Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Welles, Orson, 1915–85, American actor, director, and producer, b. Kenosha, Wis. From childhood he evinced a precocious talent and lofty sense of self-assurance in theatrical matters. He began actin...

(Encyclopedia) clone, group of organisms, all of which are descended from a single individual through asexual reproduction, as in a pure cell culture of bacteria. Except for changes in the hereditary material that c...

(Encyclopedia) Nanjing nănˈkĭngˈ [key] [southern capital], city (1994 est. pop. 2,224,200), capital of Jiangsu prov., E central China, in a bend of the Chang (Yangtze) River. It has served at times in the past a...

(Encyclopedia) Soong so͝ong [key], Mandarin Song, Chinese family, prominent in public affairs. Soong Yao-ju or Charles Jones Soong, 1866–1918, graduated from Vanderbilt Univ. and, after returning to China (1886),...

(Encyclopedia) skyscraper, modern building of great height, constructed on a steel skeleton. The form originated in the United States. By convention, a skyscraper is a building that is used primarily for human h...

(Encyclopedia) Ai Weiwei īˈ wāwā [key], 1957–, Chinese artist, architect, filmmaker, and political activist. He is the son of poet Ai Ch'ing, who was internally exiled (1958–76) to work camps with his family...

(Encyclopedia) Chang yăngˈsēˈ, yängˈdzŭˈ [key], Mandarin Chang Jiang, longest river of China and of Asia, c.3,880 mi (6,245 km) long, rising in the Tibetan highlands, SW Qinghai prov., W China, and flowing g...

(Encyclopedia) Disney, Walt (Walter Elias Disney) dĭzˈnē [key], 1901–66, American movie producer and pioneer in animated cartoons, b. Chicago. He grew up in Missouri, in the small town of Marceline and in Kansa...

(Encyclopedia) Sino-Tibetan languages, family of languages spoken by over a billion people in central and SE Asia. This linguistic family is second only to the Indo-European stock in the number of its speakers. It i...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Pacific Ocean, largest and deepest ocean, c.70,000,000 sq mi (181,300,000 sq km), occupying about one third of the earth's surface; named by the explorer Ferdinand Magellan; the southern part i...