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Paracel Islands

(Encyclopedia)Paracel Islands päräsĕlˈ [key], Chin. Xisha, group of low coral islands and reefs in the South China Sea, c.175 mi (280 km) SE of Hainan island. They are rich in guano and are underlain by oil dep...

Wedemeyer, Albert Coady

(Encyclopedia)Wedemeyer, Albert Coady wĕdˈēmīˌər [key], 1897–1989, American general, b. Omaha, Nebr., grad. West Point, 1918. After service in China, the Philippines, and Europe, he was graduated (1936) fro...

Burma Road

(Encyclopedia)Burma Road, in China and Myanmar, extending from the railhead of Lashio, Myanmar, to Kunming, Yunnan prov., China. About 700 mi (1,130 km) long and constructed through rough mountain country, it was a...

Songhua

(Encyclopedia)Songhua so͝onˈgäˈrēˈ [key], river of NE China, c.1,150 mi (1,850 km) long, rising in the Changbai Mts., Jilin prov., and flowing generally north, through Heilongjiang prov., to the Amur River on...

Senkaku Islands

(Encyclopedia)Senkaku Islands sĕnˈkäko͞o [key], small, uninhabited island group, 8 sq mi (20.7 sq km), Okinawa prefecture, extreme SW Japan, in the East China Sea. Located 90 mi (45 km) NNW of Ishigaki in the R...

Manchu

(Encyclopedia)Manchu mănˈcho͞o [key], people who lived in Manchuria for many centuries and who ruled China from 1644 until 1912. These people, related to the Tungus, were descended from the Jurchen, a tribe know...

Tian Shan

(Encyclopedia)Tian Shan or Tien Shan both: tēĕn shän [key] [Chin.,=celestial mountains], mountain system of central Asia, extending c.1,500 mi (2,410 km) from the Pamir Mts., Tajikistan, NE through the Xinjiang ...

Pingxiang

(Encyclopedia)Pingxiang or Pingsiang both: pĭng-shyäng [key], city (1994 est. pop. 451,700), W Jiangxi prov., China. It is a major coal-mining center, producing quality coking coal for the Huangshi iron and steel...

Taoism

(Encyclopedia)Taoism däuˈĭzəm [key], refers both to a Chinese system of thought and to one of the four major religions of China (with Confucianism, Buddhism, and Chinese popular religion). Religious Taoism a...

Dunhuang

(Encyclopedia)Dunhuang or Tunhwang both: do͞on-hwäng [key], town, extreme NW Gansu prov., China. Crescent Lake, a noted tourist attraction surrounded by high sand dunes, is there. The Caves of the Thousand Buddha...