Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Tonkin, Gulf of

(Encyclopedia)Tonkin, Gulf of, NW arm of the South China Sea, c.300 mi (480 km) long and 150 mi (240 km) wide, between Vietnam and China. The shallow gulf (less than 200 ft/60 m deep) receives the Red River. Haipho...

Hsia

(Encyclopedia)Hsia shēä [key], semilegendary first dynasty of China, which ruled, according to traditional dates, from c.2205 b.c. to c.1766 b.c. or, according to some modern scholars, from c.1994 b.c. to c.1523 ...

Xi

(Encyclopedia)Xi shē jyäng [key], great river of S China, c.1,250 mi (2,010 km) long, rising in E Yunnan prov. and flowing generally E through Guangxi and Guangdong provs. to the South China Sea near Guangzhou; t...

Natuna Islands

(Encyclopedia)Natuna Islands, island group (2010 pop. 69,300), 769 sq mi (1,993 sq km), Riau prov., Indonesia, in the South China Sea between the Malay Peninsula (W) and Borneo (E). The more than 250 islands are pa...

Ricci, Matteo

(Encyclopedia)Ricci, Matteo mät-tāˈō rētˈchē [key], 1552–1610, Italian missionary to China. He entered the Society of Jesus, and in Rome he studied under Clavius. Ricci was sent to the Indies (1578), and h...

Tsin

(Encyclopedia)Tsin or Chin both: jhĭn [key], dynasty of China that ruled from 265 to 420, after the period of the Three Kingdoms. It was divided into two phases: the Western Tsin (265–317) and the Eastern Tsin (...

Hong Kong

(Encyclopedia) CE5 Hong Kong hŏng kŏng, Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2015 est. pop. 7,246,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to She...

K'ang-hsi

(Encyclopedia)K'ang-hsi käng shē [key], 1654–1722, 2d emperor of the Ch'ing dynasty of China (1661–1722). He extended Manchu control and promoted learning in the arts and sciences. K'ang-hsi conquered the feu...

Argun

(Encyclopedia)Argun ärˈgo͞onˈ [key], Mandarin Ergun, river, 950 mi (1,529 km) long, rising in the Da Hinggan Mts., Heilongjiang prov., NE China, as the Hailar River and flowing W to the Russian border, then NE ...

treaty port

(Encyclopedia)treaty port, port opened to foreign trade by a treaty. The term is usually confined to ports in those countries that formerly strongly objected to foreign trade or attempted altogether to exclude it. ...
 

Browse by Subject