Walvis Bay Town (pop., 2001 prelim.: 40,849), west-central Namibia, on the Atlantic Ocean. A mid-19th-century rush to exploit guano depos¬ its on nearby islands was followed by British annexation of the bay and the adjacent land in 1878. It was incorporated into Britain’s Cape Colony in 1884. In 1910 it was included in the newly united South Africa. Admin¬ istered as part of South West Africa (1922-77), it was then governed directly by South Africa, which retained the enclave after Namibia reached independence in 1990. The two countries administered the enclave jointly from 1992 to 1994; then South Africa transferred it to Namibia. Its harbour serves as Namibia’s chief port.
wampum Tubular shell beads assembled into strings or woven into belts or embroidered ornaments. The Algonquian word (short for wam- pumpeag ) translates as “string of white (shell beads).” Before contact with white settlers, Indians used wampum primarily ceremonially or in gif exchanges. In the early 17th century it came to be used as money in trade with whites, because of a shortage of European currency.
Wanaka Vwa-no-koV Lake Lake, west-central South Island, New Zealand. It covers an area of 75 sq mi (193 sq km) and is some 1,000 ft (300 m) deep. Fed by the Makarora and Matukituki rivers, the lake is the source of the Clutha River. Its outlet is harnessed for hydroelectric power.
Wang Anshi or Wang An-shih Vwaq-'an-'shnA (b. 1021, Linchuan, Jiangsu province, China—d. 1086, Jiangning, Jiangsu) Chinese poet and government reformer of the Song dynasty. His “New Policies” of 1069-76 sparked academic controversy that continued for centuries. He created a fund for agricultural loans to farmers to spare them the exorbitant demands of moneylenders; he also replaced corvee labour with a hired- service system financed by a graduated tax levied on all families. He enabled officials to purchase supplies at the cheapest price in the most convenient market. He established a village militia system (see baojia), reorganized the Hanlin Academy, and restructured the civil service exami¬ nations. Wang’s reforms were unpopular, and he was forced to resign in 1074. He returned to government in 1075, but with less political power. After the emperor’s death an antireform clique came to power and dis¬ mantled Wang’s reforms by the time of his death shortly afterward. See also Fan Zhongyen.
Wang Chong or Wang Ch'ung \'waq-'chuq\ (b. ad 27, Kuiji, China—d. 100?, Kuiji) Chinese philosopher of the Han dynasty. A ratio¬ nalistic naturalist, he paved the way for the critical spirit of the next philosophical period and prepared China for the advent of Neo-Daoism. He opposed the superstitious element of Confucianism, declaring that natu¬ ral events occur spontaneously and are not influenced by the actions of humans, who have no exceptional position in the universe. He also insisted that theories be supported by concrete evidence and experimen¬ tal proof. Though never greatly popular in China, he attracted new inter¬ est in the 20th century for his foreshadowing of rationalism and the SCIENTIFIC METHOD.
Wang Hui (b. 1632, Jiangsu province, China—d. 1717) Chinese artist who was the paramount member of the group of Chinese painters known as the Four Wangs (including Wang Shimin, Wang Jian, and Wang Yuanqi). Wang Hui, much like the other Wangs, primarily painted land¬ scapes. In his best works he built up an intense web of rhythmic brush- work, while at the same time maintaining a composition’s sense of unity and clarity. His fame reached the court in Beijing, and in 1691-98 he was commissioned to supervise the production of a series of hand scrolls commemorating the Kangxi emperor’s tour of the South.
Wang Jingwei or Wang Ching-wei Vwag-'jiq-'waN (b. May 4,
1883, Sanshui, Guangdong province, China—d. Nov. 10, 1944, Nagoya, Japan) Chinese leader, head of the regime established by the Japanese in 1940 to govern their conquests in China. A leading polemicist for Sun Yat-sen’s revolutionary party, in 1910 he tried to assassinate the imperial regent and was caught; his courage in the face of execution resulted in his sentence being reduced. He was released the following year, after the republican revolution. In the 1920s he served as a major official in the Nationalist Party. After Sun’s death, he chaired the party while Chiang Kai-shek led the Northern Expedition against China’s warlords. Chiang and Wang vied for party control; in a compromise in 1932, Wang became president and Chiang headed the military. After war erupted with Japan, Wang flew to Hanoi, Viet., and issued a statement calling on the Chinese to work out a peaceful settlement. In 1940, in cooperation with the Japa¬ nese, he became head of a regime that governed the Japanese-occupied areas centred on Nanjing. Though Wang had hoped to be granted virtual autonomy, the Japanese continued to exercise military and economic dominance. He died while undergoing medical treatment in Japan.
Wang Mang \'waq-'maq\ (b. 45 bc, China—d. Oct. 6, ad 23, Chang’an) Founder of the short-lived Xin dynasty (ad 9-25), an interlude between the two halves of the Han dynasty in China. Wang’s family was well con¬ nected to the Han imperial family, and in 8 bc Wang was appointed regent, only to lose the position when the emperor died. When the new emperor died in 1 bc, Wang was reappointed regent and married his daughter to the subsequent emperor, Ping, who died in ad 6. Wang picked the young¬ est of more than 50 eligible heirs to follow Ping and was named acting emperor. In ad 9 he ascended the throne and proclaimed the Xin dynasty. His dynasty might have endured had the Huang He (Yellow River) not changed course twice before ad 11, causing massive devastation and atten¬ dant famines, epidemics, and social unrest. Peasants banded together in ever larger units. In ad 23 rebel forces set the capital, Chang’an (modem Xi’an), on fire, forced their way into the palace, and killed him.
Wang Xiaotong (fl. early 7th century) Chinese mathematician who made important advances in the solution of problems involving cubic equations. In 626 he took part in the revision of the Wuying calendar (618), which had erroneously predicted eclipses in 620. About 630 he fin¬ ished his Jigu suanjing (“Continuation of Ancient Mathematics”). All 20 problems in this book, except for the first one dealing with astronomy, involve cubic or biquadratic equations. Thirteen of the problems involve solving for the volume or the dimensions of a polyhedron. In solving some of these problems, Wang first used the formula for the volume of a dike of varying cross section. Other problems involve right-angled triangles.
Wang Yangming or Wang Yang-ming Vwaq-'yaq-'miqV (b. 1472, Yuyao, Zhejiang province, China—d. 1529, Nanen, Jiangxi) Chinese scholar and official whose idealistic interpretation of Neo-Confucianism influenced philosophical thinking in East Asia for centuries. The son of a high government official, he was both a secretary to the Ministry of War and a lecturer on Confucianism by 1505. The next year, he was banished to a post in remote Guizhou, where hardship and solitude led him to focus on philosophy. He concluded that investigation of the principles of things should occur within the mind rather than through actual objects and that knowledge and action are codependent. Named governor of southern Jiangxi in 1516, he suppressed several rebellions and implemented gov¬ ernmental, social, and educational reform. By the time he was appointed war minister (1521), his followers numbered in the hundreds. His phi¬ losophy spread across China for 150 years and greatly influenced Japa¬ nese thought during that time. From 1584 he was offered sacrifice in the Confucian temple under the title Wencheng (“Completion of Culture”).
Wankel Vvaq-kalV Felix (b. Aug. 13, 1902, Lahr, Ger.—d. Oct. 9, 1988, Lindau, W.Ger.) German engineer and inventor. In 1954 he com¬ pleted the design of his distinctive engine, with an orbiting rotor in the shape of a curved equilateral triangle, which does the work done by the pistons in traditional reciprocating internal-combustion engines. Its advantages include light weight, few moving parts, compactness, low ini¬ tial cost, fewer repairs, and relatively smooth performance. The first unit was tested in 1957, and from 1967 Japanese automobile company Mazda produced and developed the engine for a series of sports cars.