Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Agis

(Encyclopedia)Agis āˈjĭs [key], name of four Spartan kings. Agis I, fl. late 10th cent. b.c., was the traditional founder of the Agiad dynasty, one of the two ruling dynasties of Sparta, which had a dual kingshi...

Lhasa

(Encyclopedia)Lhasa or Lasa lä-sŭ [key], city (1994 est. pop. 118,000), capital of Tibet Autonomous Region, SW China. It is on a tributary of the Yarlung Zangbo (Brahmaputra) at an altitude of c.11,800 ft (3,600 ...

panda

(Encyclopedia)panda, name for two unrelated nocturnal Asian mammals of the order Carnivora, red pandas, genus Ailurus, and the giant panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca. Red pandas, also known as lesser pandas and cat be...

Buddhist literature

(Encyclopedia)Buddhist literature. During his lifetime the Buddha taught not in Vedic Sanskrit, which had become unintelligible to the people, but in his own NE Indian dialect; he also encouraged his monks to propa...

Yosai

(Encyclopedia)Yosai (Kikuchi Yosai) kēko͞oˈchē yōˈsī [key], 1788–1878, Japanese painter, known for his depiction of historical subject matter. Although he was well trained in the Chinese and Western painti...

Shan State

(Encyclopedia)Shan State shän [key], state (1983 pop. 3,718,706), c.60,000 sq mi (155,400 sq km), E central Myanmar. Taunggyi, the capital, and Lashio are its principal cities. It borders on China in the north, La...

Nippon

(Encyclopedia)Nippon nĭpˈŏn, nĭpŏnˈ [key], name for Japan, derived from Dai Nippon, meaning Great Japan. The expression comes from the Chinese ideograph for the place where the sun comes from, or Land of the ...

Kara-Kul

(Encyclopedia)Kara-Kul käˌrə-ko͞ol [key], mountain lake, c.140 sq mi (360 sq km), Gorno-Badakhshan, E Tajikistan, in the Pamir, near the Chinese border. It is c.12,840 ft (3,900 m) above sea level, and its grea...

Lu Xun

(Encyclopedia)Lu Xun or Lu Hsün both: lo͞oˈshünˈ [key], 1881–1936, Chinese writer, pen name of Chou Shu-jen. In 1902, he traveled to Japan on a government scholarship, eventually enrolling at Sendai Medical ...

Lao She

(Encyclopedia)Lao She chĭng-cho͝on [key], 1899–1966, Chinese writer. He wrote his first novels while teaching Chinese at the Univ. of London's School of Oriental Studies (1924–30). He continued to teach and w...