Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Pratas Island

(Encyclopedia)Pratas Island do͝ongˈshäˈ [key], in the South China Sea, controlled by Taiwan and administered as part of Kaohsiung. A national park, the island is part of an atoll and has guano deposits. It was ...

Song Shan

(Encyclopedia)Song Shan sŭngˈ shänˈ [key], mountain, N central Henan prov., China; one of the five sacred mountains of China. It is famous for the Shaolin Temple, where generations of Buddhist monks have practi...

Yumen

(Encyclopedia)Yumen yü-mŭn [key], city, NW Gansu prov., China. It was long one of China's leading petroleum centers, with oil fields and refineries, but output has steadily declined since the 1960s. Yumen, on the...

Wenzhou

(Encyclopedia)Wenzhou or Wenchow both: wŭn-jō [key], city (1994 est. pop. 449,700), SE Zhejiang prov., SE China. It is a small deep-sea port on the Ou River 12 mi (19 km) from the East China Sea and a major trade...

Yellow Sea

(Encyclopedia)Yellow Sea or Huanghai hwäng-hī [key] [yellow sea], arm of the Pacific Ocean, between China and Korea, where it is called the West Sea. It has a maximum depth of 500 ft (152 m). Bohai, Korea Bay (or...

Kunming

(Encyclopedia)Kunming ko͞onˈmĭngˈ [key], city (1994 est. pop. 1,240,000), capital of Yunnan prov., S China, on the northern shore of Dian Chi Lake. It is a major administrative, commercial, and cultural center ...

Indochina

(Encyclopedia)Indochina, Fr. Indochine, former federation of states, SE Asia. It comprised the French colony of Cochin China and the French protectorates of Tonkin, Annam, Laos, and Cambodia (Cochin China, Tonkin, ...

Chinese examination system

(Encyclopedia)Chinese examination system, civil service recruitment method and educational system employed from the Han dynasty (206 b.c.–a.d. 220) until it was abolished by the Ch'ing dowager empress Tz'u Hsi in...

Nantong

(Encyclopedia)Nantong or Nantung both: nän-to͝ong [key], city (1994 est. pop. 422,300), N Jiangsu prov., E central China, on the Chang River, about 30 mi (50 km) from the East China Sea. The center of an importan...

Baliqiao

(Encyclopedia)Baliqiao päˈlēˈkouˈ [key], village, Hebei prov., China, near Beijing. There, in 1860, a British and French force that had recently occupied Tianjin defeated a Chinese army and invaded Beijing. Ch...
 

Browse by Subject