Takeovers Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cheng Tang

Cheng Tang (ruled c. 1676-1646 BCE), born as Zi Lu, was the founder or the Shang (or Yin) dynasty. He came to power after defeating Jie, the infamously cruel last ruler of the Xia dynasty. In traditional records, his reign is remembered positively for the lowering of taxes and limits on the conscription of soldiers. The early part of his reign had several periods of drought.

Previous to the the Shang dynasty, there was the Xia dynasty which began in legend, though ended in fact. Prior to that, the period of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors clearly belongs to the realm of myth.

Answer: Wu

King Wu of Zhou reigned from 1046 BCE until his death three years later. He was born with the name Fa. He gained power from the Shang dynasty in the Battle of Muye. The Zhou dynasty ruled longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history, even if the authority of its rulers greatly declined in later years. During his reign, Wu ruled more as the overlord of a number of feudal states rather than a single highly unified kingdom.

Answer: Shi Huangdi

Shi Huangdi (also known as Qin Shi Huang) (221 BCE-210 BCE) is considered the first emperor of a unified China (earlier leaders were usually kings). Previous Shi Huangdi, born as Zheng (259 BCE-210 BCE), had served as King of Qin. During his reign, local defensive walls began to unified into the Great Wall of China.

He engaged in censorship of philosophical ideas as he attempted to rule China along the lines of Legalism, and also began standardizing Chinese units of measurement. The harshness of his regime is partially reflected in the fact that his son was overthrown after only a short reign.

Answer: Liu Bang

Liu Bang (256 BCE-195 BCE) was the founder of the Han dynasty. Reigning as Emperor Gaozu of Han (202 BCE-195 BCE), he came from one of the more humble backgrounds of any Chinese emperor. He began the introduction of Confucianism as the guiding philosophy of Chinese government.

He also reduced taxes. A large portion of his reign was spent in military campaigns, as Liu Bang consolidated his role. The Han dynasty was briefly interrupted by the usurper Wang Mang (9 CE-23 CE).

Answer: Yang Jin

Yang Jian (541-604) ruled China as Emperor Wen of Sui (581-604). His reign would reunify a large part of northern China after fragmentation of the country after the collapse of the Han dynasty. His reign is generally described as a period of economic prosperity and military strength. Several canals were built to aid in transportation of food by boat. On a personal level, he is also thought to have had fewer (two) concubines than most other Chinese emperors.

Answer: Gaozu

Gaozu (618-626) was the first emperor of the Tang dynasty, having begun his career as a provincial governor for the previous dynasty. Born as Li Yuan (566-635), he passed on rule to his son Li Shimin several years before his death. A large portion of his reign was spent in conquest and reunification of the empire.

In the period before his abdication, there was significant strife and struggle between Gaozu's elder sons.

Answer: Taizu

The Song dynasty is sometimes divided into two periods: Northern Song (when the dynasty ruled most of modern Northern China) and Southern Song (when the dynasty lost control of much of the northern part of their former empire). Emperor Taizu of Song (960-976) was the first ruler of the Northern Song.

He was born as Zhao Kuangyin (927-976). He reunited much of China, which had splintered into several states during the period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907-979). He also expanded the use of the imperial examinations (based on several criteria, including the ideas of Confucius) to apply to most of the Chinese bureaucracy.

Answer: Kublai Khan

Although, Genghis Khan had begun the Mongol conquest of China in the early 1200s (along with much of Eurasia), his grandson Kublai Khan (1215-1294) was the one who formally established the Yuan dynasty in a style similar to previous dynasties that had ruled of China. Kublai Khan ruled as the Shizu Emperor.

In addition to the modern nation of China, he also ruled over Mongolia, parts of southern Siberia, and Korea. Kublai Khan is also associated with Marco Polo, the Venetian merchant who visited China in the thirteenth century and recorded his experiences.

Answer: Hongwu

During his reign (1368-1398), the Hongwu Emperor was initially concerned with removing the Yuan dynasty from China. Born as Zhu Yuanzhang (1328-1398), the Hongwu Emperor was sort of a mixed bag. On the one hand, he attempted to reduce corruption in the government and showed a relatively high level of tolerance for minority religions in the empire. On the other hand, during his reign, fairly cruel methods of execution were used as well as limits on freedom of movement within the empire.

Answer: Shunzhi

The Shunzhi Emperor is not considered the founder of the Qing dynasty, but was the first of that line to rule from Beijing (1644-1661), his predecessor/father having done much of the work to get the dynasty to this point. Since the Shunzhi Emperor (or Fulin) died at the young age of 22 (1638-1661), for a significant part of his reign, regents held the actual power. By the end of his reign, the dynasty (which had originated in Manchuria), had conquered most, though not all of China.

Beyond this dynasty, there was the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912, an attempt by Yuan Shikai to become emperor of China in 1915, a brief attempt to restore the Qing dynasty in 1917, and the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949.