Deck 17: Reunification and Renaissance in Chinese Civilization: the Era of the Tang and Song Dynasties

Question 1

What was the capital of the Song rulers?

A) Peking
B) Hangzhou
C) Jurchen
D) Xian

Answer 1

Hangzhou

Question 2

How did Wendi win widespread support?

A) By increasing taxes
B) By lowering taxes and establishing granaries throughout his domain
C) By supporting the Chou dynasty
D) By moving the capital to Beijing

Answer 2

By lowering taxes and establishing granaries throughout his domain

Question 3

The dynasty that emerged at the end of the 6th century was the

A) Tang.
B) Chou.
C) Song.
D) Sui.

Answer 3

Sui.

Question 4

Who killed Wendi?

A) His son, Yangdi
B) The Chou
C) A Buddhist monk
D) Nomadic peoples who conquered north China

Question 5

What made possible the rapid revival of empire under the Tang?

A) The abandonment of Confucianism in favor of the more widely practiced Buddhism
B) The brevity of the period of political dislocation
C) The willingness of the Tang to abandon traditional approaches to government
D) The preservation in the many kingdoms of the Confucian traditions that had been central to Chinese civilization

Question 6

The man responsible for the creation of the Sui dynasty was

A) Xuanzong.
B) Yang Guifei.
C) Wendi.
D) Li Yuan.

Question 7

What made the reunification of China under the first Sui emperor possible?

A) The support of the nomadic warrior elite
B) The support of the ethnic Chinese aristocracy
C) The support of the Buddhist monasteries
D) The support of the Confucian scholar-gentry

Question 8

What was the primary reform enacted during the reign of the first Sui emperor?

A) The reconstruction of the Confucian scholar-gentry
B) Persecution of the Buddhists
C) The creation of granaries to relieve the threat of famine
D) The construction of the Grand Canal

Question 9

Unlike his father, the second Sui emperor favored

A) the Confucian scholar-gentry.
B) the great Chinese aristocratic families.
C) the Buddhists.
D) nomadic elements in northern China.

Question 10

What led to the downfall of the Sui dynasty?

A) Nomadic invasions
B) Excessive expenses associated with grandiose building projects and military campaigns
C) Widespread Buddhist rebellion
D) The dissatisfaction of the Confucian scholar-gentry

Question 11

Who was the founder of the Tang dynasty?

A) Yangdi
B) Li Bo
C) Li Yuan
D) Zhao Kuangyin

Question 12

Which of the following statements concerning the extent of the Tang Empire is most accurate?

A) The Tang extended the empire in all directions except westward, where the Turks remained entirely independent of the Chinese emperor.
B) The Tang Empire was unable to recover the territorial extent of the Han, but did recover northern areas from the nomads.
C) The Tang Empire incorporated India and southeast Asia, as well as the areas north of the Yellow River plain.
D) The Tang built an empire that was far larger than that of the early Han, an empire whose boundaries in many directions extended beyond the borders of modern China.

Question 13

What was the attitude of the Tang emperors toward the Confucian scholar -gentry?

A) The Tang continued to support and patronize the growth of Buddhism in China at the expense of the Confucian scholar-gentry.
B) The Tang supported the resuscitation of the Confucian scholar-gentry, often at the expense of the aristocracy.
C) The Tang feared the development of the scholar-gentry and continued to support the nomadic aristocracy of China.
D) Confucianism continued to wane during the Tang dynasty and was only resuscitated under the Song.

Question 14

What ministry of the central imperial government was responsible for the administration of the examination system?

A) Rites
B) Public works
C) Justice
D) War

Question 15

The title of jinshi was reserved for those who

A) were members of the Chinese aristocracy.
B) served in the Chinese military.
C) were members of the imperial family.
D) passed the most difficult exams on all of Chinese literature.

Question 16

Which of the following statements concerning entry into the Chinese bureaucracy is most accurate?

A) Although a higher percentage of candidates received office through the examination system than during the Han dynasty, birth continued to be important in securing high office.
B) Under the Tang family connections ceased to be of significance, as all candidates received office based on their score in the examination system.
C) Although the examination system continued to be monitored, almost all official received positions as a result of family connections.
D) The examination system was eliminated during the Tang dynasty, and only members of the imperial family served in the bureaucracy.

Question 17

Members of the elite class of China were more attracted to what variant of Buddhism?

A) Legalist
B) Pure Land
C) Chan
D) Daoist

Question 18

Which of the following descriptions of Pure Land Buddhism is NOT accurate?

A) It was a strain of Mahayana Buddhism
B) It stressed meditation and the appreciation of natural and artistic beauty
C) It appealed to members of the mass of Chinese commoners
D) It was a salvationist variant of Buddhism

Question 19

What Tang ruler actually attempted to have Buddhism recognized as a state religion?

A) Yangdi
B) Wendi
C) Gaozu
D) Empress Wu

Question 20

What proved to be the most damaging attack on Buddhism?s popularity with the people during the early Tang dynasty?

A) The Buddhists? insistence on rebellion against the emperor
B) The Confucians? successful campaign to convince the emperor that the Buddhist monastic establishment represented an economic threat
C) The aristocracy?s concern that the growing Buddhist monastic establishment was monopolizing land that otherwise would belong to them
D) The entry of nomadic invaders who were Islamic during the 9th century

Question 21

In what decade did open persecution of Buddhism within the Chinese Empire begin?

A) 720s
B) 790s
C) 840s
D) 910s

Question 22

What was the result of the imperial attempt to suppress Buddhism within the Chinese empire?

A) Despite official attempts to suppress Buddhism, monastic orders continued to exert political influence and control landed wealth as they did in the first decades of Tang rule.
B) Buddhism survived the brief imperial persecution and was restored as the primary religion of the state during the Song dynasty.
C) Buddhism survived the repression, but in a reduced state without the political influence of the early Tang years.
D) Buddhism was eradicated in China by the end of the Tang era and replaced by the traditional Daoist and Confucian beliefs.

Question 23

What was the impact on Confucianism of the Tang repression of the Buddhists?

A) Confucianism emerged as the central ideology of Chinese civilization until the 20th century.
B) Confucianism emerged in a strengthened condition, but still remained behind Buddhism in the sense of providing a basis for the intellectual rationale of Chinese civilization.
C) Because Confucian scholar-gentry were associated with the persecution, Confucianism failed to generate much popular support outside the imperial government.
D) Confucianism, like Buddhism, declined in popularity, and its place was taken by Daoism.

Question 24

Which of the following was NOT a woman who gained influence and power during the later years of the Tang dynasty?

A) Wu
B) Wei
C) Yang Guifei
D) Xuanzong

Question 25

Which of the following was NOT a problem during the last years of the Tang dynasty?

A) The revolt of An Lushan
B) The entry of nomads into large areas of the northern China plain
C) The Huang-chao rebellion
D) A Buddhist rebellion in southern China

Question 26

Who was the founder of the Song dynasty?

A) Zhao Kuangyin
B) Xuanzong
C) Li Bo, Duke of Song
D) Xi-Xia

Question 27

The first Song emperor restored the unity of China EXCEPT for what northern dynasty?

A) Jurchen
B) Silla
C) Liao
D) Hangzhou

Question 28

How did the Song Empire compare to the Tang?

A) The Song Empire was greater in territorial extent than the Tang Empire.
B) The Song Empire and the Tang Empire were virtually identical in territorial extent.
C) The Song Empire was smaller in territorial extent than the Tang Empire.
D) Although approximately the same size, the Song Empire extended farther north than the Tang.

Question 29

What accounts for the relative weakness of the Song Empire?

A) It never succeeded in achieving the degree of centralization that had typified the Tang Empire.
B) The scholar-gentry quickly lost influence under the Song, and the bureaucracy ceased to function effectively.
C) Lack of agricultural productivity produced a general failure of the Chinese economy during the Song dynasty.
D) The military was subordinated to the civilian administrators of the scholar-gentry, leaving the dynasty vulnerable to nomadic dynasties on the frontier.

Question 30

Which of the following statements most accurately describes the position of the scholar-gentry under the Song dynasty?

A) The Confucian scholar-gentry continued to exist, but the examination system weakened noticeably causing the imperial bureaucracy to depend more and more on the aristocracy.
B) The ascendancy of the scholar-gentry over its aristocratic and Buddhist rivals was fully secured in the Song era.
C) The Song emperors came to rely increasingly on the military as defense of the borders placed less emphasis on the role of intellectual ideology and more on warfare.
D) The Song continued to rely on the Confucian scholar-gentry, but more rigorous examination systems resulted in fewer men entering the civil service as a result of education.

Question 31

Who was the most prominent of the Neo-Confucians during the Song era?

A) Li Bo
B) Yang Guifei
C) Hangzhou
D) Zhu Xi

Question 32

Which of the following was NOT an eventual impact of the development of Neo-Confucian schools of thought?

A) Hostility to foreign philosophical systems like Buddhism
B) The stifling of innovation and critical thinking in favor of traditionalism
C) Destruction of the Mandarins
D) Reinforcement of class, age, and gender distinctions

Question 33

Wang Anshi, a prime minister in the 1070s and 1080s, attempted to reform Song government on the basis of what Confucian school of thought?

A) Daoism
B) Shiism
C) Constructionism
D) Legalism

Question 34

Which of the following was NOT one of the reforms introduced by Wang Anshin in the face of conservative opposition?

A) The introduction of government-assisted irrigation projects to encourage agricultural expansion
B) Taxation of the landlord and scholarly classes
C) The establishment of well-trained mercenary forces
D) The end of tribute payments to nomadic dynasties on the northern border

Question 35

What caused the flight of the Song dynasty from their capital in northern China?

A) The invasions of the Jurchens who had formed the Qin kingdom
B) The Huang-chao rebellion
C) A rebellion led by a nomadic general, An Lushan
D) Extensive flooding in the Yellow River basin

Question 36

Why was the construction of the Grand Canal necessary?

A) Major river systems in China ran from north to south, and the canal was necessary to connect the coastal regions with the western frontier.
B) Chinese population was increasingly concentrated along the northern plains along the Yangzi River.
C) The Yangzi River valley was becoming the major food-producing region of China by the late Tang era.
D) The canal connected the Tang capitals of southern China, Changan and Loyang, with the newly acquired regions in the north.

Question 37

Which of the following was NOT an economic development during the period of commercial expansion during the Tang and Song dynasties?

A) Trade increasingly carried by Chinese ships and sailors
B) Enlarged market quarters found in all cities and major towns
C) Growing sophistication in commercial organization and forms of credit
D) Military domination of the seas

Question 38

Which of the following statements concerning urbanization in China during the Tang -Song era is most accurate?

A) Chinese urbanization was pronounced in northern China, but lagged in southern China.
B) The imperial capitals were enormous, but there were few other Chinese cities of size.
C) The degree of urbanization reached during the Han dynasty was never achieved during the Tang-Song era, although some recovery of cities accompanied the commercial revival.
D) Chinese urbanization mushroomed during the Tang-Song era with a higher proportion of the population living in cities than that found in any other contemporary civilization.

Question 39

What portion of the population lived in large cities during the Song dynasty?

A) 10 percent
B) 20 percent
C) 30 percent
D) 40 percent

Question 40

Which of the following was NOT a result of the agricultural policies of the Sui and Tang emperors?

A) Numbers of free peasantry increased
B) The scholar-gentry were removed as landlords
C) Fortunes of the old aristocratic families declined
D) Lands were distributed more equitably to the free peasant households of the empire

Question 41

Which of the following statements about Chinese landscape painting is most accurate?

A) Landscape painting was virtually unknown until after the Mongol invasions.
B) As in the West, landscape painting was the special skill of the military elite.
C) Members of the ruling political elite in China produced many of the paintings in the Song era.
D) Song subsidies to foreign painters resulted in the production of magnificent landscapes.

Question 42

In what way did footbinding serve to diminish the independence of Chinese women by the end of the Song era?

A) Because footbinding could only be afforded by the elite, poorer women were assigned to a lower social status.
B) Footbinding sufficiently crippled women to effectively confine their mobility to their household.
C) As footbinding was required in order to practice certain professions, Chinese women found that occupational alternatives were diminished.
D) Footbinding, although considered socially attractive, was condemned by
Neo-Confucians who used the practice as a means of relegating Chinese women to subordinate roles.

Question 43

Which of the following was NOT a technological innovation of the Tang-Song era?

A) Gunpowder
B) Abacus
C) Paper
D) Complex bridges

Question 44

Which of the following intellectual schools was responsible for the production of most literary and artistic works during the Tang-Song era?

A) Confucian
B) Daoist
C) Pure Land Buddhist
D) Chan Buddhist

Question 45

What group was responsible for the fall of the southern Song dynasty in 1279?

A) Jurchens
B) Tanguts
C) Liao
D) Mongols

Question 46

What was the primary difference between marriages of the upper and lower classes in Tang-Song China?

A) In the upper classes, males frequently married females of a younger generation.
B) Among members of the lower classes, marriages tended to be consummated at an earlier age than among members of the elite.
C) Members of the elite often married before the age of puberty.
D) Households of the lower classes tended not to be patriarchal.

Question 47

Which of the following statements concerning the status of women in the Tang -Song era is most accurate?

A) Tang-Song law recognized no women?s rights.
B) The condition of women in general improved during the Tang-Song era.
C) The assertion of male dominance within the family and beyond was especially pronounced in the thinking of the Neo-Confucian philosophers.
D) The spread of Buddhism provided women with greater opportunities and career alternatives within the monastic movement.

Question 48

What artisan was responsible for the development of movable type?

A) Li Bo
B) Bi Sheng
C) Gaozu
D) Zhu Xi

Question 49

The outstanding poet of the Tang era was

A) Li Bo.
B) Bi Sheng.
C) Gaozu.
D) Zhu Xi.

Question 50

During the Song dynasty the interest of Confucian intellectuals in nature was most apparent in their production of

A) riddles.
B) devotional objects.
C) religious homilies.
D) landscape paintings.

Question 51

Contrast the Era of Division with the Sui-Tang era.

Question 52

Explain the decline of Buddhism in the later Tang and Song dynasties.

Question 53

Compare and contrast the empire under the Tang and the Song dynasties.

Question 54

What were the elements of Tang-Song economic prosperity?

Question 55

In what ways did the Chinese Empire during the Tang-Song era depart from previous developments in Chinese civilization?