Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ch'in, dynasty of China (221–206 b.c.)

(Encyclopedia)Ch'in chĭn [key], dynasty of China, which ruled from 221 b.c. to 206 b.c. The word China is derived from Ch'in, the first dynasty to unify the country by conquering the warring feudal states of the l...

Six Dynasties

(Encyclopedia)Six Dynasties, period of Chinese history between the fall of the Han dynasty (a.d. 220) and the unification of China under the Sui dynasty (a.d. 589). It is named for the six successive dynasties that...

Han, Chinese dynasty

(Encyclopedia)Han hän [key], dynasty of China that ruled from 202 b.c. to a.d. 220. Liu Pang, the first Han emperor, had been a farmer, minor village official, and guerrilla fighter under the Ch'in dynasty. During...

Manchu

(Encyclopedia)Manchu mănˈcho͞o [key], people who lived in Manchuria for many centuries and who ruled China from 1644 until 1912. These people, related to the Tungus, were descended from the Jurchen, a tribe know...

Great Wall of China

(Encyclopedia)Great Wall of China, series of fortifications, c.3,890 mi (6,260 km) long (not including trenches and natural defensive barriers), winding across N China from Gansu prov. to Liaoning prov. The wall, r...

Ch'ing

(Encyclopedia)Ch'ing mănˌcho͞oˈ, mănˈcho͞oˌ [key], the last of the Imperial dynasties of China. Following foreign suppression of the Boxer Uprising, Tz'u Hsi changed course and allowed some moderate educa...

Triad Society

(Encyclopedia)Triad Society, name given to a number of Chinese antidynastic secret societies by 19th-century Western observers. Most of these groups claimed descent from the Heaven and Earth Society (Taendi hui) or...

Taiping Rebellion

(Encyclopedia)Taiping Rebellion, 1850–64, revolt against the Ch'ing (Manchu) dynasty of China. It was led by Hung Hsiu-ch'üan, a visionary from Guangdong who evolved a political creed and messianic religious ide...

Chou

(Encyclopedia)Chou jō [key], dynasty of China, which ruled from c.1027 b.c. to 256 b.c. The pastoral Chou people migrated from the Wei valley NW of the Huang He c.1027 b.c. and overthrew the Shang dynasty. The Cho...

Tuan Ch'i-jui

(Encyclopedia)Tuan Ch'i-jui dwänˈchē-jo͞oē [key], 1865–1936, Chinese general and political leader. He studied military science in Germany and held high positions in the army under the Ch'ing dynasty. After t...
 

Browse by Subject