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  • Wellstone, Paul David (American politician)
    American teacher and politician (b. July 21, 1944, Washington, D.C.—d. Oct. 25, 2002, near Eveleth, Minn.), was a U.S. senator from Minnesota from 1991 to his death. Often referred to as the most liberal member of the Senate, he was respected as a man of principle who did not forsake his convictions for political expediency. Wellstone’s father was an immigrant Russian Jew, and his mo...
  • wels (fish)
    large, voracious catfish of the family Siluridae, native to large rivers and lakes from central Europe to western Asia. One of the largest catfishes, as well as one of the largest of European freshwater fishes, the wels attains a length of about 4.5 m (15 feet) and a weight of 300 kg (660 pounds)....
  • Wels (Austria)
    city, north-central Austria. It lies along the Traun River at the foothills of the Eastern Alps, southwest of Linz. The site has been occupied since prehistoric times. Wels originated as the Roman Ovilava, capital of Noricum province. In the European Middle Ages it was a leading market town. Notable landmarks include the Lederer Tower (1376) on the picturesque town square; the t...
  • Welsbach, Carl Auer, Freiherr von (Austrian chemist and engineer)
    Austrian chemist and engineer who invented the gas mantle, thus allowing the greatly increased output of light by gas lamps....
  • Welser family (German bankers)
    a son of Lucas Welser, who was one of the first among the Germans to use the sea route to the East that had been discovered by Vasco da Gama. Having amassed great wealth, Antony’s son Bartholomew (1488–1561) lent large sums of money to Charles V and in return received several marks of the imperial favour. Bartholomew and his brother Antony, however, are chiefly known as the promoters...
  • Welser Messe (Austrian fair)
    ...windows; and the former imperial castle where the Holy Roman emperor Maximilian I died in 1519. A railway junction and important cattle and grain market, the city holds a big annual fair (the Welser Messe). Wels manufactures agricultural machinery, textiles, foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, and building materials. It is also an important regional centre of retail and wholesale trade. Pop.......
  • Welsh Academy (Welsh organization)
    ...criticism also benefited. The standard set by Y Llenor was maintained in Ysgrifau Beirniadol (“Critical Essays”). In this field as in others, the establishment of the Welsh Academy (Yr Academi Gymreig) in 1959 and the publication of its review Taliesin made an outstanding contribution....
  • Welsh Arts Council (British organization)
    The Welsh Arts Council provides government assistance for literature, art, music, film, and drama. The council helps arrange tours of Wales by British and foreign orchestras and supports art exhibitions, Welsh- and English-language theatre companies and theatres, regional arts associations, and music societies and festivals, particularly those concerned with commissioning new works....
  • Welsh corgi (dog)
    either of two breeds of working dogs developed to handle cattle. They are similar in appearance but are of different origins. Their resemblance results from crosses between the two breeds....
  • Welsh Folk Museum (museum, Saint Fagans, Wales, United Kingdom)
    ...following Sweden’s pioneering reerection of significant buildings, include the open-air museums at Arnhem in The Netherlands (the Open Air Museum, opened in 1912) and at Cardiff, Wales (the Welsh Folk Museum, opened in 1947). The preservation and restoration of buildings or entire settlements in situ also began; particularly well known is Colonial Williamsburg, founded in Virginia in......
  • Welsh Independents, Union of
    Welsh-speaking Congregational churches did not join the United Reformed Church but organized separately in the Union of Welsh Independents. These churches grew up originally in the countryside but moved successfully to the developing industrial valleys in the 19th century. The churches have been strong centres of distinctively Welsh culture, and their ministers have often been national leaders.......
  • Welsh Intermediate Education Act (United Kingdom [1889])
    ...century, following the franchise reforms of 1867 and 1884, the hegemony of Welsh Liberal Nonconformity was well established. The passing of legislation specifically concerned with Wales, such as the Welsh Intermediate Education Act (1889) and the Church Disestablishment Act (1914), was a parliamentary success matched in cultural life by the founding of three university colleges and the federal....
  • Welsh language
    member of the Brythonic group of the Celtic languages, spoken in Wales. Modern Welsh, like English, makes very little use of inflectional endings; British, the Brythonic language from which Welsh is descended, was, however, an inflecting language like Latin, with word endings marking such grammatical categories as noun case and verb tense. The spoken language occurs in several local dialects but h...
  • Welsh Language Act (Wales [1993])
    ...and the establishment of the Welsh Development Agency in 1974. The party also influenced other important changes, including the creation of a Welsh television channel in 1982 and the passage of the Welsh Language Act of 1993. The Welsh Language Board, established under provisions of the 1993 act, promoted the use of the Welsh language and sought to give Welsh equal legal weight with English in....
  • Welsh Language Act (Wales [1967])
    ...it allowed Plaid to turn more of its attention to electoral politics. The party won its first seat in Parliament in a by-election in 1966, and its policies helped to bring about the passage of the Welsh Language Act of 1967 and the establishment of the Welsh Development Agency in 1974. The party also influenced other important changes, including the creation of a Welsh television channel in......
  • Welsh Language Society (Welsh organization)
    During the 1960s, with the injection of new ideas from younger members, the party broadened its agenda to include pressing social and economic issues. The formation of the Welsh Language Society in 1962 was particularly propitious, because it allowed Plaid to turn more of its attention to electoral politics. The party won its first seat in Parliament in a by-election in 1966, and its policies......
  • Welsh law
    the native law of Wales. Although increasingly superseded by English law after the 13th century, Welsh law has been preserved in lawbooks that represent important documents of medieval Welsh prose....
  • Welsh literary renaissance
    literary activity centring in Wales and England in the mid-18th century that attempted to stimulate interest in the Welsh language and in the classical bardic verse forms of Wales. The movement centred on Lewis, Richard, and William Morris, Welsh scholars who preserved ancient texts and encouraged contemporary poets to use strict metres of the ancient Welsh bards such as the cywydd and awdl....
  • Welsh literature
    body of writings in the Welsh language with a rich and unbroken history stretching from the 6th century to the present....
  • Welsh longbow (weapon)
    The longbow evolved during the 12th century in response to the demands of siege and guerrilla operations in the Welsh Marches, a topographically close and economically marginal area that was in many ways similar to the regions in which the crossbow had evolved three centuries earlier. It became the most effective individual missile weapon of western Europe until well into the age of gunpowder......
  • Welsh main (cockfighting)
    ...battle royal, in which a number of birds were “set” (i.e., placed in the pit at the same time) and allowed to remain until all but one, the victor, were killed or disabled, and the Welsh main, in which eight pairs were matched, the eight victors paired again, then four, and finally the last surviving pair....
  • Welsh Nationalist Party (political party, Wales)
    political party that has sought self-government for Wales and worked for the protection and promotion of Welsh language, culture, and traditions....
  • Welsh pony (breed of horse)
    breed of small horse popular as a child’s or an adult’s mount. A hardy breed that developed in the Welsh mountains, the Welsh pony was originally used in coal mines. A saddle type was developed by introducing Thoroughbred and Arabian blood. Welsh ponies are about 12 hands (48 inches, or 122 cm) tall and weigh about 500 pounds (225 kg; see ). Coat colour is u...
  • Welsh Rugby Union (sports organization)
    breed of small horse popular as a child’s or an adult’s mount. A hardy breed that developed in the Welsh mountains, the Welsh pony was originally used in coal mines. A saddle type was developed by introducing Thoroughbred and Arabian blood. Welsh ponies are about 12 hands (48 inches, or 122 cm) tall and weigh about 500 pounds (225 kg; see ). Coat colour is u...
  • Welsh springer spaniel (breed of dog)
    ...glossy coat is flat or wavy and usually black and white or liver-coloured and white. The English springer spaniel is valued both as a companion and for its use in the field as a pheasant hunter. The Welsh springer spaniel, known since at least the 14th century, is somewhat smaller than the English; its flat coat is always red-brown and white, with feathering on the chest, legs, and belly. It......
  • Welsh terrier (breed of dog)
    breed of terrier native to Wales, where it has been used as a hunter of foxes, otters, and badgers. The Welsh terrier is a small, Airedale-like dog with a characteristically game and energetic nature. It has a hard, wiry coat, usually black-and-tan, stands about 15 inches (38 cm) high, and weighs about 20 pounds (9 kg). Wide-set eyes and a flat skull give the breed a distinctiv...
  • Welshpool (Wales, United Kingdom)
    town, Powys county, historic county of Montgomeryshire, Wales, in the valley of the River Severn. Its charter, granting market rights, dates from 1263. Lying near the English border, the town showed pro-English sympathies in the Middle Ages and has traditionally been predominantly English-speaking. Welshpool has a large livestock market and is the service cent...
  • “Welt als Wille und Vorstellung, Die” (work by Schopenhauer)
    ...Kantian distinction between appearances and things-in-themselves, or between phenomena and noumena, in order to stress the limitations of reason. In his major philosophical work, The World as Will and Representation (1819), Schopenhauer reiterated Kant’s claim that, given the structure of human cognition, knowledge of things as they really are is impossible; the ...
  • Welt, Die (German newspaper)
    (German: “The World”), daily newspaper, one of the most influential in Germany and the only one of national scope and stature published in Bonn during that city’s time as West German capital....
  • Welt ist schön, Die (work by Renger-Patzsch)
    ...of objects, reflecting his early pursuit of science. He felt that the underlying structure of his subjects did not require any enhancement by the photographer. In his book Die Welt ist schön (1928; “The World Is Beautiful”), he showed images from both nature and industry, all treated in his clear, transparent style. Such images were closely......
  • “Weltalter, Die” (work by Schelling)
    ...forms the basis of Schelling’s later philosophy, covering the time from 1810 until his death, which is known only through a draft of the unpublished work Die Weltalter (written in 1811; The Ages of the World) and through the manuscripts of his later lectures. In Die Weltalter Schelling wanted to relate the history of God. God, who originally is absorbed in a quiet......
  • “Weltbühne, Die” (journal)
    ...and served throughout World War I. In 1920 he became the society’s secretary in Berlin. Ossietzky helped to found the Nie Wieder Krieg (No More War) organization in 1922 and became editor of the Weltbühne, a liberal political weekly, in 1927, where in a series of articles he unmasked the Reichswehr (German army) leaders’ secret preparations for rearmament. Accused of...
  • “Weltbürgertum und Nationalstaat” (work by Meinecke)
    ...an admirer of Bismarck and the power state to a moderate liberal who emphasized Humanist values in the German past is reflected in his works. In Weltbürgertum und Nationalstaat (1908; Cosmopolitanism and the National State), he optimistically traced Germany’s emergence from the cosmopolitanism of the 18th century to the nationalism of the 19th. His Idee der Staats...
  • Weltchronik (work by Rudolf von Ems)
    ...were not equaled in Rudolf’s other works: Barlaam und Josaphat, a Christian version of the legend of Buddha; and the three historical epics, Alexander, Willehalm von Orlens, and Weltchronik, an ambitious, uncompleted world chronicle that ends with the death of Solomon. The popularity of Rudolf’s writings can be gauged by the fact that there are more than 80 ex...
  • “Weltgeschichte des jüdischen Volkes, Die” (work by Dubnow)
    ...various opponents. This work appeared in Geschichte des Chassidismus (1931; “History of Ḥasidism”). The mature fruit of Dubnow’s historical studies is his monumental Die Weltgeschichte des jüdischen Volkes, 10 vol. (1925–30; “The World History of the Jewish People”; Eng. trans. History of the Jews), which was translate...
  • “Weltgeschichtliche Betrachtungen” (work by Burckhardt)
    ...von Italien (1898; “Contributions to the Art History of Italy”). Of particular significance are two later posthumous publications. Weltgeschichtliche Betrachtungen (1905; Force and Freedom: Reflections on History, 1943) epitomizes his philosophy of history. Historische Fragmente (“Historical Fragments,” 1929 in Gesamtausgabe; Jud...
  • Welti, Emil (Swiss statesman)
    statesman, six times president of the Swiss Confederation, and a champion of federal centralization....
  • Welti, Friedrich Emil (Swiss statesman)
    statesman, six times president of the Swiss Confederation, and a champion of federal centralization....
  • Welting, Ruth (American singer)
    American opera singer who was admired for the ease in which she used her lilting soprano to perform for more than 20 years, primarily at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, a wide range of coloratura roles, notably Zerbinetta in Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, the Queen of the Night in Wolfgang Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), and Olym...
  • Weltkirche (religion)
    Perhaps the most significant change brought about by Vatican II was the beginning of what the German theologian Karl Rahner (1904–1984) called the emergence of the Weltkirche (German: “world church”). Vatican II was not dominated by the churches of Europe and the Americas, the traditional centres of Catholic strength. The ......
  • Weltpolitik (German history)
    ...intemperate remarks, William felt keenly his realm’s lack of prestige in comparison with the British Empire. William rejected Bismarck’s emphasis on security in Europe in favour of a flamboyant Weltpolitik (world policy) aimed at making Germany’s presence abroad commensurate with her new industrial might. Where Bismarck considered colonies a dangerous luxury given Ge...
  • Weltschmerz (Romantic literary concept)
    the prevailing mood of melancholy and pessimism associated with the poets of the Romantic era that arose from their refusal or inability to adjust to those realities of the world that they saw as destructive of their right to subjectivity and personal freedom—a phenomenon thought to typify Romanticism. The word was coined by Jean Paul in his pessimistic novel, Selina...
  • Welty, Eudora (American author)
    American short-story writer and novelist whose work is mainly focused with great precision on the regional manners of people inhabiting a small Mississippi town that resembles her own birthplace and the Delta country....
  • Welty, Eudora Alice (American author)
    American short-story writer and novelist whose work is mainly focused with great precision on the regional manners of people inhabiting a small Mississippi town that resembles her own birthplace and the Delta country....
  • Welwitschia (gnetophyte genus)
    ...xylem and reproductive structures that are somewhat flowerlike; gametophytes reduced as in other gymnosperms; sperm nonmotile; extant genera Gnetum, Ephedra, and Welwitschia.Division Magnoliophyta (flowering plants, angiosperms)Vascular plants, xylem typicall...
  • Welwitschia bainesii (plant)
    common name of Welwitschia mirabilis, a plant species that is the sole member of the family Welwitschiaceae, order Gnetales....
  • Welwitschia mirabilis (plant)
    common name of Welwitschia mirabilis, a plant species that is the sole member of the family Welwitschiaceae, order Gnetales....
  • Welwitschiaceae (gnetophyte family)
    a family of southwestern African desert plants in the gymnosperm order Gnetales, named for its single genus, Welwitschia. Tumboa plants (W. mirabilis), constituting the only species, have deep taproots and resemble giant radishes, 60 to 120 cm (about 25 to 50 inches) in diameter and projecting about 30 cm (12 inches) above the ground. From the base of the cone-shap...
  • Welwitschiales (gnetophyte order)
    ...trees; large flat leaves that have reticulate venation; seeds may be brightly coloured; 1 family, Gnetaceae; 1 genus, Gnetum, with about 30 species.Order Welwitschiales2 immense, permanent leaves, which become split and frayed with age; seeds with winglike extensions that may aid in dispersal; restricted to Namib D...
  • Welwyn (England, United Kingdom)
    new town in Welwyn Hatfield district, administrative and historic county of Hertfordshire, England, on the northern periphery of London. It was founded in 1920 by Sir Ebenezer Howard as a planned town to provide for both industry and pleasant living conditions. Across a main railway line a large concentration of light industrial factories has developed, but ma...
  • Welwyn Garden City (England, United Kingdom)
    new town in Welwyn Hatfield district, administrative and historic county of Hertfordshire, England, on the northern periphery of London. It was founded in 1920 by Sir Ebenezer Howard as a planned town to provide for both industry and pleasant living conditions. Across a main railway line a large concentration of light industrial factories has developed, but ma...
  • Welwyn Hatfield (district, England, United Kingdom)
    district, administrative and historic county of Hertfordshire, southeastern England, directly north of the metropolitan county of Greater London. Welwyn Hatfield district is an area of rolling, open countryside within the Thames basin, and its southern sections are part of the Greater London Green Belt. Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield, located 3 miles (5 km) a...
  • Wembley (England, United Kingdom)
    ...(in part), Wembley, Cricklewood, Willesden Green, Stonebridge, Willesden, Alperton, Brondesbury, Kilburn, Harlesden (in part), and Kensal Green. Brent was formed in 1965 by the amalgamation of Wembley and Willesden (both in the former Middlesex county). It is named for the small River Brent, a tributary of the River Thames that formed the boundary between the former boroughs of Wembley and......
  • Wembley Stadium (stadium, London, United Kingdom)
    Wembley Stadium opened in 1923 and was used for the British Empire Exhibition (1924–25) and the 1948 Summer Olympic Games, as well as for international football (soccer) matches and music concerts. In 2002 it was demolished, and five years later a new 90,000-seat venue opened on the site. Open spaces in the borough include Roundwood, Gladstone, and Fryent Country parks. The Welsh Harp......
  • Weme River (river, Africa)
    river rising in the Atacora massif in northwestern Benin. It is approximately 310 miles (500 km) in length and flows southward, where it is joined by its main affluent, the Okpara, on the left bank and by the Zou on the right. It then divides into two branches, one discharging into Lake Nokoué in the Niger Delta near Cotonou and the other into Lagoon Porto-Novo. Rain forests grow along the ...
  • Wemlinger, Claire (American actress)
    American actress (b. March 8, 1909?, Bensonhurst, Long Island, N.Y.—d. April 8, 2000, Newport Beach, Calif.), appeared in dozens of motion pictures during her half-century-long career, often as a tough-talking though vulnerable and kindhearted floozy. Films of the 1930s and ’40s provided many of her most notable roles, among them a prostitute in Stagecoach (1939); a duplicitou...
  • Wemys, Jean Margaret (Canadian writer)
    Canadian writer whose novels portray strong women striving for self-realization while immersed in the daily struggle to make a living in a male-dominated world....
  • Wen Bi (Chinese artist)
    Chinese painter, calligrapher, and scholarly figure who was a student of Shen Zhou; these two artists are considered the leading figures of the Wu school of scholar-artists in China....
  • Wen Chang (Chinese deity)
    the Chinese god of literature, whose chief heavenly task, assigned by the Jade Emperor (Yü Huang), is to keep a log of men of letters so that he can mete out rewards and punishments to each according to his merit. He also maintains a register of the titles and honours each writer has received....
  • Wen Ch’ang (Chinese deity)
    the Chinese god of literature, whose chief heavenly task, assigned by the Jade Emperor (Yü Huang), is to keep a log of men of letters so that he can mete out rewards and punishments to each according to his merit. He also maintains a register of the titles and honours each writer has received....
  • Wen Chang Dijun (Chinese deity)
    the Chinese god of literature, whose chief heavenly task, assigned by the Jade Emperor (Yü Huang), is to keep a log of men of letters so that he can mete out rewards and punishments to each according to his merit. He also maintains a register of the titles and honours each writer has received....
  • Wen Ch’ang Ti-Chün (Chinese deity)
    the Chinese god of literature, whose chief heavenly task, assigned by the Jade Emperor (Yü Huang), is to keep a log of men of letters so that he can mete out rewards and punishments to each according to his merit. He also maintains a register of the titles and honours each writer has received....
  • Wen Cheng-ming (Chinese artist)
    Chinese painter, calligrapher, and scholarly figure who was a student of Shen Zhou; these two artists are considered the leading figures of the Wu school of scholar-artists in China....
  • Wen Chia (Chinese painter)
    ...with a refined and scholarly precision. He, too, had many styles and was a distinguished calligrapher. He was an active teacher of painting as well, and among his more gifted pupils were his son Wen Chia and his nephew Wen Po-jen. Their landscapes display a lyrical delicacy in composition, touch, and colour, qualities that in lesser late Ming artists of the Wu school degenerated into a......
  • Wen Di (Chinese deity)
    the Chinese god of literature, whose chief heavenly task, assigned by the Jade Emperor (Yü Huang), is to keep a log of men of letters so that he can mete out rewards and punishments to each according to his merit. He also maintains a register of the titles and honours each writer has received....
  • Wen Feiqing (Chinese poet)
    Chinese lyric poet of the late Tang dynasty who helped to establish a new style of versification associated with the ci form, which flourished in the subsequent Song dynasty (960–1279)....
  • “Wen fu” (work by Lu Ji)
    ...fu, an intricately structured form of poetry mixed with prose. A prime specimen of this form is his Wenfu (“On Literature”; Eng. trans. The Art of Writing), a subtle and important work of literary criticism that defines and demonstrates the principles of composition with rare insight and precision....
  • “Wen hsüan” (Chinese literary work)
    ...(“field and garden”) scenes depicted by Tao Qian, his countryman and contemporary. Indeed, Xie’s poems outnumber those of other Six Dynasties poets in the Wenxuan (“Literary Anthology”), the 6th-century canon that defined later Chinese literary tastes....
  • Wen I-to (Chinese poet)
    ...were a mixture of critical realism and melodrama, while poets of the Hsin-yüeh she (“Crescent Moon Society”) such as the British-educated Hsü Chih-mo and the American-educated Wen I-to were creating new forms based on Western models, introducing the beauty of music and colour into their extremely popular lyrical verse....
  • Wen Jiabao (premier of China)
    Chinese official, premier of China from 2003....
  • Wen Po-jen (Chinese painter)
    ...precision. He, too, had many styles and was a distinguished calligrapher. He was an active teacher of painting as well, and among his more gifted pupils were his son Wen Chia and his nephew Wen Po-jen. Their landscapes display a lyrical delicacy in composition, touch, and colour, qualities that in lesser late Ming artists of the Wu school degenerated into a precious and artificial......
  • Wen Qi (Chinese poet)
    Chinese lyric poet of the late Tang dynasty who helped to establish a new style of versification associated with the ci form, which flourished in the subsequent Song dynasty (960–1279)....
  • Wen Ti (Chinese deity)
    the Chinese god of literature, whose chief heavenly task, assigned by the Jade Emperor (Yü Huang), is to keep a log of men of letters so that he can mete out rewards and punishments to each according to his merit. He also maintains a register of the titles and honours each writer has received....
  • Wen T’ing-yün (Chinese poet)
    Chinese lyric poet of the late Tang dynasty who helped to establish a new style of versification associated with the ci form, which flourished in the subsequent Song dynasty (960–1279)....
  • Wen Tingyun (Chinese poet)
    Chinese lyric poet of the late Tang dynasty who helped to establish a new style of versification associated with the ci form, which flourished in the subsequent Song dynasty (960–1279)....
  • Wen T’ung (Chinese painter)
    ...approach to painting was being expressed by a group of intellectuals that included the poet-statesman-artist Su Shih (or Su Tung-p’o), the landscape painter Mi Fei (Mi Fu), the bamboo painter Wen T’ung, the plum painter and priest Chung-jen Hua-kuang, and the figure and horse painter Li Kung-lin. Su and Mi, together with their friend Huang T’ing-chien, were also the foremos...
  • Wen Zhengming (Chinese artist)
    Chinese painter, calligrapher, and scholarly figure who was a student of Shen Zhou; these two artists are considered the leading figures of the Wu school of scholar-artists in China....
  • Wen-Amon (Egyptian official)
    Prophets were a common phenomenon in Syria-Palestine. In an Egyptian text (11th century bc), Wen-Amon (a temple official at Karnak) was sent by the pharaoh to Gebal (Byblos) to procure timber. While there, a young noble of that city was seized by his god and in frenzy gave a message to the king of Gebal that the request of Wen-Amon should be honoured. In another instance, an Aramaic....
  • Wen-chou (China)
    city and port, southeastern Zhejiang sheng (province), southeastern China. It is situated on the south bank of the Ou River, some 19 miles (30 km) from its mouth. The estuary of the Ou River is much obstructed by small islands and mudbanks, but the port is accessible by ships of up to about 1,000 tons. The Ou long provided the main transpo...
  • Wen-hsiang (Chinese statesman)
    official and statesman in the last years of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911/12), who took a lead in promoting Western studies, reforming the Chinese government, and introducing Western technology into China....
  • Wen-hsin tiao-lung (work by Liu Hsieh)
    ...The works of Wang Hsi-chih and Ku K’ai-chih set the canons of calligraphy and painting, respectively. The publication of Wen hsüan (“Literary Selections”) and of Wen-hsin tiao-lung (a classic in literary criticism), the evolution of what has come to be known as the Six Dynasties essay style (a blending of poetry and prose), and the invention by......
  • Wen-hsüeh kai-liang ch’u-i (work by Hu Shih)
    ...turned their attention to the overhauling of literary traditions, beginning with the language itself. In January 1917 an article by Hu Shih, a student of philosophy at Columbia University, entitled “Wen-hsüeh kai-liang ch’u-i” (“Tentative Proposal for Literary Reform”) was published in the Peking magazine Hsin ch’ing-nien (New ...
  • Wen-hsüeh yen-chiu hui (Chinese literary organization)
    ...early writings provided the impetus for a number of youthful intellectuals to pool their resources and promote shared ideals by forming literary associations. The Wen-hsüeh yen-chiu hui (“Literary Research Association”), generally referred to as the “realist” or “art-for-life’s-sake” school, assumed the editorship of the established litera...
  • wen-jen-hua (Chinese painting)
    ideal form of the Chinese scholar-painter who was more interested in personal erudition and expression than in literal representation or an immediately attractive surface beauty. First formulated in the Northern Song period (960–1127)—at which time it was called shidafuhua—by the poet-calligrapher Su Dongpo, the ideal o...
  • Wen-shu Shih-li (bodhisattva)
    in Mahāyāna Buddhism, the bodhisattva (“Buddha-to-be”) personifying supreme wisdom. His name in Sanskrit means “gentle, or sweet, glory”; he is also known as Mãnjughoṣa (“Sweet Voice”) and Vāgīśvara (“Lord of Speech”). In China he is called Wen-shu Shih-li, in Japan Monju, and in Tibet ...
  • Wen-ti (emperor of Sui dynasty)
    posthumous name (shi) of the emperor (reigned 581–604) who reunified and reorganized China after 300 years of instability, founding the Sui dynasty (581–618). He conquered southern China, which long had been divided into numerous small kingdoms, and he broke the power of the Turks in the northern part of the country....
  • Wen-ti (emperor of Han dynasty)
    posthumous name (shi) of the fourth emperor (reigned 180–157 bc) of the Han dynasty (206 bc–ad 220) of China. His reign was marked by good government and the peaceful consolidation of imperial power....
  • Wen-tsung (emperor of Tang dynasty)
    temple name (miaohao) of the 15th emperor (reigned 827–840) of the Tang dynasty (618–907) of China. He attempted unsuccessfully to free the court from the influence of the palace eunuchs, who had usurped much of the imperial power. His carefully laid plots against the eunuchs all misfired, resulting in the Sweet Dew Incident ...
  • Wen-wang (ruler of Zhou)
    father of Ji Fa (the Wuwang emperor), the founder of the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 bc) and one of the sage rulers regarded by Confucian historians as a model king....
  • wen-yen (Chinese literary language)
    Han Chinese developed more polysyllabic words and more specific verbal and nominal (noun) categories of words. Most traces of verb formation and verb conjugation began to disappear. An independent Southern tradition (on the Yangtze River), simultaneous with Late Archaic Chinese, developed a special style, used in the poetry Chuci (“Elegies of Chu”), which......
  • Wenan (Chinese philosopher)
    Idealist Neo-Confucian philosopher of the Southern Sung and rival of his contemporary, the great Neo-Confucian rationalist Chu Hsi. Lu’s thought was revised and refined three centuries later by the Ming dynasty Neo-Confucianist Wang Yang-ming. The name of their school is Hsin Hsüeh, often called the Lu-Wang school, after its two great proponents. It was opposed to ...
  • Wenatchee (Washington, United States)
    city, seat (1899) of Chelan county, central Washington, U.S., in the foothills of the Cascade Range, just below the confluence of the Wenatchee and Columbia rivers, opposite East Wenatchee; the name derives from the Yakima Indian wenachi, meaning “river flowing from a canyon.” It was founded in 1888 and moved 1 mile (1.6 km) east in 1892 t...
  • Wenatchee (people)
    ...The Northern Plateau Salish include the Shuswap, Lillooet, and Ntlakapamux (Thompson) tribes. The Interior Salish live mostly in the Upper Columbia area and include the Okanagan, Sinkaietk, Lake, Wenatchee, Sanpoil, Nespelim, Spokan, Kalispel, Pend d’Oreille, Coeur d’Alene, and......
  • Wences, Señor (Spanish ventriloquist)
    Spanish-born ventriloquist who delighted audiences with his simple puppets—most often Johnny, whose head was a decorated and bewigged scrunched-up fist, and Pedro, a head in a box—especially during the 1950s and ’60s on such television variety shows as The Ed Sullivan Show and Texaco Star Theater; his dialogue with Pedro (“S’OK?...
  • Wenceslas (Holy Roman emperor)
    German king and king of Bohemia (as Charles) from 1346 to 1378 and Holy Roman emperor from 1355 to 1378, one of the most learned and diplomatically skillful sovereigns of his time. He gained more through diplomacy than others did by war, and through purchases, marriages, and inheritance he enlarged his dynastic power. Under Charles’s rule Prague became the political, economic, and cultural ...
  • Wenceslas (king of Bohemia and Germany)
    German king and, as Wenceslas IV, king of Bohemia, whose weak and tempestuous, though eventful, reign was continually plagued by wars and princely rivalries that he was unable to control, plunging his territories into a state of virtual anarchy until he was stripped of his powers altogether by a rebellious nobility....
  • Wenceslas I (king of Bohemia)
    king of Bohemia from 1230 who brought Austria under his dynasty while using the influence of German colonists and craftsmen to keep Bohemia strong, prosperous, and culturally progressive....
  • Wenceslas I (prince of Bohemia)
    prince of Bohemia, martyr, and patron saint of Czechoslovakia....
  • Wenceslas II (king of Bohemia and Poland)
    king of Bohemia from 1278 and of Poland from 1300 who ably ruled his Bohemian kingdom and spread his influence not only into Poland but also into Hungary....
  • Wenceslas III (king of Bohemia and Hungary)
    last king of the Přemyslid dynasty of Bohemia, king of Hungary from 1301 to 1304, and claimant to the Polish throne; his brief reign in Bohemia was cut short by his assassination, which also prevented him from asserting his right to Poland....
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