Deck 10: The Flowering of Traditional China

Question 1

Grand Canal

Answer 1

Answer not provided.

Question 2

Sui Yangdi

Answer 2

Answer not provided.

Question 3

Li Yuan

Answer 3

Answer not provided.

Question 4

What roles did Buddhism,Daoism,and Neo-Confucianism play in Chinese intellectual life in the period between the Sui dynasty and the Ming? In the public sphere,what advantages did Confucianism have over Buddhism and Daoism,and why?

Question 5

Yang Jian/Sui Wendi

Question 6

Sui Dynasty

Question 7

"The Yuan dynasty was a brief irrelevance in China's long history." Discuss critically.

Question 8

How significant was international trade to Chinese society? What was traded? From where and to where? Who benefited-China? Its neighbors? Within China?

Question 9

What brought on the several centuries of political division following the collapse of the Han dynasty? What was the appeal of Buddhism and Daoism during the era after the collapse of the Han dynasty?

Question 10

Discuss the possible reasons why China abandoned its seemingly successful naval accomplishments after the death of the emperor Yongle in 1424.Which do you believe to be most convincing,and why?

Question 11

What were the main achievements in Chinese literature and art in the period between the Tang dynasty and the Ming,and what technological innovations and intellectual developments contributed to these achievements? With specific examples,discuss the relationship between Daoism and Chinese landscape painting.

Question 12

Liu Ling

Question 13

Why were the Mongols able to amass an empire,and what were the main characteristics of their rule in China? What was the impact of the "Pax Mongolica" on Eurasian societies in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries?

Question 14

Gobi Desert

Question 15

"Chinese civilization reached its apex during the Tang dynasty." Discuss critically.

Question 16

What were the chief initiatives taken by the early rulers of the Ming dynasty to enhance the role of China in the world? Why did the imperial court order the famous voyages of Zhenghe,and why were they discontinued?

Question 17

"Although of short duration,the Sui dynasty was one of China's most significant." Discuss.

Question 18

Discuss the significance and impact of the civil service examination on Chinese society.Who benefited and who did not from the system? Was it actually based upon merit? Why or why not?

Question 19

Compare and contrast the status of women in Tang and Song China with the status of women in two other societies of your choice.What are the similarities and what are the differences,and why?

Question 20

Discuss the impact of the northern nomad peoples upon Chinese society in the late Tang and Song eras.Be specific.

Question 21

blast furnace and steel,gunpowder,paper currency,and the abacus

Question 22

Xuanzong and Yan Guifei

Question 23

Song dynasty

Question 24

Grand Council

Question 25

Tang Taizong

Question 26

the Southern Song and Hangzhou

Question 27

scholar-gentry

Question 28

Uighurs,Kirghiz,and Khitan

Question 29

Tang Dynasty

Question 30

State Confucianism

Question 31

compass and the sternpost rudder

Question 32

"younger brothers" and the tribute system

Question 33

civil service examination

Question 34

Jurchen

Question 35

Song Taizu

Question 36

"equal field" system

Question 37

Wang Anshi

Question 38

the Silk Road(s)and Bactrian camels

Question 39

Kaifeng

Question 40

Chang'an

Question 41

the Mongols and the Yuan dynasty

Question 42

White Lotus sect

Question 43

Chan

Question 44

Ming Dynasty

Question 45

Neo-Confucianism/the "investigation of things" and Zhu Xi

Question 46

Wu Zhao/Empress Wu

Question 47

woodblock printing

Question 48

foot binding

Question 49

Zhenghe

Question 50

Temuchin/Genghis Khan

Question 51

Pure Land sect

Question 52

fire-lance

Question 53

Khubilai Khan

Question 54

Khanbaliq/Beijing

Question 55

School of the Mind

Question 56

Zhu Yuanzhang

Question 57

Marco Polo

Question 58

Karakorum

Question 59

The Great Wall

Question 60

Li Bo and Du Fu

Question 61

One of the main reasons for the demise of the Tang Dynasty was its inability to effectively solve the problem of land distribution.Which of the following statements can serve as a valid explanation for this policy failure?

A) The increasing concentration of land in the hands of the rich and politically influential, coupled with rising food production, led to increasing pressure on the land distribution system.
B) The receipt of large, permanent land grants by government officials fundamentally strengthened the system but undermined the concept of the Mandate of Heaven.
C) Equality in land distribution was successfully maintained through the tax regulations of the central government.
D) Mongol invaders destroyed the Chinese government's bureaucratic infrastructure.
E) Empress Wu confiscated all land, distributing it to illiterate and unprepared peasants.

Question 62

The Song political system

A) restored Legalism as its supporting official philosophy.
B) was able to solve the problem of nomadic invasions by using its new fire-lance to exterminate nomadic cavalry.
C) developed the equivalent of a modern cabinet within its Department of State Affairs.
D) dissolved its entire military structure to save money for trading activities.
E) was run by a female emperor during the late Yuan dynasty.

Question 63

Neo-Confucianism

A) was greatly aided in its intellectual development by Wu Zhao.
B) under Zhu Xi, divided the world into a material world and a transcendent world.
C) maintained that the world is illusory unless one possesses a rare variety of karma.
D) was a translation of the Master's works into Japanese.
E) succumbed to a revived Buddhism.

Question 64

As a result of early Tang rule,

A) Chinese cultural development was stifled.
B) Buddhist influence helped to produce a blossoming of Chinese culture.
C) Buddhist monastic activities were curtailed.
D) internal weakness became endemic throughout China.
E) Nestorian beliefs became dominant in the Yangtze Valley.

Question 65

Over the course of the three centuries after the fall of the Han and before the rise of the Sui Dynasty,

A) China experienced a period of tranquility and order.
B) Confucianism grew in popularity.
C) Buddhism developed a much wider following among the Chinese people.
D) Daoism disappeared in China.
E) Islam made its first appearance in China.

Question 66

All of the following contributed to the fall of the Tang except

A) the increase of power of the landed families.
B) instability along the northern frontiers.
C) invasion by the Mongols.
D) a rebellion in 755 which captured Chang'an.
E) local military commanders taking power from the central government.

Question 67

In the Chinese civil service examination system

A) candidates from southern China always received the highest positions.
B) the system entirely eliminated aristocratic influence in the government bureaucracy.
C) the Song severely restricted the eligibility for taking the exams.
D) many candidates who passed the first examination did not go on to a higher level.
E) very few of the successful candidates came from the landed gentry.

Question 68

landscape painting and Daoism

Question 69

The Sui Dynasty

A) lasted from the ninth until the eleventh centuries.
B) designated Daoism as the only official state ideology.
C) completed the new Grand Canal system linking the Yellow the Yangtze river valleys.
D) burned the literary works of Confucius and all non-Buddhists.
E) moved the capital to Canton.

Question 70

State Confucianism

A) was actually an unusually militant form of Buddhism.
B) emerged in China after the Tang dynasty's brief flirtation with Buddhism.
C) was brought to China by Japanese merchants.
D) renounced the newer ideas advanced by Mencius and Loming-Tzu.
E) was strongly influenced by Daoism.

Question 71

Which of the following statements is not a valid observation about the Sui Dynasty?

A) It employed Buddhism as a unifying force in the country.
B) It was responsible for the building of the Grand Canal, connecting the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers.
C) It permanently incorporated Korea into the Chinese domain.
D) It came to an abrupt end with the assassination of its emperor.
E) Its policies helped the lower Yangtze region become a major part of China's economy.

Question 72

Tale of the Marshes and Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Question 73

The name given to the Asian region northwest of traditional China that was pacified by the Tang was

A) Xinjiang.
B) Korea.
C) Japan.
D) Silla.
E) Bactria.

Question 74

Under Song rule in China,the system of local government

A) permitted villages to administer themselves.
B) gave specific, vital responsibilities to the village "council of elders."
C) enabled the most prominent families in the village to dominate the council of elders.
D) essentially remained as it had been under the Tang.
E) all of the above

Question 75

In the Chinese civil service examination system,

A) stress was placed on geometric and foreign language skills.
B) under the Song, Confucian doctrine had been replaced by Buddhist teachings as the sole contents of the exam.
C) in comparison to other civilizations, the process provided a means for upward social mobility.
D) the elimination of all bureaucratic shortcomings was achieved.
E) the establishment of the Censorate eliminated all possibilities of official wrongdoing.

Question 76

Dunhuang caves

Question 77

Because of the threat of the Khitan nomads,the first capital of the Song dynasty was ____,and additional threats from the north later forced the Song to move the capital to ____.

A) Chang'an and Beijing.
B) Xian and Anyang.
C) Hangzhou and Beijing.
D) Kaifeng and Hangzhou.
E) Beijing and Chang'an.

Question 78

The Turkish-speaking tribal group that ultimately overthrew the Tang were the

A) Mongols.
B) Magyars.
C) Uighurs.
D) Jurchens.
E) Kirghiz.

Question 79

Wu Zhao

A) was the founder of the White Lotus sect.
B) translated The Way of the Dao into Khitan.
C) was the Chinese name of Marco Polo.
D) was the founder of the Ming Dynasty.
E) became empress of China.

Question 80

In terms of its relations with neighboring powers,the Song

A) met their ultimate demise at the hands of the Mongols.
B) was able to maintain a permanent dominance over the Jin Dynasty of the Jurchens.
C) reconquered the northern region controlled by the Uighurs.
D) learned from the mistakes of the Tang and avoided a similar fate.
E) conquered Japan, the first time that this had happened.