January Quiz

A monthly quiz of general history, traditions, geography questions for January
1. What was an old name for the island of Taiwan (Chinese Taipei)?
Tsingtao
Batavia
Formosa
Guangdong, Shenzhen, skyscraper, modern housing
Shenzhen, skyline at twilight, Guangdong

2. The Red Flag Canal was a major engineering project built in the 1960s in which province?
Gansu
Henan
Guizhou
railway, PRC
Chengdu-Chongqing railway opening ceremony. 2/July/1952. Image by available under a Creative Commons License

3. The standard order of hexagrams in the Yi Jing (I Ching) is attributed to who?
Confucius (Kong Fuzi)
Laozi
King Wen
yi jing
Three gold coins used for Yi Jing fortune telling

4. The Queen Mother of the West is an important Chinese deity; where is her palace traditionally said to have been?
Mount Heng
Mount Taishan
Kunlun mountains
Jinci, Shanxi, sculpture, deity
Queen Mother of the West and maidservants in painted clay sculpture at Jinci, Taiyuan, Shanxi. It was built in the Ming dynasty.

5. What is the Chinese for weather?
xī yáng
tái fēng
tiān qì
Anhui, view
Sunrise over part of Anhui province in November

6. In 2016 the membership of the Chinese Communist Party stood at how many?
30 million
89 million
127 million
soldier, Tiananmen Square, Beijing
A Chinese People's Armed Police guard on Tiananmen Square, in front of the portrait of Mao Zedong. His rank is the second lowest, Private First Class [1]. 4th June 2007. Photo by Luo Shaoyang from Beijing available under a Creative Commons license .

7. The Chinese Grand canal is roughly the same length as the distance between New York and where?
Texas
Florida
Ohio
grand canal, wuxi
Ancient Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in Wuxi area. . Image by available under a Creative Commons License

8. Genghiz Khan originated from which region?
Thailand
Kyrgystan
Mongolia
Mongol, Genghis khan, Borte
Temujin and Borte. Image by KoizumiBS available under a Creative Commons License

9. In which province was Mao Zedong born in 1893?
Hunan
Gansu
Jilin
Mao Zedong, statue, PRC
Status of Mao Zedong negotiating with the Guomindang, 1945, with Soong Chingling, Zhang Lan, Huang Yanpei and other party leaders. Copyright © Dreamstime see image license

10. Kite flying is particularly associated with which traditional festival?
Blue dragon
Double ninth or Chongyang
Lantern
Nine Dragon Wall, dragon, Beijing
Nine Dragon Wall in the Forbidden City in Beijing. 2012. All made from ceramic glazed tiles. Photo by Seebeer , available under a Creative Commons license .

11. Which was the capital city used by the Taiping rebels in the mid 19th century
Guangzhou
Nanjing
Jinan
Taiping Rebellion, battle
Taiping rebels are chased out of Yuzhuang, March 8 1854. The Taiping arrived the previous day but had to retire the next day when the Manchus arrived in hot pursuit. From Ten scenes recording the retreat and defeat of the Taiping Northern Expeditionary Forces, February 1854-March 1855. Source : web site Available under a Creative Commons license .

12. The largest carved Buddha in the world is located where?
Qufu, Shandong
Wuchang, Hubei
Leshan, Sichuan
Buddhism , Dali, Yunnan, temple
Chongsheng Temple, Dali, Yunnan

13. What is the Chinese (Mandarin) name for Hong Kong?
Xianggang
Haidong
Xianzhou
Hong Kong, park, modern housing

14. Which number is considered unlucky rather like 13 in the west?
15
4
3
cat
Japanese lucky cat

15. The world's deadliest earthquake was in China, how many lives were lost?
83,000
830,000
178,000
Tangshan, earthquake
1976 Tangshan earthquake site Image by NOAA available under a Creative Commons License
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