Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

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...

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...

Hangzhou

(Encyclopedia)Hangzhou hăngˈchou [key], city (1994 est. pop. 1,184,300), capital of Zhejiang prov., E China. It is on the Fuchun River at the head of Hangzhou Bay and handles river traffic through its port. It is...

Heidenstam, Verner von

(Encyclopedia)Heidenstam, Verner von vĕrˈnər fən hāˈdənstäm [key], 1859–1940, Swedish lyric poet, novelist, and essayist. His first volume of poetry, Pilgrimage and Wanderyears (1888), challenged the cont...

Purchas, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Purchas, Samuel pûrˈkəs, –chəs [key], 1577?–1626, English clergyman and compiler of travel literature, b. Essex. Chaplain to the archbishop of Canterbury, he later was rector of St. Martin's C...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...