Deck 3: Asiaʹs First Civilizations: India and China

Question 1

What was one of the strongest similarities between the Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Harappan, and Chinese civilizations?

A) Located near great river systems
B) Lack of a written language
C) City-state political organization
D) Lack of centralized authority

Answer 1

Located near great river systems

Question 2

What was one of the greatest differences between Harappan civilization and Chinese civilization?

A) Use of written language
B) Two great capitals
C) Failure to provide the basis for a continuous civilization
D) Significance of shamans and priests

Answer 2

Failure to provide the basis for a continuous civilization

Question 3

The Harappan civilization developed along what river valley system?

A) Nile
B) Indus
C) Yellow
D) Ganges

Answer 3

Indus

Question 4

Seasonal winds that carry rain to the Indian subcontinent are called

A) typhoons.
B) hurricanes.
C) Sahara highs.
D) monsoons.

Question 5

What was the first civilization to emerge in the Indian subcontinent?

A) Aryan
B) Harappan
C) Shang
D) Assyrian

Question 6

Which mountain range carved out the Indus River system?

A) The Andes
B) The Khingan
C) The Vindhya
D) The Himalayas

Question 7

What agricultural products did Harappan civilization cultivate?

A) Wheat, rye, and potatoes
B) Wheat, corn, and potatoes
C) Wheat, rye, and corn
D) Wheat, rye, and peas

Question 8

The two major cities of Harappan civilization were Harappa and

A) Loyang.
B) Nineveh.
C) Mohenjo-Daro.
D) Memphis.

Question 9

Which areas did Harappan civilization trade with?

A) Mesopotamia and western Europe
B) Mesopotamia and China
C) China and western Europe
D) Western Europe and the Americas

Question 10

Which of the following characteristics was NOT typical of the capitals of Harappan civilization?

A) Massive city walls
B) Planned layout of square grid pattern
C) Variation in domestic architecture
D) Citadels for administration and defense

Question 11

All of the following were characteristic of Harappan citadels EXCEPT

A) public bathing areas.
B) places of worship.
C) tall towers or ziggurats.
D) living quarters for the elite.

Question 12

About the only similarity between the citadels and domestic architecture was

A) ornate external decoration.
B) lack of standardization.
C) construction of wood and stone.
D) presence of bathing facilities.

Question 13

Which of the following is NOT characteristic of the Harappan economy?

A) Irrigation systems
B) Absence of evidence for trade
C) A varied agricultural system based on wheat, rye, peas, and rice
D) Cultivation of cotton

Question 14

Why was the Harappan material culture relatively unsophisticated?

A) They did not establish commercial relationships with other civilizations.
B) They lacked the type of centralized government that could disseminate technological improvements.
C) Despite contacts with other civilizations, they were intensely conservative and resistant to change.
D) Constant natural disasters (floods) hindered technological innovation.

Question 15

What appears to have been the focus of Harappan religion?

A) Fertility
B) Warfare
C) The afterlife
D) Monotheism

Question 16

What group appears to have been in charge of Harappan society?

A) The military elite
B) A commercial elite
C) A strictly female dynasty
D) An elite of priests

Question 17

Which of the following was NOT a likely cause of the demise of Harappan civilization?

A) Sudden defeat at the hands of nomadic invaders
B) Natural disasters (floods)
C) Changes in the climate
D) Loss of control by the elite

Question 18

The Aryans were members of what linguistic group?

A) Egyptian
B) Semitic
C) Indo-European
D) Hamitic

Question 19

What was Sanskrit?

A) An Aryan god
B) A language
C) An Aryan leader
D) Religious texts

Question 20

The Vedas were Aryan

A) hymns originally used for animal sacrifices,entertainment, and history.
B) twin female deities dedicated to fertility rites.
C) twin male deities dedicated to war and horsemanship.
D) horses critical to their military dominance over the native Harappan civilization.

Question 21

The chief deity of the Aryans was

A) Indra, god of battle and lightning.
B) an unnamed male god with long horns.
C) Tian, god of Heaven.
D) Veda, goddess of fertility.

Question 22

The one technology in which the Aryans surpassed the Harappans was

A) agricultural tools.
B) domestic architecture.
C) monumental architecture.
D) weapons.

Question 23

What sort of relationships did the Aryans maintain with the conquered population?

A) The Aryans immediately incorporated all members of conquered groups who were willing to fight in their armies.
B) The conquered peoples, called Dasas, were enslaved and the Aryans prohibited all social relationships with them.
C) Because the Aryans lacked a system of social stratification, the conquered peoples were soon incorporated in Aryan society.
D) The conquered people were permitted to enter all ranks of Aryan society except the priesthood.

Question 24

How did the Aryan level of social integration compare to that of Harappan civilization?

A) The Aryans offered a more centralized tradition of absolute statehood.
B) The Aryans were less warlike and thus depended more on a priesthood than the Harappans.
C) The Aryans failed to surpass the level of tribal organization and remained nomadic pastoralists.
D) The Aryans had a less centralized tradition of tribal organization and then later created small kingdoms.

Question 25

In the early days the Aryan bands were divided into how many social groups?

A) 12
B) Nine
C) There were no distinct social groups
D) Three

Question 26

Which of the following was NOT a varna in Aryan society?

A) Artisans
B) Brahmans
C) Warriors
D) Peasants

Question 27

Which of the following statements most accurately reflects the nature of Aryan households?

A) Although patriarchal in authority, both matrilocal marriage patterns and matrilineal descent were customary.
B) Aryan households were reflective of their tribal background and lacked well -defined authority structures.
C) Aryan households reflected male dominance featuring patriarchal authority, patrilocal marriage patterns, and patrilineal descent.
D) Aryan households practiced patriarchal authority patterns and patrilocal marriage customs, but traced descent through the female line.

Question 28

What was the nature of Aryan religion?

A) Monotheistic, dedicated to the god Veda
B) Polytheistic, featuring primarily female fertility deities
C) Polytheistic, featuring primarily male deities related to war, fire, and rain
D) Polytheistic, featuring primarily animal deities

Question 29

Which of the following represents the primary concern of Aryan Religion?

A) The nature of the soul
B) The fate of the dead and the quality of the afterlife
C) The purpose of creation
D) Praise of deities and rituals of sacrifice

Question 30

What was the cultural relationship between Harappan civilization and the Aryans?

A) The Aryans adopted nearly all the cultural attributes of the Harappans including urbanization and political centralization.
B) The Aryans rapidly assimilated the Harappan agricultural techniques including massive irrigation projects, but rejected all else.
C) The Aryans accepted the Harappan religious pantheon, but were unable to achieve the technological proficiency of the Harappans.
D) There was little continuity between Harappan and Aryan cultures.

Question 31

Chinese civilization began within what river valley system?

A) Huanghe or Yellow
B) Yangtze
C) Indus
D) Ganges

Question 32

One of the primary features that encouraged the development of sedentary agriculture in the Ordos bulge of China was the existence of

A) loess, an extremely fertile soil.
B) regular and adequate annual rainfall.
C) mountains that surrounded the region on all sides.
D) broad delta regions created by the mouth of the river system.

Question 33

Which of the following cultures was based primarily on hunting and fishing supplemented by shifting cultivation?

A) Yangshao
B) Longshan
C) Shang
D) Zhou

Question 34

Which of the following was a feature of the Longshan culture?

A) Sedentary cultivation of rice as the major crop
B) Permanent, walled villages
C) Centralized monarchy
D) The absence of a river system

Question 35

Like Harappan civilization, early Chinese civilization emphasized the importance of

A) concern for the afterlife.
B) oracles and divination by animal bones.
C) irrigation.
D) complete standardization of society.

Question 36

Which of the following statements concerning the Chinese kingdom of Xia is correct?

A) Xia had a highly centralized political system centered in a single capital in the western portion of the Ordos bend.
B) Like Aryan society, the kingdom of Xia consisted of loosely organized military tribes.
C) There are no archaeological remains associated with Xia, and the kingdom may be mythical.
D) The kingdom of Xia emerged from the vassal states of the Shang.

Question 37

What dynasty established the first actual kingdom of ancient China?

A) Xia
B) Shang
C) Han
D) Ming

Question 38

Which of the following was NOT a distinctive feature of early Chinese civilization under the Shang?

A) Cooking vessels and cuisine
B) Matrilineal lines of descent
C) Use of silk fabrics
D) Divination based on cracked animal bones

Question 39

Which of the following statements is true about Shang warfare?

A) The Shang were warlike nomads.
B) Shang battles hinged on hand-to-hand combat between chosen champions.
C) The Shang often fought on horseback.
D) All of the above.

Question 40

Which of the following most accurately describes the nature of Shang government?

A) Shang monarchs ruled as despots aided only by a sizeable bureaucracy.
B) Shang government was essentially tribal with little social stratification or economic specialization.
C) The Shang government was based on city-states similar to those of Mesopotamia.
D) The Shang ruled through vassal retainers who received control over land and peasants in return for payment of tribute to the king.

Question 41

The family pattern most common among the elite during the Shang period in China was

A) the patriarchal extended family.
B) the matrilineal extended family.
C) the patriarchal nuclear family.
D) the matrilineal nuclear family.

Question 42

Unlike the elite, the family pattern for peasants during the Shang period was

A) the patriarchal extended family.
B) the matriarchal extended family.
C) the patriarchal nuclear family.
D) the matriarchal nuclear family.

Question 43

Which of the following most accurately describes the death rituals for Shang royalty.

A) Like Mesopotamian monarchs, the Shang had no particular fascination with the afterlife.
B) The Shang practiced ritual cremation of their royalty.
C) Like the Egyptians, Shang monarchs were buried with their wives, servants, retainers, and war captives.
D) Shang royalty were set adrift on the Huanghe in ships that had been set afire.

Question 44

During the Shang era, the practice of writing evolved from

A) commercial practices.
B) ritual divination using inscribed bones or shells.
C) direct communication with Egypt.
D) the creation of detailed tribute lists.

Question 45

Why was Chinese writing referred to as the key to the creation of a distinctive Chinese identity?

A) The Chinese were the only civilization to evolve their writing system from pictographs.
B) The Chinese were the only civilization to utilize their writing for commerce.
C) The Chinese writing system encouraged almost universal literacy among Chinese people.
D) The written language served to unite the various ethnic groups who were able to identify themselves through writing as culturally Chinese.

Question 46

The Zhou people who eventually overthrew the Shang were

A) probably Turkic-speaking people who migrated from Central Asia.
B) a related family of vassal retainers.
C) ethnically Mongol people from the mountainous region north of the Ordos bend.
D) an offshoot of the Aryan migration from the Ganges river valley of the Indian subcontinent.

Question 47

Which of the following statements is NOT accurate concerning the Zhou exercise of authority through the feudal system?

A) The feudal system of the Zhou was more tightly controlled than that of the Shang.
B) Whereas the Shang had utilized relatives as vassal retainers, the Zhou preferred loyal military retainers.
C) The Zhou formally annexed all of the regions belonging to their vassals.
D) The Zhou tightly controlled the succession to vassal positions at all levels.

Question 48

The rationalization for the overthrow of the Shang based on the principle of divine judgment was called

A) Tian?s justice.
B) Judgment of the gods.
C) the Divine Wind.
D) the Mandate of Heaven.

Question 49

If the appeal to a supernatural source of legitimation enhanced the absolute authority of the ruler, what was its chief drawback?

A) It also strengthened the class of priests who came to dominate the royal courts
B) It established that the supreme political authority was granted by the ruler?s vassals
C) It tied the Zhou monarchs to an increasingly conservative religion in the face of aggressive demands for religious reform
D) It implied that rulers who failed in their duties had lost their heavenly justification and could be overthrown

Question 50

What was the significance of the the great migration of the Chinese population that occurred during the Zhou period?

A) The migration brought the monsoon-watered agricultural regions of the Yangtze river valley into Chinese hands.
B) The migration took Chinese civilization northward into the areas of Mongolia.
C) The migration led to direct contacts between Chinese civilization and the Phoenicians.
D) The migration separated Chinese civilization into five distinctly different cultural groups.

Question 51

What were the main features of Harappan society?

Question 52

Contrast Aryan culture with the Harappan civilization that preceded it. Consider political organization, ethnic composition, and material culture.

Question 53

Compare and contrast the political organization of Shang and Zhou China.

Question 54

Given the development of more absolute monarchy in association with Zhou feudalism, what were the developments that worked against the continuation of political centralization in China?

Question 55

Compare and contrast Harappan civilization with Chinese civilization.