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  • T (unit of energy measurement)
    unit of magnetic induction or magnetic flux density in the metre–kilogram–second system (SI) of physical units. One tesla equals one weber per square metre, corresponding to 104 gauss....
  • t (unit of weight)
    unit of weight in the avoirdupois system equal to 2,000 pounds (907.18 kg) in the United States (the short ton) and 2,240 pounds (1,016.05 kg) in Britain (the long ton). The metric ton used in most other countries is 1,000 kg, equivalent to 2,204.6 pounds avoirdupois. The term derives from tun, denoting a large barrel used in the wine trade and named from......
  • T (logical system)
    The modal system known as T has as axioms some set of axioms adequate for PC (such as those of PM), and in addition Lp ⊃ pL(p ⊃ q) ⊃ (Lp ⊃ Lq)...
  • T and O rendering (cartography)
    ...a spherical Earth. Maps produced during the Middle Ages followed Ptolemy’s guide, but they used Jerusalem as the central feature and placed East at the top. These representations are often called T-maps because they show only three continents (Europe, Asia, and Africa), separated by the “T” formed by the Mediterranean Sea and the Nile River. More accurate geographical......
  • T association (astronomy)
    ...of the gas into the dense cloud. Rapid star formation may occur in the compressed region, producing an expanding group of young stars. Such groups, the so-called O Associations (with O stars) or T Associations (with T Tauri stars), have been observed. The component stars simultaneously generate extremely fast outflows from their atmospheres. These winds create regions of hot, tenuous gas......
  • T cell (cytology)
    ...and they are designated numerically, IL-1 through IL-15. The immunological functions of most of the interleukins are known to some degree. IL-1 and IL-2 are primarily responsible for activating T and B lymphocytes (white blood cells integral to bringing about the acquired immune response), with IL-2 being a stimulant of T- and B-cell growth and maturation. IL-1, along with IL-6, is also a......
  • T Coronae Borealis (astronomy)
    ...layers of the star seem to be affected; the main mass settles down after the outburst into a state much as before until a new outburst occurs. The existence of repeating novas, such as the star T Coronae Borealis, suggests that perhaps all novas repeat at intervals ranging up to thousands or perhaps millions of years; and probably, the larger the explosion, the longer the interval. There is......
  • t distribution (statistics)
    In 1908 William Sealy Gosset, an Englishman publishing under the pseudonym Student, developed the t-test and t distribution. The t distribution is a family of curves in which the number of degrees of freedom (the number of independent observations in the sample minus one) specifies a particular curve. As the sample size (and thus the degrees of freedom) increases, the......
  • ’t Hooft-Veltman model (physics)
    ...used a computer designed by Veltman to formulate the needed mathematical basis. With the information, they were able to identify the properties of the W and Z particles predicted by the theory. The ’t Hooft-Veltman model allowed scientists to calculate the physical properties of other particles, including the mass of the top quark, which was directly observed in 1995....
  • T lymphocyte (cytology)
    ...and they are designated numerically, IL-1 through IL-15. The immunological functions of most of the interleukins are known to some degree. IL-1 and IL-2 are primarily responsible for activating T and B lymphocytes (white blood cells integral to bringing about the acquired immune response), with IL-2 being a stimulant of T- and B-cell growth and maturation. IL-1, along with IL-6, is also a......
  • T or C (New Mexico, United States)
    city, seat (1937) of Sierra county, southwestern New Mexico, U.S. It lies along the Rio Grande, east of the Black Range in Gila National Forest, 60 miles (97 km) north-northwest of Las Cruces....
  • T square (instrument)
    In drafting, a T-shaped instrument known as a T square is used for establishing a horizontal reference on the drafting board. ...
  • T Tauri association (astronomy)
    ...of the gas into the dense cloud. Rapid star formation may occur in the compressed region, producing an expanding group of young stars. Such groups, the so-called O Associations (with O stars) or T Associations (with T Tauri stars), have been observed. The component stars simultaneously generate extremely fast outflows from their atmospheres. These winds create regions of hot, tenuous gas......
  • T Tauri star (astronomy)
    any of a class of very young stars having a mass of the same order as that of the Sun. So called after a prototype identified in a bright region of gas and dust known as the Hind’s variable nebula, the T Tauri stars are characterized by erratic changes in brightness. They represent an early stage in stellar evolution, having only recently been formed by the rapid gravitat...
  • T Tauri variable (astronomy)
    any of a class of very young stars having a mass of the same order as that of the Sun. So called after a prototype identified in a bright region of gas and dust known as the Hind’s variable nebula, the T Tauri stars are characterized by erratic changes in brightness. They represent an early stage in stellar evolution, having only recently been formed by the rapid gravitat...
  • T zero (work by Calvino)
    ...[1959; The Nonexistent Knight]) and, later, on moralizing science fiction (Le cosmicomiche [1965; Cosmicomics] and Ti con zero [1968; t zero]). Paolo Volponi’s province is the human consequences of Italy’s rapid postwar industrialization (Memoriale [1962], La macchina mondiale [1965; T...
  • T-26 (Soviet tank)
    ...with 37- to 47-millimetre guns for fighting other tanks began to displace them. An early example was the Vickers-Armstrong six-ton model of 1930, copied on a large scale in the Soviet Union (as the T-26). The most successful example was the BT, also built in large numbers in the Soviet Union. The fastest tank of its day, the BT was based on designs evolved in the United States by J.W. Christie,...
  • T-28 (Soviet tank)
    ...tanks with more powerful 75-millimetre guns was clearly recognized in Germany, leading in 1934 to the design of the Pz. IV. The problem was realized less clearly in the Soviet Union, even though the T-28 and T-35 multi-turret tanks with 76-millimetre guns were first built there in 1932–33. But the Russians recognized more quickly than others the need for the next step, which was to repla...
  • T-3 (ice station, Arctic Ocean)
    ...of ice drift. The most striking feature of the surface circulation pattern is the large clockwise gyre (circular motion) that covers almost the entire Amerasia Basin. Fletcher’s Ice Island (T-3) made two orbits in this gyre over a 20-year period, which is some indication of the current speed. The northern extremity of the gyre bifurcates and jets out of the Greenland-Spitsbergen passage....
  • T-34 (Soviet tank)
    ...with 75- or 76-millimetre guns. Thus, in 1939, while the Germans were still developing the Pz. III from a 37-millimetre to a 50-millimetre version, the Russians were already concentrating on the T-34 medium tank with a 76-millimetre gun....
  • T-34/85 (Soviet tank)
    ...attitude. The Soviet army, however, maintained large armoured forces, and the threat they posed to western Europe as the Cold War became more intense, together with the havoc created by Soviet-built T-34/85 tanks during the North Korean invasion of South Korea in 1950, provided a new impetus to development....
  • T-35 (Soviet tank)
    ...more powerful 75-millimetre guns was clearly recognized in Germany, leading in 1934 to the design of the Pz. IV. The problem was realized less clearly in the Soviet Union, even though the T-28 and T-35 multi-turret tanks with 76-millimetre guns were first built there in 1932–33. But the Russians recognized more quickly than others the need for the next step, which was to replace all the....
  • T-54 (Soviet tank)
    Similar increases took place in the calibre of Soviet tank guns. After World War II the basic T-34/85 tanks armed with 85-millimetre guns were replaced by T-54 and T-55 tanks armed with 100-millimetre guns. They were followed in the 1960s by the T-62, with a 115-millimetre gun, and in the 1970s and ’80s by the T-64, T-72, and T-80, all with......
  • T-55 (Soviet tank)
    Similar increases took place in the calibre of Soviet tank guns. After World War II the basic T-34/85 tanks armed with 85-millimetre guns were replaced by T-54 and T-55 tanks armed with 100-millimetre guns. They were followed in the 1960s by the T-62, with a 115-millimetre gun, and in the 1970s and ’80s by the T-64, T-72, and T-80, all with 125-millimetre smoothbore guns. The JS-3 and T-10....
  • T-62 (Soviet tank)
    ...Soviet tank guns. After World War II the basic T-34/85 tanks armed with 85-millimetre guns were replaced by T-54 and T-55 tanks armed with 100-millimetre guns. They were followed in the 1960s by the T-62, with a 115-millimetre gun, and in the 1970s and ’80s by the T-64, T-72, and T-80, all with 125-millimetre smoothbore guns. The JS-3 and T-10 heavy tanks with their less powerful 122-mil...
  • T-64 (Soviet tank)
    ...with 85-millimetre guns were replaced by T-54 and T-55 tanks armed with 100-millimetre guns. They were followed in the 1960s by the T-62, with a 115-millimetre gun, and in the 1970s and ’80s by the T-64, T-72, and T-80, all with 125-millimetre smoothbore guns. The JS-3 and T-10 heavy tanks with their less powerful 122-millimetre guns had by then been withdrawn. This left the Soviet army ...
  • T-72 (Soviet tank)
    ...85-millimetre guns were replaced by T-54 and T-55 tanks armed with 100-millimetre guns. They were followed in the 1960s by the T-62, with a 115-millimetre gun, and in the 1970s and ’80s by the T-64, T-72, and T-80, all with 125-millimetre smoothbore guns. The JS-3 and T-10 heavy tanks with their less powerful 122-millimetre guns had by then been withdrawn. This left the Soviet army in th...
  • T-80 (Soviet tank)
    ...guns were replaced by T-54 and T-55 tanks armed with 100-millimetre guns. They were followed in the 1960s by the T-62, with a 115-millimetre gun, and in the 1970s and ’80s by the T-64, T-72, and T-80, all with 125-millimetre smoothbore guns. The JS-3 and T-10 heavy tanks with their less powerful 122-millimetre guns had by then been withdrawn. This left the Soviet army in the same positio...
  • t-butyl alcohol (chemical compound)
    ...of four organic compounds having the same molecular formula but different structures: normal (n-) butyl alcohol, secondary (sec-) butyl alcohol, isobutyl alcohol, and tertiary (t-) butyl alcohol....
  • T-cell antigen receptor (immunity)
    T-cell antigen receptors...
  • T-cell lymphoma (pathology)
    ...cats, and cows. These animal viruses are not infectious for human cells. A human retrovirus, human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV-I), has been suggested to be the cause of a type of lymphoma called T-cell lymphoma. Cases of T-cell lymphoma associated with HTLV-I have been found in clusters in southern Japan (Kyushu) and in the coastal region of Georgia in the United States, but sporadic cases....
  • T-cell receptor (immunity)
    T-cell antigen receptors...
  • T-class asteroid (astronomy)
    P- and T-class asteroids have low albedos and no known meteorite or naturally occurring mineralogical counterparts, but they may contain a large fraction of carbon polymers or organic-rich silicates or both in their surface material. R-class asteroids are very rare. Their surface material has been identified as being most consistent with a pyroxene- and olivine-rich composition analogous to the......
  • T-cross-section rail (railroad track)
    ...on the relatively poor track, and a swiveling leading truck guided them into tight curves. On the Camden and Amboy Railroad, another pioneering line, the engineer John Jervis invented the T- cross-section rail that greatly cheapened and simplified the laying of track when combined with the wooden crosstie also first introduced in the United States. Simplicity and strength became the......
  • T-dependent antigen (biochemistry)
    ...secretes cytokines, which can interact with the B cell and provide additional stimulation. Antigens that induce a response in this manner, which is the typical method of B-cell activation, are called T-dependent antigens....
  • T-factor (pedology)
    ...of soil conservation strategies requires knowledge of actual and acceptable rates of soil erosion. A practical measure of soil resistance to erosion used by pedologists in the United States is the soil loss tolerance (T-value, or T-factor). This quantity is defined as the maximum annual rate of soil loss by erosion that will permit high soil productivity for an indefinite period of time.......
  • T-formation (sports)
    ...team in the U.S. professional National Football League (NFL). Halas revolutionized American football strategy in the late 1930s when he, along with assistant coach Clark Shaughnessy, revived the T formation and added to it the “man in motion” (a player moving prior to the start of a play)....
  • T-grain crystal (photochemistry)
    Current technology has made use of a flatter crystal or “T-grain” that exposes more readily to light without an increase in the visible dimension of the grain. This enables use of very low light levels, especially when the film is “pushed” (given extended development) or “flashed” (prestruck with white light to accelerate exposure). When extreme sensitivit...
  • T-helper cell (cytology)
    Helper T cells do not directly kill infected cells, as cytotoxic T cells do. Instead they help activate cytotoxic T cells and macrophages to attack infected cells, or they stimulate B cells to secrete antibodies. Helper T cells become activated by interacting with antigen-presenting cells, such as macrophages. Antigen-presenting cells ingest a microbe, partially degrade it, and export fragments......
  • T-independent antigen (biochemistry)
    Most antigens are T-dependent. Some, however, are able to stimulate B cells without the help of T cells. The T-independent antigens are usually large polymers with repeating, identical antigenic determinants. Such polymers often make up the outer coats and long, tail-like flagella of bacteria. Immunologists think that the enormous concentration of identical T-independent antigens creates a......
  • T-jump relaxation technique (chemistry)
    To summarize and clarify this discussion, a temperature-jump relaxation experiment—an important technique in relaxation studies—will be described. In this technique the equilibrium of a system is disrupted by suddenly changing the temperature and observing the concentrations of the reactants as a function of time. The name “temperature jump” is usually reserved for the....
  • T-killer cell (cytology)
    ...Still others are so large that phagocytes cannot ingest them. Such cells, however, can be attacked by killer cells present in the blood and lymphoid tissues. Killer cells, which may be either cytotoxic T cells or natural killer cells, have receptors that bind to the tail portion of the IgG antibody molecule (the part that does not bind to antigen). Once bound, killer cells insert a......
  • T-map (cartography)
    ...a spherical Earth. Maps produced during the Middle Ages followed Ptolemy’s guide, but they used Jerusalem as the central feature and placed East at the top. These representations are often called T-maps because they show only three continents (Europe, Asia, and Africa), separated by the “T” formed by the Mediterranean Sea and the Nile River. More accurate geographical......
  • T-maze (scientific apparatus)
    ...and complex mazes used in earlier studies (the very first published experiment used a scaled-down replica of the maze at Hampton Court, London) soon gave way to something very much simpler, a T-maze or Y-maze. A rat placed at the end of one arm must run to the central choice-point, from where it has to enter one of the two remaining arms. Although extremely simple, even this apparatus......
  • T-square table
    simple, sturdy rectangular table having straight lines, overall flush surfaces, and square legs that form the four corners of the top and whose diameter is identical with the thickness of the top. It is not certain who designed the Parsons table, and it may have been the result of a class project, but prototypes exist in the early work of both the French interior designer Jean-Michel Frank (1896...
  • T-suppressor cell (cytology)
    ...by the appropriate antigen, helper T cells secrete chemical messengers called cytokines, which stimulate the differentiation of B cells into plasma cells, thereby promoting antibody production. Regulatory T cells act to control immune reactions, hence their name. Cytotoxic T cells, which are activated by various cytokines, bind to and kill infected cells and cancer cells....
  • T-T-T diagram (chemistry)
    ...on kinetic theories, which are based on the nucleation and crystal-growth factors outlined in the section Volume and temperature changes. After considering these factors, the glassmaker generates a time-temperature-transformation (T-T-T) diagram. In this diagram a curve is plotted showing the heat-treatment times that would be required at various temperatures in order for detectable......
  • t-test, Student’s (statistics)
    in statistics, a method of testing hypotheses about the mean of a small sample drawn from a normally distributed population when the population standard deviation is unknown....
  • T-value (pedology)
    ...of soil conservation strategies requires knowledge of actual and acceptable rates of soil erosion. A practical measure of soil resistance to erosion used by pedologists in the United States is the soil loss tolerance (T-value, or T-factor). This quantity is defined as the maximum annual rate of soil loss by erosion that will permit high soil productivity for an indefinite period of time.......
  • T. F. Green International Airport (airport, Warwick, Rhode Island)
    The state’s main air terminal is T.F. Green International Airport in Warwick. In the 1980s the airport itself was substantially enlarged and the terminal renovated, and passenger traffic increased significantly after that. State airports at Smithfield, Newport, Westerly, Block Island, and Quonset also serve general aviation....
  • T.A.T (American corporation)
    former American airline that maintained extensive routes in the United States and to Europe, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. TWA was absorbed by American Airlines in 2001....
  • T.A.T. (American corporation)
    former American airline that maintained extensive routes in the United States and to Europe, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. TWA was absorbed by American Airlines in 2001....
  • T.II (extermination camp, Poland)
    ...July 22, 1942, transfers to the death camp at Treblinka began at a rate of more than 5,000 Jews per day. Between July and September 1942, the Nazis shipped about 265,000 Jews from Warsaw to Treblinka. Only some 55,000 remained in the ghetto. As the deportations continued, despair gave way to a determination to resist. A newly formed group, the Jewish Fighting Organization (Żydowska......
  • T.K.S. Brothers (theatrical troupe)
    ...companies with their song and dance extravaganzas have dominated Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Mysore. The most outstanding Tamil company since the independence of India in 1947 has been the T.K.S. Brothers of Madras, famous for trick scenes and gorgeous settings. Also famous is the actor-producer-proprietor Rajamanickam, who specializes in mythological plays with an all-male cast, using......
  • T1 carrier system (broadband telecommunications)
    ...or it may be modulated onto a carrier signal for transmission via radio wave. Examples of such systems include the North American T carriers as well as digital point-to-point microwave systems. In T1 systems, introduced in 1962, 24 voiceband signals (or the digital equivalent) are time-division multiplexed together. The voiceband signal is a 64-kilobit-per-second data stream consisting of......
  • T3 (hormone)
    Thyroid hormones include thyroxine and triiodothyronine, which regulate tissue metabolism. Natural desiccated thyroid produced from beef and pork and the synthetic derivatives levothyroxine and liothyronine are used in replacement therapy to treat hypothyroidism that results from any cause....
  • T4 (hormone)
    one of the two major hormones secreted by the thyroid gland (the other is triiodothyronine). Thyroxine’s principal function is to stimulate the consumption of oxygen and thus the metabolism of all cells and tissues in the body. Thyroxine is formed by the molecular addition of iodine to the amino acid tyrosine while the latter is bound to the protein thyroglobulin. Excessive secretion of thy...
  • T4 (explosive)
    powerful explosive, discovered by Georg Friedrich Henning of Germany and patented in 1898 but not used until World War II, when most of the warring powers introduced it. Relatively safe and inexpensive to manufacture, RDX was produced on a large scale in the United States by a secret process developed in the United States and Canada. The name RDX was coined by the British. This name was accepted i...
  • T4 bacteriophage (bacteriology)
    Certain bacterial viruses, such as the T4 bacteriophage, have evolved an elaborate process of infection: following adsorption and firm attachment of the virus’s tail to the bacterium surface by means of proteinaceous “pins,” the musclelike tail contracts, and the tail plug penetrates the cell wall and underlying membrane and injects virus (phage) DNA into the cell. Other......
  • T4 Euthanasia Program (Nazi policy)
    Nazi German effort—framed as a euthanasia program—to kill incurably ill, physically or mentally disabled, emotionally distraught, and elderly people. Adolf Hitler initiated this program in 1939, and, while it was officially discontinued in 1941, killings continued covertly until the military defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945....
  • T4 helper cell (cytology)
    Helper T cells do not directly kill infected cells, as cytotoxic T cells do. Instead they help activate cytotoxic T cells and macrophages to attack infected cells, or they stimulate B cells to secrete antibodies. Helper T cells become activated by interacting with antigen-presenting cells, such as macrophages. Antigen-presenting cells ingest a microbe, partially degrade it, and export fragments......
  • T4 Program (Nazi policy)
    Nazi German effort—framed as a euthanasia program—to kill incurably ill, physically or mentally disabled, emotionally distraught, and elderly people. Adolf Hitler initiated this program in 1939, and, while it was officially discontinued in 1941, killings continued covertly until the military defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945....
  • T4M system (telecommunications)
    ...two-way voice circuits. Digital coaxial systems were introduced into the U.S. long-distance network beginning in 1962. Using time-division multiplexing, the most recent digital cable system (the T4M system, first deployed in 1975) can support up to 40,320 two-way voice circuits over 10 working pairs of coaxial cable....
  • Ta (chemical element)
    (Ta), chemical element, very hard, silver-gray metal of Group Vb of the periodic table, characterized by its high density, extremely high melting point, and excellent resistance to all acids except hydrofluoric at ordinary temperatures. Closely associated with niobium in ores and in properties, tantalum was discovered (1802) by the Swedish chemist Anders Gustaf Ekeberg and named...
  • Ta Hsing-an Ling (mountains, China)
    major mountain system located in the northeastern section of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, northeastern China. The range extends some 750 miles (1,200 km) from north to south and constitutes the divide between the flat lowlands of the Northeast (Manchurian) Plain to the east and the high Mongolian Plateau to the we...
  • Ta Keo (temple mountain, Angkor, Cambodia)
    ...the patronage of a wealthy priestly family, one of whose members had been Jayavarman’s teacher. In Yaśodharapura itself, Jayavarman V began work on the imposing temple mountain now called Ta Keo, which was completed under his successor, Suryavarman I (ruled c. 1004–c. 1050). Suryavarman I, an innovative and demanding monarch, was a usurper with links to prince...
  • Ta met’ Homeron (work by Quintus)
    Greek epic poet, the author of a hexameter poem in 14 books, narrating events at Troy from the funeral of Hector to the departure of the Achaeans after sacking the city (and hence called Ta met’ Homeron or Posthomerica)....
  • Ta Ming Kung (palace, Ch’ang-an, China)
    ...months on a grid plan, with eastern and western markets and the Imperial City placed in the central northern section, a plan later followed at Peking. In 634 T’ang T’ai-tsung built a new palace, the Ta-ming Palace, on higher ground just outside the city to the northeast. The site of the Ta-ming Palace, which became the centre of court life during the glittering reigns of Kao-tsung...
  • Ta Mok (Cambodian guerrilla leader)
    Cambodian guerrilla leader (b. c. 1926, Takeo province, Cambodia, French Indochina—d. July 21, 2006, Phnom Penh, Cambodia), as a senior leader of the Khmer Rouge, was believed to have been responsible for many of the worst atrocities of that bloody regime. Ta Mok fought against both the Japanese (1941–45) and the French (until the early 1950s) occupations of his country. After...
  • Ta P’ing Plateau (plateau, Vietnam)
    ...considerably higher elevation. Among its outstanding topographic features is Fan Si Peak, which at 10,312 feet (3,143 metres) is the highest point in Vietnam. South of the Black (Da) River are the Ta P’ing, Son La, and Moc Chau plateaus, which are separated by deep valleys....
  • Ta valley (region, China)
    ...eastern Chekiang, mountains occupy 93 percent of the land surface, while another 1 percent consists of low hills. Only 6 percent is level land, distributed along Hang-chou Bay and the Fu-ch’un and Ta river valleys in southern Chekiang. Most of the province’s arable lands—consisting of alluvial plains of great fertility—are found in these three areas....
  • Ta Yü (Chinese mythological hero)
    (Chinese: “Yü the Great”), in Chinese mythology, the Tamer of the Flood, one of China’s saviour-heroes and reputed founder of China’s oldest dynasty, the Hsia. One legend among many recounts Ta Yü’s extraordinary birth: a man called Kun was given charge of controlling a great deluge. To dam the water, he stole from heaven what seems to have been a ...
  • Ta Yüan dynasty (Chinese history)
    (1206–1368), dynasty established in China by Mongol nomads. Yuan rule stretched throughout most of Asia and eastern Europe, though the Yuan emperors were rarely able to exercise much control over their more distant possessions....
  • Ta Yün-ho (canal, China)
    series of waterways in eastern and northern China that link Hangzhou in Zhejiang province with Beijing. Some 1,085 miles (1,747 km) in length, it is the world’s longest man-made waterway, though, strictly speaking, not all of it is a canal. It was built to enable successive Chinese regimes to transport surplus grain...
  • Ta’ Żuta (plateau, Malta)
    ...of the island from Point ir-Raħeb (west of Nadur Tower) to the coast northeast of Għargħur. The highest areas are coralline limestone uplands that constitute a triangular plateau, Ta’ Żuta (829 feet [253 metres]), to the west. The uplands are separated from the surrounding areas by blue clay slopes, while undercliff areas are found where the coralline plateau ...
  • Ta-ang (people)
    hill people of the Shan region and adjacent areas of eastern Myanmar (Burma), as well as southwestern Yunnan province of China. They numbered about 240,000 in the late 20th century and speak dialects of the Palaungic branch of Austro-Asiatic languages. The Palaung’s language is quite distinct from the Tai speech of the Shan (see Tai), with whom they live closely in...
  • ta-asobi (Japanese festival)
    In Japan, among those engaged in agriculture, the ta-asobi (“rice-field ritual”) festival is celebrated at the beginning of the year to ensure a plentiful harvest. Dances, songs sung with a sasara (musical instrument), sowing of seeds, and feasting play important roles in securing the aid of the kami (gods or spirits). Divination by means of archery, in which......
  • “Ta-ch’eng ch’i-hsin lun” (Buddhist text)
    (Sanskrit: “Treatise on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna”), relatively brief but influential exposition of the fundamentals of Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy and faith. Though the work is said to be that of the Sanskrit poet Aśvaghoṣa, there are no extant Sanskrit copies of The Awakening of Faith (as it is known in the modern trans...
  • Ta-chien-lu (China)
    town, western Sichuan sheng (province) and capital of Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, China. Kangding is on the Tuo River, a tributary of the Dadu River, 62 miles (100 km) west of Ya’an on the main route from Sichuan into the Tibet Autonomous Region. It lies at an elevation of 8,400 feet (2...
  • Ta-ch’ing (oil field and city, China)
    oil field and new city, western Heilongjiang sheng (province), northeastern China, one of the country’s most important sources of oil. It is situated in the northern part of the Northeast (Manchurian) Plain east of the Nen River, between Qiqihar (northwest) and Harbin...
  • ta-ch’ü (musical form)
    Aside from drama and ta-ch’ü (a suite of melodies sung in narration of stories), which in the South were noticeably modified in spirit and structure, becoming more ornate and bookish—it was prose fiction that made the greatest progress in the 16th century. Two important novels took shape at that time. Wu Ch’eng-en’s Hsi-yu chi is a......
  • ta-chuan (Chinese writing)
    in Chinese calligraphy, script evolved from the ancient scripts jiaguwen and guwen by the 12th century bc and developed during the Zhou dynasty (12th century–256/255 bc). It is the earliest form of script to be cultivated later into an important related art form, ...
  • Ta-hsing (ancient city, China)
    ancient site, north-central China. Formerly the capital of the Han, Sui, and Tang dynasties, it is located near the present-day city of Xi’an....
  • “Ta-hsüeh” (Confucian text)
    brief Chinese text generally attributed to the ancient sage Confucius (551–479 bc) and his disciple Zengzi. For centuries the text existed only as a chapter of the Liji (“Collection of Rituals”), one of the Wujing (“Five Classics”) of Confucianism. ...
  • Ta-hsüeh Shan (mountains, China)
    great mountain range in western Sichuan province, southwestern China. These enormously high and rugged mountains were formed around the eastern flank of the ancient stable block of the Plateau of Tibet; their formation occurred during successive foldings that took place in the final phase of the mountain-building process (orogeny) of the ...
  • Ta-hu-erh (people)
    Mongol people living mainly in the eastern portion of Inner Mongolia autonomous region and western Heilongjiang province of China and estimated in the early 21st century to number more than 132,000. They are one of the official ethnic minorities of China. Their language, which varies widely enough from other Mongolian languages to once have been thought to be Tungusic or a mixtu...
  • “Ta-jih Ching” (Buddhist text)
    text of late Tantric Buddhism and a principal scripture of the large Japanese Buddhist sect known as Shingon (“True Word”). The text received a Chinese translation, under the title Ta-jih Ching, about ad 725, and its esoteric teachings were propagated a century later in Japan by Kūkai. These teachings, which have been called cosmotheism, centre upon Mah...
  • T’a-k’o-la-ma-kan Sha-mo (desert, China)
    great desert of Central Asia and one of the largest sandy deserts in the world. The Takla Makan occupies the central part of the Tarim Basin in the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang, northwestern China. The desert area extends about 600 miles (960 km) from west to east, and it has a maximum width of some 260 miles (420 km) and a total area...
  • Ta-kou (Taiwan)
    shih (municipality) and major international port in southwestern Taiwan, with an area of 59 square miles (154 square km). The site has been settled since the later part of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). In early times the Chinese called the place Ta-kou, a rough rendering of the name of the local aboriginal tribe, the Makattao, or Takow. The Dutch, who occupied the area from 1624 to 1...
  • Ta-li (anthropological and archaeological site, China)
    site of paleoanthropological excavations near Jiefang village in Dali district, Shaanxi (Shensi) province, China, best known for the 1978 discovery of a well-preserved cranium that is about 200,000 years old. It resembles that of Homo erectus in having prominent browridges, a receding forehead, a ridge along the rear of the skull, and thick cran...
  • Ta-li (historical town, China)
    historical town, west-central Yunnan sheng (province), southwestern China. It is situated in a fertile basin on the west side of Lake Er; since 1983 historical Dali has been administered as a town under the city also called Dali (formerly Xiaguan), which lies 10 miles (16 km) southeast of the original ...
  • Ta-li (China)
    city, western Yunnan sheng (province), southwestern China. It is situated at the southern end of Lake Er in a fertile basin about 10 miles (16 km) southeast of the historical town of Dali. The city has traditionally been an important centre on the routes westward from Kunming (the pr...
  • Ta-li cranium (hominin fossil)
    site of paleoanthropological excavations near Jiefang village in Dali district, Shaanxi (Shensi) province, China, best known for the 1978 discovery of a well-preserved cranium that is about 200,000 years old. It resembles that of Homo erectus in having prominent browridges, a receding forehead, a ridge along the rear of the skull, and thick cranial walls. Its cranial capacity is......
  • T’a-li-mu Ho (river, China)
    chief river of the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang, extreme northwestern China. It lies immediately north of the Plateau of Tibet. The river gives its name to the great basin between the Tien Shan and Kunlun mountain systems of Central Asia. It flows for most of ...
  • T’a-li-mu P’en-ti (basin, China)
    chief river of the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang, extreme northwestern China. It lies immediately north of the Plateau of Tibet. The river gives its name to the great basin between the Tien Shan and Kunlun mountain systems of Central Asia. It flows for most of its length through the Takla Makan Desert. The word tarim is used to designate the bank of......
  • Ta-liang Mountains (mountains, China)
    ...of immense thickness. Its raised western rim forms the Liu-p’an Mountains, which extends from the far west of Shensi northward into Kansu and Ningsia. A minor northwest-to-southeast axis forms the Ta-liang and Huang-lung ranges, which constitute the watershed between the Lo River system and the northern part of the province, which drains directly into the Huang Ho. On the eastern border ...
  • Ta-lien (China)
    city and port, southern Liaoning sheng (province), northeastern China. It consists of the formerly independent cities of Dalian and Lüshun, which were amalgamated (as Lüda) in 1950; in 1981 the name Dalian was restored, and Lüshun became a district of the city....
  • Ta-mo (Indian Buddhist monk)
    legendary Indian monk who, according to tradition, is credited with the establishment of the Ch’an (Japanese: Zen) sect of Buddhism....
  • Ta-pa Shan (mountains, China)
    broadly defined, mountain range of central China that is located along the border between Shaanxi province to the north and Sichuan province and Chongqing municipality to the south and that also extends northwest and southeast into Gansu and Hubei provinces. More narrowly defined, the ...
  • Ta-pieh Shan (mountains, China)
    mountain range in central China. Aligned roughly along a northwest-southeast axis, the Dabie Mountains form the watershed between the upper Huai and the Yangtze rivers and also mark the boundary between Hubei province to the south and Henan and Anhui provinces to the north and east. Th...
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