1. What proportion of Beijing's cultural relics were destroyed in the Cultural Revolution?
72%
83%
15%
55%
During the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) in Beijing 72% of the cataloged relics were smashed to dust and 37% historic sites flattened. It was dangerous to know about or like anything ?foreign? or ?old?.
2. The 1911 revolution and the Japanese invasion of Manchuria had which common initiating factor
famine
taxes
railways
corruption
It was the nationalization of railways that fueled the revolution of 1911, particularly in Sichuan. Japan needed an excuse to send in troops to further extend her control over this territory. On September 18th 1931, at Shenyang (Mukden), Japanese troops put a small bomb under the railway track and blamed the explosion on Chinese ?terrorists?. With widespread international sympathy Japan was able to invade Manchuria and install Puyi as puppet Emperor of Manchuria within six months.
Yuhuatai Memorial Park of Revolutionary Martyrs, Nanjing, Jiangsu
3. The Panthay rebellion in 1856 was led by which group?
Christians
Muslims
Mongols
Tibetans
The trigger point of the Panthay rebellion (1856-1873) was in distant Yunnan but revolts also occurred in Muslim dominated north-western China. At least a million Muslims died in the revolt which was savagely suppressed. It overlapped the better known and even more bloody Taiping Rebellion.
4. The U.S. General Stilwell had his headquarters during World War II in which city?
Chongqing
Shanghai
Xi'an
Chengdu
Stilwell ('Vineger Joe') came to China to help support Chiang Kaishek's Republican government in their resistance against the Japanese occupation of China (1937-45). The Republican capital was at Chongqing where frequent fogs protected it from Japanese air raids.
5. Which city in central China was important in the foundation of the Republic of China?
Nanyang
Nanchang
Wuchang
Chongqing
The Wuchang Uprising of 1911 led by Sun Yatsen marked the start of the revolution that created the Republic of China and it is commemorated at Wuchang - now part of Wuhan.
6. The Golden Orchid Society (1644-1949) in southern China was a group of what?
Buddhists
Daoists
women
chess players
The Golden Orchid Society was a group of women who refused to get married. With the universal practise of forced marriages at an early age, running away to join other women in similar straits was the only option to avoid it. At times the society were attacked and members killed.
Ceramic Tile design with lotus and ducks, Forbidden City, Beijing
7. Kang Youwei is famous for what in the late Qing dynasty?
senior eunuch
revolutionary
tax commissoner
reformist
Kang Youwei sought to modernize the Imperial system without overthrowing it. He was a major force behind the failed Hundred Days' Reform of 1898.
Group picture probably taken when Kang Youwei (center) was in the United States in 1907. His second daughter, Kang Tongbi, then a student at Barnard College, is seated on Kang's right. Behind her is Luo Chang, then studying at Oxford University, UK. Image by Unknown ➚ available under a Creative Commons License ➚
8. Which foreign leader planned to conquer China in 1404?
Tamerlane
Oljei Temur Khan
Pope Boniface IX
King Philip the Bold
Tamerlane (aka Timur) died of a fever in 1405 as he prepared to conquer China. He believed he was descended from Genghiz Khan and had similar ambitions.
9. Which European nation established the first official trading post in China?
Portugal
Spain
Germany
Britain
Portugal was in 1557 at Macau. At the time Portugal was the leading sea power and set up trading posts throughout much of the Far East.
10. The Mongol dynasty ruled the whole of China for about how long?
150 years
200 years
20 years
90 years
Although the Mongols declared themselves Emperors of China in 1271 it took until 1279 to take over southern China. They ruled until 1368 so that is 89 years
Bows and furs of Mongolia. Image by Rob Stallard
11. Yu the Great was the founder of which dynasty?
Sui
Han
Xia
Qin
Yu the Great's reign (c. 2123 ? 2025 BCE), which marked the start of the Xia dynasty, began the recorded history of China. Yu's first task was to repair the kingdom after a great flood, which some have connected this with the Biblical flood of Noah.
12. In the One Child policy government employees were expected to put off marriage until which ages?
20 for men and women
30 for men, 25 for women
25 for men, 20 for women
30 for men and women
By 1982 China's population had grown to 1,008 million - doubling in just 30 years - and the profile showed that many young women born after the foundation of the PRC were now at child-bearing age (46% of people were under 20 years old). The One Child Policy was introduced in 1980 to cut back the alarming growth of population that seemed to inevitably lead to mass starvation.
A family in a park
13. China's main foreign trade in the 17th and 18th century was with which country?
Netherlands
Portugal
Spain
Britain
The main trade with Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries was through Spanish ruled Philippines. A lucrative trade in silk and porcelain grew across the Pacific to Mexico. Manilla became a very rich trading port in the galleon trade with Acapulco, from there goods were transshipped and made their way overland to Mexico City and then by ship to Europe over the Atlantic.
14. In 2CE the population of China was about how many?
100 million
35 million
58 million
20 million
The first accurate population statistic comes from as long as go as 2CE in the Han dynasty. It gives the population as 57.7 millions in 12.4 million households.
15. Xanadu was an important city in which dynasty?
Tang
Mongol (Yuan)
Sui
Song
An alternative capital to escape the summer heat was built at Shangdu (named 'Xanadu' in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's famous poem) on the Mongolian plain and the whole Mongol Imperial court moved from Beijing (then called Dadu) to Shangdu every summer.
16. Port Arthur was an important treaty port occupied by Japan (1894) and then by Russia (1895), where is it located?
Guangdong
Zhejiang
Liaoning
Xinjiang
Port Arthur now named Lushun, is located at the tip of the Liaoning peninsula.
19. The skins of rare white stags were used for what in the Han dynasty?
footwear
medicine
headwear
currency
Emperor Wudi used this desperate measure to try to bring an end to the production of counterfeit metal coins. He forced the members of the elite to swap huge numbers of coins for small portions of stag skin. The measure proved ineffective.
Tough quiz about the history of China(4).
