A-Z Browse

Previous Next

XIX Olympic Winter Games (Winter Olympics)
For a complete list of gold medal winners, see Table....
Xixabangma (mountain, China)
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 Ri...
Xixia (ancient kingdom, China)
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....
Xixia language
...a number of dialects and languages spoken in Tibet and the Himalayas. Burmic (Burmese in its widest application) includes Yi (Lolo), Hani, Lahu, Lisu, Kachin (Jingpo), Kuki-Chin, the obsolete 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;......
Xixiabangma Feng (mountain, China)
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 Ri...
“Xixiangji” (work by Wang Shifu)
...when she is widowed shortly after her marriage to a poor scholar and culminate in her execution for a crime she has not committed. Wang Shih-fu, Kuan’s contemporary, wrote Hsi-hsiang chi (Romance of the Western Chamber), based on a popular T’ang prose romance about the amorous exploits of the poet Yüan Chen, renamed Chang Chun-jui in the play. Besides i...
Xiyi (Chinese military leader)
outstanding Chinese military leader....
Xiyouji (novel by Wu Cheng’en)
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 ...
xizambi (musical instrument)
...bows are widespread. Most are sounded by plucking or striking the string, but the Xhosa umrubhe is bowed 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 ......
Xizang Zizhiqu (autonomous region, China)
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: Chomolungm...
Xizong (emperor of Tang dynasty)
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 peasant risings began in 874, following a terrible drought. The most formidable of them was led by Huang Chao, who in 878 marched south and sacked Guangzhou (Canton) and then marched to the......
Xizong (emperor of Ming dynasty)
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....
xlokk (wind)
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 originates over ...
XML (computer language)
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;...
XMLHttpRequest command (Internet display programming)
...up display of dynamic (interactive) pages, JavaScript is often combined with XML or some other language for exchanging information between the server and the client’s browser. 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 ...
XMM-Newton (European Space Agency satellite)
European Space Agency (ESA) satellite that observes celestial X-ray sources. It was launched in 1999 and named after English physicist Isaac Newton....
XMRV (virus)
...system dysfunction, hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), chronic hypotension (low blood pressure), allergies, and altered hormone production. Some cases of CFS have been associated with a virus known as XMRV (xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus). However, the relationship between the syndrome and the virus remains unclear. It has been suggested that CFS itself represents a broad category....
Xochiaca Dam (dam, Mexico)
...spring, it became more attractive to potential colonists after the creation of new population divisions was prohibited within the Federal District, in 1946. In that 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......
Xochicalco (ancient city, Mexico)
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....
Xochimilco (district, Mexico City, Mexico)
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...
Xochiquetzal (Aztec deity)
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 Tezcatlipoca, the malevolent god of night, who enthroned her as goddess of love...
Xochitl (dance by Graham)
...by the religious mysticism of St. Denis, but Shawn was her major teacher; he discovered sources of dramatic power within her and then channeled 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....
xocoatl (beverage)
At the court of Montezuma, the Aztec ruler of Mexico, in 1519, Hernán Cortés was served xocoatl, a bitter cocoa-bean drink, which he introduced to Spain. Sweetened, flavoured with cinnamon and vanilla, and served hot, the beverage remained a Spanish secret for almost a hundred years before its introduction to France. In 1657 a Frenchman opened a shop in London, at which......
xograph (printing process)
...essentially an illustration bearing two views, superimposed, of the same image taken from slightly different angles, on a transparent mount striped with a multitude 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......
Xoloitzcuintli (breed of dog)
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 to 18 pounds (4 to 8 kg); miniature, which stands 12 to 15 inches (30.5 to 38 cm) and weighs 13 to 2...
Xolotl (Aztec god)
...of goldsmiths and other craftsmen; he was also identified with the planet Venus. As the morning and evening star, Quetzalcóatl was the symbol of death and resurrection. 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......
Xólotl (Chichimec leader)
...legend, from the beginning of the 12th century to the beginning of the 13th, the Aztecs wandered in search of a new place to settle. During that time a group of 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. Apparent...
Xolotlán (lake, Nicaragua)
lake in western Nicaragua, in a rift valley at an elevation of 128 feet (39 m) above sea level. The lake, 65 feet (20 m) 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...
!xong (people)
...clientships with Bantu-speaking stockowners, while other groups lived—until the 1970s—solely as autonomous foragers. Of these latter 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......
!Xóõ language
...of the Southern group, consisting of closely related varieties of !Xóõ, are spoken by fewer than 2,500 people in southwestern Botswana (click here for 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......
xöömii (music)
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....
Xosa (people)
a cluster of related peoples living primarily in Eastern Cape province, South Africa, and forming part of the southern Nguni group of Bantu-speaking peoples. The main Xhosa groups are the Gcaleka, Ngika, N...
Xosa language (African 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 ...
Xosa-Ciskei (former republic, Africa)
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...
XP (dermatology)
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 multiple carcinomas. The condition may occur in mild or severe forms. Protection from direct sunlight and surgical destruction of...
XPS
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 there is little systematic overlap of spectral lines between elements....
XRF (radiation beam)
The chemical analysis of minerals is undertaken with the electron microprobe (see above). Instruments and techniques used for the chemical analysis of rocks are as 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.......
XS-1 (airplane)
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 Oct. 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 ...
xu (Daoism)
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 (Chinese painter)
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 Da (Chinese general)
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 gu zhai qi suan fa (work by Yang Hui)
...Tianmu bilei chengchu jiefa (1275; “Quick Methods for Multiplication and Division in 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......
Xu Guangjin (Chinese official)
...that they would be allowed to enter the city in 1849. Yet troubles continued. As a result of his inability to control the situation, Qiying was recalled in 1848 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 antiforeigners won a victory despite the fact that the Beijing court....
Xu Guangqi (Chinese official)
official of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), the most influential Chinese convert to Christianity before the 20th century....
Xu Heng (Chinese scholar)
Chinese neo-Confucian thinker who became the leading scholar in the court of the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan (1215–94)....
Xu Hui (Chinese noble)
...Masters with the indigenous traditions of the Southeast occurred in the 4th century ce in a family closely related to Ge Hong. 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....
Xu Jingye (Chinese rebel)
In 684 disaffected members 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 the court. The empress herself became more and more obsessed with religious......
Xu Mi (Chinese official)
The most brilliant synthesis of the Way of the Celestial Masters with the indigenous traditions of the Southeast occurred in the 4th century ce in a family closely related to Ge Hong. 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 honou...
Xu Shen (Chinese lexicographer)
...characters. In addition to archaeological finds, the most important source for the early history of Chinese characters is the huge 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 charac...
Xu Wei (Chinese painter)
colourful figure in the history of Chinese painting who is known for having been a child prodigy, bureaucrat, apparent madman, and painter....
Xu Xi (Chinese painter)
...he applied light colours with delicate skill, hiding the intentionally pale underdrawing and seeming thereby to dispense with the usually dominant element of a strong brush outline. 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......
Xu Yue (Chinese astronomer and mathematician)
Chinese astronomer and mathematician....
Xu Yuhua (Chinese chess player)
Chinese chess player who was women’s world champion (2006–08)....
Xu Zhangxu (Chinese poet)
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....
Xu Zhimo (Chinese poet)
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....
xuan (Chinese religion and philosophy)
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 tradition. See also Hs...
Xuan paper
...market for rice, as well as for other grains and oilseeds. The surrounding area also produces silk and green tea; much of the tea is processed in Wuhu. The city is 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......
Xüan-zang (Buddhist monk)
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 sutra...
Xuancheng (China)
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....
Xuande (emperor of Ming dynasty)
...when weak emperors were exploitatively dominated by favoured eunuchs: Wang Zhen in the 1440s, Wang Zhi in the 1470s and ’80s, and Liu Jin from 1505 to 1510. 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 wh...
Xuandi (emperor of Han dynasty)
posthumous name (shi) of the eighth emperor (reigned 74–49/48 bc) of the Han dynasty (206 bc–ad 220), who ascended the throne when the designated heir apparent behaved indecorously during mourning ceremonies for his father. The Xu...
Xuanhe huapu (Chinese art)
...mannered style known as “slender gold.” Huizong sponsored the compilation of a major catalog of artists’ biographies and paintings from the 3rd century to his time, known as the Xuanhe huapu (“Catalog of Paintings of the Xuanhe Emperor”)....
Xuanhua (district, China)
former city, northwestern Hebei sheng (province), China. In 1963 it was incorporated into Kalgan (Zhangjiakou), becoming a district of that city. Xuanhua district is situated some 25 miles (40 km) southeast of central Kalgan, on the upper course of the Yang River....
xuanji (Chinese jade)
Chinese jade form found in the Shang (c. 1600–1046 bc) and Zhou (1046–256 bc) dynasties. It is a flat disk similar in shape to the bi, except that the outer edge is broken into an irregular serration of major and minor projecting teeth, much like a ...
Xuantong (emperor of Qing dynasty)
last emperor (1908–1911/12) of the Qing (Manchu) dynasty (1644–1911/12) in China and puppet emperor of the Japanese-controlled state of Manchukuo (Chinese: Manzhouguo) from 1934 to 1945....
Xuanwang (emperor of Zhou dynasty)
...under strong leaders, able to forge a united nomadic empire challenging the dominance of the Chinese, there were confrontations. The “punitive” action into the north during the reign of Xuanwang (827–782 bc) does not seem to have been very large in scope; both sides apparently had little ambition for territorial aggrandizement. Cultural exchange in the norther...
Xuanwu (lake, China)
...the foothills of the Zijin (“Purple-Gold”) Mountains, and at the city’s west side is Qingliang (“Clear-Cool”) Hill. Outside of the city wall to the northeast is the extensive Xuanwu (“Mystic Martial”) Lake, containing five islets linked by embankments, and on the other side of the Qinhuai River, to the southwest, is Mochou (“No Sorrow...
Xuanxue (Chinese philosophy)
...unmoving, unchanging, and undiversified. This important movement, which found its scriptural support both in Daoist and in drastically reinterpreted Confucian sources, was known as Xuanxue (“Dark Learning”); it came to reign supreme in cultural circles, especially at Jiankang during the period of division, and represented the more abstract, unworldly, and idealistic tendency in......
Xuanye (emperor of Qing dynasty)
reign name (nianhao) of the second emperor (reigned 1661–1722) of the Qing (Manchu) dynasty (1644–1911/12). To the Chinese empire he added areas north of the Amur River (Heilong Ji...
Xuanyuan Huangdi (Chinese mythological emperor)
third of ancient China’s mythological emperors, a culture hero and patron saint of Daoism....
Xuanzang (Buddhist monk)
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 sutra...
Xuanzhou (China)
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....
Xuanzong (emperor of Qing dynasty)
reign name (nianhao) of the sixth emperor of the Qing dynasty of China, during whose reign (1820–50) attempts to prevent governmental decline met with little success....
Xuanzong (emperor of Tang dynasty)
temple name (miaohao) of the seventh emperor of the Tang dynasty (618–907) of China, which during his reign (712–756) achieved its greatest prosperity and power....
Xuchang (China)
city, central Henan sheng (province), China. It is situated along the southwestern edge of the North China Plain northeast of the Funiu Range (an eastern extension of the Qin [Tsinling] Mountains). It has since early times been a natural transportation hub—the point where the north-south route a...
Xue Ju (Chinese rebel)
...he was murdered by members of his entourage at Jiangdu. However, by 617 the real powers in China had become the various local rebels: Li Mi in the area around Luoyang, Dou Jiande in the northeast, Xue Ju in the far northwest, and Li Yuan (who remained nominally loyal but had established a local position of great power) in Shanxi. At the beginning of 617, Li Yuan inflicted a great defeat on the....
Xue Muqiao (Chinese economist)
Chinese economist (b. Oct. 25, 1904, Wuxi, Jiangsu province, China—d. July 22, 2005, China), introduced economic reforms that pushed China toward a market-driven economy. He was imprisoned in 1927 for his activism on behalf of the Communist Party, and during his three years behind bars, he started studying economics and philosophy. Following the communist victory in 1949, Xue held several p...
Xue Xuan (Chinese scholar)
The thought of the first outstanding Ming Confucian scholar, Xue Xuan (1389–1464), already revealed the turn toward moral subjectivity. Although a devoted follower of Zhu Xi, Xue’s Records of Reading clearly shows that he considered the cultivation of “mind and nature” to be particularly important. Two other early Ming scholars, Wu Yubi (1391–1469) and Che...
Xuefeng Mountains (mountains, China)
...and much of it is well over 3,000 feet (900 metres) above sea level. The highlands in the west run from northeast to southwest, forming the eastward edge of the Guizhou Plateau, whose extension, the Xuefeng Mountains, lies in the heart of the province. These mountains are composed mainly of slate, quartzite, and sandstone, deeply incised by river valleys. The Nan Mountains in the south run from...
Xueyantou (people)
...had extended westward even beyond the limits of present-day Xinjiang. To the north, in the region of the Orhon River and to the north of the Ordos (Mu Us) Desert, the Tang armies defeated the Xueyantou (Syr Tardush), former vassals of the eastern Turks, who became Tang vassals in 646. The Tuyuhun in the region around Koko Nor caused considerable trouble in the early 630s. Taizong invaded......
Xulu, Muntu (African writer)
...uDingiswayo kaJobe (1939; “Dingiswayo, Son of Jobe”) is a study of Shaka’s mentor, the Mtetwa leader Dingiswayo. Among other written works based on Zulu history are Muntu ’s uSimpofu (1969); L.S. Luthango’s uMohlomi (1938), a biography of Mohlomi, the adviser of the Sotho chief Moshoeshoe; and ......
xun (musical instrument)
Chinese vessel flute made of pottery, one of the oldest known Chinese instruments. In its most common form it is egg-shaped with a flattened bottom, and there are five finger holes—three on the front and two (for thumbs) on the back. Its range is about one octave. The player blows across a hole at the top of the instrument....
Xun Kuang (Chinese philosopher)
philosopher who was one of the three great Confucian philosophers of the classical period in China. He elaborated and systematized the work undertaken by Confucius and Mencius, giving a cohesiveness, comprehensiveness, and direction to Confucian thought that was all the more compelling for the rigour with which he set it forth; and the strength he thereby gave to that philosophy...
Xun Qing (Chinese philosopher)
philosopher who was one of the three great Confucian philosophers of the classical period in China. He elaborated and systematized the work undertaken by Confucius and Mencius, giving a cohesiveness, comprehensiveness, and direction to Confucian thought that was all the more compelling for the rigour with which he set it forth; and the strength he thereby gave to that philosophy...
Xun River (river, China)
At the end of this section, the river receives its major right- (south-) bank tributary, the Yu River, and is then called the Xun River. The Yu River rises in southeastern Yunnan province and flows about 400 miles (750 km) eastward in Guangxi to the point at Guiping where it joins the Xian to form the Xun River. The Xun flows for about 120 miles (190 km) in an easterly direction, dropping a......
Xunzi (work by Xunzi)
Xunzi’s importance in the development of Confucian philosophy rests on the historical influence of his major work, known today as the Xunzi. This book comprises 32 chapters, or essays, and is regarded as being in large part from his own hand, uncorrupted by later emendations or forgeries. The Xunzi essays are a milestone in the development of Chinese philosophy. The anecdotal ...
Xunzi (Chinese philosopher)
philosopher who was one of the three great Confucian philosophers of the classical period in China. He elaborated and systematized the work undertaken by Confucius and Mencius, giving a cohesiveness, comprehensiveness, and direction to Confucian thought that was all the more compelling for the rigour with which he set it forth; and the strength he thereby gave to that philosophy...
Xuwen (China)
The main cities are Zhanjiang, now an important port in southern China, Haikang on the east coast, and Xuwen, with its port, Hai’an, at the southern tip of the peninsula. In 2000 work was completed on a railway from the north that extends southward from Zhanjiang to Hai’an; from there, railway cars are transported by ferry across the Qiong Strait to Hainan....
Xuzhou (China)
city, northwestern Jiangsu sheng (province), eastern China. It is located in a gap in the southern portion of the Shandong Hills that constitutes a southwestern extension of the North China Plain. Through this gap flows the Feihuang River (in a former riverbed of the Huang He [Yellow River]), which joi...
Xuzhou-Huai plain (region, China)
North of the old channel of the Huai is the Xuzhou-Huai plain, built of the alluvium of the Huai and Huang rivers and standing about 30 to 150 feet (9 to 45 metres) above sea level. In the northern part of the plain are low hills with heights of about 650 feet (200 metres)....
XV Olympiad, Games of the
athletic festival held in Helsinki that took place July 19–Aug. 3, 1952. The Helsinki Games were the 12th occurrence of the modern Olympic Games....
XV Olympic Winter Games
athletic festival held in Calgary, Alta., Can., that took place Feb. 13–28, 1988. The Calgary Games were the 15th occurrence of the Winter Olympic Games....
XV-5A Vertifan (aircraft)
...and horizontal modes, including takeoff and “tail-sitter” landings, but the operational limitations in terms of speed, range, and payload were too great for further development. The Ryan XV-5A Vertifan used a jet engine to drive horizontally mounted fans in the nose and wing; it was nominally successful. Another type of fixed jet used separate batteries of jet engines, some dedica...
XVI Olympiad, Games of the
athletic festival held in Melbourne that took place Nov. 22–Dec. 8, 1956. The Melbourne Games were the 13th occurrence of the modern Olympic Games....
XVI Olympiad, Games of the (Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games)
...
XVI Olympic Winter Games
athletic festival held in Albertville, France, that took place February 8–23, 1992. The Albertville Games were the 16th occurrence of the Winter Olympic Games....
XVII Olympiad, Games of the
athletic festival held in Rome that took place Aug. 25–Sept. 11, 1960. The Rome Games were the 14th occurrence of the modern Olympic Games....
XVII Olympic Winter Games (Winter Olympics)
For 16 days in February 1994, Lillehammer, Norway (population 23,800), and five neighbouring towns welcomed 1,737 athletes (1,216 men and 521 women), 40,000 accredited officials, 8,000 media personnel, and an estimated 100,000 spectators per day to celebrate the XVII Olympic Winter Games. The Games were held only two years after the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, France, and were the first sche...
XVII Olympic Winter Games
athletic festival held in Lillehammer, Nor., that took place Feb. 12–27, 1994. The Lillehammer Games were the 17th occurrence of the Winter Olympic Games....
XVIII Olympiad, Games of the
athletic festival held in Tokyo that took place Oct. 10–24, 1964. The Tokyo Games were the 15th occurrence of the modern Olympic Games....