tang See surgeonfish
Tang dynasty or T'ang \'taq\ dynasty (618-907) Chinese dynasty that succeeded the short-lived Sui and became a golden age for poetry, sculpture, and Buddhism. The Tang capital of Chang'an became a great international metropolis, with traders and embassies from Central Asia, Arabia, Persia, Korea, and Japan passing through. A Nestorian Christian community also existed there, while mosques were established in Guang¬ zhou (Canton). The economy flourished in the 8th-9th centuries, with a network of rural market towns growing up to join the metropolitan mar¬ kets of Chang’an and Luoyang. Buddhism enjoyed great favour, and there were new translations of the Buddhist scriptures and growth of indigenous sects, including Chan (see Zen). Poetry was the greatest glory of the period; nearly 50,000 works by 2,000 poets survive. Foreign music and dance became popular, and ancient orchestras were revived. The Tang government never completely controlled the northern Chinese border, where nomad tribes made constant incursions; periodic rebellions from the mid-8th century onward also weakened its power (see An Lushan Rebellion). In its later years, the government’s focus was on eastern and southeastern China rather than Central Asia. See also Taizong; Wu Hou.
Roger B. Taney, photograph by Mathew Brady.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, WASHINGTON, D.C.
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1870 I Tanganyika ► Tanizaki Jun'ichiro
Tanganyika V.tan-gsn-'ye-ksV, Lake Lake, central Africa. Located on the boundary between Tanzania and Congo (Kinshasa), it is the longest freshwater lake in the world, 410 mi (660 km) long, and the second deep¬ est, 4,710 ft (1,436 m) deep. Fed by several rivers, it tends to be brack¬ ish. Oil palms and rice grow along its steep shores; hippopotamuses and crocodiles abound. It was first visited by Europeans, searching for the source of the Nile, in 1858.
Tange \'tan-ga\ Kenzo (b. Sept. 4, 1913, Osaka, Japan—d. March 22, 2005, Tokyo) Japanese architect. Tange worked in the office of Maekawa Kunio before setting out on his own. His first major commission involved the reconstruction of Hiroshima. In addition to planning the city, he helped design Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park, and its peace centre (1950) and museum (1952) are among his best-known early works. His Kagawa pre- fectural offices in Takamatsu (1958) were a particularly fine blend of the modern and traditional. In 1959 Tange and his students published the Bos¬ ton Harbor project, launching the Metabolist school. His work in the 1960s took on more boldly dramatic forms, and he became a master at manipu¬ lating complex geometries; his National Gymnasiums for Tokyo’s 1964 Olympic Games are exemplary. During 1966-70 he designed the master plan for the Japan World Exposition (Expo 70), which was held in Osaka. More-recent works include the New Tokyo City Hall Complex (1991) and the Tokyo Dome Hotel (2000). Also influential as a writer, teacher, and town planner, Tange was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1987.
tangent See trigonometric function
tangent line Vtan-jont\ In geometry, a line that intersects a circle exactly once; in calculus, a line that touches a curve at one point and whose slope is equal to that of the curve at that point. Particularly useful as approximations of curves in the immediate vicinity of the point of tan- gency, tangent lines are the basis of many estimation techniques, includ¬ ing linear approximation. The numerical value of the slope of the tangent line to the graph of a function at any point equals that of the function’s derivative at that point. This is one of the keystones of differential calculus. See also differential geometry.
tangerine Small, thin-skinned variety of the mandarin orange species {Citrus reticulata deliciosa ) of the rue family (citrus family). Probably native to Southeast Asia, today it is cultivated in subtropical regions worldwide, especially southern Europe and the southern U.S. The tree is smaller than other orange trees, with slender twigs and lance¬ shaped leaves. The fruit is slightly flattened at each end and has a loose, reddish orange peel. Easily separated segments of tender, juicy, richly fla¬ voured pulp are abundant in vitamin C. Oil from the fragrant skin is a characteristic ingredient in several flavourings and liqueurs. The tanger¬ ine crossed with the grapefruit produced the hybrid known as the tangelo.
Tangier \tan-'jir\ French Tanger \ta n -'zha\ Arabic Tanjah \'tan-jo\ ancient Tingis Seaport city (pop., 1994: 521,735), northern Morocco. Located at the western end of the Strait of Gibraltar, it was first known as an ancient Phoenician trading post and later became a Carthaginian and then a Roman settlement. After five centuries of Roman rule, it was captured successively by the Vandals, Byzantines, and Arabs. It fell to the Portuguese in 1471; it later passed to the British, who gave it up to Morocco in 1684. When the rest of Morocco became a French protector¬ ate in 1912, Tangier was granted special status; in 1923 it officially became an international city, governed by an international commission. It remained an international zone until it was integrated in 1956 with the independent kingdom of Morocco. It became a free port and royal sum¬ mer residence in the 1960s. The old town is dominated by a Casbah (cita¬ del) and the Great Mosque. It is a busy port and trade centre; industries include tourism, fishing, and textiles, especially carpets.
tango Spirited Spanish flamenco dance; also a South American ballroom dance. It evolved into a ballroom dance in Buenos Aires, Arg., possibly influenced by the Cuban habanera. It was made popular in the U.S. by Vernon and Irene Castle, and by 1915 it was being danced throughout Europe. Early versions were fast and exuberant; these were later modi¬
fied to the smoother ballroom step, characterized by long pauses and stylized body positions and danced to music in 4 A time.
Tangun \'tan-'gun\ Mythological first king of the Koreans, whose reign began in 2333 bc. According to one legend, Tangun’s father descended from heaven to rule earth from a mountaintop. When a bear and a tiger expressed the wish to become human, he ordered them into a cave for 100 days; after the tiger grew impatient and left, the bear was trans¬ formed into the beautiful woman who became Tangun’s mother. Bud¬ dhism and Daoism credited Tangun with establishing a national religion and originating the Korean maxim “Hongik-ingan” (“Love humanity”).
His birthday is a school holiday.
Tangut \'tan-'gut\ People histori¬ cally living in southern Inner Mon¬ golia at the terminus of the Silk Road.
They engaged in irrigated agriculture and pastoralism and acted as middlemen in trade between Central Asia and China. They adopted Bud¬ dhism as their state religion, created their own writing system, and in 1038 proclaimed their kingdom of Xi Xia, which survived nearly 200 years.
Tanguy \ta n -'ge\, Yves (b. Jan. 5, 1900, Paris, France—d. Jan. 15, 1955 Waterbury, Conn., U.S.) French painter. In 1923, after serving in the mer¬ chant marine, he was inspired to start painting when he saw the works of Giorgio de Chirico, though he had no formal art training. He joined the Surrealist group in 1925 and participated in all their major exhibitions. He developed a unique style, reminiscent of Salvador Dali’s, depicting strange, amorphous creatures and unidentifiable objects set in barren, brightly lit landscapes with infinite horizons. Despite their smooth, pains¬ taking detail, his pictures have a timeless, dreamlike quality (e.g.. The Invisibles, 1951). He emigrated to the U.S. in 1939.