 | Term | Definition |
| |
Middle Kingdom |
refers to China because the people believed that their land stood between heaven and earth. |
| |
Cathay |
referred to the northern area of China Proper and was so named by Marco Polo. |
| |
plateau |
high, flat land. eg. The Roof of the World refers to the Tibetan plateau. |
| |
House of Snow |
refers to the Himalaya Mountains |
| |
Hwang Ho |
refers to the Yellow River which is sometime's called China's Sorrow because of disastrous floods. |
| |
monsoon |
seasonal winds |
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delta |
a piece of land formed by the deposit of silt at the mouth or end of a river. eg. The Hsi, or West River, empties into the South China Sea, and the great port city of Canton is located at its mouth |
| |
Khan |
title of a ruler. eg. Ghengis Khan, the Mongol ruler |
| |
Manchu |
referred to the invaders from Manchuria (today in northeastern China) |
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Peking |
Northern Capital is often called the Paris of the east because of its natural beauty and fine architecture |
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Mandarin |
the Chinese language of the educated. |
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ideograph |
a Chinese written character which sometimes looks like a picture representing an idea |
| |
terracing |
cutting into hillsides to provide a series of steps of level land for farming. eg. The Red Basin near Chingtu |
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floating farms |
rafts covered with soil near river edges |
| |
communism |
an economic system whereby the means of production and distribution are owned and managed by the government, and the goods produced are shared by all the citizens |
| |
cells |
communist groups |
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commune |
a grouping of collective farms |
| |
archipelago |
a grouping of islands. eg. Japan |
