graduate with a BSN is eligible to take the National Council Licensure Examination to become a registered nurse.[52] The BJU engineering program was accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET).[53]
Accreditation and rankings
Bob Jones, Sr. was leery of academic accreditation almost from the founding of the college, and by the early 1930s, he had publicly stated his opposition to holding regional accreditation.[54] Jones and the college were criticized for this stance, and academic recognition, as well as student and faculty recruitment, were hindered.[55]
In 1944, Jones wrote to John Walvoord of Dallas Theological Seminary that while the university had "no objection to educational work highly standardized…. We, however, cannot conscientiously let some group of educational experts or some committee of experts who may have a behavioristic or atheistic slant on education control or even influence the administrative policies of our college."[56] Five years later, Jones reflected that "it cost us something to stay out of an association, but we stayed out. We have lived up to our convictions."[57] In any case, lack of accreditation seems to have made little difference during the post-war period, when the university more than doubled in size.[55]
Because graduates did not have the benefit of accredited degrees, the faculty felt an increased responsibility to prepare their students.[58] Early in the history of the college, there had been some hesitancy on the part of other institutions to accept BJU credits at face value, but by the 1960s, BJU alumni were being accepted by most of the major graduate and professional schools in the United States.[59] Undoubtedly helpful was that some of the university's strongest programs were in the areas of music, speech, and art, disciplines in which ability could be measured by audition or portfolio rather than through paper qualifications.[60]
Nevertheless, by the early 2000s, the university quietly reexamined its position on accreditation as degree mills proliferated and some government agencies, such as local police departments, began excluding BJU graduates on the grounds that the university did not appear on appropriate federal lists.[60] In 2004, the university began the process of joining the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools. Candidate status—effectively, accreditation—was obtained in April 2005, and full membership in the Association was conferred in November 2006.[61] In December 2011, BJU announced its intention to apply for regional accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACSCOC), and it received that accreditation in 2017.[62]
In 2014, the Educate to Career College Ranking Index listed BJU as 15th in the nation by economic value.[63] [64] In 2017, Schools.com rated BJU as #2 in Best Four-Year College in South Carolina; Niche.com rated it #3 Best Private College in South Carolina; and Christian University Online rated it #3 Most Affordable Christian College in the U.S.[65] In 2017, US News ranked BJU as #61 (tie) in Regional Universities South
and #7 in Best Value Schools.[66]
Race and politics
Racial policies
Although BJU had admitted Asians and other ethnic groups from its inception, it did not enroll Africans or African-American students until 1971. From 1971 to 1975, BJU admitted only married blacks, although the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had already determined in 1970 that "private schools with racially discriminatory admissions policies" were not entitled to federal tax exemption. In 1975, the University Board of Trustees authorized a change in policy to admit black students, a move that occurred shortly before the announcement of the Supreme Court decision in Runyon v. McCrary (427 U.S. 160 [1976]), which prohibited racial exclusion in private schools.[67] However, in May of that year, BJU expanded rules against interracial dating and marriage.[68]
In 1976, the Internal Revenue Service revoked the university's tax exemption retroactively to December 1, 1970, on grounds that it was practicing racial discrimination.[69] The case eventually was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1982. After BJU lost the decision in Bob Jones University v. United States (461 U.S. 574)[1983], the university chose to maintain its interracial dating policy and pay a million dollars in back taxes. The year following the Court decision, contributions to the university declined by 13 percent.[70]  In 2000, following a media uproar prompted by the visit of presidential candidate George W. Bush to the university, Bob Jones III dropped the university's interracial dating rule, announcing the change on CNN's Larry King Live.[71] In the same year, Bob Jones III drew criticism when he reposted a letter on the university's web page referring to Mormons and Roman Catholics as being members of "cults which call themselves Christian".[72]
In 2005, Stephen Jones, great-grandson of the founder, became BJU's president on the same day that he received his Ph.D. from the school.  Bob Jones III then took the title Chancellor. In 2008, the university declared itself "profoundly sorry" for having allowed "institutional policies to remain in place that were racially hurtful".[73] That year BJU enrolled students from fifty states and nearly fifty countries, representing diverse ethnicities and cultures, and the BJU administration declared itself "committed to maintaining on the campus the racial and cultural diversity and harmony characteristic of the true Church of Jesus Christ throughout the world".[74]
In his first meeting with the University cabinet in 2014, the fifth president Steve Pettit said he believed it was appropriate for BJU to regain its tax-exempt status because BJU no longer held its earlier positions about race. "The Bible is clear," said Pettit, "We are made of one blood."  By February 17, 2017, the IRS website had listed the university as a 501(c)(3) organization,[75] and by May of the same year, BJU had forged a working relationship with Greenville's Phillis Wheatley Center.[76] In 2017, 9% of the student body was "from the American minority population".[77]
Political involvement
As a twelve-year-old, Bob Jones, Sr. made a twenty-minute speech in defense of the Populist Party. Jones was a friend and admirer of William Jennings Bryan but also campaigned throughout the South for Herbert Hoover (and against Al Smith) during the 1928 presidential election. Even the authorized history of BJU notes that both Bob Jones, Sr. and Bob Jones, Jr. “played political hardball” when dealing with the three municipalities in which the school was successively located. For instance, in 1962, Bob Jones, Sr. warned the Greenville City Council that he had “four hundred votes in his pocket and in any election he would have control over who would be elected.” [78]
Bob Jones, Sr.'s April 17, 1960, Easter Sunday sermon, broadcast on the radio, entitled "Is Segregation Scriptural?" served as the University position paper on race in the 60s, 70s and 80s. The transcript was sent in pamphlet form in fund-raising letters and sold in the university bookstore. In the sermon, Jones states "If you are against segregation and against racial separation, then you are against God Almighty." The school began a long history of supporting politicians who were considered aligned with racial segregation.[79][80][81]
Republican party ties

From nearly the inception of Bob Jones College, a majority of students and faculty were from the northern United States, where there was a larger ratio of Republicans to Democrats than in the South (which was solidly Democratic).  Therefore, almost from its founding year, BJU had a larger portion of Republicans than the surrounding community.[82] After South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond switched his allegiance to the Republican Party in 1964, BJU faculty members became increasingly influential in the new state Republican party, and BJU alumni were elected to local political and party offices. In 1976, candidates supported by BJU faculty and alumni captured the local Republican party with unfortunate short-term political consequences, but by 1980 the religious right and the "country club" Republicans had joined forces.[83] From then on, most Republican candidates for local and statewide offices sought the endorsement of Bob Jones III and greeted faculty/staff voters at the University Dining Common.[84]
National Republicans soon followed. Ronald Reagan spoke at the school in 1980, although the Joneses supported his opponent, John Connally, in the South Carolina primary.[85] Later, Bob Jones III denounced Reagan as "a traitor to God's people" for choosing George H. W. Bush—whom Jones called a "devil"—as his vice president. Even later, Jones III shook Bush's hand and thanked him for being a good president.[86] In the 1990s, other Republicans such as Dan Quayle, Pat Buchanan, Phil Gramm, Bob Dole, and Alan Keyes also spoke at BJU.[87] Democrats were rarely invited to speak at the university, in part because they took political and social positions (especially support for abortion rights) opposed by the Religious Right.[88]
2000 election
On February 2, 2000, George W. Bush, as candidate for President, spoke during school's chapel hour.[89] Bush gave a standard stump speech making no specific reference to the university. His political opponents quickly noted his non-mention of the university's ban on interracial dating. During the Michigan primary, Bush was also criticized for not stating his opposition to the university's anti-Catholicism. (The John McCain campaign targeted Roman Catholics with a "Catholic Voter Alert", phone calls reminding voters of Bush's visit to BJU.)[90] Bush denied that he either knew of or approved what he regarded as BJU's intolerant policies. On February 26, Bush issued a formal letter of apology to Cardinal John Joseph O'Connor of New York for failing to denounce Bob Jones University's history of anti-Catholic statements. At a news conference following the letter's release, Bush said, "I make no excuses. I had an opportunity and I missed it. I regret that....I wish I had gotten up then and seized the moment to set a tone, a tone that I had set in Texas, a positive and inclusive tone."[89] Also during the 2000 Republican primary campaign in South Carolina, Richard Hand, a BJU professor, spread a false e-mail rumor that John McCain had fathered an illegitimate child. (The McCains have an adopted daughter from Bangladesh, and later push polling also implied that the child was biracial.)[91]
Withdrawal from politics
Although the March 2007 issue of Foreign Policy listed BJU as one of "The World's Most Controversial Religious Sites" because of its past influence on American politics,[92] BJU has seen little political controversy since Stephen Jones became president. When asked by a Newsweek reporter if he wished to play a political role, Stephen Jones replied, "It would not be my choice." Further, when asked if he felt ideologically closer to his father's engagement with politics or to other evangelicals who have tried to avoid civic involvement, he answered, "The gospel is for individuals. The main message we have is to individuals. We’re not here to save the culture." [93] In a 2005 Washington Post interview, Jones dodged political questions and even admitted that he was embarrassed by "some of the more vitriolic comments" made by his predecessors. "I don't want to get specific," he said, "But there were things said back then that I wouldn't say today."[94] In October 2007 when Bob Jones III, as "a private citizen," endorsed Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination for president, Stephen Jones made it clear that he wished "to stay out of politics" and that neither he nor the university had endorsed anyone.[95] Despite a hotly contested South Carolina primary, none of the candidates appeared on the platform of BJU's Founders' Memorial Amphitorium during the 2008 election cycle.[96] In April 2008 Stephen Jones told a reporter, "I don't think I have a political bone in my body."[97]
Renewed political engagement
In 2015 BJU reemerged as campaign stop of significance for conservative Republicans.  Ben Carson and Ted Cruz held large on-campus rallies on two successive days in November; and BJU president Steve Pettit met with Marco Rubio, Rick Perry, Mike Huckabee, and Scott Walker. Jeb Bush, Carson, Cruz, and Rubio also appeared at a 2016 Republican presidential forum at BJU. Chip Felkel, a Greenville Republican consultant, noted that some of the candidates closely identified "with the folks at Bob Jones.  So it makes sense for them to want to be there."  Nevertheless, unlike BJU's earlier periods of political involvement, Pettit did not endorse a candidate.[98]
According to Furman University political science professor Jim Guth, because Greenville has grown so much recently, it is unlikely BJU will ever again have the same political influence it had between the 1960s and the 1980s.  Nevertheless, about a quarter of all BJU graduates continue to live in the Upstate, and as long-time mayor Knox White has said, "The alumni have had a big impact on every profession and walk of life in Greenville."[99]
Campus
The university occupies 205 acres at the eastern city limit of Greenville. The institution moved into its initial 25 buildings during the 1947–48 school year, and later buildings were also faced with the light yellow brick chosen for the originals.[100]
Museum and gallery

Bob Jones, Jr. was a connoisseur of European art and began collecting after World War II on about $30,000 a year authorized by the University Board of Directors.[101] Jones first concentrated on the Italian Baroque, a style then out of favor and relatively inexpensive in the years immediately following the war.[101] Fifty years after the opening of the gallery, the BJU collection included more than 400 European paintings from the 14th to through the 19th centuries (mostly pre-19th century), period furniture, and a notable collection of Russian icons.[102] The museum also includes a variety of Holy Land antiquities collected in the early 20th century by missionaries Frank and Barbara Bowen.[102]
Not surprisingly, the gallery is especially strong in Baroque paintings and includes notable works by Rubens, Tintoretto, Veronese, Cranach, Gerard David, Murillo, Mattia Preti, Ribera, van Dyck, and Gustave Doré.[102] Included in the Museum & Gallery collection are seven very large canvases, part of a series by Benjamin West painted for George III, called "The Progress of Revealed Religion", which are displayed in the War Memorial Chapel.[103] (Baroque art was created during—and often for—the Counter-Reformation and so, ironically, BJU has been criticized by some other fundamentalists for promoting "false Catholic doctrine" through its art gallery.)[104]
After the death of Bob Jones, Jr., Erin Jones, the wife of BJU president Stephen Jones, became director. According to David Steel, curator of European art at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Erin Jones "brought that museum into the modern era", employing "a top-notch curator, John Nolan", and following "best practices in conservation and restoration". The museum now regularly cooperates with other institutions, lending works for outside shows such as a Rembrandt exhibit in 2011.[105]
Each Easter season, the university and the Museum & Gallery present the Living Gallery, a series of tableaux vivants recreating noted works of religious art using live models disguised as part of two-dimensional paintings.[106]
In 2008, the BJU Museum & Gallery opened a satellite location, the Museum & Gallery at Heritage Green near downtown Greenville, which featured rotating exhibitions from the main museum as well as interactive children's activities.[107] In February 2017, the Museum & Gallery closed both locations permanently. In 2018, the museum announced that a new home would be built at a yet undetermined located off the BJU campus.[108][109]
Library

The 90,000-square-foot (8,400m2) Mack Library (named for John Sephus Mack) holds a collection of more than 300,000 books and includes seating for 1,200 as well as a computer lab and a computer classroom.[110] (Its ancillary, a music library, is included in the Gustafson Fine Arts Center.) Mack Library's Special Collections includes an American Hymnody Collection of about 700 titles.[111] The "Jerusalem Chamber" is a replica of the room in Westminster Abbey in which work on the King James Version of the Bible was conducted, and it displays a collection of rare Bibles.[112] An adjoining Memorabilia Room commemorates the life of Bob Jones, Sr. and the history of the University.[113]
The library's Fundamentalism File collects periodical articles and ephemera about social and religious matters of interest to evangelicals and fundamentalists.[114] The university Archives holds copies of all university publications, oral histories of faculty and staff members, surviving remnants of university correspondence, and pictures and artifacts related to the Jones family and the history of the university.[115]
Ancillary ministries
Unusual Films
Both Bob Jones, Sr. and Bob Jones, Jr. believed that film could be an excellent medium for mass evangelism, and in 1950, the university established Unusual Films within the School of Fine Arts.[116] (The studio name derives from a former BJU promotional slogan, "The World's Most Unusual University".)[117] Bob Jones, Jr. selected a speech teacher, Katherine Stenholm, as the first director. Although she had no experience in cinema, she took summer courses at the University of Southern California and received personal instruction from Hollywood specialists, such as Rudolph Sternad.[118]
Unusual Films has produced seven feature-length films, each with an evangelistic emphasis: Wine of Morning, Red Runs the River, Flame in the Wind, Sheffey, Beyond the Night, The Printing, and Milltown Pride.[119] Wine of Morning (1955), based on a novel by Bob Jones, Jr., represented the United States at the Cannes Film Festival.[120] The first four films are historical dramas set, respectively, in the time of Christ, the U.S. Civil War, 16th-century Spain, and the late 19th-century South—the latter a fictionalized treatment of the life of Methodist evangelist, Robert Sayers Sheffey. Beyond the Night closely follows an actual 20th-century missionary saga in Central Africa, and The Printing uses composite characters to portray the persecution of believers in the former Soviet Union. According to The Dove Foundation, The Printing "no doubt will urge Christian believers everywhere to appreciate the freedoms they enjoy. It is inspiring!" [121] In 1999, Unusual Films began producing feature films for children, including The Treasure Map,[122] Project Dinosaur,[123] and Appalachian Trial.[124] They also released a short animated film for children, The Golden Rom.[125] Unusual Films returned to their customary format in 2011 with their release of Milltown Pride, a historical film set in 1920s upstate South Carolina.[126]
Unusual Films also maintains a student film production program. The Cinema Production program is designed to give professional training in all facets of motion picture production. This training combines classroom instruction with hands-on experience in a variety of areas including directing, editing, and cinematography. Before graduation, seniors produce their own high-definition short film which they write, direct, and edit.[127]
BJU Press

BJU Press originated from the need for textbooks for the burgeoning Christian school movement,[128] and today it is the largest book publisher in South Carolina.[129] The press publishes a full range of K–12 textbooks. More than a million pre-college students around the world use BJU textbooks, and the press has about 2,500 titles in print.
BJU Press also offers distance learning courses online, via DVD, and via hard drive.[130] Another ancillary, the Academy of Home Education, is a "service organization for homeschooling families" that maintains student records, administers achievement testing, and issues high school diplomas. The press sold its music division, SoundForth, to Lorenz Publishing on October 1, 2012.[131]
Pre-college programs

The university operates Bob Jones Academy, which enrolls students from preschool through 12th grade.[132] With about 1500 students, it is the largest K–12 private school in the Carolinas and one of the largest in the Southeast.[133]
Student life
Religious atmosphere

"I believe in the inspiration of the Bible (both the Old and the New Testaments); the creation of man by the direct act of God; the incarnation and virgin birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ; His identification as the Son of God; His vicarious atonement for the sins of mankind by the shedding of His blood on the cross; the resurrection of His body from the tomb; His power to save men from sin; the new birth through the regeneration by the Holy Spirit; and the gift of eternal life by the grace of God."— BJU Creed
Religion is a major aspect of life and curriculum at BJU. The BJU Creed, written in 1927 by journalist and prohibitionist Sam Small, is recited by students and faculty four days a week at chapel services.[134]
The university also encourages church planting in areas of the United States "in great need of fundamental churches", and it has provided financial and logistical assistance to ministerial graduates in starting more than a hundred new churches.[135] Bob Jones III has also encouraged non-ministerial students to put their career plans on hold for two or three years to provide lay leadership for small churches.[136] Students of various majors participate in Missions Advance (formerly Mission Prayer Band), an organization that prays for missionaries and attempts to stimulate campus interest in world evangelism.[137] During summers and Christmas breaks, about 150 students participate in teams that use their musical, language, trade, and aviation skills to promote Christian missions around the world.[42] Although a separate nonprofit corporation, Gospel Fellowship Association, an organization founded by Bob Jones Sr. and associated with BJU, is one of the largest fundamentalist mission boards in the country.[138] Through its "Timothy Fund", the university also sponsors international students who are training for the ministry.[139]
The university requires use of the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible in its services and classrooms, but it does not hold that the KJV is the only acceptable English translation or that it has the same authority as the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts.[36] The university's position has been criticized by some other fundamentalists, including fellow conservative university Pensacola Christian College, which in 1998 produced a widely distributed videotape which argued that this "defiling leaven in fundamentalism" was passed from the 19th-century Princeton theologian Benjamin B. Warfield (1851–1921) through Charles Brokenshire (1885–1954) to current BJU faculty members and graduates.[140][141]
Rules of conduct
Strict rules govern student life at BJU.[142] Some of these are based directly on the university's interpretation of the Bible. For instance, the 2015–16 Student Handbook states, "Students are to avoid any types of entertainment that could be considered immodest or that contain profanity, scatological realism, sexual perversion, erotic realism, lurid violence, occultism and false philosophical or religious assumptions." Grounds for immediate dismissal include stealing, immorality (including sexual relations between unmarried students), possession of hard-core pornography, use of alcohol or drugs, and participating in a public demonstration for a cause the university opposes.[143] Similar "moral failures" are grounds for terminating the employment of faculty and staff. In 1998, a homosexual alumnus was threatened with arrest if he visited the campus.[144]
For years, male students were required to wear slacks, dress shirts and ties on campus during the day.  This requirement has since been loosened; men are allowed the option of wearing polo shirts or dress shirts on weekdays until 5 pm, and are no longer required to wear ties.  Effective in 2018, women are no longer required to wear skirts or dresses and can now wear pants. They are also required to attend chapel four days a week, as well as at least two services per week at an approved "local fundamental church".[142]
Other rules are not based on a specific biblical passage. For instance, the Handbook notes that "there is no specific Bible command that says, 'Thou shalt not be late to class', but a student who wishes to display orderliness and concern for others will not come in late to the distraction of the teacher and other students."[145] In 2008 a campus spokesman also said that one goal of the dress code was "to teach our young people to dress professionally" on campus while giving them "the ability to...choose within the biblically accepted options of dress" when they were off campus.[146]
Additional rules include the requirement that freshman resident hall students sign out before leaving campus and that resident hall students abide by a campus curfew of 11:00 pm, with lights out at midnight.[147] Students are forbidden to go to movie theaters while in residence, or listen to most contemporary popular music.[148] Male students with upperclassman privileges and graduate students may have facial hair that is fully grown in prior to the start of the semester, neatly
trimmed and well maintained at approximately ½ inch or less.[149] Women are expected to dress modestly and wear dresses or skirts that come to the knee to class and religious services.[150] The university prohibits students from wearing clothing that displays the logos of Abercrombie & Fitch or its subsidiary Hollister because these companies have "shown an unusual degree of antagonism to biblical morality".[151]
Extracurriculars
 After BJU abandoned intercollegiate sports in 1933,[152] its intramural sports program included competition in soccer, basketball, softball, volleyball, tennis, badminton, flag football, table tennis, racquetball, and water polo. The university also competed in intercollegiate debate within the National Educational Debate Association, in intercollegiate mock trial and computer science competitions, and participated at South Carolina Student Legislature.[153] In 2012, BJU joined Division I of National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) and in 2014 participated in intercollegiate soccer, basketball, cross-country, and golf.[154] The teams are known as the Bruins.
The university requires all unmarried incoming freshman students under the age of 23 to join one of 45 "societies".[155] Societies meet most Fridays for entertainment and fellowship and also hold a weekly prayer meeting. Societies compete with one another in intramural sports, debate, and Scholastic Bowl.[156]  The university also has a student-staffed newspaper (The Collegian),[157] and yearbook (Vintage).[158]
Early in December, thousands of students, faculty, and visitors gather around the front campus fountain for an annual Christmas carol sing and lighting ceremony, culminating in the illumination of tens of thousands of Christmas lights.[159] On December 3, 2004, the ceremony broke the Guinness World Record for Christmas caroling with 7,514 carolers.[160]
Before 2015, students and faculty were required to attend a six-day Bible Conference in lieu of a traditional Spring Break.[161] However, the university announced that beginning in 2016, Bible Conference will be held in February, and students will be given a week of Spring Break in March.[162] The Conference typically attracts fundamentalist preachers and laymen from around the country, and some BJU class reunions are held during the week.[163]
Athletics
BJU's athletic teams compete in Division II of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) and are collectively known as the Bruins. The school began its inaugural intercollegiate season with four teams: men's soccer, men's basketball, women's soccer, and women's basketball. Intercollegiate golf and cross country teams were added in the 2013–2014 school year.[164]
Notable people

Alumni

A number of BJU graduates have become influential within fundamentalist and evangelical Christianity, including Ken Hay (founder of "The Wilds" Christian camps)[165] Ron "Patch" Hamilton (composer and president of Majesty Music)[166] Billy Kim (former president of Baptist World Alliance),[167] and Moisés Silva (president of the Evangelical Theological Society).[168] BJU alumni also include the third pastor (1968–1976) of Riverside Church (Ernest T. Campbell), the former president of Northland Baptist Bible College (Les Ollila),[169] late president of Baptist Bible College (Ernest Pickering),[170] and the former president of Clearwater Christian College (Richard Stratton).[171]
One BJU alumnus, Asa Hutchinson, serves as the governor of Arkansas and also served in the U.S. Congress;[172] his brother Tim Hutchinson served in the US Senate. Others have served in state government: Michigan state senator Alan Cropsey, Pennsylvania state representative Gordon Denlinger, Pennsylvania state representative Mark M. Gillen, former Speaker Pro Tempore of the South Carolina House of Representatives Terry Haskins, member of the South Carolina House of Representatives Wendy Nanney, Pennsylvania state representative Sam Rohrer, member of the Missouri House of Representatives Ryan Silvey, Maryland state senator Bryan Simonaire, and South Carolina state senator Danny Verdin.

Bibliography

Does Bob Jones University do any research?


The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric gravity dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, China. The Three Gorges Dam has been the world's largest power station in terms of installed capacity (22,500MW) since 2012.[5][6] In 2014, the dam generated 98.8 terawatt-hours (TWh) and had the world record, but was surpassed by the Itaipú Dam, which set the new world record in 2016, producing 103.1 TWh.[7]
Except for the locks, the dam project was completed and fully functional as of July 4, 2012,[8][9] when the last of the main water turbines in the underground plant began production. The ship lift was complete in December 2015.[10] Each main water turbine has a capacity of 700MW.[11][12] The dam body was completed in 2006. Coupling the dam's 32 main turbines with two smaller generators (50MW each) to power the plant itself, the total electric generating capacity of the dam is 22,500MW.[11][13][14]
As well as producing electricity, the dam is intended to increase the Yangtze River's shipping capacity and reduce the potential for floods downstream by providing flood storage space. China regards the project as monumental as well as a success socially and economically,[15] with the design of state-of-the-art large turbines,[16] and a move toward limiting greenhouse gas emissions.[17] However, the dam flooded archaeological and cultural sites, displaced some 1.3million people, and had caused significant ecological changes including an increased risk of landslides.[18] The dam has been controversial both domestically and abroad.[19]

History

A large dam across the Yangtze River was originally envisioned by Sun Yat-sen in The International Development of China, in 1919.[21][22] He stated that a dam capable of generating 30million horsepower (22GW) was possible downstream of the Three Gorges.[22] In 1932, the Nationalist government, led by Chiang Kai-shek, began preliminary work on plans in the Three Gorges. In 1939, Japanese military forces occupied Yichang and surveyed the area. A design, the Otani plan, was completed for the dam in anticipation of a Japanese victory over China.
In 1944, the United States Bureau of Reclamation head design engineer, John L. Savage, surveyed the area and drew up a dam proposal for the 'Yangtze River Project'.[23] Some 54 Chinese engineers went to the U.S. for training. The original plans called for the dam to employ a unique method for moving ships; the ships would move into locks located at the lower and upper ends of the dam and then cranes with cables would move the ships from one lock to the next. In the case of smaller water craft, groups of craft would be lifted together for efficiency. It is not known whether this solution was considered for its water-saving performance or because the engineers thought the difference in height between the river above and below the dam too great for alternative methods.[24] Some exploration, survey, economic study, and design work was done, but the government, in the midst of the Chinese Civil War, halted work in 1947.
After the 1949 Communist takeover, Mao Zedong supported the project, but began the Gezhouba Dam project nearby first, and economic problems including the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution slowed progress. After the 1954 Yangtze River Floods, in 1956, Mao Zedong authored "Swimming", a poem about his fascination with a dam on the Yangtze River. In 1958, after the Hundred Flowers Campaign, some engineers who spoke out against the project were imprisoned.[25]
During the 1980s, the idea of a dam reemerged. The National People's Congress approved the dam in 1992: out of 2,633 delegates, 1,767 voted in favour, 177 voted against, 664 abstained, and 25 members did not vote.[26] Construction started on December 14, 1994.[27] The dam was expected to be fully operational in 2009, but additional projects, such as the underground power plant with six additional generators, delayed full operation until May 2012.[14][25] The ship lift was completed in 2015.[10][28] The dam had raised the water level in the reservoir to 172.5m (566ft) above sea level by the end of 2008 and the designed maximum level of 175m (574ft) by October 2010.[29][30]
Composition and dimensions

Made of concrete and steel, the dam is 2,335m (7,661ft) long and the top of the dam is 185m (607ft) above sea level. The project used 27.2×10^6m3 (35.6×10^6cuyd) of concrete (mainly for the dam wall), used 463,000 T of steel (enough to build 63 Eiffel Towers), and moved about 102.6×10^6m3 (134.2×10^6cuyd) of earth.[31] The concrete dam wall is 181m (594ft) high above the rock basis.
When the water level is at its maximum of 175m (574ft) above sea level, 110m (361ft) higher than the river level downstream, the dam reservoir is on average about 660km (410mi) in length and 1.12km (3,675ft) in width. It contains 39.3km3 (31,900,000acre⋅ft) of water and has a total surface area of 1,045km2 (403sqmi). On completion, the reservoir flooded a total area of 632km2 (244sqmi) of land, compared to the 1,350km2 (520sqmi) of reservoir created by the Itaipu Dam.[32]
Economics
The government estimated that the Three Gorges Dam project would cost 180billion yuan (US$22.5billion).[33] By the end of 2008, spending had reached 148.365billion yuan, among which 64.613billion yuan was spent on construction, 68.557billion yuan on relocating affected residents, and 15.195billion yuan on financing.[34] It was estimated in 2009 that the construction cost would be recovered when the dam had generated 1,000 terawatt-hours (3,600PJ) of electricity, yielding 250billion yuan. Full cost recovery was thus expected to occur ten years after the dam started full operation,[33] but the full cost of the Three Gorges Dam was recovered by December 20, 2013.[35]
Funding sources include the Three Gorges Dam Construction Fund, profits from the Gezhouba Dam, loans from the China Development Bank, loans from domestic and foreign commercial banks, corporate bonds, and revenue from both before and after the dam is fully operational. Additional charges were assessed as follows: Every province receiving power from the Three Gorges Dam had to pay ¥7.00 per MWh extra. Other provinces had to pay an additional charge of ¥4.00 per MWh. The Tibet Autonomous Region pays no surcharge.[36]

Power generation and distribution
Generating capacity

Power generation is managed by China Yangtze Power, a listed subsidiary of China Three Gorges Corporation (CTGC)—a Central Enterprise SOE administered by SASAC. The Three Gorges Dam is the world's largest capacity hydroelectric power station with 34generators: 32 main generators, each with a capacity of 700MW, and two plant power generators, each with capacity of 50MW, making a total capacity of 22,500MW.[11] Among those 32 main generators, 14 are installed in the north side of the dam, 12 in the south side, and the remaining six in the underground power plant in the mountain south of the dam. Annual electricity generation in 2015 was 87TWh.[37]
Generators
The main generators weigh about 6,000tonnes each and are designed to produce more than 700MW of power. The designed head of the generator is 80.6 meters (264ft). The flow rate varies between 600–950 cubic metres per second (21,000–34,000cuft/s)  depending on the head available. The greater the head, the less water needed to reach full power. Three Gorges uses Francis turbines. Turbine diameter is 9.7/10.4m (VGS design/Alstom's design) and rotation speed is 75revolutions per minute. This means that in order to generate power at 50 Hz, the generator rotors have 80 poles. Rated power is 778 MVA, with a maximum of 840MVA and a power factor of 0.9. The generator produces electrical power at 20kV. The electricity generated is then stepped-up to 500 kV for transmission at 50 Hz. The outer diameter of the generator stator is 21.4/20.9m. The inner diameter is 18.5/18.8m. The stator, the biggest of its kind, is 3.1/3m in height. Bearing load is 5050/5500 tonnes. Average efficiency is over 94%, and reaches 96.5%.[38][39]

The generators were manufactured by two joint ventures: one of them Alstom, ABB Group, Kvaerner, and the Chinese company Haerbin Motor; the other Voith, General Electric, Siemens (abbreviated as VGS), and the Chinese company Oriental Motor. The technology transfer agreement was signed together with the contract. Most of the generators are water-cooled. Some newer ones are air-cooled, which are simpler in design and manufacture and are easier to maintain.[40]
Generator installation progress
The 14 north side main generators are in operation. The first (No.2) started on July 10, 2003. The north side became completely operational September 7, 2005, with the implementation of generator No.9. Full power (9,800MW) was only reached on October 18, 2006, after the water level reached 156m.[41]
The 12 south side main generators are also in operation. No.22 began operation on June 11, 2007, and No.15 started up on October 30, 2008.[12] The sixth (No.17) began operation on December 18, 2007, raising capacity to 14.1GW, finally surpassing Itaipu (14.0GW), to become the world's largest hydro power plant by capacity.[42][43][44][45]
As of May 23, 2012, when the last main generator, No. 27, finished its final test, the six underground main generators are also in operation, raising capacity to 22.5 GW.[8] After nine years of construction, installation and testing, the power plant is now fully operational.[14][46][47][48]
Output milestones

By August 16, 2011, the plant had generated 500TWh of electricity.[49][50] In July 2008 it generated 10.3TWh of electricity, its first month over 10TWh.[51] On June 30, 2009, after the river flow rate increased to over 24,000m3, all 28 generators were switched on, producing only 16,100MW because the head available during flood season is insufficient.[52] During an August 2009 flood, the plant first reached its maximum output for a short period.[53]
During the November to May dry season, power output is limited by the river's flow rate, as seen in the diagrams on the right. When there is enough flow, power output is limited by plant generating capacity. The maximum power-output curves were calculated based on the average flow rate at the dam site, assuming the water level is 175m and the plant gross efficiency is 90.15%. The actual power output in 2008 was obtained based on the monthly electricity sent to the grid.[54][55]
The Three Gorges Dam reached its design-maximum reservoir water level of 175m (574ft) for the first time on October 26, 2010, in which the intended annual power-generation capacity of 84.7 TWh was realized.[29] In 2012, the dam's 32 generating units generated a record 98.1 TWh of electricity, which accounts for 14% of China's total hydro generation.[56]

Distribution
The State Grid Corporation and China Southern Power Grid paid a flat rate of ¥250per MWh (US$35.7) until July 2, 2008. Since then, the price has varied by province, from ¥228.7–401.8per MWh. Higher-paying customers, such as Shanghai, receive priority.[67] Nine provinces and two cities consume power from the dam.[68]
Power distribution and transmission infrastructure cost about 34.387billion Yuan. Construction was completed in December 2007, one year ahead of schedule.[69]
Power is distributed over multiple 500 kilovolt (kV) transmission lines. Three direct current (DC) lines to the East China Grid carry 7,200 MW: Three Gorges – Shanghai (3,000 MW), HVDC Three Gorges – Changzhou (3,000 MW), and HVDC Gezhouba – Shanghai (1,200 MW). The alternating current (AC) lines to the Central China Grid have a total capacity of 12,000 MW. The DC transmission line HVDC Three Gorges – Guangdong to the South China Grid has a capacity of 3,000 MW.[70]
The dam was expected to provide 10% of China's power. However, electricity demand has increased more quickly than previously projected. Even fully operational, on average, it supports only about 1.7% of electricity demand in China in the year of 2011, when the Chinese electricity demand reached 4692.8 TWh.[71][72]
Environmental impact

Emissions
According to the National Development and Reform Commission of China, 366grams of coal would produce 1kWh of electricity during 2006.[73] At full power, Three Gorges reduces coal consumption by 31million tonnes per year, avoiding 100million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions,[74] millions of tonnes of dust, onemillion tonnes of sulfur dioxide, 370,000tonnes of nitric oxide, 10,000tonnes of carbon monoxide, and a significant amount of mercury.[75] Hydropower saves the energy needed to mine, wash, and transport the coal from northern China.
From 2003 to 2007, power production equaled that of 84million tonnes of standard coal, reducing carbon dioxide by 190million tonnes, sulfur dioxide by 2.29million tonnes, and nitrogen oxides by 980,000tonnes.[76]
The dam increased the Yangtze's barge capacity sixfold, reducing carbon dioxide emission by 630,000tonnes. From 2004 to 2007, a total of 198 million tonnes of goods passed through the ship locks. Compared to using trucking, barges reduced carbon dioxide emission by tenmillion tonnes and lowered costs by 25%.[76]
Erosion and sedimentation
Two hazards are uniquely identified with the dam.[77] One is that sedimentation projections are not agreed upon, and the other is that the dam sits on a seismic fault. At current levels, 80% of the land in the area is experiencing erosion, depositing about 40million tons of sediment into the Yangtze annually.[78] Because the flow is slower above the dam, much of this sediment will now settle there instead of flowing downstream, and there will be less sediment downstream.
The absence of silt downstream has three effects:
Some hydrologists expect downstream riverbanks to become more vulnerable to flooding.[79]
Shanghai, more than 1,600km (990mi) away, rests on a massive sedimentary plain. The "arriving silt—so long as it does arrive—strengthens the bed on which Shanghai is built... the less the tonnage of arriving sediment the more vulnerable is this biggest of Chinese cities to inundation..."[80]
Benthic sediment buildup causes biological damage and reduces aquatic biodiversity.[81]
Earthquakes and landslides
Erosion in the reservoir, induced by rising water, causes frequent major landslides that have led to noticeable disturbance in the reservoir surface, including two incidents in May 2009 when somewhere between 20,000 and 50,000 cubic metres (26,000 and 65,000cuyd) of material plunged into the flooded Wuxia Gorge of the Wu River.[82] Also, in the first four months of 2010, there were 97 significant landslides.[83]
Waste management

The dam catalyzed improved upstream wastewater treatment around Chongqing and its suburban areas. According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, as of April 2007, more than 50 new plants could treat 1.84million tonnes per day, 65% of the total need. About 32 landfills were added, which could handle 7,664.5tonnes of solid waste every day.[84] Over onebillion tons of wastewater are released annually into the river,[78] which was more likely to be swept away before the reservoir was created. This has left the water looking stagnant, polluted and murky.[83]
Forest cover
In 1997, the Three Gorges area had 10% forestation, down from 20% in the 1950s.[78]
Research by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization research suggested that the Asia-Pacific region would, overall, gain about 6,000km2 (2,300sqmi) of forest by 2008. That is a significant change from the 13,000km2 (5,000sqmi) net loss of forest each year in the 1990s. This is largely due to China's large reforestation effort. This accelerated after the 1998 Yangtze River floods convinced the government that it must restore tree cover, especially in the Yangtze's basin upstream of the Three Gorges Dam.[85]
Wildlife

Concerns about the potential wildlife impact of the dam predate the National People's Congress's approval in 1992.[86] This region has long been known for its rich biodiversity. It is home to 6,388 species of plants, which belong to 238 families and 1508 genera. Of these plant species, 57 percent are endangered.[87] These rare species are also used as ingredients in traditional Chinese medicines.[88] Already, the percentage of forested area in the region surrounding the Three Gorges Dam has dropped from twenty percent in 1950 to less than ten percent as of 2002,[89] negatively affecting all plant species in this locality. The region also provides habitats to hundreds of freshwater and terrestrial animal species.[87] Freshwater fish are especially affected by dams due to changes in the water temperature and flow regime. Many other fish are hurt in the turbine blades of the hydroelectric plants as well. This is particularly detrimental to the ecosystem of the region because the Yangtze River basin is home to 361 different fish species and accounts for twenty-seven percent of all endangered freshwater fish species in China.[90] Other aquatic species have been endangered by the dam, particularly the baiji, or Chinese river dolphin,[78]  now extinct. In fact, Government Chinese scholars even claim that the Three Gorges Dam directly caused the extinction of the baiji.[91]
Of the 3,000 to 4,000 remaining critically endangered Siberian crane, a large number currently spend the winter in wetlands that will be destroyed by the Three Gorges Dam.[92] The dam contributed to the functional extinction of the baiji Yangtze river dolphin.  Though it was close to this level even at the start of construction, the dam further decreased its habitat and increased ship travel, which are among the factors causing what will be its ultimate demise.  In addition, populations of the Yangtze sturgeon are guaranteed to be "negatively affected" by the dam.[93]
Floods, agriculture, industry
An important function of the dam is to control flooding, which is a major problem for the seasonal river of the Yangtze. Millions of people live downstream of the dam, with many large, important cities like Wuhan, Nanjing, and Shanghai situated adjacent to the river. Plenty of farm land and China's most important industrial area are built beside the river.
The reservoir's flood storage capacity is 22 cubic kilometres (5.3cumi; 18,000,000acre⋅ft). This capacity will reduce the frequency of major downstream flooding from once every 10 years to once every 100years. The dam is expected to minimize the effect of even a "super" flood.[94][95] In 1954, the river flooded 193,000km2 (74,500sqmi), killing 33,169people and forcing 18,884,000people to move. The flood covered Wuhan, a city of eight million people, for over three months, and the Jingguang Railway was out of service for more than 100days.[96] The 1954 flood carried 50 cubic kilometres (12cumi) of water. The dam could only divert the water above Chenglingji, leaving 30 to 40km3 (7.2 to 9.6cumi) to be diverted.[97] Also, the dam cannot protect against some of the large tributaries downstream, including the Xiang, Zishui, Yuanshui, Lishui, Hanshui, and the Gan.
In 1998, a flood in the same area caused billions of dollars in damage; 2,039km2 (787sqmi) of farm land were flooded. The flood affected more than 2.3million people, killing 1,526.[98] In early August 2009, the largest flood in five years passed through the dam site. The dam limited the water flow to less than 40,000 cubic metres (1,400,000cuft) per second, raising the upstream water level from 145.13m (476.1ft) on August 1, 2009, to 152.88m (501.6ft) on August 8, 2009. A full 4.27km3 (1.02cumi) of flood water was captured and the river flow was cut by as much as 15,000m3 (530,000cuft) per second.[53]
The dam discharges its reservoir during the dry season between December and March every year.[99] This increases the flow rate of the river downstream, and provides fresh water for agricultural and industrial usage. It also improves shipping conditions. The water level upstream drops from 175 to 145m (574 to 476ft),[100] preparing for the rainy season. The water also powers the Gezhouba Dam downstream.
Since the filling of the reservoir in 2003, the Three Gorges Dam has supplied an extra 11km3 (2.6cumi) of fresh water to downstream cities and farms during the dry season.[101]

During the 2010 South China floods in July, inflows at the Three Gorges Dam reached a peak of 70,000m3/s (2,500,000cuft/s), exceeding the peak during the 1998 Yangtze River Floods. The dam's reservoir rose nearly 3m (9.8ft) in 24 hours and reduced the outflow to 40,000m3/s (1,400,000cuft/s) in discharges downstream, effectively alleviating serious impacts on the middle and lower river.[102][103]
Terrestrial impact
In 2010, NASA scientists calculated that shift of water mass stored by the dams would increase the length of the earth's day by 0.06 microseconds and make the earth slightly more round in the middle and flat on the poles. [104]
Navigating the dam
Locks

The installation of ship locks is intended to increase river shipping from tenmillion to 100million tonnes annually, as a result transportation costs will be cut between 30 and 37%. Shipping will become safer, since the gorges are notoriously dangerous to navigate.[76] Ships with much deeper draft will be able to navigate 2,400 kilometres (1,500mi) upstream from Shanghai all the way to Chongqing. It is expected that shipping to Chongqing will increase fivefold.[105][106]
There are two series of ship locks installed near the dam (). Each of them is made up of five stages, with transit time at around four hours. Maximum vessel size is 10,000tons.[107] The locks are 280m long, 35m wide, and 5m deep (918 × 114 × 16.4ft).[108][109] That is 30m (98ft) longer than those on the St Lawrence Seaway, but half as deep. Before the dam was constructed, the maximum freight capacity at the Three Gorges site was 18.0million tonnes per year. From 2004 to 2007, a total of 198million tonnes of freight passed through the locks. The freight capacity of the river increased sixtimes and the cost of shipping was reduced by 25%. The total capacity of the ship locks is expected to reach 100million tonnes per year.[76]
These locks are staircase locks, whereby inner lock gate pairs serve as both the upper gate and lower gate.  The gates are the vulnerable hinged type, which, if damaged, could temporarily render the entire flight unusable. As there are separate sets of locks for upstream and downstream traffic, this system is more water efficient than bi-directional staircase locks.
Ship lift

In addition to the canal locks, there is a ship lift, a kind of elevator for vessels. The ship lift can lift ships of up to 3,000tons.[10][110] The vertical distance traveled is 113m (371ft),[111] and the size of the ship lift's basin is 120m ×18m ×3.5m (394ft ×59ft ×11ft). The ship lift takes 30 to 40 minutes to transit, as opposed to the three to four hours for stepping through the locks.[112] One complicating factor is that the water level can vary dramatically. The ship lift must work even if water levels vary by 12 meters (39ft) on the lower side, and 30m (98ft) on the upper side.
The ship lift's design uses a helical gear system, to climb or descend a toothed rack.[113]
The ship lift was not yet complete when the rest of the project was officially opened on May 20, 2006.[114][115]
In November 2007, it was reported in the local media that construction of the ship lift started in October 2007.[28]
In February 2012, Xinhua reported that the four towers that are to support the ship lift had almost been completed.[116]
The report said the towers had reached 189m (620ft) of the anticipated 195m (640ft), the towers would be completed by June 2012 and the entire shiplift in 2015.
As of May 2014, the ship lift was expected to be completed by July 2015.[117] It was tested in December 2015 and announced complete in January 2016.[10][118] Lahmeyer, the German firm that designed the ship lift, said it will take a vessel less than an hour to transit the lift.[113]  An article in Steel Construction says the actual time of the lift will be 21 minutes.[119] It says that the expected dimensions of the 3,000 tonnes (3,000,000kg) passenger vessels the ship lift's basin was designed to carry will be 84.5 by 17.2 by 2.65 metres (277.2ft ×56.4ft ×8.7ft). The moving mass (including counterweights) is 34,000 tonnes.
The trials of elevator finished in July 2016, the first cargo ship was lifted in July 15, the lift time comprised 8 minutes.[120]
Shanghai Daily reported that the first operational use of the lift was on September 18, 2016, when limited "operational testing" of the lift began.[121]
Portage railways
Plans also exist for the construction of short portage railways bypassing the dam area altogether. Two short rail lines, one on each side of the river, are to be constructed. The 88-kilometre (55mi) long northern portage railway (北岸翻坝铁路) will run from the Taipingxi port facility (太平溪港) on the northern side of the Yangtze, just upstream from the dam, via Yichang East Railway Station to the Baiyang Tianjiahe port facility in Baiyang Town (白洋镇), below Yichang.[122] The 95-kilometre (59mi) long southern portage railway (南岸翻坝铁路) will run from Maoping (upstream of the dam) via Yichang South Railway Station to Zhicheng (on the Jiaozuo–Liuzhou Railway).[122]
In late 2012, preliminary work started along both future railway routes.[123]
Relocation of residents
Though the large size of the reservoir caused huge relocation upstream, it was considered justified by the flood protection it provides for communities downstream.[124] As of June 2008, China relocated 1.24million residents (ending with Gaoyang in Hubei Province) as 13 cities, 140 towns and 1350 villages either flooded or were partially flooded by the reservoir [A_2-M:CR3-1HP:S-15],[125][126][127] about 1.5% of the province's 60.3million and Chongqing Municipality's 31.44million population.[128] About 140,000residents were relocated to other provinces.[129]
Relocation was completed on July 22, 2008.[126] Some 2007 reports claimed that Chongqing Municipality will encourage an additional fourmillion people to move away from the dam to the main urban area of Chongqing by 2020.[130][131][132]
However, the municipal government explained that the relocation is due to urbanization, rather than the dam, and people involved included other areas of the municipality.[133]
Allegedly, funds for relocating 13,000 farmers around Gaoyang disappeared after being sent to the local government, leaving residents without compensation.[134]
Other effects
Culture and aesthetics
The 600km (370mi) long reservoir flooded some 1,300archaeological sites and altered the appearance of the Three Gorges as the water level rose over 91m (300ft).[135] Cultural and historical relics are being moved to higher ground as they are discovered, but the flooding inevitably covered undiscovered relics. Some sites could not be moved because of their location, size, or design. For example, the hanging coffins site high in the Shen Nong Gorge is part of the cliffs.[136]
National security
The United States Department of Defense reported that in Taiwan, "proponents of strikes against the mainland apparently hope that merely presenting credible threats to China's urban population or high-value targets, such as the Three Gorges Dam, will deter Chinese military coercion."[137]
The notion that the military in Taiwan would seek to destroy the dam provoked an angry response from the mainland Chinese media. People's Liberation Army General Liu Yuan was quoted in the China Youth Daily saying that the People's Republic of China would be "seriously on guard against threats from Taiwan independence terrorists."[138]
The Three Gorges Dam is a steel-concrete gravity dam. The water is held back by the innate mass of the individual dam sections. As a result, damage to an individual section should not affect other parts of the dam. Due to the sheer size of the dam, it is expected to withstand tactical nuclear strikes.
Structural integrity
Days after the first filling of the reservoir, around 80 hairline cracks were observed in the dam's structure.[139][140][141] The submerged spillway gates of the dam might pose a risk of cavitation, similar to that which severely damaged the poorly designed and cavitating spillways of the Glen Canyon Dam in the US state of Arizona, which was unable to properly withstand the Colorado river floods of 1983.[142] However, 163,000 concrete units of the Three Gorges dam all passed quality testing and the deformation was within design limits. An experts group gave the project overall a good quality rating.[143]
Upstream dams

In order to maximize the utility of the Three Gorges Dam and cut down on sedimentation from the Jinsha River,  the upper course of the Yangtze River,  authorities plan to build a series of dams on the Jinsha, including Wudongde Dam, Baihetan Dam, along with the now completed Xiluodu and Xiangjiaba dams. The total capacity of those four dams is 38,500MW,[144] almost double the capacity of the Three Gorges.[145] Baihetan is preparing for construction and Wudongde is seeking government approval. Another eight dams are in the midstream of the Jinsha and eight more upstream of it.[146]

See also

Baiheliang Underwater Museum
Energy policy of China
List of largest power stations in the world
List of largest hydroelectric power stations
List of power stations in China
List of dams and reservoirs in China
Three Gorges Museum
Liang Weiyan, one of the leading engineers who designed the water turbines for the dam

 on YouTube


The Cyrillic script /sɪˈrɪlɪk/ is a writing system used for various alphabets across Eurasia, particularly in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and North Asia. It is based on the Early Cyrillic alphabet developed during the 9th century AD at the Preslav Literary School in the First Bulgarian Empire.[4][5][6] It is the basis of alphabets used in various languages, especially those of Orthodox Slavic origin, and non-Slavic languages influenced by Russian. As of 2011, around 250 million people in Eurasia use it as the official alphabet for their national languages, with Russia accounting for about half of them.[7] With the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union on 1 January 2007, Cyrillic became the third official script of the European Union, following Latin and Greek.[8]
Cyrillic is derived from the Greek uncial script, augmented by letters from the older Glagolitic alphabet, including some ligatures. These additional letters were used for Old Church Slavonic sounds not found in Greek. The script is named in honor of the two Byzantine  brothers,[9] Saints Cyril and Methodius, who created the Glagolitic alphabet earlier on. Modern scholars believe that Cyrillic was developed and formalized by early disciples of Cyril and Methodius.
In the early 18th century, the Cyrillic script used in Russia was heavily reformed by Peter the Great, who had recently returned from his Grand Embassy in western Europe. The new letterforms became closer to those of the Latin alphabet; several archaic letters were removed and several letters were personally designed by Peter the Great (such as Я, which was inspired by the Latin R). West European typography culture was also adopted.[10]
Letters
Cyrillic script spread throughout the East Slavic and some South Slavic territories, being adopted for writing local languages, such as Old East Slavic. Its adaptation to local languages produced a number of Cyrillic alphabets, discussed hereafter.

The early Cyrillic alphabet[11][12]АБВГДЕЖЅ[13]ꙀИІКЛМНОПРСТОУ[14]ФХѠЦЧШЩЪЪІ[15]ЬѢꙖѤЮѪѬѦѨѮѰѲѴҀ[16]
Capital and lowercase letters were not distinguished in old manuscripts.

Yeri (Ы) was originally a ligature of Yer and I (Ъ + І = Ы). Iotation was indicated by ligatures formed with the letter І: Ꙗ (not an ancestor of modern Ya, Я, which is derived from Ѧ), Ѥ, Ю (ligature of І and ОУ), Ѩ, Ѭ. Sometimes different letters were used interchangeably, for example И = І = Ї, as were typographical variants like О = Ѻ.  There were also commonly used ligatures like ѠТ = Ѿ.
The letters also had numeric values, based not on Cyrillic alphabetical order, but inherited from the letters' Greek ancestors.

Cyrillic numerals123456789АВГДЄЅЗИѲ102030405060708090ІКЛМНѮѺПЧ (Ҁ)100200300400500600700800900РСТѴФХѰѾЦ
The early Cyrillic alphabet is difficult to represent on computers. Many of the letterforms differed from those of modern Cyrillic, varied a great deal in manuscripts, and changed over time. Few fonts include glyphs sufficient to reproduce the alphabet. In accordance with Unicode policy, the standard does not include letterform variations or ligatures found in manuscript sources unless they can be shown to conform to the Unicode definition of a character.
The Unicode 5.1 standard, released on 4 April 2008, greatly improves computer support for the early Cyrillic and the modern Church Slavonic language. In Microsoft Windows, the Segoe UI user interface font is notable for having complete support for the archaic Cyrillic letters since Windows 8.

Letters of the Cyrillic alphabet (see also Cyrillic digraphs)А
AБ
BeВ
VeГ
GeҐ
Ghe upturnД
DeЂ
DjeЃ
GjeЕ
YeЁ
YoЄ
Ukrainian YeЖ
ZheЗ
ZeЗ́
ZjeЅ
DzeИ
IІ
Dotted IЇ
YiЙ
Short IЈ
JeК
KaЛ
ElЉ
LjeМ
EmН
EnЊ
NjeО
OП
PeР
ErС
EsС́
SjeТ
TeЋ
TsheЌ
KjeУ
UЎ
Short UФ
EfХ
KhaЦ
TseЧ
CheЏ
DzheШ
ShaЩ
ShchaЪ
Hardsign (Yer)Ы
YeryЬ
Softsign (Yeri)Э
EЮ
YuЯ
YaImportant Cyrillic non-Slavic lettersӀ
PalochkaӘ
Cyrillic SchwaҒ
AynҘ
Bashkir DheҪ
Bashkir TheҠ
Bashkir QaҖ
ZhjeҚ
Ka with
descenderҢ
NgҤ
En-gheӨ
Barred OҮ
Straight UҰ
Straight U
with strokeҺ
Shha (He)Ҳ
Kha with
descenderӐ
A with
breveCyrillic letters used in the pastꙖ
AiotifiedѤ
EiotifiedѦ
YussmallѪ
YusbigѨ
Yussmall iotifiedѬ
Yusbig iotifiedѮ
KsiѰ
PsiꙞ
YnѲ
FitaѴ
IzhitsaѶ
Izhitsa okovyҀ
KoppaОУ
UkѠ
OmegaѾ
OtѢ
Yat
Letterforms and typography
The development of Cyrillic typography passed directly from the medieval stage to the late Baroque, without a Renaissance phase as in Western Europe. Late Medieval Cyrillic letters (still found on many icon inscriptions today) show a marked tendency to be very tall and narrow, with strokes often shared between adjacent letters.
Peter the Great, Czar of Russia, mandated the use of westernized letter forms in the early 18th century. Over time, these were largely adopted in the other languages that use the script. Thus, unlike the majority of modern Greek fonts that retained their own set of design principles for lower-case letters (such as the placement of serifs, the shapes of stroke ends, and stroke-thickness rules, although Greek capital letters do use Latin design principles), modern Cyrillic fonts are much the same as modern Latin fonts of the same font family. The development of some Cyrillic computer typefaces from Latin ones has also contributed to the visual Latinization of Cyrillic type.

Cyrillic uppercase and lowercase letter forms are not as differentiated as in Latin typography. Upright Cyrillic lowercase letters are essentially small capitals (with exceptions: Cyrillic ⟨а⟩, ⟨е⟩, ⟨і⟩, ⟨ј⟩, ⟨р⟩, and ⟨у⟩ adopted Western lowercase shapes, lowercase ⟨ф⟩ is typically designed under the influence of Latin ⟨p⟩, lowercase ⟨б⟩, ⟨ђ⟩ and ⟨ћ⟩ are traditional handwritten forms), although a good-quality Cyrillic typeface will still include separate small-caps glyphs.[17]
Cyrillic fonts, as well as Latin ones, have roman and italic types (practically all popular modern fonts include parallel sets of Latin and Cyrillic letters, where many glyphs, uppercase as well as lowercase, are simply shared by both). However, the native font terminology in most Slavic languages (for example, in Russian) does not use the words "roman" and "italic" in this sense.[18] Instead, the nomenclature follows German naming patterns:

Roman type is called pryamoy shrift ("upright type")—compare with Normalschrift ("regular type") in German
Italic type is called kursiv ("cursive") or kursivniy shrift ("cursive type")—from the German word Kursive, meaning italic typefaces and not cursive writing
Cursive handwriting is rukopisniy shrift ("handwritten type") in Russian—in German: Kurrentschrift or Laufschrift, both meaning literally 'running type'
As in Latin typography, a sans-serif face may have a mechanically sloped oblique type (naklonniy shrift—"sloped", or "slanted type") instead of italic.
Similarly to Latin fonts, italic and cursive types of many Cyrillic letters (typically lowercase; uppercase only for handwritten or stylish types) are very different from their upright roman types. In certain cases, the correspondence between uppercase and lowercase glyphs does not coincide in Latin and Cyrillic fonts: for example, italic Cyrillic ⟨т⟩ is the lowercase counterpart of ⟨Т⟩ not of ⟨М⟩.
A boldfaced type is called poluzhirniy shrift ("semi-bold type"), because there existed fully boldfaced shapes that have been out of use since the beginning of the 20th century. A bold italic combination (bold slanted) does not exist for all font families.
In Standard Serbian, as well as in Macedonian,[19] some italic and cursive letters are allowed to be different to resemble more to the handwritten letters. The regular (upright) shapes are generally standardized among languages and there are no officially recognized variations.[20]
The following table shows the differences between the upright and italic Cyrillic letters of the Russian alphabet. Italic forms significantly different from their upright analogues, or especially confusing to users of a Latin alphabet, are highlighted.

Also available as a .абвгдеёжзийклмнопрстуфхцчшщъыьэюяабвгдеёжзийклмнопрстуфхцчшщъыьэюя
Note: in some fonts or styles, lowercase italic Cyrillic ⟨д⟩ (⟨д⟩) may look like Latin ⟨g⟩ and lowercase italic Cyrillic ⟨т⟩ (⟨т⟩) may look exactly like a capital italic ⟨T⟩ (⟨T⟩), only smaller.

Cyrillic alphabets

Among others, Cyrillic is the standard script for writing the following languages:
Slavic languages: Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Rusyn, Serbo-Croatian (for Standard Serbian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin), Ukrainian
Non-Slavic languages: Abkhaz, Aleut (now mostly in church texts), Bashkir, Chuvash, Erzya, Kazakh (to be replaced by Latin script by 2025[1]), Kildin Sami, Komi, Kyrgyz, Dungan, Mari, Moksha, Mongolian, Ossetic, Romani (some dialects), Sakha/Yakut, Tajik, Tatar, Tlingit (now only in church texts), Tuvan, Udmurt, Yuit (Siberian Yupik), and Yupik (in Alaska).
The Cyrillic script has also been used for languages of Alaska,[21] Slavic Europe (except for Western Slavic and some Southern Slavic), the Caucasus, Siberia, and the Russian Far East.
The first alphabet derived from Cyrillic was Abur, used for the Komi language. Other Cyrillic alphabets include the Molodtsov alphabet for the Komi language and various alphabets for Caucasian languages.
Name
Since the script was conceived and popularised by the followers of Cyril and Methodius, rather than by Cyril and Methodius themselves, its name denotes homage rather than authorship. The name "Cyrillic" often confuses people who are not familiar with the script's history, because it does not identify a country of origin (in contrast to the "Greek alphabet"). Among the general public, it is often called "the Russian alphabet," because Russian is the most popular and influential alphabet based on the script. Some Bulgarian intellectuals, notably Stefan Tsanev, have expressed concern over this, and have suggested that the Cyrillic script be called the "Bulgarian alphabet" instead, for the sake of historical accuracy.[22]
In Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, and Serbian, the Cyrillic alphabet is also known as azbuka, derived from the old names of the first two letters of most Cyrillic alphabets (just as the term alphabet came from the first two Greek letters alpha and beta).
History

History of the alphabet
Egyptian hieroglyphs 32 c. BCE
Hieratic 32 c. BCE
Demotic 7 c. BCE
Meroitic 3 c. BCE
Proto-Sinaitic 19 c. BCE
Ugaritic 15 c. BCE
Epigraphic South Arabian 9 c. BCE
Ge’ez 5–6 c. BCE
Canaanite-Phoenician alphabet 12 c. BCE
Paleo-Hebrew 10 c. BCE
Samaritan 6 c. BCE
Libyco-Berber 3 c. BCE
Tifinagh
Paleohispanic (semi-syllabic) 7 c. BCE
Aramaic 8 c. BCE
Kharoṣṭhī 4 c. BCE
Brāhmī 4 c. BCE
Brahmic family (see) E.g.
Tibetan 7 c. CE
ʼPhags-pa script 13 c. CE
Devanagari 10 c. CE
Canadian syllabics 1840 CE
Hebrew 3 c. BCE
Pahlavi 3 c. BCE
Avestan 4 c. CE
Palmyrene 2 c. BCE
Syriac 2 c. BCE
Nabataean 2 c. BCE
Arabic 4 c. CE
N'Ko 1949 CE
Sogdian 2 c. BCE
Orkhon (old Turkic) 6 c. CE
Old Hungarian c. 650 CE
Old Uyghur
Mongolian 1204 CE
Mandaic 2 c. CE
Greek 8 c. BCE
Etruscan 8 c. BCE
Latin 7 c. BCE
Cherokee (syllabary; letter forms only) c. 1820 CE
Runic 2 c. CE
Ogham (origin uncertain) 4 c. CE
Coptic 3 c. CE
Gothic 3 c. CE
Armenian 405 CE
Georgian (origin uncertain) c. 430 CE
Glagolitic 862 CE
Cyrillic c. 940 CE
Old Permic 1372 CE
Mesopotamian cuneiform 32 c. BCE
Ugaritic (shape influenced) 15 c. BCE
Old Persian cuneiform (apparently inspired) 525 BCE
Indus script 26 c. BCE
Cretan hieroglyphs (possible ancestor of Linear A) 21 c. BCE
Linear A 18 c. BCE
Linear B 15 c. BCE
Cypro-Minoan syllabary 16 c. BCE
Cypriot syllabary 11 c. BCE
Chinese Characters 13 c. BCE
Chinese family (see) E.g.
Kana 800 CE
Chữ Nôm 13 c. CE
Zhuyin 1913 CE
Mesoamerican family (see) E.g.
Maya script 3 c. BCE
Ogham (origin uncertain) 4 c. CE
Dongba symbols 10 c. CE
Hangul 1443 CE
Yi script 15 c. CE (syllabic version established in 1974)
Thaana 18 c. CE (derived from Brahmi numerals)
Osmanya alphabet 1920s CE
Santali alphabet (or Ol Chiki script) 1925 CE
Borama alphabet 1933 CE
Kaddare script (resembling Osmanya script and Brahmi script.) 1952 CEvt
The Cyrillic script was created in the First Bulgarian Empire.[23] Its first variant, the Early Cyrillic alphabet, was created at the Preslav Literary School. It is derived from the Greek uncial script letters, augmented by ligatures and consonants from the older Glagolitic alphabet for sounds not found in Greek. Tradition holds that Cyrillic and Glagolitic were formalized either by Saints Cyril and Methodius who brought Christianity to the southern Slavs, or by their disciples.[24][25][26][27] Paul Cubberley posits that although Cyril may have codified and expanded Glagolitic, it was his students in the First Bulgarian Empire under Tsar Simeon the Great that developed Cyrillic from the Greek letters in the 890s as a more suitable script for church books.[23] Later Cyrillic spread among other Slavic peoples, as well as among non-Slavic Vlachs.
Cyrillic and Glagolitic were used for the Church Slavonic language, especially the Old Church Slavonic variant. Hence expressions such as "И is the tenth Cyrillic letter" typically refer to the order of the Church Slavonic alphabet; not every Cyrillic alphabet uses every letter available in the script.
The Cyrillic script came to dominate Glagolitic in the 12th century. The literature produced in the Old Bulgarian language soon spread north and became the lingua franca of the Balkans and Eastern Europe, where it came to also be known as Old Church Slavonic.[28][29][30][31][32] The alphabet used for the modern Church Slavonic language in Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic rites still resembles early Cyrillic. However, over the course of the following millennium, Cyrillic adapted to changes in spoken language, developed regional variations to suit the features of national languages, and was subjected to academic reform and political decrees. A notable example of such linguistic reform can be attributed to Vuk Stefanović Karadžić who updated the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet by removing certain graphemes no longer represented in the vernacular, and introducing graphemes specific to Serbian (i.e. Љ Њ Ђ Ћ Џ Ј), distancing it from Church Slavonic alphabet in use prior to the reform. Today, many languages in the Balkans, Eastern Europe, and northern Eurasia are written in Cyrillic alphabets.
Relationship to other writing systems
Latin script

A number of languages written in a Cyrillic alphabet have also been written in a Latin alphabet, such as Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Serbian and Romanian (in the Republic of Moldova until 1989, in Romania throughout the 19th century). After the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, some of the former republics officially shifted from Cyrillic to Latin. The transition is complete in most of Moldova (except the breakaway region of Transnistria, where Moldovan Cyrillic is official), Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan. Uzbekistan still uses both systems, and Kazakhstan has officially begun a transition from Cyrillic to Latin (scheduled to be complete by 2025). The Russian government has mandated that Cyrillic must be used for all public communications in all federal subjects of Russia, to promote closer ties across the federation. This act was controversial for speakers of many Slavic languages; for others, such as Chechen and Ingush speakers, the law had political ramifications. For example, the separatist Chechen government mandated a Latin script which is still used by many Chechens. Those in the diaspora especially refuse to use the Chechen Cyrillic alphabet, which they associate with Russian imperialism.

Standard Serbian uses both the Cyrillic and Latin scripts. Cyrillic is nominally the official script of Serbia's administration according to the Serbian constitution;[33] however, the law does not regulate scripts in standard language, or standard language itself by any means. In practice the scripts are equal, with Latin being used more often in a less official capacity.[34]
The Zhuang alphabet, used between the 1950s and 1980s in portions of the People's Republic of China, used a mixture of Latin, phonetic, numeral-based, and Cyrillic letters. The non-Latin letters, including Cyrillic, were removed from the alphabet in 1982 and replaced with Latin letters that closely resembled the letters they replaced.
Romanization

There are various systems for Romanization of Cyrillic text, including transliteration to convey Cyrillic spelling in Latin letters, and transcription to convey pronunciation.
Standard Cyrillic-to-Latin transliteration systems include:
Scientific transliteration, used in linguistics, is based on the Bosnian and Croatian Latin alphabet.
The Working Group on Romanization Systems[35] of the United Nations recommends different systems for specific languages. These are the most commonly used around the world.
ISO 9:1995, from the International Organization for Standardization.
American Library Association and Library of Congress Romanization tables for Slavic alphabets (ALA-LC Romanization), used in North American libraries.
BGN/PCGN Romanization (1947), United States Board on Geographic Names & Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use).
GOST 16876, a now defunct Soviet transliteration standard. Replaced by GOST 7.79, which is ISO 9 equivalent.
Various informal romanizations of Cyrillic, which adapt the Cyrillic script to Latin and sometimes Greek glyphs for compatibility with small character sets.
See also Romanization of Belarusian, Bulgarian, Kyrgyz, Russian, Macedonian and Ukrainian.
Cyrillization
Representing other writing systems with Cyrillic letters is called Cyrillization.
Computer encoding
Unicode

As of Unicode version 11.0, Cyrillic letters, including national and historical alphabets, are encoded across several blocks:
Cyrillic:
Cyrillic Supplement:
Cyrillic Extended-A:
Cyrillic Extended-B:
Cyrillic Extended-C:
Phonetic Extensions:
Combining Half Marks:
The characters in the range U+0400 to U+045F are basically the characters from ISO 8859-5 moved upward by 864 positions. The characters in the range U+0460 to U+0489 are historic letters, not used now. The characters in the range U+048A to U+052F are additional letters for various languages that are written with Cyrillic script.
Unicode as a general rule does not include accented Cyrillic letters. A few exceptions include:
combinations that are considered as separate letters of respective alphabets, like Й, Ў, Ё, Ї, Ѓ, Ќ (as well as many letters of non-Slavic alphabets);
two most frequent combinations orthographically required to distinguish homonyms in Bulgarian and Macedonian: Ѐ, Ѝ;
a few Old and New Church Slavonic combinations: Ѷ, Ѿ, Ѽ.
To indicate stressed or long vowels, combining diacritical marks can be used after the respective letter (for example, U+0301◌́COMBINING ACUTE ACCENT: ы́ э́ ю́ я́ etc.).
Some languages, including Church Slavonic, are still not fully supported.
Unicode 5.1, released on 4 April 2008, introduces major changes to the Cyrillic blocks. Revisions to the existing Cyrillic blocks, and the addition of Cyrillic Extended A (2DE0 ... 2DFF) and Cyrillic Extended B (A640 ... A69F), significantly improve support for the early Cyrillic alphabet, Abkhaz, Aleut, Chuvash, Kurdish, and Moksha.[36]
Other
Punctuation for Cyrillic text is similar to that used in European Latin-alphabet languages.
Other character encoding systems for Cyrillic:
CP866 – 8-bit Cyrillic character encoding established by Microsoft for use in MS-DOS also known as GOST-alternative. Cyrillic characters go in their native order, with a "window" for pseudographic characters.
ISO/IEC 8859-5 – 8-bit Cyrillic character encoding established by International Organization for Standardization
KOI8-R – 8-bit native Russian character encoding. Invented in the USSR for use on Soviet clones of American IBM and DEC computers. The Cyrillic characters go in the order of their Latin counterparts, which allowed the text to remain readable after transmission via a 7-bit line that removed the most significant bit from each byte—the result became a very rough, but readable, Latin transliteration of Cyrillic. Standard encoding of early 1990s for Unix systems and the first Russian Internet encoding.
KOI8-U – KOI8-R with addition of Ukrainian letters.
MIK – 8-bit native Bulgarian character encoding for use in Microsoft DOS.
Windows-1251 – 8-bit Cyrillic character encoding established by Microsoft for use in Microsoft Windows. The simplest 8-bit Cyrillic encoding—32 capital chars in native order at 0xc0–0xdf, 32 usual chars at 0xe0–0xff, with rarely used "YO" characters somewhere else. No pseudographics. Former standard encoding in some GNU/Linux distributions for Belarusian and Bulgarian, but currently displaced by UTF-8.
GOST-main.
GB 2312 – Principally simplified Chinese encodings, but there are also the basic 33 Russian Cyrillic letters (in upper- and lower-case).
JIS and Shift JIS – Principally Japanese encodings, but there are also the basic 33 Russian Cyrillic letters (in upper- and lower-case).
Keyboard layouts

Each language has its own standard keyboard layout, adopted from typewriters. With the flexibility of computer input methods, there are also transliterating or phonetic/homophonic keyboard layouts made for typists who are more familiar with other layouts, like the common English QWERTY keyboard. When practical Cyrillic keyboard layouts or fonts are unavailable, computer users sometimes use transliteration or look-alike "volapuk" encoding to type in languages that are normally written with the Cyrillic alphabet.
See also

Cyrillic (Unicode block)
Cyrillic Alphabet Day
Cyrillic digraphs
Faux Cyrillic, real or fake Cyrillic letters used to give Latin-alphabet text a Soviet or Russian feel
Languages using Cyrillic
List of Cyrillic digraphs
List of Cyrillic letters
Russian cursive
Russian manual alphabet
Yugoslav manual alphabet
Russian Braille
Yugoslav Braille
Vladislav the Grammarian
Internet top-level domains in Cyrillic: gTLDs, .мон, .бг, .қаз, .рф, .срб, .укр
Notes

Ivan G. Iliev. Short History of the Cyrillic Alphabet. Plovdiv. 2012.
Bringhurst, Robert (2002). The Elements of Typographic Style (version 2.5), pp.262–264. Vancouver, Hartley & Marks. ISBN0-88179-133-4.
Nezirović, M. (1992). Jevrejsko-španjolska književnost. Sarajevo: Svjetlost. [cited in Šmid, 2002]
Šmid, Katja (2002). "(603 KiB)", in Verba Hispanica, vol X. Liubliana: Facultad de Filosofía y Letras de la Universidad de Liubliana. ISSN.
'The Lives of St. Tsurho and St. Strahota', Bohemia, 1495, Vatican Library
Philipp Ammon:  in: Sjani (Thoughts) Georgian Scientific Journal of Literary Theory and Comparative Literature, N 17, 2016, pp.248–256

 overview and history of Cyrillic charsets.
, a collection of writing systems and transliteration tables

 review of Cyrillic charsets in Slavic Languages.

, article about the Cyrillic script

Which Eastern European countries use Cyrillic script in their language?