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paper

(Encyclopedia)paper, thin, flat sheet or tissue made usually from plant fiber but also from rags and other fibrous materials. It is used principally for printing and writing on but has many other applications. The ...

Bridgwater

(Encyclopedia)Bridgwater, town, Somerset, SW England, on the Parrett River estuary. It is a port for seaborne traffic and a market town. Bridgwater is the only place ...

Latrobe, John Hazlehurst Boneval

(Encyclopedia)Latrobe, John Hazlehurst Boneval, 1803–91, American philanthropist, b. Philadelphia; son of Benjamin H. Latrobe. He studied law, and from 1828 until his death he was regularly retained as counsel fo...

Scarborough Shoal

(Encyclopedia)Scarborough Shoal, lagoon and reefs, South China Sea, c.135 mi (220 km) W of Luzon, the Philippines. Claimed by China, the Philippines, and Taiwan, it is called Huangyan Island by China and Panatag Sh...

Chinese music

(Encyclopedia)Chinese music, the classical music forms of China. Throughout the political and social turmoil following World War I, Western (classical and popular) and Japanese sources dominated Chinese music. At...

Gutenberg, Johann

(Encyclopedia)Gutenberg, Johann go͞oˈtənbərg, Ger. yōˈhän go͞oˈtənbĕrk [key], c.1397–1468, German inventor and printer, long credited with the invention of a method of printing from movable type, inclu...

faience

(Encyclopedia)faience fāĕnsˈ, –änsˈ, fī– [key] [for Faenza, Italy], any of several kinds of pottery, especially earthenware made of coarse clay and covered with an opaque tin-oxide glaze. The term is part...

glaze, in pottery

(Encyclopedia)glaze, translucent layer that coats pottery to give the surface a finish or afford a ground for decorative painting. Glazes—transparent, white, or colored—are fired on the clay. Of the various art...

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...

Lexington

(Encyclopedia)Lexington. 1 City (1990 pop. 225,366), seat of Fayette co., N central Ky., in the heart of the bluegrass region; inc. 1832, made coextensive with Fayette co. 1974. The outstanding center in the United...