November Quiz

A monthly quiz of general history, traditions, geography questions for November
1. A scholar used to be expected to be proficient at playing which musical instrument?
Guqin
Ocarina
Dizi
music, erhu
Erhu players at Tianjin University Copyright © Dreamstime see image license

2. What are the ten wings of the Yi Jing (I Ching)?
Appendices
Magical powers
Herbs
Yi Jing, I Ching, Song dynasty
A page from a Song Dynasty (960-1279) printed book of the I Ching (Yi Jing, Classic of Changes or Book of Changes) , 17.7x11.9cm, printed book, in the National Central Library in Taipei. Image by Song era print artist available under a Creative Commons License

3. What was the name given to the country of China in Roman times?
Serica
Gaul
Dacia
Silk road, Jiayuguan, fort
Fortress (14th century) at Great Wall of Jiayuguang, September 2009. Photo by Sigismund von Dobschütz available under a Creative Commons license .

4. What makes Pingyao in Shanxi a popular visitor attraction?
Sacred mountain
Imperial tombs
Qing and Ming houses
Hainan, Sanya, beach, coast
The beach at Sanya, Hainan island

5. Thomas Wade and Herbert Giles who developed the Wade-Giles system to write Chinese were both professors of Chinese where?
Cambridge, England
Harvard
Oxford, England
children, school
Girl doing school work

6. Who was the leader of the Taiping Rebellion?
Hong Xiuquan
Li Hongzhang
Zheng Chenggong
Taiping rebellion, flag
Flag of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Image by Samhanin available under a Creative Commons License

7. Which province (excluding the metropolitan areas) has the highest population density?
Guangdong
Hebei
Jiangsu
Tiananmen Square, crowd
2004 PRC National Day at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. What a crowd! Image by pfctdayelise available under a Creative Commons License

8. Why are bats considered lucky?
symbol of Emperor
name sounds like fortune
bats live in caves
bat
Five bats in the outer ring surrounding the character for longevity. Wishing good fortune and a long life.

9. By 1093 how many stars had been individually named in China?
823
12,976
1,565
mansions, xiu
The twenty-eight mansions of the Chinese astronomy. May 2008. Image by Mysid available under a Creative Commons License

10. The stone forest (Shilin) can be found in which province?
Hunan
Yunnan
Shanxi
Yunnan, stone forest, landform
Stone forest (Shilin) near Kunming, Yunnan

11. Which is NOT one of the names of a Yi Jing Trigram?
Lake
Stone
Mountain
kite
A Chinese kite in flight above Portsdown Hill, Portsmouth, UK. Image by Tholly available under a Creative Commons license

12. Many of the scenes of James Cameron's ‘Avatar’ film were made in which Chinese province?
Hong Kong
Hunan
Gansu
Hunan, mountains, landform, view

13. Tian (crater lake) is an emblem of North Korea, which Chinese province shares it as a border?
Heilongjiang
Liaoning
Jilin
Jilin, Changbai, lake, view
Crater lake, Tian chi on the border of China and North Korea

14. Together with Yunnan and Guangdong, which other province lies on the Tropic of Cancer?
Guangxi
Anhui
Sichuan
Tibet, lake
Basum Lake, Tibet

15. The second lowest place (depression) in the world is located whereabouts in China?
Lop Nur, Xinhiang
Turpan, Xinjiang
Golmud, Qinghai
Buddhism , stupa, mountains, Shanxi
A large stupa in front of a Buddhist temple, Wutaishan, Shanxi
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