Deck 3: China in Antiquity

Question 1

Compare and contrast the concepts of Confucianism and Legalism. Why did the latter become so important in the Qin Dynasty? Would the Qin have survived longer if it had followed the Confucian path? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Answers will vary.

Question 2

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Yangshao

Answer 2

Answers will vary.

Question 3

What was especially notable about ancient Chinese language? How did it retain its earlier form and still serve to unify the elite in the various parts of China?

Answer 3

Answers will vary.

Question 4

What were the defining characteristics of daily life in ancient China? How important was both family and agriculture to Chinese lifestyles in the ancient world?

Question 5

Explain a) what is meant by the diffusion hypothesis in reference to ancient Chinese history and b) why this hypothesis has fallen out of favor with historians studying ancient China.

Question 6

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Xia Dynasty

Question 7

How did geography and climate influence the early development of Chinese civilization? Were those influences greater than those of governmental and economic developments?

Question 8

How did the Han rulers combine Confucianism with Legalism? Were they successful?

Question 9

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Gobi Desert and the Tibetan Plateau

Question 10

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Shang Dynasty

Question 11

"Without Confucius, China would not be China." Discuss critically.

Question 12

Discuss the rise and fall of the Han Dynasty. In what ways was it "glorious," and what led to its ultimate decline?

Question 13

Identify the following term(s).
Fu Xi, Shen Nong, and the Yellow Emperor

Question 14

Explain why, in Chinese philosophy, the term "action" is associated with Confucianism and the term "inaction" with Daoism.

Question 15

"The Qin Dynasty, although brief, marked a major departure from the ideas, policies, and condition of China during the last centuries of the previous dynasties."  Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not?

Question 16

What innovative contributions to Chinese political, economic, and social development were made by the Zhou Dynasty? Give specific examples.

Question 17

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Yellow and Yangtze Rivers

Question 18

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Anyang

Question 19

Discuss the rise and fall of bronze casting in China as well as the importance of ironmaking in that nation's history.

Question 20

Did gender and class significantly influence one's life opportunities in ancient China? Would you have preferred to be a male or a female? Show why, giving examples.

Question 21

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Longshan

Question 22

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Confucius

Question 23

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
silk

Question 24

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Rites of Zhou

Question 25

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Shang bronzes

Question 26

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
oracle bones

Question 27

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
diffusion hypothesis

Question 28

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
"the old hundred names"

Question 29

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
yang and yin

Question 30

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
the Silk Road

Question 31

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Yi Jing/Book of Changes

Question 32

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
veneration of ancestors

Question 33

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Mandate of Heaven

Question 34

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
"well field system"

Question 35

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
"the Hundred Schools"

Question 36

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Xinjiang

Question 37

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Confucianism

Question 38

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Zhou Dynasty

Question 39

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Xian

Question 40

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Tian

Question 41

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Xiongnu

Question 42

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Sima Qian

Question 43

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
eunuchs

Question 44

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Warring States Period

Question 45

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Dao

Question 46

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
filial piety

Question 47

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Daoism

Question 48

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
the Analects

Question 49

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
State Confucianism

Question 50

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Qin Dynasty

Question 51

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Qin Shi Huangdi's Tomb

Question 52

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Legalism

Question 53

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
civil service examination

Question 54

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Qin Shi Huangdi

Question 55

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
"loess"

Question 56

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Great Wall

Question 57

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
wu wei

Question 58

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Xianyang

Question 59

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Mencius

Question 60

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
five relationships

Question 61

The beginnings of civilization in China were

A) delayed by the marauding raids of the Xia.
B) begun under the political organization of the Qin.
C) the result of a concentrated development of Kunming bureaucratic arrangements.
D) came from the Shang dynasty's exploitation of the nomads.
E) possibly first experienced under the Xia dynasty.

Question 62

Why was the Shang Dynasty once called China's "mother culture"?

A) It gave birth to Chinese literature.
B) Its Yellow River Valley was believed to be the heart of Chinese civilization
C) It allowed intermarriage among ancient ruling classes, which expanded its aristocracy.
D) Its leaders were also the country's major intellectuals and philosophers.
E) It embraced a matrilineal system.

Question 63

In what valleys did ancient Chinese civilization originate?

A) Yellow and Yangtze rivers
B) Yangtze and Mekong rivers
C) Indus and LuMai rivers
D) Lo Min and Hainan rivers
E) Nanjing and Hunan rivers

Question 64

The legendary "three sovereigns" of prehistoric China were

A) Fu Xi, Ling Pioa, and Shong Tui.
B) Shen Nong, Ling Pioa, and Shonh Tui.
C) Fu Xi, Shen Nong, and Huang Di.
D) Ling Pioa, Shong Tui, and Huang Di.
E) Chiang, Deng, and Sun.

Question 65

The idea of the Mandate of Heaven was

A) introduced in the Bhagavad Gita.
B) borrowed from Tibetan nomads in the fifth century B.C.E.
C) introduced by the Zhou dynasty and it served to legitimize its power.
D) contained in the Rites of Mao .
E) a concept that last only a short time in Chinese history.

Question 66

What do historians consider a defining characteristic of Chinese civilization?

A) The building of the Great Wall
B) The emergence of notable philosophies and philosophers
C) The challenging geography of mountains and deserts
D) The interaction between nomadic and agricultural peoples
E) The lack of a clear writing system

Question 67

During the Shang dynasty, the Chinese

A) made major advancements in developing stainless steel castings.
B) achieved esteem for their bronze casting achievements.
C) used a highly sophisticated written alphabet.
D) developed cuneiform writing.
E) seized power from the Qin.

Question 68

The Shang Dynasty is especially useful for historians because it

A) produced the first written sources, which provide much of what is known about early Chinese civilization.
B) left a large repository of agricultural artifacts.
C) was the first legitimate dynasty.
D) drained the flood waters that made farming possible.
E) it produced the world's first historian in Sima Qian.

Question 69

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Book of Songs, Song of the South and The Book of History

Question 70

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Nu Wa

Question 71

What evidence demonstrates that the Shang ruling elite believed the king was an intermediary between heaven and earth?

A) The written records created by Shang leaders
B) The history written by Sima Qian
C) The works of Confucius
D) The inscriptions on oracle bones
E) The engravings on bronze castings

Question 72

The Shang dynasty

A) came to power immediately after the Han dynasty.
B) was the only one in ancient China to master the widespread use of steel and the printing press.
C) established its capitals at Lhasa and Samarkand.
D) was the first to employ over half of its people in various types of heavy manufacturing.
E) equipped its army with two-horse chariots.

Question 73

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Xian's terra-cotta army

Question 74

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Confucian Classics

Question 75

What is the evidence that the social classes were becoming increasingly differentiated during the Shang Dynasty?

A) The various clans were ranked by wealth and status.
B) There was a sharp rise in the number of enslaved people.
C) Poorer people were unable to own their own farms and instead worked for others.
D) An emerging middle class became the primary landowners.
E) The aristocracy hired substitutes to take their place in battles.

Question 76

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
blast furnaces and cast iron

Question 77

How did China's landscape play an important role in shaping its history?

A) Its mountains and deserts isolated the Chinese from advanced agrarian societies in other parts of Asia.
B) Its vast stretches of rich farmland made it easy for agricultural advancement.
C) Its eastern and western frontiers became the site of conflict between various Chinese peoples.
D) Its earliest settlements developed in mountainous regions.
E) Its hazardous terrain forged strong bonds between different groups who relied on each other for survival.

Question 78

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Fu Xuan

Question 79

Ancient Chinese villages were organized on the basis of

A) nuclear family units.
B) race.
C) clans.
D) trade.
E) religion.

Question 80

What did Confucius say about government?

A) That only those born to power should rule
B) That all government was naturally corrupt
C) That government positions should be open to all talented men
D) That Barbarians should be made to serve government officials
E) That political democracy is the only legitimate form of government