Can you beat them?
Chinese History Quiz
Ten questions on more than 2,000 years of Chinese history, from the First Emperor's clay army to the rise of Xi Jinping. Each answer comes with a short explanation.
- 10 questions
- About 3 minutes
- Medium
- Includes a map and a photo
About this quiz
China has been one state, on and off, since 221 BC, when the king of Qin conquered his last rivals and named himself the First Emperor. The quiz runs from his tomb and the Great Wall through Zheng He's fleets, the Opium Wars and the Taiping Rebellion to the Long March, the Great Leap Forward and Deng Xiaoping's reforms.
The last two questions turn to Xi Jinping, who has led China since 2012. Several questions check popular stories against the evidence, and most can be reasoned out without memorized dates.
Read up first
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Encyclopedia
Century of Humiliation
China's official name for the era from the Opium Wars to 1949, and the historical frame through which the Communist Party still explains the world.
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Blog
Could China Have Colonized the World Before Europe?
Ming China had the world's largest ocean-going fleet in 1405, sixty years before Europe's voyages of discovery began, and never used it to build an empire.
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Blog
Why China kept getting conquered from the north
China tried walls, tribute, and war to stop 2,000 years of nomadic invasions. The nomads conquered and ruled it anyway, more than once.
