Deck 9: Religion and Cross-Cultural Exchange in Asia 400-1000

Question 1

Nomadic invasions in the Han dynasty in China in the early third century and in the Roman Empire in the West in the fifth century were

A) unrelated to imperial decline
B) a consequence of imperial decline
C) the cause of imperial decline
D) related to imperial decline

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Nomads were primarily interested in China to

A) obtain scarce resources they could not produce themselves
B) conquer the agrarian states
C) obtain slaves
D) protect them from neighboring tribes

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The rise of the ________, who took the Chinese-style dynastic name, Northern Wei, marked the first attempt by steppe nomads to build enduring institutions for governing agrarian China.

A) Tuoba
B) Turks
C) Khazars
D) Mongols

Answer 3

A

Question 4

To reinforce their legitimacy and further their imperial ambitions, the Northern Wei rulers

A) banned the Buddhist faith
B) avidly embraced the Buddhist faith
C) promoted Islam across China
D) required their subjects to adopt the faith of the nomads

Question 5

The Turks preferred means of obtaining booty was through

A) taxes
B) raiding outlying villages
C) agricultural and mining labor
D) tribute and trade

Question 6

In diplomatic negotiations with the autocratic empires of Iran and China, the Turkic khans presented themselves as

A) minor tribal leaders
B) envoys from an even more powerful king
C) duly elected leaders
D) supreme monarchs

Question 7

The Khazars' capital became a crossroads for trade and cultural exchange, demonstrated in 861 by

A) the reigning Khazar khan abruptly converting to Judaism
B) the adoption of the Christian Gospels as the legal code of the Khazars
C) the khan opened the city to residents of all religions
D) the khan gave Khazar citizenship to all residents of the capital, regardless of origin or religion

Question 8

The farthest-reaching cultural transformation of the 6^th to 10^th centuries in East Asia was the

A) conquest of Japan and Korea by China
B) the colonization of Korea by Japan
C) adoption of Buddhism as the dominant religion
D) the fall of the Sui empire

Question 9

The collapse of the Han Empire and subsequent foreign invasions prompted many Chinese to question their values and beliefs and to become receptive to alternative ideas and ways of life, perhaps most notably

A) Confucianism
B) Buddhism
C) Islam
D) Christianity

Question 10

The school of Buddhism that maintained that laypeople in any walk of life had equal potential for achieving enlightenment and salvation was

A) Sunni
B) Mahayana
C) Pure Land
D) Chan (Zen)

Question 11

The school of Buddhism that emphasized salvation through faith alone rather than good works was

A) Sunni
B) Mahayana
C) Pure Land
D) Chan (Zen)

Question 12

The school of Buddhism that embraced strict discipline and mystical understanding of truth as the genuine path of enlightenment was

A) Sunni
B) Mahayana
C) Pure Land
D) Chan (Zen)

Question 13

Under the equal-field system, the Northern Wei government allocated landholdings

A) based on a household's number of able-bodied adults and people overall
B) based on the number of adult men in each household
C) based on the social status of a family
D) based on the expected production of each acre of land

Question 14

Tang rulers laid equal claim to the worlds of the steppe nomads and settled peoples because of

A) their military might
B) their roots in both the Chinese and Tuoba nobilities
C) their Buddhist faith
D) their Korean origins

Question 15

Empress Wu's Zhou dynasty ended

A) with conquest by the Northern Wei
B) with her death
C) with the death of the emperor
D) with her abdication

Question 16

The introduction of China's political institutions and cultural heritage exerted a lasting influence on

A) Korea, Vietnam, and Japan
B) Korea and Vietnam, but not Japan
C) Japan and Korea, but not Vietnam
D) Vietnam and Japan, but not Korea

Question 17

In post-Gupta India, common values, social practices, and political institutions

A) eroded without a unifying government to reinforce them
B) were maintained in the urban centers, but faded in the countryside
C) were maintained in the countryside, but faded in urban centers
D) penetrated more deeply into all corners of the subcontinent

Question 18

In post-Gupta India, the local economy was dominated by

A) temples and Brahman landowners
B) the royal court, which controlled all of the land
C) the peasant classes
D) government officers and ministers

Question 19

Beginning in Gupta times, Brahmanical rituals were replaced as the core of religious life in India by

A) personal devotion to gods such as Shiva and Vishnu
B) devoted study of texts known as the Puranas
C) royal patronage
D) Jainism

Question 20

As he traveled about India, the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang was

A) impressed by the reverence shown to the Buddha
B) pleased to find more than a hundred Hindu temples in Varanasi
C) intrigued by Hinduism, to which he eventually converted
D) appalled by the decayed state of Buddhism in its homeland

Question 21

The formal hierarchy of the four major caste groups

A) corresponded precisely to the jati system
B) was flexible enough to adapt to the changes in Indian society
C) was abandoned in light of changing social norms
D) could not contain the growing complexity of Indian society

Question 22

In the post-Gupta era, kings achieved political dominance by

A) Displaying overwhelming military power
B) gaining fealty and tribute
C) annexing territory
D) allying with neighboring kings

Question 23

Which aspect of Indian religious tradition was NOT integrated into religious belief and practice in Southeast Asia?

A) Mahayana Buddhism
B) bhakti devotional cults
C) the caste system
D) worship of Shiva

Question 24

Indian religions and cultural traditions were carried to Southeast Asia by

A) Brahmans
B) Indian merchants and missionaries
C) Javanese traders
D) pilgrims

Question 25

The most striking case of simultaneous patronage of both Brahmanism and Mahayana Buddhism is

A) the Angkor kingdom
B) Chinese pilgrims to Burma
C) the Sailendra dynasty
D) the international community of monks that gathered at Palembang

Question 26

Which religion exercised a powerful centralizing pull and created a common brotherhood of faith across national, ethnic, and cultural boundaries?

A) Buddhism
B) Hinduism
C) Brahmanism
D) Islam

Question 27

It was impossible for any single political power to dominate the Silk Road because of

A) the dominance of China in the east
B) the great length and harsh terrain
C) the mix of languages used along the route
D) constant raids by highwaymen

Question 28

Sogdian merchants achieved success by

A) relocating their cities along the Silk Road
B) leaving their homeland and traveling to distant regions, especially China
C) charging tolls along the Silk Road
D) raiding passing merchants and traders

Question 29

Sogdian merchants began to dominate the Silk Road trade after they

A) forged an alliance with the Turks
B) attacked and destroyed many of the competing cities in Central Asia
C) began to assimilate to the cosmopolitan Chinese culture
D) gained expertise in cutting gemstones

Question 30

A Sogdian family living in China is credited with introducing the techniques of ___________ to China.

A) porcelain-making
B) ironworking
C) glassmaking
D) silk-weaving