Deck 18: The Spread of Chinese Civilization: Japan, Korea, and Vietnam

Question 1

What regions of Asia were most drawn to Chinese cultural and political models?

A) The agrarian societies
B) The nomadic societies on the north
C) Indianized peoples of southeast Asia
D) The island societies of the Pacific rim

Answer 1

The agrarian societies

Question 2

Which of the following was LEAST influenced by Chinese civilization?

A) Korea
B) Vietnam
C) India
D) Japan

Answer 2

India

Question 3

When was China?s peak influence on Japan?

A) 3rd century B.C.E.
B) 1st century B.C.E.
C) 2nd and 3rd centuries C.E.
D) 7th and 8th centuries C.E.

Answer 3

7th and 8th centuries C.E.

Question 4

What is the name of the nature spirits of Japan?

A) Hapu
B) Kami
C) Hara-kiri
D) Genji

Question 5

What religion played a key role in the transmission of Chinese civilization to Japan?

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

Question 6

What were the reforms enacted in 646 that intended to thoroughly incorporate Chinese culture and political structure into Japanese society?

A) Onin
B) Gempei
C) Taika
D) Yoritomo

Question 7

What was the central purpose of the reforms of 646 in Japan?

A) To remake the Japanese monarch into an absolutist Chinese-style emperor
B) To destroy the Confucian scholar-gentry in favor of a military aristocracy
C) To increase the power of the Buddhist monastic structure
D) The destruction of the traditional peasant-conscript army

Question 8

What group so threatened the security of the Japanese imperial court in the 8th century that the imperial family moved to Heian?

A) The aristocracy
B) Buddhist monks
C) The peasantry
D) Nomadic invaders from Manchuria

Question 9

What was the immediate impact of the imperial move to Heian?

A) Buddhism ceased to play a major role in Japanese society.
B) The scholar-gentry was able to assert itself through the state?s acceptance of a formal examination system modeled on the Chinese bureaucracy.
C) The aristocracy was restored to counterbalance the power of the Buddhist monasteries and took over most of the positions in the central government.
D) Shintoism was formally suppressed following the marriage of Empress Koken to a former monk.

Question 10

What was the military organization of the Heian government in Japan?

A) The emperor formalized the creation of a peasant-conscript army on the model of the Chinese.
B) The emperor accepted the introduction of Chinese troops as the basis for the Japanese army.
C) Formal military organization was abandoned because of the security the emperor perceived following the defeat of a Chinese navy.
D) Local members of the aristocracy were ordered to organize militia forces that eventually played a critical role eroding the control of the imperial government.

Question 11

Life in the imperial court at Heian was described in what Japanese novel?

A) Ashikage Analects
B) Tale of Genji
C) Mirror of Lady Murasaki
D) Romance of the Rose

Question 12

What appears to have been the primary concerns at the imperial Japanese court at Heian?

A) Military exercise
B) Science and technology
C) Social conventions and original verse
D) Commerce

Question 13

By the middle of the 9th century, what aristocratic family exerted exceptional influence over imperial affairs at the Japanese court at Heian?

A) Minamoto
B) Fujiwara
C) Taira
D) Yoritomo

Question 14

Warrior leaders in the 10th century in Japan who controlled provincial areas and ruled from small fortresses in the countryside were called

A) bushi.
B) samurai.
C) kata.
D) seppuku.

Question 15

Which of the following statements concerning the rise of a provincial military elite during the 10th century in Japan is NOT correct?

A) Provincial elite families often arose from local landowners, estate managers, or local state officials.
B) The provincial elite came to control land and labor locally and to deny these resources to the imperial court.
C) The rise of the provincial elite corresponded to the recovery of the imperial government and its overthrow of the aristocracy of the court.
D) Within their little kingdoms, warrior leaders administered law, supervised public works projects, and collected revenue.

Question 16

Mounted troops owing loyalty to the military elite were called

A) bushi.
B) samurai.
C) kata.
D) yoritomo.

Question 17

Which of the following statements concerning the relationship of the imperial court to the provincial military elite is most accurate?

A) The provincial military elite was kept in check by the continued development of the imperial peasant-conscript army.
B) The provincial military elite was rapidly subjected to the aristocratic armies of the imperial court.
C) In the absence of an imperial military force, law and order broke down leading both the emperor and high officials to hire provincial lords and their military retainers.
D) The emperor created an alliance with the Chinese that permitted him to crush the regional military lords.

Question 18

Which of the following statements concerning the nature of warfare among the bushi is most accurate?

A) The bushi depended on infantry tactics, equipping the samurai initially with long spears.
B) The introduction of gunpowder in the 11th century allowed the bushi to rely on cannons and rockets as their primary means of assault.
C) Battles depended on the Japanese phalanx of mounted samurai and massed assaults predicated on the willingness of the retainers to sacrifice themselves for their leaders.
D) Battles hinged on man-to-man duels of great champions typical of the heroic stage of warfare.

Question 19

What was the impact of the rise of the samurai on the peasantry in Japan?

A) Japanese peasants were reduced to the status of serfs bound to the land they worked.
B) The samurai were critical to the development of a free peasantry on which the warriors depended for supplies of food and arms.
C) The creation of the samurai created a period of great social mobility in Japan during which people rapidly moved out of the peasantry and into the class of warriors.
D) Although separated from the warriors by rigid class barriers, the peasantry achieved greater levels of personal freedom and economic prosperity.

Question 20

By the 11th and 12th centuries, what was the status of the Japanese court aristocracy?

A) They continued to dominate the imperial government and to depend on their alliance with the Buddhist monasteries.
B) Aristocratic families at the court depended on alliances with the provincial warrior elite in order to exercise any power.
C) The resuscitation of the emperor led to the destruction of the court aristocracy and the suppression of the regional warrior elite.
D) The court aristocracy succeeded by the 11th century in setting aside the emperor in favor of regionalized government.

Question 21

Between 1180 and 1185 the struggle between the two major provincial families , the Taira and the Minamoto, were decided in what wars?

A) Onin
B) Koguryo
C) Gempei
D) Murasaki

Question 22

The victory of the Minamoto in 1185 led to the creation of

A) the bakufu, or military government at Kamakura.
B) the Ashikaga Shogunate.
C) the Tokugawa Shogunate.
D) the imperial government at Heian (Kyoto).

Question 23

The victory of the Minamoto marks the beginning of what period in Japanese history?

A) The centralized Confucian bureaucracy
B) The feudal age
C) The Onin wars
D) The Tokugawa Shogunate

Question 24

Which of the following was NOT a result of the growth of power of the provincial warrior elite?

A) The relevance of Chinese precedents and institutions to the Japanese diminished.
B) The Confucian precept that warriors should dominate the social and political world was strengthened.
C) Pretensions to a heavenly mandate and centralized power became ludicrous.
D) The emergence of a scholar-gentry was stifled by the reassertion of aristocratic power and prerogatives.

Question 25

Which of the following statements about Chinese influence in Japan is most accurate?

A) Chinese influence increased from the 16th century onward
B) Chinese influence increased from the 12th century onward
C) Chinese influence declined from the 12th century onward
D) Chinese influence declined from the 2nd century onward

Question 26

What title was given to the military leader of the bakufu at Kamakura?

A) Bakshi
B) Shogun
C) Sensei
D) Kata

Question 27

Following the death of Yoritomo, what family dominated the military government of the
Bakufu at Kamakura?

A) Yoshitsune
B) Fujiwara
C) Minamoto
D) Hojo

Question 28

Which of the following statements most accurately describes the nature of the Japanese government following the death of Yoritomo?

A) Real power rested in the Hojo family, who manipulated the Minamoto shoguns, who in turn claimed to rule in the name of the emperor at Kyoto.
B) There was a two-tiered system of government with power resting with the restored emperor at Heian who commanded a body of aristocratic warriors associated with the Bakufu at Kyoto.
C) Power was rapidly dissipated after the emperor was officially deposed without a successor.
D) The successors of Yoritomo seized the imperial throne in their own name and set off a civil war between the old imperial family at Nara and the new one in Kamakura.

Question 29

What government replaced the Kamakura regime in the early 14th century in Japan?

A) Tokugawa Shogunate
B) Ashikaga Shogunate
C) Bushido Shogunate
D) Onin Shogunate

Question 30

What was the relationship between the Ashikaga Shogunate and the emperor?

A) The Ashikaga shoguns unseated the emperor at Heian and took the imperial title for themselves.
B) The Ashikaga shoguns swore fealty to the emperor at Kyoto and restored imperial authority.
C) The Ashikaga shoguns fought the emperor at Kyoto who refused to recognize their authority and drove him to the mountain town of Yoshino while setting up a puppet emperor in the old capital of Kyoto.
D) The Ashikaga shoguns brought the imperial family to Kamakura in order to more closely control their activities.

Question 31

What Japanese ruling faction was destroyed by the full-scale civil war that raged from 1467 to 1477?

A) The Fujiwara
B) The Minamoto
C) The Kamakura
D) The Ashikaga Shogunate

Question 32

What was the political result of the wars that destroyed the Ashikaga Shogunate?

A) Restored authority for the emperor
B) Restored authority for the court aristocracy
C) Division of Japan into 300 little states under the daimyos
D) The rise of four large aristocratic states under powerful bushi

Question 33

How did the principles of warfare change under the daimyos?

A) Heroic combat between champions remained the rule, but the weapon of choice changed from the bow to the curved sword.
B) Peasant forces were reduced in significance, as they were replaced by professional soldiers.
C) Scientific warfare based on spying, timely assaults, wise command and organization of massive armies replaced heroic combat.
D) The rise of gunpowder and cannon made the fortresses and castles of the warrior elite obsolete.

Question 34

Which of the following statements concerning the society and economy of the warlord era in Japanese history is most accurate?

A) Due to the incessant warfare, the Japanese economy was reduced to barbarism.
B) The peasantry were further reduced in status as the agricultural economy experienced rapid reductions in the acreage under production.
C) Despite political chaos, improvements in agricultural techniques and incentives led to occupation of previously uncultivated areas.
D) The frequent combat of the warlord era suppressed the development of artisan or merchant classes in Japan.

Question 35

Which of the following statements concerning the status of women during the era of the
Daimyos is most accurate?

A) Women?s status among the elite certainly improved during the era of the warlords, as they gained rights to inheritance.
B) Women often participated in martial training during the era of the warlords, thus improving their social status.
C) While daughters of the bushi often received some martial training, under the daimyos women were excluded from inheritance and treated as defenseless appendages of their warrior fathers or husbands.
D) While the status of women among the artisan and merchant classes declined, the status of women among the warrior elite probably improved marginally.

Question 36

During the period of the warring daimyos, what was the factor that led to a revival of Chinese influence on the cultural level?

A) Confucianism
B) The strength of the merchant class
C) Chinese military technology
D) Zen Buddhism

Question 37

Which of the following was NOT a development during the era of the daimyos that laid the foundations for lasting political unification in Japan?

A) Economic and cultural growth
B) Restoration of the imperial government at Kyoto
C) Strength of the commercial and artisan classes
D) Improved administration within the daimyo domains

Question 38

In what year did the Han emperors conquer the first Korean kingdom of Choson?

A) 109 B.C.E.
B) 220 C.E.
C) 476 C.E.
D) 643 C.E.

Question 39

What kingdom was successful in establishing a unified and independent government in Korea?

A) Koguryo
B) Silla
C) Paekche
D) Kyoto

Question 40

Which of the following lists gives the correct chronological sequence for the Korean dynasties?

A) Silla, Mongol, Koryo, Yi
B) Silla, Yi, Mongol, Koryo
C) Silla, Yi, Koryo, Mongol
D) Silla, Koryo, Mongol, Yi

Question 41

Which of the following statements concerning the Korean bureaucracy under the influence of China is most accurate?

A) With the establishment of the Confucian examination system, advancement within the civil service was determined almost exclusively by test scores rather than by birth.
B) Although Korea emulated the Chinese bureaucratic structure, the satellite never created a Confucian examination system as a means of qualification.
C) Korea established a Confucian examination system on the Chinese model, but admission to the bureaucracy was determined almost exclusively by birth rather than test scores.
D) Korean absolutism depended more on a warrior elite than administrative sophistication, so a formal bureaucracy was never established.

Question 42

What was the religious preference of the Korean elite?

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

Question 43

Which of the following statements concerning the nature of the Korean society is most accurate?

A) Korean society is typified by equality between all classes.
B) China had no influence on Korea.
C) The aristocrats were the only people who really counted for anything in Korean society.
D) Korean society followed the Chinese model of a strong scholar-gentry, a weak aristocracy, and a highly regarded though politically impotent peasantry.

Question 44

Which of the following was NOT a difference between the Viet and Chinese cultures prior to their conquest by the Han emperors?

A) Language
B) Village autonomy among the Viets
C) Higher social status for Viet women
D) Viet tendency to extended families and clan groups

Question 45

Which of the following Chinese cultural traits was NOT introduced into Vietnam following the Han conquest of 111 B.C.E?

A) Chinese examination system and bureaucracy
B) Chinese agricultural cropping techniques and irrigation technology
C) Chinese insistence on the nuclear family
D) Chinese military organization

Question 46

Which of the following was a critical factor in the failure of the Chinese to hold or assimilate the Vietnamese?

A) The fragility of the links that bound the Vietnamese to the Chinese
B) The failure of the Chinese to introduce Buddhism
C) The continued cultural impact of Indian culture in southeast Asia, particularly among the Vietnamese
D) The widespread destruction of the Vietnamese elite

Question 47

Following the assertion of Vietnamese independence from China in the 10th century, what aspects of Chinese culture were retained by the Vietnamese rulers?

A) Chinese family organization
B) The Chinese administrative system based on the Confucian examination system
C) A highly centralized administrative system manned by a powerful scholar-gentry
D) The successful suppression of the peasantry

Question 48

What was the political result of the Vietnamese drive to conquer regions south of the Red River basin?

A) The creation of a highly centralized kingdom with its capital at Hanoi
B) The defeat of the Vietnamese and the fragmentation of the kingdom into 300 small kingdoms ruled by a warrior elite
C) The reconquest of the Red River valley by the Chinese during the southern Song era
D) The division of the Vietnamese into two kingdoms with capitals at Hue and Hanoi

Question 49

How did the Japanese importation of Chinese culture differ from that of Vietnam and Korea?

Question 50

Discuss the government of Japan between the Gempei wars and the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Question 51

How did the social development of post classical Japan differ from the development of Korea during the period of Chinese influence?

Question 52

Why was China unable to assimilate the Vietnamese despite direct rule for almost a millennium?

Question 53

How did the extension of Chinese culture to its satellite civilizations differ from other global civilizations?