Key terms & definitions

The goddess associated with the River Ganges, which many Hindus revere as a sacred, life-giving river.

Group attitudes and behaviour involving strong loyalty to a gang and, in hooliganism, defending a team or local territory against rival supporters.

The radical group comprising Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan and Wang Hongwen, whose influence grew during the Cultural Revolution.

The death and decay of body tissue when its blood supply is lost; serious wounds can become gangrenous.

China’s national university entrance examination, restored in 1977 after its suspension during the Cultural Revolution.

An older word for a prison, pronounced ‘jail’.

An official responsible for guarding prisoners and running a gaol, an older term for a prison.

Charges that prisoners had to pay for aspects of their imprisonment, including fees demanded before release.

An unfilled position in an arrangement of known elements, suggesting that an element had not yet been discovered.

An unmet or poorly served customer need that a business could satisfy with a product or service.

A planned settlement intended to combine the opportunities of town life with the space and healthier surroundings of the countryside.

An ingredient added to a finished dish to improve its appearance and sometimes its flavour, such as fresh herbs.

A group of troops stationed in a place to defend it and maintain control.

Troops stationed in a place to defend it.

Partially strangling a victim in order to rob them.

Eight special traditional rules for Buddhist nuns that place their order under the authority of the monks’ order.

A state of matter in which particles are widely spaced and move rapidly in different directions.

A state of matter whose particles are widely spaced, move constantly and randomly, and spread out to fill their container.

A state of matter with no fixed shape or volume; its particles are far apart and move rapidly in random directions.

Local council ownership of gas and water services, intended to improve supplies and use profits for public improvements.

Chromatography in which an unreactive carrier gas carries a vaporised sample through a column containing the stationary phase.

The exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the air in the alveoli and the blood in surrounding capillaries.

A gas formed in a chemical reaction that can leave an open reaction vessel.

A chemical reaction in which the substances being compared are gases under the stated conditions.

The exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between an organism and its surroundings.

The exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the air in the lungs and the blood.

A bacterial infection of damaged tissue that causes tissue death and produces gas within the wound; it is not caused by a poison-gas attack.

A mixture in which gas bubbles are dispersed through a liquid, such as air bubbles in whisked egg white.

A protective covering worn over the face to filter dangerous gases from the air being breathed.

The tiny atoms or molecules represented in the particle model of a gas.