Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
prison island off the east coast of Taiwan. He was eventually released
from prison under pressure from Amnesty International and died a
widely revered cultural hero in Taiwan in 2008. His ashes were scat-
tered around Green Island.
Pu Yi (1906-1967): Last Qing emperor; a child when the Qing ended,
the Japanese eventually installed him as their puppet ruler in Manchu-
kuo.
Qianlong (1711-1799): Qing emperor (r. 1736-1796); one of the
Qing's two great monarchs; during his reign, the Qing reached its
height and also began its decline.
Qin Gui (1090-1155): Infamous imperial chief counsellor during the
1140s who apparently favored a more capitulationist line against the
Jurchens, who were then under attack by the Southern Song patriot
general Yue Fei; almost universally reviled in China as a traitor for
recalling Yue Fei from his campaign against the Jurchens and throwing
him into prison, where he died.
Qin Shihuang (259-209 B.C.): Harsh Legalist ruler of the Qin dynasty
who proclaimed himself emperor (huangdi) and unified all China in
221 B.C., thus ending feudalism and beginning imperial China; tradi-
tionally excoriated for his brutality and despotism, but his enduring
contribution was to establish the historical precedent for unity, politi-
cal and otherwise, in China; contrary to popular opinion, he probably
had nothing to do with the building and positioning of the Great Wall
of China.
Shih Ming-teh (Shi Mingde; 1941-): Taiwanese political activist and
democratization campaigner. He was a prominent figure in the Kao-
hsiung Incident and spent 25 years in Kuomintang prisons as a politi-
cal dissident. More recently he has been critical of Taiwan's president
Chen Shui-bian and in 2006 led an unsuccessful popular protest move-
ment to depose him. In the mercurial and fluid world of Taiwanese
politics today, Shih is a highly polarizing figure, loved and hated with
equal parts passion.
Shun (early cultural hero): Legendary figure credited with perfecting
bureaucratic organization and establishing the basics of China's crimi-
nal code; struggled with a great flood in China during his reign.
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