January Quiz

A monthly quiz of general history, traditions, geography questions for January
1. The Queen Mother of the West is an important Chinese deity; where is her palace traditionally said to have been?
Kunlun mountains
Khingan Mountains
Nanling 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.

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

3. The world's deadliest earthquake was in China, how many lives were lost?
178,000
830,000
645,000
Tangshan, earthquake
1976 Tangshan earthquake site Image by NOAA available under a Creative Commons License

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

5. What was an old name for the island of Taiwan (Chinese Taipei)?
Sinkiang
Formosa
Batavia
Ming dynasty, Summer Palace, bridge, Beijing
Summer Palace bridge with 17 arches, Beijing

6. In which province was Mao Zedong born in 1893?
Gansu
Hunan
Anhui
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

7. In 2016 the membership of the Chinese Communist Party stood at how many?
1.7 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 .

8. Kite flying is particularly associated with which traditional festival?
Double ninth or Chongyang
Blue dragon
Qingming
temple, roof
Yellow glazed tiles on a temple roof

9. Which number is considered unlucky rather like 13 in the west?
8
3
4
cat
Japanese lucky cat

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

11. Which was the capital city used by the Taiping rebels in the mid 19th century
Wuhan
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. Genghiz Khan originated from which region?
Tibet
Mongolia
Thailand
Mongol, Genghis khan, Borte
Temujin and Borte. Image by KoizumiBS available under a Creative Commons License

13. The largest carved Buddha in the world is located where?
Leshan, Sichuan
Fuzhou, Fujian
Wuchang, Hubei
Buddhism , Dali, Yunnan, temple
Chongsheng Temple, Dali, Yunnan

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

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