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United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

(Encyclopedia)United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: see Great Britain. ...

Opium Wars

(Encyclopedia)Opium Wars, 1839–42 and 1856–60, two wars between China and Western countries that marked the shift of wealth and power from East to West. The first was between Great Britain and China. Early in t...

Ávila

(Encyclopedia)Ávila äˈvēlä [key], town, capital of Ávila prov., central Spain, on the upper Adaja River. It attracts many tourists. One of the great religious centers of Spain, Á...

Zen Buddhism

(Encyclopedia)Zen Buddhism, Buddhist sect of China and Japan. The name of the sect (Chin. Ch'an, Jap. Zen) derives from the Sanskrit dhyana [meditation]. In China the school early became known for making its centra...

World Heritage Site

(Encyclopedia)World Heritage Site, a place of cultural or natural importance listed on the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List. The sites, some natural, so...

Nanjing

(Encyclopedia)Nanjing nănˈkĭngˈ [key] [southern capital], city (1994 est. pop. 2,224,200), capital of Jiangsu prov., E central China, in a bend of the Chang (Yangtze) River. It has served at times in the past a...

Gejiu

(Encyclopedia)Gejiu or Kokiu both: gô-jēo͞o [key], town (1994 est. pop. 216,400), S Yunnan prov., China. Site of the country's largest tin reserves, it is the great tin-mining center of China, with smelters and ...

Anastasius I

(Encyclopedia)Anastasius I ănəstāˈshəs, –zhəs [key], c.430–518, Roman emperor of the East (491–518); successor of Zeno, whose widow he married. He broke the power that the Isaurians had enjoyed since Le...

fortification

(Encyclopedia)fortification, system of defense structures for protection from enemy attacks. Fortification developed along two general lines: permanent sites built in peacetime, and emplacements and obstacles hasti...

Xi

(Encyclopedia)Xi shē jyäng [key], great river of S China, c.1,250 mi (2,010 km) long, rising in E Yunnan prov. and flowing generally E through Guangxi and Guangdong provs. to the South China Sea near Guangzhou; t...