A monthly quiz of general history, traditions, geography questions for November
1. Who was the leader of the Taiping Rebellion?
Li Hongzhang
Hong Xiuquan
Zeng Guofan
Hong Xiuquan, a member of the Hakka minority people, had by 1847 taken control of the whole Guangxi province and went on to control most of southern China. The Taiping movement was inspired by Christian teaching.
2. Which province (excluding the metropolitan areas) has the highest population density?
Jiangsu
Guangdong
Hebei
The province of Jiangsu has a population density of 771.83 people per square kilometer (2014 figures). Cities like Hong Kong and Beijing have a higher density.
3. What are the ten wings of the Yi Jing (I Ching)?
Appendices
Compass directions
Magical powers
To the ancient core text of the Yi Jing were added ten commentaries or appendices attributed to Confucius that are called the ‘ten wings’; but these were probably written long after Confucius during the Han dynasty.
A page from a Song Dynasty (960-1279) printed book of the I Ching (Yi Jing, Classic of Changes or Book of Changes)
, 17.7x11.9cm, printed book, in the National Central Library in Taipei. Image by Song era print artist available under a Creative Commons License ➚
4. Which is NOT one of the names of a Yi Jing Trigram?
Stone
Earth
Lake
The Yi Jing consists of eight trigrams combined with all other eight trigrams to make the set of 64 hexagrams (gua). The trigrams are heaven, earth, lake, water, mountain, fire, wind and thunder.
Maotai spirit at Baijia Dayuan restaurant, Beijing. September 2019. Image by Paul Kerswill
5. The stone forest (Shilin) can be found in which province?
Gansu
Yunnan
Guangdong
The Stone Forest at Shilin Yunnan is a popular tourist destination full of gray limestone pillars the size of tree trunks. The Peak Viewing Pavilion provides a panoramic view of the extensive area. Sani ethnic people act as guides and celebrate festivals mainly for the benefit of tourists.
6. The second lowest place (depression) in the world is located whereabouts in China?
Lop Nur, Xinhiang
Turpan, Xinjiang
Hohhot, Inner Mongolia
Turpan (or Turfan) is the lowest place in China at 505 feet [154 meters] below sea level and hottest place in China (121 ° F [49 ° C]) with ancient aquifers providing the water supply via long, subterranean channels to keep the oasis green.
Hong Kong station
7. Many of the scenes of James Cameron's ‘Avatar’ film were made in which Chinese province?
Hong Kong
Hunan
Anhui
The dramatic stone pinnacles of Wulingyuan Scenic Area (also called Zhangjiajie) is in the north west of Hunan province.
8. By 1093 how many stars had been individually named in China?
523
1,565
12,976
From ancient times the Chinese made meticulous observations of the heavens. In 1093 a star map had 1,565 named stars.
9. What makes Pingyao in Shanxi a popular visitor attraction?
Sacred mountain
Buddhist sculptures
Qing and Ming houses
South-west of Taiyuan is the ancient town of Pingyao with many intact Ming and Qing dynasty buildings - including city walls and the Yamen. The town used to be an affluent banking center.
10. Together with Yunnan and Guangdong, which other province lies on the Tropic of Cancer?
Hainan
Sichuan
Guangxi
To remind you the Tropic of Cancer marks the northernmost places where the sun can be seen directly overhead in the northern hemisphere. The line runs through many desert areas.
Chengdu Park
11. Tian (crater lake) is an emblem of North Korea, which Chinese province shares it as a border?
Jilin
Shanxi
Liaoning
Lake Tian (Heavenly Lake) is a scenic spot in the far south. It is an old volcanic crater lake and straddles the border of Jilin with North Korea.
Crater lake, Tian chi on the border of China and North Korea
12. A scholar used to be expected to be proficient at playing which musical instrument?
Guqin
Dizi
Erhu
Proficiency is a musical instrument was considered a sign of culture so together with calligraphy, poetry and painting a budding scholar would be expected to play a musical instrument. The guqin is a type of zither and it's distinctive sound is often heard on films about ancient China.
13. Thomas Wade and Herbert Giles who developed the Wade-Giles system to write Chinese were both professors of Chinese where?
Harvard
Yale
Cambridge, England
Wade-Giles was the British system for writing Chinese with the western alphabet. It was in widespread use up until about 1970 when pinyin replaced it.
Girl doing school work
14. What was the name given to the country of China in Roman times?
Cyrenica
Serica
Assyria
The Romans named the land from where silk came from was called ‘Serica’ derived from the Chinese word for silk丝 sī. It is from ‘Serica’ that the English word for silk is derived.
A monthly quiz of general history, traditions, geography questions for November
