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Tung Ch'i-ch'ang

(Encyclopedia)Tung Ch'i-ch'ang do͞ong chē-chäng [key], 1555–1636, leading painter, calligrapher, connoisseur, and critic of the Ming dynasty. A high official in various public offices, was also regarded as the...

Xining

(Encyclopedia)Xining or Sining both: shēˈnĭngˈ [key], city (1994 est. pop. 569,800), capital of Qinghai prov., W China, on the Xining River. For centuries it has been the major commercial hub on the caravan rou...

Bynner, Witter

(Encyclopedia)Bynner, Witter bĭnˈər [key], 1881–1968, American poet, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. Harvard, 1902. As a poet Bynner had a remarkable facility for catching the cadences of other writers and cultures. ...

Bowery, the

(Encyclopedia)Bowery, the bouˈərē, –ˈrē [key] [Dutch Bouwerie=farm], section of lower Manhattan, New York City. The Bowery, the street that gives the area its name, was once a road to the farm of New Amsterd...

Réaumur, René Antoine Ferchault de

(Encyclopedia)Réaumur, René Antoine Ferchault de rāˈəmyo͝or, Fr. rənāˈ äNtwänˈ fĕrshōˈ də rāōmürˈ [key], 1683–1757, French physicist and naturalist. He invented an alcohol thermometer (1731) a...

Ts'ao Hsüeh-ch'in

(Encyclopedia)Ts'ao Hsüeh-ch'in tsouˈ shyĕˈchĭnˈ [key], 1715–63, Chinese novelist. He is the author of Story of the Stone (or A Dream of Red Mansions), which is considered China's greatest novel. After his ...

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Office of the

(Encyclopedia)United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Office of the (UNHCR), established Dec. 14, 1950, by the General Assembly. It superseded the International Refugee Organization. It seeks permanent solut...

Sotatsu Tawaraya

(Encyclopedia)Sotatsu Tawaraya, fl. early 1600s, Japanese artist. With Koetsu he is credited with founding the decorative Rimpa school of Japanese painting. A painter who revived yamato-e style by augmenting its ly...

Sesshu

(Encyclopedia)Sesshu sĕsˈsho͞oˌ [key], 1420–1506, foremost Japanese master of ink painting (suiboku) and Zen Buddhist priest, also known as Sesshu Toyo. He may have studied under Shubun in Kyoto. He made a tr...

banner system

(Encyclopedia)banner system, Manchu conscription system. Companies of Manchu warriors were grouped (1601) into brigades, each with a distinctive banner. The banner system integrated former tribal units into a burea...