Matura diamond, colourless variety of the gemstone zircon

Ceylon ironwood, (Mesua ferrea), tropical tree (family Calophyllaceae), cultivated in tropical climates for its form, foliage, and fragrant flowers. The plant is native to the wet evergreen forests of India, Indochina, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), and Sumatra. It

Sri Lanka: Growth of nationalist power: …in 1919 to form the Ceylon National Congress, which united Sinhalese and Tamil organizations. In a series of proposals for constitutional reforms, the Congress called for an elected majority in the legislature, control of the budget, and partial control of the executive branch.

Sri Lanka: Ethnic composition: …Tamil segment comprises two groups—Sri Lankan Tamils (long-settled descendants from southeastern India) and Indian Tamils (recent immigrants from southeastern India, most of whom were migrant workers brought to Sri Lanka under British rule). Slightly more than one-eighth of the total population belongs to the former group. Muslims, who trace…

Li Ye: …he composed his main work, Ceyuan haijing (1248; “Sea Mirror of Circle Measurements”), which contains 170 problems based on one geometric diagram of a circular city wall circumscribed by a right-angled triangle. Each problem involves two men walking along various roads within the town in order to see one another…

kingfisher: euryzona), the Sulawesi kingfisher (Ceyx fallax), the brown-winged kingfisher (Pelargopsis amauropterus), and some of the paradise kingfishers (Tanysiptera) of New Guinea.

Paul Cézanne was a French painter, one of the greatest of the Post-Impressionists, whose works and ideas were influential in the aesthetic development of many 20th-century artists and art movements, especially Cubism. Cézanne’s art, misunderstood and discredited by the public during most of his

californium (Cf), synthetic chemical element of the actinoid series of the periodic table, atomic number 98. Not occurring in nature, californium (as the isotope californium-245) was discovered (1950) by American chemists Stanley G. Thompson, Kenneth Street, Jr., Albert Ghiorso, and Glenn T.

bat: Orientation: …or the frequency may be constant (CF) during part of the pulse, followed by a brief FM sweep; either FM or CF pulses may have high harmonic content. The pulse duration varies with the species and the situation. During cruising flight the pulses of the greater false vampire bat (Megaderma…

cystic fibrosis (CF), an inherited metabolic disorder, the chief symptom of which is the production of a thick, sticky mucus that clogs the respiratory tract and the gastrointestinal tract. Cystic fibrosis was not recognized as a separate disease until 1938 and was then classified as a childhood

Major League Soccer: United, Montreal Impact, New England Revolution (based near Boston), New York City FC, New York Red Bulls, Orlando City SC, Philadelphia Union, Toronto FC. Western Conference: Colorado Rapids (based near Denver in Commerce City, Colorado), FC Dallas, Houston Dynamo,

electron tube: Crossed-field amplifiers: Crossed-field amplifiers (CFA) share several characteristics with magnetrons. Both contain a cylindrical cathode coaxial with an RF structure, and each of these tubes constitutes a diode in which a magnetic field is established perpendicular to an electric field between the cathode and the…

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), astronomical research institution headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., on the campus of Harvard University. The CfA was created in 1973 by reorganizing the Harvard College Observatory and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory under

Burkina Faso: Finance: Burkina Faso’s currency is the CFA (Communauté Financière Africaine) franc, which has been officially pegged to the euro. It is issued by the Central Bank of West African States, an agency of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, which consists of eight countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau,…

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (CFAT), American education research and policy centre, established (1905) in New York, New York, as the Carnegie Foundation with a $10 million gift by the steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. In 1906, under the leadership of its first president,

American football: Football in Canada: …top clubs formed their own Canadian Football Council (CFC) in 1956, dropping the name rugby altogether. The CFC became the Canadian Football League (CFL) in 1958 and withdrew from the CRU, with the four privately owned eastern clubs becoming the Eastern Football Conference in 1959 and the five community-run Western…

chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), any of several organic compounds composed of carbon, fluorine, and chlorine. When CFCs also contain hydrogen in place of one or more chlorines, they are called hydrochlorofluorocarbons, or HCFCs. CFCs are also called Freons, a trademark of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours &

chlorofluorocarbon: Some of these compounds, especially trichlorofluoromethane (CFC-11) and dichlorodifluoromethane (CFC-12), found use as aerosol-spray propellants, solvents, and foam-blowing agents. They are well suited for these and other applications because they are nontoxic and nonflammable and can be readily converted from a liquid to a gas and vice versa.

chlorofluorocarbon: …compounds, especially trichlorofluoromethane (CFC-11) and dichlorodifluoromethane (CFC-12), found use as aerosol-spray propellants, solvents, and foam-blowing agents. They are well suited for these and other applications because they are nontoxic and nonflammable and can be readily converted from a liquid to a gas and vice versa.

Del Monte Foods: …canners merged under the name California Fruit Canners Association. In 1916 CFCA drew in two more canners and a food brokerage house, incorporated itself as California Packing Corporation, or Calpak, and began marketing its products under the Del Monte brand. The new company then operated more than 60 canneries, some…

Republic of the Congo: Transportation and telecommunications: The major Congo-Ocean Railway line runs for about 320 miles (520 km) from Brazzaville west through Nkayi and Loubomo to Pointe-Noire. There is also a 175-mile (280-km) branch line from Favre north to Mbinda on the Gabon border. These railways offer important transshipment services for neighbouring countries,…

Vogue: History: In 2003 she and the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) jointly inaugurated the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, which offered financial support and business mentoring to the “next generation” of American fashion designers.

French Democratic Confederation of Labour, French trade union federation that evolved from the French Confederation of Christian Workers (Confédération Française des Travailleurs Chrétiens, or CFTC). Drawing some of its principles from the Roman Catholic church when it was founded in 1919, the CFTC

20th-century international relations: From skepticism to reality: In the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, the NATO and Soviet sides each pledged to limit themselves to 20,000 battle tanks and 20,000 artillery tubes, 6,800 combat aircraft, 30,000 other armoured combat vehicles, and 2,000 attack helicopters. The CSCE member states signed the Charter of Paris for…

fluorescent lamp: In newer, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), in which the fluorescent tube is coiled into a shape similar to an incandescent bulb, the ballast is nested into the cup at the base of the bulb assembly and is made of electronic components that reduce or eliminate the buzzing…

Canadian Football League (CFL), major Canadian professional gridiron football organization, formed in 1956 as the Canadian Football Council, created by the Western Interprovincial Football Union (WIFU) and the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union (IRFU). Though the IRFU still referred to their

Total SA, French oil company that ranks as one of the world’s major petroleum corporations. It engages in the exploration, refining, transport, and marketing of petroleum and petrochemical products. The firm also pursues business interests in coal mining, nuclear energy, and alternative energy

College Football Playoff (CFP), annual series of U.S. college football postseason bowl games (2014– ) that determines the national champion of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly known as Division I-A) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The original format featured 4

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is a U.S. government agency established by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (also called the Dodd-Frank Act) in the wake of the 2007–08 financial crisis. The role of the CFPB has been to review the practices of

Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), independent nonpartisan think tank and publisher that promotes understanding of international relations and foreign policy. The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) was founded in 1921. It does not take policy positions but instead sponsors discussion, analysis,

myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), condition characterized by persistent debilitating fatigue that has no identifiable cause. ME/CFS is a remarkably complex illness and remains incompletely understood. These factors complicate its accurate diagnosis and have raised

chemical bonding: Crystal field theory: …Δ and is called the crystal field splitting energy (CFSE). This energy is the parameter that is used to correlate a variety of spectroscopic, thermodynamic, and magnetic properties of complexes.

French Confederation of Christian Workers, French labour-union federation that was founded in 1919 by Roman Catholic workers who opposed both the syndicalist and communist movements of the day. The confederation, based on Catholic social and anti-Marxist principles, rejected the theory of class

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), agency of the U.S. federal government charged with regulating commodity and financial futures and options contracts and markets. The CFTC protects market users and the public from fraud, manipulation, and abusive practices related to sales of these

biological determinism: Multifaceted diseases: …the defective gene, known as CFTR, from both parents. More than 1,000 mutation sites have been identified in CFTR, and most have been related to different manifestations of the disease. However, individuals with the same genotype can show remarkably different phenotypes. Some will show early onset, others later onset; in…

nucleic acid: Methylation: …found in key genes at CG dinucleotides.

CG-4, the principal U.S.-built glider of World War II. It was used in airborne operations to deliver assault troops to their objectives in formed groups and to deliver weapons, light artillery pieces, and vehicles too bulky or heavy to be dropped by parachute. It was also used to deliver supplies.

CG-4, the principal U.S.-built glider of World War II. It was used in airborne operations to deliver assault troops to their objectives in formed groups and to deliver weapons, light artillery pieces, and vehicles too bulky or heavy to be dropped by parachute. It was also used to deliver supplies.

chronic granulomatous disease, a group of rare inherited diseases characterized by the inability of certain white blood cells called phagocytes to destroy invading microorganisms. Individuals born with this defect are vulnerable to many bacterial and fungal infections, particularly Staphylococcus

in vitro fertilization: Preimplantation genetic diagnosis: Another technique, known as comparative genomic hybridization (CGH), may be used in conjunction with PGD to identify chromosomal abnormalities. CGH is more sensitive than FISH and is capable of detecting a variety of small chromosomal rearrangements, deletions, and duplications. It may also be useful in reducing the chance of…

computer animation, form of animated graphics using computers that replaced both “stop-motion” animation of scale-model puppets and hand-drawn animation of drawings. Efforts to lessen the labour and costs of animation have led to simplification and computerization. Computers can be used in every

common gateway interface (CGI), a standard that allows external applications located on personal computers or other devices to interact with information servers on the Internet. Developed in the 1990s, CGI is still used, but other methods such as PHP scripts are also utilized. CGI programs are

General Italian Confederation of Labour , Italy’s largest trade-union federation. It was organized in Rome in 1944 as a nationwide labour federation to replace the dissolved Fascist syndicates. Its founders, who included communists, social democrats, and Christian Democrats, intended it to be the

PDE-5 inhibitor: …that causes the formation of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP); cGMP in turn causes the smooth muscle of the corpus cavernosum to relax, allowing blood to flow into the penis and produce an erection. PDE-5 breaks down cGMP, and so the PDE-5 inhibitors, by blocking the action of the enzyme, maintain…

International System of Units: Adopted by the 11th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) in 1960, it is abbreviated SI in all languages.

Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO), U.S. satellite, one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) “Great Observatories” satellites, which is designed to identify the sources of celestial gamma rays. In operation from 1991 to 1999, it was named in honour of Arthur Holly Compton,

viscosity: …of kinematic viscosity in the centimetre-gram-second (CGS) system, called the stokes in Britain and the stoke in the U.S., is named for the British physicist Sir George Gabriel Stokes. The stoke is defined as one centimetre squared per second.

General Confederation of Labour, French labour union federation. Formed in 1895, the CGT united in 1902 with the syndicalist-oriented Federation of Labour Exchanges (Fédération des Bourses du Travail). In its early years the CGT was racked by ideological divisions between socialist, syndicalist

General Confederation of Labour, major labour-union federation in Argentina. The CGT was formed in 1930. Its leadership was contested by socialist, anarchist, and syndicalist factions from 1935 until the early 1940s, when it came under the control of Juan Perón, an ambitious Cabinet minister. When

General Confederation of Labour–Workers’ Force, French labour-union federation that is most influential among white-collar civil servants and clerical workers. It was formed in 1948 after a split within the General Confederation of Labour (Confédération Générale du Travail, or CGT). In 1947 the

General Confederation of Labour: …unions responded by forming the Unitary General Confederation of Labour (Confédération Générale du Travail Unitaire; CGTU), whose politics came to be dominated by Moscow. The CGTU rejoined the CGT in 1936 when communist parties and unions formed popular fronts with socialist organizations in joint opposition of fascism. By supporting the…

continuum hypothesis, statement of set theory that the set of real numbers (the continuum) is in a sense as small as it can be. In 1873 the German mathematician Georg Cantor proved that the continuum is uncountable—that is, the real numbers are a larger infinity than the counting numbers—a key

Korean art: Painting: Cho Sŏk-chin, and Ch’ae Yong-sin were among the more active professional painters. Their paintings were mannered and exhibited an academic style lacking individuality. They painted many excellent portraits of Korean dignitaries in a style that blended the indigenous with European-style shading.

Qaidam Basin, northeastern section of the Plateau of Tibet, occupying the northwestern part of Qinghai province, western China. The basin is bounded on the south by the towering Kunlun Mountains—with many peaks in the western part exceeding 20,000 feet (6,000 meters) above sea level—and on the

Chan painting, school of Chinese painting inspired by the “meditative” school of Buddhism called, in Chinese, Chan (Japanese: Zen). Although Chan originated in China with an Indian monk, Bodhidharma, it came to be the most Chinese of Buddhist schools. The ideals of the school later frequently found

Yangtze River, longest river in both China and Asia and third longest river in the world, with a length of 3,915 miles (6,300 km). Its basin, extending for some 2,000 miles (3,200 km) from west to east and for more than 600 miles (1,000 km) from north to south, drains an area of 698,265 square

Yangtze River floods, floods of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) in central and eastern China that have occurred periodically and often have caused considerable destruction of property and loss of life. Among the most recent major flood events are those of 1870, 1931, 1954, 1998, 2010, and 2020. The

Yangtze Plain, series of alluvial plains of uneven width along the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) and its major tributaries, beginning east of Yichang (Hubei province), east-central China. The middle Yangtze Plain covers parts of northeastern Hunan, southeastern Hubei, and north-central Jiangxi

Chang’e, the Chinese moon goddess whose loveliness is celebrated in poems and novels. She sought refuge in the moon when her consort, Hou Yi (the Lord Archer), discovered she had stolen the drug of immortality given to him by the gods. Hou Yi’s pursuit was impeded by the Hare, who would not let the

Chang’an, ancient site, north-central China. Formerly the capital of the Han, Sui, and Tang dynasties, it is located near the present-day city of

Ch’ang-ch’un was a Taoist monk and alchemist who journeyed from China across the heartland of Asia to visit Genghis Khan, the famed Mongol conqueror, at his encampment north of the Hindu Kush mountains. The narrative of Ch’ang-ch’un’s expedition, written by his disciple-companion Li Chih-chang,

Changchun, city and provincial capital of Jilin sheng (province), China. The area around the city was originally the grazing ground of a Mongol banner (army division). In 1796 the Mongol duke requested and was granted permission from the Qing (Manchu) court to open this area to colonization by

South Manchurian Railway, railway line built to connect what were then the South Manchurian sea towns of Lüshun (Port Arthur) and Dalian (Dairen) on the Liaodong Peninsula (now combined as the city of Dalian) with the Chinese Eastern Railway running across Manchuria (now Northeast China) from Chita

Changzhi, city in southeastern Shanxi sheng (province), China. It is situated in the Lu’an plain—a basin surrounded by the western highlands of the Taihang Mountains, watered by the upper streams of the Zhuozhang River. It is a communication centre; to the northeast a route and a railway via

Changzhou, city, southern Jiangsu sheng (province), China. It was a part of the commandery (jun; a military district) of Kuaiji under the Qin (221–206 bce) and Han (206 bce–220 ce) dynasties and, after 129 ce, a part of Wu Commandery. It first became an independent administrative unit under the Xi

Changbai Mountains, mountain range forming the border between the Chinese provinces of Liaoning and Jilin and North Korea. The name in Chinese means “Forever White Mountains”; the Korean name means “White-Topped Mountains.” Consisting of a series of parallel ranges with a general

Changsha, city and capital of Hunan sheng (province), China. It is on the Xiang River 30 miles (50 km) south of Dongting Lake and has excellent water communications to southern and southwestern Hunan. The area has long been inhabited, and Neolithic sites have been discovered in the district since

Changshu, city in southern Jiangsu sheng (province), China. Changshu is situated in the coastal plain some 22 miles (35 km) north of Suzhou, and it first became an independent county in 540 ce under the Nan (Southern) Liang dynasty (502–557). From Sui times (581–618) it was a subordinate county

Changde, city in northern Hunan sheng (province), China. Situated on the north bank of the Yuan River above its junction with the Dongting Lake system, Changde is a natural centre of the northwest Hunan plain. In historical times it was also a centre from which governments controlled the mountain

Qamdo, mountainous area in the far eastern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, western China. It borders the provinces of Qinghai, Yunnan, and Sichuan to the north, east, and southeast, respectively. Myanmar (Burma) and the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh lie to the south. In Qamdo the great

Korean literature: Transitional literature: 1894–1910: …sinsosŏl (“new novel”) and the ch’angga (“song”). These transitional literary forms were stimulated by the adaptation of foreign literary works and the rewriting of traditional stories in the vernacular. The ch’angga, which evolved from hymns sung at churches and schools in the 1890s, became popular upon the publication of the…

Cho Sok is a noted Korean painter of the Chosŏn dynasty (1392–1910) famous for his depiction of birds. A scholar by training, Cho was offered numerous official posts but always declined, preferring to spend his days painting. Magpies were his favourite subject, so much so that almost any painting

Chaozhou, city, eastern Guangdong sheng (province), China. It is located at the head of the delta of the Han River, some 25 miles (40 km) north of Shantou (Swatow). Chaozhou—having good communications with northern Guangdong, Fujian, and Jiangxi provinces via the Han River system—has been an

Chaobai River, river in Hebei province and Beijing and Tianjin municipalities, northern China. The Chaobai originates in metropolitan Beijing at the confluence of its two main tributaries, the Chao and Bai ("White") rivers, about 2 miles (3 km) south of the town of Miyun and 10 miles (16 km) south

China: Yuan’s attempts to become emperor: In December, Chen Qimei (Ch’en Ch’i-mei) and Hu Hanmin (Hu Han-min), two followers of Sun Yat-sen (who was actively scheming against Yuan from his exile in Japan), began a movement against the monarchy. More significant was a military revolt in Yunnan, led by Gen. Cai E (Ts’ai O; a…

Chen Jiongming was a Chinese military leader whose support allowed Sun Yat-sen to establish in Guangzhou (Canton; 1920) the revolutionary government that later spawned both the Chinese Nationalist and the Chinese communist movements. Originally a Nationalist revolutionary, Chen by 1918 had become

Shiing-shen Chern was a Chinese American mathematician and educator whose researches in differential geometry developed ideas that now play a major role in mathematics and in mathematical physics. Chern graduated from Nankai University in Tianjin, China, in 1930; he received an M.S. degree in 1934

Chen Hongshou was a Chinese artist noted for his curious, masterfully executed paintings of ancient personalities. His works suggest the disquiet of the artist caught between the decline of the Ming dynasty and the conquest of the foreign Manchus, who established the Qing dynasty. Chen’s father

Chen Yi was one of the outstanding Chinese communist military commanders of the 1930s and ’40s. He was a party leader and served as foreign minister from 1958 to 1972. Chen Yi studied and worked in France from 1919 to 1921 under a worker-student program sponsored by the Chinese government. Upon his

Chinese literature: Literature in Taiwan after 1949: …Execution of Mayor Yin) by Ch’en Jo-hsi, are given broad exposure.

China: The tide begins to shift: …Hubei, northeast of Hankou; and Chen Geng had another army in Henan west of the Beiping-Hankou railway. These groups cut Nationalist lines of communication, destroyed protecting outposts along the Longhai and Ping-Han lines, and isolated cities.

Chen Boda was a revolutionist and propagandist who became the chief interpreter of the “thought of Mao Zedong” and was briefly one of the five most powerful leaders of modern China. Later he was prosecuted for his role in the Cultural Revolution (1966–76). Born into a peasant family, Chen

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

Chen Shui-bian is a lawyer and politician who served as president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2000 to 2008. He was a prominent leader of the pro-independence movement that sought to establish statehood for Taiwan. Born into a poor farming family, Chen won a scholarship to National Taiwan

Chen Duxiu was a founder of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP; 1921) and a major leader in developing the cultural basis of revolution in China. He was removed from his position of leadership in 1927 and was expelled from the Communist Party in 1929. Chen was born to a wealthy family. His father,

Shingon, branch of Vajrayana (Tantric, or Esoteric) Buddhism that has had a considerable following in Japan since its introduction from China, where it was called Zhenyan (“True Word”), in the 9th century. Shingon may be considered an attempt to reach the eternal wisdom of the Buddha that was not

Cheng Hao was a Chinese philosopher who, with his brother, Cheng Yi, developed Neo-Confucianism into an organized philosophy. Cheng Hao’s idealist school emphasized pure thought and introspection, while his brother’s rationalist school focused on illumination through investigation. Cheng was

Cheng Huang, in Chinese mythology, the City God, or the spiritual magistrate and guardian deity of a particular Chinese city. Because dead spirits reputedly informed the god of all good and evil deeds within his jurisdiction, it was popularly believed that devout prayers offered in Cheng Huang’s

Cheng Yi was a Chinese philosopher who influenced the development of the rationalist school of Neo-Confucianism. His statement “Principle is one but its manifestations are many” stressed the importance of investigation and contrasted with the introspective idealist Neo-Confucian philosophy of his

Lu Jiuyuan: …the Learning of Principle (lixue), often called the Cheng-Zhu school after its leading philosophers, Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi.

Jōjitsu, minor school of Buddhist philosophy introduced into Japan from China during the Nara period (710–784). The school holds that neither the self nor the elements that make up the mental and material world have any permanent, changeless reality and that they therefore cannot be said to have

Satyasiddhi-śāstra, (Sanskrit: True Attainment Treatise), treatise in 202 chapters on the doctrine of the void (śūnya). The work stands as a philosophical bridge between Hīnayāna, or Theravāda, Buddhism, the form predominant in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) and Southeast Asia, and Mahāyāna Buddhism, the

Chengde, city in northern Hebei sheng (province), China. The city is situated in the mountains separating the North China Plain from the plateaus of Inner Mongolia, approximately 110 miles (180 km) northeast of Beijing, on the Re River (Re He; “Hot River”), a small tributary of the Luan River. The

Chengde Uplands, region of extremely complex and rugged topography in northeastern China. It encompasses portions of southwestern Liaoning province, northeastern Hubei province, and southeastern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The area is mostly composed of Precambrian granites, gneiss, and

Chengdu, city and capital of Sichuan sheng (province), China. Chengdu, in central Sichuan, is situated on the fertile Chengdu Plain, the site of Dujiangyan, one of China’s most ancient and successful irrigation systems, watered by the Min River. The system and nearby Mount Qingcheng, an early

China: Sino-Tibetan of China: The second is the western variant, also known as the Chengdu or Upper Yangtze variant; this is spoken in the Sichuan Basin and in adjoining parts of southwestern China. The third is the southern variant, also known as the Nanjing or Lower Yangtze variant, which is spoken in northern…

Qi, one of the largest and most powerful of the many small states into which China was divided between about 771 and 221 bc. In the 7th and 6th centuries bc, Qi, which was located on the extreme eastern edge of the North China Plain in what is now Shandong and Hebei provinces, began to increase in

Inner Mongolia: Constitutional framework: …administrative units are subdivided as banners (qi) or autonomous banners (zizhiqi) in the Mongolian and some other minority group areas and counties (xian), county-level cities (xianjishi), and districts under the municipalities (shixiaqu) in the predominantly Han area.

Banner system, the military organization used by the Manchu tribes of Manchuria (now Northeast China) to conquer and control China in the 17th century. The Banner system was developed by the Manchu leader Nurhachi (1559–1626), who in 1601 organized his warriors into four companies of 300 men each.

qi, in Chinese philosophy, medicine, and religion, the psychophysical energies that permeate the universe. Early Daoist philosophers and alchemists, who regarded qi as a vital force inhering in the breath and bodily fluids, developed techniques to alter and control the movement of qi within the