Intermediate level quiz about the geography, history, traditions and language of China (4)
1. In which province is the Taklamakan desert?
Xinjiang
Inner Mongolia
Qinghai
Tibet
The provinces in China's far north-west are very dry and receive very little rainfall.
2. Amber is considered a potent medicine because it was thought to contain the essence of a what?
monkey
tiger
yellow dragon
turtoise
Its orange color has led to an association with tigers. There is an ancient belief that the spirit of a tiger goes back into the earth on its death to form amber.
3. What is the name of the range of mountains separating Tibet and Xinjiang provinces?
Altay
Daxue
Tian
Kunlun
The Kunlun mountains have had a strong presence in Chinese legends. The Queen Mother of the West is said to have her palace there, and for centuries precious jade was mined there.
4. The Meiji restoration was an important event in which neighboring country?
Malaysia
Japan
Thailand
Mongolia
The Meiji system of 1868 allowed Japan to rapidly modernize and so provided a blueprint as to how an Asian country could catch up and take on the European powers.
5. How long did Marco Polo's visit to china last?
25 years
17 years
2 years
6 months
In 1275 Marco Polo and his father and uncle went to China and all three spent 17 years there. On return to Italy he was imprisoned by the Genoese and it was while in prison that he dictated his book, the ‘Description of the World’. It was printed in many editions and languages and promoted a lot of interest and speculation throughout Europe about this vast, rich country far away.
Marco Polo in Tartar costume. Source: Scann? de Coureurs des mers, Poivre d'Arvor.
Photo by Grevembrock, available under a Creative Commons license ➚.
6. Du Fu, the famous Tang poet had a thatched cottage that can still be seen where?
Chengdu
Hangzhou
Haikou
Beijing
Du Fu held an appointment at Chengdu in Sichuan towards the end of his life. There is a commemorative museum that can be visited.
8. The number of Imperial eunuchs has at one time reached how many people?
20,000
70,000
5,000
1,000
During the Ming dynasty the vast new Forbidden City was home to many thousands of eunuchs engaged in serving the Emperor and administering the Empire.
Ming Emperor Xuande with his imperial eunuchs. 1425-35.
Image by unknown court artist available under a Creative Commons license ➚
9. At which university did Sun Yatsen study?
Fudan University, Shanghai
Tsinghua University, Beijing
University of Hong Kong
Peking University, Beijing
Sun Yatsen was born in furthermost southern China: Cuiheng, Guangdong in 1866. He had a brother living in Hawaii, and at the age of 12 joined him there to escape poverty and was educated at a Hawaiian school and converted to Christianity. He returned to China for an arranged marriage and studied medicine at Hong Kong, graduating as a doctor in Western medicine in 1892.
Statue of Dr. Sun Yatsen at memorial hall in Taipei, Taiwan
10. Jingdezhen is famous for the production of what?
Silk
Porcelain
Bamboo
Moon cakes
It was near Jingdezhen, Jiangxi that the first deposits of kaolin (China Clay) were discovered and exploited. Huge amounts of porcelain have been produced there since the Song dynasty
11. You may hear that 'guanxi' is very important in China what is it?
table manners
social network
formal banquet
residency permit
Many Chinese spend considerable effort to cultivate a network of people that they may call upon at some time for a favor. A contact may get you a job, discounted prices or promotion.
Kites were used in fishing, the kite would trail a line with hooks and bait allowing the kite-flier to fish in areas some way out over rivers or the sea.
14. Where you can find a smaller version of the Forbidden City?
Shenyang
Hangzhou
Changchun
Guangdong
The Manchu kingdom built a mini-version of Beijing's Forbidden City before they conquered China in 1644.
15. Chiang Kaishek is associated with which event in 1936?
Kidnapping at Xi'an
Marrying Song Meiling
Meeting with Mao Zedong
Battle with Japanese
Chiang was kidnapped by his own generals at Xi'an, Shaanxi to force him to form to form a united front with the Communists against Japanese occupation of Manchuria
The narrow and winding lanes between traditional courtyard houses are called hutongs 胡同. A few districts remain in Beijing which are famous for their hutongs.
Qilian mountains on the border of Gansu and Qinghai
17. The Yangzi River is one of the longest rivers in the world, where does it stand in the world rankings for length?
5th
4th
1st
3rd
The Yangzi river is the 3rd longest river in the world (3,917 miles) after the Nile (4,130 miles) and Amazon ( 3,976 miles) rivers.
Barge on the Yangzi river near the Three Gorges dam
18. Gunpowder tea is a famous export from which province?
Guangdong
Anhui
Liaoning
Zhejiang
Zhejiang is the province associated with production of gunpowder tea. It gets its name because it looks like pellets of gunpowder
19. The formation of the May 4th movement was a response to which event?
Installation of Yuan Shikai as President
Treaty of Versailles 1919
Death of Sun Yatsen
Arrest of Sun Yatsen
The signing of the Versailles Treaty in Paris May 4th 1919 caused uproar in China because the parts of Shandong that had been governed by Germany were given to Japan rather than returned to Chinese control. The treaty came at the end of WW1.
Students of Beijing Normal University (arrested at the May Fourth Movement) returned to the university on May 7th, 1919. Available under a Creative Commons License ➚
20. About how many Chinese characters in common use are all pronounced 'shi'?
250
400
100
50
'Shi' is one of the most common sounds in mandarin Chinese. There are about 50 characters all pronounced 'shi' but spread over the five tones so there are only ten true homophones to take into account. This explains why many English words need two Chinese characters to make them unambiguous in meaning.
Intermediate level quiz about the geography, history, traditions and language of China (4)
