General Knowledge of China's History Quiz

Answer: 5,000 years

People who didn't read the question properly probably got it wrong. Archaeologists may go digging for fossil evidence and whatnot, but China has about 5,000 years of recorded history. My Chinese teacher harped on about this ad nauseam. However, that fact was indelibly printed in my memory.

Answer: Yuan, Ming, Qing

Beijing is capital to the last three dynasties of China before the Republic of China. The Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties were the first of China's dynasties. Beijing is still the capital of China, and is the largest city in the country. Many famous buildings built by Xia, Shang, and Zhou emperors are now tourist sites.

Answer: The Great Wall, Terracotta Army

Qin Shihuangdi built the Great Wall of China to protect China from Mongol invaders. However, most of that wall has been torn down over the centuries, and the present day Great Wall consists of Qin Shihuangdi's original wall and many other walls built later. Qin Shihuangdi's wall was built from 221 B.C. to 206 B.C.

The Terracotta Army was supposed to protect him in his afterlife. Both the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square are in Beijing, and were built centuries after Qin Shihuangdi died.

Answer: False

Qin Shihuangdi's real name is Ying Zheng. After unifying China, he became the first emperor and gave himself the title of Qin Shihuangdi, which means "First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty". "Qin" is obviously the dynasty, "shi" means "first", and "huang di" means emperor.

Not only was Qin Shihuangdi the first Qin emperor, he was also the first emperor of China. After unifying the scattered people as one empire, he declared himself emperor. From then on, rulers of China were called emperors or empresses until the Republic of China arose.

Answer: Chang'an

Although Xi'an has had many names other than Chang'an, it was mainly known by that name. Xi'an is in present day Shaanxi Province and is of great historical importance. Among others, the Terracotta Army is in Xi'an, as well as Beilin, an important place with many ancient Chinese sculpts and writings.

Answer: Han Dynasty

The Han Dynasty lasted from 206 BCE to 220 CCE, with a short interruption from 9 to 23 CCE when the Xin Dynasty reigned. The Han dynasty was the most prosperous dynasty in the history of China. Now, the Chinese call themselves "Han Chinese". During the Han Dynasty, the Chinese invented the first seismograph, compass, and gunpowder, among other achievements.

Answer: Wu Zetian and Cixi Taihou

Wu Zetian ruled China through her husband and sons, and then established her own Zhou Dynasty which lasted from 690 to 705. During the time, she called herself "Emperor", not "Empress". Cixi Taihou ruled China with her son as her "puppet ruler", although to the eyes of all her son was the emperor.

She began her rule in 1861 till her death. The legacy of both women may be untrue to the reality, but most people think they are cruel, scheming women.

Answer: No

The period of 1912 to 1949 marked the rule of the Republic of China, which was eventually defeated and fled to Taiwan.

Answer: 1949

If anyone bothered to read the extra information given in the previous question they could have guessed that the fall of one meant the founding of the other. For the people who did the HTML quiz, well, they had it harder! The People's Republic of China is ruling present day China. Under its rule, China has been developing quickly.

Answer: A sequence of leaders or rulers of the same family

My goodness, you've been winging the entire quiz! If you didn't know this answer, please don't look at the scores of the other questions! And please use the dictionary!