Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Li Shang-yin

(Encyclopedia)Li Shang-yin lēˈ shăngˌ-yĭnˈ [key], 813?–858, Chinese poet. Of his 598 extant works, the best known are untitled love poems that describe in rich, sensuous detail scenes of beautiful courtesan...

T'ao Yüan-ming

(Encyclopedia)T'ao Yüan-ming or T'ao Ch'ien, 365–427, Chinese poet. After several bitter experiences in government employment, he became a gentleman farmer. His poems, composed in simple diction at a time when o...

Belitung

(Encyclopedia)Belitung bĕlēˈtŏng [key], island, 1,866 sq mi (4,833 sq km), Indonesia, in the Java Sea m...

Chen Duxiu

(Encyclopedia)Chen Duxiu or Ch'en Tu-hsiu both: chŭn do͞o-shyo͞o [key], 1879–1942, Chinese educator and Communist party leader. He was active in the republican revolution of 1911 and was forced to flee to Japa...

Hu Jintao

(Encyclopedia)Hu Jintao ho͞oˈ jĭnˈtouˈ [key], 1942–, Chinese political leader, b. Jixi, Anhui prov. A hydroelectric engineering graduate (1965) of Tsinghua Univ., he joined the Chinese Communist party in 196...

Bo Xilai

(Encyclopedia)Bo Xilai, 1949–, Chinese political leader. The son of Bo Yibo, a Communist revolutionary leader, he joined the Communist party in 1980. Bo studied history at Peking Univ. and earned (1982) a master'...

hypostyle

(Encyclopedia)hypostyle hĭpˈəstīl, hīˈpə– [key], the chamber in Egyptian temples in which a number of columns supported a flat stone roof. Forming the chief and largest inner space of the temple, it was en...

Ho-shen

(Encyclopedia)Ho-shen hô-shŭn [key], 1750–99, Manchu official noted for symbolizing the widespread corruption of the Ch'ing dynasty of China during its decline. As a favorite of emperor Ch'ien-lung, he rose, wi...

Palermo stone

(Encyclopedia)Palermo stone, ancient Egyptian stone of black diorite engraved toward the end of the 5th dynasty (2565–2420 b.c.) and containing the earliest extant annals. The stone is only a small fragment of wh...

Browse by Subject