The Cities of China Trivia Quiz

Answer: Canton

Guangzhou is one of the six cities known as 'National Central Cities' -- the others are Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong and two others we'll probably meet later in this quiz. At the 2010 Census, Guangzhou had an urban population of more than 12.7 million and more than 40 million lived in its metropolitan area. With an area of 2,870 square miles, Guangzhou is two-thirds the size of Jamaica.

The first city known to stand on this site was called Panyu, named after two local mountains, Pan and Yu. The city became the capital of the Nanyue Kingdom (which included modern-day Vietnam) in 206 B.C. Today, Panyu is a suburb within Guangzhou. When the Portuguese arrived in the 17th Century, they called the city "Cantão", and from this came the anglicized name of Canton.

The city boasted the world's tallest tower briefly, in 2010. The Canton Tower (originally names the Guangzhou TV Astronomical and Sightseeing Tower) opened in September 2010 for the Asian Games and replaced the CN Tower in Toronto as the world's tallest. It was subsequently overtaken by the Tokyo Skytree in 2011 and lost the title of China's tallest tower to the Shanghai Tower in August 2013.

Answer: Chongqing

The largest of the four Chinese municipalities that are controlled directly by central government, Chongqing (formerly called Chungking) is also the only one of the four in inland China. Chongqing has an area of 2,113 square miles, which is over one and a half times the size of the U.S. state of Rhode Island.
The city is located in the sub-tropical zone between the Himalayan Plateau (called the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China) and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River plain. Its summers are long, and it is one of the hottest and most humid cities in China.

The city flower of Chongqing is the camellia (sometimes called the Rose of Winter), which is also the official state flower of the U.S. state of Alabama. Ficus lacor, a large evergreen tree of the Moraceae family, is the official city tree.

Answer: Tianjin

At the 2010 Census, the urban area of Tianjin was home to 11.5 million. Founded in the 4th century B.C., Tianjin is located at the northern end of the Grand Canal of China, which connects with the Yellow River and Yangtze River. The Tianjin Eye is a 394-foot high Ferris wheel that stands over the Yongle Bridge across the Hal River.

The world's only such structure built over a bridge, when it opened in 2008 there were only three larger wheels (the London Eye at 443 feet, The Star of Nanchang in southeastern China at 525 feet, and the Singapore Flyer at 541 feet).

Its 48 eight-passenger capsules take thirty minutes to complete a single rotation.

Answer: Xi'an

With an urban population of around 6.5 million at the time of the 2010 Census, Xi'an was one of China's largest cities. Located in northwestern China near the middle reaches of the Yellow River, Xi'an is the capital of Shaanxi province.

Along with Beijing, Nanjing and Luoyang, Chang'a (Xi'an) is one of the "Four Great Ancient Capitals of China". Chang'an has been China's capital city numerous times, beginning in the time of the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 B.C.). It was last capital during the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

It was China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, who ordered the construction of a mausoleum and the terracotta army (to protect him in the afterlife) shortly after his ascension to the throne in 247 B.C. Discovered by farmers in 1974 just to the east of modern-day Xi'an, the Mausoleum containing the Terracotta Army was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

Answer: Suzhou

Founded in 514 B.C., Suzhou is located on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Home today to some 5.4 million and one of China's richest cities, it was one of the ten largest cities in the world during the Eastern Han Dynasty of the 2nd century A.D. Nicknamed "The Venice of the East", Suzhou is home to canals, bridges, pagodas, and classical gardens that were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.

Officially called the "Yunyan Pagoda", the pictured structure was built over a 54-year period in the early 10th century. More than a thousand years of nature have taken its toll and now the top leans more than seven feet as the foundations slowly sink. Public access to the top of the tower was stopped for safety reasons in 2010.

Answer: Chengdu

Founded in 311 B.C., Chengdu was the fourth most populous city in mainland China at the time of the 2010 Census. The capital of Sichuan province (formerly called Szechwan, a name familiar to lover's of Chinese food, no doubt), Chengdu is located on the fertile Chengdu Plain in the southwestern part of the country.
Chengdu was nicknamed "The City of Hibiscus" because a 10th century king ordered the fortress walls of the city planted with the flowering plant. The last city was was destroyed in 1960 but the hibiscus remains the city's official flower.

Some 1,200 giant pandas, 80% of the world's wild population, live in Sichuan province. The "Sichuan Wolong Giant Panda Nature Reserve", the largest of its kind in the world, was established in 1963. Located in the suburbs of the city, the 200,000 hectare reserve is home to some 150 giant pandas as well as numerous other endangered species. More than 100,000 tourists visit the reserve annually.

Answer: Qingdao

A major coastal seaport and naval base on the Yellow Sea in Shandong province in northeastern China, Qingdao was previously known as Tsingtao.
The Jiaozhou Bay road bridge crosses the inlet to the Huangdao district. With a total length of 25.84 miles, Guinness World Records named it as the longest aggregate-length bridge over water when it was opened.
Wuyue Feng's sculpture (pictured) entitled "May Wind" is the centerpiece of "May Fourth Square" in the downtown business district of the city. The square itself is named after a national protest movement against the Treaty of Versailles that began in Qingdao on May 4, 1919 against the Treaty of Versailles.

Answer: Wuhan

Wuhan is the capital and the largest city in Hubei province, near the meeting point of the Yangtze and Han rivers in central China. These the rivers have made Wuhan a major transportation hub, hence the nickname "The Chicago of China". One of the most ancient and civilized metropolitan cities in China, Wuhan has seen numerous conflicts in its 3,500-year history, notably the "Battle of Red Cliffs" in 208-09 A.D., one of the most important battles in Chinese history. The "Yellow Crane Tower" was built on the banks of the Yangtze shortly after this battle to provide the city's defenders with an early warning of advancing enemies.

Wuhan-native Li Na, born in 1982, became the first Asian winner of a grand slam tennis event when she beat Italy's Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 7-6 to win the French Open in 2011. She repeated her success with a 7-6, 6-0 victory over Slovakia's Dominika Cibulková in the final of the 2014 Australian Open, at which point Li Na was the world's #2 ranked player.

Answer: Shenyang

Shenyang has an urban population of 6.2 million with a further 2 million in the metropolitan area. Tourist attractions here include parts of two UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Mukden Palace, built in 1625 and the imperial palace for the first three Qing emperors, and the Zhao Mausoleum, the tomb of the second Qing emperor. This is the largest of the three imperial tombs located north of the Great Wall of China.

Built as a 2-year project by local students, the 30-foot tall statue of Chairman Mao standing on a 30-foot high base was inaugurated on October 1, 1970 to commemorate the 21st anniversary of the People's Republic of China. The base, which carries the inscription "Long Live the Victory of Mao Zedong Thought" is surrounded by the statues of 58 'heroes' divided into eight groups including soldiers, peasants and workers.

Answer: Jinan

Located in the northwest of Shandong province, some 250 miles south of Beijing, Jinan is bordered to the north by the Yellow River and to the south by the foothills of the Taishan Massif.
Popular tourist attractions include "Baotu Spring Park", home to many of the city's "72 Famous Springs", Daming Lake which is fed by many of the artesian springs, and "Thousand Buddha Mountain" on which have been carved numerous Buddah images, many of them dating back to the time of the Sui Dynasty in the 6th and 7th centuries.