Ai Ch'ing or Ai Qing, pseud. of Chiang Hai-ch'eng or Jiang Haicheng, 1910–96, Chinese poet. After studying painting in France (1929–32), he returned to China where he wrote modernist poetry in...

Artificial intelligence (AI), the use of computers to model the behavioral aspects of human reasoning and learning. Research in AI is concentrated in some half-dozen areas. In problem solving,...

Amnesty International (AI,) human-rights organization founded in 1961 by Englishman Peter Benenson; it campaigns internationally against the detention of prisoners of conscience, for the fair ...

Zlatoust, city (1989 pop. 208,000), E European Russia, on the Ai River in the S Urals. It is a rail terminus and an old metallurgical center. Besides steel mills, the city has metal-engraving ...

Lanfranco, Giovanni, 1582–1647, Italian painter. Lanfranco is considered one of the foremost artists of the High Baroque. He was trained by the Carracci and worked primarily in Rome and Naples...

Spielberg, Steven, 1946–, American film director, b. Cincinnati, Ohio. Spielberg began his career as a television director, admired for his understanding portrayal of human character. His film...

Phoenicia, ancient territory occupied by Phoenicians. The name Phoenicia also appears as Phenice and Phenicia. These people were Canaanites (see Canaan), and in the 9th cent. B.C. the Greeks g...

Chinese literature, the literature of ancient and modern China. It is not known when the current system of writing Chinese first developed. The oldest written records date from about 1400 B.C....