Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Analects: The text of many of Confucius's most important sayings.
APCs: Agricultural producers' cooperatives; a communal form of
agricultural organization that was attempted unsuccessfully during the
1950s.
Beida: Chinese abbreviation of Peking University (Beijing Daxue).
Beiping: Name for Beijing (formerly spelled Peking) from the late 1920s
through 1949.
boddhisatvas: Merciful beings who were thought, on the brink of nirvana,to
have turned their attention and compassion back toward the world of the
living and were thus able to help all who called on them in faith.
CCP: Chinese Communist Party.
DPP: Democratic Progressive Party of Taiwan, a democratic opposition party
founded in the 1980s that has somewhat favored Taiwan independence in the
past; its presidential candidate, Chen Shui-bian, won Taiwan's presidential
election in March 2000.
Falun Gong: Popular religious movement in China during the 1990s and
beyond that seems to combine elements of Buddhism and Taoism with a
regimen of physical exercises. Falun Gong practitioners insist that their
movement is not a religion and emphasize its uniqueness from Buddhism
and Taoism.
