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Della Robbia

(Encyclopedia)Della Robbia dĕlˌə rŏbˈēə, Ital. dĕlˈlä rôbˈbyä [key], Florentine family of sculptors and ceramists famous for their enameled terra-cotta or faience. Many of the Della Robbia pieces are s...

mortar, in building

(Encyclopedia)mortar, in building, mixture of lime or cement with sand and water, used as a bedding and adhesive between adjacent pieces of stone, brick, or other material in masonry construction. Lime mortar, a co...

reservoir

(Encyclopedia)reservoir rĕzˈəvôr, –vwär [key], storage tank or wholly or partly artificial lake for storing water. Building an embankment or dam to preserve a supply of water for irrigation is an ancient pra...

Huai

(Encyclopedia)Huai or Hwai both: hwī [key], river, c.680 mi (1,090 km) long, rising in the Tongbai Mts., Henan prov., E China, and flowing E across Anhui prov., through Hongze Lake, to the East China Sea. The Huai...

Middle Kingdom

(Encyclopedia)Middle Kingdom or Middle Country, Mandarin Zhongguo, Chinese name for China. It dates from c.1000 b.c., when it designated the Chou empire situated on the North China Plain. The Chou people, unaware o...

Twenty-one Demands

(Encyclopedia)Twenty-one Demands (1915), instrument by which Japan secured temporary hegemony over China. Japan used its declaration of war against Germany (Aug., 1914) as grounds for invading Kiaochow, the German ...

Shang

(Encyclopedia)Shang shäng [key] or Yin, dynasty of China, which ruled, according to traditional dates, from c.1766 b.c. to c.1122 b.c. or, according to some modern scholars, from c.1523 b.c. to c.1027 b.c. It is t...

Open Door

(Encyclopedia)Open Door, maintenance in a certain territory of equal commercial and industrial rights for the nationals of all countries. As a specific policy, it was first advanced by the United States, but it was...

Sino-Japanese War, First

(Encyclopedia)Sino-Japanese War, First, 1894–95, conflict between China and Japan for control of Korea in the late 19th cent. The Li-Ito Convention of 1885 provided for mutual troop withdrawals and advance notifi...

soil

(Encyclopedia)soil, surface layer of the earth, composed of fine rock material disintegrated by geological processes; and humus, the organic remains of decomposed vegetation. In agriculture, soil is the medium that...