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1056 I Kuan Han-ch'ing ► kulak
Kuan Han-ch'ing See Guan Hanqing Kuan-yin See Avalokitesvara Kuan Yii See Guan Yu Kuang-chou See Guangzhou Kuang-wu ti See Guangwudi
Kuban River \ku-'ban y \ River, southwestern Russia. Rising on Mount Elbrus, in the Republic of Georgia, it flows north then west to enter the Sea of Azov. It is 563 mi (906 km) long. Much of its water is diverted for irrigation.
Kubitschek Vkii-bo-.chekN (de Oliveira), Juscelino (b. Sept. 12, 1902, Diamantina, Braz.—d. Aug. 22, 1976, near Resende) President of Brazil (1956-61). He studied medicine but entered politics, becoming mayor of Belo Horizonte and later winning election to Congress. As presi¬ dent he promoted rapid development of the hydroelectric, steel, and other heavy industries and built 11,000 mi (18,000 km) of roads. He moved the government from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia, 600 mi (1,000 km) inland, to accelerate the settlement of Brazil’s vast interior. One price of his ambi¬ tious development was rapid and persistent inflation, exacerbated by the need to spend large sums to aid the drought-stricken northeastern region. The military government that took power in 1964 forced him into exile (1965-67). On returning to Brazil, he became a banker.
Kublai Khan Vkii-bb-'kanV (b. 1215—d. 1294) Grandson of Genghis Khan who conquered China and established the Yuan, or Mongol, dynasty. When Kublai was in his 30s, his brother, the emperor Mongke, gave him the task of con¬ quering and administering Song- dynasty China. Recognizing the superiority of Chinese thought, he gathered around himself Confucian advisers who convinced him of the importance of clemency toward the conquered. In subduing China and establishing himself there, he alien¬ ated other Mongol princes; his claim to the title of khan was also disputed.
Though he could no longer control the steppe aristocracy effectively, he succeeded in reunifying China, sub¬ duing first the north and then the south by 1279. To restore China’s prestige, Kublai engaged in wars on its periphery with Myanmar, Java, Japan, and the nations of eastern Southeast Asia, suffering some disas¬ trous defeats. At home, he set up a four-tiered society, with the Mongols and other Central Asian peoples forming the top two tiers, the inhabitants of northern China ranking next, and those of southern China on the bot¬ tom. Posts of importance were allotted to foreigners, including Marco Polo. Kublai repaired the Grand Canal and public granaries and made Buddhism the state religion. Although his reign was one of great prosper¬ ity, his politics were pursued less successfully by his followers.
Kubrick \'kyu-brik\, Stanley (b. July 26, 1928, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. March 7, 1999, Childwickbury Manor, near St. Albans, Hert¬ fordshire, Eng.) U.S. film director. He began his career as a photographer for Look magazine (1945-50). He directed two documentary films before directing his first feature film, Fear and Desire (1953). He won fame with Paths of Glory (1957), Spartacus (1960), Lolita (1962), Dr. Strangelove (1964), and the internationally acclaimed 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), which earned an Academy Award for special visual effects. His later mov¬ ies include A Clockwork Orange (1971), Barry Lyndon (1975), The Shin¬ ing (1980), Full Metal Jacket (1987), and Eyes Wide Shut (1999). His films are characterized by a cool visual style, meticulous attention to detail, and a detached, often ironic pessimism.
Kiicuk Kaynarca, Treaty of (1774) Pact signed after the Russo- Turkish War of 1768-74, in Kii^iik Kaynarca (now Kaynardzha), Bulg., ending undisputed Ottoman control of the Black Sea. The treaty extended the Russian frontier to the southern Bug River and allowed Russia to navigate freely in Ottoman waters through the Bosporus Strait and the Dardanelles. Most far-reaching was a religious stipulation allowing Rus¬
sia to represent Eastern Orthodox Christians in several regions, which Russia later interpreted as the right to intervene to protect Eastern Ortho¬ dox Christians anywhere in the Ottoman Empire.
kudu Slender African antelopes of the genus Tragelaphus. The greater kudu lives in small groups in hilly bush country or open woods. It stands about 51 in. (1.3 m) high at the shoulder and has a fringe on the throat and a crest of hair on the neck and back. It is reddish brown to blue-gray, with a white mark between the eyes and narrow vertical white stripes on the body. The male has long, corkscrewlike horns. The lesser kudu lives in pairs or small groups in open bush country; it stands about 40 in. (1 m) high, has more tightly spiraled horns, and has two white patches on the throat and no throat fringe. Both species browse on shrubs and leaves.
kudzu vine \'kud- l zii\ Fast-growing, twining, perennial, woody vine (Pueraria lobata, or P. thunbergiana) belonging to the pea family (see legume). Transplanted from its native China and Japan to North America in the 1870s as an attractive ornamental that could be planted on steep soil banks to prevent erosion, kudzu has become a rampant weed in much of the southeastern U.S, where it readily spreads to form great canopies over trees, shrubs, and exposed soil. Roots survive even northern winters, and the hairy vine grows to a length of 60 ft (18 m) in one season. It has large leaves, late-blooming reddish-purple flowers, and flat, hairy seed- pods. In its native range kudzu is grown for its edible, starchy roots and for a fiber made from its stems. It is also useful as a fodder or cover crop.
Kuei-chou See Guizhou Kuei-yang See Guiyang
Kuhn \'kun\, Thomas (Samuel) (b. July 18, 1922, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.—d. June 17, 1996, Cambridge, Mass.) U.S. historian and philoso¬ pher of science. He taught at Berkeley (1956-64), Princeton (1964-79), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1979-91). In his highly influential work The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), he ques¬ tioned the previously accepted view of scientific progress as a gradual accumulation of knowledge based on universally valid experimental methods and results, claiming that progress was often achieved by far- reaching “paradigm shifts.” His other works include The Copernican Revolution (1957), The Essential Tension (1977), and Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity (1978).
Kuiper Vkl-p9r\ belt or Edgeworth-Kuiper belt Disk-shaped belt of billions of small, icy bodies orbiting the Sun beyond the orbit of Nep¬ tune, mostly at distances 30-50 times Earth’s distance from the Sun. Ger¬ ard Peter Kuiper (1905-73) proposed the existence of this large flattened distribution of objects in 1951 in connection with his theory of the origin of the solar system (see solar nebula). Kenneth Edgeworth (1880-1972) independently had made similar proposals in 1943 and 1949. Whether the belt extends thinly as far as the Oort cloud is not known. Gravitational disturbances by Neptune of objects in the belt are thought to be the ori¬ gin of most short-period comets. The first Kuiper belt object was discov¬ ered in 1992, although the orbit, icy composition, and diminutive size of Pluto appear to qualify this body, traditionally considered a planet, as a giant Kuiper belt object.
Kukai Yku-.kA or Kobo Daishi (b. July 27, 774, Byobugaura, Japan—d. April 22, 835, Mount Koya) Japanese Buddhist saint and founder of the Shingon school. Born into an aristocratic family, Kukai was given a Confucian education but soon converted to Buddhism. After studying in China (804-806) with Huiguo (746-805), he returned home to spread his doctrines, which emphasized magic formulas, ceremonials, and services for the dead. In 816 he built a temple on Mount Koya, and he helped to establish the Shingon sect as one of the most popular forms of Japanese Buddhism. His major work, Ten Stages of Consciousness, traces the development of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, repre¬ senting Shingon as the highest stage. He was also a gifted poet, artist, and calligrapher.