Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Wang Wei

(Encyclopedia)Wang Wei wäng wā [key], 699–759, Chinese poet. He was an extremely versatile man, being a musician and painter as well as a poet. He wrote quatrains almost exclusively; these verses portray quiet ...

Tashi Lumpo

(Encyclopedia)Tashi Lumpo or Tashi Lhümpo täˈshē lo͝omˈpō [key] [Tibetan,=mount of blessing], lamasery, SE Tibet Autonomous Region, China, just outside Xigazê. Founded in the 15th cent., it is one of the be...

Sun Tzu

(Encyclopedia)Sun Tzu so͞on dzo͞o [key], fl. c.500–320. b.c., name used by the unknown Chinese authors of the sophisticated treatise on philosophy, logistics, espionage, and strategy and tactics known as The Ar...

Three Kingdoms

(Encyclopedia)Three Kingdoms, period of Chinese history from 220 to 265, after the collapse of the Han dynasty. The period takes its name from the three states into which China was divided. Wei occupied the north. ...

Ürümqi

(Encyclopedia)Ürümqi or Urumchi both: o͞oro͞omˈchē [key], city (1994 est. pop. 1,130,300), capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, NW China, in the Dzungarian basin. Ürümqi is an administrative and com...

Xi Jinping

(Encyclopedia)Xi Jinping shē jēnpēng [key], 1953–, Chinese political leader, b. Beijing. He is the son ...

Boxer Uprising

(Encyclopedia)Boxer Uprising, 1898–1900, antiforeign movement in China, culminating in a desperate uprising against Westerners and Western influence. By the end of the 19th cent. the Western powers and Japan had ...

Guo Moruo

(Encyclopedia)Guo Moruo or Kuo Mo-jo both: gwôˈ môrhwôˈ, –zhôˈ [key], 1892–1978, Chinese writer and scholar. He co-founded the Creation Society, which promoted a romantic style of writing. His love stori...

Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

(Encyclopedia)Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, period of Chinese history between the fall of the T'ang dynasty (a.d. 907) and the establishment of the Sung dynasty (a.d. 960). It is named for the five successive sh...

Ku K'ai-chih

(Encyclopedia)Ku K'ai-chih go͞o kī-jûr [key], c.344–c.406, Chinese painter, one of the most eminent painters before the T'ang dynasty. He was especially noted for his portraits but also painted landscapes. Non...