World History in Credo: Asia

Chang Jiang or Yangtze Kiang; longest river of China and Asia, and third longest in the world, flowing about 6,300 km/3,900 mi from Qinghai on the Tibetan Plateau to the Yellow Sea. It is a major commercial waterway and, with its tributaries, is navigable for 30,000 km/18,640 mi; Yichang is considered the head of navigation, but ocean-going vessels can reach inland as far as Wuhan.

Mandarin Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo [central glorious people's united country; i.e., people's republic], officially People's Republic of China, country. Since the 2d millennium B.C. a unique and fairly uniform culture has spread over almost all of China. Today, one in five people in the world lives in China. This vast country is almost the same size as the whole of Europe, and is the third largest country in the world after Russia and Canada. China has a 4,000-mi (6,400-km) coast that fronts on the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea.

Chinese Dynasties from c. 2205 B.C.E. to the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912).

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
(475–221 BC) In Chinese history, a period in which small feuding kingdoms or fiefdoms struggled for supremacy.

Fortifications, c.1,500 mi (2,400 km) long, winding across N China from Gansu prov. to Hebei prov. on the Yellow Sea.

Two wars, the First Opium War (1839–42) and the Second Opium War (1856–60), waged by Britain against China to enforce the opening of Chinese ports to trade in opium. Opium from British India paid for Britain's imports from China, such as porcelain, silk, and, above all, tea.

Series of great political upheavals in China between 1911 and 1949 which eventually led to Communist Party rule and the establishment of the People's Republic of China.

Chinese statesman, founder and chairman (1949-76) of the People's Republic of China. Mao was a founder member of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921.

Paved open space in central Beijing (Peking), China, the largest public square in the world (area 0.4 sq km/0.14 sq mi). On 3–4 June 1989 more than 1,000 unarmed protesters were killed by government troops in a massacre that crushed China's emerging pro-democracy movement.

Jap. Nihon or Nippon, country, 145,833 sq mi (377,835 sq km), occupying an archipelago off the coast of E Asia. The capital is Tokyo, which, along with neighboring Yokohama, forms the world's most populous metropolitan region. Historically, the divine design of the empire—supposedly founded in 660 B.C. by the emperor Jimmu, a lineal descendant of the sun goddess and ancestor of the present emperor—was held as official dogma until 1945.

Language of uncertain origin that is spoken by more than 125 million people, most of whom live in Japan.

The samurai was the professional warrior class that ruled Japan for almost 700 years, from the end of the 12th until the middle of the 19th century.

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Aborigines of Japan who may be descended from a Caucasoid people who once lived in N Asia. More powerful invaders from the Asian mainland gradually forced the Ainu to retreat to the northern islands of Japan and Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands in what is now the Russian Far East.

It is the second largest, northernmost, and most sparsely populated of the major islands of Japan.

The largest of the four main islands of Japan, between the Pacific and the Sea of Japan; regarded as the Japanese mainland.

An island of SW Japan: the southernmost of Japan's four main islands, with over 300 surrounding small islands; coalfield and chemical industries.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Smallest of the four main islands of Japan, south of Honshu, east of Kyushu; area 18,800 sq km/7,250 sq mi; population (2000 est) 4,154,000.

The world's largest continent with about 3.3 billion people, nearly three fifths of the world's total population.

This region has 10 independent countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Geographical region covering the territory of five nation-states: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. These republics were part of the Soviet Union before gaining their independence in 1991.

Khmer Kampuchea, officially Kingdom of Cambodia, constitutional monarchy, 69,898 sq mi (181,035 sq km), SE Asia. Phnom Penh is the capital and largest city. Cambodia is bordered by Thailand on the west and north, by Laos on the north, by Vietnam on the east, and by the Gulf of Thailand on the south.

Country in southeast Asia, made up of 13,677 islands situated on or near the Equator, between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It is the world's fourth most populous country, surpassed only by China, India, and the USA.

Korean Hanguk or Choson, region and historic country, E Asia. A former country in E Asia (85,049 sq mi/220,277 sq km), now divided into two separate countries, North Korea and South Korea. A peninsula, 600 mi (966 km) long, Korea separates the Sea of Japan on the east from the Yellow Sea. On the south it is bounded by the Korea Strait (connecting the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea) and on the north its land boundaries with China and Russia.

Officially Lao People's Democratic Republic, republic, 91,428 sq mi (236,800 sq km), SE Asia. The capital and largest city is Vientiane. A landlocked nation, Laos is bordered by China on the north, by Vietnam on the east, by Cambodia on the south, and by Thailand and Myanmar on the west.

Independent federation in Southeast Asia. Malaysia consists of two parts: West Malaysia, also called Peninsular Malaysia or Malaya, 50,700 sq mi (131,313 sq km), on the Malay Peninsula.

Country in east-Central Asia, bounded north by Russia and south by China. Mongolia is a multiparty democracy with a dual executive of president and prime minister. Under its 1992 constitution it has a 76-member parliament.

Country in southeast Asia, off the tip of the Malay Peninsula.

Portuguese Formosa, officially Republic of China, island nation, 13,885 sq mi (35,961 sq km), in the Pacific Ocean, separated from the mainland of S China by the 100-mi-wide (161-km) Taiwan Strait.

Thai Prathet Thai [land of the free], officially Kingdom of Thailand, constitutional monarchy, 198,455 sq mi (514,000 sq km), Southeast Asia. Occupying a central position on the Southeast Asia peninsula, Thailand is bordered by Myanmar on the west and northwest, by Laos on the north and east, by Cambodia on the southeast, and by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia on the south.

Officially Socialist Republic of Vietnam, republic, 128,400 sq mi (332,642 sq km), Southeast Asia. Occupying the eastern coastline of the Southeast Asian peninsula, Vietnam is bounded by China on the north, by Laos and Cambodia on the west, and by the Gulf of Tonkin and the South China Sea on the east and south.

War from 1950 to 1953 between North Korea (supported by China) and South Korea, aided by the United Nations (the troops were mainly US). Considered the forgotten war by some because it fell between the “good” war, World War II, and the “bad” war, Vietnam—was the first time in the nuclear age when the United States committed its forces to combat.

War from 1954 to 1975 between communist North Vietnam and US-backed South Vietnam, in which North Vietnam aimed to conquer South Vietnam and unite the country as a communist state; North Vietnam was supported by communist rebels from South Vietnam, the Vietcong. Beginning in the aftermath of World War II and lasting into the 1970s, U.S. involvement in Vietnam, indeed throughout Southeast Asia, grew progressively from an advisory effort into a major war.

Major river of India and Bangladesh; length 2,510 km/1,560 mi. It drains a fertile and densely populated basin, approximately a quarter of the total area of India, and is the most sacred river for Hindus. The Ganges River flows eastward along the border separating the Himalayan complex and the flat expanse of the Indian subcontinent.

Ancient civilization that flourished from about 2500 B.C. to about 1500 B.C. in the valley of the Indus River and its tributaries.

Literary works written in Sanskrit constituting the main body of the classical literature of India.

Hindu religious and political leader and social reformer; advocate of passive resistance; leader of Indian self-government movement. Gandhi’s significance as a twentieth-century philosopher, pilgrim, world leader, and writer lies in his uncompromising reliance on ahimsa—the Hindi and Buddhist doctrine of nonviolence and restraint from harming all forms of life—as a moral force for reforming and transforming unjust established authority. Mobilized the largest nonviolent mass movement known in world history under the banner of satyagraha—the active pursuit of truth through love and nonviolence (ahimsa). Gandhi’s ideas of truth and justice have contributed immensely to the development of moral and political thought, and his demonstrations of the positive and revolutionary power of nonviolence had worldwide impact.