Manchuria \man-'chur-e-o\ or Northeast Chinese Dongbei or
Tung-pei \'duq-'ba\ Historical region, northeastern China. It consists of the modem provinces of Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang; the northeast¬ ern portion of Inner Mongolia autonomous region is sometimes also included. Throughout the early Chinese dynasties, China had only limited control over Manchuria. In 1211 Genghis Khan invaded and occupied Manchuria. Chinese rebellions overthrew the Yuan dynasty of the Mon¬ gols in 1368, and the Ming dynasty was established. The Qing (Manchu) dynasty originated there (early 17th century) and eventually spread over China. Russia and Japan fought each other for a foothold in the region during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05); after its defeat, Russia ceded southern Manchuria to Japan. The Japanese occupied all of Manchuria in 1931 and created the puppet state of Manchukuo in 1932. The Soviets captured Manchuria in 1945, and Chinese communist guerrillas soon came to power. In 1953 Beijing divided the region into its three current provinces. It is now one of China’s most important industrial areas.
Mancini, Henry orig. Enrico Nicola Mancini (b. April 16, 1924, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.—d. June 14, 1994, Beverly Hills, Calif.) U.S. com¬ poser. While serving in the army air force during World War II, he met Glenn Miller, and after the war he joined Miller’s band as an arranger and pianist. He first gained wide attention with his jazz-inflected music for the television series Peter Gunn (1958), but he is perhaps best known for his humorous scores for Blake Edwards’s Pink Panther movies. He worked extensively with Edwards throughout his career. He wrote scores for more than 80 films and won four Academy Awards for two songs—“Moon River” and “Days of Wine and Roses”—and for the film scores for Break¬ fast at Tiffany’s (1961) and Victor/Victoria (1982). He also won 20 Grammy Awards and 2 Emmys.
Mancini \man-'che-ne\ family Family of Italian sisters, noblewomen noted for their great beauty. Nieces of Jules Cardinal Mazarin, they moved to France at an early age. Laure Mancini, duchess de Mercoeur (1636— 57), married Louis de Vendome, duke de Mercoeur and grandson of King Henry IV. Olympe Mancini, countess de Soissons (1639-1708), was a mistress of Louis XIV. She was involved with her sister, Marie Anne, in the notorious “Affair of the Poisons” and was also accused of poisoning her husband; she was the mother of Prince Eugene of Savoy. Marie Man¬ cini, princess de Colonna (1640-1715), was also a mistress of Louis XIV; Mazarin intrigued to prevent their marriage, and she spent most of her life in Spain. Hortense Mancini, duchess de Mazarin (1646-99), married Armand Charles de la Porte, who assumed the Mazarin title. After leav¬ ing her husband, she became a famous beauty at the English court of Charles II. Marie Anne Mancini, duchess de Bouillon (1649-1714), was known for her literary salon but was banished in 1680 for the alleged poi¬ soning of the sorceress La Voisin (Catherine Monvoisin).
Mandaeanism \man-'de-3- l ni-z3m\ Ancient Middle Eastern Gnostic sect surviving in Iraq and southwestern Iran. Like other dualistic systems, it stresses salvation of the soul through esoteric knowledge, or gnosis, of its divine origin. (Its name derives from mandayya, “having knowledge.”) In its cosmology, evil Archons obstruct the soul’s ascent through the
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mandala ► Mandeville I 1183
heavenly spheres to reunion with the supreme deity. Unlike many Gnos¬ tic systems, Mandaeanism supports marriage and forbids sexual license. It is also characterized by elaborate cultic rituals, particularly for baptism. Mandaeans view Jesus as a false messiah but revere John the Baptist, whose life is chronicled in their sacred writings. See also dualism, Gnosticism.
mandala Vmon-ds-loX In Tantric Hinduism and Buddhism (see Vajray- ana), a diagram representing the universe, used in sacred rites and as an instrument of meditation. The mandala serves as a collection point for uni¬ versal forces. By mentally “entering” the mandala and moving toward its centre, one is guided through the cosmic processes of disintegration and reintegration. Mandalas may be painted on paper or cloth, drawn on the ground, or fashioned of bronze or stone. Two types of mandalas repre¬ sent different aspects of the universe: the garbha-dhatu (“womb world”), in which the movement is from one to the many, and the vajra-dhatu (“diamond world”), from the many into one.
Mandalay City (pop., 2004 est.: 1,176,900), central Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the Irrawaddy River, it is the country’s second largest city, after Yangon. It was built in 1857-59 by King Mindon to replace Amarapura as his capital. The last capital of the Myanmar kingdom, it fell to Britain in 1885. It was nearly destroyed during the Japanese occupation in World War II. An important Buddhist religious centre, it is the site of the famous Mahamuni pagoda and of 730 pagodas that house marble tablets inscribed with Buddhist scriptures.
Mandan \'man-,dan\ North American Plains Indian people living mostly in North Dakota, U.S. Their name is probably of French derivation. The Mandan language, which is Siouan, is nearly extinct. The Mandan, who lived in dome-shaped, earth-covered lodges clustered in stockaded vil¬ lages, planted corn, beans, pumpkins, and sunflowers, hunted buffalo, and made pottery and baskets. They held elaborate ceremonies, including the sun dance and the bear ceremony, a healing and war-preparation rite. They had age-graded warrior societies as well as shamanistic and women’s societies. Artists depicted heroic deeds on buffalo robes. George Catlin portrayed Mandan life and people in a series of paintings. According to him, they called themselves Seepohskahnumahkahkee, meaning “People of the Pheasant.” By the mid-19th century the Mandan, reduced by small¬ pox, were removed to North Dakota’s Fort Berthold Reservation, where they live with the Hidatsa and the Arikara as the Three Affiliated Tribes. Some 350 people claimed sole Mandan descent in the 2000 U.S. census.
Mandarin In imperial China, a public official drawn from the ranks of the lesser officeholders who had achieved success in the Chinese examina¬ tion system. The word comes from the Portuguese version of the Malay term for a minister of state. It has come to mean a pedantic official, a bureaucrat, or a person of position and influence (and usually a tradition¬ alist or reactionary mindset) in intellectual or literary circles. The Man¬ darin language is the most widely spoken of the Chinese languages.
Mande Vman-.da, man-'da\ languages Branch of the Niger-Congo language family. Mande comprises 40 languages of West Africa with more than 20 million speakers in a more or less contiguous area of southeast¬ ern Senegal, The Gambia, southern Mauritania, southwestern Mali, east¬ ern Guinea, northern and eastern Sierra Leone, northern Liberia, and western Cote d’Ivoire. Substantial numbers are also found in Guinea- Bissau, Guinea, and Burkina Faso; and there are very much smaller, iso¬ lated pockets in the region. The most significant subgroup is the Mandekan complex—a continuum of languages and dialects, including those spoken by the Bambara, Malinke, Maninka, and Dyula—spoken from Senegal, The Gambia, and Guinea east through Mali to Burkina Faso. Mande, spoken in Sierra Leone, also has more than a million speakers. Several independent writing systems based on the syllable were devel¬ oped by speakers of Mande languages. The best-known is the Vai script, but Mende, Loma, and Kpelle also have their own scripts.