Deck 5: Early Civilizations of South Asia China and Japan

Question 1

The invasion of what people ca. 1500 BCE contributed to the decline of the Indus River civilization?

A) Egyptians
B) Aryans
C) Sumerians
D) Greeks

Answer 1

B

Question 2

What is the meaning of Atman ?

A) purification
B) brahman (ultimate reality) within the self
C) the collective soul of all humanity
D) the glory of battle

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which ruler was called "The Sun of Power"?

A) Ashoka
B) Shihuangdi
C) Li Po
D) Chandra Gupta II

Answer 3

D

Question 4

What does "Dao" mean?

A) the texts
B) the way
C) the force
D) the soul

Question 5

What was one purpose of the stupas ?

A) to provide shelter for holy men
B) to carry Buddhist priests
C) to serve as repositories of sacred Buddhist objects
D) to protect the citizenry from attack

Question 6

What topics were treated in the Chinese Classic of Songs ?

A) love, family life, and public affairs
B) war and political struggle
C) evildoing and wickedness
D) mythological heroism

Question 7

Which of the following is a central image in Daoist art?

A) sand flowing through an hourglass
B) water flowing over rocks
C) the farmer's plow
D) a snowcapped mountain

Question 8

What form does the Hindu god Ganesh take?

A) a boar
B) a man with an elephant head
C) a fish with a tortoise shell
D) a lion

Question 9

Which of the following contains the oldest religious texts in India?

A) Five Classics
B) Four Noble Truths
C) Daodejing
D) Mahabharata

Question 10

What is nirvana ?

A) cessation of suffering
B) right livelihood
C) reincarnation
D) meditation

Question 11

What religion did Ashoka convert to, and eventually make the state religion of India?

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

Question 12

The ancient art of Southeast Asia was primarily influenced by which of the following?

A) Chinese art
B) Japanese art
C) Indian art
D) East African art

Question 13

Which Indian emperor unified all of India?

A) Confucius
B) Kalidasa
C) Chandra Gupta
D) Ashoka

Question 14

Where did Buddha receive illumination about the truth of existence?

A) while on a ship at sea
B) while under a tree
C) while at a shrine
D) while sleeping

Question 15

What great epic poem recounts a conversation between Krishna and Arjuna?

A) Bhagavad Gita
B) Ramayana
C) Upanishads
D) Rig-Veda

Question 16

Who is traditionally considered the founder of Daoism?

A) Li Po
B) Shihuangdi
C) Ashoka
D) Laozi

Question 17

What is the form of most of Li Qingzhao's poetry?

A) qin
B) ci
C) epic
D) hymn

Question 18

What were the two earliest important urban centers of the Indus River Valley civilization?

A) Pompeii and Assyria
B) Jammu and Kashmir
C) Harappā and Mohenjo-daro
D) Hindustan and Bengal

Question 19

What are avatars?

A) Humans bearing magical powers
B) Hindu temples
C) incarnations of Hindu deities in animal or human form
D) paintings on religious subjects

Question 20

Who was the most famous Indian Classical writer (active ca. 400 CE)?

A) Kalidasa
B) Sakuntala
C) Confucius
D) Ramayana

Question 21

What did Xie He contribute to the Chinese theory of art?

A) the six canons of painting
B) a new technology for forging bronze
C) a theological explanation of the necessity of art
D) the doctrine of ultimate representation

Question 22

How do the Buddha's Four Noble Truths progress from one to the next?

Question 23

Which dynasty emerged in the 7^th century, after a long period of political instability in China?

A) Shang
B) Tang
C) Qin
D) Zhou

Question 24

What is significant about pottery from the Middle Jomon period in Japan?

Question 25

In Hinduism, what are three paths to achieving an understanding of true reality?

Question 26

What did Shihuangdi build to defend China against external invaders?

A) a fortress along the Eastern Chinese coast
B) the Great Wall of China
C) the most powerful naval force in the world
D) a series of underground barracks

Question 27

A "pillow book" is which of the following in Japanese culture?

A) a diary recording daily observations
B) an erotic novel
C) a type of theater
D) a guide to fabric and upholstery

Question 28

Which dynasty divided China into 36 provinces?

A) Ming
B) Zhou
C) Qin
D) Tang

Question 29

The Tale of Genji is the title of which of the following?

A) a Japanese play
B) a Shinto scripture
C) a Japanese poem
D) a Japanese novel

Question 30

What was the language of the Aryan people?

A) Hindi
B) Arabic
C) Farsi
D) Sanskrit

Question 31

Which term refers to the Japanese official who oversaw the empire's professional warrior class?

A) koto
B) samurai
C) shogun
D) Shinto

Question 32

What is the type of Japanese drama characterized by actors wearing wooden masks?

A) Noh
B) shogun
C) a pillow book
D) Shinto

Question 33

Who was the most important poet of the Tang Dynasty?

A) Laozi
B) Li Bai
C) Shihuangdi
D) Han Gan

Question 34

In Hinduism, what term refers to the path of doing one's duty according to one's caste?

A) ahimsa
B) asceticism
C) karma
D) dharma

Question 35

What is the name of the earliest Chinese dynasty (ca. 1520-1027 BCE)?

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

Question 36

What were the four major orders of society identified in the Aryan caste system? What term was applied to those who were not members of these four orders?

Question 37

What influence did Shihuangdi have on philosophical books in China?

A) He commissioned many of them.
B) He created a vast library for them.
C) He ordered their destruction.
D) He made them available to the citizenry.

Question 38

What is the central belief in Confucianism?

Question 39

What is the term for a Buddhist monastery?

A) metta
B) sangha
C) jhana
D) sutra

Question 40

Which of the following is the basis of one of Buddhism's Four Noble Truths?

A) mandala
B) sangha
C) stupa
D) dukkha