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camphor

(Encyclopedia)camphor kămˈfər [key], C10H16O, white, crystalline solid ketone with a characteristic pungent odor and taste. It melts at 176℃ and boils at 204℃. The natural variety, Japan camphor, is obtained...

Chinese

(Encyclopedia)Chinese, subfamily of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages (see Sino-Tibetan languages), which is also sometimes grouped with the Tai, or Thai, languages in a Sinitic subfamily of the Sino-Tibetan lan...

Hou Hsiao-hsien

(Encyclopedia)Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1947–, Taiwanese film director, b. Guangdong, China. His first feature film, Cute Girl (1980), and subsequent ones were generally saccharine romances until the semibiographical A Ti...

Baumgartner, Felix

(Encyclopedia)Baumgartner, Felix, 1969–, Austrian skydiver and daredevil. He made his first skydive at age 16, and turned to BASE jumping [Buildings, Antennas, Spans (bridges), and Earth (mountains)] in the 1990s...

Chiang Kai-shek

(Encyclopedia)Chiang Kai-shek jyäng kī-shĕk, jyäng [key], 1887–1975, Chinese Nationalist leader. He was also called Chiang Chung-cheng. After completing military training with the Japanese Army, he returned t...

Keelung

(Encyclopedia)Keelung lo͞ongˈ [key], city (2010 pop. 381,809), N Taiwan, on the East China Sea. Because of its excellent harbor it is an important port, naval base, and fishing port. It has several large shipyard...

drongo

(Encyclopedia)drongo drŏngˈgō [key], any of the insect-eating Old World birds of the family Dicruridae. Most species have black plumage with an iridescent purple or green shimmer and long, deeply forked tails. T...

Li Tsung-jên

(Encyclopedia)Li Tsung-jên lē dzo͞ong-jŭn [key], 1890–1969, Chinese Nationalist general and political leader. For 25 years (1925–49) he was a leader of the military clique that ruled Guangxi prov. The Guang...

Pacific Rim

(Encyclopedia)Pacific Rim, term used to describe the nations bordering the Pacific Ocean and the island countries situated in it. In the post–World War II era, the Pacific Rim has become an increasingly important...

Yamagata, Aritomo

(Encyclopedia)Yamagata, Aritomo ärēˈtōmō yämäˈgätä [key], 1838–1922, Japanese soldier and statesman, chief founder of the modern Japanese army. A samurai of Choshu, he took part in the Meiji restoration...