Xiong Foxi was a Chinese playwright who helped create popular drama intended to entertain and educate the peasantry. Xiong Foxi began writing, directing, and acting in plays as a youth and, while at Yanjing University, helped establish the Minzhong Xijushe (People’s Dramatic Society). After

Xiong Shili was one of the outstanding figures of 20th-century Chinese philosophy. His ontological system is an original synthesis of Buddhist, Confucian, and Western motifs. Xiong was an anti-Manchu revolutionary in early youth, but after the age of 30 he devoted himself wholly to philosophy. He

Henan: Relief: …the main ranges being the Xiong’er and Funiu. These mountains, which have an east-west trend, are the eastern extension of the Qin (Tsinling) Mountain axis that divides China geologically and geographically into North and South. The Tongbai and Dabie ranges form a further extension of this axis, running in a

Xiongnu, nomadic pastoral people who at the end of the 3rd century bce formed a great tribal league that was able to dominate much of Central Asia for more than 500 years. China’s wars against the Xiongnu, who were a constant threat to the country’s northern frontier throughout this period, led to

An Lushan was a Chinese general of Iranian and Turkish descent who, as leader of a rebellion in ad 755, proclaimed himself emperor and unsuccessfully attempted to found a dynasty to replace the Tang dynasty (618–907). Despite its failure, the rebellion precipitated far-reaching social and economic

Xipe Totec, Mesoamerican god of spring and new vegetation and patron of goldsmiths. Xipe Totec was venerated by the Toltecs and Aztecs. As a symbol of the new vegetation, Xipe Totec wore the skin of a human victim—the “new skin” that covered the Earth in the spring. His statues and stone masks

science fiction: Alien encounters: Rosny Aîné, whose short story Les Xipéhuz (1887) describes an evolutionary war of extermination between prehistoric humans and a menacing crystal-based life-form.

Cretaceous Period: Marine life: One Cretaceous fish, Xiphactinus, grew to more than 4.5 metres (15 feet) and is the largest known teleost.

swordfish, (Xiphias gladius), prized food and game fish, probably the single species constituting the family Xiphiidae (order Perciformes), found in warm and temperate oceans around the world. The swordfish, an elongated, scaleless fish, has a tall dorsal fin, and a long sword, used in slashing at

meadow grasshopper: The lesser meadow katydids (Conocephalus) are slender and tend to be small in size compared with other meadow grasshopper genera. The meadow grasshopper produces a song, consisting of clicks and buzzes, during the day or at night.

sternum: …the posterior segment, called the xiphisternum. In humans the sternum is elongated and flat; it may be felt from the base of the neck to the pit of the abdomen. The manubrium is roughly trapezoidal, with depressions where the clavicles and the first pair of ribs join. The mesosternum, or…

Cotingidae: …Rica, and the reddish lavender Xipholena punicea of the Guiana Highlands and Brazil. The Carpodectes nitidus of Central America is one of the few white tropical birds.

swordtail, (Xiphophorus hellerii), popular tropical fish of the live-bearer family Poeciliidae (order Atheriniformes). The swordtail is an elongated fish, growing to about 13 centimetres (5 inches) long and characterized, in the male, by a long, swordlike extension of the lower tail fin lobe. The

platy, (species Xiphophorus maculatus), popular tropical aquarium fish of the live-bearer family, Poeciliidae (order Atheriniformes). The platy is a compact fish, about 5 cm (2 inches) long and extremely variable in colour. It has been bred in many attractive colour varieties, and, like the related

woodcreeper: Xiphorhynchus woodcreepers, such as the ivory-billed woodcreeper (X. flavigaster) of Central America, are among the more prominently streaked woodcreepers. Like others of its genus, the plain-brown woodcreeper (Dendrocincla fuliginosa), of Honduras to northeastern Argentina, often follows marching ant columns, eating the insects and other creatures routed out by the ants.…

horseshoe crab, (order Xiphosura), common name of four species of marine arthropods (class Merostomata, subphylum Chelicerata) found on the east coasts of Asia and of North America. Despite their name, these animals are not crabs at all but are related to scorpions, spiders, and extinct trilobites.

Chinese music: Jingxi (Peking opera): …fall into two prototypes called xipi and erhuang. Within each of these general types there are several well-known tunes, but the word prototype has been used to define them, as each opera and each situation is capable of varying the basic melody greatly. The two basic identifying factors are the…

Shipibo, Panoan-speaking Indian group living on the upper Ucayali River near the headwaters of the Amazon, on the eastern slopes of the Peruvian high Andes Mountains. In the pre-Spanish period, the Shipibo were only minimally influenced by the Inca empire, despite the proximity of the Shipibo to

Min Mountains: …the north are called the Xiqing Mountains. The central section of the range lying west of the Min River, which has an axis running from north to south, is known as the Qionglai Mountains. The easternmost section, which joins the Daba Mountains, is known as the Motian Mountains.

Margarita Xirgu was a Catalan actress and producer whose greatest contribution was her advancement of the plays of Federico García Lorca. Xirgu made her professional debut in Barcelona in 1906 and five years later joined the Teatro Principal. She made her first appearance in Madrid in 1914,

Yanomami: …American Indians, speakers of a Xirianá language, who live in the remote forest of the Orinoco River basin in southern Venezuela and the northernmost reaches of the Amazon River basin in northern Brazil. In the early 21st century the Yanomami probably numbered about 32,000 individuals throughout their range.

Euboea: …peaks in the north are Xirón Mountain (3,251 feet [991 metres]) and Teléthrion Mountain (3,182 feet [970 metres]). From Teléthrion the range trends eastward to the coast. In the centre of the island rises Dhírfis Mountain (5,715 feet [1,742 metres]), while in the south Óchi Mountain reaches 4,587 feet (1,398…

Paracel Islands, group of about 130 small coral islands and reefs in the South China Sea. They lie about 250 miles (400 km) east of central Vietnam and about 220 miles (350 km) southeast of Hainan Island, China. Apart from a few isolated, outlying islands (Triton in the south, Lincoln in the east),

Cixi was the consort of the Xianfeng emperor (reigned 1850–61), mother of the Tongzhi emperor (reigned 1861–75), adoptive mother of the Guangxu emperor (reigned 1875–1908), and a towering presence over the Chinese empire for almost half a century. By maintaining authority over the Manchu imperial

Jiangxi: Drainage: …of the province; and the Xiu River, which, rising in the Mufu Mountains in the northwest, drains southeastward into Lake Poyang.

Chen Shizeng was an accomplished critic, painter, and educator of early 20th-century China. Chen came from a family of prominent officials and scholars. He was well educated and something of a child prodigy who, by age 10, was painting, writing poetry, and excelling at calligraphy. In 1902 Chen

Huitzilopochtli, Aztec sun and war god, one of the two principal deities of Aztec religion, often represented in art as either a hummingbird or an eagle. Huitzilopochtli’s name is a cognate of the Nahuatl words huitzilin, “hummingbird,” and opochtli, “left.” Aztecs believed that dead warriors were

Xiuhtecuhtli, Aztec god of fire, thought to be the creator of all life. “Old God” is a reflection of his relative age in the Aztec pantheon. In association with Chantico, his feminine counterpart, Xiuhtecuhtli was believed to be a representation of the divine creator, Ometecuhtli. One of the

Hong Xiuquan was a Chinese religious prophet and leader of the Taiping Rebellion (1850–64), during which he declared his own new dynasty, which centred on the captured (1853) city of Nanjing. This great upheaval, in which more than 20,000,000 people are said to have been killed, drastically altered

lacquerwork: China: …published in 1595, and the Xiushilu, which has been handed down in manuscript. This last work was written by a celebrated lacquerer, Huang Cheng, and bears a preface by Yang Ming, another lacquerer, dated 1625. The work itself was probably written toward the end of the 16th century. From these…

Jiaxing, city, northern Zhejiang sheng (province), eastern China. Jiaxing is a communications centre in the southern Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) delta, situated to the southeast of Lake Tai on the Grand Canal, north of the port of Hangzhou and on the railway between Hangzhou and Shanghai. It is

London 1948 Olympic Games, athletic festival held in London that took place July 29–August 14, 1948. The London Games were the 11th occurrence of the modern Olympic Games. Despite limited preparation time and after much debate over the need for a sports festival at a time when many countries were

Sarajevo 1984 Olympic Winter Games, athletic festival held in Sarajevo, Yugos., that took place Feb. 8–19, 1984. The Sarajevo Games were the 14th occurrence of the Winter Olympic Games. The awarding of the 14th Winter Olympics to Sarajevo (now in Bosnia and Herzegovina) caught many by surprise,

Xiwangmu, in Daoist mythology of China, queen of the immortals in charge of female genies (spirits) who dwell in a fairyland called Xihua (“West Flower”). Her popularity has obscured Mugong, her counterpart and husband, a prince who watches over males in Donghua (“East Flower”) paradise. Tradition

Mexico City 1968 Olympic Games, athletic festival held in Mexico City that took place October 12–27, 1968. The Mexico City Games were the 16th occurrence of the modern Olympic Games. The 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City were the most politically charged Olympics since the 1936 Games in Berlin. Ten

Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Winter Games, athletic festival held in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S., that took place Feb. 8–24, 2002. The Salt Lake City Games were the 19th occurrence of the Winter Olympic Games. Scandal and fears of terrorism marked the 2002 Games long before the Olympic torch arrived

Xixabangma, one of the world’s highest mountains, reaching an elevation of 26,286 feet (8,012 metres) above sea level. It rises in the Himalayas in the southern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, southwestern China, near the Nepal border. The Trisuli River cuts a gorge to the west of the

Xi Xia, kingdom of the Tibetan-speaking Tangut tribes that was established in 1038 and flourished until 1227. It was located in what are now the northwestern Chinese provinces of Gansu and Shaanxi. Occupying the area along the trade route between Central Asia and Europe, the Tangut were content

Sino-Tibetan languages: Tibeto-Burman languages: Xixia (Tangut), and other languages. The Tibetan writing system (which dates from the 7th century) and the Burmese (dating from the 11th century) are derived from the Indo-Aryan (Indic) tradition. The Xixia system (developed in the 11th–13th century in northwestern China) was based on the…

Xixabangma, one of the world’s highest mountains, reaching an elevation of 26,286 feet (8,012 metres) above sea level. It rises in the Himalayas in the southern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, southwestern China, near the Nepal border. The Trisuli River cuts a gorge to the west of the

Chinese literature: Drama: …Guan’s contemporary, wrote Xixiangji (Romance of the Western Chamber), based on a popular Tang prose romance about the amorous exploits of the poet Yuan Zhen, renamed Zheng Sheng in the play. Besides its literary merits and its influence on later drama, it is notable for its length, two or…

Ye Ting was an outstanding Chinese military leader. Ye is thought to have been of peasant origin, but he was educated at the Baoding Military Academy, from which he graduated in 1918. He joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1924 and was commander of a vanguard unit on the Northern Expedition

Journey to the West, foremost Chinese comic novel, written by Wu Cheng’en, a novelist and poet of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). The novel is based on the actual 7th-century pilgrimage of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang (602–664) to India in search of sacred texts. The story itself was already a part of

African music: Musical bows: …with a friction stick, the xizambi of the Tsonga has serrations along the stave that are scraped with a rattle stick, and the Sotho lesiba (like the gora of the Khoekhoe) is sounded by exhaling and inhaling across a piece of quill connecting the string to the stave. Bows with…

Tibet, historic region and autonomous region of China that is often called “the roof of the world.” It occupies a vast area of plateaus and mountains in Central Asia, including Mount Everest (Qomolangma [or Zhumulangma] Feng; Tibetan: Chomolungma). It is bordered by the Chinese provinces of Qinghai

China: The struggle for central authority: Yizong was succeeded by Xizong (reigned 873–888), a boy of 11 who was the choice of the palace eunuchs. Prior to his ascension, Henan had repeatedly suffered serious floods. In addition, a wave of uprisings by farmers began in 874, following a terrible drought. The most formidable of them…

Tianqi was the reign name (niaohao) of the 16th and penultimate emperor (reigned 1620–27) of the Ming dynasty, under whose rule the infamous eunuch Wei Zhongxian (1568–1627) dominated the government while the dynasty disintegrated. Ascending the throne at the age of 15, the Tianqi emperor preferred

sirocco, warm, humid wind occurring over the northern Mediterranean Sea and southern Europe, where it blows from the south or southeast and brings uncomfortably humid air. The sirocco is produced on the east sides of low-pressure centres that travel eastward over the southern Mediterranean. It

XML, a document formatting language used for some World Wide Web pages. XML began to be developed in the 1990s because HTML (hypertext markup language), the basic format for Web pages, does not allow the definition of new text elements; that is, it is not extensible. XML is a simplified form of

Web script: In particular, the XMLHttpRequest command enables asynchronous data requests from the server without requiring the server to resend the entire Web page. This approach, or “philosophy,” of programming is called Ajax (asynchronous JavaScript and XML).

XMM-Newton, European Space Agency (ESA) satellite that observes celestial X-ray sources. It was launched in 1999 and was named after English physicist Isaac Newton. XMM-Newton is one of the largest European science satellites. It is 10 metres (33 feet) long, its solar arrays span 16 metres (52

synthetic biology: BioBricks and xeno-nucleic acids: These molecules, known as xeno-nucleic acids (XNAs), cannot be replicated by the enzyme DNA polymerase, which catalyzes the synthesis of DNA. Instead, their replication requires specially engineered enzymes, the first of which that were capable of faithfully transcribing DNA into the desired XNA product were reported in 2012.

Yves Béhar: Béhar’s design for the XO-3 tablet, a rugged energy-efficient sub-$100 computer, was unveiled in 2012 as the next generation of computers for the OLPC project. Although the working tablet was criticized for not being as slim and sleek as prototype renderings had suggested it would be, it did boast…

Nezahualcóyotl: …same year the government built Xochiaca Dam to the north to provide flood protection in the Lake Texcoco zone and authorized the sale of parcels of land there at very low prices. Thousands of people were attracted, but problems soon arose, as the lots were sold without provision for public…

Xochicalco, fortified ancient city known for its impressive ruins. It is located on the top of a large hill and parts of surrounding hills near Cuernavaca, in Morelos state, Mexico. Xochicalco was built after the fall of Teotihuacán primarily during the 8th and 9th centuries ad. Its ruins reveal

Xochimilco, district of Mexico City and delegación (legation), central Distrito Federal (Federal District), central Mexico. It lies at 7,461 feet (2,274 metres) above sea level in the Valley of Mexico, on Lake Xochimilco. The name Xochimilco is a combination of the Nahuatl words xochitl and milli

axolotl: …species is found only in Lake Xochimilco, within Mexico City, where it is classified as a critically endangered species. The name axolotl is also applied to any full-grown larva of Ambystoma tigrinum (tiger salamander) that has not yet lost its external gills.

Xochiquetzal, Aztec goddess of beauty, sexual love, and household arts, who is also associated with flowers and plants. According to Aztec mythology, she came from Tamoanchán, the verdant paradise of the west. Originally the wife of Tlaloc, the rain god, she was abducted for her beauty by

Martha Graham: Early life and works: …them into an Aztec ballet, Xochitl. The dance was a tremendous success both in vaudeville and in concert performance and made her a Denishawn star.

cocoa: History of use: …molinet, producing the beverage called xocoatl (from Nahuatl words meaning “bitter water”).

printing: Three-dimensional printing (1960s): …of imperceptible parallel strips (Xograph process). On account of these strips, each eye, looking at the print from a different angle, sees only one image. The three-dimensional illusion is produced when this binocular vision is interpreted by the brain.

Mexican hairless, breed of dog that is probably descended from hairless Chinese or African dogs that were taken by Spanish traders to Mexico in the late 16th century. A rather long-legged dog, the Mexican hairless comes in three sizes: toy, which stands 11 to 12 inches (28 to 30.5 cm) and weighs 9

Quetzalcóatl: With his companion Xolotl, a dog-headed god, he was said to have descended to the underground hell of Mictlan to gather the bones of the ancient dead. Those bones he anointed with his own blood, giving birth to the men who inhabit the present universe.

Mexico: The rise of the Aztecs: …Chichimec, under the leadership of Xólotl, established a capital in Tenayuca and later in Texcoco. Xólotl’s Chichimec joined forces with the remaining Toltec, who were firmly entrenched in Culhuacán. Apparently, this confederation led to a period of relative peace and cultural progress in the Valley of Mexico. During this time…

Lake Managua, lake in western Nicaragua, in a rift valley at an elevation of 128 feet (39 meters) above sea level. The lake, 65 feet (20 meters) in depth, is 36 miles (58 km) from east to west and 16 miles (25 km) from north to south; its area is 400 square miles (1,035 square km). Also known by

Kalahari Desert: San: …peoples, the Kung (!Kung), !xong, and G/wi tribes (the “! ” and “/” representing click sounds) were intensively studied. While each group was distinct, the G/wi of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve can be considered an example of the traditional San hunter-gatherer way of life.

rice bacterial blight: causal agent, the bacterium Xanthomonas oryzae pathovar oryzae (also referred to as Xoo), was identified in 1911, at that time having been named Bacillus oryzae. Thriving in warm, humid environments, bacterial blight has been observed in rice-growing regions of Asia, the western coast of Africa, Australia, Latin America, and…

Khoisan languages: Classification of the Khoisan languages: …an audio clip of the !Xóõ language). The extinct !Kwi dialects of the Southern group, such as | Xam, ǁXegwi, ǁNg, and |’Auni, were spoken in South Africa; of the !Kwi dialects, only ǂKhomani is still spoken, by a few individuals in Northern Cape province (click here for an audio…

throat-singing, a range of singing styles in which a single vocalist sounds more than one pitch simultaneously by reinforcing certain harmonics (overtones and undertones) of the fundamental pitch. In some styles, harmonic melodies are sounded above a fundamental vocal drone. Originally called

Xhosa, a group of mostly related peoples living primarily in Eastern Cape province, South Africa. They form part of the southern Nguni and speak mutually intelligible dialects of Xhosa, a Bantu language of the Niger-Congo family. In addition to the Xhosa proper, for whom the entire group was named,

Xhosa language, a Bantu language spoken by seven million people in South Africa, especially in Eastern province. Xhosa is a member of the Southeastern, or Nguni, subgroup of the Bantu group of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family. Other Southeastern Bantu languages are Zulu,

Ciskei, former republic (though never internationally recognized as such) and Bantustan that was inhabited principally by Xhosa-speaking people in Southern Africa. It bordered the Indian Ocean on the southeast and was bounded by the Republic of South Africa on the southwest, northwest, and

the Jayhawks: …consciously democratized its approach on XOXO (2020), on which O’Reagan and Grotberg, who had long provided distinctive harmony vocals, shared lead vocal and songwriting responsibilities with Louris. In 2021 Louris released his second solo album, Jump for Joy.

xeroderma pigmentosum, rare, recessively inherited skin condition in which resistance to sunlight and other radiation beyond the violet end of the spectrum is lacking. On exposure to such radiation the skin erupts into numerous pigmented spots, resembling freckles, which tend to develop into

surface analysis: X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy: Since the binding energies of the electrons emitted through XPS are discrete and atoms of different elements have different characteristic electron-binding energies, the emitted electron beam can provide a simple method of elemental analysis. The specificity of XPS is very good, since…

geology: Chemistry of the Earth: …follows: The X-ray fluorescent (XRF) spectrometer excites atoms with a primary X-ray beam and causes secondary (or fluorescent) X-rays to be emitted. Each element produces a diagnostic X-radiation, the intensity of which is measured. This intensity is proportional to the concentration of the element in the rock, and so…

Bell X-1, U.S. rocket-powered supersonic research airplane built by Bell Aircraft Corporation, the first aircraft to exceed the speed of sound in level flight. On October 14, 1947, an X-1 launched from the bomb bay of a B-29 bomber and piloted by U.S. Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager over the Mojave

new wave: and Elvis Costello; Squeeze and XTC, whose songs were sophisticated and infectious; ska revivalists such as Madness and the Specials; genre-hopping Joe Jackson; synthesizer bands such as Human League, Heaven 17, and A Flock of Seagulls; and the so-called New Romantics,

xu, in Chinese Daoism, a state of equilibrium through which one becomes receptive to and attuned with the transforming experience of which one is a part. It is characterized by an unself-conscious sense of continuity with one’s immediate context. This transforming experience is called dao.

Xu Beihong was an influential Chinese artist and art educator who, in the first half of the 20th century, argued for the reformation of Chinese art through the incorporation of lessons from the West. Xu was first taught art in his childhood by his father, Xu Dazhang, a locally known portrait

Xu Da was a general who helped the founder and first emperor of the Ming dynasty, Hongwu (reigned 1368–98), to overthrow the Yuan (or Mongol) dynasty (1206–1368). Xu joined the future emperor’s rebel band in 1353 and became the leading general, engineering the capture of the capital at Beijing so

Yang Hui: …Surveying and Analogous Categories”), and Xu gu zhai qi suan fa (1275; “Selection of Strange Mathematical Methods in Continuation of Antiquity”). A collected edition (1378) of these works was transmitted farther to the east, where it was particularly influential. In Korea it was reprinted during the reign of Sejong in…

China: The anti-foreign movement and the second Opium War (Arrow War): …and replaced with the less-compliant Xu Guangjin. As the promised date neared, the Cantonese demonstrated against British entry. Finally, the British yielded, and the anti-foreigners won a victory despite the fact that the Beijing court conceded a “temporary entrance” into the city.

Xu Guangqi was an official of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), and the most influential Chinese convert to Christianity before the 20th century. Xu obtained his jinshi degree, the highest level in the civil-service examination, in 1604 and then studied with Matteo Ricci, the noted Italian Jesuit

Xu Heng was a Chinese neo-Confucian thinker who became the leading scholar in the court of the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan (1215–94). The Mongols reunited China after the fall of the Southern Song dynasty in 1279. After this event the intellectual dynamism of the South profoundly affected intellectual

Daoism: The Maoshan Revelations: …court, and his youngest son, Xu Hui, were the principal beneficiaries of an extensive new Daoist revelation. A visionary in the Xus’ service, Yang Xi, was honoured with the visits of a group of perfected Immortals (zhenren) from the heaven of Shangqing (“Supreme Purity”), an improvement on the Taiqing heaven…

China: Rise of the empress Wuhou: …of the ruling class under Xu Jingye raised a serious rebellion at Yangzhou in the south, but this was speedily put down. The empress instituted a reign of terror among the members of the Tang royal family and officials, employing armies of agents and informers. Fear overshadowed the life of…

Daoism: The Maoshan Revelations: Xu Mi, an official at the imperial court, and his youngest son, Xu Hui, were the principal beneficiaries of an extensive new Daoist revelation. A visionary in the Xus’ service, Yang Xi, was honoured with the visits of a group of perfected Immortals (zhenren) from…

Chinese languages: Qin dynasty standardization: …dictionary Shuowen jiezi, compiled by Xu Shen about ad 100. This work contains 9,353 characters, a number that certainly exceeds that which it was or ever became necessary to know offhand. Still, a great proliferation of characters took place at special times and for special purposes. The Guangyun dictionary of…

Xu Wei was a colourful figure in the history of Chinese painting who is known for having been a child prodigy, bureaucrat, apparent madman, and painter. As a young man, Xu repeatedly failed to pass civil service examinations. During the 1550s and ’60s he did succeed in gaining a reputation as a

Chinese painting: Flower painting: His great rival, Xu Xi, working for Li Houzhu in Nanjing, first drew his flowers in ink in a bold, free manner suggestive of the draft script, caoshu, adding a little colour afterward. Both men established standards that were followed for centuries afterward. Because of its reliance on…

Xu Yue was a Chinese astronomer and mathematician. Xu was a disciple of Liu Hong (c. 129–210), an influential government astronomer and mathematician. Apparently, Xu never held any official government position, yet his expertise was highly esteemed by official astronomers who invited his

Xu Yuhua is a Chinese chess player who was the women’s world champion (2006–08). In 1998 Xu won the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) Asian Women’s Chess Championship, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which earned her the Woman Grandmaster (WGM) title. Xu won the first biennial FIDE

Xu Zhimo was a Chinese poet who strove to loosen Chinese poetry from its traditional forms and to reshape it under the influences of Western poetry and the vernacular Chinese language. After graduating from Peking University, Xu went to the United States in 1918 to study economics and political

Xu Zhimo was a Chinese poet who strove to loosen Chinese poetry from its traditional forms and to reshape it under the influences of Western poetry and the vernacular Chinese language. After graduating from Peking University, Xu went to the United States in 1918 to study economics and political

hsüan, common term in most forms of Chinese religion and philosophy that connotes a hidden or occult dimension to some aspect of experience or reality. First used metaphysically in the Tao-te ching, it is an idea that is given mystical significance in many aspects of later Taoist and Buddhist

Xuancheng: …famous throughout China for its Xuan paper—a special type used for painting—made from the bark of the blue sandalwood tree, which is grown locally. Xuancheng is linked with Wuhu by road. In the 1980s two new railway lines were built—one southward from Wuhu via Xuancheng into Jiangxi province and the…

Xuanzang was a Buddhist monk and Chinese pilgrim to India who translated the sacred scriptures of Buddhism from Sanskrit into Chinese and founded in China the Buddhist Consciousness Only school. His fame rests mainly on the volume and diversity of his translations of the Buddhist sutras and on the

Xuancheng, city, southeastern Anhui sheng (province), China. It is the natural centre of the basin north of the Huang Mountains and lies on the route from Nanjing (Jiangsu province) and Wuhu south to Shexian and to Jiangxi province. A settlement was founded on the present site in 590. In 592

China: The dynastic succession: The Hongxi (reigned 1424–25), Xuande (1425–35), and Hongzhi (1487–1505) emperors were nevertheless able and conscientious rulers in the Confucian mode. The only serious disruption of the peace occurred in 1449 when the eunuch Wang Zhen led the Zhengtong emperor (first reign 1435–49) into a disastrous military campaign against the…