James Peebles is a Canadian-born American physicist who was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize for Physics for his work on physical cosmology. He received one half of the prize; the other half was awarded to Swiss astronomers Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz. Peebles received a bachelor’s degree in 1958

Melvin Van Peebles was an American filmmaker who wrote, directed, and starred in Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971), a groundbreaking film that spearheaded the rush of African American action films known as "blaxploitation" in the 1970s. He also served as the film’s composer and editor. After

James Peebles is a Canadian-born American physicist who was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize for Physics for his work on physical cosmology. He received one half of the prize; the other half was awarded to Swiss astronomers Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz. Peebles received a bachelor’s degree in 1958

Peeblesshire, historic county of southeastern Scotland that forms a triangle between the historic counties of Midlothian (north and northeast), Selkirkshire (east and southeast), Dumfriesshire (south), and Lanarkshire (west). It lies entirely within the Scottish Borders council area. The remains of

hydrangea: Peegee hydrangea (H. paniculata ‘Grandiflora’), growing to a height of 9 metres, is a common landscape hydrangea, with tapering flower clusters, opening white and fading to pink, then to bronze. Oakleaf hydrangea (H. quercifolia), up to 2 metres high, has white flower clusters and deep…

major industrial polymers: Polyetherketone (PEK) and polyetheretherketone (PEEK): PEK and PEEK are high-strength, radiation-resistant engineering plastics whose structures combine both ether and ketone groups. Both are thermally stable and highly resistant to chemicals. Principal uses are in machine parts, nuclear power-plant equipment, automobile parts, aerospace components, cable insulation, and pump parts.

Peekskill, city, Westchester county, southeastern New York, U.S., on the east bank of the Hudson River, 41 miles (66 km) north of New York City. Its name derives from Jan Peek, a Dutchman who established a trading post in 1654 at the point where a kil (Dutch for “channel,” or “creek”) joins the

Peel, town on the west coast of the Isle of Man, one of the British Isles, on Peel Bay at the mouth of the River Neb, which forms the harbour. On the west side of the river mouth is Patrick’s Isle, connected with the main island by a causeway; it is occupied by the ruined keep and guardroom of an

Peel Commission, group headed by Lord Robert Peel, appointed in 1936 by the British government to investigate the causes of unrest among Palestinian Arabs and Jews. In July 1937 the commission recommended the mandate be partitioned into an Arab state and a Jewish state, but the idea was ultimately

World War II: The invasion of the Low Countries and France: …same day, the weakly held Peel Line, south of the westward-turning arc of the Maas, was penetrated by the German land forces; and on May 11 the Dutch defenders fell back westward past Tilburg to Breda, with the consequence that the French 7th Army, under General Henri Giraud, whose leading…

baking: Ovens: Other types include the peel oven, having a fixed hearth of stone or brick on which the loaves are placed with a wooden paddle or peel; the reel oven, with shelves rotating on a central axle in Ferris wheel fashion; the rotating hearth oven; and the draw plate oven.

Peel River, river in northern Yukon and northwestern Mackenzie District of the Northwest Territories, Canada, the northernmost tributary of the Mackenzie River. From its major headstream, the Ogilvie River, in the mountains of central Yukon, the river flows generally northeastward for 425 mi (684

Bank of England: A royal charter allowed the bank to operate as a joint-stock bank with limited liability. No other joint-stock banks were permitted in England and Wales until 1826. This special status and its position as the government’s banker gave the bank considerable competitive advantages.

John Peel was a popular British disc jockey who for nearly 40 years, beginning in mid-1960s, was one of the most influential tastemakers in rock music. Peel was renowned for discovering and championing emerging artists and for his connoisseurship of groundbreaking offbeat music and performers. The

Beatrice Lillie was a sophisticated-comedy star of British and American revues, perhaps the foremost theatrical comedienne of the 20th century. Making her stage debut in London in 1914 as a sentimental-ballad singer, Lillie proved her comic genius in a series of revues produced by André Charlot

Robert Peel was a British prime minister (1834–35, 1841–46) and founder of the Conservative Party. Peel was responsible for the repeal (1846) of the Corn Laws that had restricted imports. He was the eldest son of a wealthy cotton manufacturer, Robert Peel (1750–1830), who was made a baronet by

Robert Peel was a British prime minister (1834–35, 1841–46) and founder of the Conservative Party. Peel was responsible for the repeal (1846) of the Corn Laws that had restricted imports. He was the eldest son of a wealthy cotton manufacturer, Robert Peel (1750–1830), who was made a baronet by

Australia: Settlement: …still the idea persisted, with Thomas Peel—kinsman of the future prime minister Sir Robert Peel—investing heavily. But colonization was grim work in a hot, dry land, with the government reluctant to expend resources. Western Australia’s story for decades was survival, not success.

George Peele was an Elizabethan dramatist who experimented in many forms of theatrical art: pastoral, history, melodrama, tragedy, folk play, and pageant. Peele’s father was a London clerk who contributed to several city pageants. Peele was educated at Oxford, where he translated into English a

Jordan Peele is an American comedian, writer, director, and producer who is known for creating both comedy and horror films and TV shows that address popular culture and social issues, especially race relations. Peele was raised in Manhattan by his white mother; his African American father was

Jordan Peele is an American comedian, writer, director, and producer who is known for creating both comedy and horror films and TV shows that address popular culture and social issues, especially race relations. Peele was raised in Manhattan by his white mother; his African American father was

bobby, slang term for a member of London’s Metropolitan Police derived from the name of Sir Robert Peel, who established the force in 1829. Police officers in London are also known as “peelers” for the same reason. After becoming home secretary in the British government, between 1825 and 1830 Peel

bobby: …to be known as the Peelian Principles—though they may have been devised by Rowan and Mayne. These principles stated that the purpose of the force was crime prevention and that the police must behave in such a way as to win the respect and cooperation of the public. To that…

Günter Grass: Nobel Prize and a controversial memoir: …Beim Häuten der Zwiebel (2006; Peeling the Onion), caused widespread controversy, with some arguing that it undercut his moral authority. He had previously claimed that he had been drafted into an air defense unit in 1944.

Peenemünde, village, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania Land (state), northeastern Germany, at the northwestern end of Usedom Island in the estuarine mouth of the Peene River on the Baltic Sea coast. It was mentioned as a fishing village in 1282. During World War II it was the site of the chief German

peep, any of about a dozen species of small sandpipers. Some are also called oxbirds or oxeyes. See

Atom Egoyan: …in later films such as Peep Show (1981) and Family Viewing (1987).

peep show, children’s toy and scientific curiosity, usually consisting of a box with an eyehole through which the viewer sees a miniature scene or stage setting, painted or constructed in perspective. Peep shows of an earlier time are often the only accurate representation of the stage design and

Cockspur Island, island, Chatham county, southeastern Georgia, U.S., in the mouth of the Savannah River. Known during colonial times as Peeper Island, it was given the name Cockspur for the shape of its reef. Its strategic advantages were early recognized; in the 18th century the island held Fort

Peeping Tom, British psychological thriller film, released in 1960, that initially caused outrage for its depiction of voyeurism, pornography, serial killing, and child abuse. However, it later came to be considered a classic. Assistant cameraman Mark Lewis (played by Carl Boehm) is a disturbed

Lady Godiva: Peeping Tom, a citizen who looked out his window, apparently became a part of the legend in the 17th century. In most accounts he was struck blind or dead.

Bodhi tree: …to Buddhist tradition, the specific sacred fig (Ficus religiosa) under which the Buddha sat when he attained Enlightenment (Bodhi) at Bodh Gaya in Bihar, India. The Mahabodhi Temple, which marks the place of the Buddha’s Enlightenment, features a descendant of the original Bodhi tree and is a major site of…

bullying: Background factors: Over the course of adolescence, peer groups become increasingly important and in some cases eclipse parental influences. As within the family, exposure to aggression in the peer group is associated with bullying behaviour. There is a strong tendency for bullies to be friends with other bullies in their class or…

Peer Gynt, five-act verse play by Henrik Ibsen, published in Norwegian in 1867 and produced in 1876. The title character, based on a legendary Norwegian folk hero, is a rogue who will be destroyed unless he is saved by the love of a woman. Peer Gynt is a charming but lazy and arrogant peasant youth

Werner Egk: …conducted his highly successful opera, Peer Gynt (after Henrik Ibsen), one of his most popular stage works. His ballets, such as Abraxas (1948) and Casanova in London (1969), also attracted wide attention. Abraxas was banned, after five sold-out performances, on grounds of obscenity. Egk also wrote instrumental music.

Peer Gynt, incidental music by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg, written to accompany the verse drama of the same name by Norwegian writer Henrik Ibsen. The music debuted to great acclaim in 1876 when the play was first produced for the stage, and it remains among the most popular of Grieg’s

MOOC: …has been the deployment of peer learning and grading strategies whereby students from around the world comment on each others work. This highlights the importance of Web 2.0 technologies in which real-time, global social networks are employed by thousands of students. This type of interaction is sometimes referred to as…

peer review, process whereby experts in a given field help judge the value of a relevant work or ideas that they were not part of creating. The primary function of peer review is gatekeeping—selecting the best from a pool of submissions. It also serves, however, as a source of constructive

P2P, type of computer network often used for the distribution of digital media files. In a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, each computer acts as both a server and a client—supplying and receiving files—with bandwidth and processing distributed among all members of the network. Such a decentralized

Technology has made it easy to split restaurant bills and send money to friends and family with just a few taps on your phone thanks to peer-to-peer payment apps. You’ve probably seen—and perhaps made—peer-to-peer transactions using apps like Cash App, Venmo, and Zelle. But how safe are these

peerage, Body of peers or titled nobility in Britain. The five ranks of British nobility, in descending order, are duke, marquess, earl (see count), viscount, and baron. Until 1999, peers were entitled to sit in the House of Lords and exempted from jury duty. Titles may be hereditary or granted for

Tony Benn: …struggle, and in 1963 the Peerage Act enabled peers to renounce their titles for their lifetimes. Benn not only renounced his viscountcy (July 31, 1963) but later shed the names with which he had been christened, Anthony Neil Wedgwood, to become simply Tony Benn.

Robert Walpole, 1st earl of Orford: Education and early career: …about the rejection of the Peerage Bill (1719), which would have limited the royal prerogative in the creation of peers. During this time, too, he became friendly with Caroline of Ansbach, the princess of Wales, who was to help maintain him in power when her husband succeeded to the throne…

Diet: The upper house, the House of Peers (Kizokuin), was almost wholly appointive. Initially, its membership was slightly less than 300, but it was subsequently increased to approximately 400. The peers were intended to represent the top rank and quality of the nation and to serve as a check upon…

South Asian arts: Parsi theatre: The actor-playwright Rafi Peerzada, with his knowledge of Western theatre as a result of his training in Berlin in the 1930s, helped to develop Pakistani theatre. Professional in approach, he produced radio and stage plays and was a critical colleague of A.S. Bokhari and Imtiaz in the…

Clara Peeters was a Flemish still-life painter known for her meticulous brushwork, sophisticated arrangement of materials, low angle of perspective, and ability to capture precisely the textures of the varied objects she painted. She was a significant popularizer of so-called banquet (or breakfast)

pewee, any of eight species of birds of the genus Contopus (family Tyrannidae); it is named for its call, which is monotonously repeated from an open perch. In North America a sad, clear “pee-oo-wee” announces the presence of the eastern wood pewee (C. virens), while a blurry “peeurrr” is the call

polyethylene glycol (PEG), synthetic chemical compound derived from petroleum that is widely used as a laxative for the treatment of constipation and that has various other uses, including as a moisture carrier, solvent, and thickener. Polyethylene glycol is a hydrophilic (“water-loving”) polymer

stringed instrument: Morphology: The pegbox carries the four tuning pegs, two on each side. It is slotted to the front to receive the strings. The pegs are tapered and pass through two holes in the cheeks of the head. At the top of the head is the scroll, again a typical embellishment of…

The price/earnings-to-growth ratio (PEG) refines the price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) by adjusting for expected earnings growth (expressed as a whole number, e.g., 10 for 10%). PEG = P/E ratio ÷ earnings growth rate For example, a company trading at 20 times earnings with an expected annual growth

mnemonic: Later developments: A similar technique is the peg-word system, a memory aid that involves linking words with numbers. It is utilized by creating mental associations between items to be remembered and items that are already associated with numbers (the latter is a relatively simple task, as the item-number pairs often rhyme). For…

dragonfish, any of about five species of small marine fishes comprising the family Pegasidae and the order Pegasiformes. Dragonfish are found in warm Indo-Pacific waters. They are small (to about 16 centimetres [6 12 inches] long), elongated fish encased in bony rings of armour. The armour is fused

Guyana: Soils: Pegasse soil, a type of tropical peat, occurs behind the coastal clays and along the river estuaries, while silts line the banks of the lower rivers. Reef sands occur in bands in the coastal plain, especially near the Courantyne and Essequibo rivers. The rock soils…

launch vehicle: United States: These include the solid-fueled Pegasus launch vehicle, which had its first flight in 1990 and is launched from under the fuselage of a carrier aircraft. First launched in 1994, a version of Pegasus known as Taurus lifts off from the ground, using a converted ICBM as a first stage…

Pegasus, constellation in the northern sky at about 23 hours right ascension and 20° north in declination. Its brightest star is Enif (from the Arabic for “the nose”), with a magnitude of 2.4. The constellation, one of the largest in the sky, contains three of the bright stars that make up the

Pegasus, any of a series of three U.S. scientific satellites launched in 1965. These spacecraft were named for the winged horse in Greek mythology because of their prominent winglike structure. This “wing,” which spanned 29 metres (96 feet), was designed to record the depth and frequency with which

coin: Early developments, c. 650–490 bc: …constant obverse type of a pegasus) was coining silver from about 575 with a light drachma of about three grams, and it is reasonably certain that in Athens, in the first half of the 6th century, Attic coins, based on a drachma of about 4.25 grams derived from Euboea and…

Pegasus, in Greek mythology, a winged horse that sprang from the blood of the Gorgon Medusa as she was beheaded by the hero Perseus. With Athena’s (or Poseidon’s) help, another Greek hero, Bellerophon, captured Pegasus and rode him first in his fight with the Chimera and later while he was taking

Pegasus (spyware), spyware developed by Israeli cyber-intelligence firm NSO Group (founded in 2010) for eavesdropping on mobile phones and harvesting their data. The spyware has been highly controversial, used to track politicians, government leaders, human rights activists, dissidents, and

Bénouville: …canal bridge, now known as Pegasus Bridge (1935; rebuilt 1994), is the Airborne Forces Museum, which commemorates the assault and liberation of the town from German occupation. A notable historic structure in the town is the 18th-century Neoclassical château designed by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux. At Ranville, east of the Orne River…

glassware: Great Britain: …pieces, such as the “Pegasus vase,” were produced in the 1870s by John Northwood, and in the later part of the century the most distinguished cameo work was carried out by George Woodall.

stringed instrument: Morphology: The pegbox carries the four tuning pegs, two on each side. It is slotted to the front to receive the strings. The pegs are tapered and pass through two holes in the cheeks of the head. At the top of the head is the scroll, again…

St. John of Damascus: Writings: …works the most significant is Pēgē gnōseōs (“The Source of Knowledge”), a synthesis of Christian philosophy and doctrine that was influential in directing the course of medieval Latin thought and that became the principal textbook of Greek Orthodox theology. Revised circa 743, it is composed of three parts: the philosophical…

Canopus, ancient Egyptian city on the western coast of the Nile River delta, in Al-Iskandariyyah muḥāfaẓah (governorate). The Canopic branch of the Nile is entirely silted up, but on the shore about 2 miles (3 km) from Abū Qīr there are extensive remains, including the temple of the Greco-Egyptian

Simon Pegg is an English actor, writer, and comedian best known for his nerdy character roles in the Star Trek films of the early 2000s, the Mission Impossible film series, and collaborations with director Edgar Wright on the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy: Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz

international payment and exchange: The IMF system of parity (pegged) exchange rates: Under a system of pegged exchange rates, short-term capital movements are likely to be equilibrating if people are confident that parities will be maintained. That is, short-term capital flows are likely to reduce the size of overall balance-of-payments deficits or surpluses. On the other hand, if people expect a…

cribbage: Scoring: Scoring is traditionally called pegging because it usually is done by moving pegs on a scoring device, the cribbage board. This cribbage board is essentially a tablet with 60 counting holes (in two rows of 30) for each player, plus one game hole for each and often extra holes…

Clara Peggotty, fictional character, devoted servant in the novel David Copperfield (1849–50) by Charles

bald cypress: …in the lumber trade as pecky, or peggy, cypress when it contains small, attractive holes, which are caused by a fungus. The tree is cultivated as an ornamental for its colorful fall foliage and can be planted far north of its native range. It is the state tree of Louisiana.

Guggenheim Collection, in Venice, private collection of post-1910 paintings and sculpture formed by the American art collector Peggy Guggenheim and housed in the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni on the Grand Canal, her former home. It is considered to be one of the best collections of post-1910 modern art

Buddy Holly: Influences and musical style: …the solo break in “Peggy Sue.”) In 1956 he signed with the Decca Records division in Nashville, Tennessee, but the records he made for it sold poorly and were uneven in quality (notwithstanding several outstanding efforts, among them his first single, “Blue Days, Black Nights,” and the rockabilly classic…

Francis Ford Coppola: The 1980s: …effort for Coppola, the quirky Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) followed. In it an unhappily married woman (Kathleen Turner) is transported in time back to her senior year of high school, where she gets a second chance to evaluate her awful husband (Nicolas Cage, Coppola’s nephew). Coppola’s next project, the…

Westbrook Pegler was an American columnist whose continual crusades, combined with an acerbic, original style, attracted nationwide attention. Pegler was the son of a star reporter from Minneapolis and Chicago, and he was still attending a Chicago high school when he started working for United

Westbrook Pegler was an American columnist whose continual crusades, combined with an acerbic, original style, attracted nationwide attention. Pegler was the son of a star reporter from Minneapolis and Chicago, and he was still attending a Chicago high school when he started working for United

pegmatite, almost any wholly crystalline igneous rock that is at least in part very coarse grained, the major constituents of which include minerals typically found in ordinary igneous rocks and in which extreme textural variations, especially in grain size, are characteristic. Giant crystals, with

rock: Classification by grain or crystal size: 2 inches) are termed pegmatitic.

Georg Philipp Harsdörfer: …numerous Baroque literary societies, the Pegnesischer Blumenorden (“Pegnitz Order of Flowers”).

Georg Philipp Harsdörfer: His Pegnesisches Schäfergedicht (1644; “Pegnitz Idyll”), written with Klaj and modeled on the English poet Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia, did much to spread the fashion of pastoral drama. Harsdörfer also translated works from French, Spanish, and Italian.

Georg Philipp Harsdörfer: His Pegnesisches Schäfergedicht (1644; “Pegnitz Idyll”), written with Klaj and modeled on the English poet Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia, did much to spread the fashion of pastoral drama. Harsdörfer also translated works from French, Spanish, and Italian.

Mavis Gallant: …My Heart Is Broken (1964), The Pegnitz Junction (1973), Home Truths: Selected Canadian Stories (1981; winner of a Governor General’s Literary Award), Overhead in a Balloon: Stories of Paris (1985), In Transit (1988), and Across the Bridge (1993).

Francesco Balducci Pegolotti was a Florentine mercantile agent best known as the author of the Pratica della mercatura (“Practice of Marketing”), which provides an excellent picture of trade and travel in his day. Pegolotti was a commercial agent in the service of the mercantile house of the

stunt flying: …repeated by the French pilot Adolphe Pégoud (died 1915 in World War I air combat). Looping feats and records soon became the rage, and countless new gyrations were invented and performed at air displays.

Manhattan Project: Creation of the U.S. atomic weapons program: …the government was made by G.B. Pegram of Columbia University, who arranged a conference between Enrico Fermi and the Navy Department in March 1939. In the summer of 1939, Albert Einstein was persuaded by his fellow scientists to use his influence to present the military potential of an uncontrolled fission…

Mattoon, city, Coles county, east-central Illinois, U.S. Mattoon lies near the Little Wabash River (impounded to form Lake Mattoon), about 45 miles (70 km) south of Champaign. Originally called Pegtown (for the stakes that marked lots for public auction), it was founded in 1854 at the junction of

Pegu, port city, southern Myanmar (Burma), on the Pegu River, 47 miles (76 km) northeast of Yangon (Rangoon). Pegu was the capital of the Mon kingdom and is surrounded by the ruins of its old wall and moat, which formed a square, with 1.5-mile (2.4-kilometre) sides. On the Yangon–Mandalay railway,

Sir Arthur Purves Phayre: …(1852), Phayre became commissioner of Pegu and played a major role in the relations between the government of India and the new king Mindon. He served as interpreter for the Burmese mission to Calcutta, India, in 1854 and the following year headed a return mission to the Burmese capital, Amarapura.…

Bago Mountains, mountain range of south-central Myanmar (Burma), extending 270 miles (435 km) north-south between the Irrawaddy and Sittang rivers and ending in a ridge at Yangon (Rangoon). The range averages about 2,000 feet (600 metres) in elevation, reaching its highest point in the north at

Bago Mountains, mountain range of south-central Myanmar (Burma), extending 270 miles (435 km) north-south between the Irrawaddy and Sittang rivers and ending in a ridge at Yangon (Rangoon). The range averages about 2,000 feet (600 metres) in elevation, reaching its highest point in the north at

Mon language, Mon-Khmer language spoken by the Mon people of southeastern Myanmar (Lower Burma) and several Mon communities in Thailand. The oldest inscriptions, dating from the 6th century, are found in central Thailand in archaeological sites associated with the Dvaravati kingdom. Numerous Old

Jambi: …surmounted by volcanic cones, including Mount Masurai (9,623 feet [2,933 metres]) and Mount Sumbing (8,228 feet [2,508 metres]). Mangroves are found in the estuaries and along the tidal rivers in the east. The principal waterway is the Batanghari River, which is navigable for deep-draft vessels from the city of Jambi…

Sudirman Range, western section of the Maoke Mountains of the central highlands of New Guinea. The Sudirman Range is located in the Indonesian province of Papua. The rugged range, which may have no pass lower than 13,000 feet (4,000 metres), rises to Jaya Peak (formerly Puntjak Sukarno or Mount

Charles Péguy was a French poet and philosopher who combined Christianity, socialism, and patriotism into a deeply personal faith that he carried into action. (Read George Bernard Shaw’s 1926 Britannica essay on socialism.) Péguy was born to poverty. His mother, widowed when he was an infant,

Bei River, river in central Guangdong province, southeastern China. It is formed by the union of two smaller rivers, the Wu and the Zhen, at Shaoguan, in northern Guangdong. The Bei flows about 220 miles (350 km) south to join the Xi (West) River, west of Guangzhou (Canton). For centuries the Bei

War Refugee Board: Under the direction of John Pehle, a Treasury Department lawyer who had worked to expose the State Department’s alleged cover-up of the Holocaust, the WRB set out to find a haven for rescued Jews. The board elicited statements from Roosevelt condemning the murder of Jews, drew up plans for…

Pahlavi alphabet, writing system of the Persian people that dates from as early as the 2nd century bce, some scholars believe, and was in use until the advent of Islam (7th century ce). The Zoroastrian sacred book, the Avesta, is written in a variant of Pahlavi called Avestan. The Pahlavi alphabet

Pahlavi language, extinct member of the Iranian language group, a subdivision of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. Pahlavi is a Middle Persian (sometimes called Middle Iranian) language, meaning that it was primarily used from the end of Achaemenian dynasty (559–330 bce)

József Mindszenty was a Roman Catholic clergyman who personified uncompromising opposition to fascism and communism in Hungary for more than five decades of the 20th century. Politically active from the time of his ordination as a priest in 1915, Mindszenty was arrested as an enemy of totalitarian

Pehowa, town, north-central Haryana state, northwestern India. It lies along the Saraswati River. Pehowa is an important Hindu pilgrimage centre housing the Pirthudakeshwar (Pirthuveshwar) temples built by the Marathas in honour of the goddess Sarasvati. The name is derived from the Sanskrit name

major industrial polymers: Polyimides: …Torlon by Amoco Corporation) and polyetherimide (PEI; trademark Ultem); these two compounds combine the imide function with amide and ether groups, respectively.

Bei River, river in central Guangdong province, southeastern China. It is formed by the union of two smaller rivers, the Wu and the Zhen, at Shaoguan, in northern Guangdong. The Bei flows about 220 miles (350 km) south to join the Xi (West) River, west of Guangzhou (Canton). For centuries the Bei