Exam Questions The Middle Kingdom China to 1280 Ch.2

Chapter 2

1. As in Mesopotamia and Egypt, the first civilization in China developed ________.

a. along seashores

b. in mountainous areas

c. in river valleys

d. in high plains

2. Yangshao culture is an example of ________ culture.

a. Bronze Age

b. Neolithic

c. early modern

d. Paleolithic

3. Oracle bones are an important historical source, informing us about both ________ and ________.

a. society; commerce

b. gender relations; beliefs

c. political expansion; farming

d. religion; writing

4. Looking at the Tarim Basin Mummy, historians could NOT tell us much about which of these areas?

a. technology

b. religious beliefs

c. politics

d. social hierarchies

5. In the classic conception of the dynastic cycle, rulers may be justifiably overthrown if they ________.

a. lack legitimate male heirs

b. promote Buddhism

c. fail to repel invaders

d. rule unfairly

6. Which of these dominated Chinese bureaucracy beginning in the Zhou period?

a. warriors

b. the shi class

c. merchants

d. the landed aristocracy

7. The Zhou era marks a decline in ________ for women in Chinese culture.

a. public roles

b. education

c. respect

d. domestic roles

8. To whom are the questions of the oracle bones addressed?

a. gods

b. local spirits

c. ancestors

d. the Buddha

9. The author of the Analects was ________.

a. Mencius

b. Laozi

c. Kong fuzi

d. Xunzi

10. Looking at Map 2.4, by the time of Shi Huangdi’s accession in 221, the Qin ________.

a. controlled all of then China

b. were being pushed out by the Han

c. has successfully driven the Xiongnu back

d. were beginning to unify China

11. Compared to Legalists, Daoists would prefer a(n) ________ ruler.

a. stronger

b. more ruthless

c. elected

d. less interventionist

12. Qin Shi Huangdi is notable as the first Chinese ________.

a. philosopher

b. emperor

c. historian

d. female ruler

13. Relative to the Qin dynasty, the Han dynasty represented ________.

a. a reversal

b. collapse

c. uninterrupted tradition

d. a change in direction

14. The periods of Restoration in Chinese history are best characterized as ________.

a. the end of the dynastic cycle

b. loss of the Mandate of Heaven

c. partial recoveries of dynasties’ control

d. period of chaos

15. The Tang dynasty was a high point in China’s ________.

a. southward expansion

b. international contacts

c. experimentation with new schools of thought and belief

d. political instability

16. Xuanzang is most associated with the development of ________ in China.

a. Buddhism

b. commerce

c. military technology

d. literature

17. Taizong was an expansionist emperor of the ________ dynasty.

a. Han

b. Tang

c. Song

d. Zhou

18. Like the examination reforms of the same period, administrative reforms of Wang Anshi had the goal of ________.

a. supporting local interests

b. promoting military over bureaucratic power

c. increasing central authority

d. controlling peasant unrest

19. The fengche is an example of the ________ in early imperial China.

a. religious innovation

b. political centralization

c. spread of learning

d. technological advances

20. Neo-Confucianism is best seen as a ________ early Confucianism.

a. substantial revision of

b. dramatic shift away from

c. continuation of

d. critique