Deck 16: Empire of the Middle: China to the Mongol Conquest

Question 1

The First Emperor's anti-knowledge campaign was directed primarily against

A) Confucianism.
B) Buddhist monasteries.
C) Daoism.
D) Mongol invaders.
E) universities.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

All of these are associated with Shih Huang-di's reign except

A) standardized writing.
B) book-burning.
C) uniformity of roads.
D) the Great Wall.
E) development of acupuncture.

Answer 2

E

Question 3

China's system of standardized tests that gave individuals government positions based on merit

A) was supported by the majority of the people and thus became very successful.
B) lasted through the Han period but was eliminated during the Song Dynasty.
C) failed to keep wealthy families from purchasing high government offices for their sons.
D) did allow some commoners into public service, but the wealthy still kept the vast majority of the positions.
E) was viewed as a good idea in theory, but in reality gave the mandarins too much power.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

During the Han period, Confucian scholars laid greatest stress on

A) a centralized bureaucracy.
B) the mandate of heaven.
C) mystical love.
D) poetry.
E) technological inventions.

Question 5

The reign of Tang Emperor Xuanzong is especially noted for

A) fending off advances from the West.
B) producing some of China's greatest poets and poetry.
C) the erection of the Great Wall.
D) the successful colonization of Vietnam.
E) the development of some of China's most remarkable architecture.

Question 6

Examine the positive and negative aspects of the reign of Shih Huang-di.

Question 7

Which of the following statements is not true of Han Chinese farming?

A) An improved harness made it easier to use horses in the field.
B) The Chinese developed a systematic way to use animal manure for fertilizer.
C) Farming was confined to land already in cultivation, as the newly conquered lands to the north and west were not suitable for agriculture.
D) As iron became more available, farmers were able to increase their use of the plow.
E) For its time, Han agriculture was the most advanced in the world.

Question 8

Compare and contrast Confucianism and Legalism, both as philosophies and as political systems. Explain why you think certain emperors embraced one or the other of these concepts at various times.

Question 9

Shih Huang-di based his government almost entirely upon the philosophy of

A) Confucianism.
B) Legalism.
C) Daoism.
D) Buddhism.
E) Hinduism.

Question 10

China attained most of its current size and shape under the ____ Dynasty.

A) Qin
B) Han
C) Song
D) Tang
E) Sui

Question 11

Since the first century, the Chinese have been noted for

A) their excellent achievements in painting.
B) wood block printing.
C) their fully standardized system of writing.
D) studying the writings of the Legalists.
E) recording the history of their society's elite.

Question 12

During the Han Dynasty, the Chinese consciousness appears to have become rooted in the belief that

A) Westerners were inherently evil.
B) the Chinese people were the greatest society that had ever existed.
C) goods produced in the West, along with Western ideas, were of no use to the Chinese.
D) trade difficulties were insurmountable, making Chinese exclusion the only option.
E) the Chinese had a duty to share their knowledge with the rest of the civilized world.

Question 13

Which of these occupations would have been of least value in Han society?

A) landowner
B) scholar
C) farmer
D) merchant
E) government official

Question 14

The development of wet rice farming was significant for China, especially because it

A) freed the Chinese from dependence on Vietnam for food.
B) gave them plenty of work for the Chinese peasantry.
C) provided a marketable product for exchange with the West.
D) provided an increased food supply that led to a large population increase without badly damaging the economy.
E) ensured that even during drought conditions in the western lands, the people there could still be fed.

Question 15

The development most crucial for Chinese national unity was

A) a standardized written language.
B) an efficient bureaucracy.
C) the mandate of heaven.
D) the completion of the Great Wall.
E) the location of the capital at Beijing.

Question 16

List and discuss the achievements of the Han emperors. Why did later Chinese refer to themselves as the "Sons of Han"?

Question 17

Shih Huang-di reunified China under his rule by

A) cooperating with Confucian mandarins.
B) assassinating the former emperor.
C) military conquest.
D) allying with the Buddhists.
E) building thousands of miles of roads.

Question 18

The worst problem for all Chinese governments has been

A) its isolation.
B) its geography.
C) its mistreated peasantry.
D) barbarian invaders.
E) the mandate of heaven.

Question 19

The case is often made that the Tang and Song periods exemplified the height of Chinese civilization. Would you agree? What facts support this assertion?

Question 20

Assess the impact of the Buddhist faith on Chinese civilization. Was the arrival of Buddhism "revolutionary"? How so?

Question 21

The only area that did not gain autonomy from China during the Song Dynasty was

A) the northeastern region of Manchuria.
B) Tibet in the west.
C) Korea.
D) the area between the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers.
E) Vietnam.

Question 22

Under the Song dynasty, the cities of ____________________ and ____________________ were believed to have been among the largest in the world.

Question 23

Which was different about Buddhism by the time it arrived in China?

A) It had evolved into a highly ritualistic and impersonal philosophy.
B) It had become similar to Daoism, in that it, too, stressed proper thought and action just for the sake of doing the right thing.
C) It had become more of a true faith, promising its adherents a happy eternal life.
D) Most people viewed it with some alarm, because it had begun to deify the Buddha.
E) It was no longer as tolerant of other belief systems as it had been in India.

Question 24

In what ways did the Han Dynasty resemble the Roman Empire to its west?

A) They existed at approximately the same time.
B) Both depended on hereditary officials to carry out court orders.
C) The populations of both were mostly rural peasants.
D) both a and b
E) both a and c

Question 25

The civilization most amenable to Chinese culture was that of

A) Vietnam.
B) Japan.
C) the Philippines.
D) Korea.
E) Tibet.

Question 26

The first Tang emperor's most effective agricultural reform was the

A) landlord system, which put all land in the hands of the wealthy.
B) well-field system, which redistributed land every few years.
C) enclosure system, which separated formerly commonly held lands into individual plots.
D) socialist system, which saw all land shared equally.
E) ever-normal granary system, which set aside part of each season's crops for community use in time of famine.

Question 27

What Chinese invention was introduced to the Muslims by the Mongols?

A) the compass
B) the waterwheel
C) gunpowder
D) the forge bellows
E) papermaking

Question 28

The greatest single cultural influence on China during the first millennium C.E. was

A) printing.
B) Neo-Confucianism.
C) Legalism.
D) Buddhism.
E) gunpowder.

Question 29

A Chinese mandarin official would best be described as having been

A) more concerned with his philosophical development than with participating actively in the government.
B) a skilled artist and poet, but also a hard-nosed businessman.
C) educated for the sole purpose of achieving power.
D) more of an ideal than a reality.
E) steeped in his society's culture, yet filled with civic duty.

Question 30

During the Han epoch, ____________________ was invented from wood pulp.

Question 31

During the mid-Han period, the ____________________ became a factor in rebellious unrest in China.

Question 32

The Song Dynasty was finally overturned by the

A) Mongol conquerors.
B) Korean invaders.
C) Japanese pirates.
D) Tang Dynasty.
E) army of Shih Huang-di.

Question 33

During the Song Dynasty, one change that took place in society was that ____ gained a certain amount of prestige for the first time.

A) soldiers
B) merchants
C) bankers
D) farmers
E) laborers

Question 34

One of the main purposes of the regular reallocation of land every few years during the Tang Dynasty was

A) to ensure good land for the nobility.
B) to ensure good land for the peasants.
C) to make allowance for changes in the population distribution.
D) to tame the landed nobility.
E) to make sure the tenant peasants would remain on the land and produce food for urban workers.

Question 35

In regards to government, educated Chinese long believed that

A) the mandate of heaven would cure all ills.
B) each province had the responsibility of making its own laws.
C) warlords never became effective monarchs.
D) a power-hungry ruler was better than no ruler at all.
E) Chinese peasants had the same natural rights as the wealthy.

Question 36

The Han emperors adopted ____________________ as China's leading philosopher.

Question 37

Confucian scholars magnified and legitimated the emperor's powers through the concept of the ____________________.

Question 38

It would be erroneous to describe the city of Hangzhou as

A) a trade-oriented port.
B) once containing about a million residents.
C) one of the places visited by Marco Polo.
D) one area that dictated Chinese culture.
E) the splendid capital of the Song Dynasty.

Question 39

The Song period witnessed the economic innovation of

A) the stock exchange.
B) banking and lines of credit.
C) joint-stock companies.
D) business insurance.
E) mass production.

Question 40

A student from a poor family could complete training for a government position by

A) achieving a successful military career.
B) converting to Buddhism.
C) having local villagers pay for his tutoring.
D) becoming an artist.
E) apprenticing himself to a master politician.

Question 41

In 1974, the tomb of Shih Huang-di, containing 7,000 ____________________ ____________________ ____________________, was discovered at Sian.

Question 42

Neo-Confucianism was the revival of Confucianism, updated to meet the challenge posed by ____________________.

Question 43

The "burning of the books" took place under the rule of ____________________ ____________________.

Question 44

Chinese scholar-officials who were educated in Confucian ideals were called ____________________.

Question 45

The abacus, water clocks, and gunpowder were developed during two dynamic periods, the ____________________ and the ____________________.