Beijing - a History Trivia Quiz

Answer: Peking Man

The Peking Man, called after Beijing's old name, was found in Dragon Bone Hill. There is often confusion about what Peking Man is. It is not a specific fossil but rather a group of fossils, often incomplete skeletons, of Homo sapiens who lived at least 230,000 years ago and perhaps as far back as 750,000 years earlier. None of the Peking Man fossils are in existence today as they mysteriously disappeared in 1941 but there are casts still around.

Answer: Battle of Banquan

The exact location of the Battle of Banquan is unknown and it may not have even taken place near Beijing. Despite the uncertainty, the battle is considered an important moment in Beijing's history. As a result of the Yellow Emperor's win, China was united (in part) and the Yellow Emperor founded a town called Youling, which was a precursor to Beijing in the province called Youzhou.

Answer: Trading post

Beijing was located in the north east of what was considered mainland China, but was centrally located between the most populated areas of China to the south and nomadic traders to the north. In addition, Beijing also housed China's military operations as it was commonly believed any attacks would come from the north.

Answer: Jin Dynasty

Wanyan Liang, also called Prince Hailing, moved the capital from Shangjing to Beijing, which was then called Zhongdu, which means central capital as it was the capital of the central part of China. The Jin Dyansty expanded Beijing greatly in size, population and infrastructure. Beijing was the capital of China until 1214, when the Mongols invaded.

Answer: The Forbidden City

After the Yuan Dynasty ended and China's capital moved elsewhere, the Danei was abandoned and eventually destroyed. When Emperor Zhu Di rose to power, he started construction on the Forbidden City in 1406. The Forbidden City was home to the Chinese ruling families for nearly five centuries. Today, it is a museum.

The Forbidden City received its name because no one was allowed to enter or leave without the permission of the emperor. However, the Chinese now call the Forbidden City Gugong, which means former palace.

Answer: Northern Capital

Beijing means northern capital, which signified its location within the then boundaries of China. Ironically, the city previously had names which meant central capital. Despite its new name, Beijing was still called several other names during this time and would later be renamed officially several more times before being called Beijing again.

It was during the Ming Dynasty that many of Beijing's famous landmarks were built including the Forbidden City, Temple of the Sun, Temple of Heaven and parts of the Great Wall of China.

Answer: A Jesuit Priest

Matteo Ricci was an Italian priest who sought to Christianize China. He was among the first westerners to try to learn the Chinese language, as others had previously not bothered and only Christianized Macau and other ports. Ricci founded Xuanwumen Church, which is the oldest in Beijing. Upon Ricci's death, Emperor Wanli issued a special decree so that Ricci could be buried within Beijing limits. Previously, all foreigners had to be buried in Macau. Ricci was actually interred in a Buddhist temple.

Answer: Manchu Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty was called the Manchu Dynasty because the people from Manchuria had conquered Beijing and later the rest of China. They renamed Beijing Jingshi.

Despite the name and the stereotype of Chinese men wearing them, the Fu Manchu mustache does not get its name from the Manchus. The facial hair received its name from Fu Manchu, a fictional criminal created by British author Sax Rohmer.

Answer: Promotion of the Mandarin Chinese language

The emperors who ruled from Beijing often had communication problems with their advisors and people from places in southern China. As a solution, Emperor Yinzhen required all civil servants to learn Mandarin. In later years Mandarin became China's official language and was referred to as "the Beijing dialect."

Answer: Chinese herbal pharmacy

Tongrentang was founded by Yue Xianyang, a royal physician in the Qing Dynasty. Soon after, Tongrentang became the only source of herbal medicine to the Qing. In modern times, Tongrentang has made business deals to sell their products in foreign markets such as Germany and some parts of the United States.

However, the company struggles to maintain its old-world identity in a technologically advanced world and does not fare too well economically outside of China.

Answer: Second Opium War

The Second Opium War was fought between the British with help from the French against the Chinese. Europe was expanding economically was looking for new markets for their products. The French and the Americans had successfully negotiated treaties with China, but the British were denied the opportunity to expand their presence to all of China and to send a foreign ambassador.

The British, led by Lord Elgin, defeated the Qing and forced them to sign the Treaty of Tianjin, which led to the opening of Beijing to several world powers, opened up new port cities in China and stopped the persecution of Christians in China. In addition, the British received Kowloon, part of Hong Kong.

Answer: Spain

The Boxer Rebellion was anti-imperialist movement in China during that opposed the influence of western powers and other Asian nations in China. The Boxer Rebellion began somewhat peacefully but by the Summer of 1900, it grew violent as grew bigger. Conditions in China were also poor at the time because of a drought.

The Qing were initially opposed to the rebellion but as it grew in popularity, Empress Dowager Cixi had no choice but support it She sent the Imperial Army to team up with the Boxers. That led to the Eight-Nation alliance to fight to protect their citizens in Beijing.

The members of the Eight-Nation Alliance were: United States, Russia, Japan, Britain, France, Italy, Germany and - nominally - also Austria-Hungary.

Answer: It remained the capital

There was talk about where the new Chinese capital would be located as the capital often changed as Chinese rulers did. However, Beijing remained the capital because it was where the center of government had long been established. The Republic of China's first ruler was Sun Yat-sen, who is called the Father of the Nation.

Despite the name, Sun Yat-sen ruled for only two months as his real power was quickly usurped and he was exiled.

Answer: Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong is among the most influential Chinese rulers in history. He proposed economic reforms in his Great Leap Forward, which was called for a more rapid movement away from agriculture to industry. The Great Leap Forward is considered in the west to be have been a colossal failure as the new industries caused the agricultural sector to fail and many crops rotted unpicked. This led to the Great Chinese Famine in 1959 that lasted for two years. In addition, what crops that were scheduled to be harvested were eaten by locusts as a result of Mao's sparrow extermination campaign. The famine is estimated to have killed between 18-42 million million people.

Also under his rule, China became more isolationist by rejecting the ideals of the western world until U.S. President Richard Nixon and Chariman Mao worked to open China slightly during the 1970s. Many non-Chinese cultural artifacts were destroyed during Mao's reign.

Answer: Shopping bags

The identity of Tank Man is still unknown, although there are many theories. One states his name is Wang Weilin, a student who was arrested that same day as reported by the "Sunday Express", a British tabloid newspaper. However, there is no record of this man's arrest on file. What happened to the man is also unknown. Jiang Zemin told Barbara Walters in 1990 that he could not say what, if anything, happened to Tank Man. Years later, Jiang Zemin stated that Tank Man was not arrested and that the Chinese government did not know his identity.