November Quiz

A monthly quiz of general history, traditions, geography questions for November
1. Who was the leader of the Taiping Rebellion?
Hong Xiuquan
Zheng Chenggong
Zeng Guofan
Taiping rebellion, flag
Flag of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Image by Samhanin available under a Creative Commons License

2. The stone forest (Shilin) can be found in which province?
Gansu
Yunnan
Hunan
Yunnan, stone forest, landform
Stone forest (Shilin) near Kunming, Yunnan

3. Thomas Wade and Herbert Giles who developed the Wade-Giles system to write Chinese were both professors of Chinese where?
Harvard
Cambridge, England
Edinburgh, Scotland
children, school
Girl doing school work

4. Why are bats considered lucky?
bats live in caves
symbol of Emperor
name sounds like fortune
bat
Five bats in the outer ring surrounding the character for longevity. Wishing good fortune and a long life.

5. Which province (excluding the metropolitan areas) has the highest population density?
Guangdong
Zhejiang
Jiangsu
Tiananmen Square, crowd
2004 PRC National Day at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. What a crowd! Image by pfctdayelise available under a Creative Commons License

6. Which is NOT one of the names of a Yi Jing Trigram?
Stone
Lake
Earth
Inner Mongolia, stupa, Buddhism
Buddhist stupas near Dazhao Monastery, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia

7. By 1093 how many stars had been individually named in China?
523
179
1,565
mansions, xiu
The twenty-eight mansions of the Chinese astronomy. May 2008. Image by Mysid available under a Creative Commons License

8. What was the name given to the country of China in Roman times?
Cyrenica
Assyria
Serica
Silk road, Jiayuguan, fort
Fortress (14th century) at Great Wall of Jiayuguang, September 2009. Photo by Sigismund von Dobschütz available under a Creative Commons license .

9. Together with Yunnan and Guangdong, which other province lies on the Tropic of Cancer?
Sichuan
Guangxi
Fujian
Shanghai, bridge, road, cityscape
The Nanpu bridge at Shanghai

10. The second lowest place (depression) in the world is located whereabouts in China?
Turpan, Xinjiang
Lop Nur, Xinhiang
Hohhot, Inner Mongolia
Changsha, Hunan
The Huángxīng Lù Commercial Pedestrian Street in Changsha. 15 Jun 2006
Image by X. Zhou available under a Creative Commons license

11. A scholar used to be expected to be proficient at playing which musical instrument?
Pipa
Guqin
Erhu
music, erhu
Erhu players at Tianjin University Copyright © Dreamstime see image license

12. Tian (crater lake) is an emblem of North Korea, which Chinese province shares it as a border?
Shanxi
Jilin
Heilongjiang
Jilin, Changbai, lake, view
Crater lake, Tian chi on the border of China and North Korea

13. Many of the scenes of James Cameron's ‘Avatar’ film were made in which Chinese province?
Xinjiang
Anhui
Hunan
Hunan, mountains, landform, view

14. What are the ten wings of the Yi Jing (I Ching)?
Flying incantations
Herbs
Appendices
Yi Jing, I Ching, Song 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

15. What makes Pingyao in Shanxi a popular visitor attraction?
Imperial tombs
Qing and Ming houses
Sacred mountain
Buddhism, temple, religion
Buddhist temple gate in Guangdong, China; including stone lions. Image by Chauchunyin available under a Creative Commons license .
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